5. Finding Nemo

4. Big Fish

3. Mystic River

2. Kill Bill vol.1

1. Lord of the Rings: Return of the King

The end of the epic trilogy is one of the best films of the decade. The sheer scope, the character development, and the theme of death just brings chills.

HONORABLE MENTIONS:
28 Days Later…
American Splendor
The Last Samurai
Love Actually
Wonderland

(500) Days of Summer

Romantic comedy is never my forte…but when watching this film I was amazed by the sheer realism, love and comedy. This is not the type of movie you bring a date to, of course you can, but the best way to view this is with a bunch of people. The characters in this film are quite relatable, bringing back fond memories on our own past relationships, our own “Summer”. The writing is beautiful and flows. The best rom-com of the past 5 years.

Avatar

Beautiful, intriguing, really thought out. Cameron has done it again and I’m so glad to see him making Sci-Fi films again. Welcome Home!! The only negative thing about the film is it is corny in some parts, but you get over it. This film is an experience, like Titanic was. I could watch this over and over again.

Coraline

After watching this once, I had to watch it again and again. The animation flows beautifully and the characters are amazing. For a kids film it is extremely dark, which is great to see. It keeps you captivated and doesn’t stray away from the creepy. It’s an atmospheric film, using sound and art to make you cringe, definently great on the ears and eyes.

District 9

As much as Avatar was great, this film blows it out of the water. It’s original. Watch the trailer, Watch the Movie. i have no words that can justify this film.

Inglorious Basterds

Quentin Tarantino has only made 7 movies in his lifetime….7. I’m kind of glad because everytime he brings out a new one it just boggles my mind how amazing it is. His highest regarded film next to Pulp Fiction.

The Hurt Locker

Kathryn Bigelow’s The Hurt Locker is the definition of war. It is a drug and no matter what happens out there, it’ll pull you back in for more. It plays like an action film but once it’s done you know you’ve just witnessed a classic war film.

The Messenger

This is the opposite of The Hurt Locker. Imagine going from door to door, telling strangers that someone from their family has died overseas. Not an easy task, and this is what the Messenger focuses on. The soldiers going to each door dealing with this emotional baggage. Great drama.

The Road

After war destroys the world, where do we end up…in a destroyed world. This is the world of The Road. A film that doesn’t describe what happened to the world but shows what could happen. People in desperation, a boy and his father attempting to survive. Beautifully shot, beautifully acted, just all around beautiful.

Up

I can say I did not cry at Up but I sure as hell almost. I have watched this 8 times and the feelings haven’t faded away. This is one of my top films of the year, and has been since May. A film dealing with death in a way that it strikes a cord with every age group is astounishing.

Up in the Air

I will say now, this is my number 1 film for 2009. It’s funny, it’s charming, it’s emotional and it’s slick. Execution is great and it speaks in so many levels. I love this film to death and I want to see it, so I will…SEE YA IN 2010…oh yeah, we are in 2010…….awkward…well theses are my picks, I know I didn’t go into detail that well, I just put main points. I write too much anyways, so If you’re wondering why I like theses films so much, leave a comment and I’ll answer!

(500) Days of Summer
Avatar
Coraline
District 9
Inglorious Basterds
The Hurt Locker
The Messenger
The Road
Up
Up in the Air

UPDATE #2: Looks like this will be a bigger list then I thought, I will make a top 21 (with 5 honourable mentions). 2009 was a great year for movies and I’m so glad I got to see so many good ones.

UPDATE: I’m gonna have to change this top ten to a top fifteen because I just got out of Fantastic Mr Fox and it made me realize I cannot narrow this down to ten.

I’ve seen so many amazing movies and here is my list: I’ll add descriptions on why theses movies we’re worthy and I’ll also add trailers to the blog! There are still a couple of movies I have to see such as: Invictus, Bright Star and the Lovely Bones.

-(500) Days of Summer
-An Education
-Avatar
-Coraline
-Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs
-District 9
-Drag Me to Hell
-Fantastic Mr. Fox
-Inglorious Basterds
-The Hangover
-The Hurt Locker
-The Messenger
-Moon
-Precious: based on the Novel “Push” by Sapphire
-The Princess and the Frog
-The Road
-Star Trek
-Watchmen (Director’s Cut)
-Where the Wild Things Are
-Up
-Up In The Air

Honorable Mentions

-Anti-Christ
-Away We Go
-Brothers
-Paranormal Activity
-Zombieland

TOP 5 WORST MOVIES OF 09
Dragonball: Evolution
G.I. Joe: Rise of Cobra
My Bloody Valentine
Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen
Twilight Saga: New Moon

5. Chicago

Probably one of the best musicals in the past couple of years, Chicago is stunning. The cast is fantastic, the music is catchy and the subject matter is darkly funny. I’m one to love Film Noir, so just adding music as an element was really compelling. Sit down, relax, and watch as your toes begin to flail!

4.Adaptation.

Charlie Kaufman is a GENIUS. If you love Being John Malkovich, you will adore Adaptation. A story of a struggling writing attempting something out of the norm, writing a screenplay about flowers.

