[Movies] 2009 Top 10

We’ve had highs and lows this year, and even some stuff in the middle. Due to my general positive nature, this will be a post celebrating the highs in the film year, and ignoring the crushing lows (yes, that’s you Transformers 2).

This is another of those annoying Top 10 posts that you have seen so many of, and probably adds nothing new, save for my own little touch. So, let’s get on with this, My top 10, with links to the previous reviews if they exist.

10.

We’ll start at 10, just because that apparently adds suspense and means that you are more likely to just skip to the end. It’s a film about a band, a “rockumentary” of Spinal Tap proportions, with one major difference, it’s factual. It’s the story of the metal band that people should have heard of, but most haven’t. It’s a great film with a real human edge that if you didn’t know it was real would make you shake your head in disbelief. There are people who don’t realise that Spinal Tap are a parody band, there will be people who think Anvil are.
Anvil is the documentary film that even people who don’t like documentary films are likely to enjoy. It’s informative and it’s fun and for that reason it makes my top 10.

Poster for Anvil

9.

Number 9 is the first of two animated films on my list, and also a 3D film. I saw the film in both 3D and 2D and whilst in the cinema the film, for me, performed well in 3D, it didn’t add anything, and if anything looked better in 2D. The colour palette for the film, the style of animation, and the story work very well together, and whilst technically a kid’s film it holds something for the whole family.

The Oscars insist on splitting animated films away from others in their awards, but if there in one film that proves that wrong this year, it comes up later in this list. If there are two, well, it’s this one. The name of the film? Coraline.

Coraline

8.

So, when you take a British sitcom, about civil servants, and move it to America and put it on the big screen, you don’t expect great things. If you do it with The Thick Of It your hopes may be improved, but still not to any great height. So when The Thick Of It became In The Loop I didn’t expect it to make my top 10 of the year. Then I watched it. It wasn’t just a 30 minute episode hopelessly stretched to make a feature, it was made as a film, and above all, it worked.

As a comedy it made me laugh, as a satire it made me think, and as a film it was enjoyable. This is the film of the TV show, and nothing was lost in translation. So there you have it, In The Loop is my number 8.

Poster for In The Loop

7.

Darren Aronofsky has been one of my favourite directors since I was handed Pi as a homework assignment and then went on to watch Requiem for a Dream. So when I heard he was teaming up with Mickey Rourke and making a film about a wrestler, I got quite excited. The film was The Wrestler and it was brilliant.

The story is of the fading professional wrestler who is looking for a new life. It’s a touching story and the acting is so superb that you are drawn in and held there.

Poster for The Wrestler

6.

Now then, this one was a hard choice. I liked it. I really liked it, but it was part of a franchise that, due to other allegiances I was supposed to dislike. That said, the director is a fan of my favourite franchise, and tried to bring that to this film. It worked.

The film is, of course, Star Trek. In the past these films have been poor, some very poor. Trek has always held on to the TV market, Wars had the films, and that was how it stayed. Then Star Wars: The Clone Wars hit the small screen, and Star Trek hit the big one. Roles switched, and Trek made my top 10, almost top

Star Trek Poster

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