Best of 2009 (So Far)

My list so far is...
1) G.I. Joe Rise Of Cobra
2) Watchmen
3) X-Men Origins Wolverine
4) Transformers Revenge Of The Fallen
5) Crank High Voltage
6) Taken

1. Watchmen
2. Up
3. Observe and Report
4. Harry Potter and the Half Blood Prince
5. Coraline

Haven't seen: Way too many this year. Sigh.

1. Mesrine: Killer Instinct (Public Enemy No. 1 Part 1)
2. In The Loop
3. Watchmen
4. Anvil
5. Bronson

1. Adventureland
2. Up
3. The Hurt Locker
4. In the Loop
5. The Brothers Bloom

In no order:

1. Moon
2. Up
3. The Hurt Locker
4. Brothers Bloom
5. Adventureland
6. Watchmen

I can't believe I haven't seen Moon yet.

1. Brothers Bloom
2. Up
3. Coraline
4. Adventureland
5. Hurt Locker

probably in order

In no particular order...

1: The Hurt Locker
2: Coraline
3: Moon
4: Watchmen
5: Star Trek

But I'm sure after this weekend, 'District 9' will replace one of these...

1. Adventureland
2. Hurt Locker
3. Moon
4. Girlfriend Experience
5. Drag Me To Hell

When looking through movies that have come out this year I realised I've only seen five movies in cinemas this year. That's a depressing thought.

There's way too many I haven't seen yet due to lack of money. I've been unemployed since January so I'll be doing some catching up once I've got a job. And, of course, being in the UK I haven't had a chance to see Up yet, which looks great.

Out of the five I didn't miss, four are likely to stay on the list once I'm caught up. I didn't prioritize them without reason:

Coraline
Watchmen
Drag me to Hell
Moon

The fifth was Bruno, which I enjoyed a lot but wasn't as good as Borat, and definitely can't compete with the rest of the list, so I guess that can be my 'almost'. Drag me to Hell might be my favourite horror movie I've ever seen, I loved it to bits. Coraline scared me far more than any kids movie has any right to, and the animation was beautiful. Watchmen was exactly the movie that the graphic novel deserved (though I'm yet to see the Director's Cut, which I look forward to more). Moon was just amazing, even though a magazine I read casually spoiled the plot the day before I was going to see it.

EDIT: Fuck. Now I've seen Inglourious Basterds and District 9. I'll have to rethink, if I want to keep it down to 5. I'll get back to you.

2009's four-star movies (updated Jan. 1).

1. A Serious Man
2. An Education
3. Up
4. In the Loop
5. Inglourious Basterds
6. Drag Me to Hell
7. Goodbye Solo
8. District 9
9. Fantastic Mr. Fox
10. Bright Star
11. The Hurt Locker
12. Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince
13. The Soloist
14. Coraline
15. Paranormal Activity
16. The Cove
17. Adventureland
18. Away We Go
19. The Informant!
20. Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs
21. Julie and Julia

Movie I Have No Idea How to Classify, But Leaning Towards Brilliant At the Moment: Antichrist

1. Star Trek
2. Watchmen
3. The Hangover
4. Public Enemies
5. Taken

Haven't been able to see Moon or Hurt Locker yet... not playing anywhere near me unfortunately.

In no particular order at the moment. I'm sure it will congeal later on into an organized and shapely top ten.

Adventureland
The Brothers Bloom
The Hurt Locker
District 9
Star Trek
Moon
Up
Observe and Report
Drag Me to Hell
World's Greatest Dad
Crank: High Voltage (Come on, it's hilarious)

Still need to see In the Loop and some of the other indies.

You don't have to "apologize" for loving Crank 2, you'll find a lot of fans around these parts.

In no particular order:

Mary and Max (Aussie animation voiced by Phillip Seymour Hoffman, Toni Collette, Barry Humphries and Eric Bana.It's fucking great)
Mesrine: Killer Instinct
In the Loop
Moon
Adventureland
Le Donk (Shane Meadows and Paddy Considine)
The Hurt Locker
Anvil

Worst by a country fucking mile...Giallo. Can actors take their name off their movies? If I were Adrian Brody (and I've been told I've got the nose for it) I'd be straight onto my lawyer to find out. Utter BILGE!

I expect everyone here to amend their lists to include Inglourious Basterds post haste.

Greg David, I will add...Inglourious Basterds, only after I see...James Cameron's Avatar. They are now competing for #5 on my list (sorry...Crank High Voltage, CHV is now...#7)

IB is now in a threeway with Up and Adventureland. Once I see IB again (shortly), that is likely to put it over the top.

Its way too early and I have too many movies yet unseen to begin to make any comprehensive list. Although its safe to say that DMTH, D9 and IB have reserved a spot.

