my year in movies 2009

I know I did my Year in Review last week, but after talking to Sugarmonkey and H-San this week I realised I never did a 2009 Top Ten list for movies... so I've been giving it some thought, and here we go...

These are all based on my original scores, and include a snippet of the original review.... interestingly though, the movie that takes out the top spot is one I don't think I ever want to see again.

Yani's Top Ten Movies for 2009

1. Revolutionary Road

"Only twice before have I given a movie full marks, but I honestly can't think of a single bad thing to say about Revolutionary Road... it's this beautiful, elegant, quiet, still, angry gem of a movie."


2. Easy Virtue

"I cannot even being to describe how good the writing is on this film... even if Stephan Elliott and his writing partner Sheridan Jobbins supposedly "watered down the acid" of Noel Coward's original play, what you're left with is still some outstanding, witty, bitchy and awesome work. The number of smart, snappy comebacks alone make your head spin (or it would if you weren't so busy laughing)."


3. Where The Wild Things Are

"But I think I can categorically say that Where The Wild Things Are lived up to my expectations."


4. Red Cliff

"Take a chunk of the plot from Troy, add a touch of Seven Samurai, the tiniest hint of possible magic, season liberally with director John Woo's visual trademarks and you have Red Cliff."


5. Harry Potter and The Half-Blood Prince

"Bonnie refines the strength she's developed in Ginny Weasley during the last couple of movies and makes it obvious why Harry feels the way he does beyond mere plot machinations. Whereas Tom, after being very much forced into a minor supporting role in the last couple of movies, brings Draco Malfoy back with such venom and pain that you really do feel for him not only in the final scenes, but during a very brief moment of torment in a bathroom my heart broke for him."


6. Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen

"And because this is a sequel, there really isn't any need for a slow build to the reveal of the robots, we can just rush right in there and give you lots of Transformer action right in the opening sequences... and then we'll have some more action... and we'll maybe work in a little character stuff, but then we'll have lots of action and blow up a bunch of stuff... how does that sound?"


7. Duplicity

"This movie has more layers than a freakin' onion, I swear! It's one part Ocean's Eleven, one part romantic comedy (no direct comparison springs to mind). And every time you think you've got it figured out, we go into another flashback and another layer is revealed..."


8. Let The Right One In

"But it is a beautiful movie and one that is almost told exclusively by the images. There really isn't that much dialog, and what there is (with the exception of one or two key pieces) could almost be done away with. I found myself wondering at one point how this would have played as a silent movie."


9. Inglourious Basterds

"All in all though, while it's a long movie and in some ways it's a subject matter that has been tackled ad nauseum, Tarantino's version has a lightness about it without being disrespectful, and still manages to feel authentic while it's taking history careering off in directions it never imagined."


10. Moon

"First rule of finding yourself at the end of a long stint in space... Never trust large corporations or robots..."

Honourable Mentions: Coming in at numbers 11 and 12 respectively, we have District 9 and Up

Dishonourable Mentions: My pick for worst movies of 2009... Star Trek and Ponyo

So there you have it... my year in movies...

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