2009- The Year Wasted in the Dark.

The dreaded year 2009 A.D. has finally come to an end and with it comes the banal year end lists of cinema treasures . There were certainly better years, there were also worse years. There were laughs and tears, farts and Transformers. And a little woman named Precious taught us all how to love again.


Without further ado, here is my list of the good times I had in a movie theater this year.

1.Sin Nombre- A fun train journey through the insane gangs of Mexico gave me more ideas for facial tattoos than any other movie this year.
2. Moon/ District 9/ Star Trek/ Avatar- It was a banner year for sci-fi flicks. From the relatively low budget joys of Moon and District 9 to the not so low budget pageantry of Star Trek and Avatar.
3. House of the Devil/ Trick 'r Treat- Horror movies on the other hand weren't so great. Remakes and sequels (and sequels to remakes) continued to ooze on to the big screen while genuine great movies like these two gems were left to find homes on DVD and Video on Demand after very limited theatrical screenings.
4. Fantastic Mr. Fox/ Coraline- Two sweet movies with two totally different approaches to stop motion animation. Coraline was a highly polished 3-D extravaganza while Mr Fox let it's raggedy hand made roots show through.
5. Treevenge- With out a doubt the absolute best Canadian made killer Christmas tree short film ever made.
6. Worlds Greatest Dad- Bobcat Goldthwait's movie Shakes the Clown was widely considered to be the Citizen Kane of alcoholic clown movies. Surely this must be the Gone with the Wind of auto-erotic asphyxiation movies?
7. Inglourious Basterds- Hitler totally got his ass handed to him! U.S.A.! U.S.A.!
8. Antichrist- The Chaos Reigns section of this movie was easily the most joyous moment I had at the movies this year (and the second example of talking foxes on this list. I smell a potential double feature!)
9. G-Force- If this had only had a hard R rating it would be my favorite movie of the decade. Instead they went the easy way and made it for kids. Hey Hollywood, some guinea pig love scenes and ultra violence would be appreciated in the sequel.
10. Hurt Locker- Kathryn Bigelow finally makes a movie to rival her classic Point Break (RIP, Mr Swayze.)


Honorable Mentions: Up, Bad Lieutenant: Port of Call New Orleans, I Think We're Alone Now, Big Fan, Zombieland, Observe and Report, Morris County, Public Enemies, Drag Me to Hell