The Top 25 Films of 2009
Nils Croné | 4 January, 2010 | 9:43 pm
So here it is, my list of what I thought was the best films of 2009! It’s been an absolutely fantastic year for movies, and my list features films of most genres out there. Keep note that all the films on the list below are films that premiered in Sweden sometime between Januray 1st and December 31st 2009. But before we get into the more in-depth Top 15 list, I thought I’d just summarize #25 to #16 on my top films of 2009 just below:
#25 - Paranormal Activity
#24 - Terminator Salvation
#23 - I Taket Lyser Stjärnorna
#22 - Brüno
#21 - Taken
#20 - Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen
#19 - Public Enemies
#18 - Angels & Demons
#17 - Moon
#16 - Waltz with Bashir
But I won’t keep you waiting any longer, below here are the Top 15 films of 2009, according to me! And yes, I’m sure I managed to forget a few films making this list, but these were the ones that stuck with me the most in 2009!
#15 - The Hangover
Such a crazy, and outright funny film. Featuring among others the great Ed Helms (from US Office fame) on a journey throughout Las Vegas to find their best friend after the apparent succesful but crazy bachelor party - the story isn’t very unique or complicated, but the way it’s told is pretty fantastic. Instead of showing the fun night, as audiences we are treated to watching the guys as they wake up the day after with the worst hangover ever. Trying to figure out why there’s a real tiger and a baby in their incredibly expensive hotel suite are just some of the story elements which occur in this laugh-out-loud comedy. It’s ultimately a very innocent albeit fun film which works on any fun movie night with friends. That it pretty much came from nowhere and proved to be this good is a pretty fun reason why it just had to be on this list. And I haven’t even mentioned the naked Asian businessman locked in their car. A fun film taken that doesn’t take itself too seriously and with some great comedic performances earns it the 15th place on this list!
#14 - Saw VI
How they managed to somehow save the franchise that was on a sure downward spiral in terms of it’s story is quite mindblowing to watch. Obviously, the film doesn’t really care if you’ve watched the previous films or not as hardly any explanation to the events in the film is brought forth. But having watched the previous films several times and actually liked the overarching story they’ve managed to pull off I would be pretty glad if the series ended right here while it is on its top. It’s by far the best Saw sequel so far and continues on the right road of moving away from the gore and the horror genre into more of the thriller genre. Make no mistake, this is still a Saw film and it does feature some intense scenes but since the story actually ties together quite a few loose ends from previous films it works in the same way Se7en’s violence is tolarable considering the circumstances. While it does feature some quite shoddy acting as well as a few plot holes it is a big, big step up from the previous films. It also has some good closure to the film series, and while I know they’re already in pre-production for the next film, they could end it here and I’d be perfectly happy.
#13 - Frost/Nixon
While the subject matter - the interview between president Nixon and reporter David Frost - may be unknown for many at my age as well as the general population outside America, it’s a very interesting story about how a relatively unserious reporter, David Frost (played by the always awesome Michael Sheen) sits down with the, then-resigned president Nixon following the Watergate scandals. Nixon accepts, thinking this will be an easy PR win for his camp, but doesn’t come prepared to some of the facts the Frost camp has gathered. And so the battle begins. While it is a quite talky film, it’s absolutely filled to the brim with suspense and though most of us probably can figure out how it’s all going to end, it’s very interesting and nerve-racking to watch. The film is directed by Ron Howard too - who also made Angels & Demons this year, which placed just outside the list. With it’s quiet release here in Sweden, it was only in theatres for little over a week, but now that it’s out on DVD and Blu-Ray it’s a film I urge everyone to go see.
#12 - Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince
A big step forward for a movie series I’ve always thought was great, and a chapter where the transition between book and film actually is very succesful. Director David Yates - who also directed the fifth installment - has created the darkest and most menacing of the Potter films so far - with every film the main actors, Radcliffe, Grint and Watson improve and they’re all given more difficult things to do with their characters and they all really pull it off. To top that off, the film is filled with some of the greatest actors of our time: Alan Rickman, Michael Gambon and Helena Bonham Carter are just a few names of the supporting cast list. I can’t wait for the final chapter, The Deathly Hallows, which is divided into two films - the first one premieres just under a year from now, this November.
#11 - Män som hatar Kvinnor
Also known as Men who hate Women, the first part in the quite famous Millenium book series. The best Swedish film of the year is really a big step forward for Swedish filmmaking - even though most of the crew for this film was from Denmark. It’s a very dark film with some very intense scenes but the acting is just on another level than what we’re used to in Sweden - the industry in Sweden is moving in the right direction, making proper films and not just the same police films over and over again. The direction is brilliant and it’s probably one of the better films I’ve seen from Sweden so far. Production value is really high too, and the film can actually rival some of the Hollywood films on this list in terms of scope. While I was a bit dissapointed with its sequels - both the two sequels were released last year as well (they were originally considered as TV films for some really odd reason) the first film still shines as not only a big step forward for Swedish filmmaking, but also as a quite great film in itself, featuring some really beautiful cinematography. A big thumbs up!
