Friday, January 15, 2010

Top 10 Films

Per Fran's request, my top 10 films of 2009. (Fran, what are yours? I'm dying to know!) Granted, I haven't seen a few that were on other top 10 lists that I've seen (The Hangover, The Single Man, Broken Embraces, An Education) but out of those I think only the Almodovar would have any chance of beating my top 10. It took me forever to think of a #10, and then, after much hand-wringing, realized that the latest Harry Potter film (shut up, shut up) was actually very well made. I winced a bit when putting it on the list, but hey, it's a good one. Second only to Cuaron's Prisoner of Azkaban.

TOP 10 FILMS (with absolutely no explanation)

10. Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince. Warner Bros. Directed by David Yates. Starring Daniel Radcliffe, Rupert Grint, Emma Watson, Alan Rickman, Helena Bonham Carter, etc.

9. Coraline. Focus Features. Directed by Henry Selick. Animated. Starring Dakota Fanning, Teri Hatcher, Ian McShane, etc.

8. Coco Avant Chanel. Sony Pictures Classics. Directed by Anne Fontaine. Starring Audrey Tatou, Benoit Poelvoorde, Alessandro Nivola, etc.

7. Ponyo. Disney/Studio Ghibli. Directed by Hayao Miyazaki. Animated. English version starring Noah Cyrus, Frankie Jonas, Tina Fey, Matt Damon, Liam Neeson, Cate Blanchett, Lily Tomlin, etc.

6. Up! Walt Disney/Pixar. Directed by Pete Docter. Animated. Starring Edward Asner, Christopher Plummer, Jordan Nagai, etc.

5. Thirst. Focus Features. Directed by Park Chan-wook. Starring Song Kang-ho, Kim Ok-bin, Shin Ha-kyun.

4. The Fantastic Mr. Fox. 20th Century Fox. Directed by Wes Anderson. Animated. Starring. George Clooney, Meryl Streep, Anjelica Huston, Bill Murray, Jason Schwartzman, Owen Wilson, etc.

3. Up in the Air. Paramount. Directed by Jason Reitman. Starring George Clooney, Vera Farmiga, Anna Kendrick, Melanie Lynskey, etc.

2. The Hurt Locker. Summit Entertainment. Directed by Kathryn Bigelow. Starring Jeremy Renner, Anthony Mackie, Brian Geraghty, Guy Pearce, etc.

1. A Serious Man. Focus. Directed by Joel and Ethan Coen. Starring Michael Stuhlbarg, Sari Lennick, Fred Melamid, Richard Kind, Aaron Wolf, etc.

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Other notables:

Most (Personally) Disturbing and Unethical: Inglorious Basterds (please don't fight me over the inclusion of this one)

Most Boring and Immemorable: Away We Go

Indie Kid Favorite That Should Not Have Been: 500 Days of Summer

Worst Movie of the Year: 9

Scariest Kid Movie: Where the Wild Things Are

Most Cliche Soundtrack: Watchmen

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Random: a cute comic in Tablet (the Jew mag) by Vanessa Davis that instantly brightened a sour mood. Especially bright for us seniors who can't see more than two months into the future (and are often afraid to look).

1 comment:

Nora Elisabeth said...

Okay, I haven't seen maybe a third of those, and we both know how I feel about A Serious Man, but if Broken Embraces retroactively makes your top 10 list I will eat my hat. Or a lot of felt shaped like Pikachu.