Kinsey and Wade's Top 5 Films of 2009

Well, it's March 2010, and you know what that means... finally time to stop talking about movies from 2009. So here it is, Wade and Kinsey's Top 5 Movies of 2009. Drum roll, please.

Kinsey's Top 5

5. Inglourious Basterds

I'm very surprised to see this on my list. I have not been a Tarantino fan in the past; I didn't actually see this movie in the theater (made Wade go on his own) and had to catch up with it later on DVD. When I finally did force myself to watch it, I was amazed by how much I enjoyed it. The characters were fascinating and the story was entertaining in its entirety.

4. A Single Man

I especially enjoyed the acting in the film; Colin Firth and supporting cast were all fantastic. I also loved how the film captured the feel of a classic short story. A very well done movie.

3. UP

I don't mean to always put Pixar films on my top 5 list, but they're so good! Every time I watch this movie I love it more.

2. Up in the Air

Charming, clever, and humorous, with a strong message which is well portrayed, yet with a light hand and with respect for the audience.

1. An Education

Great direction, great story, great script, and great acting. This film was excellent, truly inspiring and mesmerizing.

Wade's Top 5

5. Bright Star

This was the biggest surprise of the year for me because I'm usually not the biggest fan of period films. But Bright Star is buoyed by wonderful performances from leads Abbie Cornish and Ben Whishaw, as well as an inspired turn by Paul Schneider. Plus director Jane Campion puts forth some beautiful visuals and I'm a sucker for beautiful visuals.

4. An Education

An Education has some of the best acting of the year, especially from Carey Mulligan, who makes the film what it is. It's a simple story, which I appreciate, and it doesn't try to do too much. Instead it simply focuses on the trials and travails of its main character.

3. Up in the Air

With his third film, director Jason Reitman has established himself as one of the best directors around, and as a director who knows his actor's strengths. Reitman extracts a wonderful performance from George Clooney, simply by having him play a tabloid version of himself. This movie's ending really threw me for a loop and is one of the more emotionally devastating films of the year.

2. The Hurt Locker

Best action movie of the year. Period. The Hurt Locker is the first film to successfully capture the Iraq war, by putting it through the eyes of the soldiers without trying to push too much of a message. This film had me gripping the armrests with teeth-clenching suspense. Jeremy Renner gives one of the most perfect, underplayed performances of the year.

1. Fantastic Mr. Fox

This film is so charming. I've always gone back-and-forth with Wes Anderson (Rushmore, good; Life Aquatic, not so good), but he hit the nail on the head with his first foray into animation. Perfect tone, perfect voice work, perfect visual style.

DVD REVIEW: Bright Star

Plot summary for Bright Star from comingsoon.net:

London, 1818 – a secret love affair begins between 23-year-old English poet John Keats and the girl next door, Fanny Brawne, an outspoken student of fashion. This unlikely pair started at odds; he thinking her a stylish minx, she unimpressed by literature in general. But when Keats's younger brother falls ill John and Fanny are drawn together. Keats, touched by Fanny's efforts to help care for his brother, agrees to teach her poetry. By the time Fanny's alarmed mother (Kerry Fox) and Keats's best friend Charles Armitage Brown (Paul Schneider) realize their attachment, the relationship had an unstoppable momentum. Intensely and helplessly absorbed in each other, the young lovers were swept into powerful new sensations: "I have the feeling as if I were dissolving," Keats wrote to her. Together they rode a wave of romantic obsession that deepened as their troubles mounted. Only Keats's own fatal illness proved insurmountable.

With Bright Star, director Jane Campion goes back to the period genre, continuing where she left off with The Piano and The Portrait of a Lady. I have to be honest, this type of film isn't usually my favorite. I did enjoy Joe Wright's Pride and Prejudice, but typically period films aren't my cup of tea. So it came as a bit of a surprise that I really enjoyed Bright Star, even more so than Kinsey.

Bright Star is grounded by two captivating performances from the romantic leads, Abbie Cornish as Fanny Brawne and Ben Whishaw as poet John Keats. A romance needs its two lovers to be convincing, and this film delivers a lovely arc of a relationship, moving from mutual disinterest to coursing passion. Fanny's strength of character and independent notions make her the perfect match for the edge-of-society Keats. And a relationship like theirs can only end in tragedy.

One would think that making a movie about a poet wouldn't be the easiest thing to do, as the composition of poetry can be a pretty boring process. Luckily, Campion avoids training her camera on a blank piece of paper or watching Keats frantically scribble verse. Instead, Keat's profession serves the film. His poetry comes out fresh and proud, signifying his dedication to his work through adversity. Or it comes out in halting stammers, when he becomes smitten with Fanny at a dinner party. Campion makes the art of poetry lifelike, when it could so easily become an eye-rolling practice of Poetry 101.

Bright Star also features a wonderful supporting performance from Paul Schneider, from NBC's Parks and Recreation, as Charles Brown, Keat's close friend. Brown brings that needed dose of reality to a period film, showing that people in the Victorian age did act rudely, goof off, and literally jump around like apes.

And finally, I have to show appreciation to any film that features oodles of visual splendor. Gorgeous imagery permeates the entirety of Bright Star. Every frame is perfectly orchestrated. Really just wonderful to look at.

Wade: 4.5/5 stars

Kinsey: 3/5 stars