Overstreet’s Favorite Films: 2009

Here is the current (but occasionally updated) list of my favorite films from 2009.

In order to understand the color-coding, the purpose, and meaning of this list, please read my introduction to the Looking Closer Favorite Films lists here.

Red = Treasures
Purple = Favorites
Blue = Achievements
Gray = Decent/Noteworthy
Green = Unseen or Undecided
*** = This film was discovered after the year in question and added in a list revision.**

2009

Summer Hours* (review)
Munyurangabo* (review)
Where the Wild Things Are (review)
Up (review)
Everlasting Moments*
A Serious Man (review)
The Fantastic Mr. Fox
Coraline (review)
Two Lovers*
Lorna’s Silence* (review)
35 Shots of Rum*
Lake Tahoe*
A Town Called Panic*
The Girlfriend Experience
Bright Star
Gomorrah*
The Beaches of Agnes*
Phoebe in Wonderland*
Moon
Departures*
Me and Orson Welles
Duplicity
Police, Adjective (review)
District 9
The Limits of Control (two-part review: Pt.1 , Pt. 2)
Ponyo*
The Secret In Their Eyes*
The Song of Sparrows*
Liverpool
The Maid
In the Loop
The Road
Meeting Andrei Tarkovsky (two-part review: Pt. 1, Pt. 2)
Inglourious Basterds (two-part review: Pt. 1, Pt.2)

500 Days of Summer*
Sweetgrass
Invictus
Get Low
The White Ribbon*
Alamar*
Cloudy With a Chance of Meatballs*
Red Riding: 1970
Red Riding: 1984
The Bad Lieutenant: Port of Call New Orleans
Star Trek
Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince
Public Enemies
Away We Go
The Hedgehog*
Between the Folds*
Avatar (review)
An Education
Up in the Air
Tetro
Fish Tank
Oceans
The Imaginarium of Doctor Parnassus
The Informant!
Sherlock Holmes
Watchmen
Thirst
Drag Me to Hell
Zombieland
The Princess and the Frog
That Evening Sun

As-yet Unseen or Unratable Films of 2009: A Christmas Carol (Robert Zemeckis) A Perfect Getaway (David Twohy) A Room and a Half (Andrey Khrzhanovskiy) A Single Man Adam Accident (Soi Cheang) Adventureland (Greg Mottola) Ajami Alexander the Last (Joe Swanberg) Alvin and the Chipmunks: The Squeakquel Amer (Hélène Cattet and Bruno Forzani) Amreeka Angels & Demons Antichrist (Lars Von Trier) Around a Small Mountain (Jacques Rivette) Art & Copy Baarìa Bakjwi Bandslam Barking Water (Sterlin Harjo) Beeswax (Andrew Bujalski) Bellamy (Claude Cabrol) Between Two Worlds (Vimukthi Jayasundara) Big Fan Black Dynamite (Scott Sanders) Blue Beard (Catherine Breillat) Bran Nue Dae Bride Wars Broken Embraces (Pedro Almodovar) Brothers Brüno Butterflies Have No Memories (Lav Diaz) Cafe Noir (Jung Sung-il) Cairo Time Canary (Alejandro Adams) Capitalism: A Love Story Cell 211 Cheri Chloe City Island Coco Before Chanel Coco Chanel & Igor Stravinsky Cold Souls Collapse Confessions of a Shopaholic (P.J. Hogan) Crank 2: High Voltage (Neveldine/Taylor) Crazy Heart Crude David Hockney: A Bigger Picture Dogtooth Eccentricities of a Blond Hair Girl (Manoel de Oliveira) Eighteen (Jang Kun-jae) Enter the Void Everybody’s Fine Everyone Else (Maren Ade) Extract (Mike Judge) Face (Tsai Ming-liang) Farewell Funny People (Judd Apatow) Hadewijch (Bruno Dumont) Halloween II (Rob Zombie) Harry Brown He’s Just Not That Into You Huacho (Alejandro Fernández Almendras) Humpday (Lynn Shelton) I Love You Phillip Morris I Love You, Man Il grande sogno Imburnal (Sherad Anthony Sanchez) In the Electric Mist Inspector Bellamy Johnny Mercer: The Dream’s On Me Julie & Julia Karaoke (Chris Chong Chan Fui) Knowing (Alex Proyas) La bocca del lupo (Pietro Marcello) La Donation La doppia ora La mission Last Train Home Le roi de l’évasion (Alain Guiraudie) Lebanon Life Life During Wartime (Todd Solondz) Like You Know it All (Hong Sang-soo) Lo spazio bianco Lola Lourdes (Jessica Hausner) Mao’s Last Dancer Monsters vs Aliens Mother (Bong Joon-ho) Mother and Child Mr. Nobody My Dear Enemy (Lee Yoon-ki) My Dog Tulip My One and Only My Sister’s Keeper My Son, My Son, What Have Ye Done (Werner Herzog) Ne change rien (Pedro Costa) Nine Notorious Nowhere Boy Nymph (Pen-ek Ratanaruang) Orphan Oxhide II (Liu Jiayin) Passing Strange Persécution Pirate Radio Polytechnique (Denis Villeneuve) Prince of Tears Pulling John Queen to Play Red Riding: 1983 Samson and Delilah (Warwick Thornton) She, a Chinese (Xiaolu Guo) Sin Nombre Solitary Man Soul Kitchen (Fatih Akin) Splice (Vincenzo Natali) Spring Fever (Lou Ye) State of Play Still Bill Surrogates (Jonathan Mostow) Survival of the Dead (George A. Romero) Tetsuo: The Bullet Man The Army of Crime (Robert Guédiguian) The Art of the Steal The Blind Side The Box (Richard Kelly) The Boys: The Sherman Brothers’ Story The Concert The Cove The Damned United The Donation (Bernard Emond) The Father of my Children (Mia Hansen-Løve) The Final Destination (David R. Ellis) The Hangover The House of the Devil The International (Tom Tykwer) The Invention of Lying The Last Station The Man Beyond the Bridge The Messenger The Milk of Sorrow The National Parks: America’s Best Idea The Panic Is On: The Great American Depression as Seen by the Common Man The Portugeuse Nun (Eugene Green) The Promotion (Steve Conrad) The Proposal The Red Chapel The Red Machine The Search (Pema Tseden) The Soloist (Joe Wright) The Taking of Pelham 1 2 3 The Taking of Pelham 1 2 3 (Tony Scott) The Traveller The White Meadows (Mohammad Rasoulof) The Winning Season The Young Victoria This Is It Tony Manero (Pablo Larrain) Trash Humpers (Harmony Korine) Under the Sea 3D Valhalla Rising (Nicolas Winding Refn) Vengeance (Johnny To) Vincere (Marco Belloccio) Waking Sleeping Beauty What’s the Matter with Kansas? Whatever Works (Woody Allen) Whip It (Drew Barrymore) White Material White Material (Claire Denis) Wild Grass (Alain Resnais) Women Without Men World’s Greatest Dad (Bobcat Goldthwait) Yellowstone: Battle for Life Yi ngoi Yoo Hoo, Mrs. Goldberg Youth in Revolt

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