Top 25 Movies of 2009: Honorable Mentions and Movies #21 – 25

What’s your overall opinion of the movies of 2009? I ask because moving into December I would have called it a downer year, and if you base your opinion of a year’s worth of movies on the blockbusters of the year you may be a bit mixed. While films such as Star Trek, District 9 and Avatar found fans all around the world, films such as Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen, Terminator Salvation, G.I. Joe: Rise of Cobra, Angels and Demons and Watchmen were met with mixed-to-highly-negative reviews from critics and filmgoers alike. A lot of money was made, but I think we all know money doesn’t always translate to quality.

There were some out of the blue surprises such as The Hangover and Paranormal Activity and Pixar again impressed us all with Up. Personally, it’s the smaller to mid-level films that won me over and won me over big. So much so, I couldn’t stop at just ten films and had to list out 25. I just simply couldn’t allow for certain films to be forgotten by limiting things to a top ten.

So, over the next week, here’s the schedule:

Considering this is going to be a rather slow week for movie news I figured we may as well take advantage of it with a solid look back at the year that was. If you are unfamiliar with the “RopeofSIlicon Awards” I’m not at all surprised, you can get a look at least year’s winners right here to familiarize yourself as last year was my first year taking on the endeavor.

As for the schedule above, I will include it with all of the related articles this week and link to each feature as they go live. I hope this will become a community discussion with opinions from all sides, those that agree with me and those that don’t. Of course I just hope things remain civil, which can often be tough when we are getting into discussions of what one believes is the “best”. However, hope remains…

My list is a list of films I consider to be my favorite films of the year. What this means to me, is these movies are movies I would want to watch more than once or have already done so. Even further, this list is my list of favorite films. 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.

With that said, today we begin with my list of eight Honorable Mentions followed by the movies I’ve ranked #21 – 25.

I hear nothing but mixed sentiments when it comes to hearing folks talk about Adventureland, but then again the more negative comments I hear come from people in their mid-twenties who didn’t exactly grow up in the era depicted in this film. Is it possible this movie has about a five-year window of viewers that will enjoy it and laugh hysterically at the constant use of “Rock Me Amadeus”? Perhaps it’s because when I was in fifth grade friends of mine and I performed a lipsynch of “Rock Me Amadeus” in a “talent” show in elementary school. Who knows? I enjoyed this film nonetheless and thought it was rather honest and one of the only times I thought Kristen Stewart’s uncomfortable performances actually fit the role.

Speaking of negativity, here is another one I seem to be in the minority in liking and it held up after I saw it in theaters as I enjoyed it again on Blu-ray. In fact, I ranked it as my #1 Sam Mendes film earlier this year. However, I feel by the time I turn back into dust I can’t help but feel Road to Perdition will steadily climb into that spot. For now, it’s owned by Away We Go.

I argued this film with RopeofSilicon’s box-office Oracle Laremy Legel for about 30 minutes after watching it. To be honest I’m not sure what actually came out of the discussion other than the fact the film grew on me in that 30 minutes after coming out of the theater a bit mixed. I have the DVD in my house, but haven’t taken the time to watch it again, but it’s one of 2009’s unsolved mysteries for me and I won’t soon forget it.

Sam Raimi’s return to horror made my Top Ten Movies Midway Through 2009 list at #7, but a second viewing didn’t hold up as well as I thought it would. It still remains a favorite from the year, but obviously dropped considerably in my ranks.

The Hangover is another film that fell in my opinion after securing the #3 spot midway through the year. It still remains a funny movie, but the sight gags that dominated much of the film just don’t work as well after repeated viewings.

Steven Soderbergh’s film makes the list simply because I have only seen it once and feel I was misled by the marketing team at Warner Bros. Billed as a comedy, The Informant! is much more than a comedy, which means going into the theater expecting one sabotages your viewing experience. Once it hits Blu-ray I feel a second and third viewing will help me come to a proper conclusion on how much I like or dislike this film, but it doesn’t deserve to be forgotten simply because the studio was more interested in duping audiences and selling tickets than making sure those audiences went in with a proper perspective.

An excellent example of shut it down and sit back and enjoy. If this film didn’t have that much-too-long flashback sequence I think it would have honestly found its way into my top 25. However, either David Twohy or the folks at Rogue just felt the audience was so dumb they needed to be beaten over the head with reminders. Too bad, it could have been great, but instead it’s just honorable.

World’s Greatest Dad is probably the biggest surprise film of the year for me. I am an on/off fan of Robin Williams, a guy that just can’t seem to sit down and dial it back a notch. When other people are at 11, Williams cranks it to 17. However, in this film he hits all the right notes, much like he did in Good Will Hunting and the film is better for it. Give it a look on home video, you won’t be disappointed.