The Best Movies Of 2009

Another year. Another best of list. This list feature the 20 movies that I made the strongest connection to during 2009. It may include movies that were produced in previous years, but I've included them for 2009, as that's when I saw them first.

As ever, these films are rated by how they have affected me personally. I don't look at these movies with the dispassionate eye of a seasoned movie critic. Rather, I look at how these movies have satisfied the inner geek that is unique to me.

I look at the entertainment factor of each film...how much a movie thrilled me, made me laugh, moved me emotionally, stimulated me artistically or made me think.
I look at the re-watchability factor...do I want to watch this movie again and again?
Then there's the longevity factor. Will I like this movie in a year's time? Or in ten years time...or am I just taken in by the hype (The Roger Rabbit syndrome)?

So in reverse order, my pick of 2009 is:-

20/ Halloween II.
Rob Zombie improves upon his 2007 remake and delivers an unrelentingly savage addition to the slasher genre. An under appreciated auteur. But an auteur, with a distinct vision, never the less.

19/ Trick r Treat
Brilliant horror anthology with a great cast, clever script and some inventive, old-school Amblin-style direction.They do make 'em like this anymore.

18/ Martyrs.
Torture porn with a brain...Martyrs proved that the reigning kings of cinematic horror on the planet are the French. A dazzling script that constantly changes direction and gorno taken to new levels. If you're not fazed by the excesses of modern horror, here's one to make you go, "That's some fucked up shit!"

17/ The Hurt Locker
Director Kathryn Bigelow's stunning comeback with the best contemporary war movie since Blackhawk Down. It's a compelling, three pronged character study, framed with a series of THE most tense set-pieces of the year.

16/ Harry Brown
Michael Caine just gets better with every year he's working and delivers a career best performance in this minimalist, contemporary urban western. Sleek of script, gritty in tone and glossy in execution...the best Brit movie of 2009.

15/ Up
Pixar deliver another classic mixing action, humour and adventure in a story that appeals to all ages. The emotional depth the company brings to animation is amazing, as demonstrated by the mournful sadness experienced by the aging Carl, the films unlikely hero.

14/ Where The Wild Things Are
Spike Jonze's arthouse children's adaptation sucks you into the mindset of a child from beginning to end. This years movie that, yet again, it isn't style over substance...the style IS the substance. Great to see a director using cinematic techniques to enhance what's in the script.

13/ Terminator Salvation
Perhaps the most controversial movie choice in the top 20. This is a face-paced, post-apocalyptic actioner that doesn't embarrass itself in front of its two Cameron predecessors. Although flawed by not living up to its full promise, Salvation is one of the few summer blockbusters that demands to be rewatched.

12/ Crank 2: High Voltage
The original looks like The French Connection in comparison. Take the unhinged minds of directors Nevildine & Taylor, detatch any sense of conventional logic...then let rip. The most quotable film of 2009 ("Bing Crosby!")that is worth the ticket price alone for the Chevzilla sequence. Like Evil Dead or Braindead before it, this is a celebration of unrestrained imagination.

11/ Black Dynamite
Low budget, homage to 70's blackspoitation, Black Dynamite is constantly surprising from start to end. It's completely faithful to the Shaft look in all respects, very very funny and gets more insane as it progresses.

And now for the top ten. Unlike previous years, 2009 contains a selection that fully deserves to be up there.

10/ Paranormal Activity
That rare beast; a horror film that's genuinely scary. Combining the 'Blair Witch' hand held factor with a traditional haunted house tale...and setting it in a modern house with an everyday, easy-to-relate-to couple. White knuckles and puckered sphincters are the consequence.

9/ Valkyrie
Tom Cruise, Bryan Singer and an all-star cast team-up for this gripping World War 2 thriller. Low on action but uncomfortably high on nail biting set pieces, this is as tense as it is historically revealing. Cruise continues his run of quality movies that began with 1993's The Firm.

8/ Moon
Old school 70's science fiction makes a welcome return in Duncan Jones's low budget drama. Although limited to one actor and a few sets, the story explores familiar sci-fi ground in a haunting new way.

7/ Zombieland
Combining tips of how to survive a Zombie apocalypse with interwoven stories of humorous, mess-up cynics was a masterstroke. The gags stand up to repeated viewing, the song selection is amazing and the characters endearing and moving. Plus THAT Bill Murray cameo.

6/ Inglorious Basterds
Quentin Tarantino's best movie since Pulp Fiction. Filmed with the skill of an old school Hollywood pro combined with the language of a cult film geek, this is QT at his best. The script is lean yet multi-layered, Melanie Laurent is a talent to watch, Brad is funny as hell while Christopher Waltz blows everybody else away.

5/ Drag Me To Hell
Sam Raimi's return to form following his roaming the wastelands of drama and super-heroes. The master shows just how it should be done with loud, jumpy noises, swirling camerawork, a demented gypsy...and a leading lady he takes pride in putting through the emotional, and physical, wringer. Demented in a way most other directors can only dream of.

4/ District 9
Another stunning reinvention of the science fiction concept of first contact, Neil Blompkamp gives us the bizarre insect-like alien 'Prawns',lays heavily on the apartide references, and delivers the story in a semi-documentary style. Despite sci-fi trappings and social commentary, the movie never loses focus on the characters...even the bug eyed ones.

3/ Watchmen



Faithful adaptation of Alan Moore's landmark graphic novel, Watchmen was rich and uncompromising. Like last years Dark Knight, Watchmen deconstructed the superhero genre by exploring a variety of masked heroes with differing morality. Dark, blackly comic with Zack Snyder impeccably framed visuals. A movie so dense it demands multiple viewings.

2/ Avatar



That rare movie that occurs once or twice a decade that blasts off your eyeballs with it's imagination capturing genius and groundbreaking quality visuals. After 12 years absent from narrative film-making, James Cameron can still pen and direct an action blockbuster along with the best of them...only then to combine it with the smarts of an Oscar worthy movie. Zoe Saldana shines through the astonishing CGI make-up while Cameron's big action set-piece bashes your brain until your balls throb. It doesn't hurt that it riffs on his own classic, Aliens, as well.

1/ Star Trek



Simply the most emotionally involving, exciting and re-watchable movie of the year. The script is an astonishing accomplishment, juggling reinvention, multiple character arcs, along with established Trek lore. JJ Abrams is a director who's found his feet and is proving it to the world. The whole cast are exceptional, especially Pine and Saldana whose careers start big-time here....the whole cast portray a group of characters you want to spend more and more time with, even after the movie's ended. The photography is utterly fresh and the score is untouchably good.

So why's it better than Avatar? I've always believed that if you strip away all the special effects away from a blockbuster, if whatever remains is still compelling, then you've got yourself a great movie. And it's the character interactions that pull you in, and keep you hypnotised. Two of the most powerful moments in the movie revolve around George Kirk and Amanda Grayson dying. Despite only being onscreen a few minutes each, the impact is a swift kick to the danglies. A movie that gets better with every viewing, it was supposed to be an improvement on what had gone before, but this incarnation of Star Trek is ridiculously entertaining.


Films that didn't quite make it were:-
State of Play, District B-13:Ultimatum, Knowing, Duplicity and Harry Potter & The Half Blood Prince.

Special mention has to go to "GI:Joe" and "2012" for not sucking as much as they appeared in their pre-release advertising campaigns. Not often, but sometimes, dumb IS fun.