http://www.cnn.com/2010/SHOWBIZ/Movies/01/01/best.worst.movies.2009/index.html

Quote :

"1. "A Serious Man" It's bizarre that the Coens' best movie in a decade isn't getting the respect (or the audiences) it deserves. On the surface, "A Serious Man" seems to be a modest venture -- it doesn't feature any stars, and it appears to be a relatively banal story about a physics professor, Larry (Michael Stuhlbarg), barely coping with the news that his wife is leaving him just as a work promotion hangs in the balance. Yet from these domestic tribulations, the Coens have fashioned a movie that is, on the one hand, a probing examination of mortality, faith and guilt; and on the other, a bitingly acidic black comedy about middle-American Jewish mores in the late 1960s. 2. "Ponyo" There may never have been a better vintage for animated feature films. Three made my top 10, and two more came close. The best came from Japan: Hayao Miyazaki ("Spirited Away") has long been held in high esteem in America, though he's never had a box office hit here. "Ponyo" is a strange and beguiling fantasy film about a sea spirit. It's an odd eco-fable, but illustrated with such beauty and imagination, it transports entirely into another world. 3. "Inglourious Basterds" Quentin Tarantino's outrageous and brilliant war movie is the ultimate in revisionism. For 2½ hours in the dark, the cinema is everywhere and everything. 4. "Two Lovers" Eclipsed in the zeitgeist by lead actor Joaquin Phoenix's mysterious behavior on Letterman, this is probably the most underrated movie of the year, not least for the actor's consummate portrait of a man desperately in love with the wrong girl (Gwyneth Paltrow). 5. "Coraline" This was supposed to be the year of 3D, and with the arrival of "Avatar," I suppose it was. But nobody used the third dimension more creatively than Henry Selick in this dark and disturbing animated feature about a young girl momentarily tempted by a glimpse of an idyllic other life. 6. "The Headless Woman" Lucrecia Martel's Argentine enigma spoke volumes while spelling out nothing. Martel demands attention; she may be the finest filmmaker on the continent. 7. "The Hurt Locker" The best-reviewed American movie of the year is an intense, unflinching suspense film about a bomb disposal expert in Iraq (a career-making performance from Jeremy Renner). Why did it bottom out at $13 million at the box office? The distressing scene in which Renner cut into the corpse of a booby-trapped dead child may have had something to do with it. That kind of courage is rare in movies, but there's a smaller market for honesty. 8. "Bright Star" Another box office under-achiever, Jane Campion's most assured film in a long time deserves to find a wider audience on DVD. The story of John Keats and love of his life Fanny Brawne, this is a sensual, immersive, deeply passionate movie. 9. "Fantastic Mr. Fox" I enjoyed "Up in the Air," too, but if I had to pick one George Clooney movie this year, it would have to be this. Taking Roald Dahl's story as a starting point, Wes Anderson reconceived the reckless red fox as another of his irresistible, incorrigible and tragically immature alpha males. Mr. Fox's bravado has potentially terrible ramifications for his family and friends, as he ruefully comes to admit, yet this is his nature, and he cannot be otherwise. The same is true of Anderson, yet the switch to stop-motion has inspired his most visually lovely film and freed up his comic imagination. 10. "La Danse: The Paris Opera Ballet" Veteran documentarian Fred Wiseman trains his camera on the rehearsals and inner workings of the venerable Parisian ballet company for 2½ hours -- roughly the time it took for Michael Bay to destroy one of the seven wonders of the world. Movie audiences thrill to destruction, but the art of creation can also be enthralling. And the worst films of the year, with No. 1 taking the dishonor as worst film of 2009: 10. "Year One" 9. "X-Men Origins: Wolverine" 8. "The Ugly Truth" 7. "Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen" 6. "The Time Traveler's Wife" 5. "Ghosts of Girlfriends Past" 4. "Couples Retreat" 3. "New in Town" 2. "Nine" 1. "Miss March""

Since when has CNN turned into a blogging website without any ounce of objective journalism. 7th worst movie of the year was Transformers 2. Give me a fucking break.

