Saturday 2 January 2010

2009 In Review

Normally I wait until March to compile a review of the year's movies, since by January I normally haven't enough films. But thanks to festivals and the internet, I have already seen over 40 films this year. So although there are a few prominent omissions, most notably Jason Reitman's Up in the Air, I thought I would rank the films I have seen so far.

5 Stars

The White Ribbon
Face
Lost in the Mountains

4 1/2 Stars

Dogtooth
A Lake
Like You Know It All
Inglourious Basterds
The Hurt Locker

4 Stars

Humpday
Drag Me to Hell
District 9
Adventureland
Butterflies Have No Memories
The Cove
Daytime Drinking
In the Loop
The Fantastic Mr. Fox
The Girlfriend Experience
Anvil! The Story of Anvil
Goodbye Solo
Mother

3 1/2 Stars

Funny People
The Brothers Bloom
(500) Days of Summer
Thirst
Persecution
The Hangover
World's Greatest Dad
Avatar
Night and Fog
Bruno
I Love You Man
A North Chinese Girl

3 Stars

Tyson
Anti-Christ
Hierro
Closer to Heaven
Koma

2 1/2 Stars

Halloween II

2 Stars

Where Are You?

1 1/2 Stars

Dust



4 comments:

Jacob said...

You're a little generous - only 3 of the films on your list get less than 3 stars!

Marc Raymond said...

Yes, I am, unless I really didn't enjoy watching a film at all, I rarely go below 3 stars. Plus I usually avoid stuff I know I won't like. And even a film like ANTI-CHRIST. which I mostly disliked, had enough going on to grant 3 stars. Basically it's really only films at 4 1/2 stars or higher that I'm really willing to defend. The 3 1/2 to 4 star films I enjoyed or found interesting but do not necessarily think are great films in most cases.

BTW, how many 2009 releases have you taken in? Any best of list forthcoming?

Unknown said...

I just posted my top ten for 2009. I saw a lot of the 2009 festival films thanks to PIFF, though I'm still waiting to see the new Bruno Dumont, Fatih Akin, and Werner Herzog, along with a few others. I'm not too sure what people saw in "The White Ribbon" - it's probably my least favorite Haneke.
Haven't seen as much of the Oscar bait since most of it hasn't come out here yet.

Marc Raymond said...

Well, THE WHITE RIBBON is somewhat of a departure for Haneke, but for me it is among his best along with CODE UNKNOWN. My least favorite is FUNNY GAMES, which is your favorite, seems Haneke can divide even his admirers.

As for the Oscar bait, just saw UP IN THE AIR and it is quite good, especially as it builds. That was among the last of the big critical favorites in America that I still hadn't seen, other than UP which I might get around to eventually.