Top Ten Films of 2009
We reach my one-a-week countdown. Hopefully I can keep this up leading to my top movies of 2020. Hopefully I will have seen enough to feel like I can make a good full top 25. There’s still plenty left to see but I won’t be going inside a theater to see any this year. I hope to return to that sometime in 2021.
2009 was my first year I really locked into movies. I started writing for my school newspaper and did my first public top ten. My number 1 was the same as it is here. This is a weird one. There are masterpieces at the top but the rest is full of odd balls and great directors lesser works. I think I’ll remember going to Raubach and trying to see as many as I could but still having such a high schoolers life that I didn’t watch as many as I would want.
It was the beginning of a new time. Barack Obama is sworn in as president and I was writing satirical pieces about how he didn’t deserve a Nobel Peace Prize and getting the first letter of hate mail in our school paper’s history. I remember watching him be sworn in during my journalism class and being pretty excited but not wanting to look like I cared because that’s not cool. Even if that wasn’t what I was actively thinking that is what I was doing. I was purely into shocks and dumb things back then. I didn’t have the interest or patience to appreciate the first black president and the enormity of that moment.
I long for those days now, of course, but also know this is just a list of movies I like. So moving onto the rundown of things that happened that year.
Swine flu pandemic swept the world. There were estimated over 700 million cases. Obviously a lot were asymptomatic. But somewhere between 11-21% of the world had it by study estimates. The number of lab reported deaths reached over eighteen thousand but the actual amount of deaths caused is more around 250,000. WHO was criticized for alarming and causing panic. U.S. officials credit the fear of the avian flu and the upwards of 6 years of preparation made it much easier to combat the outbreak. Because of this they had a vaccine being sent out to over 16 countries within 6 months and the cases began a steep decline. Before that though many schools closed and they took precautions to make sure anyone with any issues were taken care of during the schools starting up. There was no call for a hoax or for herd immunity. Overall it did not impact the U.S. nearly as much as other countries because of the swift action taken. There were over 12,000 lives lost but it was prevented from becoming a horrible pandemic in our country thanks to leadership that empowered health officials and let them alarm the citizens to take action and be ready long in advance.
Avatar made almost three times as much as Harry Potter 6, and there were a lot of other movies that made money.
Here’s my 11-25 RANKED (no more alphabetical!)
25. Where the Wild Things Are (Directed by Spike Jonze) - Amazon Prime
24. Up in the Air (Directed by Jason Reitman) - Amazon Prime & Hulu
23. Valhalla Rising (Directed by Nicolas Winding Refn)
22. Fish Tank (Directed by Andrea Arnold) - Criterion Channel
21. The House of the Devil (Directed by Ti West) - Amazon Prime & Shudder
20. World’s Greatest Dad (Directed by Bobcat Goldthwait)
19. Mother (Directed by Bong Joon-ho) - Hulu
18. Up (Directed by Pete Docter)
17. A Perfect Getaway (Directed by David Twohy)
16. Big Fan (Directed by Robert D. Siegel)
15. Star Trek (Directed by J.J. Abrams) - HBO
14. Public Enemies (Directed by Michael Mann)
13. Antichrist (Directed by Lars Von Trier) - Criterion Channel
12. Polytechnique (Directed by Denis Villeneuve) - Amazon Prime
11. The Informant (Directed by Steven Soderbergh)
top ten
10. Knowing (Directed by Alex Proyas) - YouTube Free
Not a movie you might have expected to be in this top ten but I just watched it recently and I was so impressed how it took this very silly idea and turned it into a thriller will real pathos and excitement. There’s a couple sequences in this I’ll always remember. Bless Nic Cage.
9. Moon (Directed by Duncan Jones)
Jones has lost a lot of my respect and excitement as a filmmaker in recent years with some misfires. But he still has real potential and knows how to make a tone. Having David Bowie as his dad probably helped. Sam Rockwell is amazing and I’m so glad he’s a household name now.
8. The Imaginarium of Doctor Parnassus (Directed by Terry Gilliam)
A mostly forgotten last movie of Heath Ledger since he died during filming. But he gives a great final performance and it’s so cool to see Johnny Depp, Colin Farrell, and Jude Law step in and take over his character once things get extra weird. It’s Andrew Garfield before he was famous and I think it’s one of Gilliam’s best movies.
7. Dogtooth (Directed by Yorgos Lanthimos) - Criterion Channel & Shudder
The movie that put Yorgos on the map and the one I like least of all his movies. I think he’s gotten better every time he shows back up. He is one of the great directors and I would pick him as the guy I’m most excited to see what he’s done after PTA and Tarantino now. He’s got his own style and is the ambassador of Greek cinema. He will be back on these lists soon and often.
6. I Love You, Man (Directed by John Hamburg)
One of the most likable movies I can think of right now. I saw it laughing my ass off in theaters and still love it to this day. It’s a comfort film and I love the cast. There’s not much to say. It’s a great movie about learning to appreciate the good things while not just passively enjoying them.
5. Bad Lieutenant: Port of Call - New Orleans (Directed by Werner Herzog)
A wild movie that is so deeply to its bones doing its own thing that the genre almost disappears and becomes something else. Like detective movie performance art. Nic Cage returns on this list with maybe his best performance. Val Kilmer and Eva Mendes are fantastic. Xzibit is too. Herzog is what being an artist is about and I love his movies even when I don’t.
4. Orphan (Directed by Jaume Collet-Serra) - HBO
This movie should be a thriller classic. Has all the things I love about 90’s thrillers but with better acting and execution. It commits to the bit of the movie and makes it scarier and more interesting because of it. There isn’t some omniscient eye watching everything. It is playing out with real characters dealing with a hard situation until it is all hell. Movie rules and you should watch it or watch it again.
3. Funny People (Directed by Judd Apatow)
Apatow loses it after this one. I think he perfected what he was trying to do with this one and then ran out of ideas. Most of that is thanks to Rogen and Sandler. The entire cast here is so funny and genuine. But those two anchor this, and it gives Leslie Mann a chance to do real work. One of the funniest and sweetest movies with a bitter heart. Like a great 80’s comedy with modern dick jokes.
2. A Serious Man (Directed by the Coen Brothers) - Netflix
Pretty much a masterpiece and only isn’t higher I think because the cast isn’t as famous? I’m not sure. I just know it isn’t the best thing they’ve done but it is the best mix of comedy and drama they’ve ever done. Hilarious and deeply scary in a way that isn’t traditional. The most jewish movie you’ll see that also has a Jefferson Airplane needle drop. Michael Stuhlbarg has become more known as one of the great actors but this is his best.
1. Inglorious Basterds (Directed by Quentin Tarantino)
He called his shot in the final line of the movie. It is a masterpiece and he knew it. Consistently funny and intense in equal measure and that is so hard to do correctly. One of the best opening sequences in film history. Christoph Waltz is just taken for granted now but this was his coming out party. Just dominates every scene he’s in. Pitt and the whole basterds crew are so good. Melanie Laurent is the MVP and carries so much of the movie. It is only 30% in english and I love that. Tarantino making people read subtitles has done more good for film than most do. Making a WW2 movie that features nazis prominently being endlessly rewatchable is quite a feat. You know how you get to Carnegie Hall don’t ya?