Top 2009 Movies

Any critic worth his salt does a Top Ten list of whatever his/her "beat" is.

But I'm not a critic.  I just like to help point you in good directions.

I won't make a Top Ten list because I usually didn't find ten standouts-- but I did find enough of the various things I watched/read.

Movies.
I had a light year. Only 77 films.  Down 43 from last year-- and down 18 from 2007.  I blame the large amounts of TV on DVD I watched this spring-- and having less time in general.

The following got "A" or "A-" grades in my reviews:
Earth
Up
The Hangover
Let the Right One In
Wallace & Gromit: A Matter of Loaf and Death

And I'd also like to throw these "B+" films in for "best of" consideration:
Star Trek
Forgetting Sarah Marshall
Tropic Thunder
The Wrestler
Home Alone
A Christmas Story
The Thing
Avatar

Well, there's really no contest.  Of the 77 films I watched this year, only one stood out as one of the best films I've ever seen: Up.  That movie is pure genius.  I imagine that the Pixar gang said, "What are some of the parts of some of the least-interesting movies you can think of?"  Cranky old man, fat do-gooder kid (who is not used for a punchline), balloons, talking dogs, annoying-sounding bird...  Throw 'em in a blender and prove that those elements can make a great movie. 

Which they did.  Splendidly.