10. SUMMER HOURS

One of the year’s best imports, Olivier Assayas’ delicate look at aging, death and inheritance is the type of film that only the French would be daring enough to make.  Not because it’s a controversial film, but rather one that covers topics that Americans struggle to discuss.  And fortunately, it’s handled with an abundance of care and insight, thanks to Assayas’ patient control.  Juliette Binoche is by far the most recognizable lead in Summer Hours – and once again she’s great – but the other performers step up to match her brilliance.    It’s because of those performances that Summer Hours has a rare authenticity that isn’t seen in nearly enough movies today.

9. A SERIOUS MAN

Any doubters who believed the Coen brothers’ glorious return to top form with No Country for Old Men was a fluke after last year’s misfire, Burn After Reading, were quickly silenced by the release of A Serious Man, which ranks alongside their best films.  Michael Stuhlbarg, who has to be one of the least known actors to ever star as a lead in a Coen brothers movie, plays a Jewish physics professor who tries to disregard karma.  He’s the Coen brothers’ version of Woody Allen’s character from Crimes and Misdemeanors, except far more interesting… just like movie itself.

8. WHERE THE WILD THINGS ARE

It’s a dangerous thing to adapt one of the most popular children books of all time to the big screen, but Spike Jonze proved once again that he is one of the few directors in Hollywood whose imagination is big enough to capture the magic of Maurice Sendak’s classic book, Where the Wild Things Are.  Mixing live action, animation and life-sized puppets with ease, Jonze creates a magical world that reminds all of us what it was like to be a child with a wild imagination.  And he does so with some rather breathtaking visuals, too. 

7. FANTASTIC MR. FOX

Fantastic is definitely the best adjective to describe Wes Anderson’s brilliant new animated film about a sly fox who, along with his animal friends, must outsmart an angry mob of farmers and their attempts to kill him.  Anderson, who has been a disappointment with his last couple pictures, proves that switching to animation may be exactly what he needed to regain the magic he had in his Royal Tenenbaum and Rushmore days.  Fantastic Mr. Fox is not only his best film since The Royal Tenenbaums, but also the best animated film geared towards adults since Who Framed Roger Rabbit?

6. (500) DAYS OF SUMMER

If Annie Hall had been directed by Christopher Nolan, the result might be something like (500) Days of Summer, which is not only the best romance of 2009, but one of the best of the entire decade.  The film’s charm is mostly driven by the irresistible charisma of Zooey Deschanel whose title character, Summer, begins a year and a half-long romance with a lovestruck coworker.  Debut director Marc Webb masterfully pieces the story together to remind us that – for better or worse – memories will always remain.

5. AN EDUCATION

In the most impressive breakthrough performance in years, Carey Mulligan plays a sixteen-year-old girl whose dreams of attending Oxford are put on hold when she falls in love with an older man.  Like so many romantic films, An Education may sound ordinary, even cliché, but Mulligan’s charm lift it up and make it one of the most irresistible and heartbreaking movies of the year.

4. THE WHITE RIBBON

The sheer beauty of Michael Haenke’s black-and-white story of a group of school children who are forced to wear ribbons when they misbehave will almost make you wish that Technicolor would never have been invented.  Not since Schindler’s List has the absence of color been so incredibly vivid.  Haenke, who has made plenty of acclaimed films including The Piano Teacher and Caché has always been a director whose work is easier to appreciate than to enjoy.  Likewise, enjoy is probably not the word to describe the viewing experience of The White Ribbon, but it is certainly his most engaging work.

3. INGLOURIOUS BASTERDS

There’s one thing everyone in the world should be able to agree on, and that’s that Adolf Hitler deserves a Quentin Tarantino-kind of death.  And in 2009, we finally got it, thanks to Tarantino’s brilliant film Inglourious Basterds.Fortunately, though, that’s just one of the many joys of Tarantino’s most purely entertaining picture since Pulp Fiction.  Just try not to laugh while Brad Pitt’s character butchers the Italian language so badly that it transforms into one of the least romantic-sounding languages in the world.  I challenge you not to admire Christopher Waltz’s daring performance as he transforms Col. Hans Landa into the best movie villain since Javier Bardem’s Anton Chigurh.  And I dare you to name a director who has had a bigger impact on the medium of film over the last two decades than Quentin Tarantino.

2. THE HURT LOCKER

Numerous movies have mastered the look and sound of wars; they’ve captured the blood and tears, along with the heroism and pride.  They’ve covered the deaths and struggles, the friendships and brotherhood, the discipline and the leadership.  Yet, no film has ever captured the pure addiction of war quite as honestly as Kathryn Bigelow’s heart-pounding thriller, The Hurt Locker.   Bigelow’s film – easily the masterpiece of her career – focuses on a team of bomb disarmers in the Iraq War who live for the thrill and danger that the profession brings.  Fortunately, for the rest of us, the movie itself provides sufficient thrills.

1. UP IN THE AIR

Undeniably, there has been too much sadness revolving the recent market crashes.  Jobs have been lost and families have lost their homes, but if there’s one good thing to come from all that, it’s Jason Reitman’s smart, timely and incredibly entertaining view of the crisis in Up in the Air.  Following the strong critical and commercial success of Juno just two years ago, Reitman had incredibly big expectations to fill and he did so by taking on a subject that couldn’t be more risky or ambitious.  George Clooney plays Ryan Bingham, a frequent flying businessman who is hired by corporations to inform employees that they’re position has been terminated.  It’s certainly not a funny situation, but Reitman has a rare talent for finding humor in otherwise painful situations.  Up in the Air is both funny and heartbreaking, and it’s a film that takes us to incredible heights.