So let me just begin by saying that 2009 was a VERY good year for films IMHO. This year more than any in the past five or so seems to have a huge influx of quality titles. The year started strongly with major award winners like Slumdog Millionaire and The Wrestler and then got better with the arrival of Watchmen and Let The Right One in. From there we started summer strongly with Star Trek and Drag me to Hell before it got dull with the Transformers and Terminator sequels. Then come August it was an amazing run of brilliant films from Inglorious Basterds onwards.

So what was the best? Its hard, this year I have had a hard time picking a top ten out of so much goodness so instead I have a top fifteen. Its my list I can do what I like. Even though I have a top fifteen I still managed to miss stuff at the flicks like UP and Gamer which both seemed like my type of movie, but that’s why god invented home entertainment.

Best Film Nobody Saw: The Box

Richard Kelly’s third film as a director was a return to form with a brilliant premise, but nobody cared. Where this leaves his career is unknown. The Box is no classic but its a genuinely creepy, atmospheric and suspenseful ride. The decision to shoot on digital film and set the story in the 1970’s also makes it feel like you are watching a genuine slice of weird life from the period. Much like David Fincher did with Zodiac, this makes it feel authentic. The Box also benefits from great performances from James Marsden (quite an underrated performer really), Cameron Diaz and Frank Langella as the villain. To top it all off its got one of the best scores in years by Arcade Fire members; Win Butler and Owen Pallett. Hopefully this will become a big rental on DVD next year so Kelly can get another one of his weird visions on screen. See Also: Drag Me To Hell, Observe and Report.

Best Straight to DVD title: Trick R Treat

The decisions of some major studio’s continues to baffle me. I hope some marketing men were fired for the shoddy treatment of Michael Dougherty’s directorial debut. What is easier to sell than Halloween? Ah that’s right another entry in the tired Saw franchise, I forgot. Trick R’ treat is one of the most fun horror films to come along in a while and with a minimum of gratuitous gore. Perhaps its just a film for a forgotten time, a time of simpler tastes and needs from your entertainment. This just does not excuse the direct to retail debut for this movie. Surely a two week run at the Prince Charles wasn’t too hard to arrange? See Also: Sex and Death 101 and JCVD.

Film that was far better than everyone gave it credit for: X-men origins – Wolverine

Something happened before this film came out, I actually felt bad for 20th Century Fox. The film debuted online about a month before release and got slated by everyone who saw it. Fox did their best to make up for it by saying it was an unfinished copy. When the official reviews came about they were not much kinder. I decided to skip it in the cinema. I caught up with it in October one rainy Saturday afternoon and you know what? I really enjoyed it. Its not an excellent movie and sure it has problems but it was far better than X3 and entertaining . Plus it was really good to see Hugh Jackman playing Wolverine as he did in the first movie before the sequels mellowed him out somewhat. See Also: Zombieland

Best Film ruined by a poor final act: Funny People

Judd Apatow’s latest movie had everything going for it. A great premise, career best performances by Adam Sandler, Seth Rogen and great support from Jonah Hill and Jason Schwartzman. Then around 30 minutes from the end of what has been bittersweet perfection, Apatow decides to bottle it and makes the whole thing a lame rom-com. That just pissed me off. What came before was so good, so honest and so heartfelt that he has probably directed himself out of his best work and Oscar glory. If the film had continued the brilliance of the first hour and a half then this would probably be in my top five of the year. See Also: Law Abiding Citizen.

Most Visually Stunning Movie: Avatar

Make no mistake, Avatar is a stunning experience in 3D. Its a major leap forward for the technology and the closest we have all come so far to visiting another planet. The only problem I have is its plot. The film was conceived sometime in the early nineties and clearly had not changed much since the initial draft. It feels as though we have seen this story several times before. Having said that its the only movie this year which I would go back and watch again purely for the visual experience. See Also: Where The Wild Things Are, Watchmen.

Best Film that feels like its from another decade: Outlander

Vikings vs. Aliens, simple yet genius. Outlander got a pretty limited cinema release when it came out early in 2009 but its the kind of film that would have made some serious bank had it come out in 1991 maybe. Its really, really good fun. Violent and suspenseful in all the right places and has a great monster too. See Also: My Bloody Valentine 3-D

Film I really need to see again so that I get it: Adventureland

On one hand, Adventureland is a brilliant film and made lots of people’s top ten of 2009 lists. On another hand it was advertised like the new Superbad and lots of people walked out scratching their heads. Greg Mottola’s personal film was a beautiful coming of age story that anyone who has had a summer job can appreciate. If I hadn’t of believed the advertising then this could have been in my top ten of the year. As it is its a great film I need to see again and will no doubt grow on me as the years go on.

