Cloudy With a Chance of Meatballs-Surprisingly, this film made me laugh harder than almost any movie last year.
Whip It-Drew Barrymore's directorial debut brought out the best in Ellen Page and was a great story of finding what you love and doing anything to hold on to it.
Drag Me to Hell-Director Sam Raimi went back to his Evil Dead roots after ruining the final Spider-Man film, and had a great time doing it.
Big Fan-Patton Oswalt is pitch-perfect in this heavy dramedy about a super-fan of the New York Giants who takes his obsession way over the line.
Antichrist-No, it is not as disturbing as rumored and yes, everyone should check it out at least once, if only for Lars von Trier's beautiful directing and the great symbolism thrown in this terrifying tale.
Food Inc., The Cove, Anvil!: The Story of Anvil and Valentino: The Last Emperor-Four great documentaries that stuck with me long after the movie was over and showed just how great documentary filmmaking was in the last decade.
So without further adieu, kicking off the list at #20...
20. In the Loop
Politics sometimes get so ridiculous, it's hilarious. In Armando Iannucci's adaptation of the British comedy of the same name, he proves that both British and American politics can be so close to comedy, that it can be terrifying. Iannucci creates what feels like a combination of "Arrested Development" and "The West Wing", with an incredible ensemble cast, most notably the always pissed off Peter Capaldi, and takes a humorous look at events that should scare, but just make you laugh.
19. District 9
District 9 is one of the most daring summer movies in recent memory and the fact that it worked as well as it did is even more incredible. When you break it down, District 9 is a pseudo-documentary style film with no big name actors, a first time director and hardly any budget that discusses the poor treatment of the people that live in the slums of South Africa. But for some reason, throw in aliens, and the whole thing comes together into a great summer film with just as much action as heartfelt emotion.
18. Funny People
After directing two of the best comedies of the 2000s, The 40 Year Old Virgin and Knocked Up, Judd Apatow took a huge chance and made a more personal, more serious look at the lives of comedians. Apatow's foray into a more serious film gave us another great dramatic performance from former Apatow roommate Adam Sandler and showed Apatow's growth into trying new and different things.
17. Zombieland
Zombieland works as a great comedy because it knows exactly what it wants to be: a surreal, post-apocalyptic zom-com. Zombieland works perfectly as America's answer to Shaun of the Dead. Zombieland is ridiculous in all the right ways and it attempts to be nothing more than just a great time at the movies, which it succeeds at perfectly.
16. Watchmen
Watchmen is exactly what I wished director Zack Snyder had done with 300. By taking the best parts of the incredible graphic novel and fixing the unusual ending, Snyder brought to life one of the most conflicted superhero groups of all time, from the epic opening montage to the final spirit-breaking moments, Watchmen was a fantastic "super" hero movie that tried much more than most.
15. An Education
An Education has a unique moral for most films today: don't settle for what you don't want and don't shoot too high, but rather, find a perfect middle ground. The beautiful dialogue, written by Nick Hornby, pops by a cavalcade of impressive actors like Peter Sarsgaard, Alfed Molina in one of his best roles to date, and incredible newcomer Carey Mulligan as the girl who wants so much more from her drab British life.
14. Hunger
If there is one actor who came out of nowhere to impress me in 2009, it has to be Michael Fassbender. While his supporting role as former film critic/guy who doesn't know how to signal "3" in German, in Inglourious Basterds brought him some attention, it was his staggering performance in Hunger that caught my eye. Hunger is unflinching in its portrayal of a hunger strike in 1980's Ireland. Fassbender's shocking weight loss is akin to Christian Bale's in The Machinist and Steve McQueen's dedication to showing the horrors, including an incredible 17 minutes take, make Hunger an masterful achievement.
13. Brothers
The biggest problems with Brothers is the horrible trailer, which makes the film look like it's about a crazy husband on leave finds out that his wife has been sleeping with his brother while we has been in the Middle East and loses it. In fact, Brothers is a beautiful character driven piece about uncertainty and the pain involved with it. Jake Gyllenhaal, Natalie Portman and Tobey Maguire are three actors who could easily be shoved aside for being typecast in their roles, but here each breaks out and hits a new level of acting credibility, especially Maguire, that shows that these three are some of the best in young Hollywood.
12. A Serious Man
The Coen's are arguably the great living American directors this generation. Once again, they prove their greatness with A Serious Man, the Job-like fable of Larry Gopnik, a Jewish teacher who thinks he is doing everything right in his life, yet only bad things start happening to him. The Coen's have always blended comedy and drama masterfully and here, Gopnik, played by Michael Stuhlbarg, is sympathetic, but you can't help but chuckle a bit at his horrible plight.
11. Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince
As Harry Potter gets ready to partake in his final cinematic outing, this penultimate film finally get the feeling of the Wizarding world down to a science. The realm of these young wizards is as realistic as it has ever been and as the end comes to a close, the films only get better and better as their world becomes more fleshed out.
No comments:
Post a Comment