3. Road to Perdition

SOOOOO UNDERRATED. Tom Hanks at his best in a irish gangster film. Such great writing, and such powerful performances! Paul Newman delivers a role which won’t soon be forgotten. Also notice a cameo by James Bond himself, Daniel Craig. It’s dark, it’s emotional..it’s the road to perdition.

2. Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers

The sequel to the highly successful film Fellowship of the Ring, The Two Towers just elevated the stakes. Another 3 hours of adventure and peril as Frodo and Sam attempted to bring the One Ring back to Mordor. Along they meet Gollum, who played by Andy Serkis, delivers a chilling performance. One of my favorite films of all time, along with it’s prequel and sequel, The Lord of the Rings is a must…so what beats one of my favorite movies?
1. The Pianist

Roman Polanski’s story of a pianist during the Holocaust is soo disturbing. Adrien Brody deserves the oscar!! I shouldn’t even have to tell you to see it, just watch it!!!!

HONOURABLE MENTIONS:
Gangs of New York
The Hours
Solaris
Spirited Away
Spider

This, to me, is the saddest moment of 1994 for a couple of reasons.

1) Jenny Dies: Forrest talks about Jenny throughout the ENTIRE 2 and a half hour film and when it comes to the end, when everything should be perfect, Jenny Dies…it sucks, but that’s life.

2) Tom Hanks performance: Just mind boggling. How does one like Forrest deal with such a monumental death in his life. Someone he’s thought of for soo long, someone he’s dreamed of. Every single thing Forrest has done was simply to get a little acknowledgement from the girl he loved. Sure, he got into random situations but the thought of Jenny never strayed from his mind and you can tell that in Hanks performance.

Everytime I see this scene, it hurts. I will preach this forever, proclaiming it as one of the saddest moments in film history. At least to me it is.

8. Underworld Series
Links every story to the original film, wisely played.

7. Pirates of the Caribbean series
There is no clip, but what happens is Jack steals a map which leads to the fountain of youth, so we understand that the adventures of Captain Sparrow aren’t gonna end anytime soon.

6. Man with No Name Series

5. Star Wars

4. The Evil Dead Series

3. Bourne Series

2. The Lord of the Rings

1. The Godfather Series

Watch this preview, Oscar contender for sure, especially after the buzz from TIFF

5. Donnie Darko

At first, the trailer makes it seem as if it’s just some insane serial killer film, but once you start to watch it, it’s something completely different. The film about a boy who discovers how time travel works thanks to a man in a bunny costume…I wish I were making that up, but it’s all completely true, and it’s amazing. It’s set in 1985 and it just reaks of nostalgia, and it also brings some creepyness into the film. Watch out for the film they watch at the cinema, one of my all time favorite horror films!!!

4. In The Bedroom

Great drama with amazing acting from the entire cast, this film is just so powerful. How do you deal with death..how far will you go? It’s just a great film all around, Bravo!

3. Memento

Christopher Nolan’s Masterpiece about a man who is determined to find his wife’s killer, the only problem…he has short term memory loss. The film plays backwards throught scenes and the acting, cinematography and editing are all astounding.

2. Amelie

French film about a girl who tryes to bring love to all around her. Really funny and cute! A true film to love by all! So who beat Amelie you may ask? well it should be obvious…

1. Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring

Wow, I didn’t even know anything about the books or the series while growing up, so when I saw the previews I was thinking…it looks alright. So I sit down and watch it in theatres and my mind blew up, It is spectacular!!!! Everything about it, the scenery, the cinematography, the music, the acting, the monsters, the story, the writting!! All amazing! Thank you Peter Jackson, your follow up to The Frighteners is amazing! This is my top film of 2001!
HONOURABLE MENTIONS:
A Beautiful Mind
Iris
Moulin Rouge!
The Royal Tenenbaums
Training Day

(Honourable Mention: American Psycho)

5. O’ Brother, Where Art Thou?

This is one funny ass movie, and it’s brought to us by one of the most talented directing partnership (The Coen Brothers). This film is the re-telling of Homer’s The Odyssey, set in 1930’s in the deep south. From the slang to the hilarious mis-haps, this film is a classic.

4. Unbreakable

M. Night Shyamalan’s follow up to The Sixth Sense, Unbreakable is a film to watch to be-hold. The trailer will tell you only the minimal, and i’ll do the same because this film is full of surprises. Some people call this better then Sixth Sense, and in some ways it is and it isn’t, but for the year 2000, it sure is a contender.

3. Gladiator

An action film with heart? That’s what Ridley Scott delivered with Gladiator, an epic film about a man who is betrayed by the empire he served and the vengeance that resides for his families deaths. Russell Crowe is fantastic.

2. Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon

The film that brought Ang Lee to American cinema was his epic chinese action/love story called Crouching Tiger/Hidden Dragon. Also brought Zhang Ziyi to mainstream. Awesome film, but not as awesome as.

1.Requiem For A Dream

Darren Aronofsky’s follow up to Pie is just beautiful. A anti drug film about the effect it takes on us, and the consequences for a ultimatly punishable pleasure. The music, cinematography is gorgeous. Chilling, intense and all around fantastic. This is the film which tops every other film in 2000.

HONOURABLE METIONS:
American Psycho
Almost Famous
Cast Away
Quills
Traffic