Top Movies of 2009

2009 was a great year for movies. Perhaps not great movies, but a lot of very enjoyable movies. Here are my top 10. I've ranked them but bear in mind: I'm no critic, this is based solely on my own enjoyment.

1. Bad Lieutenant: Port of Call New Orleans
I cannot name another movie with a character so despicable, who does such horrible things, while at the same time is incredibly endearing, weak, and lovable. By the end of the movie you have plenty of reasons to hate Nicholas Cage's Bad Lieutenant: his horrible lack of integrity, his drug addictions, his willingness to suffocate old women, etc, but you can't help but be happy for him at the end of the movie.

2. Hurt Locker
An intense thriller, excellent character study, and a movie about Iraq that you aren't sure is pro-war or against (I say against). Regardless, I hope this wins best picture at the oscars this year.

3. Up
If you haven't seen this, go see this. The first fifteen minutes are a perfect vignette, and the rest of the movie is great enough.

4. Inglourious Basterds
Best supporting actor speaking four languages.
Best rewriting of history.
And this song:

5. Up in the Air
Just like Juno, Up in the Air slowly and quietly succeeds at being a great movie about everyday life and everyday people.

6. Hunger
I knew nothing about these hunger strikes when I watched the movie, but damn. Most of the movie feels like an amazing photo series: small vignettes that are carefully composed and crafted and subtle. But then, in the middle, is a seventeen minute long conversation about martyrdom between Bobby Sands and his pastor.

7. (500) Days of Summer
I love these people. I love love scenes in IKEA. I love the premise. I love the random dance sequence in the middle. I love the soundtrack.

8. Let the Right One In
After True Blood and the dozens of more irreverent movies about vampires it was great to get one with a pale color palette, blood that is black, and a friendship between two eight year olds.

9. A Serious Man
Don't you want somebody to love? Don't you need somebody to love? Maybe we just need Jimi Hendrix to explain how god talks to us...

10. The Brothers Bloom
After watching Rian Johnson's Brick I decided, come hell or high water, that I would be this director's biggest fan. Thankfully, he made a good movie so it was easy. Also, how much does it cost to take a steamer across the Atlantic? I want to do that.