Best of 2009: Top 5 Movies

I feel that I am perhaps alone in leaving out some of 2009′s higher profile releases from my Best of 2009 list. Too many of this year’s big hits left me cold, with the new Star Trek film the main offender. However, despite the general consensus that 2009 was a minor annus horribilis for film, I found more than enough to keep me interested. In fact, I probably went to the cinema more times this year than in the last three years combined. Three of those visits were to see the top film on this list, so consider that high praise indeed. In any case, presenting the Best Movies of 2009…

5. Inglourious Basterds

Quentin Tarantino returns in glorious, Nazi-smashing technicolour. Though hardly the most serious or subtle film of the year, Inglourious Basterds is never less than thoroughly entertaining. Brad Pitt stars as Lieutenant Aldo Raine, leader of a crack brigade of Jewish-American soldiers operating deep behind enemy lines in Nazi-occupied France but is upstaged by stunning performances from German actors Christoph Waltz and Diane Kruger. Waltz’s Colonel Hans Landa, the SS’s infamous “Jew-Hunter”, is perhaps the year’s most memorable movie villain, a pantomime foil for Pitt’s rootin’ tootin’ redneck hero. Utterly tasteless but wickedly funny, Inglourious Basterds proves that Tarantino’s star burns as brightly as ever after a string of poor efforts in recent years.

4. District 9

Proving that megabucks are not a pre-requisite for success, District 9 was an altogether more satisfying watch than 2009′s other big sci-fi hitters, Avatar and Star Trek. Set in a near-future South Africa, District 9 centres on the plight of the ‘Prawns’, a sizeable alien civilisation stranded on Earth and interned by humans in segregated settlements. Social commentary is as much a feature of the film as action or humour and though the parallel between post-Prawn Johannesburg and Apartheid South Africa is dealt with somewhat heavy-handedly, this is still much more intellectual fare than the rest of this year’s sci-fi offerings. Sharlto Copley’s Wikus van de Merwe falls at the hapless end of the hero spectrum but the development of his character over the course of them film is one of District 9‘s highlights.

3. In The Loop

Malcolm Tucker finally reaches the big screen in the film adoption of Armando Iannucci’s The Thick Of It. Forsaking the Westminster bear pit for the more polite, if equally frantic, world of Anglo-American relations, the TV show’s breakneck pace and vicious humour make the transition to feature length production unscathed. Peter Capaldi is the undoubted star, reprising his role as bile-spitting government spin-doctor Malcolm Tucker, and is supported by returning cast members alongside one-off additions including James Gandolfini. A resolutely British comedy, some of In The Loop‘s humour may be lost on North American audiences not familiar with the rough and ready approach to everything from ad libs to filming but those who persevere will be rewarded with a film that is unrelentingly funny and endlessly quotable. Be warned, the video embedded above includes language that is most definitely Not Safe For Work.

2. A Serious Man

The best Coen Brothers film since The Big Lebowski? Perhaps (in a universe where Oh Brother, Where Art Though doesn’t exist, mind). One of the year’s darker releases, the film follows the Goptiks, a Jewish family living in Minneapolis during the sixties. Professor Larry Gopnik’s life is falling to pieces around him: his wife is having an affair with a family friend, his son is constantly stoned and his daughter is stealing money from him to fund a nose-job operation. At work, Larry is up for Tenure but his application is under threat from malicious anonymous letters and Clive, a failing student determined to pass his exams at any cost. A Serious Man joins the canon of quintessential Coen Brothers movies, though it’s unrelentingly bleak at times.

1. Moon

Equal parts 2001: A Space Odyssey and Silent Running, Moon is the great film-making triumph of 2009. Produced for a paltry five million dollars by British director Duncan Jones, it tells the story of Sam Bell, the lone crewman of a mining base on the surface of the Moon, nearing the end of his three-year stint away from Earth. Sam Rockwell shines as Bell but is supported by an excellent voice-only performance from Kevin Spacey as the installation’s computer, Gerty.  Moon takes a minimalist approach to sci-fi, throwing out many modern genre conventions in the process. CGI is, for the most part, replaced by model work while the sets are basic and have a distinctly retro feel. Themes of identity and loneliness are explored in depth here but there’s a stark beauty amidst all the bleakness. The plot is simple and elegant and though the main twists are easily spotted in advance, the film’s understated style means they always resonate. Perhaps the highlight though is the utterly beautiful soundtrack from Clint Mansell, simple and elegant yet powerfully evocative, much like Moon itself.

Honourable mentions

Zombieland: essentially Left 4 Dead – The Movie but no worse for that.

Drag Me to Hell: dark, disgusting but hilarious Sam Raimi horror flick.

The Hangover: charming neo road-trip movie set in Las Vegas.

Watchmen: convoluted and over-long but very impressive super hero film nonetheless.

Coraline: creepy kid’s 3D film based on the Neil Gaiman book.