I plan to post one of these a day, this post is Nos. 25-21, the next post will be Nos. 20-11, and the final post will be Nos. 10-1.
So, without further ado..
The Top 25 Films of 2009:
#25. Cloudy With a Chance of Meatballs (Dir. Phil Lord & Chris Miller)
One of the most fun, inventive films of the year. This movie is at least partially responsible for my almost-irrational hatred of Monster Vs. Aliens, as that film had to live up to the lofty standard set by THIS film due to my peculiar viewing habits and the whims of fate, and that film simply could never compare to this. Here, the star voices are obscured, the humor is inherent and integral to both the characters, the story, AND the themes - and above all else, this is also an excellent disaster movie! In a year when we may have been given what is, by any objective measure, the ULTIMATE disaster movie with Roland Emmerich's 2012, we also received what may, by any objective measure, be considered the BEST disaster movie.
In addition to its many charms already enumerated, this is also one of the funniest films of the year. It has a gleefully-deranged sense of humor that, particularly in several moments towards the end, almost verges on horrific (hint: chickens are involved). The source material, a beloved children's book, is really only used for its bare bones, the bulk of the plot and characters being crafted by the screenwriters, who also directed the film. Coming off of their work on CBS' How I Met Your Mother, and their animated series for MTV, Clone High, I think it's safe to say that Phil Lord & Chris Miller were an absolutely inspired choice for this material.
This film is an absolute treasure, and I'm fairly certain I love everything about it.
#24. Two Lovers (Dir. James Gray)
This is, without a doubt, a much stranger movie than I anticipated going in. First of all, you've got Joaquin Phoenix (in what is allegedly his final performance) playing a mentally unstable man-child of sorts who's recently gotten out of a long-term relationship, and moved back in with his parents. Then you have Vinessa Shaw (of Ladybugs and Hocus Pocus fame) playing one of his love interests - the daughter of a man looking to buy his father's business - and you have Gwyneth Paltrow playing a party girl who's clearly in need of some kind of new direction in her life.
What follows once these pieces are in play is never quite as maddening as it seems it should be, given how frequently Phoenix's character acts in ways that are almost indefensibly shallow and short-sighted. Yet we root for him because of Phoenix's understated performance. We root for him because - as evidenced by a strangely appropriate breakdancing scene early in the film - this is nothing more than a romantic fantasy. Its ending feels earned, and true to its characters, and the tone of the piece walks a tightrope between light-hearted and dour in a way that few other films attempt. Even fewer are the films that have captured the grief felt over the premature death of a relationship as well as this film does. It's Gray's surprisingly keen sense of character and place that, in the end, make this film the small wonder that it is.
Gray's We Own the Night (2007) was a film I found underwhelming overall, with flashes of brilliance in several key sequences. Two Lovers is a complete work, it is of a piece, and it is gorgeous in its simplicity.
#23. Drag Me To Hell (Dir. Sam Raimi)
For those wondering where this film was in the write-up on this year's noteworthy crop of horror films, it was right here the whole time! There are very few things I don't love about this movie. I love its abrupt but wholly appropriate ending. I love the glee this film takes in its cartoonish violence, and I love that Raimi's given us a protagonist that is very far from the perfect person she presents herself as. This is, at its heart, a morality tale - and oh, the glee that Raimi takes in pulling the rug out from under Alison Lohman's character, time and time again.
As fun as Evil Dead II, and even more refreshing in its own way - coming as it does on the heels of Raimi's mega-budget Spiderman trilogy, and before he returns to the franchise next year. This film lets the cooped-up, balls-out horror-comedy maestro flex his considerable muscle in the genre, and is an even more rewarding experience upon further viewings. I believe Patton Oswalt said in an interview for AV Club that people were even comparing this to Roman Polanski's Repulsion, of all things. I mean, that can't be right, can it? Maybe I should...just watch this again...
(Hint: This is one of the most eminently watchable films of the year, as well.)
#22. The Informant! (Dir. Steven Soderbergh)
Ah, Soderbergh. If there's any filmmaker I want to be, it would have to be you. On the heels of this year's micro-indie, The Girlfriend Experience (a film that's not too shabby itself), you rounded out your absurdly productive decade with one of your finest achievements to date. This film was sold as a straight-up comedy, but don't let that deceive you. Soderbergh's crafted a very subtle, surprisingly heartfelt version of a story that really is almost too surreal to be true. In that way, this film is similar to this year's Men Who Stare At Goats. Only this film remembers to take the time to, you know, create engaging characters and tell its story in a way that consistently keeps its audience guessing and interested, and doesn't feel like a guy describing it to you after too many beers and a full, four-course meal at your local Melting Pot restaurant.
Enough good things simply cannot be said about Matt Damon's performance here. It's easily his finest to date, and will shamefully be overlooked this awards season in favor of a handful of legitimately more impressive performances as well as a couple of clunkers whose films are, quite simply, being pushed harder for awards consideration by their studios. Additionally, this film is filled, top to bottom, with great performances, wonderful little cameos by a handful of your favorite comedians (Paul F. Tompkins, Patton Oswalt) and character actors (Scott Freaking Bakula, Tony Hale, Joel McHale). This film is an absolute smorgasbord of talent assembled to craft a wildly entertaining, frequently hilarious, and unexpectedly touching whistle-blowing thriller.
This film honestly cannot come out on DVD soon enough, as it seems like it was simply here-and-gone in theaters, and could have used a sooner DVD release date to help boost its chances during awards season. Soderbergh, I think I love you.
#21. Bad Lieutenant: Port of Call New Orleans (Dir. Werner Herzog)
The mere fact that this film exists is a Stone. Cold. Miracle. That Nicolas Cage was reminded he had to pay taxes just in time for this script to cross his agent's desk. That Werner Herzog decided to undertake some sort of genre exercise and found the prospect of shooting in a post-Hurricane Katrina New Orleans irresistible. That somebody, somewhere, had never before thought to utilize an iguana-cam shot in a film before. That, in this perverse alternate reality in which we must be living, the title Bad Lieutenant is actually supposed to encourage MORE people to see a film, and is somehow deemed wise from a business perspective.
This film is pure, unadulterated, joy (tempered with madness) on celluloid. The gods may not smile often upon we mere mortals, but the moment this film was greenlit, they were fucking BEAMING. Cage gives a crazy performance that is absolutely riveting from start-to-finish in a way he hasn't achieved since his Wicker Man remake. Herzog assembles an excellent ensemble cast - everyone from Brad Dourif to Val Kilmer to freaking Xzibit (you know, the rapper from that one Limp Bizkit song?), and never looks back. Iguana-cam. Iguana-cam! Are you kidding me? Fairuza Balk is sexier than Eva Mendes in this movie. Seriously. Down is up, people. If Cage and Herzog never meet again, it is surely only because they know such a pairing can only be cheapened through repetition.
That we live in a world crazy enough for this film to happen is not simply the reason I sleep soundly at night, it's the reason I dream.
** End of Part One **
Coming up in Part Two: An actual, honest-to-goodness documentary! People hurting each other in great detail! Big blue sexy cats! Evil monochromatic schoolchildren! A shout-out to John Cena! Furry party! Profound and possibly divinely-inspired nonsense! And more people hurting each other in great detail (some would say gratuitous)!
Same bat-time, same bat-place. I guess.
- Andrew Ford
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