We’re searching for the top movies of 2009? And since we’re pretty confident most everyone will say Avatar, we’ll looking for some notable runner ups. Your answers will go in the upcoming Jan/Feb 2010 issue of Rethink Monthly (which we’re currently working on) featuring a cover story / interview with Rob Bell, Lessons from Tiger (Grrr!), and more.
I’ll start. The Road, hands down, was my favorite film of 2009. Avatar was definitely up there too. Paranormal Activity gets my top pick for scariest movie of 2009. So. Scary.
Disney’s The Christmas Carol was my favorite of the year. Classic story of redemption and second chances redone in amazing 3D graphics.
Thanks for the pick. I have still yet to see it, however, my wife and I are going to the movies tonight. Maybe we’ll end 2009 with The Christmas Carol. We still haven’t decided.
I was a fan of Star Trek. And “Up” wasn’t bad either.
Star Trek was up there as well. I’m a huge J.J. Abrams fan, but I wouldn’t say it was the best of ’09. Close though.
Up!! Then again I have not seen any movies other than disney/pixar this year.
That’s the second “UP” comment. It was great. And my kids loved it too.
Away We Go–hilarious and sweet! Unpredictable, unconventional, simple and honest. I laughed and cried.
The Blind Side (Avatar is a close second)
The Blind Side
@Shawn and @Jacob … We’ve had a lot of people on Facebook say that The Blind Side was their favorite film of the year also. I haven’t seen it yet but I’m looking forward to it.
@Aurora … I want to see Away We Go, but I’m afraid I’ll only be thinking about The Office the whole time
The wife and I enjoyed “Star Trek” and “Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen”, but “Up” was the favorite for the kids by far.
@Shaun .. I liked Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen as well but I thought that it was a little over the top in some areas. But, regardless, they did a good job on the sequel. Most sequels just suck.
Agreed that it may have been a bit over the top, but I think that’s why I liked it. You have to suspend your fact checking, rational side for a few hours, then the movie becomes really fun. The humor they put into the script kept us laughing throughout.
The Blind Side was absolutely fabulous! I’ve seen it twice and I would see it 10 time today if I could. Others I liked were Up and Julie & Julia was a fun chick flick. But hands down… THE BLIND SIDE!!!!!!
@Michelle … Duly noted.
You know, I forgot about Where The Wild Things Are. It wasn’t there best, but it was pretty good. A bit depressing, but good nonetheless.
Was “Where The Wild Things Are” kid friendly for say a 5 year old? Too dark/scary?
I wouldn’t say it was too scary. My 3 1/2 year old loved it. There were some scenes that dealt with heavy issues but he didn’t understand all the deep, emotional undertones. He was too taken by the characters. I would assume that the older they are, they might pick up on the more serious issues.
UP was so cute, we laughed, cried and laughed again. Very colorful.
Man… I like all the movies listed. How about a terrible movie? “Year One.” It wasn’t even so bad it was good. Just. Awful.
Ha! I considered renting that but never did. I like Jack Black. His humor is dumb funny. But thanks for the head’s up or thumbs down. Whatever.
Star Trek – totally reinvented the franchise. I usually hate remakes and loved this one! Zachary Quinto WAS Spock – that was some excellent casting. Transformers 2 was the worst movie of the year, decade, century. I can repost my rant about it if anyone cares, lol.
@Amy I agree that Star Trek reinvented the franchise. And I loved the movie. The best? Probably not. But definitely amazing.
Also, feel free to leave your thoughts about Transformers. I’m sure we’d all like to hear.
Ok, you asked for it:
What an utterly sexist pile of crap, horrorifically poor editing, gaping plot holes the size of Megan Fox’s…uh…motorcycle.
I can’t believe people think Twilight’s Bella is a Mary Sue but give Sam a pass? Geez. Probably the worst movie I’ve seen in a long time (for those of you wondering, I’m calling this the worst movie and Twilight the worst adaptation of an awesome book, just to give both their own separate steaming piles of crap).
