The Big Picture's Top Ten Films of 2009

Tuesday

Dec222009

Tuesday, December 22, 2009 at 7:52PM

What makes a great film? Or better yet, what makes one film greater than another? It's impossible to answer although we can all usually agree on a few things: The Godfather is better than Jane Austen's Mafia, Casablanca beats Gigli, and Toy Story is superior to Toys.

There's never one thing that we cling to (although, certainly, in the right or wrong hands, any one thing can shift 180 degrees), but a well-written, well-directed, well-acted film tends to stand out against the average, and there's more average every year in the movies than there is good or bad.

But ranking them? That's a thankless task. This list may not be like yours. All I can tell you is that these are the films that resonated loudest with me, and some longer than others, a couple not even upon first viewing. Some of them add technical achievements to that appreciation, but that isn't mandatory unless the film itself can't exist without it. I will say that I didn't love 2009 at the movies as much as I did the previous two years, and I hope to see more of the documentaries and foreign language films that have not yet made it to our shores. Those are usually a staple of my top ten lists (30% last year), but none made the cut in 2009, I'm afraid.

1 - The Hurt Locker

It is not an easy thing to make a challenging film that is just as entertaining. Kathryn Bigelow gave us a film that shows a different side of war, not just how wars are waged, but also how this very unpopular war operates day-to-day. It is not a polemic about our country's rationale to embrace an invasion of Iraq or even its shortsighted approach to how the effort would evolve (or devolve) over the past half-decade. Instead, it is a look at a different kind of soldier, both in terms of the duties they perform (bomb disposal unit as opposed to front line troops) and the unique pyschology that makes them ideally suited for this function, or, as it happens, not suited for it at all.

Much like last year's Slumdog Millionaire, appreciation for the technical achievements of this film grows upon repeat viewings. It is fabulously photographed and is edited precisely. As designed as this film is, it looks immediate and in the moment. Bigelow did not have the luxury of $100 million or more to make this film. Therefore, she does not have A-list stars to rely on. No matter: Jeremy Renner gives what might be the best male performance of the year.

You don't need wild innovation to make a classic. For examples of that, please consult a list of classics. The Hurt Locker rose to the top in 2009 because it told the story of its characters and their times passionately, effectively, and unforgettably.

Read our review

2 - Up

Any time an animated film makes you cry within the first ten minutes, you know you're not dealing with another trip to Toon Town. Up joins a list of terrific Pixar movies - The Incredibles topped our year-end list in 2004, and Wall-E placed in our top ten last year - that it's safe to say continues to raise our expectations of that filmmaking brand, expectations Pixar usually manages to surpass.

In this case, Up grew in stature since its May release, and when I watched it on DVD in the past few weeks, I admired the film even more than before. Terrific characters, much better dialogue than you remember on first glimpse, and the best little adventure of the year.

Read our review

3 - Inglourious Basterds

From the opening scene, we're watching Quentin Tarantino in total control of a set of circumstances and filmmaking influences most directors would never try to conquer. It isn't his best directorial effort, but it might be his most consistent narrative in terms of his screenwriting. The introduction of Christoph Waltz' Col. Hans Landa is the best scene of dialogue this year, and what a way to kick off a movie.

Tarantino throws us a curve, of course: The Inglourious Basterds led by Brad Pitt are not the stars of this show. They're the point of view for everything going on around them. Waltz and Melanie Laurent give fantastic supporting performances, and while there are a couple things here and there that don't work, that's Tarantino. Mad scientists sometimes have a few things blow up in their faces. But on the whole, this is one big hell yeah that's much more sophisticated than the director might like to let on.

Read our review

4 - (500) Days of Summer

Taking both the romance and some of the comedy out of the romantic comedy, (500) Days of Summer presented one of the most realistic looks at love and its simplistic complications while also keeping an eye on an inventive narrative and great character development. Usually, we'd be happy with one of the three. Director Marc Webb and stars Joseph Gordon-Levitt and Zooey Deschanel find that which is most relatable about these characters and show it to us in the most relatable ways.

