My Favorites of 2009
by MCarWV | created - 15 May 2011 | updated - 01 Jul 2011 | PublicMy favorite movies - not necessarily the best - of 2009. Will update as I see more. Comment if you have any suggestions for what to see from this year.
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1. Inglourious Basterds (2009)
R | 153 min | Adventure, Drama, War
In Nazi-occupied France during World War II, a plan to assassinate Nazi leaders by a group of Jewish U.S. soldiers coincides with a theatre owner's vengeful plans for the same.
Director: Quentin Tarantino | Stars: Brad Pitt, Diane Kruger, Eli Roth, Mélanie Laurent
Votes: 1,583,336 | Gross: $120.54M
2. 500 Days of Summer (2009)
PG-13 | 95 min | Comedy, Drama, Romance
After being dumped by the girl he believes to be his soulmate, hopeless romantic Tom Hansen reflects on their relationship to try and figure out where things went wrong and how he can win her back.
Director: Marc Webb | Stars: Zooey Deschanel, Joseph Gordon-Levitt, Geoffrey Arend, Chloë Grace Moretz
Votes: 557,678 | Gross: $32.39M
3. Funny People (2009)
R | 146 min | Comedy, Drama
When seasoned comedian George Simmons learns of his terminal, inoperable health condition, his desire to form a genuine friendship causes him to take a relatively green performer under his wing as his opening act.
Director: Judd Apatow | Stars: Adam Sandler, Seth Rogen, Leslie Mann, Eric Bana
Votes: 123,614 | Gross: $51.86M
4. Up in the Air (I) (2009)
R | 109 min | Comedy, Drama, Romance
Ryan's job is to travel around the country firing off people. When his boss hires Natalie, who proposes firing people via video conference, he tries to convince her that her method is a mistake.
Director: Jason Reitman | Stars: George Clooney, Vera Farmiga, Anna Kendrick, Jason Bateman
Votes: 349,336 | Gross: $83.82M
5. I Love You, Man (2009)
R | 105 min | Comedy, Romance
Friendless Peter Klaven goes on a series of man-dates to find a Best Man for his wedding. But, when his insta-bond with his new B.F.F. puts a strain on his relationship with his fiancée, can the trio learn to live happily ever after?
Director: John Hamburg | Stars: Paul Rudd, Jason Segel, Rashida Jones, Sarah Burns
Votes: 216,677 | Gross: $71.44M
6. District 9 (2009)
R | 112 min | Action, Sci-Fi, Thriller
Violence ensues after an extraterrestrial race forced to live in slum-like conditions on Earth finds a kindred spirit in a government agent exposed to their biotechnology.
Director: Neill Blomkamp | Stars: Sharlto Copley, David James, Jason Cope, Vanessa Haywood
Votes: 716,665 | Gross: $115.65M
7. The Hangover (2009)
R | 100 min | Comedy
Three buddies wake up from a bachelor party in Las Vegas, with no memory of the previous night and the bachelor missing. They make their way around the city in order to find their friend before his wedding.
Director: Todd Phillips | Stars: Zach Galifianakis, Bradley Cooper, Justin Bartha, Ed Helms
Votes: 845,979 | Gross: $277.32M
8. The Blind Side (2009)
PG-13 | 129 min | Biography, Drama, Sport
The story of Michael Oher, a homeless and traumatized boy who became an All-American football player and first-round NFL draft pick with the help of a caring woman and her family.
Director: John Lee Hancock | Stars: Quinton Aaron, Sandra Bullock, Tim McGraw, Jae Head
Votes: 360,399 | Gross: $255.96M
9. Adventureland (2009)
R | 107 min | Comedy, Drama, Romance
In the summer of 1987, a college graduate takes a 'nowhere' job at his local amusement park, only to find it's the perfect course to get him prepared for the real world.
