CriticsTop10

With nearly 500 lists now included, it’s clear that no other film will catch The Hurt Locker for film of the year.  Up, however, is making a late run for the number two spot, but with the lists slowing down it looks doubtful that it will be able to pass Tarantino’s Inglourious Basterds.

Expect one more update for 2009.  I am still approximately 80 lists short of what I was able to collect last year, and I’m not giving up until I reach that again this year.

40. Invictus (26 lists, 2 top spots)

39. Zombieland (27 lists)

38. Drag Me to Hell (28 lists)

37. Sugar (30 lists)

36. The Informant! (34 lists)

A confident exercise in cognitive dissonance, Steven Soderbergh’s true-life tale of price-fixing in the lysine industry could have been a dull exposé of corporate malfeasance. Instead, it keeps shifting the sands beneath viewers’ feet, pairing drab office interiors with Marvin Hamlisch’s vibrant, alternately romantic and wackadoddle score, and casting recognizable funnymen in straight roles. What kind of movie is this? Soderbergh never answers the question, and at the center of it all, Matt Damon plays a man who isn’t sure what sort of movie he’s in, either. A brilliant, bland, bipolar schemer, Damon’s Mark Whitacre withholds information from everyone, including himself, creating two mysteries for every one he leaks to the FBI, and making the film less about the price of lysine than the human costs of denial and deception. — A.V. Club

35. Antichrist (34 lists, 4 top spots)

The most shocking moments in Lars von Trier’s Antichrist earned the film a lot of advance press, but little of it could prepare viewers for the atmosphere of sustained discomfort von Trier creates out of an excursion into the forest. Grieving the accidental death of their child, Charlotte Gainsbourg and Willem Dafoe—playing characters known only as “She” and “He”—retreat to a forbidding cabin. She continues a plunge into depression while He attempts to use uses logic and reason to snap her out of it, in the midst of a wilderness that will not be tamed. The battle of the sexes that follows might feel unpardonably schematic if it weren’t for the stars’ flesh-and-blood performances and von Trier’s unsettlingly sensual approach to image-making. The shocks make an impact, but von Trier’s command of his themes—the way everyday existence opens itself up to the depths of despair, and the persistence of misogyny in allegedly enlightened times—are what prove memorable. — A.V. Club

34. Anvil! The Story of Anvil (36 lists, 1 top spot)

33. The Cove (37 lists, 1 top spot)

32. Still Walking (37 lists, 2 top spots)

Hirokazu Kore-eda’s subtle domestic dramedy follows a family as they gather for the anniversary of their eldest son’s death and spend the day eating, praying, and passive-aggressively dredging up old resentments and prejudices. Kore-eda meticulously catalogues the ways loved ones smile at each other over tea and then casually rip each other apart in private, showing how it all trickles down from sweet-faced matriarch Kirin Kiki, who passes out cruel comments along with plates of food. Still Walking is a movie about how family dynamics are often driven by perceived slights and miscommunicated expectations, but it’s also about how the whole history of a family can be told in the books, trinkets, posters, clothes, and utensils they never throw away. Their clutter—like their snippy comments—mysteriously assemble as a lasting monument to regret. — A.V. Club

31. The Road (39 lists, 1 top spot)

30. Public Enemies (39 lists, 2 top spot)

29. The Beaches of Agnes (40 lists, 4 top spots)

28. Moon (42 lists, 2 top spots)

Moon is one of the finest works of cinematic science fiction that I’ve seen in a very long time. I’ve been telling people that it’s the best sci-fi work I’ve seen in five years, but that timeframe isn’t really tied to a particular movie. For all I know, it’s the best science fiction film made in 20 years. I keep searching my personal databank to think of a film set in the future that I’ve enjoyed more, and I have to go back to some major league classics to find one. People are going to draw all sorts of comparisons between Moon and such classic films as Silent Running, Alien (more for the ho-hum quality of space living than the presence of any actual aliens) Outland, even 2001: A Space Odyssey, but rather than look for plot or tone similarities, look at what great company this film is keeping in the minds of critics and fans alike. This is a film made for people who grew up loving great science fiction films and literature, especially works made during the 1960s and ’70s. There’s a timeless quality to Moon that drew me in and gave me no choice but to have a deeply emotional reaction to this beautiful movie. I have little doubt this film will end up on my best of 2009 list, and you should see it just as soon as it lands in your neck of the woods. — Steve Prokopy, Gapsers Block

