The 3 Good 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.
- Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince. Harry Potter’s all grown up. The latest visually stunning installment in the series raises the dramatic stakes to frightening, life-and-death levels, as the evil Voldemort makes headway against the forces of good. Danger abounds all around, but so does love (there’s snogging everywhere!), and the main trio of Daniel Radcliffe, Rupert Grint and Emma Watson have blossomed into mature actors who can handle it all in Harry Potter and the Half Blood Prince movie.
- 500 Days of Summer. Tired of the same-old, run-o’-the-mill romantic comedies? Here’s the antidote — a film so solid it feels strange to group in that dubious genre. Told out of order with a kickass soundtrack, whimsical flourishes (including a fantasy sequence involving Hall & Oates), and stellar turns by leads/part-time lovers Joseph Gordon-Levitt and Zooey Deschanel, 500 Days of Summer full movie is what so few love stories are these days: lovely.
- 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. Up in the Air online 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.