1. Hurt Locker
2. Observe and Report
3. Moon
4. Crank 2: Hight Voltage
5. District 9
6. Up
7. In The Loop
8. Inglorious Basterds
9. Bronson
10. Big Fan

11. 500 Days of Summer

In no particular order:

Coraline.
Mesrine:Killer Instinct/Public Enemy No1
Inglourious Basterds
Watchmen
Crank 2

So far that's it.

I'm going to abuse the hell out of the edit function with my list...

1) Inglourious Basterds
2) Moon
3) The Fantastic Mr. Fox
4) Up
5) The Hurt Locker
6) Watchmen
7) Observe and Report
8) Star Trek (Would have been higher on my list, but the excessive lens flare really hurt it for me)
9) A Serious Man
10) Avatar

and

136) Public Enemies (So boring and mediocre. Several great scenes though, which made it even more frustrating. I'm with Nick on this one.)
137) Transformers 2 (This should have been better than the first, goddammit)
138) Terminator Salvation

Honorable mentions:
Bronson (Mostly for the amazing performance, and the way it was filmed. There's not much to it really)
District 9
Drag Me to Hell
Crank 2
Zombieland
Black Dynamite
The Brothers Bloom
Coraline

I would feel silly making this list before Whiteout is released. But I'd bet good money on nothing beating the Basterds this year.

Up
Adventureland
Coraline
Sita Sings the Blues
Observe and Report
$9.99

Really feel like I need to see Brothers Bloom again before committing.

I haven't seen enough of these movies to make my list yet. Going to see Hurt Locket today, it finally came out here. Also need to see Brothers Bloom, it sounds like a film that would make my list. Got the DVD of Adventureland, and In the Loop, I just haven't really been bothered to watch them yet. I also need to see the Damn United. Hell, I can't even remember all the films I've seen this year. Ofcourse, next week we get D9, that should be a treat.

Do you ever feel you spend way more time, reading about and discussing films, rather than actually watching them?

1) Mesrine: Killer Instinct

Inglorious Basterds
Moon
Anvil
Drag Me to Hell
Watchmen DC

I'll be surprised if I have five by the end of the year.

EDIT: I am surprised. Added THE HURT LOCKER.
EDIT: Surprised again. Added the delightful MR. FOX.

FANTASTIC MR. FOX
PONYO
RED CLIFF II
THE HURT LOCKER
TETRO
KILLSHOT
Honorable mention: SHINJUKU INCIDENT

Thinking back, this has been a pretty good year for movies. Sure, there have been some mis-steps and crap, TF2 for instance, but if it's been good, it's been fucking great.

In no particular order...

1. District 9
2. The Hurt Locker
3. Moon
4. Thirst
5. Adventureland
6. Watchmen
7. Up

Hope to add IB to the list very soon.Glad to see Adventureland getting tons of love in these parts. I'm looking forward to the also starring Jesse Eisenberg sequel, Zombieland, too.

Yes, all the time. Hell, I sometimes find myself talking about movies that are out that I haven't even seen yet.

In order: (need to rewatch the top 2, might switch them)

BEST:

District 9
Inglorious Basterds
Che: Part 1 & 2
Up
Public Enemies
The Hurt Locker
The Brothers Bloom
Watchmen
Star Trek
Observe And Report
A Perfect Getaway
The Hangover
Ong Bak 2
G.I. Joe
Bruno

WORST:

Terminator: Salvation

In terms of pure satisfaction...

Inglorious Basterds
Up
The Cove
Moon
Drag Me to Hell
Transformers 2 (ironically)
District 9
Thirst
Star Trek
Orphan
16 minutes of Avatar!!!!!! Oh yea oh yea.

I've cooled significantly on Watchmen. That movie, along with Observe & Report, The Brothers Bloom, and Adventureland, feel like they came out ages ago. Time moves so fast and slow... I need to see these again.

This is a really, really good year so far. Catching up on stuff I missed earlier on DVD, and similarly blown away by BAADER-MEINHOF. Awesome.

Revised!:
THE BROTHERS BLOOM
BAADER-MEINHOF COMPLEX
INGLORIOUS BASTERDS
ANVIL! THE STORY OF ANVIL
A SERIOUS MAN
DISTRICT 9
SIN NOMBRE
FANTASTIC MR. FOX
DRAG ME TO HELL
UP
THE HURT LOCKER
WHERE THE WILD THINGS ARE

UP
Inglorious Basterds
Drag Me To Hell
Adventureland
Star Trek
Anvil
The Hurt Locker


(Dying to watch District 9)

1. Inglorious Basterds
2. Two Lovers
3. Up
4. District 9
5. Adventureland

Now that Summer of 2009 is unofficially over (the official date is...first day of...Fall) here is my revised Top 5 films as of 9/8...
1) G.I. Joe Rise Of Cobra
2) Watchmen
3) X-Men Origins Wolverine
4) Transformers Revenge Of The Fallen
5) Crank High Voltage

Expected 6-12
6) Ninja Assassin
7) Taken
8) Ong Bak 2
9) Inglourious Basterds
10) Avatar
11) Astroboy
12) Star Trek

Inglourious Basterds
Thirst
Moon
World's Greatest Dad
Observe & Report
District 9
Black Dynamite
Zombieland
Watchmen
UP

1. 'Inglourious Basterds'
2. 'Watchmen (Director's Cut)'
3. 'Up!'
4. 'The Hurt Locker'
5. 'Star Trek'

I haven't seen 'District 9' yet.

