I'd use that same Richard Pryor graphic, but that would be lazy.
So, it has been longer than a week since my last update. I just want to let folks know that i'm not dead, and i'll attempt to finish the whole thing for Sunday's banner-cutoff.
What is there to finish, you ask?
- The Top 10 albums. 10-6 could be up tonight, but i'm going to stop making promises.
- The Top 35 Movies of 2009. This list will be done as i'm doing the Top 5 albums. Expect it to start on Friday or Saturday.
If I go past the banner cutoff, oh well! But I guarantee that i'll post everything I have planned in a non-half assed manner. That I can promise.
Thanks for the comments, and I leave you with this great video:
Sorry for the nearly month long wait. Since there's only a day left, I rushed a few of the writeups. Anyway, here is the top 10!
10. Mos Def - The Ecstatic
The mighty Mos Def hasn't done a full-on album of rapping since his debut album. Mos' rhyming style on The Ecstatic is very stream of consciousness, and it makes the album much more loose than most hip-hop albums. It also makes it more fun than a lot of them. Highlight is the Madlib produced "Auditorium" that features a killer Slick Rick guest-spot. Mos is finally back rapping, and I hope he stays a while.
Best Songs:
01. Auditorium feat. Slick Rick
02. Casa Bey
03. History feat. Talib Kweli
09. Yo La Tengo - Popular Songs
Condo ****s - ****book
If they gave out an award for consistency over a long period of time, they would award it to Yo La Tengo every year.
One of the greatest groups in the world delivered two very different, but very Yo La Tengo albums in 2009. One was an actual Yo La Tengo album in Popular Songs, which I would argue is maybe their most accessible. It plays as a greatest hits album with each song being a different style/genre. "If It's True" borrows the string section from "I Can't Help Myself" for YLT's ode to Motown, "Periodically Triple or Double" is an organ-heavy rumpus of fun, "I'm On My Way" feels like YLT and James McNew bumrushed a Jack Johnson recording session and made it actually good (sorry Jack Johnson fans!). I can go on and on, but Popular Songs is YLT at the height of their powers. What other band would end their album with two over 10 minute instrumentals without coming off as overindulgent? No one else.
You are probably asking who the Condo ****s are, and why I have it listed with Yo La Tengo. shhhhhh. Condo ****s ARE Yo La Tengo! ****book (a play on their 1990 mostly covers album Fakebook) is a one-take, non-produced, mother****er of an album. YLT go through 10 songs, ranging from deep cuts from The Beach Boys, The Kinks, Suede, Richard Hell, among others, all in one take. It's not the least bit polished (I will warn you that this is NOT a headphones album due to the feedback and the lik throughout), which is what makes it such a blast to listen to. It's an album that I play from beginning to end, and it never gets old. Sure, there are better versions of these songs out there (like the originals), but there aren't versions of the songs as fun and rambunctious like on ****book.
Yo La Tengo are one of the greatest rock bands in existence, and 2009 proved that they remain as vital as ever in 2009 and beyond.
Best Songs:
01. Here To Fall
02. If It's True
03. Periodically Triple Or Double
08. Dinosaur Jr. - Farm
Dinosaur Jr. continue their great comeback tour of sorts after 2005's Beyond. Farm isn't much of a stretch from Beyond or any of their past material. It's just really, really good. Dino Jr. aren't for everyone, but if they are for you, you'll be obsessively playing it like I did (and still am).Also, is that not one of the coolest album covers you've ever seen? Thought so.
Best Songs:
01. Plans
02. Said the People
03. I Want You To Know
07. Girls - Album
You can go on their Wiki page or read any story on the group to find out about their fascinating backstory. Girls' Album is wonderful combination of '60s pop, and the vocals of Elvis Costello. Of all the heavily hyped indie albums this year, this is the one that interested me the most. I hope Girls aren't a one album wonder, and they can release another album just as good, or better, than Album. I, and many others, will be waiting.
Best Songs
01. Lust For Life
02. Big Bad Mean Mother****er
03. Hellhole Ratrace
06. Rancid - Let The Dominoes Fall
Rancid, to me, are the most reliable band in music. They don't have a single bad album in their discography, or a bad song. They have kept their style fairly consistent over the years, but have also tried out various styles of music on each album (the album in which they experiment the most, Life Won't Wait, is their best album, imo). Let The Dominoes Fall continues that tradition. Highlights include "Up To No Good", a ska bounce that features organ playing by the legendary Booker T. Jones (of "Green Onions" fame), "The Highway", which is a classic Rancid song, "Skull City" which has Tim Armstrong talking about honky tonk girls for some reason, and many more.. If you aren't a fan of Rancid, then this album probably won't convert you. if you are, you will grow to love Rancid even more than you did before. I hope they put out albums for many years to come.
Best Songs:
01. Last One To Die
02. Up To No Good
03. The Highway
05. Wilco - Wilco (The Album)
Wilco are one of my very favorite bands. I saw them live back in 2008, and while I liked them before, that is the day in which I LOVED them. Wilco (The Album) is a great distillation of their sound. Highlights include "You and I", a duet with Leslie Feist, "Bull Black Nova", which recalls Yankee Hotel Foxtrot, and the wide-screen poprock that is "You Never Know". Listening to that song in the summer as the opening kicked in with that killer piano playing was a real delight. Like being in your own summer roadtrip movie for 3 minutes. Wilco can do no wrong in my book, and this album once again proves it.