27. Police, Adjective (44 lists, 5 top spots)

26. Adventureland (46 lists, 2 top spots)

25. Bad Lieutenant: Port of Call New Orleans (46 lists, 3 top spots)

With his un-hinged, gloriously debauched, hilarious, and uniquely gorgeous Bad Lieutenant: Port of Call New Orleans, Werner Herzog is dazzlingly in synch with his subject –  the portrait of a man, a crooked cop (a brilliant Nicolas Cage) rotting and raving in a decimated land.  That’s post-Katrina New Orleans, a place that well covers Herzogian themes — the violence, the beauty, the destruction of nature, the iguanas, and the warped passion of a fanatical man. Cage’s Terence McDonagh — drug impaired, dishonest, abusive, and yet, often kind and certainly conflicted is a jangly, imbalanced creature of inspired madness. What’s brilliant here is that Herzog, not one to create a standard police procedural, places Cage in something like that:  there’s a an internal affairs investigation, a murder mystery and strangely sweet complications with a prostitute (Eva Mendes) and a drug dealer (Xzibit). There’s also gambling and drug addiction, inappropriate pat-downs, lucky crack pipes and relations with his impaired dad and stepmother, that recalled a Flannery O’Connor story or Rip Torn visiting his pill addicted mother in the brilliantly brave Payday. And like Mr. Torn, Cage is absolutely fearless in his approach to character. Throw out all the rules and just be. Be crazy.  But be real. He’s true to his own style — that of Nicolas Cage — but Herzog must cast magical spells on actors because as the movie goes along, Cage begins to resemble a Nosferatu or an Aguirre — he even walks with a slight hunchback. And then, he tops it by throwing in some giggling Richard Widmark Tommy Udo and snarling Edward G. Robinson Little Caesar. It’s a diabolically mythical performance.  To describe his rhythms and humor and in the end, his humanity isn’t easy — Cage is almost musical in his approach, and he stirs mysterious,  complicated emotions that will yes, make many people laugh. At him, with him, and with the very things that make him laugh. When we are looking at iguanas from the perspective of the animal and the perspective of drugged out Cage considering the animal, the hallucinatory power borders on hilarious and yet, remains honestly poetic (it reminded me a bit of the chicken at the end of Stroszek). Which comes to the question: what kind of movie is Bad Lieutenant? It’s a noir, it’s a comedy, it’s a character study, it’s a southern gothic, it’s a police story. Yes, it’s all those things. But really, it’s a Herzog picture. Real, unreal, maddening, inspiring and utterly sincere. — Kim Morgan, MSN

24. The Hangover (47 lists, 1 top spot)

While this might not have enjoyed the critical acclaim of several of the other films on this list, The Hangover deserves its spot as it is one of the funniest comedy movies to come along in years. Starring Ed Helms, Bradley Cooper and the outrageously funny Zach Galifianakis the film is about 2 buddies (and one soon to be brother-in-law) who take their friend Doug to Las Vegas for his bachelor party. As often happens in Vegas (even in real life) things get quickly out of hand and after a night of debauchery the sorry crew wakes up and discovers they’ve lost their friend. Unable to recall what happened they must try and retrace their steps from the previous night to try and find Doug and get him home in time for his wedding.

