Top 25 of 2009: Part 2 Top 10

10. Watchmen

Directed by Zach Snyder
Written by David Hayter and Alex Tse
Starring Billy Crudup, Malin Akerman, Patrick Wilson, Jackie Earle Haley, Jeffrey Dean Morgan, Carla Gugino & Matthew Goode

This time last year I still had no clue what Watchmen really was, I saw the Movie-Con footage, violent and interesting visually,but not full of any kind of coherent story. Then, last February, I finally got round to reading the novel. And it hit me. It's longwinded, slow, and in classic Alan Moore style, the dialogue is near appallingly generic through and through, but the ideas, the characters, the structure, it was so well done, clear parody without ever pushing humour, instead going for a serious meditation over the ideas of costumed heroes.

And the film doesn't fail to do it justice. The film, of course, couldn't tell the WHOLE spectrum of the novel, it leaves out the Black Freighter, which is how I read it, skipping over those parts, but on top of the amazing visuals, the story is well told, the action well done but minimal, the acting near top tier, thanks to Matthew Goode and Malin Akerman for being shit.

Patrick Wilson gives the understated performance of this year, akin to Aaron Eckhart's Harvey Dent, perfect but underrated, especially between Jeffrey Dean Morgan's loud, violent, brash but still within inches of humanity performance as The Comedian, Billy Crudup's total removal of humanity as Dr. Manhattan, and most of all Jackie Earle Haley's sterling work as moral vigilante Rorschach, clearly a messed up person, but one who sticks by his guns throughout.

A sublime 3 hour film, better of course in the director's cut edition where the 3 hours flow by at a superior pace, and new additions from the novel are added in perfectly. See this movie.

9. Crank 2: High Voltage

Written & Directed by Mark Neveldine & Brian Taylor
Starring Jason Statham, Amy Smart, Efren Ramirez, Dwight Yoakam, Art Hsu, Ling Bai, Clifton Collins Jr., David Carradine & Joseph Julian Soria

If your top 10 of 2009 list includes Star Trek but has no conscious notion of Crank 2 inside it, then your top 10 sucks. Not only did Star Trek come out a month later, but it was no where near as well done, plot wise, character wise or action wise. Lens flare can go fuck itself, this is adrenaline fueled filmmaking at it's finest, a step up from the first, whilst not as good, Neveldin/Taylor raised the bar of just how fucked up they are wiling to get in the series as Chev Chelios now has his heart stolen and powers off the mains as he kills people. It's not political correct, it's not for kids and it's not for the mainstream, it never lets up and it's not taking itself seriously, it's about as ballsed up as a film can get and it's super hysterical. Fuck Star Trek.

8. In The Loop

Directed by Armando Iannucci
Written by Simon Blackwell, Jesse Armstong, Tony Roche & Armando Iannucci
Starring Tom Holander, Chris Addison, Peter Capaldi, Gina McKee, Steve Coogan, James Gandolfini & Paul Higgins

The Thick Of It is genius. Right. Now, expand that humour to an hour and fourty minutes. OMG WOW amirite? Yeah, ok, but it's a feature, the x-odd hundred people who saw Thick Of It on BBC4 won't do as the audience, we need to expand. Add some Americans in, maybe they'll flock to see it. Hmm, how does that work? Well, sadly it weakens the film a bit, softening the bludgeoning hell that Westminster politics is shown as, instead we have 3/4 of a film full of anger, vulgarity and genius, and 1/4 a weaker, more pleasantly toned film, but ultimately one that has none of the punch the other 3/4 has, so it's to that 3/4 we say, thank you, for lines so wonderful as "It's not easy peasy lemon squezy, it's difficult difficult lemon difficult" and "You really are a boring fuck, you know that. I know you hate swearing, sorry, you really are a boring F star star cunt"

Peter Capaldi shines once again as Malcolm Tucker, PM's spin doctor extraordinaire, Chris Addison as intern Toby once again brings the snarky mean comedy he's presented in the show so well, newcomer Tom Holander is amazing and fits in so well as the cabinet minister who gets shoved firmly up shit creek throughout the film, if only they never left England, this film would have been contender for number 1.

