My Highly Subjective List of the Best Movies of 2009

I like going to the movies. I’m like Binx Bolling, but without the charming New Orleans accent. So as 2009 reaches the end of its reel, or, uh, one last delicious digitally-projected byte—oh shut up for god’s sake—I thought I’d run down the films I liked best.

Now, as I’ve aged, I’ve become more suspicious of criticism in general. There are several reasons for this, among them:

• I used to hold professional adults in greater esteem. Then I became a professional adult, and realized that we’re just older versions of the same dopes from the schoolyard. So, with rare exceptions, who really cares what a critic thinks? (As pseudo-science goes, I am interested in cumulative analysis such as Rotten Tomatoes and the more nuanced Metacritic.)

• Our reactions to everything are highly subjective. Your personal history greatly affects how you respond, or don’t respond, to a film. It’s the rare critic who is on that very similar life path as you. I can love a movie and you can hate it, and we’re both right. (Well, unless you were a real dope on the schoolyard.)

• And beyond that, your mood on any particular day will affect how you see a movie. Feeling good? Distraught? Had a fight that morning? The best art can pull us out of our daily woes (and joys), but of course it’s still there, and it’s still a factor. I’d like to see more reviews start with “Now let it be said that I was in a shitty mood when I sat down in the multiplex….”

I guess what I’m saying is, please disregard this list. Oh yeah, I also didn’t rate two movies in which I knew the filmmakers. Objectivity, you elusive temptress!

OK, OK, enough yapping:

10) Up in the Air George Clooney is the patron saint of us aging bachelors, and basically plays himself here. The movie flirts with clichés—my god, a character in love is running through an airport—but director Jason Reitman subverts them at every turn. The result is a smart, funny movie in touch with the times.

9) Brüno In a year where America too often showed its true colors in terms of prejudice and discrimination against gays, Sacha Baron Cohen bravely held a mirror up to it. And it’s funny as hell.

8 ) The Informant! Steven Soderbergh takes on a wonky but ultimately fascinating true story and turns it into a highly entertaining film. Matt Damon’s performance gets stronger and stronger as the many layers of his character are revealed. Bonus points for the exclamation point in the title.

7) District 9 For most of it, it felt like no movie I’d seen before. Very cool, raw sci-fi tempered by humor. But the parallels to apartheid-era South Africa really made this harrowing.

6) Moon Like a really, really good episode of The Twilight Zone. Director Duncan “Yes, I’m Bowie’s son” Jones’s effort fills his debut with explorations of solitude, corporate malfeasance, and larger issues of identity. He’s helped greatly by Sam Rockwell’s performance. And I had to keep reminding myself it wasn’t filmed on the moon.

5) Fantastic Mr. Fox In the battle of indie directors making movies for kids, Wes Anderson trumped Spike Jonze. This is technically brilliant, but more importantly, positively joyful. With this, Men Who Stare at Goats, and Up in the Air, you get to see Clooney dance in three consecutive films.

4) Wendy and Lucy Oh my god this is bleak. If you didn’t like director Kelly Reichardt’s Old Joy, you will hate this second effort. Michelle Williams is fantastic as down-on-her-luck, not-thoroughly-likable indie girl Wendy. It’s another snapshot of our troubled times, and it feels mighty real.

3) A Serious Man The Coen Brothers dare to ask the big questions, and don’t provide answers, because there are no answers. If we’re good, do good things happen? If we’re bad, do bad things happen? Who knows? Michael “I’m nobody” Stuhlbarg is terrific as the lead sad sack. And there are many, many laughs. You don’t have to be Jewish to enjoy this movie, but eh, couldn’t hoit!

2) The Imaginarium of Doctor Parnassus The unfairness of life? That slick, overcooked, ultimately empty Avatar is a blockbuster, and this movie can barely get released. Terry Gilliam gives you everything he’s got in this timeless tale of good versus evil. It’s a total outpouring of Python-esque creativity, a fitting farewell to Heath Ledger, and in many regards the best movie of the year.

1) Adventureland No movie this year came remotely close to affecting me emotionally like this one did. It rattled me to my core. Yes, I was the ideal demographic: Late 80s, music-obsessed, Pittsburgh-based, amusement-park employee. But Adventureland has so much heart and so much insight into what it is to be fresh out of school, lovestruck, and absolutely no idea what direction to take as you teeter on adulthood. The sweet pain of it all is captured here beautifully, with an air of melancholy hovering over the proceedings.

Honorable mention: Whatever Works, Star Trek, Coraline, The Great Buck Howard, Crazy Heart

Worst movie: Funny People
Honorable mention: Year One

Current releases I saw in the theater this year: 38