MY top five films of 2009
Ok, lets get this out of the way first, these are the films that I HAVE SEEN, Avatar, Sherlock Holmes and other late releases for 2009 will not be in this list. WHY? Because I haven’t seen them. Second, If you are a movie geek you will notice that 2009 was the banner year for science fiction and genre films, there has been a multitude of GOOD genre films that have been released and i am quite certain that it’s gonna take a long time for another year like 2009 to come out.
That being said, lets head on to my picks.
Honorable Mentions:
Zombieland, Adventureland, Taken, Crank 2, Funny People, Drag Me to Hell, The Hangover
5. Moon
This is as classical as any sci-fi film can get, drawing inspiration from the likes of 2001: A Space Odyssey and 1984. Duncan Jones’ film about solitude and the value of human life squeezes out the best performance from Sam Rockwell yet. Moon is truly a wonderful tale and it deserves to be viewed by the masses. Oh, and the score is amazing.
Worldwide Gross: $7,191,615
Rotten Tomatoes Aggregate: 89%
4. Up
Probably the most mature kid’s film i have seen, Up manages to teach kids some harsh facts of life without talking down to them. Although the pacing of the film is quite hit or miss, the hit parts definitely outweigh the misses and the laugh out loud elements we have come to expect from any Pixar film are as good as can be. Kudos to Pixar for bringing us another labor of love.
Worldwide Gross: $683,004,164
Rotten Tomatoes Aggregate: 98%
3. Star Trek
My top 3 for this year were flip-flopping around the rankings until just about a few hours earlier when i made my decision. It’s sad that this got bumped back to the 3rd spot, because Star Trek showed us how a reboot should be done. The film has spots were it was just too deus ex machina for my taste but that would just be me nitpicking a truly awesome movie. That said, Star Trek could have fallen to fan-service territory but J.J. Abrams did not let it sink to that level. The casting was excellent appearance-wise and the performance of the actors as a whole would have made Gene Roddenberry proud.
Worldwide Gross: $385,429,120
Rotten Tomatoes Aggregate: 94%
2. District 9
This was my top film of 2009 until the number 1 film showed up and drove me crazy into what was this year’s best, I could just say they’re tied but that’s just a cheap cop-out. Anyway, if 2009 was a landmark year for sci-Fi, then District 9 would be the film that would lead the pack (and truly, the last sci-fi film of this list). Like i said many times before, if you give a talented director money and trust him and leave him alone in his work, he will shit out a masterpiece. A masterpiece that would turn a $30 Million investment into a whole lot more of dinero. First time director Neill Blmokamp and first time actor Sharlto Copley have long careers ahead of them.
Worldwide Gross: $204,570,836
Rotten Tomatoes Aggregate: 90%
1. The Hurt Locker
Ok, so admittedly the title turned me off, I actually mistook this for the Cameron Diaz skinhead cancer movie. And boy was i WRONG. This is a war movie, or more specifically a people in the war movie. I know this has been done to death countless time before but this is the first of it’s kind to really keep me on the edge of my seat. The first piece of brilliance in this movie is in its first scene and after that it’s an anything goes movie. Jeremy Renner is a revelation in this movie and it’s director Kathryn Bigelow has surely by now made up for Point Break.
Worldwide Gross: $16,107,592
Rotten Tomatoes Aggregate: 97%
and there you go, 2009 best. For me at least. Check back soon for my miscellaneous, whatever i can think of awards list.