Best Songs:
01. You Never Know
02. Bull Black Nova
03. One Wing
04. The Flaming Lips - Embryonic
The Flaming Lips came back in 2009 with yet another reinvention of their sound. While I loved At War With The Mystics, that was probably the most conventional they have ever gotten. Embryonic is anything but. A true mind**** of an album that is addictive to listen to. Guest appearances by favorites like Karen O, and MGMT sends it over the top. I can't recommend this album enough.
Best Songs:
01. Watching the Planets
02. Silver Trembling Hands
03. Convinced of the Hex
03. U2 - No Line On The Horizon
U2 have always been a big favorite of mine, so this may be a bit biased. I think No Line On The Horizon is as good of an album as they've done since the early '90s, and it's a real ballsy album for a band as big of them. Why I love U2, and why their albums are still relevant 30 years into their career is that they always reinvent themselves. The Rolling Stones may be one of the greatest rock bands ever, but when was the last time people talked about their new music? The late '80s?
No Line On The Horizon continues the wonderful producing trio of Brian Eno (probably my all-time favorite producer), Daniel Lanois (many great things, including Bob Dylan's Grammy winning album Time Out Of Mind), and Steve Lillywhite (Talking Heads), and they continue to do wonders for the band. Pushing them into new, uncharted waters (sorry for that), like "Unknown Caller", my personal favorite from the album. A band of U2's stature would never do a song like that. It's experimental, it's raw, it's new, and best of all, it's great. I have no idea why this album wasn't successful*, but it really should have been. I hope U2 continue to work with Eno/Lanois/Lillywhite on future albums, and they continue to push the boundaries of everything we know about U2, in the best way possible.
*A great idea by Brian Eno: Eno always wanted "Moment of Surrender" as the first single. He thought that U2 were the only band that could pull off releasing a song like that as the first single, and it would have been a massive hit. I don't doubt him, and I wish they would have.
Best Songs:
01. Unknown Caller
02. Moment of Surrender
03. White As Snow
02. Yeah Yeah Yeahs - It's Blitz!
Probably the album that everyone on the board agrees with. It's Blitz! is the Yeahs reaching that stadium status (c) Kanye, or at least arena status. An album full of anthems, with no filler. Hits from beginning to end. Other people on the board have done a better job of describing It's Blitz!, and frankly, i'm trying to rush this along.
Best Songs:
01. Zero
02. Dull Life
03. Heads Will Roll
01. Raekwon - Only Built 4 Cuban Linx Pt. II
A sequel to a highly regarded album is not supposed to be amazing. Especially a hip-hop one. Raekwon has been teasing Only Built 4 Cuban Linx for almost a decade, so the fact that it's finally out is a work of wonder in itself. The fact that it's also really, really amazing and right on par with the original? That's unbelievable. If you are a rapper there are two rules:
- 3/5 times the sequel to the classic album is not nearly as good as the original
- 9/10 times the heavily hyped, and constantly delayed album never lives up to what has come before.
Raekwon broke both of them! Wow!!!
Why it is so successful is that it is cut from the same cloth of the original. Outside of some guest spots from people like Jadakiss, Styles P, Slick Rick, Busta Rhymes, the guest spots are nearly entirely Wu-Tang Clan members. And, that's the way it should be. The production, unlike the original, isn't entirely produced by the RZA. RZA only produces 3 songs, including The Godfather Theme sampling "Black Mozart", in which RZA channels the spirit of ODB for 30 seconds at the end of the song. The rest of the producers are wonderful as well, and add to a cohesive whole that isn't usually felt on multi-producer projects. The best of those being the work by the late, great J Dilla who has 3 songs, including the unstoppable "House of Flying Daggers".
When 8 Diagrams, the Wu-Tang Clan's latest (and very underrated) album, was released artists like Ghostface Killah, and Raekwon hated it, because RZA was doing too much and not doing the classic Wu-Tang sound. I thought that was petty, and unneeded back then, but if this is what they were talking about, I now officially agree with them. More of this please! Lucky for us, Raekwon, Ghostface, and Method Man are currently recording an album together as an unnamed trio. If it's even just a tiny bit as good as Only Built 4 Cuban Linx II, then i'll be very happy.
Best Songs:
01. House of Flying Daggers
02. Black Mozart
03. Cold Outside
Once again, sorry for the delay. Thanks for words of encouragement from many people to keep this thing going. I thank you all.
To end it off? Top 35 movies. Later today, or it'll never be posted. Watch me race the clock like Jack Bauer!
Note: One movie from 2009 that I have yet to see, but really want to, CRAZY HEART, did not make the list. Beyond that one movie, I saw pretty much everything from 2009 that I really wanted to see.
35. Public Enemies
Director: Michael Mann
Written by Ronan Bennett, Ann Biderman, Michael Mann
Starring Johnny Depp, Christian Bale, Marion Cotilard, Billy Crudup, Stephen Dorff, Lili Taylor, Channing Tatum, Giovanni Ribisi, Emile de Ravin
People were ******** on this movie, because it's not up to Mann's usual standard. And, while I may agree with that to an extent, it still has some great things and ideas featured. The use of digital photography for a period piece was controversial, but I really enjoyed that aspect. It made you feel like this was something happening right now as opposed to the '30s. Marion Cotilard is the star of this movie, and her scene near the end of the movie is heartbreaking. While, I may prefer Mann's previous masterworks like The Insider, Heat, and Miami Vice (watch the theatrical version. Directors cut is bunk), among others, Public Enemies is still an enjoyable movie that you should seek out.
