My Top 10 Films of 2009

*Note: The following is part of the continuing "10 FOR 10" series in celebration of ten years of Jeremy The Critic, in which my choices for the top 10 films of each year from 2006-2015 are revealed. Don't forget to check out my previous posts for 2006 and 2007 and 2008. This installment will be focusing on 2009. Just a reminder that movies must have a U.S. release date of that particular year in order to qualify.

A passing glance at my selections for the Top 10 Films of 2009 might have some mistaking it for a "Worst Of" list, as three choices in particular leap out as being universally reviled by critics and audiences alike. Whereas my previous entries for this series carried few surprises, mostly falling in line with the general consensus, than this year provides the first major deviation. But I'm most definitely not being contrarian for the mere sake of it, as all three of those films did initially receive raves from me upon their release.

The bigger surprise is that the needle hasn't moved very much in my original assessments of The Box, The Informers and The Lovely Bones since then. If each are extremely galvanizing in its own way, no one can claim any of them are forgettable, which helped them here. While I sometimes saw the same flaws others did, I mostly read them as something that improved the overall experience or didn't care because they came as a result of reaching and risking than most other efforts that year.

That Richard Kelly's The Box made the cut despite it being the weakest of his three outings and my waning interest in the Sci-Fi genre, only underlines the fact that his absence (semi-retirement?) has left a void, as more recent films rarely dare to challenge audiences or provoke nearly as much thought. I wouldn't go as far as to say The Lovely Bones or The Informers are necessarily misunderstood, as people have very valid reasons for disliking each, but much of what bubbles under the surface of both didn't go unnoticed by me. The same is true for The Girlfriend Experience, which through time has revealed to be one of Steven Soderbergh's most successful and memorable indie "experiments."

While Crazy Heart follows a formula as old as time, it's also a reminder why such a formula exists, and what an acting treasure Jeff Bridges is, winning what has to be one of the more tolerable, career "make-up" Oscars in history. Looking back on and rewatching it, it's surprising how well it still plays, guaranteeing its spot. Without its sensational, painfully realistic ending, I'm not sure Up in the Air would get such high marks, but it's a smart character-driven picture director Jason Reitman would only end up topping with his following effort.

I struggled with where to place Inglourious Basterds, if at all. While it's considerably superior to the aforementioned titles, Tarantino suffers from constantly repeating himself in the revenge genre with none of it even remotely approaching his greatest creative success in Pulp Fiction. But he's very good at what he does and therefore can't justify ranking many films from a surprisingly rich '09 above it.  Except three. Another thinking sci-fi entry, Duncan Jones' Moon, deserved all the adulation that the similarly themed The Martian received over the past year, while lacking the unnecessary jokiness. A "romantic comedy" of sorts makes its first top five appearance on a list, if you'd even categorize (500) Days of Summer as that, which I wouldn't.  And neither would anyone who's been through anything resembling what happens between those two characters. It's also a reminder how strong a movie actress Zooey Deschanel was becoming before we lost her to comedy TV.

The number one pick was easier than expected. What Spike Jonze did with his really out there interpretation of Maurice Sendak's Where The Wild Things Are is hypnotizing, haunting and captures childhood in difficult ways mainstream audiences weren't prepared for. It stands as the 2009's most fully realized vision in American filmmaking and one of the great children's book adaptations of all-time. In this fairly competitive year, there were many runners-up, including The Hurt Locker, The Brothers Bloom, Away We Go, World's Greatest Dad, An Education, The Informant!, Bronson, The Messenger, Adventureland, A Single Man, Observe and Report, Pirate Radio (aka The Boat That Rocked), and Halloween II (Director's Cut). All strong candidates, but when pushed to replace any of the titles below, I just couldn't do it. Ask me in a month or two and it's possible you'd get a slightly different response. But not likely.  

                                                                    2009 

10. The Box

"Was there ever any doubt critics and audiences would despise 'The Box?' Seriously, any doubt at all? Burdened by belonging to a genre that doesn't get any respect, made by a director few want to see work again, and starring a polarizing A-list actress, minds were already made up. This never stood a chance. And if that wasn't enough, how many times have we heard the phrase, 'It's like an extended episode of The Twilight Zone' as a supposed insult aimed at high-concept sci-fi or mystery/suspense thrillers? There's no doubt critics' mouths were watering at just the thought of bashing a movie THAT ACTUALLY IS based on an episode of 'The Twilight Zone.' But it turns out writer/director Richard Kelly's third feature can in no way be described as merely an extended version of anything." - 11/23/09