1/1/2010 3:34:57 PM

I am guessing that was written by a newspaper movie critic. A majority of them hate big budget summer blockbusters.

1/1/2010 3:45:45 PM

Transformers 2 was pretty goddamn awful.

1/1/2010 5:29:08 PM

I hated Ponyo.

1/1/2010 5:31:55 PM

Geez, Wolverine wasn't *that* bad. At best, it was a convincing portrayal of Wolverine. At worst, a mindless popcorn flick. By no means was it one of the worst movies of the year.

1/1/2010 5:40:58 PM

yea i don't understand all the hatred for wolverine

couple's retreat was painful i'm still hurting from that movie

1/1/2010 7:41:54 PM

i almost walked out of year one. i kinda wish i had.

1/1/2010 7:59:43 PM

Quote :

"Transformers 2 was pretty goddamn awful. "

Quote :

"i almost walked out of year one. i kinda wish i had. "

me too - but it was on an airplane so the options were limited

1/1/2010 8:12:38 PM

Worst Movie I saw last year --> "The Fourth Kind"

Best Movie I saw last year --> "District 9"

1/2/2010 1:59:56 AM

Best --> Inglourious Bastards, District 9... both were great and seeing them both on the big screen made it even better.

Worst --> Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen... I don't know what to say about this movie except it was some bullshit and terrible all around.



Best Rental/Netflix --> Pineapple Express... how I missed this movie when it first came out is still a mystery to me.

Worst Rental/Netflix --> Step Brothers... it isn't even close! This movie just made me angry to the point of wanting to turn it off but I decided not to let it whip me

1/2/2010 3:57:32 AM

Nine was kind of disappointing, but I don't see how it's one of the 10 worst of the year.

1/2/2010 4:05:18 AM

I thought Step Brothers was pretty hilarious myself

1/2/2010 4:16:51 AM

So basically this author doesn't like action/science fiction.

1/2/2010 10:10:15 AM

Just saw District 9 New Years Eve and loved it. Great movie.

1/2/2010 11:27:30 AM

For me...

Best - Inglorious Basterds or Hurt Locker

Worst - Transformers 2 or Bruno

1/2/2010 11:31:15 AM

the time traveler's wife??? seriously, that movie was pretty good if you consider most of us dudes only got dragged in by their gfs or wives

1/2/2010 12:23:11 PM

^ this dude apparently loves implied pedophilia

1/2/2010 12:34:01 PM

If there's grass on the field...

1/2/2010 1:02:33 PM

the hangover would be on my 10 worst list

1/2/2010 1:15:37 PM

i watch "to catch a predator" and those type shows and i didnt get that feeling at all from Henry in TTW, it's not like he chose to appear in those woods he just did and he can't help that he couldn't take clothes with him

1/2/2010 2:44:20 PM

i'm not blaming the character

i'm blaming the writer, director, producer, and executive producer

1/2/2010 2:50:30 PM

Quote :

"i almost walked out of year one. i kinda wish i had."

This is how bad Year One was.

We went to the midnight showing of Transformers. We had to get their early because we didnt want to get some shit seats. Anyway we got their about an hour early and were sitting in the hallway waiting for Year One to end when we decided we should just go in and watch it. It was SO FUCKING BAD that after about 20min we chose to just go back out and sit in the hallway and wait for Transformers. So yeah, it was basically so bad I didn't even want to watch it for free.

1/2/2010 3:56:53 PM

i wasn't sure i'd like fantastic mr fox but it was definitely more than i expected

1/2/2010 4:38:13 PM

I don't get all the hate for transformers 2.

My buddy bought Year 1 on Demand. I watched 30 min and walked out of my buddies place. The movie was god damned awful.

1/2/2010 4:41:03 PM

didnt see Transformers 2, but 1 one was one of the worst three movies I have ever seen, and people I know that liked that shit hated 2 so I assumed its really really bad

1/2/2010 4:43:29 PM

the story was pretty stupid but the effects were cool, but that's what i expected going into the movie.

