10. Star Trek
A reboot of the continuity and a reimagining of the style, Star Trek takes us back to the roots of the Star Trek franchise: life-long relationships, revenge-promising villains, and space opera. There were better movies released in 2009, but operatic sci-fi movies like this are released sparingly by studios. In fact, the last good operatic sci-fi movie I saw was 2005’s Serenity. A four-year gap between movies is not good enough, especially in the post-Star Wars era. It was definitely lacking that ‘little something’ that makes Star Trek as a franchise stand out against other sci-fi operas, but it’s a welcome attempt to bring the fold back, especially after the dismal failures of the last two movies.
9. An Education
A coming-of-age story about a British high school near-graduate (as in “almost done high school” and not “didn’t graduate”) who meets an older man that seems too good to be true. Jenny (Carey Mulligan) discovers that there’s more to life than just working toward a possible future; that the ability to enjoy life is just as important. This isn’t the theme of the movie, but the set-up. The movie acts as a sort of deconstruction of a “smarter than the average bear”, seemingly-worldly sixteen-year-old near the end, and without this, the movie wouldn’t be nearly as good. Nevertheless, a solid performance from newcomer Mulligan (though I must admit that I saw her as the main character in a Doctor Who episode from 2008 called “Blink.” A wonderful episode, and she plays it well).
8. A Serious Man
The Coen brothers’ version of the Book of Job, where a man struggles with a constant parade of misfortune. A whole bunch of bad things happen to Larry Gopnik (Michael Stuhlbarg), and all he can do is continue. Why? He can’t find any other reason than because he’s supposed to. Somewhat of a dark comedy, the Coen brothers have captured a man in a situation that would put other men at the end of their ropes. But not Larry. Like the little engine that could, maybe there’s some light at the end. We all know there won’t be. But then again, we’re all not Larry Gopnik.
7. (500) Days of Summer
A non-romantic comedy—and I mean that in the non-clichéd “romantic movie with one small twist that makes a movie stick in your mind, but is really formulaic so it’s non-threatening to the lemming-like audience of romantic comedies”—that reminds you that not all romances end with a happy ending. (500) Days of Summer plays with time to jump around a relationship where we see each of Tom’s (Joseph Gordon-Levitt) hopes of “the one” dashed in a subsequent scene of cold-hard reality. But don’t fret. Like a light at the end of a tunnel, the movie reminds us that Summer is not the only season. It’s as realistic of a romance as a movie can portray, and it proves that not all romantic comedies (oops, did I call it that?) are formula-driven, star’s-paycheque, non-threatening movies (I’m looking at you, Did You Hear About the Morgans? and The Bounty Hunter). And a word of caution: don’t see this movie with your boyfriend or girlfriend. Maybe an ex.
6. Broken Embraces
It’s a pity that this was not nominated for an Academy Award. Pedro Almadovar dives into the depths of how a filmmaker came to be the way he is: blind, and insistent on using the name “Harry Caine”; and how he became that. Using a framing story about a knock at the door from his past, we find out that this lonesome man was once a productive film director, whose only mistake was falling in love with a rich man’s beautiful mistress, and blinding himself to reality. Perhaps that was his punishment. Nevertheless, the film is certainly not lacking in beautiful vistas of Spain and Almadovar’s ability to produce colour in most of his sets. This movie makes me wonder, because foreign film actors are not recognized by the Academy, if Penelope Cruz’ Oscar nomination was a way for them to recognize her work in Broken Embraces, and Nine happened to be convenient.
5. Up in the Air
While the subject matter of this movie is directed mostly to the current economic crisis, I don’t believe that this is the only reason for this movie’s success. Jason Reitman weaves a tale with sly, sardonic humour on its side. Perhaps that’s the only way to deal with such a recent wound in our society. No, the movie’s not a comedy, but this is precisely the kind of movie that illustrates that you can’t always have a sour attitude toward life. There is no man better for the role than George Clooney, who looks like a man so sure of what his life is like, even when he says things we disagree with, we listen and believe because of that look. It makes us (and members of a motivational seminar) believe that he must be doing something right. The only thing that made me wonder was Anna Kendrick’s relative new performance: she seemed to be an odd fit. Eventually, I decided that that was the role: she was a newbie to the job; fresh out of school, and of the mentality that experience is for people that couldn’t make it through college. There are people like this, and if there is a God, they usually fall flat on their asses when real life rears it’s ugly head. But this time, schadenfreude never did show up.
4. Up
This movie is a perfect example of what I’ve believed for a long time: animated movies can have just as much punch and wit to them as some of the best live-action movies. In fact, animated movies can go farther than live-action in certain ways. And as I said, this movie is a perfect example of that. Did I mention that Up is the perfect example of the wonders of animation? Oh. Anyway, Up delivers an emotional tour de force with as much wit and emotion as any movie I’ve seen, animated or otherwise. It has a lot of advantages over other movies, least of which is the ability to use rich colour palettes to sway emotion. I know you were expecting me to say something like “a great way to bring imagination to screen” or something like that, and you’d be right. It is.
3. Inglourious Basterds
Who else but Quentin Tarantino would have the audacity to rewrite World War II? (For the spoiler-conscious, assume I’m referring to the existence of Operation Kino). Inglourious Basterds is a loud, film & pop culture nerd-fueled exercise in style and wish fulfillment. But it’s also nuanced, cleverly written, and one of the best-looking natural movies I’ve seen in a while. It’s obvious that Tarantino loves film, and has an eye for how to use his tools. Where other directors have trouble balancing between playing it straight and over-the-top, Tarantino brings in both Christoph Waltz and Brad Pitt to fill those respective roles (the latter of which quite deservedly won an Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor).
2. Avatar
What else can I say about a $500 million juggernaut that easily recouped it’s cost? Seeing this movie is how it must’ve been like seeing Star Wars for the first time in 1977. The movie is a spectacular triumph of translating visual imagination, and it awakens the awe-inspired child in all of us. Avatar, I suspect, is going to herald a new wave of technologically-realized fantasy movies, not unlike the post-Star Wars boom in the late 70-early 80s. Sure, the story isn’t exactly complex and the characters barely go past their archetypal origins, but this isn’t a character study.
1. The Hurt Locker
A taught war drama about a bomb disposal unit during the Iraq War that deservedly won its six Oscars, including Best Picture. The movie throws increasingly dangerous situations at the three soldiers—not all of them about bomb disposing, but those are the most tense—and observes how they react. It doesn’t lay its message on thick. It doesn’t force a political viewpoint. It merely presents the situations, and proves it’s opening caption: “War is a drug.” And it does it with intensity.
OK, so The Hurt Locker was released officially in 2008, but it didn't really get any steam until 2009. So if the Oscars can award it in 2009, why can't I?
Hurt Locker was good, but for my money, it wasn't a #1 film. Not when Tarrantino changed WW2 and gave us one of the best villains in history. :)
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