9. The Informers

"Ellis' work has always been more dependent on capturing a specific mood or feeling. This is a far different '80's than the warm, nostalgia-filled one presented in 'Adventureland' earlier in the year, or the alternate version of the decade we saw in 'Watchmen.' It's much more lived in. The fashions (Ray-Bans), and the music (Flock of Seagulls, Wang Chung, Simple Minds) are all there but they exist only as part of this cold, desolate landscape of greed and excess. As frighteningly accurate as it's portrayed, it's even scarier that you rarely stop to notice. It just is. More than simply watching a movie, you've committed to taking a disturbing time travel trip from which there's seemingly no recovery." - 10/20/09


8. The Girlfriend Experience

"The men Chelsea encounters and keeps company with aren't nearly as interesting as she is, though that's likely the entire point. We have a protagonist who doesn't know herself or feelings at all and men so incapable of forming emotional bonds that they have to hire someone to pretend that they can. We can only hope the movie's wrong--that people aren't this lonely. But that's probably wishful thinking. For better or worse, it's an experience that stays with you." - 1/23/10


7. Crazy Heart
 

"There's relief in discovering the movie never feels like it's trying too hard, instead casually letting this world the protagonist inhabits wash over you. The music and performances are what I'll come away remembering most, but it's surprising how much respect rookie writer/director Scott Cooper shows the audience by not playing any games and just delivering it as is. And that was more than enough considering it's Bridges who carries much of the load in the role that justifiably won him an Oscar." - 4/29/10


6. Up in the Air

"Much of the way through, Reitman handles a sensitive subject with intelligence, but also kid gloves, avoiding any shades of gray or pushing uncomfortable buttons that would compromise its mainstream appeal. Then come the final 15 minutes in which all of my complaints are addressed and the events that occur call into question the real purpose of everything that came before. In other words, Reitman takes those gloves off and only the most cynical of audience members need apply. All the accolades and likely awards the film will receive are almost exclusively earned in its final act. I appreciated the rare display of brutal honesty, as at odds as it must seem with the rest of the picture." - 1/15/10


5. The Lovely Bones

"Reaction to this much-maligned adaptation of Alice Sebold's 2002 bestseller was almost destined to split viewers into two camps: Those who read the novel and hate what he's done to it and those who never read the novel and are impressed. I fall into the latter category, but wouldn't plead ignorance to any of the film's perceived or actual flaws, remaining completely cognizant of why it's attracted so much animosity. But the one complaint against it I won't accept is that it in any way "wussed out." Especially when it so thoroughly denies the characters and audience closure, or at least closure as it's traditionally expected in American movies. Or not a single story beat going down as it normally would in this genre. Are these problems? Or did Jackson actually find a way to capture the sloppiness of everyday life? Part thriller, part metaphysical drama, 'The Lovely Bones' is the best 'Unsolved Mysteries' episode that never aired. Just as long as you don't read the book first." - 5/10/10


4. Inglourious Basterds

"There's usually a section in any bookstore where you can find those speculative fiction novels dealing with various alternate history scenarios. The victory of the South in the Civil War. The survival of the Byzantine Empire. Nazi Germany's victory in World War II. Quentin Tarantino uses the pages of those books as toilet paper in Inglourious Basterds, the alternate history to end all alternate histories, and easily his best film since 'Pulp Fiction.' What everyone expected to be another one of his fun  B-movie tributes (this time to Spaghetti Westerns) over-performs considerably to become something far more, representing a giant leap forward for a director who was written off as peaking a while ago." - 12/23/09


3. Moon

"The most obvious aesthetic influence on the film is '2001: A Space Odyssey,' even if its theme and consequences more closely parallel 'Solaris.' But in reality it's nothing like either, sucking the viewer into a hypnotic vortex of confusion that mirrors the plight of the main character(s). It's appropriate I re-watched the film right after it ended because the entire experience of watching the film is re-watching it as the narrative travlels in circles before shocking us, then arriving at its mind numbing conclusion. Many won't care for it, but the kind of cerebral filmmaking on display here is something we rarely see anymore, as deserving of recognition as the compelling, career defining performance that carries it." - 2/7/10


2. (500) Days of Summer

"In somewhat of a breakthrough, the script doesn't take sides, presenting a free-thinking female lead who's an agent of action rather than a prize to be won. It acknowledges neither character is blameless, with Levitt and Deschanel's performances filling them with too much complexity for you to completely dislike either. Both have their issues, but at the same time actually seem real, making the same mistakes we would. He didn't get the message, while she was careless with his feelings, but the screenplay cleverly disallows us from viewing the film through the same one-sided prism Tom saw 'The Graduate.' It isn't just about a failed relationship and there's a universality in recognizing that everyone's a "Tom" or a "Summer," or at least a combination of both." - 8/23/09