7. The Hurt Locker

Directed by Katheryn Bigelow
Written by Mark Boal
Starring Jeremy Renner, Anthony Mackie and Brian Geraghty

Once in a while there's a film made that you sit down, and not at one point do you begin wandering your eyes around the cinema. Rarely, however, are you so invested in the characters and story that you are biting your nails on the edge of your seat for nearly the complete runtime of the film. The hurt Locker really nails you down and pushes you to the edge and stops just before you have a heart attack. It's one of the most intense films made for years, and Ms. Bigelow certainly knows what she's doing. There's about 6 big sequences, and all of them get you hooked, they may run for over 15 minutes, but they feel like they're only 3 minutes apiece, and it's all interesting, handled well and simply perfect. I re-watched this film in HD recently and it more than holds up, I knew what happened in each scene, but it didn't stop the tension from hitting hard. A true masterpiece, acted well, shot well, edited perfectly, written extraordinarily, everything is note perfect.

6. Moon

Directed by Duncan Jones
Written by Nathan Parker
Starring Sam Rockwell, Sam Rockwell, Matt Berry, Benedict Wong & Kevin Spacey

You have £5 million, Sam Rockwell and a script not just set in a space station, but featuring outside shots of the Earth's satellite. What do you do? Besides leaving sound in space and not having limited gravity, you get to Pinewood, as the writer's strike hits all other productions hard, and make your film using some real talents, miniatures, Kevin Spacey as a robot and then throw some CGI on to help the miniatures have a realistic edge to them, then release an adult sci-fi drama that's smart, simple and entertaining. Duncan Jones knows what he's doing with his first feature, a true jaw dropping piece of work on all accounts, and when you get 2 Sam Rockwells on camera together, and playing ping pong, there's no way you can say it's a piece of crap. Definite contender for the Oscars, especially since it's high time Sam Rockwell got one, he so deserves it.

5. Fanboys

Directed by Kyle Newman
Written by Ernest Cline and Adam F. Goldberg
Starring Jay Baruchel, Dan Fogler, Sam Huntington, Chris Marquette, Kristen Bell, Seth Rogen & many many awesome cameos.

After years of waiting a friend linked me to a download of this film, I hated having to do this, but it was the only chance I had to get to see this film, it's still not seen the UK, though I've pimped it out everywhere. The day I saw it was actually 1am on Star Wars day, who knew. Fanboys is simply put a wonderful comedy that, unlike The Big Bang Theory, respects the geeks in people, not just playing them up for laughs among the masses. With some real great actors, some who will definitely be big names soon enough, we're hoping Mr. Baruchel, we're hoping, and lots and lots of great Star Wars cameos, and just cool people, like Danny Trejo, Kevin Smith, Jason Mewes and Zak Knutson, the road trip comedy about a group of friends who plan to break into Skywalker Ranch and steal a first cut print of Episode 1 for their friend Linus, who has cancer and won't see the release, is a well handled comedy with dramatic elements, unfortunately not enough because our friends at The Weinstein Company only gave a day or so to re-insert the cancer plotline after fearing cancer and comedy don't work well, if anything it emphasises the comedy and adds so much more heart to the piece.

Whilst we wish an original cut of Newman's version will be released one day, import the DVD from America and have a great time, trust me.

4. Zombieland

Directed by Ruben Fleischer
Written by Rhett Reese & Paul Wernick
Starring Jesse Eisenberg, Woody Harrelson, Emma Stone, Abigail Breslin & The Cameo.

Zombies. They've been fuel for nightmares for decades, and only recently have people gone for a more comedic route, see Shaun Of The Dead for a brilliant take on the zombie tale. Zombieland goes for an American style rom-zom-com, young man, still a virgin naturally, survives in the desolate America where the undead roam, meets a gun-toting man, strong, little dumb but good at survival, and they travel together, wherein they meet two young vixens, and then young man and young woman fall in love. It's vulgar, violent and very very very very very funny, add to that great use of text, an opening credit sequence that only Watchmen pips to the post and the cameo from a world famous funnyman, it's all brilliant, and a must see.

