The 3 Most Interesting Movies of 2009
Here are the 3 best movies of 2009 that got our adrenaline pumping and the dynamite exploding. We love good movies and have seen hundreds in our time.
- The Messenger. You know that gut-wrenching moment in any war-related film where a mother or father or wife opens the door to find two military men on the doorstep, and their presence alone signifies that inconceivable tragedy? Oren Moverman’s powerful debut is full of them — making this drama starring Ben Foster and Woody Harrelson (in career-best performances) one of the year’s hardest films to watch. But The Messenger download also one of the most rewarding, an insightful character study that’ll leave you moved.
- 500 Days of Summer. Tired of the same-old, run-o’-the-mill romantic comedies? Here’s the antidote — a film so solid it feels strange to group in that dubious genre. Told out of order with a kickass soundtrack, whimsical flourishes (including a fantasy sequence involving Hall & Oates), and stellar turns by leads/part-time lovers Joseph Gordon-Levitt and Zooey Deschanel, download 500 Days of Summer 2009 is what so few love stories are these days: lovely.
- The Hurt Locker. Director Kathryn Bigelow allows little breathing room in this suspense-filled war drama about a special unit (including Jeremy Renner and Anthony Mackie) tasked to defuse bombs in Iraq. The Hurt Locker 2009 tightly-shot, almost documentary feel, captures military conflict in ways that other films this decade have failed, and may go down as one of the best war movies ever made. For now, at least, it’s one of the very best of ‘09.