Top Ten Movies of 2009
About this time every year, I find myself ruminating on the futility of "top ten" lists and then invariably making one anyway. This year, I have the double task of reflecting not only on the year just passed but on the last ten, as critics everywhere have been sharing their "best of the decade" (despite the fact that the decade technically didn't start until 2001 and therefore isn't over until 2010!). I'm still deciding what my favorite movies of the "aughts" were, but in the meantime, I've managed to cobble together my list for 2009.
It proved unexpectedly difficult. 2009 saw a bumper crop of films I graded "B+," that is, good, but not great (think three stars), which made it harder than usual to rank them; the ranking of the bottom half of my top ten ended up being more or less arbitrary. It was a year filled with movies elevated by terrific lead performances that almost (but not quite) made me forget flaws of writing, directing, or conception - Carey Mulligan in "An Education"; Colin Firth in "A Single Man"; Matt Damon in "The Informant!"; George Clooney and Vera Farmiga in "Up in the Air" - yet the very best movies were those that had no conventional "stars" at all. Not coincidentally, perhaps, it was also a banner year for animated films (and I haven't even seen "Coraline," "Ponyo," or "The Princess and the Frog"), which my list also reflects, and for promising debut features (Neil Blomkamp's "District 9," Tom Ford's "A Single Man," Duncan Jones' "Moon").
Now comes the disclaimer, another annual tradition: Because of the glut of good movies at the year's end and the annoying tendency of studios distributing foreign films not to release them outside NY and LA until well into the new year, there are many movies not in my top ten that might have been there had I had time and opportunity to see them. And then there are others that for one reason or another I simply missed. Specifically, I have not seen "Precious," "Inglourious Basterds," "Broken Embraces," "The White Ribbon," "Summer Hours," "The Road," "Bad Lieutenant," " The Imaginarium of Dr. Parnassus," and "Crazy Heart," to name just a few. With that caveat, here's my list, with reviews linked.
1. WHERE THE WILD THINGS ARE
2. FANTASTIC MR. FOX
3. Tie: THE HURT LOCKER and DISTRICT 9
5. SOUL POWER
6. PUBLIC ENEMIES
7. MOON
8. UP
9. UP IN THE AIR
10. Tie: A SINGLE MAN and AN EDUCATION
Just missed the cut: BRIGHT STAR; THE INFORMANT!
Honorable Mentions: STAR TREK; DUPLICITY; (500) DAYS OF SUMMER; AVATAR
Top 25 of the decade coming soon...
It proved unexpectedly difficult. 2009 saw a bumper crop of films I graded "B+," that is, good, but not great (think three stars), which made it harder than usual to rank them; the ranking of the bottom half of my top ten ended up being more or less arbitrary. It was a year filled with movies elevated by terrific lead performances that almost (but not quite) made me forget flaws of writing, directing, or conception - Carey Mulligan in "An Education"; Colin Firth in "A Single Man"; Matt Damon in "The Informant!"; George Clooney and Vera Farmiga in "Up in the Air" - yet the very best movies were those that had no conventional "stars" at all. Not coincidentally, perhaps, it was also a banner year for animated films (and I haven't even seen "Coraline," "Ponyo," or "The Princess and the Frog"), which my list also reflects, and for promising debut features (Neil Blomkamp's "District 9," Tom Ford's "A Single Man," Duncan Jones' "Moon").
Now comes the disclaimer, another annual tradition: Because of the glut of good movies at the year's end and the annoying tendency of studios distributing foreign films not to release them outside NY and LA until well into the new year, there are many movies not in my top ten that might have been there had I had time and opportunity to see them. And then there are others that for one reason or another I simply missed. Specifically, I have not seen "Precious," "Inglourious Basterds," "Broken Embraces," "The White Ribbon," "Summer Hours," "The Road," "Bad Lieutenant," " The Imaginarium of Dr. Parnassus," and "Crazy Heart," to name just a few. With that caveat, here's my list, with reviews linked.
1. WHERE THE WILD THINGS ARE
2. FANTASTIC MR. FOX
3. Tie: THE HURT LOCKER and DISTRICT 9
5. SOUL POWER
6. PUBLIC ENEMIES
7. MOON
8. UP
9. UP IN THE AIR
10. Tie: A SINGLE MAN and AN EDUCATION
Just missed the cut: BRIGHT STAR; THE INFORMANT!
Honorable Mentions: STAR TREK; DUPLICITY; (500) DAYS OF SUMMER; AVATAR
Top 25 of the decade coming soon...
posted by lylee at 5:24 PM
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