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.

Commenting on the 2009 Oscar nominations...

Best Picture:

Avatar
The Blind Side
District 9
An Education
The Hurt Locker
Inglourious Basterds
Precious
A Serious Man
Up
Up in the Air

So the big thing this year is the 10 movies up for best picture. I think its a good thing just given that UP made best picture, hopefully this means that just because a movie is animated is won't be shunted to the Best Animated Film category alone. Of course this does allow in movies such as The Blind Side. Wade said that if this wins he will be boycotting the Oscars from now on. I'm just upset because we always see the films up for Best Picture, and I really didn't want to see this.

I don't have any big issues with the nominated films that I've seen. It's a nice mix of small film and crowdpleasers. Definitely pulling for The Hurt Locker, although as long as its not Avatar or The Blind Side, I'll be OK.

Best Director:

James Cameron - Avatar
Kathryn Bigelow - The Hurt Locker
Quentin Tarantino - Inglourious Basterds
Precious - Lee Daniels
Up in the Air - Jason Reitman

My vote would be for Kathryn Bigelow or Jason Reitman. I disagree with the nom for James Cameron, but it was expected.

Got to be Kathryn Bigelow here. I really hope its not James Cameron just so I don't have to listen to that blowhard give a speech.

Best Actor:

Jeff Bridges - Crazy Heart
George Clooney - Up in the Air
Colin Firth - A Single Man
Morgan Freeman - Invictus
Jeremy Renner - The Hurt Locker

I haven't seen Invictus yet, but I really want Colin Firth to win this. I love him and he was amazing in A Single Man. The buzz is that Jeff Bridges is a lock, but I didn't think his performance was especially amazing.

I don't think Jeff Bridges and, from what I've heard, Morgan Freeman should be here. There are probably more deserving performances out there. Go Jeremy Renner.

Best Actress:

Sandra Bullock - The Blind Side
Helen Mirren - The Last Station
Carey Mulligan - An Education
Gabourey Sidibe - Precious
Meryl Streep - Julie & Julia

Not to be a snob, but Sandra Bullock? Seriously?!! Carey Mulligan was great in An Education, but we need to quite a few in this category. Congrats to Meryl Streep though on her 16th nomination. While I didn't especially love Julie & Julia, her performance was fantastic; I loved every minute she was on screen.

Here's hoping for a 2002 style split vote between Meryl Streep and Sandra Bullock, with Carey Mulligan in the Adrien Brody role as surprise winner.

Best Supporting Actor:

Matt Damon - Invictus
Woody Harrelson - The Messenger
Christopher Plummer - The Last Station
Stanley Tucci - The Lovely Bones
Christoph Waltz - Inglourious Basterds

We have a lot of work to do before March 7th...

This is probably Christoph Waltz's to lose. My main issue is who didn't get nominated, i.e. Anthony Mackie in The Hurt Locker or Stanley Tucci in Julie & Julia, not The Lovely Bones or Alfred Molina in An Education or, heck, even Alec Baldwin in It's Complicated. And yes, I am judging some of these films before I've seen them.

Best Supporting Actress:

Penelope Cruz - Nine
Vera Farmiga - Up in the Air
Maggie Gyllenhaal - Crazy Heart
Anna Kendrick - Up in the Air
Mo'Nique - Precious

I really disagree with both the nomination of Maggie Gyllenhaal (nothing special in her role/performance) and Anna Kendrick. Throughout Up in the Air, I though Anna Kendrick was the weakest player and her performance pulled me out of the film repeatedly.

Not much to say about this one, other than Vera Farmiga was probably my favorite here. It would've been really awesome to see either Melanie Laurent or Diane Kruger from Inglourious Basterds here, but what are you goin' to do?

Yay for Oscars!! Let hope those who deserve it win...

REVIEW: Inglourious Basterds

Quentin Tarantino is one of those directors who usually inspires a whole bunch of disproportionate criticism/praise. There's no middle ground with him; it's a love/hate type of thing. Unless you're me. Personally, I could lean either way. I've seen almost every film he's directed (the exception being Deathproof) and while I've enjoyed the majority of them, they're not knocking on the door of my favorite movies of all time. So while I was expecting a good film when I went to see Inglourious Basterds, I wasn't expecting anything amazing.

I was wrong. Inglourious Basterds is one of the best films I've seen this summer and one of Tarantino's best.

Inglourious Basterds definitely fits into the director's style. Instead of gangsters or assassins, this Tarantino film deals with characters in the realm of WWII. The film, broke into five chapters, has three major character groups that become more interwoven as the film progresses. There's the evil Nazi, the femme fatale Jewess, and the gung-ho American soldier.

Even though this film uses actual history as a starting point, that doesn't mean that Tarantino is going to take said history seriously. Has he ever taken anything seriously? The intentionally misspelled title should tip you off that this is going to be parodic in nature. And it is. Actual facts are thrown to the wayside as fictional characters mingle with real people and major aspects of WWII are changed drastically. How to explain the over-the-top accents of Brad Pitt (his character, Aldo Raine, pronounces Nazi like Yahtzee with a N and a hard A), Michael Fassbender, and Mike Myers than to realize that the director/screenwriter is just having a good time? And, in that same thought, how to justify the inclusion of a comedic actor like Mike Myers?

But the parodic nature of the film doesn't mean that it lacks gravitas. Two scenes in particular, the opening scene on a dairy farm and the basement bar rendezvous, deliver tension and suspense in spades. Both feature inordinate amounts of talking capped by moments of extreme violence. That would be a good description for the entire film, lots of talking punctuated with violence. But that's not a bad thing. It's the great verbal banter that keeps this film moving through its 2 1/2 hour runtime.

The true surprise of this film is unknown (at least in this country) Austrian actor Christopher Waltz as Col. Hans Landa, the Jew Hunter. Waltz takes the character of Landa above and beyond typical villainy, creating a smooth-talking, smarmy, evil Nazi that you can't help but stay focused on. Rather than casting a "name" actor for his villain, Tarantino searched for someone who was right for the character, who could act in four languages, and Waltz is his perfect match. Great casting is another strong point of the film. Other than Brad Pitt (who is just a piece of the ensemble), there are no big names. Actors are cast for their similarities to the characters. Germans are cast as Germans, French as French. Its another quality aspect of the film that can be chalked up to Tarantino (I sure am giving him a lot of praise, but its really his movie, through and through).

So whether or not you enjoyed Pulp Fiction, Reservoir Dogs, or Kill Bill, Inglourious Basterds is really something to behold.

Wade: 4.5/5 stars