End Of The Year - Best And Worst

Although I have detested Best Of lists all my adult life for some unknown reason I feel compelled to write one this year. I'm sure someone could find a deeper meaning in under all this - I simply don't care.

Neither the best of nor the worst of are in any order - they are simply the ten films I loved the most and the ten I hated the most.

Best Of 2009 -

1) White Ribbon

Michael Haneke constructs perhaps what is most comprehensive and self-contained look at fascism the screen has ever seen - set on the cusp of World War I, a small Austrian village is beset by strange events which are somehow linked to the children of the place. Haneke creates a place so real and displays an understanding of the way of life so well that it almost feels like a documentary at times. Simply brilliant.

2)Bad Lieutenant: Port Of Call: New Orleans

Werner Herzog re-invents the Abel Ferrara classic - starting with an outrageous scene set during the New Orleans floods, Herzog creates a neo-noir world touched by the Mad Hatter - Nicolas Cage's lieutenant is a brilliant creation: the physical and vocal transformation Cage gives the character throughout the movie makes one think as if he is channelling Olivier and Mckellan in their Richard III role.

3)Inglorious Basterds:

Tarantino rocks. That's all one needs to say about his tribute to World War II action-exploitation films which starts with what is perhaps the most perfect 20 minutes in any film this year. Christoph Waltz's Hans Landa steals the film as a memorable, well-crafted villain with the best lines in the whole script.

4)A Serious Man:
The Coen Brothers craft a comedy that is clearly inspired by their own life in the suburbs as children. A great cast give life to a series of off-beat characters who try to make sense of the mysteries of life.

5)Up In The Air:
George Clooney makes this modern re-telling of 'The Flying Dutchman' aided by a terrifically intelligent script. Jason Reitman is proving himself to be an expert craftsman of satirical movies with heart.

6)Accident (Yi ngoi):

Pou-Sou Cheang finally fulfills the potential he has showed in his previous two pictures: 'Accident' is a modern masterpiece - a character piece that is so low key and beautiful that it becomes a heartbreak just to watch it. Louis Koo gives the performance of a lifetime as the assassin who is obsessed with finding out who is destroying his perfectly-controlled life. A gesture he makes towards the end of film encapsulates the entire script in one small move: a near-perfect film in every way.

7)Vengeance:

Johnny To continues his excellent streak with a tale of revenge starring none other than French rock'n'roll icon Johnny Halliday. Yes, the film might falter near the end but by that point To and his screenwriter Wai Kai Fai have painted the screen with so much inventiness that you are willing to forgive them anything. One to watch over and over again.

8)Nefes Vatan Sagolsun:
Out of Turkey comes this mind-blowing exploration of the army and the war against terror. Courting controversty before even its' release, Levent Semerci's Nefes is an even handed exploration of the soldiers and their mentality - through some terrific actors, he explores each man with an unflinching eye and finds some universal truths about what war does to people. On a par with Aleksandr Sokurov's 2007 masterpiece 'Aleksandra' , 'Nefes' is a film that deserves to be seen on a much larger scale.

9)A Prophet:
Jacques Audiard creates a prison drama that simply turns the whole genre upside down. Terrific character-work and an amazing evocation of the claustrophobia of prsion gets mixed with Eastern religious myths and creates what is going to remembered as one of the most seminal films of not only 2009 but of all time. Special mention must go to lead actor Tahar Rahim whose transformation on screen from a small time nobody to an extraordinary maniupulator is a sight to behold.

10)Pontypool:
The most outright intelligent horror film of the year. Nothing can compare to 'Pontypool' when it comes to re-inventing the horror film as a verbose game - an amazing script brought to life by an amazing cast. The thinking horror fan's new champion.

Worst of 2009

Special mention: Zombie Women Of Satan: I can't honestly add this to the list because I never finished watching it. After 20 years of watching everything, Zombie Women of Satan was the film that broke my limits of patience and I walked out after 20 minutes. To call this a film is an insult to cinema in general.

1)Outlander:
How can someone make an idea so cool as 'a spaceman amongst vikings' so dull? So to find out, you have to watch the million hour long snoozefest called 'Outlander'

2)The Proposal:
This should be subtitled 'How Not To Make A Romantic Comedy'. Take two leads with zero chemistry, throw in the worst possible pedestrian script and the result will still be nowhere as bad this 'thing' that played cinemas only a short while ago.

3)Terminator Salvation:
Just plain stupid.

4)Angels & Demons:
A film that is as clunky as the books - but there's no doubting its' success at the box office.

5)Friday the 13th:
A remake so dull that by the third act you want Jason to step out of the screen and smash a hatchet into your head.

6)The Fourth Kind:
Re-invents how badly made a movie can be: indecisive, schrizophrenic plotting is aided by actors who are sleep-walking through the whole thing.

7)Lesbian Vampire Killers:
Sets back the comedy-horror genre by about 50 years. Infantile humour, grating characters and the sort of innuendos not seen on the screen since the demise of the Carry On series - and at least those had some terrific actors in them.

8)Passengers:
Anne Hathaway does Sixth Sense - awfully.

9)The Spirit:
Proof that Frank Miller has lost his mind. Ugly, offensive and completely unbearable. Will Eisner is spinning in his grave so fast he might actually come out.

10)Public Enemies:
Hello - my name is Micheal Mann and today I'll show you how to suck the charisma out of an enigmatic gangster story. Mann's dullest work is not helped by a script that simply does not know where its' sympathies lie. The film ends up being drag all the way to the end simply because you do not care about a single character in it. Wasted opportunity by a greatly talented team.

That's it.

AMENDMENT:

I can't believe I forgot 'Thirst'. I apologise profusely. It's one of the best of not only this year but any. It blew my mind. I love it so very, very much.