The Best Movies of 2009
HEAVE's writers have the best taste ever, yo.
Everyone knows that things are better when put into list form; that's why the founding fathers ranked the Bill of Rights 1-10 (states' rights sucks the big one). HEAVE's writers are giving you a christmas present, by ranking our iron-clad opinions on the best movies of 2009. Some of us have ranked them 10-1. Some of us ranked them 1-10. Some of us didn't even rank them. But all of have award-worthy tastes. You're welcome.
Alyssa Vincent:
10) Whip It: Alright, so this technically was a flop at the box office. As someone who thinks roller derby is fucking awesome though, I fell in love with this movie. Drew Barrymore gets points for using a Tilly & the Wall song for a skating montage, and the plot managed to be empowering without any of the corny qualities that that description can evoke.
9) Good Hair: When a documentary is done well, it can be far more entertaining than any fictional film. Not only was this movie entertaining to watch, but it offered an interesting look into the cultural, social, and political implications of African-American hair.
8) Paper Heart: From documentaries to mocku(maybe?)mentaries. All I know is that Charlene Yi and Michael Cera have adorable non-chemistry together, which oddly enough makes their relationship all the more fun to watch unfold.
7) Inglourious Basterds: From the intensely suspenseful beginning scene where milk takes on more importance than one could imagine to the gratuitous, classic Tarantino ending, it relentlessly offended viewers (thanks to its near-total disregard for history and gore), yet kept them wanting more.
6) District 9: While the apartheid parallels were a little heavy-handed, this film was nearly as imaginative as "Where the Wild Things Are." The plot was intriguing, and a cast of relative unknowns absolutely shone alongside the special effects.
5) Up: I think this movie might have the most heart-breaking montage scene that I’ve ever watched. I bawled in the theatre, and the thought of it brings more tears to my eyes. I don’t consider myself a Pixar enthusiast by any stretch, but they really did something right with this one. This will warm even the coldest of hearts.
4) 500 Days of Summer: My crushes on Zooey Deschanel and Joseph Gordon-Levitt have been well-documented, and their onscreen chemistry does not disappoint. Finally, a romantic comedy that doesn’t spend most of its time showing how great it is to be in love. The few scenes that do focus on loving love are viewed with a kind of dread, because you know how things are going to end up for Gordon-Levitt’s character. Oh, and a great soundtrack.
3) An Education: Not enough good can be said about the performances in this film. Peter Sarsgaard will make you fall in love with him, you’ll want to shake Carey Mulligan out of her schoolgirl crush, and you’ll wish that Alfred Molina would wake up and watch out for his daughter. Gorgeous ‘60s costumes and beautiful shots of Paris and Oxford tie this film up in a wonderful package.
2) Where the Wild Things Are: This movie could have been so very disappointed. And while it wasn’t what I (or probably anyone) expected, that doesn’t mean it was disappointing. Instead, it was a real exercise in creativity and wonder, with real-life big kids Spike Jonze and Dave Eggers leading the way. Also, Max Records is a fantastic Max—a perfect mix of menace and naiveté.
1) The Hurt Locker: "The Hurt Locker" managed to do what no war movie has ever been able to—avoid exploiting and/or glorifying current conflicts. The cycle of dependency that military service can cause was shown with a heartbreaking honesty, and the organic filming style made the movie extremely difficult to watch. I left the theater feeling shaken, confused, and curious as to whether or not this film will usher in a new type of war movies.
Max Alborn:
10.) Star Trek: Unlike “District 9”, with a budget around $30 million, “Star Trek” boasted a rather...larger budget; around $140 million. It's not what I would call high drama, but a summer flick that's a hell of a lot of fun without sacrificing brain cells (I'm looking at you, “Transformers”). A love letter to Trekkies as well a recruitment vehicle for fans of “Star Wars” and “Battlestar Galactica”, “Trek” shows that J.J. Abrams of “Lost” fame knows how to spend a high budget effectively while directing a cast of newcomers to take on iconic roles successfully. With it's success comes a renewed franchise. One can only hope that future installments can build upon the chemistry of the new cast and the fresh canvas of space laid out in “Star Trek”.