#10 - Slumdog Millionaire
When this film premiered early 2009 in Sweden I was taken aback with how unlike it was anything I had seen in cinemas so far. Danny Boyle, who made one of the most beautiful films ever with Sunshine, created a gritty, down-to-earth but still somewhat high-concept film that was a close mix between Bollywood’s stylistic storytelling and Hollywood’s character development. A very strong film, it boasts some great performances from its entire cast, and Boyle’s decision to shoot the film on a whole variety of film stocks (including digital) really adds to the production values this film has. Shot on location in Mumbai, we are shown the differences between social classes and their living standards which serves as a pretty strong political commentary, whilst being a very personal story. Sure, some might argue it gets a bit sappy and overtly sentimental towards its conclusion but nevertheless, it’s a fantastic film. Oh, and it won the Best Picture academy award last year.
#9 - The Curious Case of Benjamin Button
David Fincher does it again - he creates another mind boggling, out-of-this-world and quite crazy story. And totally succeeds, again. The character and story of Benjamin Button, the man who is born old then gets younger as the years pass is a very touching one - as the audience we are forced to reflect on what our interpretation of life and time is when we see the different ordeals Benjamin goes through while he gets younger and younger and while all his friends slowly age around him. The VFX work is spotless, and Brad Pitt shines through as Benjamin even when the character we’re watching is an all-CG image. Cate Blanchett is also equally good in a quite demanding role. Before Avatar, this was the most revolutionary VFX film to date, and really shows how effects and modern techniques can be applied to a much less modern story to achive some beautiful results. A must-see for any fan of romantic dramas. Can’t wait to see what the next evolution of storytelling techniques are? Look no further than this film.
#8 - The Wrestler
Darren Aronofsky’s latest powerful drama about the soon-to-be-retired wrestler starring Mickey Rourke is a fantastic one, and a maginificent comeback for Rourke. The film’s very low-budget never shines through, and the story is carried in a great manner by a fantastic collection of actors. Besides Mickey Rourke we have the great Marisa Tomei as well as Evan Rachel Wood, two actors very important for the film’s main character, Randy “The Ram” Robinson. We follow him on this very personal journey as he tries to do his best in spite of living all alone with a heart problem and a daughter who hates his guts. The film captures the grey, dull colours of Randy’s life very well and while it is probably isn’t a film for everyone due to its somewhat intense content and difficult subject matter, it’s absolutely one of the best ones of 2009, when it premiered in Sweden over half a year after it’s American release date.
#7 - Watchmen
A film I saw in IMAX when visiting the UK, I really really liked Watchmen from Zack Snyder who previously made 300 as well as the Dawn of the Dead remake. I hadn’t read the graphic novel going into watching the film, but I thought it was absolutely amazing, and probably one of the better comic-book films out there. I was a big fan of the gritty undertones of the film and the R-rated content really works in the context of the story. While it seems many people have forgot the mesmerizing performance of Jackie Earle Haley as Rorschach - hopefully he will be nominated for an Oscar, although unfortunately I deem it quite unlikely. The final combination of graphic novel characters combined with the visual splendor we saw in 300 creates one of the best-looking and most awesome films of 2009. I can’t wait to give the 3-hour director’s cut version released earlier last autumn a closer look!
#6 - District 9
One of the best and most original sci-fi films I’ve seen, District 9 came pretty much from nowhere and was an absolutely amazing film. The setting, both geographically and story-wise, was brand new for western cinema and something which really helped the film distinguish itself as the new recipe for modern action films. Sharlto Copley is amazing as Wikus, the not-so-heroic hero who slowly turns into an alien having been exposed to alien chemicals. The run-and-gun feel of the film combined with it’s amazing special effects - partly from Peter Jackson’s Weta - combine to form a not only great, but important film considering the amount of political undertones it has and how closely the story of the aliens put in camps resemble the apartheid era in South Africa (where the film also takes place). An important film, both for the medium itself as well as the audience watching it.
#5 - Zombieland
The best action-comedy of the year, Zombieland has some of the coolest scenes I’ve seen, as well as the best cameo of all year. No, I won’t ruin it for you - check out the film for yourselves and you’ll know what I’m talking about. The film has a pretty basic premise - two very different heroes survive the zombie apocalypse and now have to work together to survive. Woody Harrelson is one of the film’s heroes. On their way throughout the countryside they come across two girls with guns who take their weapons and their car. They have to rescue them. They all shoot more zombies. The film climaxes at an amusment park where more zombies are killed. How could this film not place on this list? Needless to say, this film had me from it’s slow-motion intro montage, and kept me in it’s zombie-infected grip throughout. Has some of the funniest scenes this year (if you discount 2012, which was extremely funny because it was so bad). There are already talks of a sequel and I can not wait! “Nut up or shut up!”