Director: Greg Mottola | Stars: Jesse Eisenberg, Kristen Stewart, Ryan Reynolds, Martin Starr
Votes: 168,731 | Gross: $16.03M
10. The Informant! (2009)
R | 108 min | Biography, Comedy, Crime
The U.S. government decides to go after an agro-business giant with a price-fixing accusation, based on the evidence submitted by their star witness, vice president-turned-informant Mark Whitacre.
Director: Steven Soderbergh | Stars: Matt Damon, Tony Hale, Patton Oswalt, Lucas McHugh Carroll
Votes: 67,444 | Gross: $33.31M
11. Fantastic Mr. Fox (2009)
PG | 87 min | Animation, Adventure, Comedy
An urbane fox cannot resist returning to his farm raiding ways and then must help his community survive the farmers' retaliation.
Director: Wes Anderson | Stars: George Clooney, Meryl Streep, Bill Murray, Jason Schwartzman
Votes: 270,171 | Gross: $21.00M
12. Invictus (2009)
PG-13 | 134 min | Biography, Drama, History
Nelson Mandela, in his first term as President of South Africa, initiates a unique venture to unite the Apartheid-torn land: enlist the national rugby team on a mission to win the 1995 Rugby World Cup.
Director: Clint Eastwood | Stars: Morgan Freeman, Matt Damon, Tony Kgoroge, Patrick Mofokeng
Votes: 167,852 | Gross: $37.49M
13. Big Fan (2009)
R | 88 min | Comedy, Crime, Drama
A hard-core New York Giants fan struggles to deal with the consequences when he is beaten up by his favorite player.
Director: Robert Siegel | Stars: Patton Oswalt, Kevin Corrigan, Michael Rapaport, Marcia Jean Kurtz
Votes: 9,861 | Gross: $0.23M
14. Up (2009)
PG | 96 min | Animation, Adventure, Comedy
78-year-old Carl Fredricksen travels to Paradise Falls in his house equipped with balloons, inadvertently taking a young stowaway.
Directors: Pete Docter, Bob Peterson | Stars: Edward Asner, Jordan Nagai, John Ratzenberger, Christopher Plummer
Votes: 1,124,552 | Gross: $293.00M
15. Observe and Report (2009)
R | 86 min | Action, Comedy, Crime
Bi-polar mall security guard Ronnie Barnhardt is called into action to stop a flasher from turning shopper's paradise into his personal peep show. But when Barnhardt can't bring the culprit to justice, a surly police detective is recruited to close the case.
Director: Jody Hill | Stars: Seth Rogen, Anna Faris, Ray Liotta, Michael Peña
Votes: 65,274 | Gross: $23.99M
16. Brooklyn's Finest (2009)
R | 132 min | Action, Crime, Drama
Three unconnected Brooklyn cops wind up at the same deadly location after enduring vastly different career paths.
Director: Antoine Fuqua | Stars: Richard Gere, Don Cheadle, Ethan Hawke, Wesley Snipes
Votes: 66,389 | Gross: $27.15M
17. Notorious (2009)
R | 122 min | Biography, Crime, Drama
The life and death story of The Notorious B.I.G. (a.k.a. Christopher Wallace), who came straight out of Brooklyn to take the world of rap music by storm.
Director: George Tillman Jr. | Stars: Jamal Woolard, Anthony Mackie, Derek Luke, Momo Dione
Votes: 46,051 | Gross: $36.84M
18. Zombieland (2009)
R | 88 min | Action, Comedy, Horror
A shy student trying to reach his family in Ohio, a gun-toting bruiser in search of the last Twinkie and a pair of sisters striving to get to an amusement park join forces in a trek across a zombie-filled America.
Director: Ruben Fleischer | Stars: Jesse Eisenberg, Emma Stone, Woody Harrelson, Abigail Breslin
Votes: 621,102 | Gross: $75.59M
19. Crazy Heart (2009)
R | 112 min | Drama, Music, Romance
A faded country music musician is forced to reassess his dysfunctional life during a doomed romance that also inspires him.
