The Movies of 2009

Now that the Oscars are over, I have no drive to see any more movies from the past year. So I might as well rank all of the 2009 films that I did manage to catch… they’re listed from best to worst.

Up in the Air – A movie that actually lived up to the hype. Funny, relevant, unsentimental, smart, easily the best movie of the year.

Up – Another enormously entertaining Pixar pic, and the only movie I’ve seen that actually used 3-D as part of its message, and not just as “Look what we can do!” shtick.

Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince – Not as good as the previous two HP movies (and it totally botched the love story), but still an impressive entry in an amazing series. Worth watching just for the incredible cast.

The Princess and the Frog – Gotta love a movie with great animation, fun characters, and clever tweaks to the genre (in this case, the whole Disney Princess tradition). The songs were a bit weak, though.

District 9 – Solid science-fiction, but the way it’s told – switching between documentary-style footage and straight-up narrative – was extremely jarring, and distracted me when I should have been involved.

Avatar – It was certainly predictable, but I enjoyed the scenery and never got bored. It helps that I’ve been on a Western kick lately. James Cameron, btw, continues to be an inspiration to plagiarists everywhere.

Star Trek – Lots of laughs, especially for fans, but the villain was a total dud. I’m looking forward to the sequel.

Julie & Julia – Only half of it was great (the stuff with Meryl Streep)... but what a half! Shame that it had no ending.

The Hangover – Not as great as some claim, but the beginning of its second act – when the protagonists wake up and make one horrifying discovery after another after another after another – is brilliant.

Inglorious Basterds – I liked it as a Western takeoff, but parts of it made me queasy, the humor didn’t work, and there were no characters to root for. Except for the Nazi, which I don't think is what Tarantino was going for.

The Young Victoria – I’m a total sucker for costume dramas, but the love story here didn’t work for me. I actually kept wishing she’d end up with the other guy, who was much more charming.

The Hurt Locker – Way overrated. It makes its point in the first few seconds, has a good hour or so of tense filmmaking… then goes on and on without adding anything to the story. To make it even more redundant, the main character gives a little speech at the end, just in case someone out there didn’t get what this was about.

X-Men Origins: Wolverine – Better than the third X-Men movie, but that aint saying much.

Watchmen – Equal parts gross and hammy. There were some scattered good scenes, but they were all lifted straight from the comic, so what’s the point? Also, the heroes all seemed to possess superhuman strength and skills, which kinda defeats the whole purpose.

The Proposal – The idea made me jealous that I hadn’t thought of it. The execution, not so much. I think I laughed once, though.

New Moon – Hey, it’s a step above last year’s list-ender, since it added some oddball new characters and the male lead disappears for most of the movie. And the rest of it is so hilariously bad that it’s almost worth seeing... if you’re trapped on an airplane, I suppose.

Confessions of a Shopaholic – They forgot the confession about this being a crappy movie.


I also saw the Toy Story & Toy Story 2 3-D Double Feature… it was fun to see them on the big screen, though the 3-D didn’t add anything (probably because it wasn’t shot to be in 3-D). But since they’re not new movies, I left ‘em off the list.