Top 25 Movies of 2009: Movies #11 – 20

And we arrive at day two of my listed look back at 2009 with the movies ranked #11-20. If you missed yesterday’s installment featuring my Honorable Mention choices and spots 21-25 you can click here and start there and continue to this list afterward. Once again, before we get started, here is the schedule for the next few days:

Today’s ten films include a couple I had a hard time keeping out of spots nine and ten on my ultimate top ten list of 2009, and are major reasons this list grew from the usual ten selections to twenty-five. After all, who said we should stop celebrating after only ten films? And who really wants a top ten with twenty-three honorable mentions, which is what I would have had. Nah, it’s better this way…

Now, I’ll remind you again before continuing, this is a list of films I consider to be my favorite films of the year. These movies are movies I would want to watch more than once or have already done so. This is not the Oscars. This list is made up of films I expect will continue to entertain me for years to come. I have not forgotten any and each choice was carefully considered.

And now that the formalities are out of the way I offer up my choices from #11-20 from 2009.

I had a hard time placing this film, primarily because I only saw it once and it is one of those films that goes down so easy I almost felt like I missed some of its nuance. It contains one of the absolute best performances of 2009 courtesy of Colin Firth, and Julianne Moore is a gem.

After I wrote my review, one commenter asked why I never mentioned the performance of Nicholas Hoult, a name many will remember from 2002’s About a Boy when he played the young man at the side of Hugh Grant. You will next get to know him in 2010’s Clash of the Titans remake, but before that you should check him out here. Granted, his character’s part in the film is one of the problem spots for me, but Hoult gives a good performance nonetheless and I wouldn’t be surprised if that “problem spot” dissipates once I give this film a second watch.

As a singular experience, Paranormal Activity is the most frightening movie I have ever seen. As a result I gave the film an A+ when I reviewed it and wrote, “This is a film you must see in theaters.” I stand by that sentiment, but it appears the chance for you to do that is gone as the film hits DVD and Blu-ray today.

However, I know this film didn’t exactly work for everyone as some commented on my review saying things such as: “Absolute shittiest movie ever,” “This movie was a total waste of time!” and “Boring, not scary, not interesting, bad acting, horrible picture, cheap piece of shit!” One commenter even recommended “if you thought this was good shoot yourself in the face and rid yourself from the gene pool please!”

Different strokes I guess, but I think I will stick around and continue contaminating that gene pool. If you’re wondering how an “A+” movie ends up at my #19 slot it’s because I’m not too sure how this film will hold up to repeat viewings. But, that one midnight at the Neptune theater in Seattle was one of the best cinematic experiences I had all of 2009. For that reason alone it deserves a spot as one of the year’s best, and it has the distinction of being the only horror film to make my top 25.

While Colin Firth in A Single Man was one of the best leading performances of the year, Christian McKay was one of the absolute best supporting performances of the year. Richard Linklater’s Me and Orson Welles is a decent enough film, but McKay elevates it to a point of sheer enjoyment.

There isn’t a lot more to say than what I already said in my review as it’s a relatively simple film that is just downright entertaining and one I am positive I will watch again.