At PFS, we love movies for many reasons– for their intellect, their beauty, their entertainment, their thrill. We also understand that a film doesn’t have to be “the best” to be our favorite; the films represented here are not necessarily the most technically accomplished films of 2009, but rather those that we have enjoyed the most, that have stuck with us since we first saw them.
We encourage you to add your own thoughts below in the Comments section.
(films below are in alphabetical order)
Andy:
(500) Days of Summer
Avatar
Bad Lieutenant: Port of Call New Orleans
Bronson
Fantastic Mr. Fox
The Hangover
The Imaginarium of Dr. Parnassus
Inglourious Basterds
Nine
Pirate Radio
Sherlock Holmes
Up in the Air
Watchmen
Whatever Works
Youth in Revolt
Pari:
Bronson
District 9
The Hurt Locker
Inglourious Basterds
New Moon
Paper Heart
The Road
Sherlock Holmes
Tyson
Up
Jared:
Avatar
Bad Lieutenant: Port of Call New Orleans
Broken Embraces
District 9
Fantastic Mr. Fox
Inglourious Basterds
Nine
Up
We Live in Public
Where the Wild Things Are
District 9
Drag Me to Hell
The Hangover
The Hurt Locker
Inglourious Basterds
The Road
A Serious Man
Sherlock Holmes
Star Trek
Up
2009 may be the best year of the decade (2003 and 2006 come close)
My top 10:
Star Trek (Great ensemble or greatest ensemble?)
Moon (Sam Rockwell continues to be one of the greatest unsung heroes of acting)
District 9 (A brilliant debut for Blomkamp and Copley)
The Hurt Locker (Tense, gripping, and the best film about the Iraq War yet)
Inglourious Basterds (Tarantino’s masterpiece)
Up in the Air (Jason Reitman continues his streak of amazing funny/sad movies)
The Messenger (The other best film about the Iraq War that isn’t actually about the war at all)
Coraline (Full of wonder from beginning to end)
Bronson (Tom Hardy will tear you in half)
Up (Almost didn’t make it into my top 10 but a recent repeat viewing reminded me why you always bet on Pixar)
Avatar (The Return of the King [of the world])
The fact that my top 10 is actually 11 says something*
*I can’t count
I think 2007 was easily the best year in film this decade. It’s got two juggernauts of film: There Will Be Blood and No Country for Old Men, plus a lot of my personal favorites:
Zodiac (one of Fincher’s best)
The Assassination of Jesse James by the Coward Robert Ford
Superbad (one of the funnier comedies to come out in recent years)
Hot Fuzz
Juno
and a couple others, but those first four clinch it I think.
I am tempted to agree with you, although I don’t particularly care for No Country for Old Men (There Will Be Blood and Jesse James all the way, though).
I wasn’t a big fan of 2009…there were a lot of films that I liked in the theater, but didn’t care for upon subsequent viewings (Hangover, Star Trek, Moon, District 9, Funny People, Gomorrah)…
My top 10:
Antichrist
Bronson
Observe & Report
A Serious Man (my fave of 2009)
A Single Man
Tokyo Sonata
Vampire Girl vs. Frankenstein Girl
Watchmen
White Ribbon
Yatterman
I also liked Fantastic Mr. Fox and Up.
And hands down the best revival film of ‘09 was House, the craziest and most enjoyable film I’ve ever seen (I drove to NYC to see it twice)…its playing the I-House in the near future, Criterion is putting it out on DVD later this year.
Hi PFS!