NYT's Manohla Dargis Offers Her Top 13 of 2009
A fascinating list from a critic always worth a look
Just recently New York Times critic Manohla Dargis made some waves with an interview she gave using some salty language and calling out a few people here and there. Today she delivers a list of her favorite films of 2009.
While beating the dead horse that is the hatred for such films as G.I. Joe: The Rise of Cobra and Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen she also has a few kind words for some films that didn't make her ultimate list such as Star Trek, Julie & Julia (agree keep the Julie), Duplicity, A Perfect Getaway, Up and A Single Man.
I have listed her top 13 directly below as she listed them, "in order of their domestic release" with links to my reviews where available. Following that is a list of her "other favorites." Like I said when I linked to her interview, "I have mixed feelings when it comes to New York Times critic Manohla Dargis's taste in films, but I always enjoy reading her reviews," and if you have the time take a second to read her recap of 2009 right here.
- Gomorrah (Matteo Garrone, Italy)
- Tulpan (Sergey Dvortsevoy, Kazakhstan)
- Summer Hours (Olivier Assayas, France)
- The Hurt Locker (Kathryn Bigelow, United States)
- The Beaches of Agnès (Agnès Varda, France)
- Public Enemies (Michael Mann, United States)
- Beeswax (Andrew Bujalski, United States)
- Ponyo (Hayao Miyazaki, Japan)
- The Informant! (Steven Soderbergh, United States)
- Where the Wild Things Are (Spike Jonze, United States)
- Fantastic Mr. Fox (Wes Anderson, United States)
- The Sun (Alexander Sokurov, Russia)
- Avatar (James Cameron, United States)
Next is her list of runners-up:
- Of Time and the City
- Frontier of Dawn
- Tokyo Sonata
- Sugar
- Léon Morin: Priest
- Julia (the Erick Zonca with Tilda Swinton)
- Star Trek
- Anaglyph Tom
- Séraphine
- The English Surgeon
- You, the Living
- In the Loop
- Import, Export
- Lorna's Silence
- A Perfect Getaway
- The Baader Meinhof Complex
- Big Fan
- Unmade Beds
- Crude
- A Serious Man
- Precious: Based on the Novel 'Push' by Sapphire
- The Messenger
- Big River Man
- 35 Shots of Rum
- Up in the Air
- A Single Man
- Invictus
- Police, Adjective
I am currently compiling my top ten as well as putting together a list of most anticipated films of 2010.
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can't agree with this reporter, Public Enemies and Where the Wild Things Are do not belong in this list.
nice…cant wait for ur lists Brad
I read her article…and I just remembered that Watchmen also came out this year (had almost forgotten about it's release yr). But I gotta say that was a very good movie and gets better with every viewing (watch the Ultmate cut people!)…was kinda surprised she hated it.
Brad, something I've been thinking about:
I notice you called Manhola's list "fascinating" which is I'm sure due to your interest in the critic, as well as the diversity of the list. One thing I've noticed around the web as critic's best films of 2009 are being posted is that people tend to be bored by lists that are full of Awards contenders and fascinated by lists that are filled with out of the ordinary picks.
I'm wondering why this is. Why should a critic who honors films such as Beeswax and Ponyo be more interesting than a critic who loves Precious and Up in the Air? I'm obviously referring to the general public on this issue rather than just your views because this is something I've noticed at a lot of sites.
Am I the only person who hated the Hurt Locker? I thought that it was pretentious and overrated. Same with Precious. My top ten for the year:
1. Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince
2. Avatar
3. Star Trek
4. Up
5. Where the Wild Things Are
6. Fantastic Mr. Fox
7. 9
8. 2012
9. Sherlock Holmes
10. X-Men Origins: Wolverine
Honorable Mention: Coraline, Cloudy With A Chance of Meatballs, Angels and Demons
Note that this list is for entertainment purposes. I picked the ten movies that I enjoyed watching, not the ones that I found the most thought-provoking or artistic. I enjoyed 2012, I didn't enjoy The Hurt Locker or Precious, everyone's entitled to their own opinions.
Throw in Up and take off Avatar and the last is practically identical to mine. Whackiness. Love seeing Summer Hours , Wild Things and Beaches of Agnes getting some love.
The Sun comes to Seattle in January at NWFF.
I'm dying to see You, The Living! It looks incredible. We get it on netflix instant in a couple weeks.