The Best Movies of 2009

MORDETH LESTOK · Post by **MORDETH LESTOK** » January 21st, 2010, 16:12

I can't really comment on this since I've only seen 1 movie on this List but maybe we could do a 5punk Top 10 Poll.

spoodie · Post by **spoodie** » January 21st, 2010, 16:43

This apparently is Empire magazine's list:

1. Let The Right One In
2. Slumdog Millionaire
3. Up
4. The Hurt Locker
5. Star Trek
6. The Wrestler
7. Inglorious Basterds
8. In The Loop
9. District 9
10. Coraline

I'm not sure why Inglorious Basterds is on either of these list, I didn't think it was that good.

From the films I saw last year I'd say my favourite was District 9, followed by Star Trek and with special mention going to Moon. You might spot a theme with my choices.

MORDETH LESTOK · Post by **MORDETH LESTOK** » January 21st, 2010, 16:54

hmm....Slumdog and The Wrestler were 2008

and Let the right one in...

Post by **FatherJack** » January 21st, 2010, 16:55

I've only seen Harry Potter, Coraline, Star Trek, Inglorious Basterds and District 9 from either of those lists and don't think any of them deserve to be film or the year.

I have Let The Right One In downstairs, and a few of the others on my rental list, but really want to see Ponyo, The Road and Drag Me To Hell.

Haven't seen enough to decide, really - I don't go to the pictures and it can take forever for some of them to appear on DVD. Ponyo was technically 2008, and it still has no DVD release date.

amblin · Post by **amblin** » January 21st, 2010, 17:31

Post by **Dog Pants** » January 21st, 2010, 17:31

I need to watch more films.

Akiakaiu · Post by **Akiakaiu** » January 21st, 2010, 17:55

From the movies on that list my list would be

1. Star Trek
2. Up
3. Inglorious Bastards
4. Haven't seen any other on the list

IMO Inglorious Bastards was better when the german/french/whatever was in russian subs or no subs at all so Jess and I had to guess what the hell was going on. When I got a real copy I couldn't finish it.

Post by **deject** » January 21st, 2010, 18:39

Sherlock Holmes was good, but it shouldn't be on anyone's best lists.

Post by **Dr. kitteny berk** » January 21st, 2010, 18:53

deject wrote:Sherlock Holmes was good, but it shouldn't be on anyone's best lists.

Okay thanks, I won't put in my best list.

bomberesque · Post by **bomberesque** » January 21st, 2010, 19:02

Dog Pants wrote:I need to watch more films.

^me too

Hurt locker
Star trek
watchmen

but then again, the only other '09 movie I saw was T4 I think

Post by **Joose** » January 21st, 2010, 19:04

Not sure I could come up with ten, but that says more about my memory for release dates than anything else.

Star trek would definitely be in there, as would Up and The Imaginarium of Doctor Parnassus (but im a bit of a Gilliam fanboy). District 9....maybe, I still cant decide if I liked it or not, for some reason. I liked Coraline, but again, im a Gaiman fanboy.

I didn't like Inglorious Basterds. It would have been better, weirdly, if the violence was toned down a bit. As it was, it seemed a bit like a kid swearing all the time in an attempt to sound grown up.

spoodie · Post by **spoodie** » January 21st, 2010, 19:40

FatherJack wrote:Drag Me To Hell.

I think perhaps Sam Raimi horror films are a genre all by themselves. I can't think of any other horror films that are intentionally as funny as they are scary, if not more so. This is a great example of the genre I probably just made up.

Post by **deject** » January 21st, 2010, 20:16

Inglourious Basterds was good, but definitely not 3rd best movie of the year good.

Post by **HereComesPete** » January 21st, 2010, 21:39

I was sorely disappointed with drag me to hell. The FX are good, the story is good but to me the humour felt misplaced. I realise he made his name with funny horror but I honestly didn't expect it in drag me to hell because all the trailers were bigging up how shit your pants it was.

Inglourious Basterds left me a bit cold too. I didn't like Pitts' character, maybe I wasn't meant to. But it wasn't a case of him being an anti-hero type that engenders a love to hate thing, more it felt very style over substance. The swagger and explosions and such felt a little hollow and I couldn't summon any kind of connection with his persona.

Now of course you have to expect style over substance to some extent with Tarantino, but his best films have compelling stories that are driven by the meticulous detail and great screenplay he produces. Inglourious Basterds misses this and felt a bit lifeless and bland to me.

Hurt Locker, I enjoyed it. Possibly might even watch it again, didn't feel any great sense of tension and such.

District 9 was an excellent film, yes it was as obvious as pointing at a pile of racists and rubbing your nose in it, but it didn't grate on me. It merely upped the sense of inequality and tension I felt. I genuinely spat at the fact that the fall guy saath efriken tried to condemn the entire alien camp to save himself and then cheered when he realised he was being a massive dick.

Anyway, less rambling -

1 Watchmen
2 District 9
3 Law Abiding Citizen
4 Star Trek
5 Taken
6 The wrestler
7 Coraline
8 The imaginarium of Dr Parnassus
9 Avatar
10 Where the wild things are

Post by **deject** » January 21st, 2010, 22:18

Watchmen? really? It was good I guess, but your pick for movie of the year?

amblin · Post by **amblin** » January 21st, 2010, 22:32

Post by **FatherJack** » January 21st, 2010, 23:23

HereComesPete wrote:Inglourious Basterds style over substance

This was my problem with it, not so much the big letters on the screen when the characters were introduced - as that the sort of style I'd expect from Tarantino, but the rather silly bits near the end after all the excellently tense scenes with Landa.

District 9 wasn't what I expected - the previews I'd seen were mostly from right at the end of the film so I was a bit disappointed there wasn't that sort of action from the start. Once I'd gotten over the setting Johannesburg being as subtle as holding a sign saying "I'm being ironic here!" it was an enjoyable enough story.

Mr. Johnson · Post by **Mr. Johnson** » January 21st, 2010, 23:58

Well, there's a lot of films I didn't see this year, but I just saw Coraline and that was a pretty great film, the other ones I saw off that list were Up, which was great, Slumdog millionaire, which was also very good and a little bit of Star trek, but not enough to actually determine whether I like it or not, it seems to be somewhat aimed at trekkies and it literally made me want to put on sunglasses so I could watch it. I'm still waiting for me mate to bring me District 9, and I have high hopes for that.
I couldn't care less about Inglorious Basterds though, I didn't see it but there is absolutely nothing about that film that appeals to me, it looks incredibly infantile and basically a mash-up of other films, and the fact that Tarantino is an irritating self-righteous asshole doesn't really make me want to watch it either.

Post by **HereComesPete** » January 22nd, 2010, 9:56

deject wrote:Watchmen? really? It was good I guess, but your pick for movie of the year?

I've always enjoyed the graphic novel, I thought the realisation onto the screen was excellent, I still hated them all for sacrificing the few for the many and loved how I thought Rorschach was a filthy scab but the only true hero. I found it more engaging and cathartic than anything else, so it gets my vote for my #1 film of 2009.

I refer you also to this.

Lexy · Post by **Lexy** » January 23rd, 2010, 15:51

I'm not really sure 2009 deserves a top movies of the year cataegory. Some years are just pretty average.

Watchmen was alright I suppose.

If there was a top intro sequences of 2009 for me it would be Wolverine (shame about the rest of the film and the shrek claws) and Watchmen.