34. The Limits of Control
Directed and Written by Jim Jarmusch
Starring Isaach De Bankole, Bill Murray, Tilda Swinton, Gael Garica Bernal
Again, another case of a movie by a highly respected director that was not met with a great response. I hate to use this phrase, but this is a movie that you either got or didn't. Some people saw it as a slog with no point. Others, including myself, saw it as a wonderful visceral experience that was one of the highlights of the year. Jarmusch, like Mann with Public Enemies, has done much better movies, but The Limits of Control is worth watching. It's a movie in which you should have an opinion on, as opposed to denying it due to bad word. Dislike it, because YOU didn't like it, not because you didn't hear it was good.
33. The Hangover
Director: Todd Phillips
Written by Jon Lucas, Scott Moore, Todd Phillips, Jeremy Garelick
Starring Bradley Cooper, Ed Helms, Zach Galifianakis, Heather Graham, Justin Bartha, Jeffrey Tambor
Going into 2009, I was aware of The Hangover. I was excited for a cult classic R-rated comedy that featured two people I really wanted to see break out (Ed Helms, Zach Galifianakis). I thought it would be like Hot Rod or Grandma's Boy, and it would obtain its following on DVD. I am very happy to say that, as you obviously know, that couldn't have been further from the truth.
One thing I feel The Hangover doesn't get nearly enough credit for is how beautiful it is shot. Comedy is generally the genre in which cinematographers feel they can be very shoddy, and just do garbage work. Todd Phillips, with DP Lawrence Sher, really capture the other side of Vegas that you usually don't see in movies. A movie in which Ken Jeong jumps out of a car stark naked shouldn't look as good as any Awards movie, but it does. Todd Phillips also does a wonderful job at casting various bit parts, featuring wonderful comedians like Matt Walsh, Rob Riggle, the inimitable Brody Stevens, that could have easily been no-joke parts. Instead, Todd casts those comedy ringers to elevate the scene even more.
Due to the roaring success of the film, Todd Phillips is second only to James Cameron in directors that studios want to hire right now, and it's good to see. I can't believe I live in a world where a performer as wonderfully absurd and brilliant as Zach Galifianakis is on his way of becoming a star. The Hangover proves that the good guys can win sometimes.
32. Avatar
Directed and Written by James Cameron
Starring Sam Worthington, Zoe Saldana, Stephen Lang, Michelle Rodriguez, Sigourney Weaver, Giovanni Ribisi
Avatar is spectacle cinema at its finest. Like every kind of pulp story jammed together into one whole. James Cameron shows other action directors (Michael Bay, Stephen Sommers) how to actually shoot an action sequence, which is refreshing. Action scenes are coherent! In 2009! The scenes on pandora, as well, sport a travelogue quality about them. As much as I enjoyed the action, if Avatar 2 is just a travelogue-ish movie for 2 hours, then I couldn't be more happier.
31. Extract
Directed and Written by Mike Judge
Starring Jason Bateman, Ben Affleck, Kristen Wiig, Mila Kunia, J.K. Simmons
Mike Judge is a lot like Jason Bateman's character in Extract. He's done wonderful work for decades (Beavis & Butthead, Office Space, Idiocracy, and probably my favorite of the Judge oeuvre , King of The Hill), but doesn't get nearly as enough credit as he deserves. Extract is like Mike Judge's version of an Alexander Payne-type comedy, so it's very quiet and doesn't blink its jokes like traffic lights. Quietly hilarious with great performances from everyone in the cast. It's getting a bit cliche to call a Mike Judge project underrated, but Extract definitely is.
30. The Brothers Bloom
Directed and Written by Rian Johnson
Starring Rachel Weisz, Adrien Brody, Mark Ruffalo, Rinko Kukuci, Maximillian Schell, Robbie Coltrane
Rian Johnson burst onto the scene with Brick, which is about as good of a debut feature a director has made in the aughts. He is finally back with The Brothers Bloom, and its every bit as good as Brick, and possibly better. A truly wonderful film that also hasn't got enough credit, you deserve to seek it out.
29. Zombieland
Director: Ruben Fleisher
Written by Paul Wernick, Rhett Reese
Starring Woody Harrelson, Jesse Eisenberg, Emma Stone, Abigail Breslin
I really like what Ruben Fleisher did with Zombieland. He knows that the definitive zombie/comedy movie has been made already with Edgar Wright's Shaun of the Dead (probably in the top 5 best movies of the decade), so he goes in a different direction. Zombieland is an all-out comedy that just happens to be about zombies. Very hilarious with a great ensemble cast.
However, the best part about Zombieland is a part that shouldn't be spoiled. It involves a very famous person cameoing as himself. Needless to say, i'm a huge fan of [Redacted], so this scene was heaven to me. Probably one of the funniest scenes of 2009. If you spoil this scene to someone who hasn't seen it, you are an asshole. I'm sorry to use harsh language like that, but it's true.
28. Bruno
Director: Larry Charles
Written by Sacha Baron Cohen, Anthony Hines, Dan Mazer, Jeff Schaffer, Peter Baynham
Starring Sacha Baron Cohen
With the gigantic success of Borat, Larry Charles and Sacha Baron Cohen's follow-up to the movie was bound to be either a) a disappointment b) get an off reaction and become very underrated. Luckily, it was B. Bruno was one of my favorite theater going experiences of the year. A lot of people were OUTRAGED by what they were seeing, which was very absurd to me. Do they know who the character is or what Sacha Baron Cohen does? It felt exactly how a Bruno movie should be. I saw people walk out, and overhearing people at the end of the movie saying "I'M NOT SEEING THAT AGAIN". The weird reaction that it got should gain it a big following in the coming years, as a biting satire of homophobia in America that extended after the movie was over.
