My 10 Best (And 5 Worst) Movies Of 2009...

2/10/10 UPDATE: I've adjusted the list to add "Precious" to the top 10. This bumps the previous number 10 to 11. Sorry, Paranormal Activity!

While I certainly haven't seen every movie released in 2009 (some films I haven't gotten around to seeing, others haven't opened here yet), I've seen enough of them. To be exact, 77 of them. That's about 3 movies every two weeks. On average it ended up being a B-minus year. The movies I loved the most all got A or A-minus grades. The worst ranged from D-plus to D-minus. I somehow managed to avoid an outright F in 2009. Interestingly, the two best and the single worst all have George Clooney in common. It's possible that a 2009 movie I see in 2010 could work its way into the best or worst lists, but for now, here they are...

The Best!

1. Fantastic Mr. Fox - George Clooney and Meryl Streep, animated. Funny and smart.
2. Up In The Air - George Clooney, in the flesh. Ditto.
3. I Love You, Man - Paul Rudd (swoon -- see photo) and Jason Segel and their bromance.
4. Away We Go - One I was rather surprised to enjoy so much. Charming.
5. Bruno - The most hysterical movie of them all, but what kept it from the very top is that it's essentially Borat all over again.
6. (500) Days Of Summer - The most original romantic comedy of the year, if not the last few years.
7. Precious - Strong story, strong acting, and an ending that feels right.
8. Up - Pixar strikes again.
9. Julie & Julia - Meryl Streep again. Delightful.
10. Star Trek - I wasn't sure they could resurrect this franchise but they did it amazingly well.


Honorable mention (among the A-minus movies but not quite in the top 10): Paranormal Activity, Outrage, Humpday, It's Complicated

The Worst!

Dishonorable mention (among the D-plus films but not quite bottom 5): Sherlock Holmes

5. The Hangover - I know everyone loved it and it made zillions of dollars, but it left me cold.
4. Jennifer's Body - Tried so hard to be hip and turned out a mess.
3. All About Steve - Sandra Bullock had a great year -- thanks to The Proposal and The Blind Side, not to this dreck.
2. The Ugly Truth - Katherine Heigl needs better material if she wants to be a movie star.
1. The Men Who Stare At Goats - Only George Clooney saved this from the dreaded F.

All of my 2009 grades are here. If something's not on that list it's because I didn't see it. Agree or disagree with my choices? Is there something from 2009 still in theaters that I should see? And isn't Paul Rudd dreamy?