Don’t forget to stay right to the end of this one. The slideshow during the credits is just as funny as the main film. — Cheap Canuck, Associated Content

23.  Two Lovers (48 lists, 6 top spots)

No one saw James Gray’s quiet masterpiece, and this saddens me — more even than Two Lovers saddened me when I saw it. In fact, I nearly forgot about it myself when composing this list — thinking it came out in 2008. But Joaquin Phoenix and Gwyneth Paltrow (and even the underplayed Vinessa Shaw) have never done better work than in this sad and tragic story of love, obsession, and suicidal tendencies. Still hurts to think about it. — Christopher Null, filmcritic.com

22. A Single Man (49 lists, 3 top spots)

21. The Headless Woman (55 lists, 13 top spots)

20. The Messenger (56 lists, 1 top spot)

Sydney Pollack and Ben Affleck were once lined up to direct this drama before it landed with its screenwriter, Israeli Oren Moverman. Quite a stroke of destiny. With confident control, Moverman focuses on a seldom-seen aspect of war — casualty notification duty — to illustrate the demands placed on unsuspecting military families and the men forced to deliver horrific news. Moverman starts down an expected path or two, then takes unpredictable turns that reflect his characters’ loose psyches. As a director, his style is one Hal Ashby would love, reminscent of the wilder, woolier American films of the 1970s. In a world mixing cold protocol with indescribable pain, Ben Foster, Woody Harrelson and Samantha Morton nail the tension, loss and quiet, hopeful moments. A heartbreaker. — Norm Schrager, filmcritic.com

19. Coraline (58 lists, 1 top spot)

OK, so it was a very good year for kids’ movies. In a year awash with computer-animated cartoons, this early entry was the most convincing argument for the wonders of 3-D technology. Amazingly, it was animator Henry Selick’s slinky, old-school stop-motion animation that spoke loudest. (You heard me: Screw Disney’s $200 million take on A Christmas Carol.) Selick, who lent his genius to The Nightmare Before Christmas, was the perfect choice to helm this dark-wonder-filled adaptation of Neil Gaiman’s much-loved young adult novel. By deftly mixing fairy tale atmospheres with child psychology, Selick actually improved Gaiman’s phantasmagorical book in some subtle yet significant ways.  — Devin D. O’Leary, Alibi.com

18. Bright Star (60 lists, 7 top spots)

What happened to Jane Campion’s masterful film about the doomed romance between Fanny Brawne and John Keats? It was swept under the rug of similar awards season fare and hasn’t received nearly the year-end credit it deserves. Bright Star is one of the most lyrical, beautiful love stories of the last several years, an ode to the overriding power of romance and the way it can aspire one to greatness. The most notable thing about Campion’s luscious drama is that it maintains its poetry while still presenting viewers with flesh-and-blood people to bring it to life. With one of the best lead actress performances of the last few years and a screenplay that should be earning far more praise for its stunning mix of the romantic and the real, Bright Star is a timeless gem, a film that will still have the power to move an audience decades from now. — Brian Tallerico, Movie Retriever

17. The White Ribbon (65 lists, 8 top spots)

Michael Haneke does it again with arguably his most thematically dense and emotionally devastating film to date. The White Ribbon isn’t just a slow burn of a film while it unfolds, but Haneke’s dark vision of what is arguably the rise of fascism burrows its way into your brain and lingers there for days and weeks after the score-less credits roll. Images from the gorgeously conceived black and white cinematography will haunt you, but it’s not just a visual masterpiece. Haneke’s script is also a thematic time bomb, the kind of film you’ll be thinking about and intellectually dissecting for a long time. Telling the story of a close-knit community falling apart under a wave of unexplained violent events, The White Ribbon is a film with no easy answers other than to say that no one is above the powerful pull of evil – not authority figures, not your neighbor, and not even the kid next door. It’s not an easy film. It’s slow and provides no easy answers. But sometimes the films without tidy resolutions can be the most rewarding. — Brian Tallerico, Movie Retriever

16. 35 Shots of Rum (76 lists, 11 top spots)