27. Humpday
Directed and Written by Lynn Shelton
Starring Mark Duplass, Joshua Leonard, Alycia Delmore
I really enjoy the work of Mark Duplass. He's a great actor who brings a naturalism to his comedy, and Humpday is the first movie in which he has been a sort-of actor for hire, as opposed to directing/writing with his brother Jay. It's a very successful comedy, and it continued the great year that Mark would ultimately have. Which included directing, along with his brother, his first studio movie with John C. Reilly, Jonah Hill, Marisa Tomei, and others, and starring in FX's wonderfully promising comedy series The League. 2010 should be even better as he has a role in Noah Baumbach's Greenberg, which features fellow "mumblecore" (I use it in quotes, because I hate the term) actor Greta Gerwig.
26. Cloudy With A Chance of Meatballs
Directed and Written by Phil Lord, Christopher Miller
Starring Bill Hader, Anna Faris, Neil Patrick Harris, James Caan, Bruce Campbell, Andy Samberg, Mr. T, Bobb'e J. Thompson, Benjamin Bratt, Al Roker, Lauren Graham, Will Forte
I knew that Phil Lord and Christopher Miller were comedy writers going into this movie. They created the beloved series Clone High, and also wrote on How I Met Your Mother. Even knowing that, I wasn't expecting this movie to be as funny as it was. Sure, there were animated movies this year that had more of a resonance with me, but Cloudy was probably the funniest.
25. Star Trek
Director: J.J. Abrams
Written by Roberto Orci, Alex Kurtzman
Starring Chris Pine, Zachary Quinto, Karl Urban, Zoe Saldana, Simon Pegg, John Cho, Anton Yelchin, Eric Bana, Bruce Greenwood
J.J. Abrams did the unthinkable this year: He made Star Trek cool.
For years Star Trek was seen as the nerdiest possible thing to like (second only to Doctor Who), and the last Star Trek movies before Abrams took over were commercial disasters. J.J., along with Fringe co-creators Roberto Orci, and Alex Kurtzman, and LOST co-creator Damon Lindelof, strikes the perfect balance of making it accessible to all audiences, while at the same time not alienating the base. It's also the first movie in which J.J. Abrams feels like a legit movie director. While I enjoy Mission Impossible 3, it was shot like a TV movie, and the action sequences felt as small as the stuff he did on the LOST pilot. On Star Trek, he shows remarkable swagger staging huge action set pieces, and making a tight movie with no lulls. I can't wait to see what J.J. does with the eventual Star Trek sequel, as I think he's going to top himself once again.
24. Bad Lieutenant: Port of Call New Orleans
Director: Werner Herzog
Written by William Finkelstein
Starring Nicolas Cage, Eva Mendes, Val Kilmer, Xzibit, Fariuza Balk
Bad Lieutenant: Port of Call New Orleans is step 1 in the Nicolas Cage rehabilitation period. Too bad not a lot of people saw it. Nic Cage brings back Crazy Cage (c), and is endlessly entertaining under the direction of wacko genius Werner Herzog. While the actual plot of the movie is standard crime fare, it is the transformation of Nic Cage throughout that keeps you watching. This movie is going to play very well on DVD, and have a long shelf life.
23. Watchmen
Director: Zack Snyder
Written by David Hayter, Alex Tse
Starring Malin Akerman, Billy Crudup, Matthew Goode, Carlo Gugino, Jackie Earle Haley, Jeffrey Dean Morgan, Patrick Wilson, Matt Frewer, Stephen McHattie
I'm torn on Watchmen. I have no idea if it really succeeds as a movie outside of knowing the source material prior to watching it. As I did read the graphic novel before watching the movie, it played very well to me. It is probably the ballsiest comic book movie out there (at least until Kick-Ass comes out), and Zack Snyder should be applauded for doing as well as he did. Does this movie play to people who haven't read it? As far as I know, I don't think so. There may be exceptions here and there (Roger Ebert gave it a 4 star review without having any prior knowledge), but I have a feeling this movie is like a Sarah Palin speech at the RNC. Throwing red meat at the base that adore it, but while alienating the rest.
22. Up In The Air
Director: Jason Reitman
Written by Sheldon Turner, Jason Reitman
Starring George Clooney, Vera Farminga, Anna Kendrick, Jason Bateman, Danny McBride
A very good movie, and if my mom was doing a list, this would probably be her #1. Everyone is pitch perfect in this movie, and it's very enjoyable. While the 3 leads are the obvious highlights, my favorite part was seeing Danny McBride play a very un-Danny McBride-like role. I don't think he said a curse word the entire time. Now, that's acting.
21. The Messenger
Director: Oren Moverman
Written by Oren Moverman, Alessandro Camon
Starring Ben Foster, Woody Harrelson, Samantha Morton, Jena Malone
Oren Moverman, a screenwriter who worked on scripts like I'm Not There, makes his directorial debut with The Messenger. A completely engrossing movie about a side of war that we generally don't see in movies: The Causality Notification service. Knowing that's the topic of the movie probably turns off some people, as they are expecting a Precious-like downer. But, while there are incredibly sad, and real moments throughout, it also has some added humor that feels real to the situation. If Christoph Waltz wasn't walking away with the Oscar this year (as he very well should), I'd 100% believe that Woody Harrelson should win for this role. It may not seem appealing to you, but I highly recommend you check The Messenger out.