The Top Fifteen Films of 2009

Yes I have a top fifteen okay? There were so many great films that needed recognition this year so why not have a top fifteen. That way it allows some of the other great titles their chance in the spotlight. So without further ado here are the best fifteen pieces of visual entertainment I witnessed in 2009.

15. Let The Right One In

Truth be told I think this movie is a tiny bit overrated. It has made number one on a lot of critics best of the year lists. I can see why. Its a beautifully told film of a child coming of age as well as first love and friendship all wrapped up in a horrific vampire tale. Its the kind of thing that isn’t handled too well by people who make films based on soppy vampire novels written by talentless spinsters. So we have to look to Europe to get a quality vampire tale. The frozen wilderness presented in Let the Right One In really adds to the overall atmosphere of this piece with the cold juxtaposing nicely with the warmth of Eli and Oskar’s relationship. Director Thomas Alfredson demonstrates a trick learned from the best horror directors, less is more, so when the horrific scenes really kick in they have that much more impact.

Classic Scene: Its hard to beat the scene in the swimming pool near the end when Oskar’s bullies get their bloody comeuppance.

14. Drag Me To Hell

Sam Raimi’s old school horror film could also be the best film that nobody went to see. Released near the beginning of summer silly season Drag Me to Hell was a box office flop loved by a few thirty something horror that went completely over the head of most teenagers who haven’t seen the Evil Dead movies. Raimi’s film has very little blood in it, what it does have though is suspense and the ability to make you jump right out of your seat as the scares really aren’t telegraphed like most modern horror films. I have watched this three times now and each time I jump right out of my seat at certain moments. Its also the first horror film in over a decade that has invaded my nightmares and what higher compliment for a horror is there than that? I recently read the theory online that Drag Me To Hell is all a delusion suffered by the main character as she battles with her anorexia. Now I need to watch it again!

Classic Scene: Alison and Mrs. Ganush engage in horrifying/hilarious fisticuffs in a parking garage.

13. The Hangover

Todd Phillips has long been one of the best comedy directors currently behind a camera. With The Hangover he proved that and then some. The film made some serious bank for a comedy and played strongly right through the summer. The trick was that The Hangover was actually very very funny without relying on fart jokes and crude humor and also kind of dark. Quite a lot of the time during the film it seems as though the missing groom may actually be dead. So many classic quotable lines as well and the film has made a bona fide star out of previously unknown Zach Galifianakis.

Classic Scene: Retracing their steps, the boys watch a video of when they broke into Mike Tyson’s house, or the impromptu sing song on a piano.

12. Coraline

Has there ever been a scarier kids film than Henry Selick’s Coraline? I didn’t catch it in the cinema but I imagine loads of kids were running screaming for the exits, and it was in 3D as well!! Based on the Neil Gaiman’s children’s book, Coraline is beautifully animated and just plain weird creepy. Its truly a superior piece of kids entertainment the likes of which are all too rare amongst things like G-Force and Hannah Montana. Proof positive that if you don’t treat kids like idiots then you can make a classic.

Classic Scene: In Coraline’s other world, her friend Wybee shows up not only with buttons for eyes but he has also had his mouth sewn up into a smile. Shiver’s down the spine and it gets creepier from there.

11. Synecdoche, New York

Charlie Kaufman’s directorial debut is as bizarre and melancholy as you would expect, its also beautiful and haunting. Two strange things happened on the day I watched this film. One; I learned that a screenplay I am in the middle of writing is quite possibly cursed and two; a UFO showed up in the sky outside out flat around an hour into the movie. These were perfect things to happen though to put me in the mood for Kaufman’s meditation on love, life and fulfilling your dreams. Also further proof along with the movie Doubt, that Phillip Seymour-Hoffman is one of the best actors working today.

Classic Scene: Caden Cotard wanders out of his creation into a devastated New York, his masterpiece has been finished…

10. (500) Days Of Summer

In another strange case of life imitating art, when I saw this it was exactly what I needed to see at the time. This was a brilliant Cameron Crowe esque indie rom-com told from the perspective of a guy in love with a girl who doesn’t feel the same way. Any male over 25 can relate to this and that was what was so great about the film. It takes all those familiar feelings of initial excitement and the joy of falling in love and then goes through the eventual crashing reality of heartbreak and how you get over it. It was in a word; inspiring. Its something even the female audience can understand and made this the best romantic comedy for quite some time. Best soundtrack of the year too.

