Keith's Top Films of 2009

You're probably wondering why I'm just getting around to doing a top 10 list of films from 2009 now, when 2010 is already 25% over itself. My main reason is simply that I knew there were a number of significant releases I had yet to see. I felt my top 10 list wouldn't be terribly relevant without having had those film viewing experiences. But time is more than up, and it remains the case that I can name close to two dozen films that I wish I had seen as I considered this list.

That said, I'm moving ahead. So here are my favorite films of 2009, with apologies for the late delivery. I'm also including a few additional categories with my list, and would like to thank Chris Zois, a former student of mine who reviews film for Roosevelt University and (I'm proud to say) is getting better and better at it, for coming up with some of these categories. And, so that you don't necessarily have to say "but what about...?", I'm including a list of movies I intended to get to before making this list. I'm sure there's something on it that could bump off what I have here. I still plan to see those films, and there's nothing wrong with a revisit down the road.

Keith's Top 10 Favorite Movies of 2009
1. The Hurt Locker
2. Inglorious Basterds
3. An Education
4. A Serious Man
5. Fantastic Mr. Fox
6. The Messenger
7. Un Prophete (A Prophet)
8. Star Trek
9. In the Loop
10. Up
Honorable Mentions: District 9, Every Little Step, Precious, This Is It, Up in the Air

The "Messy Masterpiece" Award: Avatar
(This goes to a film that is equally brilliant and bad and is therefore hard to categorize but unworthy of pure dismissal.) "Avatar" was a game changer, visually. The script? Not so much...

Overrated: Coraline, Where the Wild Things Are
"Coraline" felt too much like an Alice in Wonderland rip-off and the humor was cruel. "Where the Wild Things Are" let the wild rumpus start, but the rumpus never took off and it left me cold.

Underrated: Humpday
Dismissed as indie film mumblecore, "Humpday" came closer to speaking for me as a dreamy white guy in my mid-30s than any other film this year. True pathos, true heart, and equally as believable as its premise was ridiculous.

Guilty Pleasure: The Proposal
Sandra Bullock won an Oscar this year. Too bad "The Blind Side" didn't have Betty White! Or Ryan Reynolds, an emerging master of the charming smart alleck character. For a paint-by-numbers rom-com in a year when most films in that genre were pure disaster, everything clicked with this one. It was as fun and satisfying as a Hollywood romance should be.

Biggest Disappointment: The Lovely Bones, The Soloist
I don't even want to write about "The Lovely Bones" anymore...what a mess! As for "The Soloist," you would think that putting Jamie Foxx and Robert Downey Jr. together in a movie about a homeless cello prodigy would be award bait. Not.

Most Pleasant Surprise: Zombieland
Zombie films and horror aren't typically my cup of tea, but I laughed my ass off through almost all of "Zombieland." The movie falls apart at the end, but by then, so what?

Worst Movie of 2009: He's Just Not That Into You
The only thing good about it was that the title worked as an already-written third person review.
Honorable Mentions: Antichrist, Monsters vs. Aliens

Still to See (Movies I planned to see from 2009 but haven't had the opportunity...yet):
Away We Go, Big Fan, Broken Embraces, Extract, The Informant!, The Last Station, Me & Orson Welles, Moon, Paranormal Activity, The Road, Sin Nombre, A Single Man, Sunshine Cleaning, Tetro, Watchmen, World's Greatest Dad, The Young Victoria