Kam’s Annual Accolades for the Cream of the Cinematic Crop
It’s a little unfair to rank the year’s movies, when they are so often sui generis and simply don’t lend themselves to comparison with one another. Nonetheless, since this seasonal task is part of the job description, far be it from this critic to shrink from responsibility. However, in prefatory remarks, let me remind you that I am taking into consideration all the films released over the course of 2009, not simply those released since Thanksgiving which are being hyped as Oscar-worthy by the studios.
Also, rather than limit my list to just the 10 Best offerings, I’ve expanded it, as usual, to 100, and included documentaries, independents and foreign flicks, along with the obligatory Hollywood blockbusters. After all, while everybody is well aware of the films which benefited from a big advertising budget, part of my purpose here is to encourage you to check out some of those lesser-known, cinematic delights which might not have made a blip on your radar.
10 Best Big Budget Films of 2009
1. Precious
2. Avatar
3. Inglourious Basterds
4. Taken
5. A Serious Man
6. My Sister’s Keeper
7. Drag Me to Hell
8. District 9
9. Star Trek
10. Up
Big Budgets Honorable Mention
11. Julie & Julia
12. Up in the Air
13. The Soloist
14. Taking Woodstock
15. The Proposal
16. Ninja Assassin
17. Next Day Air
18. Invictus
19. Adventureland
20. Michael Jackson: This Is It
21. X-Men: Origins
22. State of Play
23. The Taking of the Pelham 1 2 3
24. Zombieland
25. Madea Goes to Jail
Best Foreign Films
1. Revanche (Austria)
2. Silent Light (Mexico)
3. The Wedding Song (Tunisia)
4. Taipei 24H (Taiwan)
5. Cloud 9 (Germany)
6. Owl and the Sparrow (Vietnam)
7. Not Quite Hollywood (Australia)
8. Bliss (Turkey)
9. Jerichow (Germany)
10. Defamation (Israel)
Foreign Films Honorable Mention
11. Skin (South Africa)
12. Afghan Star (Afghanistan)
13. Lemon Tree (Israel)
14. Hunger (Ireland)
15. Endgame (South Africa)
16. The Girl from Monaco (Monaco)
17. Paris (France)
18. My Fuhrer (Germany)
19. Ghosted (Taiwan)
20. Treeless Mountain (South Korea)
21. Revue (Russia)
22. Big Man Japan (Japan)
23. Dead Snow (Norway)
24. Sin Nombre (Mexico)
25. Police, Adjective (Romania)
10 Best Independent Films
1. (500) Days of Summer
2. The Messenger
3. Afterschool
4. Downloading Nancy
5. The Burning Plain
6. Medicine for Melancholy
7. Away We Go
8. Guy and Madeline on a Park Bench
9. Skills Like This
10. Amreeka
Independent Films Honorable Mention
11. Julia
12. Rebirth of a Nation
13. Two Lovers
14. White on Rice
15. Fragments
16. Phoebe in Wonderland
17. American Violet
18. Uncertainty
19. The Blue Tooth Virgin
20. Black Dynamite
21. The Great Buck Howard
22. The Hurt Locker
23. Loren Cass
24. Jazz in the Diamond District
25. Offshore
10 Best Documentaries
1. William Kunstler: Disturbing the Universe
2. We Live in Public
3. No Impact Man
4. Examined Life
5. The Cartel
6. The End of Poverty
7. Four Seasons Lodge
8. A Wink and a Smile
9. The Good Soldier
10. Tyson
Documentaries Honorable Mention
11. California Company Town
12. American Swing
13. Forbidden Lie$
14. Capitalism: A Love Story
15. More Than a Game
16. This Is the Life
17. Food, Inc.
18. Enlighten Up
19. Good Hair
20. The Cross
21. Pressure Cooker
22. The Jazz Baroness
23. Harlem in Montmartre
24. Must Read after My Death
25. Chelsea on the Rocks