9.) Zombieland: In a year of low budget surprises, I would be remiss if I did not include the awesomeness that was “Zombieland”. With Woody Harrelson in top comic form (not to mention one of the best cameos...ever), “Zombieland” always falls back to it's killer tag line: “nut up or shut up”. It's got the right batch of humor, great cast chemistry and plenty of zombie deaths. Awesome, zombie deaths. Further, “Zombieland” never tries to be something it is not. Unlike past zombie films, which look for the source and cure of such outbreaks, “Zombieland” simply puts you in the center of the mess with no apologies and no real “end”, making me hope for future visits back to “Zombieland”.
8.) Mary and Max: How...sweet. These are the two best words to describe this animated gem out of Australia. Based on the true story of letters exchanged between a little Australian girl and a middle aged American man, one may think “creepy” at first. But with fantastic claymation, a script meant more for adults than kids and voice over work by the always fantastic Phillip Seymour Hoffman and Toni Collette, “Mary and Max” was another big surprise of 2009 that nobody else saw, outside of the festival circuit. In the end, “Mary and Max” is a fantastic little film that shows how friendship knows no age, time, location or limits to last well into our twilight years.
7.) Inglorious Basterds: While I am not the diehard Tarantino fan I was in my younger days, I still have a good time with his films (one of which made it onto my decades list). However, when I heard of a Tarantino WWII pic in the works, I nearly died of laughter in the best sense. It's violent (duh), over the top and boasts two fantastic performances by Christoph Waltz and Brad Pitt (not to mention one of the best opening scenes I have seen in years). In a class filled with “Saving Private Ryan” and my personal favorite “The Dirty Dozen”, “Inglorious Basterds” would best be described as the class clown. One for the ages.
6.) Moon: Is it just me, or was 2009 a GREAT year for low budget sci-fi films? Staring only Sam Rockwell and the voice of the always fantastic Kevin Spacey, “Moon” was another big surprise in 2009. Directed by Duncan Jones (the son of David Bowie, bringing “Space Oddity” to mind...a lot...) “Moon” was part set piece drama and part mind f**k. A good mind f**k, only made possible by Rockwell's seemingly one man show performance, Spacey's fantastic voice work (reminiscent of HAL) and stark imagery, “Moon” feels as desolate and barren as the surface of the titular location. In the best possible sense. Does this make me a depressing individual?
5.) Backyard: One of the harder films I've watched this year, “Backyard” is definitely not a fun film. Taken from true events in Juarez, Mexico, “Backyard” is a disturbing but necessary look into violence against women at home and abroad. Stark cinematography, strong performances and an ending to incite a range of differing emotions, “Backyard” deserves to be recognized as one of the stronger films to come out in 2009. Unlike most films I cam across this year (most of which entertained) “Backyard” was meant to incite and educate. Without putting these films on pedestals, they need to be viewed and recognized.
4.) The Maid: I will admit that the Chicago International Film Festival could have been kinder to HEAVE. It sure as hell would have been nice to see “An Education” or “Precious” ahead of schedule, but no such luck for the press. However, my press pass did get me into “The Maid”, one of the best films I saw at the Festival and all year. Centering on an in house maid living with the same family for 20+ years, the film is a gem of dark comedy with a touch of soul, all possible by the deft direction, fantastic script and exceptional performance by it's lead. While it's unsure if “The Maid” will get distribution in the States (it hails from Chile), one can only hope. Simply put, more people should watch this film.
3.) Precious: Based on the Novel “Push” by Sapphire: One of the festival favorites for the past year, “Precious” has finally started creeping into theaters over the past few months. I've got to say, it needs a wider release. It needs to be seen, if only once. It's a hard watch (though not the hardest) and is bolstered by several fantastic performances that come out of nowhere. Who knew that Lenny Kravitz or (and I shudder as I write this) Mariah Carey could act, let alone well?! The mind reels because all players in the film are fantastic, especially the unknown lead actress Gabourey Sidibe as the titular character. However, I cannot mention the fantastic performances without mentioning the much discussed performance of comedian (again, where the hell did this casting come from?!) Mo'Nique as Sidibe's wildly abusive mother; a performance in a class of it's own within the film. I cannot even do justice the level of pain expressed and created by her towards her daughter...you just have to watch. Just don't watch it when you are having a happy day; “Precious” is guaranteed to take you down a peg or two.