From the outset, Tom Hansen (Gordon-Levitt) tells us it's not a love story and despite everything, he's both completely right and completely wrong. It just depends on how you view love, I suppose. Like Annie Hall, this is a movie about love in full, not just the bits and pieces we're normally fed at the movies. It's not just a male character running in a full sprint to the airport before her plane leaves. In fact, it's almost never that.

Read our review

5 - Fantastic Mr. Fox

We see adaptations all the time. In fact, most enormous box office hits and contemporary Oscar winners come from another source. And this is not to diminish the impact of some of those, but Wes Anderson's Fantastic Mr. Fox not only embraces the original Roald Dahl story but it also serves as a launching pad for the very specific absurdity of Wes Anderson. Make no mistake: This is a Wes Anderson film through and through, from the dialogue, to the soundtrack, to the pacing. It's just in stop-motion animation.

It was a terrific year for animation in general, and there were two notable stop-motion films, this and Coraline. And the more adventurous animation becomes, the better off movies will be. With animation giving us two of the year's absolute best and most entertaining films, I'd say we're in a better state than ever.

Read our review

6 - District 9

If you know about the struggles of South Africa during and after the embarrassing 50-year stranglehold of Apartheid, District 9 is an effective social allegory wrapped in a science fiction skin. If you don't, it's just phenomenal sci-fi, but still elementally different. The science fiction we're used to is bright and shiny, futuristic. The tech in District 9 seems almost outdated and run down, which is itself a social commentary.

Before the film was released, it was commonly referred to as being the property of Peter Jackson - "from producer Peter Jackson" and so fort - but once it was released, it was clear that this is a victory for first-time feature director Neill Blomkamp, who took a very modest budget and made a science fiction film with visual and emotional impact.

Read our review

7 - An Education

The simplest movie from top to bottom in our top ten is an actor's showcase, indicating that a movie doesn't always need rule- breaking direction or even a story with a thousand layers to capture our attention. A good story, well told and memorably acted, very often does more work that $200 million blow-em-ups ever could. In fact, with a different cast and a different screenwriter, An Education could have failed just as easily as it succeeded.

The linchpin is Carey Mulligan, an actress we'll be hearing a lot of in the future. A surefire Oscar nominee, Mulligan cuts right through the celluloid the film is printed on with an invention so heartbreaking and headstrong it will stand among the decade's best leading actress portrayals. She is bolstered by great work by the invaluable Alfred Molina, Peter Sarsgaard, and Olivia Williams, plus an energetic, funny, and sad script by the great novelist Nick Hornby.

Read our review

8 - The Hangover

Why don't comedies get more credit? You've got me. Comedy is, after all, a high-wire act of complete precision. The timing can not be a half-second off or it's curtains. This year, there was The Hangover, which had laughs on top of laughs, ending, it should be pointed out, with the biggest laugh in the whole movie, part of an inspired closing credits sequence that pieces together some of the enduring mysteries that vex our drunken partygoing heroes.

Todd Phillips has made good comedies before, and he recognizes the importance of balance within the cast of characters. While Zach Galifianakis stole the show, it was the palpitations of Ed Helms and the calming influence of Bradley Cooper that kept the film moving forward, allowing for those whacked-out asides that will remain in the lexicon of movie quoters for years to come. There's a reason people kept coming back to this one over and over again this summer: It's a comedy that got the credit it deserved.

Read our review

9 - Up in the Air

It took me two trips to fully appreciate Up in the Air. It's deceptively strong, even though it's not truly excellent in one area. The acting by George Clooney is incredibly natural (as it usually is), and the supporting work by Vera Farmiga and Anna Kendrick is really good, even if they don't have to set death-defying world records in Jason Reitman's film. Reitman's direction is effortless, too, as is the script he co-wrote with Sheldon Turner, based on Walter Kim's novel.

But this one's a slow burner, the story of a man who has spent so long insulating himself from the world by being 30,000 feet above it that he can never fully come in for a landing. Best of all, it doesn't feel fake or even inauthentic. That's a testament to everyone involved, really.

