Modern Tonic’s Top 10 Movies of 2009

MOVIES | December 16, 2009
The Fantastic Ten
This year, the men were Single and Serious and the women were Precious, but the ten films we loved the most were anything but.

A Serious Man: The Coen Brothers return to their suburban Minnesota Jewish upbringing for this bizarre, dark, hilarious tale of a middle-aged academic (the extraordinary Michael Stuhlbarg) trying desperately to get his life right.

Away We Go: Maya Rudolph and John Krasinski, as parents-to-be trying to find a place in the world for themselves and their child, were the year’s most hilarious and heartbreaking couple.

A Single Man: Couturier Tom Ford made his debut as a writer-director-producer with all cylinders firing, bringing Christopher Isherwood’s novel to poignant life on the big screen with a boatload of great performances (led by Colin Firth) and style to burn.

Precious: This one will be remembered not only for its no-holds-barred storytelling but also for introducing the world to Gabourey Sadibe and for changing the way we think about Mo’Nique and Mariah Carey.

(500) Days of Summer: Young love in all its bittersweet glory and passionate disappointment, captured unforgettably by the effervescent Joseph Gordon-Levitt and Zooey Deschanel. Los Angeles never looked so romantic, and Hall & Oates never sounded so ebullient.

Fantastic Mr. Fox: Meticulously designed and drily witty, this stop-motion animated adaptation of the classic Roald Dahl story may just be the movie that detail-oriented Wes Anderson was meant to make all along.

NINE: Take Fellini’s immortal 8 ½, add splashy showtunes and the world’s greatest leading ladies and filter through the Rob Marshall’s glittery imagination. Throw in sexy, ’60s-flavored costumes and a constant cloud of cigarette smoke, and you’ve served up one of the year’s coolest cocktails.

Outrage: Documentarian Kirby Dick’s exposé of closeted Republicans who vote against the civil rights of gays and lesbians isn’t afraid to name names and spotlight despicable hypocrisy. Would that the mainstream media had a fraction of Dick’s daring.

An Education: Sweet and sassy Brit discovery Carey Mulligan won the attention of moviegoers everywhere for her performance as a smart girl coming of age in a buttoned-down society, but the strong script by Nick Hornby made this must viewing.

Drag Me to Hell: Scare-meister Sam Raimi brings respectability — and sheer terror — back to the PG-13 horror movie, in this tale of a young woman (Alison Lohman) trying to save herself from a gypsy curse that had us screaming and laughing. Flat-out fun.

Runners-Up: The Hurt Locker, Ponyo, Julie & Julia, Up, The September Issue, The Cove, Summer Hours, The Beaches of Agnès, Coco Before Chanel, Whip It, District 9

Reblog this post [with Zemanta]

This entry was posted on Wednesday, December 16th, 2009 at 12:54 pmand is filed under General. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.