2.) The Hurt Locker: Maybe one of the best war movies I have seen, hands down. Focusing on a bomb squad and their new borderline psychotic leader, “Locker” is as tense a film as I've seen all year. The film's effectiveness lays in the strength and chemistry of it's three leads, all of whom are unknowns, which helps the film's tone when relying on storytelling rather than star power. Combined with fantastic cinematography work and taught sound design (those bomb diffusing sequences were very tense do to both), “Locker” is a long hard examination not only of war on the human condition but what individual humans are built to do in this world.
1.) District 9: One of the bigger surprises of the year for me, “District 9” was a fantastic example of how good sci-fi does not need a budget that exceeds $100 million. Part documentary (fake, of course), part allegory (reeking of comparisons to apartheid) and part action piece, “District 9” almost never misses a beat. For having a budget of only $30 million, a lot is done well to build an atmosphere where aliens in South Africa are a possibility. Not to mention I love the concept that aliens come to our planet and rather than being out for blood, are simply refugees (talk about illegal aliens...) Despite the nature of abuse towards the aliens, I was smiling in the end not only because of the outcome but because it was nice to know that debut films (director Neill Blomkamp making his debut) still have the ability to win the masses over with story taking precedent over marketing.
Honorable Mentions: The Princess and the Frog, (500) Days of Summer, Antichrist, Where the Wild Things Are, Drag Me to Hell, Public Enemies.
Ryan Peters:
10. District 9: As a social metaphor, I think this falls flat. Hey, the aliens are discriminated against, and it takes place in South America?! Fuck me, it’s just like apartheid! …Well, so what? Am I supposed to be learning something from this? If the message is that discrimination is bad, I’m already on that ball. But if you remove the semi-pointless social commentary, what you’re left with is a fantastic sci-fi action flick. One that’s inventive, original, and a hell of a lot smarter than “Transformers 2.”
9. Star Trek: At the start of May, I was excited to see “Wolverine,” the new “Terminator” movie, and “Star Trek,” in that order. Who would have guessed that my list would have been in reverse order for quality? “Wolverine” was turgid, “Terminator” was kind of half-assed, and “Star Trek” was great. The JJ Abrams-directed movie was exhilarating, sharp, and pretty funny. Exactly what a tired franchise needed.
8. (500) Days of Summer: You may or may not already know this, but I’m a sucker for romantic comedies. I was too embarrassed to put “Love Actually” in my top ten of the decade list, but I completely love everything about that utterly charming movie. And, really, any movie with Hugh Grant, Drew Barrymore, or other charming people finding love in semi-plausible ways, will make me happy. Still, I understand the limitations of the genre, which is why “(500) Days of Summer” was so refreshing. It manages to take everything you expect a summer romance to be, and turn it on its head. And, not for nothing, it had a great soundtrack.
7. Zombieland: The good: Lots of zombie heads were blown off. Woody Harrelson was funny. Bill Murray is still a god. The bad: Even more zombie heads should have been blown off. Nevertheless, if you can’t appreciate this kind of entertainment, then you and I have nothing to talk about (sorry, mom).
6. The Hangover: Here’s something that most people don’t realize: only one of the characters in “The Hangover” is particularly funny: Zach Galifianakis’s Alan. The other three characters, including those played by Bradley Cooper and Ed Helms, rarely say funny things in the movie. Instead, the situations that they are thrust into create comedy. This might not seem like a big deal, but I think it’s actually kind of revolutionary in a comedy world dominated by Vince Vaughn and Will Ferrell spouting one-liners. That “The Hangover” is one of the highest-grossing comedies of all time should attest to how funny it really is.
5. Up: Again, here’s something that most people don’t realize: “Up” was a Pixar movie that featured childhood obeisiety, a kid burying a bag of shit, a widower, a talking dog, and an incredibly stupid bird. Oh, and it was completely wonderful. It was hilarious and heart-breaking, and the opening montage was one of the most perfectly-rendered bits of film that I saw all year.
4. Up in the Air: Jason Rietman is kind of slump-proof, isn’t he? George Clooney is kind of an old-school movie star with serious acting chops, isn’t he? This movie was great, wasn’t it?
3. Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince: The darkest and best entry in an increasing dark, great fantasy series. The nice part is that I haven’t read any of the books, so each film is a surprise to me.
2. Where the Wild Things Are: If you need a microcosm of why this film is so affecting, just wait for the wordless, soulful last two minutes. I’m not the type to cry, and I was a wreck.
