The 3 Most Interesting Movies of 2009
Here are the 3 best movies of 2009 that got our adrenaline pumping and the dynamite exploding. We love good movies and have seen hundreds in our time.
- I Love You, Man. There exists a minority of us movie lovers who consider this gut-buster the best comedy of the year — yep, even over a certain Vegas-set blockbuster. Master of improv Paul Rudd proves he may just be the funniest guy working in Hollywood as an impossibly amiable, recently engaged real estate agent on the hunt for a best man (enter Jason Segel, in his funniest stint yet). I Love You Man is the bromance to end all bromances — so let’s take a break from all the bromances for a while, shall we?
- The Cove. Widespread love for dolphins dates back to the days of ‘Flipper,’ and comes full circle with this expose of their mass slaughter occurring in Japan (some 23,000 are killed a year), The Cove movie the best documentary of the year. Louie Psihoyos’ doc is equal parts thrilling and heartbreaking — he crafts a mission to uncover the slaughter as a full-on caper; the film then climaxes with one of the most devastating (and disturbing) scenes ever committed to non-fiction filmmaking.
- Up in the Air. With three feature films now under his belt – ‘Thank You for Smoking,’ ‘Juno’ and now this instant classic — is there any doubt that 32-year-old Jason Reitman is one of Hollywood’s best directors? George Clooney somehow makes a corporate downsizer (topical!) lovable and magnetic in a superb lead turn (his best yet), while Anna Kendrick and Vera Farmiga kill as the distinctly powerful women who change his life. Watch Up in the Air movie is a near-perfect film that is at times bitingly funny, at other times heartrendingly sad — sort of like life, come to think of it.