Top Ten 2009 Data

1. THE EXILES

The rest are a 12-way tie for second except LEFT BANK, which came in last.

Condensed from The year in review: 2009’s best, from Denerstein Unleashed.

1. SUMMER HOURS: Director Olivier Assayas’ impeccably acted Summer Hoursdeals with things that matter to us all — or should: the deterioration of family bonds and the disconnection that can develop between generations. A mother passes away and her three grown children — two brothers and a sister — must decide what to do with her house and possessions. There’s no faux melancholy here, only the sadness that’s felt as time passes and the world as we understand it begins to vanish. 

2. THE HURT LOCKER: Set in Baghdad, director Kathryn Bigelow’s combat-ready movie could have been No. 1 on my list, but this year I put love for Summer Hours over respect for Bigelow’s considerable achievement. The Hurt Locker builds unbearable tension as it follows a three-man bomb squad around Baghdad, showing how different soldiers react to the strains of war. Jeremy Renner does exceptionally fine work as a sergeant who finds both purpose and an undeniable high in defusing bombs. Bigelow works in a sparse, no-nonsense style that proves that she might be a Sam Fuller for the 21st Century. 

3. UP IN THE AIR: George Clooney excels as a man who earns his living by depriving others of theirs. Clooney’s Ryan Bingham works for a company that specializes in corporate dirty work. Too timid to downsize? Hire Bingham to let your people go. Funny and trenchant, director Jason Reitman’s ultra-loose adaptation of a novel by Walter Kirn tops my list of mainstream entertainments. Vera Farmiga and Anna Kendrick give Clooney able support, and — as he proved inThank You For Smoking and Juno — Reitman is much too smart to sabotage either a movie’s entertainment value or its ability to say something meaningful. 

4. A SERIOUS MAN: Joel and Ethan Coen defy expectation with a profoundly serious comedy based on their experiences growing up Jewish in a Minneapolis suburb. A Serious Man focuses on the fast-unraveling life of physics professor Larry Gopnick (Michael Stuhlbarg). Well observed down to the last painful detail, A Serious Man allows the Coens to ponder big questions. It should come as no surprise that the Coens’ view of the world — though often funny — does not brim with optimism. 

5. IN THE LOOP: The year’s best satire deals with the way British and American bureaucrats talk themselves into an impending war in the Middle East. (Any resemblance to U.S. and British involvement in Iraq should be taken as purely intentional.) The result is compelling and arch, and just about everything in the movie rings true. The government officials that we meet are a venal lot, careerists who spend as much time jockeying with one another as they do advancing the interests of their respective countries. An ensemble cast shines, but Peter Capaldi earns special recognition as a ruthless, profanity-spewing PR man for the British prime minister. 

6. THE INFORMANT!: Director Stephen Soderbergh denies us a strong rooting interest in this story of corporate corruption; Soderbergh does, however, make us wish that sanity might suddenly penetrate the movie’s intricate web of irresponsibility and greed. based on a true story, The Informant! not only lacks a bona fide hero, but takes a surprisingly comic approach to a price-fixing scandal. I know that sounds dull, but it’s anything but. Matt Damon gives an Oscar worthy performance as whistler blower who’s not all that he seems.

7. SERAPHINE: A little-known painter who died in 1942, Seraphine de Senlis spent much of her life working as a domestic. A woman of mystical bent, Seraphine believed that God had commanded her to paint. She also believed that she had a winking, intimate relationship with the Virgin Mary. Not surprisingly, Seraphine wound up in an insane asylum. Director Martin Provost’s somber movie revolves around a great performance from the Belgian actress Yolande Moreau, whose portrayal of Seraphine is utterly unselfish and deeply committed. Plain and portly, Seraphine isn’t the sort of character who endears herself to us or to the residents of Senlis, the town in France’s Picardy region where she resides, but Moreau’s performance proves unforgettable.

8. 35 SHOTS OF RUM: French director Claire Denis’ look at an African father and his daughter quietly (and that’s a crucial word) reveals the subtleties of adjustment demanded by those making their way in a changing and increasingly multiracial society. Don’t look for screaming or abrasive conflict. Denis’ story deals with the great population change in Europe on the most intimate of levels. 35 Shots of Rum expands in the mind as you think about it, and, in some ways, can be viewed as a companion piece to Summer Hours, two movies about the shifting tone and tenor of life in Europe. If only we had American equivalents. 

9. THE BEACHES OF AGNES: Ialways like to include at least one documentary on my 10-best list. This year’s spot goes to Agnes Varda’s reflective (and joyfully creative) look at her own relationship to a life in film. The 81-year-old French director remembers her childhood, her development as a still photographer, then as a movie director, and, of course, as the wife of directorJacques Demy, most famous for The Umbrellas of Cherbourg. Varda’s movie is at once arty and playful — serious without ever being solemn. Varda, who was 80 when her film was made, concludes by telling us that she’s alive and that she remembers. Good news for us on both counts. 