Director: Scott Cooper | Stars: Jeff Bridges, Maggie Gyllenhaal, Colin Farrell, James Keane
Votes: 94,648 | Gross: $39.46M
20. Defendor (2009)
R | 101 min | Comedy, Crime, Drama
Arthur Poppington, a regular man who adopts a superhero persona, known as "Defendor", combs the city streets at night, in search of his archenemy, Captain Industry.
Director: Peter Stebbings | Stars: Woody Harrelson, Kat Dennings, Sandra Oh, Elias Koteas
Votes: 37,527 | Gross: $0.04M
21. The Boat That Rocked (2009)
R | 117 min | Comedy, Drama, Music
A band of rogue DJs that captivated Britain, playing the music that defined a generation and standing up to a government that wanted classical music, and nothing else, on the airwaves.
Director: Richard Curtis | Stars: Philip Seymour Hoffman, Bill Nighy, Nick Frost, Michael Hadley
Votes: 116,056 | Gross: $7.99M
22. The Soloist (2009)
PG-13 | 117 min | Biography, Drama, Music
A newspaper journalist discovers a homeless musical genius and tries to improve his situation.
Director: Joe Wright | Stars: Jamie Foxx, Robert Downey Jr., Catherine Keener, Tom Hollander
Votes: 55,396 | Gross: $31.67M
23. Extract (2009)
R | 92 min | Comedy, Crime, Romance
Joel, the owner of an extract plant, tries to contend with myriad personal and professional problems, such as his potentially unfaithful wife and employees who want to take advantage of him.
Director: Mike Judge | Stars: Jason Bateman, Kristen Wiig, Ben Affleck, Mila Kunis
Votes: 50,341 | Gross: $10.81M
24. Land of the Lost (2009)
PG-13 | 102 min | Action, Adventure, Comedy
A space-time vortex sucks scientist Rick Marshall, his assistant Holly and a survivalist Will into a world populated by dinosaurs and painfully slow creatures called Sleestaks.
Director: Brad Silberling | Stars: Will Ferrell, Danny McBride, Anna Friel, Jorma Taccone
Votes: 75,287 | Gross: $49.44M
25. Mystery Team (2009)
R | 97 min | Comedy, Crime, Mystery
A group of former Encyclopedia Brown-style child-detectives struggle to solve an adult mystery.
Director: Dan Eckman | Stars: Donald Glover, D.C. Pierson, Dominic Dierkes, Aubrey Plaza
Votes: 9,746 | Gross: $0.08M
26. He's Just Not That Into You (2009)
PG-13 | 129 min | Comedy, Drama, Romance
This Baltimore-set movie of interconnecting story arcs deals with the challenges of reading or misreading human behavior.
Director: Ken Kwapis | Stars: Ginnifer Goodwin, Jennifer Aniston, Jennifer Connelly, Morgan Lily
Votes: 182,199 | Gross: $93.95M
27. Brüno (2009)
R | 81 min | Comedy
Flamboyant, gay Austrian Brüno looks for new fame in America.
Director: Larry Charles | Stars: Sacha Baron Cohen, Gustaf Hammarsten, Clifford Bañagale, Chibundu Orukwowu
Votes: 153,860 | Gross: $60.05M
28. The Goods: Live Hard, Sell Hard (2009)
R | 89 min | Comedy
Used-car liquidator Don Ready is hired by a failing auto dealership to turn their Fourth of July sale into a majorly profitable event.
Director: Neal Brennan | Stars: Jeremy Piven, Ving Rhames, David Koechner, James Brolin
Votes: 22,566 | Gross: $15.10M
29. Couples Retreat (2009)
PG-13 | 113 min | Comedy
A comedy centered around four couples who settle into a tropical-island resort for a vacation. While one of the couples is there to work on the marriage, the others fail to realize that participation in the resort's therapy sessions is not optional.