1. Where The Wild Things Are

"Those thinking they wanted an inventive, mature interpretation of the material should have known the commitment that would entail as audience members and the sacrifices the studio would have to make to do that. One of those was not making a children's movie. Instead, Jonze was more interested in making a movie ABOUT childhood and the pain, sadness and confusion that can accompany it, especially for kids with overactive imaginations. More than that though, it's about the child in all of us that fades away as we enter a world full of responsibilities and burdens. If you're lucky enough, a small piece of that kid hangs on for the ride. That small piece is immortalized in Max's journey." - 3/12/10


My Top Ten Films of 2009
1. Where The Wild Things Are (dir. Spike Jonze)
2. (500) Days of Summer (dir. Marc Webb)
3. Moon (dir. Duncan Jones)
4. Inglourious Basterds (dir. Quentin Tarantino)
5. The Lovely Bones (dir. Peter Jackson)
6. Up in the Air (dir. Jason Reitman)
7. Crazy Heart (dir. Scott Cooper)
8. The Girlfriend Experience (dir. Steven Soderbergh)
9. The Informers (dir. Gregor Jordan)
10. The Box (dir. Richard Kelly)

The Box

Director: Richard Kelly
Starring: Cameron Diaz, James Marsden, Frank Langella, Sam Oz Stone, Holmes Osborne
Running Time: 113 min.
Rating: PG-13

★★★★ (out of ★★★★)

"Your house is a box which you live in. The car you drove to work is a box, on wheels. When you return home from work you sit in front of a box with moving images. You watch until the mind and soul rots and the box that is your body deteriorates, when finally you are placed into the ultimate box...to rest under the soil and earth."

Was there ever any doubt critics and audiences would hate The Box? Seriously, any doubt at all? Burdened by belonging to a genre that doesn't get any respect, made by a director few want to see work again, and starring a polarizing A-list actress, minds were already made up. This never stood a chance. And if that wasn't enough, how many times have we heard the phrase, "It's like an extended episode of The Twilight Zone" as a supposed insult aimed at high-concept sci-fi or mystery/suspense thrillers? There's no doubt critics' mouths were watering at just the thought of bashing a movie THAT ACTUALLY IS based on an episode of The Twilight Zone.

The nerve of some filmmakers today, using one of the best written shows in television history as a template for their movie. But it turns out writer/director Richard Kelly's third feature can in no way be described as merely an extended version of anything.  There are movies being made right now that are genuine garbage, and worse, seem to lack ideas and passion. This film isn't for everyone but it's not fair to say it isn't for anyone or the person who made it doesn't deserve to make movies anymore because it confused you. It confused me too. It also frustrated me. But not just for the sake of doing it. It takes an incredibly creative person to craft a film like this, then actually have the guts to follow through and make it. I'd never imply it's over anyone's head or they "didn't get it," but I would advise anyone who isn't a hardcore fan of sci-fi to stay as far away as possible.

For most, this just won't be their thing, which is fine. And even those who were big fans of either of Richard Kelly's previous masterworks, the cult classic Donnie Darko and/or the unjustly maligned Southland Tales, can still easily find themselves hating this. With a relatively straightforward premise, the presence of A-List talent and one huge box office flop behind him you'd be forgiven for thinking Kelly was ready to concede defeat and start playing by the studios' rules for a change. But really, we should have known better.

Norma (Cameron Diaz) and Arthur (James Marsden) Lewis are a married couple living above their means but barely making ends meet in Langley, Virginia circa 1976. Arthur works as an engineer at NASA, where he's just been rejected from the astronaut program after failing the psychological exam, while Norma is a high school English teacher whose job might now be in jeopardy due to cuts in the tenure program. A potential cure to their financial ills come in the form of a small wooden box with a red button delivered by a facially disfigured stranger named Arlington Steward (a creepy Frank Langella). His offer is simple: Press the button and they'll be handed a payment of one million dollars... tax free. The catch is that someone somewhere in the world whom THEY DON'T KNOW will die. They have 24 hours to make a decision or it's off the table. Should they choose not to press the button, Steward will just move on and make the offer to someone else THEY DON'T KNOW. I'm not spoiling anything by telling you that Norma presses the button. It's what happens after that where things get blurry.