10. BAD LIEUTENANT: PORT OF CALL NEW ORLEANS: OK, maybe it’s a bit of stretch to put director Werner Herzog’s helping of neo-noir nastiness on a 10-best list. And, yes, I have to admit that at times I was a little too aware ofNicolas Cage’s tendency to push himself as far over the top as possible. Cage plays a reprobate detective, a guy who seems to have crawled out of the muck of post-Katrina New Orleans. But Herzog, who usually makes films involving great physical challenges (witness Fitzcarraldo or Grizzly Man), accomplished something wholly unexpected. In telling the story of a corrupt New Orleans detective, he rediscovered American funk. Lord knows, our CGI-dominated culture could use more of it. 

I’m going to cheat a bit here, and add one more movie to my list, the film I regard as the year’s best animated entertainment: 

HONORABLE MENTION FOR THE FANTASTIC MR. FOX: Wes Anderson’s adaptation of a Roald Dahl story about a rebellious fox boasted the year’s best voice work in any animated feature, and, for me, stood out as one of the year’s most enjoyable entertainments. How about George Clooney (as Mr. Fox) and Meryl Streep (as Mrs. Fox) as couple of the year?

People sometimes ask me to name the best movie I’ve ever seen. Of course, I could pick a movie, but I always prefer to answer with hope rather than history: ”My favorite movie ever? I hope I haven’t seen it yet.”

Top

1. Star Trek – Apart from being a clever reinvention of the franchise, Paramount smartly cast relative unknown Chris Pine and didn’t try to jam someone unfit for command into the role of Captain Kirk.
2. Gran Torino – Clint’s apology for Pink Cadillac.
3. Green Lantern: First Flight – Let’s hope that the financially motivated casting of Ryan “look at my biceps” Reynolds doesn’t make this iteration Green Lantern’s first and only flight.  For whatever it’s worth though, DC’s animated features are consistently better than Marvel’s
4. District 9 – was only produced and not directed by Peter Jackson.  Seriously, however, it was a surprisingly good movie vomit inducing handheld shots not withstanding.
5. Paul Blart: Mall Cop – John McClane packs on a few pounds and rocks the cheesy 70s mustache to take on bad guys going after the Black Friday windfalls at the mall.
6. Taken – was a Robert Ludlum style international spy vs. smugglers. I watched this movie and thought that Liam Neeson would have made a much better Jason Bourne.
7. Not Since You proved that a movie doesn’t have to be expensive or stacked with big names to tell a compelling story.
8. X-Men Origins – Wolverine had problems, but was overall enjoyable.  It was not as rife with continuity errors as the Star Wars prequels nor did it raise more questions than it answered.  It was a serviceable offshoot of the X-Men franchise which merits continuation with an X4 but can coexist with Wolverine having his own adventures separate from the team.
9. A Perfect Getaway features Milla Jovovich in Hawaii. Need I say more?
10. (500) Days of Summer was a cute, relatable little movie that successfully employed many cinematic and storytelling novelties while deconstructing relationship and break-up mythos.

The Bottom 10 of 2009

1. G.I. Joe: The Rise of Cobra – This movie had flaccidity that even Viagra couldn’t rectify (pun intended).  Knowing may be half the battle, but in this case ignorance would have been bliss.
2. Transformers: The Revenge of the Fallen – It was like Skylab or Mir getting its revenge.  Both G.I. Joe and this movie rushed into development before the work freeze that accompanied the writer’s strike.  It reminded me of Griffin Mill’s observation from The Player:
   
   “I was just thinking what an interesting concept it is to eliminate the writer from the artistic process. If we could just get rid of these actors and directors, maybe we’ve got something here. It proved why or at least a vindication for writers and their removal from the creative process.”

3. Land of the Lost – Too bad this movie didn’t disappear into an alternate dimension and take Guns N’ Roses’ Chinese Democracy with it.
4. Angels & Demons – The DaVinci Code was deathly boring.  What made Sony think we would want to know what happened before?
5. Public Enemies – Naaah boyeee!
6. A Christmas Carol (2009) – Why God? Why?
7. Old Dogs – should be put to sleep.
8. Inglourious Basterds – Tartantino can add this misspelled magnum opus to his long list of mediocrities.
9. Bruno – Rent Borat and imagine a gay German in just about every scenario and you can give this movie a miss.
10. A Night At The Museum – Battle for the Smithsonian – I hope the museum banked a good endowment from this abomination.
11. Watchmen – Zach Snyder’s literal frame for frame transcription of the graphic novel to the big screen sans the Tales of the Black Freighter.  Although technically ambitious, the film was only slightly more dynamic than the moving comic was. In addition it was needless and pointlessly pornographic for Silk Spectre and Nite Owl join the Sky High Club.  The period music selections were uninspired and pointless.

OK, this list may seem weird: there are some that might yet crack the top 10, but I have not seen them yet. Of what I’ve seen, in alpha order:

• Anvil! The Story of Anvil
• Avatar
• Burma VJ
• The Cove
• District 9
• The Hurt Locker
• Precious
• Revanche
• Star Trek
• Sugar