The 10 films I found the best from the
year 2009. Yes you may think its now April, but I was trying to keep it
to films from 2009 based on the year they were made rather than UK
release date as that is often different to the US release date. Anyway I
didn’t want to end up with a confusing list not containing some of the
best of 2009 because I saw them at the beginning of 2010.
Check it out see if you agree with many of the films! As I am sure some of the films included would not have been expected.
Directed by Clint Eastwood, about South
Africa and the Rugby World Cup in 1995. With Morgan Freeman taking on
the mammoth task of becoming Nelson Mandela. I found this film very
inspirational in the sense that a sport can bring an otherwise split
country together in such a unique way.
9. The Imaginarium of Doctor Parnassus Review
This wild and wacky film which allowed us
to see the final scenes Heath Ledger had completed before his shock
death. Jude Law, Johnny Depp and Colin Farrell all stepped in to the
same role which made the film have a very interesting concept. It really
was very random and totally off the wall and that is possibly another
reason I enjoyed it so much. It was not really like anything I had seen
before, some very unique and interesting ideas.
Meryl Streep is in the rom-com genre and
as usual she is just fantastic. Having an affair with her ex-husband
Alec Baldwin who was then married to someone else, is bound to have so
many brilliant comedy moments. Steve Martin actually does not go for his
usual type of slapstick comedy role and plays it straight which was
even more amusing that if he was his usual type of characters. I was
never a big Baldwin fan before this film but totally found myself
falling for his charm and was even routing for his character which you
should not have really been doing. I thought he had great chemistry with
Streep.
Takes on such an emotional journey in a
world where death seems to be the only option left, the love a father
has for his son sees them really fighting to survive. Keeping each other
alive. Viggo Mortensen’s performance was just incredible he really is
one of the best actors out there.
Based on a book I really enjoyed with
amazing performances from the whole cast especially from Michael Sheen
who took on the role of Brian Clough. A larger than life English
football manager. My love of football really made this a must see as
well, the best manager England never had. I will put this in the very
good football films out there along with Fever Pitch.
“I wanna talk about how bad you make this
room look. I never knew what a dump it was until you came in here.” –
That moment in the film he would have had me pretty much forever, yes
something like that really does work for me. I loved that moment of the
film, but when you look at this film as a whole it does have a very good
story and moves along at a very good pace. Every once in a while though
a film is defined my a leading role and it was Jeff Bridges turn for
that this year. You have to love a film with a character who has hit or
hitting rock bottom being given a second chance to really make a life
for himself, learning some very valuable lessons along the way. Even if
that does not mean it is a happy ending type of film – at least in the
direction it looked like it was going.
“I see you” – well pretty much everyone
all over the world saw this film hence it becoming the biggest at the
box office of all time. You may think it only being my 4th favorite film
of the year is quite low, but I just felt strongly about the other
films than this one. It really is visually stunning and out of this
world you really do find yourself entering the world of Pandora. For me
also this has been the only 3D film I enjoyed. It did not play for the
3D effects instead it was used in a way to make you feel apart of the
world.
3. (500) Days of Summer Review
A breath of fresh air – remember this is
not a love story it is a story about love - there is a big difference
and this film shows exactly the difference. Taking on an interesting
approach of showing us different days from the 500 in sometimes a very
random order. To show when something was very nice and good, but then
showing how different it was when it all went bad.
“If people die the moment that they
graduate, then surely it’s the things we do beforehand that count.” – I
found this quote to be very interesting and have to hope for myself that
it is not true at all. Considering I graduated in 2008. This film
really broke my heart in a few different ways. I could see parts of
myself in Mulligan’s character at different events and stages of the
film and I would have totally fell for everything from
Sarsgaard’s character told her as well. That type of charm and
attention. But this film shows that school based education and education
of life are two totally different things. Both of which are beneficial
to experience you should not have to pick either one or the other.
“The story of a man ready to make a
connection” – well I really found myself forming a connection with him
and the whole film as well. I really was totally consumed into his
little world of collecting air miles and was left thinking about
different topics included in the film. relating to the current state of
the world with people struggling with jobs and money, how alone he felt
at times even though he would not admit it. I also really connected with
Natalie the young woman who enters Ryan’s world ready to take it all
away from him. Being the same age as that character I could totally
understand her break down scenes and relate so much with them. I also
did not see the small twist coming at the end which really hit me hard.
With totally falling in love with this film, I really found no other
choice than to put it as number 1 in my best films from 2009 list.
