The Best Movies Of 2009

As you scroll down my list of the best movies of 2009, you will probably wonder why I stopped at five. Surely there were enough good movies this year to have ten, as is customary for most year-end lists.

There’s a good reason why this list is only five. One, I like to keep things short and simple. As Baltasar put it, “good things, when short, are twice as good.”

Two, I didn’t get a chance to see a lot of movies this month, which is when they normally release all the “Oscar” favourites. And while I’m sure Sandra Bullock’s performance in The Blind Side is Academy Award-worthy, I think I’ll wait for the DVD before I see it.

So while movies like Up In The Air, The Fantastic Mr. Fox and Avatar are noticeably absent, I still think the five movies I’ve chosen are great films, and in some instances, close to being perfect.

I must say, 2009 wasn’t a particularly strong year for movies. For one, there were no real comic book movies, except for Watchmen, which kind of sucked. Here’s hoping the upcoming Iron Man sequel delivers the goods.

And unlike Roger Ebert, I’m not copping out by listing these movies in alphabetical order, or restricting them to “best mainstream movies of the year” and “best independent movies of the year” like some wussy.

Here they are, in order of bestness.

1) Still Bill

It’s common practice to put documentaries in a separate category when it comes to movies, but why? They have some of the best drama and truest life stories ever filmed. And Still Bill is as real as it gets.

Bill Withers’ music is so prolific and memorable, even songs you know by heart like “Lean On Me” you know the words to even if you don’t know the man that wrote them.

Directors Damani Baker and Alex Vlack wisely avoid doing a True Hollywood Stories-style of documentary and instead give us a sweet portrait of Bill Withers today.

The film travels with Bill to his home town of Slab Fork, West Virginia, and looks at him at his home with his family.

Most music bio-pics feature their subjects in scandalous behaviour, often addicted to drugs or sex or some kind of hedonistic lifestyle, but that wasn’t Bill Withers. He was a working man who happened to be a good musician, and when his career took off in the early-70’s, he stayed the same person.

There’s a great scene where Bill is talking to a group of children that stutter, a condition he suffered with as a child. He tears up as he’s talking to them. “You kids helped me remember something I forgot,” he says.

Still Bill was the most moving film of the year, and if we never hear any new material from Bill Withers ever again, we can at least be grateful that there’s a film honouring his legacy.

2) Medicine For Melancholy

This film will in all likelihood be forgotten in a few years, and it’s a shame too because it really deserves recognition for showing a part of the black experience most of us are unfamiliar with.

Taking its cue from films like When Harry Met Sally… and Before Sunrise, Medicine For Melancholy is about two black hipsters waking up from a one-night stand who spend the day together, and in the course of their time, fall for each other.

What separates this film from others like it is the racial component. Most rom-coms treat their subjects as racially-neutral. Even in black romantic comedies you hardly see the two romantic leads question what role race plays in their relationship.

Since Medicine For Melancholy is about two black people from a sub-culture that’s predominantly white, and the statistically improbable chances of them actually meeting and getting together, their relationship is even more intriguing.

More importantly, Medicine For Melancholy shows a side of African-American life we’ve never seen on-screen before, and are unlikely to see again for quite some time, sadly.

3) Adventureland

I watched Adventureland for the second time this year, and found myself loving it for a whole new reason. The relationship between Jesse Eisenberg and Kristin Stewart is of course the heart of the story, but it’s the dynamic between Eisenberg and Ryan Reynolds’ characters that is the most illuminating aspect of the film.

In any other movie like this, these two characters would be at each other’s throats, and we’d all be rooting for the sweet and geeky James over the macho jerk Connell. But this movie doesn’t fall into that trap. Instead we see the complete opposite. These characters actually become friends, and Connell becomes somewhat of a mentor to young James.

We also see two very opposite extremes of masculinity at work here - the sensitive, non-threatening nice guy on the one hand, and the handsome, but arrogant, ladies-man on the other - and neither one is stereotypical or over-the-top.

This is a film with layers, and I wonder if I’ll find something new to love about it the next time I watch it.

4) Inglourious Basterds

Talk about a kick-ass movie. Tarantino scores another big one with his revisionist tale set in Nazi-Occupied France. This time we see Hitler really get what he deserves, as well as some bad-ass Jewish soldiers scalping Nazis. Plus, two of the most intense scenes of the year that are completely dialog-driven.

As I said in my review earlier this year, Tarantino always manages to find a way to top himself with each movie, proving he’s one of the most important filmmakers out there.

Kudos to Christoph Waltz as well for one of the best performances of the year.

5) Up

I haven’t really given Pixar movies a whole lot of attention before, mostly because the trailers always made them out to look like kids movies that were trying too hard to be clever. As much as I enjoyed Shrek, I couldn’t see it as anything but a decent kids movie geared towards adults (I know it’s not a Pixar movie, but it’s similar enough).

Had I not seen Up, I would be sorely missing out. This is a great work of animation, but more importantly, a great work of art. 

Up is about a man who loses the love of his life, and decides to fulfill her final wish by going on one last great adventure.

The first ten minutes are so moving, I wondered if Richard Linklater’s name would show up during the end credits. The beauty of this couple’s relationship is so touching, had the rest of the movie not been as strong I would still love it.

Also, “Squirrel!” has to be this year’s best line (especially when Alpha says it).

Honourable Mentions

Fifty Dead Men Walking

An intense look at Northern Ireland during the Troubles of the 1980s, and one man in particular, Martin McGartland, an Irish-Catholic that turns snitch on the IRA for the British police and is forced into hiding as a result. The film is a necessary reminder of how terrorism and war can force ordinary people into doing unthinkable things in order to survive.

The Hurt Locker

Kathryn Bigelow will most likely get the best director Oscar for the decade’s most intense war movie. Neither pro-war nor anti, this movie simply shows the dangerous work soldiers in the line of duty face, and how it affects them physically and emotionally. Jeremy Renner gives another one of the year’s best performances.

Precious: Based on the novel “Push” by Sapphire

It’s hard not to mention Precious in a year-end best of list, simply because the acting is so strong (the final scene with Mo’Nique in particular), and the story and title-character so sympathetic. It’s proof that great performances can turn around even the most flawed of films.

District 9

This surprise hit was easily the best sci-fi movie of the year. Even though it’s depiction of Nigerians is borderline offensive, the movie stays consistent with other sci-fi films as being not only visually spectacular and action-packed, but replete with social commentary.

Dishonourable Mentions

Jennifer’s Body

Diablo Cody will have to work real hard on her next script if she wants to wash the foul taste that is Jennifer’s Body from everyone’s mouth. This is a very trite horror movie about a girl seemingly possessed by... aw who gives a shit?

Her screenplay is laced with annoying, hipster-dialog like in Juno, but without the strong character development.

Its only redeeming factor - a brief make-out scene between stars Megan Fox and Amanda Seyfried. Wowza!

Boondock Saints II: All Saints Day

I never watched Boondock Saints I, so maybe I missed some vital piece of information keeping me from appreciating Boondock Saints II, but I doubt it.

This shoot ‘em up action movie about two Irish brothers seeking revenge on mobsters involved in the murder of a Catholic priest is annoyingly bad.

I like a good bad movie as much as the next guy, but there’s nothing fun or funny or even entertaining about this movie. It’s overstylized violence for the sake of having overstylized violence, a Tarantino-rip off at best, a waste of two hours at worst.