Paying homage to Yasujiro Ozu has almost become a cottage industry on the festival circuit, but Claire Denis’ 35 Shots Of Rum goes beyond mere tribute, capturing Ozu’s simple emotional essence while furthering Denis’ own hypnotic, enchanting, elliptical style. The setup evokes Ozu’s Chishu Ryu/Setsuko Hara pairings beautifully: A middle-aged widower (Alex Descas) lives happily with his grown daughter (Mati Diop), but resolves that she should find her own way, independent of him. Denis subtly details the warm, comforting rituals of their day-to-day life together while bringing friends and neighbors into the picture, including the wayward young traveler who will come between them. 35 Shots radiates with bittersweet feelings of love and regret, and in one late-night bar sequence set to The Commodores’ “Night Shift,” a kind of magic, too. — A.V. Club

15. In the Loop (84 lists, 6 top spots)

The spot on political satire of In The Loop with the witty and snappy comedic dialogue the British are known for creates what could easily be the funniest film of the year. Vicious in its depiction of the day to day power struggles of The United States and The United Kingdom, we can only hope that if our governments are this asinine and over-the-top that they are at least this funny as well. In The Loop is a grown up comedy that points out the scariest realities of our world with an extremely tight and brilliant screenplay that could only be scribed by a British hand.  — Addam Hardy, The Film Stage

14. Where the Wild Things Are (88 lists, 9 top spots)

Great books that you read as a child – and great books that were read to you – can linger in your memory for decades. Certainly, many of us can still vividly recall words and images from Maurice Sendak’s Where the Wild Things Are, and for me, the wonder of this beautifully realized film version was that I left it thinking director Spike Jonze’s interpretation might also stick in my head forever. Wholly capturing the experience of pre-teen excitement, sadness, silliness, loneliness, and joy with straightforward, graceful brushstrokes, Jonze and co-screenwriter Dave Eggers allow Sendak’s slender (339-word) storybook to explode with interior life. And while the outsize monster costumes are sensational – as are the expressive, wild-thing vocals of James Gandolfini, Catherine O’Hara, Lauren Ambrose, and others – it’s the haunting gravity of young Max Records that’s impossible to forget, whether the kid is idly pulling at his mother’s stocking, or weeping at the casual cruelty of his sister’s friends, or tucked safely inside a snow fort (or a monster pal’s stomach). The movie is great fun, yet you might find its emotional pull almost overwhelming; it’s perhaps the best kids’ movie ever made expressly for grown-ups. — Mike Schultz, River Cities’ Reader

13. (500) Days of Summer (103 lists, 9 top spots)

Truth be told, I was expecting director Marc Webb’s anti-romance to place higher on this list, but a couple of its shortcomings – the somewhat cartoonish opening reel, the twee use of a pre-teen girl as the voice of seasoned experience – grew more pronounced on repeat DVD viewings. Yet so did everything I initially loved about the movie … which accounts for about 90 percent of this original, rhapsodic, and surprisingly profound meditation on the ungraspable nature of love. 2009 seemed to bring with it one god-awful romantic comedy after another, but with its brilliantly fractured narrative and deep emotionalism, (500) Days of Summer almost single-handedly revived the genre, offering a dream couple in Joseph Gordon-Levitt and Zooey Deschanel, and a host of encounters as tenderly painful as they were amusing. (The superbly edited “expectations versus reality” sequence is like the best Woody Allen scene Allen never filmed.) And amidst so much keenly observed, pitch-perfect melancholy, the movie even finds room for the hands-down-giddiest two minutes of the year, with Gordon-Levitt leading a blissful post-coital dance to Hall & Oates’ “You Make My Dreams.” This movie made mine, too. — Mike Schultz, River Cities’ Reader

12. Star Trek (106 lists, 4 top spots)

It’s easy to list this one, based on the hype, the enormous box office totals, and the fact that it was one of the biggest DVD sales of the holiday season. There is a reason all three of these are true, though. It’s honestly that good a movie. JJ Abrams took on a task that few people had hope he would carry off – recasting and, in effect, “rebirthing” a classic piece of entertainment history. He cast it with very few notable stars, and the ones that did have name or face recognition were in smaller roles. Instead of trying to bowl us over with CGI effects, he did the unthinkable — he relied on a tight script to keep the story moving. By doing so, he created a whole new generation of fans for a legendary group of characters. — Tony Daniel, Newnan Times-Herald.com