Fun fact: Oscilloscope Laboratories, Adam Yauch's production company/film studio, put this movie out. In its 2-or so years of existence it is by far their most successful commercially and critically. Go MCA!
20. Drag Me To Hell
Director: Sam Raimi
Written by Sam Raimi, Ivan Raimi
Starring Alison Lohman, Justin Long, Lorna Raver, Dileep Rao, Adriana Barraza, David Paymer, Reggie Lee
If there's one story that made me very bummed out about the theater going public this year it was the the low gross of Sam Raimi's Drag Me To Hell. Raimi's grand return to spook-a-blast genre that he helped invent is probably the most fun you'll have watching a movie from 2009. Very funny, very scary (while being PG-13, proving that you don't need unneeded blood, and guts to make an affective scary movie), and just a ton of fun.
With Sam Raimi being yanked off from the Spider-Man franchise*, I hope he can return and do another one of these spook-a-blast movies.
*Which i'm really bummed about. The relative failure of Spider-Man 3, which mind you, was a huge hit, was completely the studios doing. Raimi hates Venom, so he didn't want Venom. Raimi's main contributions, like the Sandman character and the wonderful Peter Parker Pretending He's Hip sequences, are pure Raimi and the best things about the third movie.
19. Moon
Director: Duncan Jones
Written by Nathan Parker
Starring Sam Rockwell, Kevin Spacey
Moon is the perfect vehicle for one of the best actors around today in Sam Rockwell. He's the main attraction of the movie, and it's a pure actors showcase, as well as being great Sci-Fi. It's the type of Sci-Fi that shows a futuristic things as a way of expressing ideas of the current state of the world, as opposed to it being Sci-Fi just to show off cool technology. Which is easily the best kind of Sci-Fi. I don't know of a person who has seen Moon that didn't like it, so I couldn't recommend it more.
18. Coraline
Directed and Written by Henry Selick
Starring Dakota Fanning, Teri Hatcher, Keith David, Robert Bailey Jr, John Hodgman, Jennifer Saunders, Dawn French, Ian McShane
Coraline came out early in the year, and a lot of movies I saw during that period didn't make it on the top 35. They had a hard job in being memorable months after seeing it. It goes to show how wonderful Coraline was that it always stuck with me months later. The very definition of a delightful movie. And, I know the hip response is to say that Avatar had the best use of 3-D to date, but I have to admit that I still think Coraline did a better job. You literally felt that you could grab the little characters up and put them on your shoulder. Truly remarkable work, and a fitting beginning to a great year of not just animation, but stop motion animation as well.
17. Two Lovers
Director: James Gray
Written by James Gray, Richard Menello
Starring Joaquin Phoenix, Gwyneth Paltrow, Vinessa Shaw, Isabella Rosselli, Elias Koteas, Moni Moshonov
It's a shame that Two Lovers will be known as the movie in which Joaquin Phoenix promoted it as a total douchebag, because his work in Two Lovers is career-best stuff. James Gray goes back to the wonderful character studies of the early '70s, like the work of Bob Rafelson, and it's a real throwback. Maybe the most underrated of 2009, and I hope more people seek it out. A true wonder.
16. Anvil! The Story of Anvil
Director: Sacha Gervasi
It's a shame that this documentary was shut out of the Oscars, because it's so, so great. I haven't liked a doc this much since I saw The King of Kong. I defy you to not like this movie. If you don't send a PM to me, and i'll just write a reply that says YOU'RE WRONG. But, not really. I'll say a few more sentences before I drop that line.
15. District-9
Director: Neil Blomkamp
Written by Neill Blomkamp, Terri Tatchell
Starring Sharlto Copley, Jason Cope, David James
I didn't get a chance to see this in the theater. There is always a problem of seeing a movie that was heavily hyped and loved after the fact as you may just say "What Was The Big Deal?". You don't understand why people liked it so much, and put the movie in an unfair position just because you missed out on seeing it when it was first released. Luckily, District-9, which I saw in DVD in December, lived up to the hype, and it was yet another example of the strong year of Sci-Fi. Neil Blomkamp is a force to be reckoned with, and I can't wait to see what his next project is.
14. The Hurt Locker
Director: Kathryn Bigelow
Written by Mark Boal
Starring Jeremy Renner, Anthony Mackie, Brian Geraghty, Evangeline Lilly, Ralph Fiennes, David Morse, Guy Pearce
The success story of 2009. A movie that was nominated, without much notice, at the Spirit Awards last year. Now, in 2010, it's the most critically beloved movie of last year, and has won both the PGA and the DGA. There's a good shot of it winning Best Picture at the Oscars, and toppling the Goliath that is Avatar. I'm very happy for everyone involved in this movie, especially Kathryn Bigelow. While I love previous movies of hers like Point Break, it wasn't because they were capital G GREAT movies. They were just a lot of fun. The Hurt Locker is the start of a brand new chapter of her career, and finally people have taken notice. While I thought Inglourious Basterds was the better movie (spoiler alert!), Kathryn Bigelow is the only one who should win Best Director. Someone who has made the first successful movie about the Iraq war, and framed it as an action movie with better action than most work by guys'. A true triumph of cinema.