1. The Hurt Locker: I only knew a handful of people who saw this film, which is a shame, because it was the most intelligent, exciting, and affecting one to be released all year. The film is essential for it’s look at war not as a moral or immoral crusade, but rather as a kind of elixir or drug that intoxicates its participants.
Amy Dittmeier:
Up
Zombieland
The Hangover
Moon
Public Enemies
Dead Snow
Inglourious Basterds
Star Trek
Gentlemen Broncos
Watchmen
Dominick Mayer:
1. Inglourious Basterds: Above all else, this movie is a fairy tale. This might sound like an odd description for a Tarantino movie about Nazi hunters (which to begin with, it’s really not about them), but the film starts off with “Once upon a time, in Nazi-occupied France…” However, though the plot may involve a vengeful Jewish girl (Melanie Laurent), a terrifying-yet-cordial Nazi colonel (Christoph Waltz, in an instantly classic performance) and yes, the Basterds (led by Brad Pitt, who looks like he’s never had more fun acting in his life), it’s not a fairy tale about anything that happens in the film so much as it’s one about the power of cinema to overcome any dark period in world history and transcend being “just entertainment.” There are few directors in any era who could get away with ending a film with a final line like “This might just be my masterpiece.” You know what, though? I’ll be damned if it isn’t.
2. Where The Wild Things Are: Though Warner Bros. might have put out a couple duds this year (Terminator Salvation, the sixth Harry Potter), they also took some huge risks on some daring films, none more so than this one. Essentially, they gave Spike Jonze $90 million to make an art film for children that would more sincerely capture the thrills and terrors of being young than any other film before it. Even if the gamble didn’t lead to huge returns, this is as beautiful and haunting as movies get, period. Any frame of this film could be isolated and hung on a wall as art, and the story remains faithful to the original ideas of Maurice Sendak’s picturebook while becoming something else entirely. Max Records gives one of the best child performances ever as Max, the little boy who runs away to the land of the Wild Things and discovers that no matter where you go or how big you grow, you’ll always be scared and jealous and angry and even sometimes, rapturously happy and loved.
3. A Serious Man: If this is the closest we’ll ever get to the Coen brothers making a “personal film,” it still explains quite a bit. The story of put-upon physics professor Larry Gopnik (Michael Stuhlbarg) is filled with confusion, circular double-speak, being afraid of things ethereal and tangible and a growing sense of dread that threatens to suffocate the entire screen. Also, it’s hilarious. Basically just another day at the office for one of the oddest filmmaking think tanks that cinema has seen. While this is very much a Coens film, though, it’s quite possibly one of their best, because unlike the ironic inhumanity of fare like Burn After Reading or The Man Who Wasn’t There, Gopnik’s story hits all too close to home, especially now: If every facet of life seems hopeless and all anybody can offer is a higher power that doesn’t seem to care, then what? Maybe you better find somebody to love.
4. (500) Days of Summer: Here is a cinematic love story that we need, even if we might not want it. I’ve said before, on this site and elsewhere, that Summer is Annie Hall for the present generation, but the comparison isn’t as simple as just calling it the best romantic comedy, though it is. It captures a very specific feeling: the horrifying moment when the generation that grew up with Meg Ryan comedies realizes that everybody was right and love doesn’t really work that way. By moving through a relationship without any semblance of a linear timeline, the film nails the way in which memories unfold according to what we want to remember and what we block out; the way you shouldn’t have started that fight, the way it was so hard to start saying “I” instead of “we” again, how much it hurt to see her in that nice wedding dress when it wasn’t you on the other side of the priest. At turns funny, devastating and occasionally surreal, this is a romance for the ages. Just make sure you don’t call it a love story.
5. A Single Man: George (Colin Firth) wants to die. His longtime lover (Matthew Goode) died suddenly in a car accident, and now he spends his days invisible, both because of his damning status as the aging “single man” and because of his being a homosexual in 1965 America. It’s not that those around him are unaware; his neighbors consider him “light in the loafers” and one of his students (Nicholas Hoult) makes his desires for George abundantly clear both in and outside of class. As George spends the presumed last day of his life tying up his loose ends, life keeps getting in the way of a tidy end. He meets a gigolo outside a liquor store who might just want to chat. His only remaining friend, Charley (Julianne Moore, wonderful and mercifully dialing down her usual histrionics) wants to rekindle a flame they once briefly had, his orientation notwithstanding. And maybe, just maybe, it might be worth it for George to stay alive just a little bit longer.
