The 3 Best Movies of the Decade
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.
- A Serious Man. The Coen bothers are back in fine form (which, depending on your take on ‘Burn After Reading,’ they make never have left) in what many are calling their most personal film to date with this comedic drama about a Minnesota college professor’s (Michael Stuhlbarg) life quickly coming to pieces. The Serious Man movie is rich with the duo’s signature dark humor, and while not all of it made perfect sense, we had fun trying to figure it out, anyway.
- Invictus. Clint Eastwood’s true-life tale of how newly elected South African President Nelson Mandela (a spot-on Morgan Freeman) teamed up with the captain of the nation’s rugby team (Matt Damon) to unite the apartheid-torn land with a run at the 1995 World Cup hits all the right notes. Invictus download is both an inspirational sports drama and a portrait of an inspired leader, with Oscar-caliber performances from its two leads and a heavy helping of that magical ingredient: feel-good.
- Up in the Air. With three feature films now under his belt – ‘Thank You for Smoking,’ ‘Juno’ and now this instant classic — is there any doubt that 32-year-old Jason Reitman is one of Hollywood’s best directors? George Clooney somehow makes a corporate downsizer (topical!) lovable and magnetic in a superb lead turn (his best yet), while Anna Kendrick and Vera Farmiga kill as the distinctly powerful women who change his life. Download Up in the Air is a near-perfect film that is at times bitingly funny, at other times heartrendingly sad — sort of like life, come to think of it.