Sunday, December 20, 2009

the movie year. 2009. unannotated.


  • "Inglorious Basterds" (Quentin Tarantino) / 1
  • "Up in the Air" (Jason Reitman) / 2
  • "Gake no eu no Ponyo" (Hayao Miyazaki) / 3
  • "The Hurt Locker" (Kathryn Bigelow) / 4
  • "A Serious Man" (Ethan and Joel Coen) / 5
  • "The Girlfriend Experience" (Steven Soderbergh) / 6
  • "Precious: Based on the Novel Push by Sapphire" (Lee Daniels) / 7
  • "Bad Lieutenant: Port of Call - New Orleans" (Werner Herzog) / 8
  • "Brothers" (Jim Sheridan) / 9
  • "Coco Avant Chanel" (Anne Fontaine) / 10
  • "Whatever Works" (Woody Allen)
  • "Les plages d'Agnès" (Agnès Varda)
  • "State of Play" (Kevin Macdonald)
  • "Me and Orson Welles" (Richard Linklater)
  • "The Hangover" (Todd Phillips)/"I Love You, Man" (John Hamburg)

8 comments:

Jay said...

Inglourious Basterds is my #1 for the year, too. So far anyway. To date, I've seen a whopping 21 releases from 2009. Sigh.

joe baltake said...

I know that 21 doesn't seem like a lot to you, Jay, but it was such a spotty year, it made sense to be selective. Beyond the 13 titles that I mention, there were probably only about 10 more about which I was enthusiastic. That's 23. See what I mean? -J

Karen said...

Good list. Nick Cage got robbed by the Golden Globes. His is the best male performance of the year - for me, at least. I was also surprised that the GGs ignored "Away We Go." What did you think of that one? Was it included in your other ten films?

joe baltake said...

Let's see, Karen. Off the top of my head, I have a fond spot for "The Men Who Stare at Goats," "Taking Woodstock," "Observe and Report," "World's Greatest Dad," "Phoebe in Wonderland," three small comedies "Management," "The Invention of Lying" and "Extract," two Renée Zellweger vehicles, "New in Town" and "My One and Only," two with Clive Owen, "The International" and "Duplicity," and the animations "Up," "Coraline" and "Fantastic Mr. Fox."

j kaiser said...

"Inglourious Basterds" and "Hurt Locker" are my top two. Movies that stay with you.

Jeff said...

Did you miss Coppola's "Tetro?"

joe baltake said...

Jeff-

Good question. FYI. I did a separate post on "Tetro," called "forgotten Coppola." Check it out.

P.S. Two well-done genre films that are being overlooked during this wrap-up season: David Twohy's "A Perfect Getaway" and Ken Kwapis' "He's Just Not That into You."

j kaiser said...

Finally saw "The Hangover". Don't understand the popularity of it. Knew where Doug was the whole time. Knew that the Alan slipped something into the drinks when he gave them to the guys. Also, found it hard to laugh at and enjoy a character ( Alan ) that is obviously a pedophile.