Read our review

10 - Star Trek

On its own, this space western wouldn't look like it has a high degree of difficulty. But let's not forget that it's the reinvention of one of the two most beloved science fiction franchises of the past 50 years. Imagine the scrutiny for a new Star Wars, one directed by someone who was admittedly not a fan of George Lucas' universe. That's the case here, with TV vet J.J. Abrams taking on Gene Roddenberry's journey of the U.S.S. Enterprise...and the results are phenomenally entertaining.

Some of the crew of the Enterprise are new to a lot of moviegoers, raising that degree of difficulty even more. Abrams and his Lost creative team bend the rules a little bit, show us origin stories of Kirk and Spock, and give villain Eric Bana plenty of room to be menacing. It's the most fun you could have had in space in a long, long time.

Read our review

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Reader Comments (14)

good list my friend, a very good list...

Tuesday, December 22, 2009 |

anybody

we shall agree to disagree on #1 and #10.

Tuesday, December 22, 2009 |

quin browne

hey colin, it would be nice if you could put a link to your review for each of the listed movies. I was just trying to find the review of hurt locker and now i have to go through your archives.
thanks

Tuesday, December 22, 2009 |

visu

Good call, Visu. I'll do just that...

Tuesday, December 22, 2009 |

Get The Big Picture

Colin, is Avatar in your top 20?

Tuesday, December 22, 2009 |

Brandon

Awesome list purely awesome....while I'm not completely gun-ho about just a few of your choices & their placing, these are actually all around good choices, & that is probably why I read your blog Colin lol...

Completely agree with you on UP, I mean that is exactly what happened to me, in the first 10 min, boom, tears rolling down my face, I mean it was caused by animation!!!
-that's pretty insane

Hurt Locker, Up, Hangover, 500 Days, An Education, District 9, Up in the Air all deserve to be in there
--but I would've loved if you picked either UP or Fantastic Mr.Fox but not both...kinda same scenario w/ Sandra Bullock nod's
--also could have done without Star Trek, I mean it was good & written great, but Top 10?

Not a very acting-skill heavy list here, very sci-fi/animation, which is very interesting...

My Top 10 include (I honestly cant rank them)

Hurt Locker,,,A Single Man,,,Inglorious Basterds,,,An Education,,,Up in the Air,,,500 Days,,,The Hangover,,,Precious,,,Bright Star,,,Crazy Heart

BUT my list is very acting craft/skill/acting performance heavy b/c that's just my personal taste in films....

But ....Avatar, UP, District 9, Invictus, The Lovely Bones, NINE, =need to have heavy consideration & even switched with others...

Great job, I applaud you!!

Tuesday, December 22, 2009 |

SEAN

Yeah, Avatar would easily make the top 20, and if I were ranking enormous individual achievements here, it would make the ten. Is it more impressive than Star Trek? Surely, but I thought that movie had a better balance of its parts than did Cameron's film. The five movies battling for nine and ten most recently list were Avatar, Trek, Up in the Air, Moon, and The Informant!. A few others were initial considerations. Cameron will be quite high on our list of top ten directors before the end of the year, though.

Tuesday, December 22, 2009 |

Get The Big Picture

wow, i have actually seen all 10 of these films, so i can comment on it fully.

The Hurt Locker 9/10 - really a great film
Up 9/10 - agreed on you completely with the beginning but it loses a bit in the middle
Inglourious Basterds 9/10 - loved that opening, weaker ending
500 Days of Summer 10/10 - what a pitch perfect story about love
Fantastic Mr. Fox 10/10 - perfect adaptation of a great book and done by a great director
District 9 9/10 - a fantastic use of docu-drama and a fantastic lead performance
An Education 6/10 - a let-down in my opinion
The Hangover - 9/10 - great straight up comedy
Up in the Air - 10/10 - a magical and perfect film that i could have watched all day. so far my best of 09
Star Trek 5/10 - i am so confused about this one, i really couldn't get into it the way everyone else did

Tuesday, December 22, 2009 |

Nelson

Thanks for including Star Trek in your top 10. A very well made film that got better on 2nd and 3rd viewings. (500) Days of Summer is number 1 for me, but I didn't see half the films that you did.

Well done, sir!