It’s the end of the year, and everyone (and their brother) is producing their list of the top movies of 2009.  I recently read Time Magazine’s 2009 Top 10 Movie List and was unimpressed.  Of their top 10, I’ve only seen two (District 9 and The Hurt Locker), and their top three movies are animated (Fantastic Mr. Fox, Up, and The Princess and the Frog).  Yuck!

So, for what it’s worth, I offer you my top 5 movies of 2009 (plus a couple other random designations).

#1 District 9
Hands-down, the best movie of the year.  So good that I wrote a blog about it after seeing it.  No need to explain.  Just read the blog!

#2 The Blind Side
I’m not much of a Sandra Bullock fan, and I hate the Baltimore Ravens, but this movie was great.  It’s the true story of Michael Oher, a homeless boy who became an All American football player and first round NFL draft pick (Ravens) with the help of a caring woman and her family.  The movie is well done, Sandra Bullock is very likable, and the story is truly inspiring.

#3 Terminator Salvation
Go ahead.  Call me shallow, but I thought this movie was good.  The critics didn’t like it very much, but I thought the storyline blended well with the first three Terminator films.  I’m a sucker for good sci-fi, and the Terminator franchise is one of my favorites.

#4 500 Days of Summer
Let me go on the record and say that I can’t stand chick-flicks, but this one was different.  It’s a well-acted romantic comedy about a woman who doesn’t believe true love exists and the young man who falls for her.  Nominated for two Golden Globes including Best Motion Picture – Musical or Comedy, it is the exception (not the rule) when it comes to chick flicks.  In other words, it’s good enough that a man can enjoy it and still retain his manhood!

#5 The Hurt Locker
Honestly, this was a hard spot for me to fill.  The top four were easy to name.  Number 5 was not.  The Hurt Locker is about an elite Army bomb squad unit who attempts to safely detonate bombs in Iraq.  It’s one of those movies you only want to see once because it’s so realistic and disturbing.  You don’t walk out of the theater talking about how good it was because of that, but it was really well done.

Top 2009 movie I just can’t bring myself to watch: Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen
The movie brought-in over $400 million at the box office this year, but I just don’t have any desire to see it.  I saw the first one and although the special effects were pretty cool, I thought the storyline and the attempt at humor were just bad enough to eclipse anything good that was in it.

Biggest Disappointment of 2009: The Soloist
A movie with a great premise: A Los Angeles journalist befriends a homeless Julliard-trained musician while looking for a new article for the paper.  A movie with really good actors: Jamie Fox and Robert Downey, Jr.  But, a movie that fell flat on its face.

Worst Movie of 2009: The Invention of Lying
So bad I wrote a blog on it.  Funny premise, but completely offensive to Christians.  If the movie would have treated Islam like it did Christianity, heads would have rolled (literally).