Classic Scene: After spending a night with Summer, Tom leaves her apartment and performs an impromptu musical number.

9. The Good, The Bad, The Weird

I walked out of this movie with a huge grin on my face. Kim Jee-Woon’s Korean western is great fun. It has great characters and top notch action scenes. Remember how you felt when you first watched John Woo’s Hard Boiled? That’s similar to watching this movie for the first time. Although most of what is here has been done before, it feels very fresh thanks to the strong characterization and the clever camera work. For once I would agree with the quote on the box “Everything that the latest Indiana Jones flick should have been” as it generally does feel like a film Spielberg would have made in his prime.

Classic Scene: The race across the desert on horses to the treasure whilst being shelled by the military is hard to top as one of the action scenes of the year.

8. Public Enemies

The word ‘overlooked’ is bandied around a lot on these pages but I think its a fair assessment of Michael Mann’s latest movie. The decision to film on digital what is essentially a period crime drama is initially jarring but once you settle into it it feels like nothing you have ever seen before. The initial buzz was suggesting this was Heat set in the 20’s which may have mismanaged expectations. Public Enemies is much more like the story of a doomed romantic. John Dillinger’s relationship with Billy Frechette is the heart and soul of this film and is played to perfection by Johnny Depp and Marion Cotillard. The prison escape and shootouts are undeniably exciting and Mann remains the master of the modern loud gun battle. Its the sense of inevitable doom that stays with you though. Its never spoken of but watch how Depp acts past that scene where Billy is captured by the feds or the look on Melvin Purvis (Christian Bale) face once they eventually get their man. A film that is going to be re-appraised in the years to come.

Classic Scene: The shootout in the woods at night, loud and brutal and visually brilliant.

7. Star Trek

JJ Abrams did something remarkable here, he took a franchise that had grown stale with years of impenetrable timelines and stories and made it into something that even your girlfriend would like. The rebirth of these iconic characters is remarkable. Abrams makes Kirk, Spock, Bones, Uhura etc into living characters with personalities performed far better than anyone thought they would be. He also loads his film with action, no computer viruses infect the ship and there are no holodeck’s malfunctioning the stakes are far higher with an enemy committing the genocide of an entire species. If they can keep this momentum up for subsequent movies we could be looking at something very special indeed. Something that finally lives up to the dream that Gene Roddenberry had and fills us with wonder and awe.

Classic Scene: The skydive from space on to the platform of Nero’s death drill was the most exciting sequence of the summer.

6. Observe and Report

Writer/Director Jody Hill makes dark comedies about men with fragile and combustible ego’s. We saw it with The Foot Fist Way and also with the series Eastbound and Down. His work always walks a fine line between hilarious and just bad taste. Observe and Report walked that line more delicately than any of his previous work and for some it was too much. For me it was right on the money. Seth Rogen is brilliant as bi-polar mall security guard Ronnie Barnhardt and he is ably supported by Michael Pena and Ray Liotta. You find yourself frequently laughing at Ronnie’s behavior and then wincing when it leads to an act of bone crunching violence. When he gets his hard won victory at the end you smile but you also wonder if it was real or all part of off-his-meds Ronnie’s delusions. This is why I liked this film so much, its refusal to play by the rules of studio financed comedy. I for one cannot wait to see what Hill comes up with next.

Classic Scene: Ronnie takes on a team of cops using a torch, set to the rock riffs of Queen.

5. Watchmen

Making a movie out of the best loved graphic novel of all time was never going to be easy. It took over twenty years to get to the screen and went through countless writers and directors who just couldn’t get it right. Zack Snyder decided that an almost identical copy of the story panel for panel would be the best way to go and the result is glorious. Yeah he changes the ending and also adds a few slow-mo action scenes but I think this worked for the movie. On initial viewing the film was stunning and a joy to behold. Subsequent viewings have shown that due to the devotion to the original text the pacing sags somewhat around the time Rorschach is incarcerated. I haven’t seen the directors cut yet but the theatrical version is still a monumental achievement that will be loved for years to come as one of the best comic based films ever.

Classic Scene: The beginning credits detailing the rise and fall of the superhero is incredible.