3. (500) Days Of Summer

Directed by Marc Webb
Written by Scott Neustadter & Michael H. Weber
Starring Joeseph Gordon-Levitt and Zooey Deschanel

Rom coms, sometimes they can be well done, mostly they are middle of the road, not awful, just, not good. Sometimes they are pure cack.

This isn't a rom com. This is a comedy drama about a relationship, a woman who is a complete bitch and everything possible that makes going shopping in Ikea so damn fun. The two leads are extraordinary as always, the comedy is hysterical through and through, the music fantastic, the style of the piece genius, non-linear, jumping around, sometimes even looking into fantasy and reality simultaneously. A sublime comedy that I've waited months to watch for a third time, I loved it so much that the wait has been painful, nearly over. Simply brilliant.

2. Inglourious Basterds

Written & Directed by Quentin Tarantino
Starring Christopher Waltz, Brad Pitt, Eli Roth, Diane Kruger, Til Schweiger, Daniel Bruhl, Michael Fassbender and Melanie Laurent

Tarantino films have a shelf life of about 6 screenings before they really turn kinda sour. Jackie Brown, Reservoir Dogs, Death Proof, Pulp Fiction, Kill Bill, some elements are great, but for the most part all those films are kinda dull, a little too over the top in every respect, and, well, just annoying at points. Basterds is not. The ensemble cast works perfectly as we jump between the serious tale of Shoshanna and the Nazi premiere party mixed with the comedic action of the Basterds trying to scalp Nazis and invade the premiere. But tying it all together with the intimidating danger and hilarious comedy is Chris Waltz as 'The Jew Hunter' Colonel Hans Landa. He's viscous, dangerous and scary, you are never sure what he's up to, if you want to laugh at his lines or want to hide in case he finds you, and in that lies the genius which keeps Basterds away from the rotting nature of Tarantino's other films. It's a wonderful film, paced well, shot perfectly and with a great soundtrack, dialogue, acting, nothing is wrong with this film, a perfect WW2 action film, of which there haven't been many for years. The last one to be as good or as funny was Schindler's List.

(If I go to hell for that joke it was worth it)

1. Away We Go

Directed by Sam Mendes
Written by Steve Eggers & Vendela Vida
Starring John Krasinski, Maya Rudolph, Maggie Gyllenhaal, Jeff Daniels, Catherine O'Hara & Allison Janney

And here we are, numero uno, the shock, the twist, the upset. This year I sat in a cinema and watched a film for free, the film started too early so was rewound and replayed, so I missed the opening, then saw the opening and had to re-watch scenes again before setting off. And I wasn't even that big a fan of it. Of course 2 weeks later the film was released and I went to see it. 2 hours later I left the screening in love. Soon enough I imported the Blu Ray and have watched it continuously for months. Away We Go is a funny, well told tale of two people in love, starting a family, but trying to find a place to plant their roots. At times it can be brutal to watch, and particularly moving, beautiful but tragic. Other times it can be the funniest parts of the year. And the two leads in Krasinski and Rudolph rise above the Office and SNL roots that have made them so famous, the last big films they were in were Idiocracy and License to Wed, so seeing them so adult, serious, hysterical but able to hold a film on their own with the chemistry so strong and real you'd swear they genuinely were in love is amazing to watch.

The writing is near perfect, Eggers once again proves himself to be masterful in writing, Mendes' directing is fantastic,a particular shot of a plane taking off through reflections on glass is breathtaking, the music by Alexi Murdoch is nothing short of brilliant and everything in this film is superb, if you haven't seen it yet, check it out NOW!

And as we depart that year and head into 2010 I only have one thing to say to the last year.

FUCK YOU!

You sucked massively, it was so hard compiling this list that only at number 12 (The Wrestler) did films that got 10/10 ratings appear, usually I have over 30 10/10 films. Not this year!

Lots of hate, Andrew.