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 full 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 is what so few love stories are these days: lovely.
- Inglourious Basterds. Aldo Raine wasn’t lying in Inglourious Basterds when he stated his crew’s lone goal: “Killin’ Nazis.” What he didn’t explain is just how awesome and entertaining their Hitler-hunting journey would be, thanks to Quentin Tarantino’s unparalleled storytelling abilities and dialogue matched by stellar acting (see: Christoph Waltz). There’s action, there’s film-geek fodder, and yes, there’s someone named Bear Jew turning Nazi skulls into pudding with a baseball bat. It’s tongue-in-cheek revenge that only someone as twisted — and talented — as QT could pull off.