11. Summer Hours (106 lists, 14 top spots)

Generations overlap as they make way for one another in Olivier Assayas’ beautifully understated film about the difficulty faced by three siblings charged with dividing the estate of their mother, the niece and heir of an acclaimed painter. All three have drifted away, and their relationship with the place they spent many happy hours as children has grown complicated over the years. They’ve raised children seemingly indifferent to its charms, and the family’s longtime housekeeper may have a stronger emotional claim to the land than they do. The film examines how national identities shift, what culture means removed from the context that created it, and more, with subtlety, insistence, and in its final moments, a well-earned sense of grace and resignation. — A.V. Club

10. An Education (111 lists, 7 top spots)

So rarely does the word ‘perfect’ suggest itself in connection with the commercial cinema that I am deeply suspicious of my instinct to apply it to this immaculate film about a teenage girl falling prey to an older conman in suburban London circa 1961.  But, really, it’s the only fitting response to this film, from the details of décor, wardrobe, music, photography and pacing to the breathtaking acting — especially that of the leading (and stupefyingly young) actress, Carey Mulligan, but also the work of her fellow performers Peter Sarsgaard, Alfred Molina, Rosamund Pike, Cara Seymour and Olivia Williams.  It’s a tale of seduction that seduces, a story about hard lessons that earns high grades with real application, a vision of a vanished age and vintage styles that delights in the faithful reconstruction of the past without resorting to fetish.  It inhabits the era of “Far from Heaven” and “Mad Men” with the exactitude of those fine works but none of the iconoclasm; it honestly believes in the reality of the world it depicts, and that’s a large part of its charm. “An Education” comes to us from inside a girl’s head and heart, and it has the craft, taste and plausibility to let us feel that we are ourselves in that rare and precious place. — Shawn Levy, The Oregonian

9. Precious (115 lists, 9 top spots)

Precious is the cinematic equivalent of being punched in the gut. Precious doesn’t pity herself and she has came to terms with the realities of her life so she is rarely openly emotional, but she has a life that is hardly imaginable. Finding hope and a drive to continue in the dark depths of humanity where Precious lives everyday seems nearly impossible yet somehow she keeps going. At the end of this movie you will be an emotional wreck and thankful for the what now seem like minor problems in your life.  — Addam Hardy, The Film Stage

8. Avatar (119 lists, 17 top spots)

Twelve years after “Titanic,” James Cameron proves he’s still the king of the world – and he gives himself a whole new one to conquer as well. With the beautiful and exquisitely detailed Pandora, the director gives us the most wonderfully realized computer-generated environment and, with the Na’Vi, perfects the use of motion capture technology. The story may be derivative but in Cameron’s hands it doesn’t matter; it’s simply an excuse to introduce audiences to this new world and dazzle them for three hours with the most awesome and entertaining big screen spectacle since “Lord of the Rings.” In an age where the Internet and television continue to fight for our attention, Cameron reinvigorated the event movie and, by pushing special-effects technology to its limit, reassured us that nothing is impossible in movies anymore. Michael Bay may make critics weep for the blockbuster; Cameron reminds us it’s not a lost cause. — Chris Williams, Advisor & Source

7. District 9 (128 lists, 4 top spots)

District 9 isn’t even in the same ballpark budget-wise as any of the year’s big action releases. Yet in a year jam-packed with action films, District 9 stands apart from the pack because of its originality, incredibly complex CGI characters, and first-rate acting. First-time feature film writer/director Neill Blomkamp directs first-time feature film actor Sharlto Copley and together the twosome (who hail from South Africa and are friends) created a spectacular aliens-stranded-on-Earth movie that’s unbelievably realistic and entertaining. For just $30 million, Blomkamp was able to make a sci-fi/action movie with heart and with CGI characters that seem as real as any flesh and blood actor.  — Rebecca Murray, About.com

