Best Movies of 2009

Movies 2009

2009 was undoubtedly the worst year for movies in recent memory. The majority of major studio releases were overwhelmingly lackluster and few indie movies garnered much fanfare outside of the art-house circuit. While it was a terrible year to spend hard-earned money at the theatre, there were a few movies that were actually acceptable way to kill a few hours.

Best Movies of 2009

Watchmen: The supposedly “impossible-to-film” genre-defining graphic novel from the 80’s was finally brought to the screen in 2009, and the results were awesome. Watchmen flew in the face of accepted norms for Comic Book Movies: it was too long, introduced too many new characters, dealt with concepts that were too big and morally ambiguous and mad absolutely no effort to update the story (based around the Civil Rights Movement and the Cold War) to appeal to a younger audience. Even with all of those strikes against it, Watchmen provided three of the coolest hours of 2009.

The Hangover:Arguably the funniest movie of the decade and easily the most fun anybody had in a theatre this year, The Hangover is so funny and every joke/scene works so well that it’s hard to imagine this DVD not being in heavy rotation in just about every household this holiday season.

Good Hair: A serious look into the hair-care habits of African Americans interspersed with a documentary about a “hair show” so outrageous it could only be true. One of the most entertaining and eye-opening movies released in a while.

Food, Inc.: This documentary of the food industry starts with the line “What we eat has changed more in the last 50 years than in the previous 5 million years...” and goes on to detail how the current agricultural-industrial complex uses pesticides, antibiotics, gene engineering and questionable slaughter/storage practices to produce high profit margins but nutrient deficient food that may be reeking havoc on the American people. If you are not at least mildly interested in this topic, you are dumb.

Away We Go: Jim Halpert and that chick from SNL have a baby, it’s pretty funny and the the love story/dramatic parts work pretty well too.

Sugar: This documentary-style drama exposes the underside of professional baseball and what happens when supposed superstars from South America don’t make it in America’s Past Time, entertaining and informative for sports fans and non-sports fans alike.
G.I. Joe: It wasn’t high-art but it was the best of the summer blockbusters and the relentless action and thrill of seeing some of my favorite toys come to life more than made up for the lack of an interesting plot and lifeless acting.