Director: Peter Billingsley | Stars: Vince Vaughn, Malin Akerman, Jon Favreau, Jason Bateman
Votes: 114,832 | Gross: $109.21M
30. The Invention of Lying (2009)
PG-13 | 100 min | Comedy, Fantasy, Romance
A comedy set in a world where no one has ever lied, until a writer seizes the opportunity for personal gain.
Directors: Ricky Gervais, Matthew Robinson | Stars: Ricky Gervais, Jennifer Garner, Jonah Hill, Louis C.K.
Votes: 148,930 | Gross: $18.44M
31. Youth in Revolt (2009)
R | 90 min | Comedy, Drama, Romance
While his trailer trash parents teeter on the edge of divorce, Nick Twisp sets his sights on dream girl Sheeni Saunders, hoping that she'll be the one to take away his virginity.
Director: Miguel Arteta | Stars: Michael Cera, Portia Doubleday, Jean Smart, Zach Galifianakis
Votes: 76,067 | Gross: $15.28M
32. Taking Woodstock (2009)
R | 120 min | Biography, Comedy, Drama
A man working at his parents' motel in the Catskills inadvertently sets in motion the generation-defining concert in the summer of 1969.
Director: Ang Lee | Stars: Demetri Martin, Henry Goodman, Edward Hibbert, Imelda Staunton
Votes: 30,010 | Gross: $7.44M
33. Brothers (I) (2009)
R | 105 min | Drama, Thriller, War
While on tour in Afghanistan, Sam's helicopter is shot down and he is presumed dead. Back home, it is his screw-up brother who looks after the family. Sam does return, but with a lot of excess baggage.
Director: Jim Sheridan | Stars: Jake Gyllenhaal, Natalie Portman, Tobey Maguire, Sam Shepard
Votes: 146,633 | Gross: $28.50M
34. The Trotsky (2009)
Not Rated | 113 min | Comedy, Drama
A Montreal high school student who believes he is the reincarnation of Lev Trotskiy starts a revolution against apathy among his fellow students.
Director: Jacob Tierney | Stars: Liane Balaban, Jay Baruchel, Taylor Baruchel, Dan Beirne
Votes: 6,368
35. Blood and Bone (2009)
R | 93 min | Action, Crime, Drama
In Los Angeles, an ex-con takes the underground fighting world by storm in his quest to fulfill a promise to a dead friend.
Director: Ben Ramsey | Stars: Michael Jai White, Julian Sands, Eamonn Walker, Dante Basco
Votes: 35,822
36. Calvin Marshall (2009)
R | 93 min | Comedy, Drama
A college student is determined to become a Major League Baseball star, but finds his true calling instead.
Director: Gary Lundgren | Stars: Alex Frost, Noah Scott, Abbey Merow, Diedrich Bader
Votes: 752
37. Year One (2009)
PG-13 | 97 min | Comedy
After being banished from their tribe, two hunter-gatherers encounter Biblical characters and eventually wind up in the city of Sodom.
Director: Harold Ramis | Stars: Jack Black, Michael Cera, Olivia Wilde, Oliver Platt
Votes: 103,653 | Gross: $43.34M
38. The Joneses (2009)
R | 96 min | Comedy, Drama
A seemingly perfect family moves into a suburban neighborhood, but when it comes to the truth as to why they're living there, they don't exactly come clean with their neighbors.
Director: Derrick Borte | Stars: Demi Moore, David Duchovny, Amber Heard, Benjamin Hollingsworth
Votes: 41,796 | Gross: $1.47M
39. Paul Blart: Mall Cop (2009)
PG | 91 min | Action, Comedy, Crime
When a shopping mall is taken over by a gang of organized crooks, it's up to a mild-mannered security guard to save the day.
Director: Steve Carr | Stars: Kevin James, Keir O'Donnell, Jayma Mays, Raini Rodriguez
Votes: 117,388 | Gross: $20.82M
40. The Good Guy (2009)
R | 90 min | Comedy, Romance
Calm and quiet Daniel starts on Wall Street. His womanizing colleague, Tommy, encourages him to meet women. He unknowingly meets Tommy's girlfriend, Beth, and ends up in her 5 women book club. Will he find the woman?
