The Top 10 of 2009

Oscar season's come and gone so I figure it's as good a time as any to do my top 10 films of 2009. I always hold it off cause I think I didn't see enough, but fuck it. At this point, I don't think any stuff I missed is gonna make a huge difference to the rankings. (Well, except for Bad Lieutenant: Port of Call - New Orleans. Sometimes it really sucks for movies in Hawaii.)

1. Star Trek: Not only was this excellent sci-fi, it was also a near perfect movie. The cast, the story, the effects, the script, and most importantly, the sheer entertainment value. In fact, my only gripe is still those ridiculous lens flares. And here's the film's greatest achievement, it actually made me like a Star Trek movie.
2. A Single Man: An amazing character study of one man's grief that was visually arresting for every second. Some say too visually arresting. People, it was about a gay guy-- did you not expect it to look fabulous?!
3. Away We Go: The best romantic comedy of the year. You think it's irritating but you soon discover it's actually not. It's rare that a rom-com paints its characters with a sense of the times they are living in. Dave Eggers was robbed of an Oscar nomination.
4. Where the Wild Things Are: Speaking of Eggers, perhaps people wanted to see their childhood storybook come to cutesy life. Instead, Spike Jonze gave the world a realistic portrait of a bratty kid's self-absorbed fantasy world. Fear the mainland.
   
5. The White Ribbon: The year's most challenging film. It moves at a snail's pace and the ending is the last thing from user-friendly. But stick with it and really pay attention: the pay-off is everything you need to know about nothing less than the birth of evil.
6. A Serious Man: The year's second most challenging film. When the Coens decide to examine an entire religion, the result is bizarre, hilariously awkward, and totally unpredictable. Like The White Ribbon, the ending is a head-scratcher, but it's also perfect for all that came before it.
7. The Road: One of the bleakest, most utterly depressing films ever made. But you can't get it out of your head. Thank Buddha it wasn't available on home video during the recent tsunami scare. People would have been eating each other.
8. Precious: Based on the Novel Push by Sapphire: Another portrait of a bleak lifestyle that actually works damn hard for its semi-happy ending. And who didn't want to run down the street eating chicken drumsticks straight from the bucket after seeing this?
9. Red Cliff: John Woo's monster period opus stuck a needle into the Crouching Tiger genre and injected it with crack. Can't wait to see the full international version.
10. The Hurt Locker: Not quite as good as people seem to think, but still incredibly watchable as a pulp fiction character study. Either way, it was a terrific action movie and more thrilling than ... ahem ... Avatar.

(Honorable Mention: In the Loop for its script that created profanity for a new age. If you thought you've heard every possible variation on the f-word, check this fucker out.)