Cineplex Blog

There was no escaping those blue aliens, transforming cars, intergalactic hotties or angst-ridden vampires this year but when the hype died down and box office business is taken out of the equation, what films rose to the top in 2009?

Take a look at our personal lists of the 10 best films of the year and share your favourites in the comments!

Andrea's Picks:

Inglourious Basterds
Let’s not mince words: when he’s good, he’s good. Makes-you-forget-he-sometimes-wears-those-weird-flame-sleeved-blazers good. QT was firing on all cylinders with his historical revisionist murder-mystery-drama that pits the Nazi-scalping Basterds against the Third Reich in an engrossing, bloody, intelligent and winkingly funny example of some of his best work. Much has been made of Brad Pitt’s performance and there’s no denying he plays Lt. Aldo Raine with a certain well-earned smugness but Christoph Waltz owns the screen as methodical and serpentine Col. Hans Landa – one of those perfectly formed characters that demands all of your attention. An ensemble cast that inhabit their roles with abandon and a typically twisty Tarantino storyline – complete with a movie-within-a-movie b-story – this epic ride takes its time building up to the looming moment the audience can see peaking on the horizon and when it does…well, you were warned.

(500) Days of Summer
Can a movie that unapologetically wears its hipper-than-thou musical influences on its cardigan sleeves and has no issues with throwing a non-sequitur choreographed dance number smack-dab into the mix actually be any good? If you’re newbie director Marc Webb and you’ve got Zooey Deschanel and Joseph Gordon-Levitt as your romantic leads, the answer is yes. Sure, it’s precious and doesn’t hold back from piling on the cute – like when Tom (Levitt) and Summer (Deschanel) traipse through IKEA room models playing happy husband and wife – but delve beyond the Smiths references and Pixies on the karaoke machine and a more honest, even borderline-cynical look at love and relationships emerges. Yes, the soundtrack is constantly calling attention to itself but it’s the performances, dialogue and thorny notion that love is a bruising business that really strikes a chord.

Adventureland
Nostalgia is a powerful emotion that can evoke the most splendid of memories or haunt someone who thought the worst of it was over. Greg Mottola’s '80s-set Adventureland smartly uses that looking-back sensibility to get to the heart of the matter, ensuring anyone who has experienced post-university/college blues – so wait, I’m an adult now? – will immediately relate to big-hearted, too-smart-for-his-own-good protagonist James (a pitch-perfect Jesse Eisenberg). After his dad takes a big pay cut at work, James is forced to cancel his planned summer in NYC and slug it out with fellow misfits working at the local amusement park, including Martin Starr of “Freak and Geeks” fame and a remarkably mature Kristen Stewart as James' equally clever crush. This sweet, though not cloying, look at those last hazy days of adolescence before life kicks in aptly romanticizes the fleeting nature of youth while happily bidding it goodbye.

Hunger
Michael Fassbender gives an outstanding performance as Bobby Sands, the real-life IRA prisoner who staged a hunger strike in an effort to have his fellow brothers-in-arms recognized as political prisoners. This isn’t your typical white-washed biopic that focuses on the subject’s triumphs and largely sidesteps their vices – this provocative feature stays with you regardless of where you sit politically, which is no small feat. One particular single-take scene between a reedy Sands and his priest (Liam Cunningham) epitomizes the film’s deliberately slow pacing and effective use of tension, making audiences feel as if they’re watching a play and experiencing the same intimate emotions that come with that medium. A debut for the ages by experimental filmmaker Steve McQueen that should have made Fassbender a much bigger star.

Bad Lieutenant: Port of Call New Orleans
This non-remake’s place on my best-of-the-year list even seems like a non-sequitur to me. A loopy Werner Herzog dramedy-thriller starring a properly off-his-face Nicolas Cage, featuring hallucinated iguanas and rapper Xhibit – what the what? But such is Herzog’s mad power. Here he weaves a gonzo/arty film that takes place in the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina where coke-addicted cop Terrence McDonagh (Cage) is trying to solve a multiple homicide while his drug habit escalates with the same ferocity as his gambling debts. Herzog never lets the audience have complete faith that what they’re watching is actually happening outside of Terrence’s fried cerebellum but that level of ambiguity is part of the fun. One thing’s for sure, you didn’t see another movie like this in 2009.