13. The Informant!
Director:Steven Soderbergh
Written by Scott Z. Burns
Starring Matt Damon, Scott Bakula, Joel McHale, Mealanie Lynskey, Richard Steven Horvitz
I really love Steven Soderbergh. This movie on the surface is his most commercial non-Oceans movies movie. What he does. then, to make it different and unique is some very great stylistic choices:
- Shoots it with the RED camera, which I really like. I don't know why people bitch about digital photography, but I think this movie, District-9, and many others have a great look to them
- Casting comedians opposite Matt Damon. Many comedians are featured in scenes without getting a single joke. Everyone from Paul F. Tompkins, Patton Oswalt, Andy Daly, and The Smothers Brothers. They are hired to give great reaction shots to the ridiculous things that the Matt Damon character does.
- Maybe my favorite thing about the movie: Marvin Hamlisch's score. I'm a huge score nerd, and this is the best score of 2009. I've been a fan of Michael Giacchino ever since I first saw LOST years ago, and he did some typically great work this year as well (Up, Star Trek, Land of the Lost). Marvin Hamlisch's score for The Informant! though, is just a work of beauty. It's a comedy score, ala his work on early Woody Allen movies like Bananas, and its played as the soundtrack that is playing in the Matt Damon character's head. The score is really clever, and Marvin does some wonderful pieces that also make you giggle. For a raid scene to be scored by something that sounds like the outtake of Herb Alpert's Spanish Flea is so brilliant that it just makes me giddy thinking about it.
The Informant! does many wonderful things, but at the heart of it all is a wonderfully fascinating true story that features one of Matt Damon's best performances. It may not be for everyone, due to some of the off-kilter choices I just described above, but if it is for you, you should really dig it.
12. Away We Go
Director: Sam Mendes
Written by Dave Eggers, Vendela Vida
Starring John Krasinski, Maya Rudolph, Jeff Daniels, Carmen Ejogo, Jim Gaffigan, Maggie Gyllenhaal, Josh Hamilton, Allison Janney, Melanie Lynskey, Chris Messina, Catherine O'Hara, Paul Schneider
Maybe the biggest surprise of 2009? I've never been a huge Sam Mendes fan. In fact, I thought his last movie, Revolutionary Road, was the worst movie I saw in 2008. Just dreadful and hamfisted. Away We Go is the complete opposite of Rev Road in every way.
A wonderful cast, and featuring career-best turns by John Krasinski and Maya Rudolph. Mendes also does some really clever directing choices, without putting the attention on himself. I've said it many times already in this list, but I really can't recommend this movie enough. Moving, very funny, real, and just a perfect movie.
11. Adventureland
Directed and Written by Greg Mottola
Starring Jesse Eisenberg, Kristen Stewart, Ryan Reynolds, Martin Starr, Bill Hader, Kristen Wiig
This is the movie you can make after delivering a monster hit to the studio (Superbad). One of the downfalls in this movie underperforming at the box office was that they sold it as Superbad 2, which it really wasn't. I adore Superbad, but Adventureland is an entirely different animal. It's an autobiographical account of a summer working at an amusement park, and the highs and lows that come with that. The best soundtrack of the year, and just great performances across the board. The most impressive is Ryan Reynolds playing off-type as an aging loser who looks to the amusement park and its surrounding areas and his only hope.
It tells you how great a year it was for movies in 2009 that Adventureland just barely misses the top 10. A movie that is nearly every bit as good as everything else in the top 10. Seek it out.
10. Where The Wild Things Are
Director: Spike Jonze
Written by Spike Jonze, Dave Eggers
Starring Max Records, Catherine Keener, Mark Ruffalo, Lauren Ambrose, Chris Cooper, Paul Dano, James Gandolfini, Catherine O'Hara, Forest Whitaker
2009 was a year in which we saw some of our best filmmakers do career-best work by adapting childrens books. Where The Wild Things Are is yet another milestone for someone who has had many. The best music video director ever, and the director of two previous movies, that are really wonderful (as well as being the man who helped make Jackass happen). Where The Wild Things Are is his best work to date, and it really shows what it's like to be a child at that age. One of my favorite things about the movie is how, very true to childhood, you could be having the greatest time, and someone bumps their head or gets hurt and the mood is just killed. The moments of sadness is what propels this movie to classic territory. There could have easily been the Dreamworks animation version of this movie with pop culture references, and it would have been dreadful. Instead, we get the closest thing to an arthouse film for kids.
09. World's Greatest Dad
Directed and Written by Bobcat Goldthwait
Starring Robin Williams, Daryl Sabra, Alexie Gilmore, Evan Martin, Henry Simmons
Bobcat Goldthwait is best known as the screechy voiced comedian who appeared in the Police Academy movies. Since then, he has become a wonderful director, and the closest thing to the next Billy Wilder. World's Greatest Dad is his masterwork.
Starring Robin Williams, in one of his best performances, as a down on his luck teacher who is the father of the biggest asshole on the planet: His Son. The son is played by Daryl Sabra, best known as the boy from the Spy Kids movies, and his performance is probably the most I have ever wanted to hit a person i've seen in the movies. Then, something happens involving the teen, which sets off the chain of the events of the film.
The darkest of the dark is the comedy in which this film achieves. Robin Williams is the anchor to this movie, not playing a cartoon like most of his other film performances, and it's nice to be reminded that Robin can do great work. You may be offended by this movie, but its scathing satire is perfect for me,
08. In The Loop
Director: Armando Iannucci
Written by Jesse Armstrong, Simon Blackwell, Armando Iannucci, Tony Roche
Starring Tom Hollander, James Gandolfini, Chris Addison, Peter Capaldi, Gina McKee, Steve Coogan, David Rasche
Even though it is placed at #8, it is the funniest movie of the year.
