***Rammfan518 here with another guest contributed article. This one comes from a new contributor, Ralph. Hooray for more writers writing for this blog! Enjoy!***
2009 was a sad year for me and apparently for the film industry too. I will say I didn’t watch a lot of the movies that came out in ’09, especially as far as critical darlings go.
These are some of my favorite films of 09 in NO particular order. I’m sure this will lead to a TON of disagreement but that’s what movies are all about right?
1) Drag Me to Hell

What’s not to love about an old lady vomiting nasty shit into Alison Lohman’s mouth? This movie was entertaining as hell (pun intended), ridiculously gory/gross, funny, and had an AWESOME ending making this one of my favorite movies of the year.
2) Fantastic Mr. Fox

This movie jacked off my heart. Wes Anderson movies are usually quirky…sometimes to an annoying degree. I think he worked wonders on the characters in this movie though, and it turned out to be waaaaay funnier then I expected. The animation and set design was amazing, plus it had Bill Murray in it…the fucking man!
3) District 9

I would argue that the aliens in this movie were more believable then the Nightcrawler/smurfy/mutherfuckin’ cat Na’vi shits in Avatar were. It had an awesome concept and an unexpected look at tolerance. Peter Jackson knows good shit when he sees it.
4) Inglorious Basterds

This is by far my favorite Tarantino movie since Pulp fiction. Huge payoff at the end, great characters, and a lot of it wasn’t even in English? Tarantino is legit. I think it may have also had one of the best villains of the year in Col. Hans Landa. He’s insanely evil and self serving but you can’t help but like his crazy ass.
5) Zombieland

This has everything you need in a zombie movie and then some (Emma Stone…*drools*). I really liked the concept of having a set of rules to survive the zombie apocalypse. Zombieland is crowned in my book with THE BEST CAMEO EVVVVVERRRRRR! Do not argue this one with me. There have been great cameos in movies before, but this one TAKES THE FUCKING CAKE!!!
6) I Love You Man

I was trying to think of my favorite comedy of the year that was supposed to be strictly a comedy besides Zombieland. There weren’t a whole lot of good ones and The Hangover was waaaaay overrated. I Love You Man I think was an exception. Yes it’s a bromance, but it’s a damn good one. Paul Rudd is a top notch actor.
7) Angels and Demons

Plot holes or not it was suspenseful and buttloads better then the Da Vinci Code. This one kept me on the edge of my seat and provided a great twist at the end. The Vatican in this movie constructed by the filmmakers, was just plain beautiful. It’s hard to believe that what we are seeing isn’t even real.
8) Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince

I’ve heard a lot of fans squabble about this one, but I have to say I liked it a lot. The kids are all grown up now and it definitely makes a difference in their acting. Rupert Grint is still the best in my opinion. Emma Watson? Marry me. I will say I prefer Azkaban, but this one just felt so evenly played out with a sweet look into Voldemort’s origins.
9) Sin Nombre

I didn’t watch a whole lot of foreign films this year because they are not very accessible in the US sometimes. This one really hit me hard on the subject of gangs, violence, and the hardships many latinos face. I thought the acting was top notch and the cinematography beautiful. The tattoos some of the dudes in the gangs had on their faces were insane. Just a straight up badass suspenseful movie.
Honorable mentions:

![]()
Adventureland –
I guess I liked this movie so much because I could relate to the characters. The supporting cast is where this really shines. Ryan Reynolds isn’t over the top, Martin Starr from Freaks and Geeks fame is amazing, and Bill Hader and Kristen Wigg are a hilarious couple. Kristen Stewart doesn’t suck either!
Monsters vs. Aliens –
I don’t expect much from animated movies that aren’t Pixar. This one was surprisingly entertaining especially in 3D.
Star Trek –
Solid movie. Not so great a second time around, but I guess a lot of movies are like that.
Tyson –
I didn’t watch a whole lot of documentaries this year but this one blew me away. I almost put it on my top ten. Tyson is a fascinating guy. You can tell this movie kind of sets out to clear his name, but at the same time it doesn’t entirely do so. The viewer is brought into the mind of this strange dude, still struggling for a sense of identity.
Sugar –
I guess this technically is a 08’ movie but was released in the US in 09’. Beautifully shot movie that shows the truth behind young guys trying to become Baseball stars.
Men Who Stare at Goats-
Critically this movie didn’t do so well, but I found it to be quite funny. It’s based on a real government military program. INSANE!
(500) Days of Summer –
This movie may have been over hyped a tad bit, but it was genuinely funny and quirky. I like when movies think outside the bubble and don’t always show a happy ending.
~~Here some other random top lists~~
Movies I was most disappointed in this year despite them being ok to good movies:


