I wonder if he liked that Pixar movie hmmm hmmmm

Disclaimer:
Being part idiot, it's often hard for me to talk in a smart-like way about movies I’ve seen without resorting to words like "really cool," and "amazing" which, at the end of the day, don't really amount to much in the way of insightful analysis. And seeing as how I spend some biggish part of my time writing about movies for a website, it’s clear I’m gonna need to be getting by I guess on some kind of ocean of sincere enthusiasm. Which is fine, I guess, as watching movies is my absolute favourite pastime in the universe. It's the experience itself that I feed off of, and so that ends up informing any lasting impression I have on any given film. That visceral feeling is what I try somehow kludge/translate into a review.

Well, 2009 was an especially awesome year for positive movie-watching experiences, so naturally it was a little tough to distill my favourites into a list of mere 10! But, the Internet gods demand a sacrifice, and they usually like their sacrifices to be in an easy-to-digest list form. Thus, I now present my most favouritest, top-ten bestest filmic-movie-shows of the year 2009 AD:



10. District 9 (dir. Neill Blomkamp)
The best science-fiction film of the year, and probably the first science-fiction film to practically make me believe that what I am seeing is actually real. And that's not just because of the amazing special effects, or the incredibly well executed documentary style that drives the story - the thing that really grabbed me about District 9 was first-time actor Sharlto Copley's standout performance and improvised dialogue which helped round out a completely and totally satisfying, original movie.
www.thesubstream.com/video-review-district-9.html

9. Up (dir. Pete Doctor)
Pixar just might be incapable of making a bad movie: it’s just classic after classic after uh... Cars. Take Up: I haven't met a single person, young or old, who hasn't talked glowingly about this movie, a deeply touching high point to 2009's summer movie docket. To quote my girlfriend after watching the first 10 minutes, "How the f__k are you supposed to not cry at that?"

8. Inglourious Basterds (dir. Quentin Tarantino)
Not only did Quentin Tarantino prove post-Grindhouse that he still had a good movie in him, but he really brought out the big guns and released something that at times very nearly shreds the definition of what a film is or can be. And whatever it actually is is frickin' incredible. It took a second viewing for me to be sure, but I might finally understand what it's like to be inside QT's brain (and I mean that in a totally serious, it's-rare-for-a-director's-vision-to-be-this-realized kind of way).
www.thesubstream.com/video-watch-instead-ep-35-inglourious-basterds.html

7. Coraline (dir. Henry Sellick)
Watching this film in the theatre was like sitting inside a gigantic Viewmaster, and I honestly couldn't help but grin like a madman the whole time. For me it's Coraline, rather than Avatar that has me convinced that the resurrection of 3-d is viable. But whether you see it in 2, 3 0r 6D, it's an absolutely gorgeous and inventively designed stop-motion animation feast for the eyes, and at times, comes as close as I've ever seen a feature film come to emulating the indescribable sensation of dreaming. Absolutely mesmerizing.

6. The Hurt Locker (dir. Kathryn Bigelow)
In addition to being a completely gripping, character-driven, action-ey war thriller, what's amazing about this film - set in modern-day Iraq and focusing on the daily perils facing a US army bomb squad - is that it doesn't really push any political agenda. Instead, Kathryn Bigelow's invisible hands allow the story to unfold, choosing to examine the human face of this war in a surprisingly objective way. Do you know how rare it is for an artist to hold back even the slightest hint of personal bias from lacing their work? Rare. That is the answer to the question I asked just now.
www.thesubstream.com/video-watch-instead-ep-30-hurt-locker.html

5. The Cove (dir. Louie Psihoyos)
Speaking of a filmmaker's personal bias, on the other end of that spectrum from The Hurt Locker is The Cove, telling its fascinating story of a single man's redemptive crusade against the horrific, illicit slaughter of dolphins by Japanese fishermen. As a keenly realized and well-crafted piece of activist documentary filmmaking, it serves as an example of exactly how powerful a 90 minute film can be, and its power to change. This one will leave a mark.
www.thesubstream.com/video-hotdocs-2009-thesubstream-preview.html

4. The Fantastic Mr. Fox (dir. Wes Anderson)
An absolute delight in every way imaginable and funny as hell to boot, all a result of charismatic, well-developed characters and tongue-in-cheek characterization by the stop-motion artists behind Tim Burton's Corpse Bride. Serving as the ultimate showcase of Wes Anderson's idiosyncratic sensibilities, this crude-on-purpose film is a surprisingly loyal and loving expansion of the source material, and easily breaks the top 5 of the year. It's that good.

3. Adventureland (dir. Greg Mottola)
It's hard to pinpoint, but Adventureland has the kind of rare energy that seems to fuse every single element in the film together into one cohesive ball of awesomeness. Simultaneously a slightly hyper-real snapshot of a bygone era and a sometimes aloof but always engaging ensemble comedy, it's surprising to find that Adventureland also features the best on-screen love story you'll see this year. It also has the best damn movie soundtrack of the year, holy crap!!

2. Up In The Air (dir. Jason Reitman)
In Up in the Air, George Clooney cranks his irresistable charm up to 11, playing an always-traveling, instantly likable 'hatchet-man' doomed to loneliness and firmly planted in 2009's tumult. The concept alone is a homerun, but what actually makes this a wholly satisfying and ultimately uplifting film is that it doesn't ride on concept alone; it has a grace and a sharp stylistic sensibility that make watching this film effortless. It'll be interesting to see if the topical nature of the story dates the film as time passes....

1. A Serious Man (The Coen Bros.)
But if you ask me, the absolute best movie of 2009 is this little-seen blip of a film by the Coen bros.. It's completely brilliant, and is without a doubt the one film that most firmly and insistently grabbed me by the collar. As an examination of personal faith in a time of unbelievably ridiculous personal crises, the film jovially gallops along, drawing one into the strange world of the Coens' own 1960's upbringing. Featuring a hilarious, air-tight script punctuated by rich, vibrant character sketches, A Serious Man operates in the mode of the fun Coen bros. comedies of yesteryear (it may be their best film since The Big Lebowski) which, if you're a Coen bros. fan, makes it seem really, really familiar. And ultimately, really awesome. In my mind, it's as perfect a film as they come. We covered it in a WTI episode:
www.thesubstream.com/video-watch-this-instead-ep-41-a-serious-man.html

Thanks for listening! See you next year!