6. Fantastic Mr. Fox: A lot of people knock Wes Anderson for his whimsical approach to dramatic filmmaking. The wonderful thing about Mr. Fox, with that in mind, is the fact that though this film is practically an overdose on whimsy, it’s one of the most emotionally rich films he’s made. Mr. Fox (George Clooney) is in the throes of a full-blown midlife crisis. Once a renowned bird poacher, he now lives a settled life as a newspaper columnist (just one of the film’s hilariously droll touches) and wants to stave off aging. After messing with the wrong farmers, he loses his tail and puts everybody around him in grave danger, only to find that maybe the life that got everybody into this mess might also be the one that saves everything. Not only is this the best animated film of the year (the waterfall scene might be the single most gorgeous shot of any film released in 2009), but it’s one of the most sincere. Not a bad trick for one of the most ironic filmmakers working today.
7. Observe & Report: Remember what I said earlier about Warner taking some huge risks? This criminally overlooked Seth Rogen vehicle would’ve been a tough sell for an indie studio. How this got a wide release boggles the mind. Apologies to the critic I can’t recall who made this analogy first, but the best description of Observe is “Taxi Driver as a comedy.” This is as black as black comedy gets, and forcibly tests the boundaries of how dark a comedy can be before it’s not funny anymore. What director Jody Hill gets right, phenomenally so, is the perfect straddling point between the dark and the abyss. Mismarketed abominably as an R-rated Paul Blart, the film lets Rogen show previously unseen depths as Ronnie Barnhardt, a sociopath on the verge of a breakdown who quits his bipolar medications cold-turkey, tries to join the police force (his psych evaluation is a master class in uncomfortable hilarity) and bottoms out before “redeeming” himself, in the most cathartic and inexplicably violent climax to any film released this year. This is as unflinching and brutal as comedy gets, but also as brilliant.
8. Black Dynamite: It’s one thing to spoof a movie. Even that is difficult to do, and is done badly far more often than it’s done well. What Black Dynamite accomplishes is in a league of its own. Not only is it a spot-on knockoff of the best (and worst) that the blaxploitation films of the ‘60s and ‘70s had to offer, but it’s one of the best films ever made within the genre. Though it has a lot of meta-jokes harkening back to the no-budget roots of the genre, it’s also carefully crafted so that it transcends being just a 90-minute gag. The screenplay (co-written by Michael Jai White, who also stars as Black Dynamite) is possibly the best of this year, as it hits every beat of the genre’s conventions while also being the funniest film of the year. Those drunk guys in Vegas didn’t even come close.
9. Funny People: Here is a film that is more than the sum of its parts. In my July review, I said that it was “a big, sprawling, manic-depressive mess of a film,” and at the time this was meant as a knock on it. On repeat viewings, however, this actually proves to be a virtue. The film is European in the way it simply follows its characters, and if halfway through it becomes a different movie, it’s because that’s where their lives go. Adam Sandler gives a career-best performance as George Saunders, a version of himself in real life who takes struggling comedian Ira Wright (Seth Rogen) under his wing as he’s dying of lieukemia. Everything that needs to be known about this film can be found in one scene, the climactic brawl on the lawn , in which George bitterly and cruelly taunts Ira with his unfortunate actual last name, Weiner. George sounds exactly like a cruel 12-year-old boy who hangs out with weaker kids to feel cool and tears them down to keep from facing the facts: he’s just not a good person.
10. Pontypool: There are very few ways to do the zombie film that haven’t already been done. Shaun of the Dead led to the advent of the zom-com subgenre, but Pontypoolreturns to the roots of the genre while becoming a far stranger beast in and of itself. Without spoiling too much, it’s about former shock jock Grant Mazzy (Stephen McHattie) and his radio station producers over the course of one harrowing day in a small Canadian town. The idea of a zombie epidemic is inherently terrifying, but what if it wasn’t a typical virus that spread it? What if you could contract it without coming anywhere near an infected person? Worse still, what if you could contract it due to something that’s a common part of everyday life? I’m being vague because the revelation of the nature of the virus doesn’t come into play until over halfway through the film, and the colder you go into this film, the more it will crawl under your skin and refuse to leave. Pay attention over the end credits: there’s only audio, and yet what you hear manages to be even more mortifying than everything that came before.
Posted by Ryan Peters, Ryan Peters on Dec 22, 2009 @ 12:00 am
