The Films of 2009

At the Oscars this year the Best Picture nominees are ten rather than the usual five. In all complete honesty I cannot think of ten films that warrant the Best Picture nomiantion. Think about it for a moment.

How many films of the last year truly garner the attention they deserve?

In my honest opinion, only two films really are worthy of the Best Films of 2009: Clint Eastwood's Gran Torino and Henry Selick's Coraline. Both films were perfectly crafted, wonderful films to watch and were above criticism because there was absolutely nothing wrong with them in any format. Besides that then the films just manage to stick in my conscious longer than maybe a day. That is not to say they are bad films. They are definitely great films, but given last year produced roughly eight wonderful films I found myself struggling to remember more than five on this list. So I feel slightly cheated in doing a top ten because with the exception of the top four there was nothing that could have competed with last year.

Here is my Top Ten:

1. Gran Torino
2. Coraline
3. Slumdog Millionaire
4. Let The Right One In
5. Up
6. The Wrestler
7. Star Trek
8. Moon
9. Away We Go
10. Inglourious Basterds

* Films in list are based on UK releases.

I must also give some honorable mentions out:
• I Love You, Man
• Push
• In The Loop
• Monsters vs. Aliens
• A Serious Man
• The Hurt Locker

I admit to not seeing yet a couple of key films such as Mesrine or Funny People but all in all I cannot imagine the above list changing and I merely look upon the new year with a hope that this year can improve my feelings towards cinema.

Already we have Peter Jackson, Tim Burton, Jason Reitman, Kevin Smith, Paul Greengrass, Matthew Vaughn, Pixar, Martin Scorsese, Ben Affleck and Christopher Nolan all releasing films this year for certain and films like A Prophet are already making a storm.

I have hope.