Was 2009 a good year at the cinema – yes I think it was! Well 131 visits to the cinema over the last year speaks for itself, whether the films were any good is another question, and one I’m going to answer in the next couple of posts.
This first one highlights my favourite 10 films and some others which I also really enjoyed.
In fact looking at the list from this year, I think it’s been a very good year, and my top 10 is going to be a hard list to compile, the ones that made the list scored 9 or 10. From my previous posts you may already have guessed my film of the year…….
So some films which didn’t quite make the top 10.
Zombieland - best zombie-comedy since Shaun of the dead
Heartless – my 2nd favourite film at frightfest
Trick R Treat – my 3rd Favourite film at frightfest, the best Halloween film ever!
Slumdog Millionaire – the Oscars favourite and I thought it was brilliant too.
Frost/Nixon – Ron Howard directs a great piece of Cinema with Sheen and Langella on top form with a well written price of drama.
Benjamin Button – Fincher’s wonderful film of a man aging backwards buoyed by a fantastic performance from Brad Pitt.
So on to my best 10 films of 2009.
10. Moon
Sam Rockwell is outstanding in this film, and really makes it work, considering he’s the only actor in 98% of the film, it worked really well. It’s interesting and clever, never bores and has a good twist, which I didn’t see coming. Very intelligent film making!
9. UP!
Can Pixar do any wrong? not really, I’ve enjoyed every single Pixar film, and UP was no exception. Stunning animation, the story is simple, but it’s the meaning behind the film which makes this a wonderful film. Also it has possible 2 of the most poignant sequences I’ve seen in any film, except maybe the final scenes of Phar lap and Grave of the Fireflies! But this is another great animated story from the masters and I liked it a lot.
8. Coraline
Just pips Up as my animated film of the year, wonderful imagery, amazing in 3D, very creepy and beautifully voiced. Can’t really remember the score, but have seen it since on Blu-Ray and it lost none of its appeal. I don’t know if I was reading too much into this film, but it’s content was pretty disturbing or maybe that’s just me and too many horror films! But it still remains a great piece of animation.
7. Avatar
I really don’t think this film could be overlooked, in most top ten’s of the year, most will have it sat at number 1 or 2, well not me. As good as it looks and it looks stunning and I bet I’ve not really seen everything there is too see in the jungles of Pandora! The one problem is the story it’s just lacking substance and its need to end on a happy note leaves it flat. However the message in the film doesn’t though and this is just enough to keep the film from sinking! The score is very good, the cast do a good job, and the script is ok however the IMAX version isn’t as good as I hoped it would be.
That said I am looking forward to seeing it on Blu-Ray as I think the 2D version does look good.
6. Let the right one in.
I actually saw this in 2008 at frightfest, but it made it to my local screen in April of last year so deserves its place in this list. Another film being remade and due out this year for the US market. The original is a superb vampire story of friendship, loyalty and violence. It’s slow, it has meaning and it cares about its characters with no pay off just great story telling, direction and two wonderful performances from the children.
5. The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo
One of my favourite films from frightfest, possible my favourite really. A brilliant thriller, with a great script, great acting and superb direction made this another great piece of cinema. Not yet having a major release, most people will end up seeing the soon to be made US remake, which is a shame, because this is just brilliant!
4. Where the Wild Things Are
I loved the trailer, I loved the film. Iconic film imagery for me, Max sat on the headland with Carol as the sun sets, fantastic. I got it, got it all. Max, his behaviour, why he was like that and why he created his story of the Wild things. Jonze did a superb job with this film from a book with very little to work with. Having read the book since Jonze got it spot on!
3. The Hurt Locker
A superb war movie full of tension and with an awesome performance from Jeremy Renner and brilliantly directed by Kathryn Bigelow (Point Break), this was just superb cinema. A sensitive subject dealt with without prejudice or accusation concerning it’s self with a soldiers career in the bomb disposal unit in Iraq.
2. Sherlock Holmes
Never really one to get excited by a Holmes story, the trailer again turned my attention. The cast looked great and with a good director this looked good.
Again surpassed my expectations, this was great fun. London looked amazing; Law stole the show, and a franchise in the making. I loved the score, the script, the cast and the direction. Seen it twice and looking to see it once more before it goes off.
1. Star Trek
Not a huge Trekkie, I enjoyed the original series, liked some of the films, never got into Generations but really quite liked Enterprise. But when I saw the first trailer for this re-boot I was excited this looked good.
Well it was better than good! It was amazing! I made the mistake of seeing it at the IMAX first which although was superb it wasn’t till I saw the film on a normal screen that I really-really enjoyed it. Everything about this film was outstanding, the direction, cast, the script, the story (to a degree), the SFX and the score. It all worked, and worked so well I ended up seeing it at the cinema 5 times and 3 times on Blu-Ray.
STAR TREK is My film of the year!
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