I’m not sure exactly what our rules are, given that so many foreign movies appear on our shores more than a year after they are released. That said:
The Class
Il Divo
District 9
Inglorious Basterds
Two Lovers
Capitalism: A Love Story
The Girlfriend Experience
Public Enemies
Where the Wild Things Are, maybe at the top; thereafter, no order: The Class, The Fantastic Mr. Fox, Coraline, Up, Ponyo, The Hurt Locker, Inglorious Basterds, District 9, The Headless Woman.
I’ll say it again: the kids’ movies this year were really phenomenal — glorious visual experiences, complex emotional and narrative pleasures. (Screw the thin gruel that was Avatar.)
Special mention for exuberant fun: Star Trek, Drag Me to Hell, Extract, In the Loop
I should have added that I have not seen any of the kids movies, nor Hurt Locker or In the Loop. But they are all on my Netflix list.
I forgot The Good, The Bad, & The Weird–that’d be on my favorites list, too.
Haven’t seen The Hurt Locker. Thin gruel Avatar is, but in IMAX 3-D it is visually stunning gruel (and I was mostly enjoying the ride until the new-agey tree hugging). I was not wild about Where the Wild Things Are (first fifteen minutes or so were fantastically/emotionally frenetic and the puppets were amazing–as was the art direction–but the story dragged and dragged and dragged). I needed more Arcade Fire! While I am complaining: An Education may be the most overrated film of the year. Like a fizzy drink, it goes down well and is often sparkly (Nick Hornby wrote the screenplay), but the aftertaste is as dull as tea with biscuits. This kitchen-sink, coming-of-age melodrama was uncompromisingly slight, though Emma Thompson livened up a couple of scenes. Also: it is getting a lot of end of the year love, but the Coen Brothers’ A Serious Man, an absurdly philosophical meditation on the Book of Job (set in 1960s Minnesota and underscored by the Jefferson Airplane), was a mystery wrapped up in an enigma buried deep, deep, deep inside the scroll of a three-hundred year-old sefer Torah. It did, however, have the best ending of any film I saw this year. Three films that have stuck with me longer than I thought they would include Silent Light, Gomorra and The Baader Meinhof Complex. I also have kind things to say about Adventureland and Goodbye Solo. Heaps of praise for Coraline, Up, Inglourious Basterds, The Class, and even the loquaciously titled Precious: Based on the Novel “Push” by Sapphire (due to its burn-a-hole-through-the-screen performance by Mo’Nique) deserves some kind words. I do look forward to seeing In the Loop again, but my favorite film of the year has to be District 9. I watched this with Nicola the other day and was just as unnerved (maybe more so) by its uneasy mix of political allegory and sci-fi tropes than during my first viewing.
Agreed on District 9. We watched it again last night (I bought it for my older son for Christmas) and it was even better the second time.
I just got back from Avatar and it really is stunning in places, and the final battle is a tour de force (pterodactyls attacking helicopter gunships is my kind of movie), but isn’t it exactly the same plot as Ferngully, right down to the giant bulldozer ripping up the tree of life? And, with Jeff, I found the spiritual tree-hugging stuff way too much. My favorite character was Giovanni Ribisi, which is worrying.
Oh yeah . . . Ballast.
how about y’all tell me a nice happy movie not set in alternate worlds, however child-friendly, i should watch?
Gio: Kim Ji-Woon’s The Good, The Bad, and The Weird is tons of fun. A Christmas Tale has a lot of melodrama but is ultimately, I think, generous and happy, in its way. You might find Humpday intriguing. Or, just reach back in time, and watch His Girl Friday or Some Like It Hot, which never fail to cheer me up.
thanks mike! i meant among this past year’s movies.
define “nice happy movie”
no awful violence. ends well. life affirming. silly doesn’t count. how’s that?
Well, Ballast ends well, is life-affirming, ‘though it starts quite sad. The documentary Anvil: The Story of Anvil is very different, but it fits your definition… And I haven’t been able to get Julie & Julia yet, but everyone seems to love that.
If you’re willing to go back a couple years — I was a big fan of Michael Kang’s The Motel, and I’m not sure you saw it. I think Anna Faris’ performance in Smiley Face is sheer bliss, ‘though that may be a bit silly.
Che Part I fits the bill (the violence is muted).
aww. i love this nicer gentler version of WLTW! thank you.
The Blind Side, Adventureland, Up, A Christmas Tale (Un Conte de Noel), (500) Days of Summer, An Education (even though I am baffled by all of its critical applause), Somers Town . . . New Dardenne Brothers film out on DVD on Tuesday.
thanks jeff!
Lorna’s Silence, the most recent Dardenne downer (I admit to being a big fan) is worth a mention on this “best of” thread. It concerns globalization and the commodification of the body and soul. The central performance by Arta Dobroshi is more than worth the price of admission.
I just read this in the New York Times (an article about how the Golden Globes need to zip up their zap and attract more viewers) and it made me laugh: “Lining up younger stars has been a priority. Seated with The Hurt Locker contingent will be Taylor Lautner, the beefcake star of The Twilight Saga: New Moon. ‘He will be there to make the table look glamorous,’ Mr. Berk said.”