In the future, perhaps there will only be two kinds of movies: DIY efforts that cost $500 (and occasionally break through to mainstream success like Paranormal Activity) and ginormous $500 million special-effects spectaculars. (Heard anything about this Avatar flick?) For now, however, there's still enough good stuff in between to qualify 2009 as a reasonably satisfying year in cinema.
10. Star Trek — J.J. Abrams' twenty-first-century reinvention of the venerable Enterprise crew never claimed to be a game-changer — just the most fun you could have at a Saturday matinee this year. Clearing the decks of four decades of Trek mythology, Abrams forgoes reverence in favor of revving up the warp engines and having a blast.
9. The House of the Devil — The lo-fi chills of Paranormal Activity raked it in at the box office, but this throwback to '80s-style horror is a worthy slow-burn exercise that stretches nail-biting suspense to the breaking point... at least until its slightly disappointing finale. (A recurring theme in '09.)
8. Collapse — Either Chris Smith's eerily Errol Morris-esque documentary about herald of the apocalypse Michael Ruppert is the year's most frightening real-life horror movie, or it's a darkly compelling portrait of a delusional crackpot. Let's hope it's the latter.
7. The Hurt Locker — There may be just a little overcompensation going on as one critics' group after another rushes to anoint Katherine Bigelow's Iraq War thriller as the year's best picture, but when it comes to jittery, adrenaline-charged action and dread-soaked tension, no movie did it better.
6. Best Worst Movie — At the age of eleven, Michael Paul Stephenson starred in Troll 2, one of the most insanely horrible movies ever made. Twenty years later, his documentary about letting go of his disappointment and learning to love Troll 2's devoted cult following is the year's most delightful and hilarious celebration of the continuing mystery and magic of movies. Go figure.
Commentarium (11 Comments)
A Serious Man!
My pick as well!
Up!
I must see Best Worst Movie, I mean I already sacrificed a few hours of my life to laughing at Troll 2 anyway
What about Fantastic Mr. Fox?
Redonkulous
Clearly Avatar should be on this list, considering its revolutionary film-making and damn-good story and visuals.
Avatar and Hurt Locker have a couple of things in common: they are hyperoverrated, and they both provided me with a delicious 20-minute nap.
VA
I second UP!
Humpday is absolutely mumblecore, and it is an unfortunate example of agreeing to jump into a studio system worthy weak spirited compromise of film making. If you are going to study sex, and investigate the clearly "icky" nature of men on men relationships, then this film needs the force and and the immortal direction and writing of the great film makers of our times, not the shoddy Duplass. Puffy chair was great this was not. And secondarily, give me a break; A serious man, is a perfect example of independent auteur film makers, that pumped some of my favorite films ever out with striking moments, of symbolism, allegory, interesting storylines, fantastic acting, unbelievably incredible casting, that led a generation of new actors cut their teeth on interesting material. But when you go from striving for a budget and hoping for a legitimate audience to the "pinnacles" of Oscar worthy film making, and you have the ability to make whatever you want without struggle, you end up with two of my most disliked films of the decade. Bloated, unnatural, filled with mediocre acting, with a few substantial highlights, and visual filmmaking that only hearkens to previous inspirations in your own oeuvre Serious man and Burn After Reading are serious let downs. At least Burn after reading had some truly comic moments, but I find both boring, tedious and at the end of the day films that say nothing about society, myself, my time, my generation, or the world and life at large. That is what I seek of film, and I find these failing at that goal.
Quite disappointed to see that every film is English language.
So many great foreign language films were made in 2009 and have been completely ignored.
So glad Avatar isn't on this, most overrated movie of all time. Good effects do not make it a good movie.
Toudchwon! That's a really cool way of putting it!