Oh, and nice outright poorly done remakes of scenes from other movies – because no one would ever catch you lifting wholesale from little known franchises like Star Wars, the Matrix and Battlestar Galactica. And if you are going to plagerize, at least try following up on say, ANY of the plot points you steal?
I can’t fathom that this kind of utterly fetid, sexist movie is a blockbuster of epic proportions. Hey Michael Bay, girls like sci-fi too – no need to make woman-hating, intelligence-sucking PG-13 porn out of beloved childhood characters. Why egotistic hacks like this get multi-million dollar movie deals and Joss Whedon gets Firefly cancelled shows how illiterate America is and the level of drivel we’ll accept as “entertainment”.
In an genre where from the beginning we’ve had strong characters like Uhura, Ripley, Princess Leia, Eowyn, Scully, Buffy, Starbuck, River Tam, Hermione Granger, Sara Connor, Xena, Trinity (I think you get the picture here), this kind of insulting tripe isn’t just good fun, it’s a huge step backward in the quality we expect from the sci-fi/fantasy realm.
How can you not like giant robots fighting for 2 hours? When the parts in-between the battles are so awful. I wasn’t really all that impressed with the battles either, the editing was choppy and confusing with a lot of slo-mo running. The Transforming looks like those magnetic shavings toys people put on their desks. I’m willing to suspend my belief quite a bit, but not to the point of suspending every single shred of logic, self-esteem and morality.
It greatly disheartens me as a woman, as a mother, and as a huge nerd to see the widespread popularity of this disgusting waste of film.
Not that your opinionated about this or anything Amy : )
Amy, you do have some valid points, that’s for sure. And I guess you can even say that the success of the film (being the #1 highest-grossing film of 2009) says a lot about the moral direction we have (and continue to) go…
The Blind Side.
@Amber Including all the comments from Facebook and Twitter, we estimate that you are the 412th person who voted for The Blind Side as their favorite movie of 2009. Thanks for your vote!
I may have voted for Paranormal Activity, but my wife wouldn’t let me watch it…
My wife and I watched Paranormal Activity a week ago. Freaked. Us. Out. It definitely wasn’t my choice for best movie of the year… maybe scariest movie of 2009 though.
I have to say The Blind Side. I picked it for a different reason. Yes, the acting was great, but the plot was wonderful. It had all the ingredients of reaching out to people that think they can’t fulfill their dreams. It has Christian overtones, and gives a message that you can come out of the muck and mire, and be a successful person.
Not enough of these kind of movies anymore. Too much blood, sex, corruption, etc.
Doug Bolton
I really enjoyed the visual of Avatar – wanna see it again – but like “Up” really hit a special place in me?!?! Dunno didn’t see all the movies I had intented but those 2 stuck out!
@Doug … I still haven’t seen The Blind Side. A friend just reminded me that, originally, I didn’t want to see it because it had Sandra Bullock in it. And it’s true, I’m not a big fan of her work. But now that I know what it’s about, I want to see it. Funny how that works.
@PJ … Yeah, I liked Avatar as well, a lot. It was one of those movies that changes the course of cinema. Now everyone will follow it’s lead. Which is a good thing. And Up was incredible as well.
I’m gonna go see Avatar in IMAX next time – and bring my boyz with me, they’ve been wanting to go!
I saw lots of movies this year, some good and some awful.
The year has ended with two wonderful movies: Avatar and the Road. The first probably being the best movie “experience” of all time, and second capturing the emotion of the Pulitzer Prize winning novel with great success.
But when trying to narrow down the best films of 2009, which I saw, I keep coming back to two movies:
The first, Star Trek. This movie was science fiction masterpiece! It had a great story, a great twist, amazing special effects, incredible character interaction, superb acting and directing, and successfully reinvented the Star Trek universe for a whole new generation! I couldn’t stand Star Trek before, bit now I cannot wait until the next film.
And the second, Up. Up is sage for kids, but is no kid’s movie. Never before has their been a film that can address love, marriage, parenthood, miscarriage, death, fatherlessness, divorce, adoption, dreams, grief, friendship, and fallen idols with such ease and fluid story telling. Up is a monumental-groundbreaking piece of art that happens to be computer animated. And between all of the hard hitting emotion and real life is some great fanciful comedy!