Director: Julio DePietro | Stars: Alexis Bledel, Scott Porter, Bryan Greenberg, Colin Egglesfield
Votes: 9,762 | Gross: $0.10M
41. I Hope They Serve Beer in Hell (2009)
R | 105 min | Comedy
A guy tries to patch things up with his soon-to-be-married pal after botching his bachelor party.
Director: Bob Gosse | Stars: Matt Czuchry, Geoff Stults, Jesse Bradford, Tim Huck
Votes: 8,693 | Gross: $1.43M
42. Fast & Furious (2009)
PG-13 | 107 min | Action, Crime, Thriller
Brian O'Conner, back working for the FBI in Los Angeles, teams up with Dominic Toretto to bring down a heroin importer by infiltrating his operation.
Director: Justin Lin | Stars: Vin Diesel, Paul Walker, Michelle Rodriguez, Jordana Brewster
Votes: 311,102 | Gross: $155.06M
43. The Ugly Truth (2009)
R | 96 min | Comedy, Romance
An uptight television producer takes control of a morning show segment on modern relationships hosted by a misogynistic man.
Director: Robert Luketic | Stars: Katherine Heigl, Gerard Butler, Bree Turner, Eric Winter
Votes: 230,365 | Gross: $88.92M
44. The Fourth Kind (2009)
PG-13 | 98 min | Horror, Mystery, Sci-Fi
A thriller involving an ongoing unsolved mystery in Alaska, where one town has seen an extraordinary number of unexplained disappearances during the past 40 years and there are accusations of a federal cover up.
Director: Olatunde Osunsanmi | Stars: Milla Jovovich, Elias Koteas, Will Patton, Hakeem Kae-Kazim
Votes: 81,830 | Gross: $25.46M
45. X-Men Origins: Wolverine (2009)
PG-13 | 107 min | Action, Sci-Fi
The early years of James Logan, featuring his rivalry with his brother Victor Creed, his service in the special forces team Weapon X, and his experimentation into the metal-lined mutant Wolverine.
Director: Gavin Hood | Stars: Hugh Jackman, Liev Schreiber, Ryan Reynolds, Danny Huston
Votes: 530,363 | Gross: $179.88M
46. Legion (2010)
R | 100 min | Action, Fantasy, Horror
When a group of strangers at a dusty roadside diner come under attack by demonic forces, their only chance for survival lies with an archangel named Michael, who informs a pregnant waitress that her unborn child is humanity's last hope.
Director: Scott Stewart | Stars: Paul Bettany, Dennis Quaid, Charles S. Dutton, Lucas Black
Votes: 111,949 | Gross: $40.17M
47. Pandorum (2009)
R | 108 min | Action, Horror, Mystery
Two crew members of a spaceship wake up from hypersleep to discover that all their colleagues are missing. Despite this, it appears that they are not alone.
Director: Christian Alvart | Stars: Dennis Quaid, Ben Foster, Cam Gigandet, Antje Traue
Votes: 159,499 | Gross: $10.33M
48. Drag Me to Hell (2009)
PG-13 | 99 min | Horror
A loan officer who evicts an old woman from her home finds herself the recipient of a supernatural curse. Desperate, she turns to a seer to try and save her soul, while evil forces work to push her to a breaking point.
Director: Sam Raimi | Stars: Alison Lohman, Justin Long, Ruth Livier, Lorna Raver
Votes: 217,439 | Gross: $42.10M
49. The Human Centipede (First Sequence) (2009)
R | 92 min | Horror
A mad scientist kidnaps and mutilates a trio of tourists in order to reassemble them into a human centipede, created by stitching their mouths to each others' rectums.
Director: Tom Six | Stars: Dieter Laser, Winter Williams, Ashlynn Yennie, Akihiro Kitamura
Votes: 87,234 | Gross: $0.18M
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