1/2/2010 4:46:13 PM

Just some further grades on the top movies listed:

A Serious Man
81% IMDb
87% Rotten Tomatoes
Average: 84%

Ponyo
79% IMDb
91% Rotten Tomatoes
Average: 85%

Inglourious Basterds
85% IMDb
88% Rotten Tomatoes
Average: 86.5%

Two Lovers
73% IMDb
83% Rotten Tomatoes
Average: 78%

Coraline
79% IMDb
89% Rotten Tomatoes
Average: 84%

The Headless Woman
63% IMDb
59% Rotten Tomatoes
Average: 61%

The Hurt Locker
80% IMDb
97% Rotten Tomatoes
Average: 88.5%

Bright Star
77% IMDb
84% Rotten Tomatoes
Average: 80.5%

Fantastic Mr. Fox
83% IMDb
93% Rotten Tomatoes
Average: 88%

La Danse: The Paris Opera Ballet
80% IMDb
N/A Rotten Tomatoes
Average: N/A

1/2/2010 5:01:13 PM

^IMDb ratings are the worst.. Use Metacritic instead

[Edited on January 2, 2010 at 6:54 PM. Reason : .]

1/2/2010 6:54:45 PM

I saw New in Town, Ghosts of Girlfriends Past, and Transformers 2, and they were all awful.

Transformers gave me a headache that lasted for almost two days.

1/2/2010 7:12:00 PM

Quote :

"Geez, Wolverine wasn't *that* bad."

I thought that the Transformers movie was better than the Wolverine movie. Don't confuse that as an endorsement for Transformers. Wolverine was just that bad. Seriously, what's good about that movie? Certainly not the mutant selection, treatment of the characters, story, or effects.

1/2/2010 8:42:51 PM

I liked Extract and Moon.

I really hated Funny People.



[Edited on January 4, 2010 at 5:50 PM. Reason : not on list but relevant...]

1/4/2010 5:45:55 PM

see i watched Funny People right before xmas and i thought it was hilarious, not a great movie but had me laughing

1/4/2010 5:52:33 PM

Coraline absolutely does not belong on this list.

1/4/2010 7:59:24 PM

The Hurt Locker was fucking fantastic.

1/4/2010 8:50:12 PM

I thought Adventureland was damn good...much better than the marketing campaign looked.

hurt locker at #7 is too low

1/4/2010 10:24:45 PM

I <3 Adventureland

1/4/2010 10:40:52 PM

I didn't see too many movies this year, of the ones I did see, Star Trek, was one of the best. Sherlock Holmes, a close second.

1/5/2010 1:06:36 PM

People actually went to the theatre to see a Jack Black movie?

1/5/2010 1:18:36 PM

Quote :

"I really hated Funny People."

that is crazy talk

Quote :

"I thought Adventureland was damn good...much better than the marketing campaign looked."

agreed, the previews made it out to be superbad v2.0, and i understand why they did that since Superbad was a huge hit, but Adventureland was more of a low key coming of age story that really resonated with me since the economy was in the shitter and I had just graduated from college.

1/5/2010 2:23:13 PM

Funny People was fantastic

1/5/2010 2:36:36 PM

Wolverine was more true to the comic and cartoon than the entire X-Men series combined
was it the story you all wanted, maybe not
but at least the action was worth of an x-men movie

1/5/2010 2:50:35 PM

Quote :

"Step Brothers... it isn't even close!"

Step Brothers was goodamn hilarious.

Quote :

"10. "Year One""

Pure shit.

1/5/2010 2:56:22 PM

Quote :

"Funny People was fantastic"

This movie was slow, long, and boring. Of course it had some funny parts and the cameos killed it but as a whole this movie was a let down.

1/5/2010 5:08:19 PM

-Step Brothers had a couple really funny moments but was generally dull
-Ponyo was hacked up to pieces and wasn't close to as good as the other Miyazaki films they've brought over so far
-To save money, go into a dark room and have someone flash the lights on and off and bang trashcan lids together. You've just experienced Transformers.

1/5/2010 5:52:52 PM

2012 was the worst movie of 2009

1/5/2010 7:22:19 PM