Armando Iannuci, best known for working on amazing British comedies like Brass Eyes, Alan Partidge and the creator of The Thick of It, gives his directorial debut and it's incredible. Peter Capaldi is so good, and in an alternative universe he would be in the Supporting Actor category of the Oscars. A very quotable movie, that needs to be seen at least twice to hear all the razor sharp dialogue. Amazing political satire, and just Amazing, period. This writeup is basically just a writeup of superlatives, but that's what In The Loop does to you. If you consider yourself a fan of comedy, then you really owe it to yourself to see it.
07. Big Fan
Directed and Written by Robert Siegel
Starring Patton Oswalt, Kevin Corrigan, Michael Rappaport, Marica Jean Kurtz
Robert Siegel used to be the editor of chief at The Onion. That must be mentioned due to the two movies he has done the screenplays for (The Wrestler, Big Fan) are deep, dark, real character studies from someone who studied at the alter of Bob Rafelson, and Monte Hellman.
Big Fan is a movie about an adult who lives at home with his mom that works at a toll booth. All day he spends his time crafting a call to call into his favorite Sports talk radio show. He cares about the New York Giants more than anything in the world. Patton Oswalt, one of the greatest comedians we have, delivers a startling real performance that just looks at the many facets of fandom. While, it's a movie about a sports fan, it can really be about any kind of fandom. Sci-Fi, movies, music, comic books. And replace him writing a reply to a sports talk show to writing a reply in advance on a message board. It's a very universal movie. That's how great the script and performances are. I am not a sports guy, but I entirely understand Patton's dilemma and what makes him tick. It's a thought provoking movie for a topic I can't recall seeing being portrayed before.
Robert Siegel, in his two movies as screenwriter and one as director, has explored many different corners of the people generally look down on. He has an amazing grasp at what brings the people to do what they do, and they both have perfect endings. Sundance 2009 featured many wonderful movies that appear on this list (World's Greatest Dad, In The Loop, Humpday), but it's Big Fan that is my favorite of them all.
06. Funny People
Directed and Written by Judd Apatow
Starring Adam Sandler, Seth Rogen, Leslie Mann, Jonah Hill, Jason Schwartzman, Eric Bana, Aubrey Plaza
Funny People is one of the most divisive movies of 2009, and it all stems for the last act. Some people feel it isn't needed, but I would argue that they would be missing the point. The movie is not ABOUT stand-up comedy. it's just what the main characters do as their main job. The last act is needed to explore what the Adam Sandler and Seth Rogen characters go through. It has a really beautiful ending, that i won't reveal, that is just the perfect way to end it.
People were also looking at this as an out-and-out comedy, which it also isn't. The best examples would be James L. Brooks and Cameron Crowe. Their movies have very funny moments in them, sure, but that's not all they are. They are about a dramatic moment in their lives, not played for comedic value. People also argue that it's too long, which I also disagree with. There isn't a moment in the movie in which it feels like it's just there for the hell of it. Each moment is needed for the eventual climax to hit its mark better.
Judd Apatow tried something different with Funny People, and he got into **** for it. I hope this doesn't mean that he'll never do a movie like this again, because as much as I adore his previous work as both director and producer, Funny People feels like his grand statement to the world. If anything, it gaves us some wonderful performances (Adam Sandler should definitely be up for an Oscar), and a poignant story.
05. A Serious Man
Directed and Written by Joel Coen, Ethan Coen
Starring Michael Stuhlbarg, Richard Kind, Sari Wagner Lennick, Fred Malamed, Aaron Wolff
The Coen Brothers made another great movie. Surprise!
Of their entire filmography, they have only done one miss, and one OK movie. The rest are all A+'s. My favorite filmmakers, and they deliver yet again with A Serious Man. A very funny movie (I feel people are underselling the humor in this movie. Yes, dark **** happens, but it's all very funny), and a real puzzle of a movie at the same time. A Serious Man is yet another Coen Brothers movie that has a real corker of an ending, and its perfect and a real F U to the people who complained about No Country For Old Men's ending.
The Coens, since No Country For Old Men, have been putting out a movie a year and each one is yet another classic. Burn After Reading is their new Lebowski, No Country was their Miller's Crossing, while A Serious Man is their new Barton Fink. I can't wait to see True Grit later this year. They'll very likely blow me away, yet again.
04. Up
Directors: Pete Doctor, Bob Peterson
Written by Pete Doctor, Bob Peterson, Thomas McCarthy
Starring Ed Asner, Jordan Nagal, Christopher Plummer, Bob Peterson
Speaking of people who have put out great movie after great movie.
Pixar is the defining filmmaker of the aughts. Yes, I realize they are a studio, but their work has been so singularly amazing that you always know you are getting quality. Cars, my least fav movie of theirs, is a B+, while the rest are all A+.
Up, despite the placement, just might be my favorite Pixar movie yet. Up is many things. For the first half, it's like an animated arthouse movie, and then the second half it turns into the best adventure movie in years. Certainly better than the last Indiana Jones. In between, you have great heart, and really funny humor. The only reason why it's this low is that the beginning really destroys me each time, and it's not as replayable as the top 3 due to that.
Pixar's upcoming output includes two sequels, which kinda bums me out. They'll very likely be great as well, but I rather have another original movie. The run of Ratatouille, Wall-E, and Up is probably my favorite run of Pixar, and i'm sad it has come to an end.