Emma's Picks:

An Education
A script by Nick Hornby and a stunningly talented cast that includes Carey Mulligan, Alfred Molina, Emma Thompson, Dominic Cooper, Olivia Williams, and Peter Sarsgaard? I couldn't see this one fast enough. The film, directed by Lone Scherfig and winner of the Audience Choice Award at the 2009 Sundance Film Festival, is essentially the coming-of-age tale of Jenny, a bright, young 16-year-old girl (a star-making turn by the utterly luminous Mulligan) torn between following the dull but safe path of academia or throwing caution to the wind and following her dreams of a more exciting life. On the cusp of adulthood, she finds herself in the midst of a romance with a man almost twice her age which makes her question who she is and where she's going. Set against the backdrop of a post-war but pre-Swinging Sixties London, the film manages to avoid wallowing in nostalgia and instead engrosses you in a simple but powerful tale of a girl and a society on the brink of extreme change.

Fifty Dead Men Walking
"Based on a True Story" can be a warning sign for overwrought drama and emotionally manipulative set pieces but sometimes it manages to sew the seeds for a genuine emotional connection to the film and to the characters within. Canadian director Kari Skogland has managed to find that highly sought after connection in this film based on Martin McGartland's terrifying real life experiences. Martin, played with extreme skill by Jim Sturgess, is a young man living in Belfast in the late 1980s who is recruited by the British police force to spy on the Irish Republican Army. The title of the film refers to the number of lives Martin is potentially saving with the information he provides them, at great risk to himself. Each scene of the film builds on the tension laid bare in the one before, ratcheting the tension up to an almost uncomfortable level before it snaps, leaving you emotionally exhausted but in definite awe of the story that has unfolded in front of you. An amazing film that should not be missed.

Fish Tank
Andrea Arnold’s searing look into working-class Britain isn't for everyone. Seen through the eyes of a troubled teenage girl, the film is at once repulsive and engrossing, like a secret you’re dying to find out but are possibly better off not knowing. It follows Mia, a tough, angry young woman forced to grow up far too quickly who uses music and dance to escape her alcoholic mother. The premise might seem clichéd at first glance but this film rises above its formulaic nature, thanks especially to extremely adept direction by Arnold and harrowing performances by newcomer Katie Jarvis and the extremely talented Michael Fassbender, and presents something truly unique, gritty and real. This one will haunt you long after the lights have gone up.

A Single Man
In his directorial debut, it's perhaps unsurprising that Tom Ford has created one of the most beautiful films audiences will see this year. The designer and former head of Gucci has more than just a flair for costumes and manages to display an uncanny ability to evoke emotion and meaning in every aspect of set, screen, note of music and dialogue. That's not to say he doesn't manage to bring his own sense of style to the table, in fact fashionistas everywhere will be hard pressed not to drool when they catch a glimpse of the impeccable '60s garb. At the very heart of the film, though, is an amazing performance from the ever-reliable Colin Firth. As a professor mourning the death of his lover, the English actor has never been better. Add to that the fantastic supporting cast of Julianne Moore, Nicolas Hoult and Matthew Goode and it's plain to see why this is one film that will never go out of fashion.

Star Trek

Lest you think I avoided the big ticket items all together this past year, fear not! I left the best for last. The most fun I had at the movies this year happened to come courtesy of one J.J. Abrams and his Star Trek franchise re-boot. Thanks to near-perfect casting, a script that was more entertaining than it had any right to be, and special effects that stood out and impressed without overshadowing the story, Abrams and his team hit it right out of the park. In Chris Pine and Zachary Quinto, the characters of Kirk and Spock were given new life and supporting turns from equally well-cast Zoe Saldana, Simon Pegg, John Cho, Karl Urban and Anton Yelchin provided the icing on the already overloaded and tasty Trekkie cake. Audiences clapped and cheered throughout the film when I saw it in the theatre, and I clapped and cheered right along side them. For pure movie magic and enjoyment, nothing came close for me to beating the boys from Starfleet in 2009.