#4 - Up in the Air
The new film from Jason Reitman - who previously made Thank You for Smoking as well as Juno - already has some Oscar buzz. Managed to catch a prescreening of the film in the middle of December and I absolutely loved its story about a lost business man, played by George Clooney, who travels around continental U.S. and fires employees for different companies. Clooney’s character, Ryan Bingham, “practically lives at the airport” along with all of the little annoyances of air travel. For Bingham though, they long queues and fake smiles are merely reminders that he’s home. Reitman has created a no-holds-barred very powerful dramedy (drama/comedy) which puts Clooney in the role of his career. When Bingham’s company is introduced by new technologies by the promising, recently graduated Natalie Keener (fantastically played by Anna Kendrick) he is forced to show Keener what it really is like to fire someone for real and not just over the internet. Featuring some fantastic jokes and a story that goes way deeper into what it means to be lonely (I don’t want to give away more), Up In the Air is by far one of the best films of 2009 and one which is worthy of every academy award it will inevitably recieve.
#3 - Avatar
James Cameron’s 12-year project does not dissapoint. This is probably the visually most amazing film I’ve ever seen - this 3-hour epic is one to definitely watch in 3D. From the opening moments watching this I just realised something had changed - cinema had changed forever and with just the few opening scenes I was pulled into the world of Pandora and its inhabitants. Watching the film is really like watching a window into another world. The only thing that holds the film back is the somewhat lackluster story and the fact that the CGI in the film has been hyped way too much. I watched the 20 minutes from the film on Avatar Day earlier this year and I was impressed but not convinced. Having watched the final film, there are still a few tinks with the visual presentation that is just not up to the photo-realistic stuff we had been expecting. That’s NOT to say the movie looks bad. Footage involving real-life actors look exactly that, real. The 3D effect is mesmerizing, and something you don’t think about being there after a few minutes. Then again, it will probably make every other 2D movie release after this a bit lackluster at least in terms of visuals. It looks amazing, it’s the most realistic VFX I’ve ever seen in a film - but to be honest, I wish Cameron would have spent just a slightly larger fragment of his half-billion dollar budget on a better story. No matter how you put it though, this film is one to be experienced in theatres. And what an experience it is. “You’re not in Kansas anymore!”
#2 - Star Trek
J.J. Abrams reboot of the old television series - which I’ve never been a fan of - is quite simply astonishing. While I’m a big fan of Abrams’ earlier work, I never thought he could create such a stylized film from what seemed to be such a tired and gray concept. But this is probably the coolest adventure this year, with a great acting ensemble and the film just shines of quality work both infront of and behind the camera. Speaking of shining, there are a LOT of lens flares in this film - almost every single shot has one. And it never becomes distracting, as Abrams uses them in a very controlled and stylistic manner. And while Avatar might be on a whole different level technically, I feel Star Trek has a better story and much more lovable characters, lifting it to be the second best film of 2009 in my opinion. And with J.J. already in talks of doing a number of sequels, I can’t wait until I get to visit the U.S.S. Enterprise again. “Live long and prosper!”
#1 - Inglourious Basterds
So after this sort of science-fiction heavy list, I thought I’d bring it back a few years and hand out the award for the top film of 2009 to Quentin Tarantino’s latest film. The film’s portrayal of WWII is one of the most fun, provocative and entertaining I’ve seen in my entire life. The film was shot and completed in under 8 months, an astonishing achievement in itself. The film isn’t really as dependent on effects or grand production values as most on this list. It basically is a few scenes stringed together to form an entire film. Well, you might think that sounds a bit dull or boring. But make no mistake, this is the most fun I’ve had watching a movie in 2009. From the opening intense 20-minute dialogue scene to the fantastic scene in the forest at the end of the film, this is just an amazing movie. Hopefully Christoph Waltz who plays Colonel Hans Landa gets at least a nomination for an academy award. And the music choices in the film are just stunning - pretty much every track is taken from an older spaghetti western and throughout the film there are a whole number of references to older films, making it a big joy for film geeks to watch. Having recently rewatched it on Blu-Ray it stands clear that this is by far the best film of 2009. I can’t wait for Tarantino’s next film. “Each and every man under my command owes me one-hundered Nazi scalps. And I wan’t my scalps!”
So that’s my take on what I thought was the best films of 2009! The list has constantly changed during the making of it, so be sure of it, they are all great films worth watching! If you agree or disagree with my picks, or just want to write something, please leave a comment to this news post!
Speak more very very soon! 2010 is going to be an exciting year for Redhawk Productions, make no mistake! Take care everyone!