03. Observe and Report
Directed and Written by Jody Hill
Starring Seth Rogen, Anna Faris, Michael Pena, Collette Wolfe, Ray Liotta
Jody Hill is the most promising new filmmaker on the scene. His first movie, the no-budget Foot Fist Way starring Danny McBride, is a marvel of awkward humor and pomposity and it's really amazing. Jody, Danny, and Ben Best's TV series Eastbound & Down was my favorite series of 2009, and I can't wait for season 2. Now, Observe and Report, which just might be the darkest thing yet.
While many people have gone with the Taxi Driver comparison with Observe and Report, I personally think it has a closer similarity to Scorsese's underseen (and imo, better) The King of Comedy. A person who is obsessed so much with one goal, no matter how deluded he is. Seth Rogen escapes himself in the performance like De Niro did, and it's really amazing. The movie is very funny (in a darkly comic way), and it has one of the best comedy endings I have ever seen. The reaction it got from the crowd was unlike anything i've heard in a while.
Observe and Report is a bonafide classic, and it is so replayable. I've seen it 4 times, and it continues to get better and better with each viewing. Jody Hill has really burst onto the scene better than anyone I can remember in recent memory, and I am first in line with whatever he has up next.
02. Fantastic Mr. Fox
Director: Wes Anderson
Written by Wes Anderson, Noah Baumbach
Starring George Clooney, Meryl Streep, Jason Schwartzman, Bill Murray, Eric Chase Anderson, Wallace Wolodarsky, Michael Gambon, Willem Dafoe, Owen Wilson
I'm going to tell you how great Fantastic Mr. Fox is. I saw a matinee showing on a Friday when it was clear outside. Movie ended around 4:30, and when I got out it was SNOWING hardcore. Driving home it took me til 9:30 until I got home. It was one of the most brutal experiences I have ever had. The point in this? Even under the most brutal circumstances, the one thing that kept me going was just seeing the beam of joy that was Fantastic Mr. Fox.
There's a connection between Fantastic Mr. Fox and the #1 movie. While, I enjoyed what Wes Anderson did between Royal Tenenbaums and this movie, Fantastic Mr. Fox reminds me why I loved Wes Anderson in the first place. Quite frankly, I wouldn't mind if Wes Anderson worked exclusively in stop motion animation from now on. Fantastic Mr. Fox is wonderful, because it really is a classic Wes Anderson movie, not a kids movie. It's a movie that kids can watch, ala Ghostbusters, but it's not playing down to them. That's what all the classic movies do, like Pixar. They don't talk down, just because it's an animated movie.
Fantastic Mr. Fox is a perfect movie. It's as funny as anything, it's as adventurous as anything, it has a great story, and it has heart. While Up is deservedly winning award after award, I wish that Fantastic Mr. Fox would win some too. Wes Anderson is now back and better than ever, and I hope he continues this momentum with another new project soon.
01. Inglourious Basterds
Directed and Written by Quentin Tarantino
Starring Brad Pitt, Christoph Waltz, Michael Fassbender, Eli Roth, Diane Kruger, Daniel Bruhl, Til Schweiger, Melanie Laurent
As I alluded to in the post for #2, Wes Anderson and Quentin Tarantino had a similar experience with me. While I really enjoyed Death Proof (a true grindhouse movie, as opposed to Planet Terror, which is a jokey one), Inglourious Basterds reminded me why I loved QT in the first place. It may be too early to say now, but Basterds just might be Tarantino's best movie. To think, that he filmed it in record time to get it out for the Cannes Film Festival. He can easily crank these things out at record speed, and still end up with a wonderful product.
I doubted the casting of this movie a year ago, but I want to see that I couldn't have been more wrong. Seeing Adam Sandler in Eli Roth's Bear Jew spot would have taken me out of the movie. Roth was perfect as the The Bear Jew, and his big moment at the end was a real fist pump moment. Also Michael Fassbender did amazing work, as well as Melanie Laurent, Brad Pitt, and of course, Christoph Waltz. Waltz's Hans Landa is one of the defining movie characters of the decade, right up there with Daniel Plainview.
One reason why Basterds may be #1 over the rest is due to my screening of it. I saw it, opening weekend, in Idaho. Late showing, the Sunday of release. I was expecting the worst. I was thinking in stereotypes, that an Idaho crowd wouldn't be the crowd that would be into a movie that is in sub-titles for half of it. My feelings got worse when in the row in front of us was, as my friend dubbed it The cast of 90210. Many teen girls and teen girls on dates with jocky guys.
Then the movie started. Not a peep from the crowd. They reacted beautifully to it. huge reactions at big scenes of violence, reactions to laugh lines, and everything in between. The crowd was eating it up with not a single person talking. It shows that you shouldn't have preconceived notions of people. If the movie is great, they will react accordingly. I also found out a couple days ago that my straight laced, business man Uncle saw it, and was gushing over it. He couldn't be more of the complete opposite than me, and he liked it just as much as I do.
I'd get more into the themes of Basterds, but that would be pretty spoilery. So, i'll just say that the movie may be about WW2, but it's really about the power of cinema. How we react to things done on screen when they may not be good things. QT might not win any awards for Basterds, but like P.T. Anderson and There Will Be Blood, I believe it'll be seen as the defining movie of 2009 years from now.
Thanks once again for all the support. Sorry , I took a month to do this all. I'll see all you next year!
This is so much to take in at once, but I'm glad you got it posted.
Since we're running out of time, I will simply say, it was a TOP SHELF list all around. You don't need any fancy graphics or in-your-face Donald Trump gold-plated 3-D visuals to have one of the best, consistently most solid year-end countdowns on all of ATRL. This beats the pants off of so many other fools' countdowns.