So the best movies of 2009 for me? It’s a drop-dead tie between Star Trek and Up.
@Anthony … I’ve seen all of those movies and loved all of them. My wife cried watch UP and The Road. She didn’t like Star Trek (because she’s not a sci-fi person) but she loved Avatar. Thanks for your vote!
The Blind Side is my vote for movie of 2009. It may not have the awe factor of others, but it has heart. It has a powerful message of hope and love.
My pick for the only movie I saw in 2009 is Star Trek.
@Geoff … Another one for Star Trek. Great movie. Great casting. Favorite character: Spock. Best lines: Bones. Thanks for your vote.
Star Trek was absolutely my favorite movie of 2009. I really enjoyed the way they ran so much of the history of Star Trek into the movie. The only other new movie I saw in 2009 was GI Joe, and for it being a little silly at times, it is GI Joe after all, it was pretty good. I really liked the suits.
@Judy … Seems like Star Trek is gaining some ground. As for Gi Joe, not so much.
Remember, however, I am blind, so some of the “goofy” moments of GI Joe just seemed like watching the old cartoons, so it kinda was nastalgic. Star Trek is, and always will be, my favorite!!
I went and saw “The Blind Side.” That was a great movie so I am going to have to go with that.
@Josh … Congrats. You are the 415th person (that may be a bit of an exaggeration) to choose The Blind Side. Thanks for the vote.
“Julie and Julia”. Funny, very well written and the acting was wonderful.
“Avatar” was technological genius but not to fond of (once again) humans having to apologize for being created in the first place. First its people in this country, then apologizing to people in other countries and now we have to apologize to fictitious aliens on other planets.
@Ken … Isn’t Julie and Julie a “girlie” movie?
My fav movie for “two thousand and nine” was “Live Free or Die Hard.” Take that home-slice!
@RLDee … I think you’ll probably be the only person who is going to vote for Live Free of Die Hard. But, regardless, your vote is counted!
I do enjoy the Die Hard series…classic…Live Free Die Hard was actually made in 2007 and came out in DVD in 2008. I know…it doesn’t seem that long ago!
As I think back on 2009 (so long ago)…
Here were my fav’s, in order.
Up.
Star Trek.
Invictus.
The Blind Side.
Thanks for asking.
You’re welcome. Thanks for sharing your favorites!
1) Where the Wild Things Are
2) 500 Days of Summer
I really liked Where the Wild Things Are. In fact, my son and I went to see it for a second time just the other day. And my wife just watched 500 Days of Summer last night and loved it. She said I’d like it to, so I’ll have to check it out. Thanks Jeff.
Favorite movie of ’09 is “The Blind Side”
We’ll add you to the already loooong list of Blind Side fans…
Julie and Julia was pretty good. I also liked Proposal. I haven’t seen Blind Side (waiting for it to get to Northern Lights)….
Just to throw it in … toss up between Star Trek and Avatar (3d).
Star Trek because it (in my opinion) gave a plausible interaction between the show and movies.
Avatar, because the graphics are just intense for a movie.
Top of the List:
Blind Side
Star Trek
Boondock Saints (okay, maybe not best of 2009 but a new one to the list….Irish men…guns…classic!)
GI Joe was okay but I liked Star Trek better
Still on my must see:
Avatar in 3D
Where the Wild Things Are
I’ve heard Julie & Julia is good but not overly excited.
So hard…I cannot even remember what I’ve seen in 2009. How lame.
I just saw Avatar 3-D again! And enjoyed just as much the 2nd time around. Was really able to enjoy the texture and sensuality of the film … the colors were really amaZing!!!!!
My top 5 not in order as I liked them all.
Transformers 2
G.I. Joe
Avatar
The Proposal
Up
Too bad I haven’t seen The Blind Side yet because I am sure that would be in my top list as well. Can’t wait to see it at Northern Lights in a few months. NL rocks!
I like the movie “Avatar” it was the best of the best