Avatar – Looked very pretty especially in the night scenes, but this movie was nothing special. Sure it might be a technological marvel but the story was nothing to piss my pants about.
A serious man – I like the Coen brothers and for the most part this movie was interesting. Audiences love following the story of a shit-out-of-luck main character for two hours only to be rewarded with no “pay off” at the end right? NO!
Sherlock Holmes – I didn’t really have an urge to see this movie, but I at least expected some good quality shit. It wasn’t bad but I didn’t find myself very entertained by the mystery ol’ Sherlock was solving. Plus RDJ needs to work on his mumbling when he fakes a British accent. Seriously, I couldn’t make out some of the shit he was saying.
Watchmen – How bout some softcore porn in your superhero movie? Would you like to see a giant blue CGI mans schlong too? Then look no further! Watchman, a delightful escapade into unnecessary violence and sex. It’s only redeeming value? The character of Rorschach, who was actually interesting and super badass.
Terminator Salvation –I really enjoyed this movie but I couldn’t help but still feel a little disappointed by the time it was over. People didn’t like it, but it was waaaay better then Terminator 3. The action was by far some of the best I’ve seen this year too. Nothing can live up to Terminator 2 I guess.
Movies that look so bad I never want to see them EVER:


Street Fighter the Legend of Chun Li – Kristen Kreuk is hot. That’s the only thing this movie looks like it has going for it.
Ace Ventura Pet Detective Jr.-A fat Ace Ventura kid? Wtf? Stop doing shitty sequels of good franchises!
G-Force- Oh some guinea pig/hamster spies saving the world. How enticing! NOT!
The Fourth Kind – It isn’t so much that this movie looks bad, it’s that they marketed it on lies. Based on a true story my ass.
Twilight 2 New Moon – I heard nothing but bad things about this movie and its acting. CGI wolves? No thank you.
BONUS: Madea Goes to Jail- How many of these Fuckin’ Madea movies are they going to make?
Movies that may or may not be bad I just don’t want to see them:


Public Enemies – I’ve seen like 7 John Dillinger movies already why would I want to see another?
2012 – I do not like end of the world movies with shit crashing all over the place. John Cusack make something good like High fidelity again
Old Dogs – Robin Williams you don’t seem to be funny anymore dude. You might as well go back to making serious movies again where you’re a creepy stalker photo lab employee.
Gi Joe – If a remake looks like its deviating vastly from the source material I won’t see it. Prime example right here.
Jeniffer’s Body- Meagan Fox is not a pleasant person and her looks are overrated. That alone makes me not want to see this.
Movies that intrigued me but I was told they were bad, so I never saw them:


Lesbian Vampire Killers – How can that title not intrigue you? And the poster actually looked pretty sick.
Push – Looked sweet…but it apparently has a lot of plot holes.
Year One – I will eventually see this. I love Harold Ramis, so believe me I was bummed out of my mind when I heard how bad it was supposed to be.
That Final Destination movie in 3d – 3D is what final destination always needed, but I guess others didn’t agree.
Surrogates- A sci fi movie with Bruce Willis sounds great to me…but not to others.
Worst movies I saw this year:


Dragonball Evolution-This was a terrible movie. The acting stupid and the casting dumb as fuck. It overused green screen so much I expected them to project random moon landing footage behind the characters. The costumes looked like what kids wear on Halloween when all the good costumes are sold out. The final villain fight was almost as disappointing as a McDonalds Big Mac.
X-men origins: Wolverine – This movie was a clusterfuck of what could have been a super awesome movie. This one makes the list because it disappointed me immensely.
Transformers 2 – What a piece of shit this movie was. Insanely long, incoherent, racist, sexist, stupid. I’m officially not seeing Transformers 3. I refuse to give Michael Bay an excuse to make a 4th one (even though I’m sure it will happen). I can’t wait for him to brag about how many computers it’s going to take to render his next turd.
The Ugly truth – This movie was lame. The romance that spawns from the two main characters towards the end is not believable. There needs to be a subtle attraction somewhere along the movie, so that when they do hook up at the end you’re like “Oh heck yea.” You could care less if they end up together or not by the time it ends. In fact, by the time the movie ends you want them to both die. I also thought Katherine Heigl’s acting was lame.
Best poorly reviewed movie I saw and actually kind of liked despite how bad it was:
Ninja Assassin- This movie was pretty bad. Very cliché and pointless. I will admit though that seeing ninjas fight each other was entertaining and the overuse of blood was fun.
Thanks for all the insights, Ralph! Hopefully 2010 will be a lot better!