Worst: 'The Ugly Truth'

1. The Hurt Locker
2. Inglourious Basterds
3. Up
4. Moon
5. Anvil! The Story of Anvil
6. Watchmen
7 Public Enemies
8. Il Divo
9. Thirst
10. District 9

1. District 9
2. The Hurt Locker
3. Inglourious Basterds
4. Moon
5. Up
6. Coraline
7. In the Loop
8. Ponyo
9. Drag Me to Hell
10. (500) Days of Summer

1-9 are legitimately great movies.

No order to these;

1) Let The Right One In (came to UK cinemas this year)
2) In The Loop
3) Inglourious Basterds
4) District 9
5) Martyrs
6) Antichrist
7) Drag Me To Hell
8) Moon
9) The Hurt Locker
10) Watchmen

In no order, taken from the 55 films I've seen thus far:

Watchmen
Inglourous Basterds
Harry Potter & The Half-Blood Prince
Adventureland
Hurt Locker
Public Enemies
Summer Hours
Up
Drag Me To Hell
Moon

The Hurt Locker
Up
Ponyo
District 9
Adventureland
Inglourious Basterds
Watchmen
Summer Hours
The Brothers Bloom

That's my top 9 in somewhat of an order (The Hurt Locker is definitely number one but the rest can be jumbled). But all are pretty great.

Holy smokes, someone else actually got to see that great flick in the 13 hours it stayed in theatres?

In order:

1) World's Greatest Dad
2) District 9
3) The Hangover
4) Inglorious Basterds
5) Taken

I watch most movies at home these days (F you, Cinemark!), so that list could get shaken up, but it'd take a lot for anything else to crack that top 4. I'm pretty sure World's Greatest Dad will remain my favorite film of 2009 when the year is up - it's that good.

Oh yeah, such a great film. There's a screening coming up at BAM in Brooklyn for anyone in that neck of the woods.

In no order and off the top of my head:

The Brothers Bloom
Up
District 9
Inglourious Basterds
World's Greatest Dad
Adventureland
In the Loop
Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince
Every Little Step
Away We Go

Keep in mind there are plenty of films that are out right now but I haven't had a chance to see.

There's so much I still need to see that I missed, and am dying to see that's coming out (An Education, for one), but I think my estimation of Hurt Locker and Inglorious Basterds have risen enough to tie it with Adventureland for my favorite of the year so far. Hurt Locker is the one I've thought the most about, that's for sure.

This year didn't really have any critical darlings, except for WHERE THE WILD THINGS ARE, maybe. Regardless, this year was LOADED with movies that flat-out exhilarated me in a "this is why I go to movies" way.

(In no order)
WATCHMEN, DISTRICT 9, CORALINE, UP, INGLOURIOUS BASTERDS, DRAG ME TO HELL, OBSERVE AND REPORT, WHERE THE WILD THINGS ARE.

UP, WHERE THE WILD THINGS ARE, and INGLOURIOUS BASTERDS alone would've set this year apart. Hell, the giant face in the smoke alone would've set this year apart! But we get a DISTRICT 9 and DRAG ME TO HELL too?

STAR TREK was fun too.
ADVENTURELAND was good, though I'm kinda tired of loose, hang-out movies. I love DAZED AND CONFUSED as much as anyone, but I don't think I need THAT many entries in that genre. Plus I wish some of the drama was pushed a little farther, cut a little deeper, drawn out a little more.
ZOMBIELAND was also fun and I can't think of a single fault.

ALSO: I haven't seen: A SERIOUS MAN or ANTICHRIST, but I've been drooling over the trailers.

It's been longer than I remember since I couldn't wait for a movie to come out on DVD, but I'm dying to watch Inglourious Basterds again and again. Saw it twice in theaters, which I never do anymore, and I still haven't had enough. Without question, the best movie I've seen since Children of Men, and I think I might enjoy it more too.

Definitely go see it again if you can find it. I saw it 3 times and it was fantastic every time. It's a beautiful film to see on a nice digital screen.

1. The Hurt Locker
2. District 9
3. Inglorious Basterds
4. Up
5. Ponyo
6. Adventureland
7. Summer Hours
8. The Brothers Bloom
9. Where the Wild Things Are
10. Observe and Report
11. Watchmen
12. Zombieland
13. Crank 2
14. Gomorrah
15. Taking Woodstock
16. Jennifer's Body
17. Ice Age 3
18. Monsters vs Aliens
19. Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs
20. Sunshine Cleaning