The film is loosely based on acclaimed science fiction writer Richard Matheson's 1970 short story, "Button, Button," and was later adapted into a 1986 episode of the The Twilight Zone, which the movie's first 30 minutes don't stray very far from. Until the button is pressed we're being set up for a conventional, high concept thriller, but after that the rug is completely pulled out from under us. Interested in doing much more than simply expanding the source material, Kelly presents an existential parable on the human race featuring:

-The Mars Viking Lander program
-Amputated toes
-Nosebleeds
-Space and time teleportation
-Water portals
-Government conspiracies
-Murder
-Holmes Osborne
-Usher Syndrome
-Handy reference manuals (like in Darko)
-Cackling demonic waiters

And that doesn't even begin to cover all the craziness. In what has unsurprisingly caused frustration for audiences, this concept was put in the hands of a director actually interested in exploring the philosophical implications of Steward's offer...on the largest scale possible. Those who have seen the film are probably scratching their heads wondering how I could say anything is explored at all. But it is.

In his recent assessment of the film, Roger Ebert made an interesting point about the "test" Steward seems to be conducting, comparing it to 1961's famous Milgram Experiment in which subjects administered lethal shocks to strangers in another room just simply because they were told to. I remember seeing that gripping video years ago, wondering in the back of my mind the result if that idea was ever fully fleshed out in feature film form. Now it has, but with more far-reaching scope than could have possibly been anticipated. A moral dilemma presented to husband and wife morphs into the ultimate test for humanity's salvation, where our ultimate destroyer is us. In a film packed with overt religious and literary symbolism, an early classroom scene with Norma teaching her class Sartre's 1944 existentialist play "No Exit" hints at this idea and can be seen, at least in purpose, as mirroring Drew Barrymore's lecture on "The Destructors" that took place at the start of Donnie Darko.

With NASA and the Mars landing playing such a huge role in the story you're almost sure the film is going in an extraterrestrial direction but Kelly's too smart for that. Or at least he's too smart to come right out and tell us. And while the scattered clues don't necessarily confirm or deny that suspicion, enough is left open-ended to drive audiences crazy and generate wild theories. We find out a lot about Arlington Steward in terms of his past and motives for the "experiment", but again, much of that is implied and similarly open for interpretation. Key information is given, but not too much, requiring the viewer to fill in the gaps however they choose. Five viewings probably aren't enough, but many will have problems just making it through one.

The Box is an achievement in mood and atmosphere, deliberately paced but never boring. Set in the 1970's (the ugly wallpaper gives it away) it could easily pass itself off as being made in the time it's set, mimicking the look and feel of psychological horror thrillers of that era. Arcade Fire's menacing musical score sounds like a cross between Bernard Hermann's for Psycho and Jonny Greenwood's for There Will Be Blood, only enhancing the terror level, while the party scenes play like something straight out of Kubrick's The Shining. If Southland Tales was Kelly's Dr. Strangelove then this is his 2001: A Space Odyssey. The ideas in the latter heavily influence this, but since neither film is the most accessible, many won't lose sleep pondering the similarities.

For whatever reason Cameron Diaz tends to really rise to the occasion when given insane, trippy material (think Being John Malkovich and Vanilla Sky) to work with and this is the best example yet of that. James Marsden, who's been showing real promise in some thankless supporting roles for the past few years, nails his first leading dramatic one and proves here he's got all the necessary acting chops to stick around for a while. Even more importantly, both share great chemistry and are completely believable as a married couple in crisis.

Frank Langella just might have the most difficult part because he has to rise above what could have just been a hokey gimmick of "death" traveling door-to-door that in the wrong hands could have easily come off as a Final Destination rip-off. But the brilliance of his work is how he subtly conveys that he's carrying out a higher purpose and doesn't necessarily want to do this, but has to. He plays him as twisted and determined, not evil, and you can tell he kind of likes the Lewis'. More than anyone, he doesn't want to see them hit that button but this entire situation is bigger than all of them. He delivers that depressing quote above (so depressing that someone in the film even remarks just how depressing it is), but does it in such a way that you believe no one is more saddened by its possibilities than him.

Since Kelly grew up in Virginia during the 1970's and his dad worked for NASA it's been called the director's most personal project yet. But to categorize it as that requires a deeper understanding of what the word "PERSONAL" probably means to a filmmaker as unique as Richard Kelly-- Uncompromisingly making this movie the way he wants, regardless of the fallout. Recently, the market research firm CinemaScore gave The Box an "F," with its President declaring it a "real stinker," specifically singling out the ending as a major bone of contention (which I figured would have been the only thing audiences liked). Since CinemaScore polls "average moviegoers" it's generally thought of as one of the more accurate measures of a film's quality. Of course, these are the same "average moviegoers" who pushed Transformers: ROTF past 90 billion dollars this summer and just made The Twilight Saga: New Moon one of the highest grossing films of all-time, so you can take that statistic for what it's worth. Its results are especially irrelevant when it comes to a film like this, which was never made to court public acceptance anyway. But by refusing to offer up easy answers and provoking real thought, The Box becomes every bit as chilling as the classic science fiction that inspired it.