Check em' out and we shall see how they change in the coming week or two.
Jackson Bishop:
1. Moon
2. Fantastic Mr. Fox
3. District 9
4. Adventureland
5. Star Trek
Honorable mention to 500 Days of Summer and Inglorious Basterds, and hopefully Avatar will take a place here too after the 18th.
As I've stated before, 2009 to me is the year of SciFi. The genre made a huge comeback with some quality films that fulfill...ed every function of the genre. They were though provoking, reflective of our culture, and damn entertaining. 2009 was also a year of chances taken, with films like Fantastic Mr. Fox, Paranormal Activity and even Watchmen, that were in one way or another pretty ballsy to release as they were. Here's hoping 2010 will be as memorable.
Michael Anthony Lopez:
1. District 9
2. Fantastic Mr. Fox
3. Paranormal Activity
4. 500 Days of Summer
5. Where the Wild Things Are
others I really enjoyed were Coraline, Up, and Inglourious Basterds
Films this year seemed to take existing subject matter and bring it to life in a new and unusual way. District 9 is in my opinion one of the best sci fi films of all time. Like Paranormal Activity, it took a subject matter that is questionably believable and made it feel real. It was also a good year for the family since Fantastic Mr. Fox, Where the Wild Things Are, Coraline, and Up were all quality films for everyone.
Arlin Golden:
1. Bad Lieutenant: Port of Call New Orleans
2. Where the Wild Things Are
3. The Carter
4. Inglourious Basterds
5. Ponyo
2009 was a year of bipolarity, and rightfully so, as its films seem to be striding the line between what has worked the past decade and trying to find footing for the decade to come. The first half of the year seemed to produce such a dirth of quality films that I would go to the movies just to see something, but as the rush towards award season began I was left struggling to keep up. Suffice to say if I had gotten to every movie I was interested in this list would look much different; shout outs to Limits of Control, Moon, Antichrist, A Serious Man, and Fantastic Mr. Fox, movies I'm sure would've made this list more interesting
Evan Koehne:
I might be one of the worst people to ask to do an up-to-date "Best of 2009" list. In the words that Chris Farley's famous Bennet Brauer may well have said, I don't "Go out to the movies." But I do my best. Here's a list of movies I saw this year that I liked, and also a list of movies that I wish I could have gotten around to seeing.
1. Coraline
2. Up
3. District 9
4. The Hangover
5. Zombieland
I am all about fantasy, and I am all about the crazy adventure story, as you can tell. All of these movies do that very well, while also in small ways breaking down the conventions of their supposed "genres." I'm also a sucker for the animated film. The Hangover is on there because of Zach Galifinakis.
Yes, I saw Inglourious Basterds. No, it didn't make my list. So sue me.
Catie Moyer:
1. Drag Me to Hell: the return of Sam Raimi to his roots in horror.
2. It Might Get Loud: epic romp with three guitar legends of different generations; Jimmy Page alone make this one worthwhile.
3. Fantastic Mr. Fox: Wes Anderson plays with stop animation adaptation of Dahl's book which led to my discovery that Dahl used to be a secret agent.
4. Jennifer's Body: roll your eyes if you must, but as far as women's film goes, this one wins this year with Diablo Cody writing, Karyn Kusama directing, and two starlettes in extremely sympathetic performances; definitely not man-friendly.
5. Paranormal Activity: just read Stephen King's exclusive article "What's Scary" in Jan Fango. You'll understand.
OH MY GOD! DO I GET A SIXTH?!?!?!?
Zombieland. For sure. No justification necessary. Word.
A word on 2009: Sparse and a little blockbustery. I'm expect normal people's lists would include Star Trek and Avatar. Or maybe Harry Potter 5 and Transformers II. Of course, we're not normal people. Or is every year kind of like that? I don't know. I'm all wonky right now. Don't include this part. ^.^
Kelsey Brannan:
1. Where The Wild Things Are
2. Avatar
3. Inglourius Basterds
4. Up
5. District 9
Steven Ray Morris:
1. District 9
2. Inglourious Basterds
3. Princess and the Frog
4. Fantastic Mr. Fox
5. Up
This definitely is a really great year for animation bar none in a really long time. The summer blockbusters were a mixed bag and did not live up to the heights of mainstream cinema in 08 (The Dark Knight, Wall-E), but one breakthrough is the success of a lot of smaller films. The “Indie” and B Movies have returned. Hopefully there will be more and more low budget films released again in the coming years.
Joshua Fu:
1) Fantastic Mr. Fox
2) A Serious Man
3) Up
4) Where the Wild Things Are
5) Antichrist
* this was in no way easy. runners up included: The Informant!, Observe and Report, The Hurt Locker and The Messenger.
Dax Schaffer:
1. Up
2. Princess and the Frog
3. Coraline
4. Star Trek
5. Fantastic Mr. Fox
Yeah so… I was a little heavy on animation here. I really don’t know if I should put Coraline above PATF (*editors note: Dax made me switch them), but it feels a little more right this way…I pretty much liked them equally though. Neither one has an AMAZING story, but each one showcases their own art forms beautifully. Honorable mention to Harry Potter and the Half Blood prince for being the only Harry Potter movie that I liked more than the book. Also, I would add Waltz with Bashir, but it was technically an ‘08 release. So anyway, about animation…
Coraline (Stop Motion), UP (CG), 9 (CG, with a hint of Stop Motion), Princess and the Frog (Traditional Hand-drawn, Disney style), A Christmas Carol (CG, Motion Capture), The Fantastic Mr. Fox (Stop Motion, Old School style), Planet 51 (CG), Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs (CG), Monsters Vs. Aliens (CG), Ponyo (Traditional Hand-drawn, Anime/Studio Ghibli style), Astro Boy (CG), Rebuild of Evangelion 1.0: You Are (Not) Alone (Anime)...
Holy Crap! The animation category at the Academy Awards is going to be packed, a fantastic year to say the least. Not to mention that this is the most eclectic variety of animation mediums that's been around in years. They've just about covered every available venue (if you count Waltz with Bashir, they even got Flash animation in there). Here's to a resurgence in the industry. Oh, and do we count Avatar as well considering that it's mostly CG anyway? I’m not saying all of these are good, but I do think that it’s nice that there has been such an increase in output. A few disappointments came into play though, Ponyo was only ok (gorgeous, but just an ok story) and “9” was a pretty big let down honestly (again….GORGEOUS, but a terrible story). My logic may seem contradictory here, but if a story is distractingly disjointed, not even a mastery of the art form can save it really.
Omar Najam:
1- 500 Days of Summer
2- UP
3- Coraline
4- Star Trek
5- District 9
Top 5 movies I forgot were even made
1- Bride Wars
2- Fired Up
3- Miss March
4- Battle for Terra
5- My Life in Ruins
Quite possibly the best "quality" film:
It's between Where the Wild Things Are and A Serious Man
Quite possibly the worst "quality" films:
It's between the Ugly Truth and Dance Movie
Quite possibly the worst movie ever:
X-Men Origins: Wolverine
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What are your current top five films of 2009? and what do you feel was noteworthy if anything about 2009?
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