4. The Hurt Locker

Kathryn Bigelow is a director who does not make enough movies. Since Strange Days she has made the under seen The Weight of Water and K-19: The Widowmaker. The Hurt Locker is her third film in 15 years and her best since Point Break. Its also very similar to that film in that it deals with alpha male psychology and borderline suicidal characters who are hooked on thrills. The character in question Sgt Will James, a bomb disposal technician in Iraq is played by Jeremy Renner in the most brilliant breakthrough performance of the year along with an actor in my number one film. Very reminiscent of the first time we meet Martin Riggs in Lethal Weapon its no wonder Renner was considered for the next Mad Max film. Apart from a brilliant character study you also get tense as hell action scenes revolving around the defusing of bombs and the violence that can erupt on the streets of Bagdad at any minute. This is all mostly captured using handheld cameras. Paul Greengrass Green Zone has a lot to live up to as this is the best movie yet made about the conflict in the middle east.

Classic Scene: The tense standoff with a sniper in the desert.

3. District 9

Perhaps the most beloved film among internet geeks for quite some time, District 9 is reminiscent of classic films like The Fly, The Thing and Aliens but most of all Paul Verhoeven’s Robocop. Neil Blomkamp peppers his movie with a heavy does of satire and allegory amongst the hardware and violence. Remember how Verhoeven does that? That said Blomkamps movie feels fresh and unique due to its South African setting. He also manages to put some great characters amongst the carnage with Sharlto Copley as hapless Wikus Van Der Merwe being a standout but also giving the aliens soulful eyes that make you feel for their plight. District 9 was a genuine surprise coming out at the end of a pretty poor summer and kept escalating and getting cooler and cooler as the movie went on. By the time Wikus tools up in the alien exosuit you are wondering what could possibly happen next to top it all off and then Blomkamp gives you a moving final shot that makes you go awwwww. Another director who I can’t wait to see come up with something else.

Classic Scene: Wikus taking out a den of Nigerian thugs with the alien weapons, two words; exploding head.

2. Where The Wild Things Are

I was an emotional wreck after watching this movie. Spike Jonze has managed to capture something unique with this movie. You know how David Lynch makes films that feel like dreams captured on camera? Jonze does the same thing here except its not dreams, its how it feels to be a child. None of the narrative of Where The Wild Things Are makes sense except to that youngster inside you who remembers how it feels to be free of the cares that plague your parents and just wants to run, jump and throw lumps of mud or snow at your friends. To top this off he also makes the best use of puppets combined with subtle CGI to make the various characters of the wild things really work. Its a miracle that this movie ever got made in the studio system and we should all be thankful that daring and inventive work like this is still possible on a large budget. Less a film for kids than a film about being a kid, this is something truly unique and original and will become a classic as the years go by.

Classic Scene: The wild rumpus begins.

1. Inglourious Basterds

My number one film of the year also happens to be my favorite film that Quentin Tarantino has ever made. When we were promised a Tarantino film set during World War Two all those years ago and that it would be a men on a mission movie, I don’t think any of us really expected what this film turned out to be. Me I was expecting something like Saving Private Ryan except with brilliant dialogue. Inglourious Basterds turned out to be quieter than that movie but also somehow more exciting. The trick is that Tarantino somewhere down the line learned to make his long dialogue driven scenes really suspenseful and tense. Every single scene in this movie is long but never indulgent, its all building towards some kind of reveal or act of bloody violence that drives the narrative forward. When you have this mastery of tension building on display and then combine it with some excellently written characters who are developed brilliantly then you are talking modern classic. Brad Pitt hasn’t been this good since the nineties for my money, he has seemed to sleep walk through almost every role apart from his small part in Burn After Reading. Eli Roth turned out to be a pretty good actor in his iconic role with baseball bat in hand. Michael Fassbender is awesome as the British agent in the films best scene with the best final speech ever. Diane Kruger is an actress who needs to get more work and Melanie Laurent is a real find. The major breakthrough of course is Christoph Waltz as Hans Landa, a role that is a hissable bad guy role but becomes something more in his hands, he makes the most evil character in the movie somehow human. If you ever read Empire magazine then you will know the last page is always devoted to a classic scene. Any scene in Inglourious Basterds could grace that page.

Classic Scene: Hard to pick from so many but the scene in the bar which leads to the short, sudden burst of violence has to be it. You could cut the tension with a knife.

Also please don’t forget to vote for the most underrated movies of the last ten years in the poll, you can comment elsewhere on these pages or email to thelostmovies@hotmail.co.uk. Thanks!