6. Fantastic Mr. Fox (173 lists, 8 top spots)

This is a Wes Anderson movie. And I’m not surprised by this, as some are, merely because he went into the realm of old school, stop motion animation. Mr. Anderson likes things old school. He likes the feel of  a rotary phone, he likes the crack and pop of a vinyl record, he likes natty suits, and he likes foxes – be them animals voiced by George Clooney, Meryl Streep, Jason Schwartzman, Willem Dafoe, Bill Murray, or a fur jacket sad Margot Tenenbaum would pass through her closet before settling on that iconic mink coat. The devil and the heart are in the details here — those meticulous, gorgeous details Anderson suffers grief for (it’s his signature – and it’s beautiful and I won’t hear another word about it) — details that aren’t shallow, but emotional. You can feel love in every frame of film, in every musical cue, in every painting on the wall — and sometimes a powerful aesthetic is more moving than an actor breaking down on screen. Taking the Roald Dahl classic, Anderson crafted a bittersweet movie that, like Dahl, understands not only the complexity and joy of this idea — we are not always sweetness and light – even if we’re charming – we’re often destructive and filled with varied feelings we can’t easily come to terms with. And yet, sometimes you have to accept that your tail might not grow back. And that’s OK. — Kim Morgan, MSN

5. A Serious Man (190 lists, 20 top spots)

It’s bizarre that the Coens’ best movie in a decade isn’t getting the respect (or the audiences) it deserves. On the surface, “A Serious Man” seems to be a modest venture — it doesn’t feature any stars, and it appears to be a relatively banal story about a physics professor, Larry (Michael Stuhlbarg), barely coping with the news that his wife is leaving him just as a work promotion hangs in the balance. Yet from these domestic tribulations, the Coens have fashioned a movie that is, on the one hand, a probing examination of mortality, faith and guilt; and on the other, a bitingly acidic black comedy about middle-American Jewish mores in the late 1960s. — Tom Charity, CNN

4. Up in the Air (210 lists, 56 top spots)

What do you call a movie that’s at once a lighter-than-air screwball comedy; a timely-as-today snapshot of an America torn and frayed by economic terror; and a fly-the-friendly-skies portrait of a lonely-rogue charmer who believes that his roving corporate lifestyle is the new secret of life? I call it the most originally enchanting movie of the year — and, just maybe, a new classic.

As Ryan Bingham, a carefree professional downsizer who leaps from airport to airport, carving out his own cookie-cutter pleasure zone, George Clooney gives the most finely honed, deeply etched performance of his life, mingling the effortless old-school-movie-star charisma of an idol like Clark Gable with a quietly contemporary, self-questioning melancholy that grows richer and more haunting as the film goes on. Vera Farmiga, as his sexy fellow traveler, and Anna Kendrick, as a perky bottom-line office chipmunk, bring an up-to-the-minute feminine vivacity to the screen, and director Jason Reitman, far more than he did in either Thank You for Smoking or Juno, proves a master of tone, blithely juggling romance and comedy, hope and despair. In Up in the Air, Reitman catches the mood of a new America, a place where everything, from travel to romance to firing people, is mediated through the seductive detachment of technology.

The movie is finally a portrait of loss: of careers in free fall, of a man who comes to see that his ”happy” existence, as he soars over the heaviness of life, is really a mirage. But the loss stings only because the film’s embrace of what really matters is so moving and true. — Owen  Gleiberman, Entertainment Weekly

3. Up (229 lists, 28 top spots)

Up, this year’s new Pixar picture, which files us right up into those realms  of sky, flight and fantasy that Judy Garland’s DOrothy traveled in her Kansas twister ride to Oz, and to which little Pascal Lamorisse was whisked off by his air armada of Parison balloons, at the end of his dad Albert’s The Red Balloon. Co-written and directed by Pete Docter and Bob Peterson, it’s a great children’s movie, and and another strong arguement that the Pixar cartoon carde is the strongest creative force operating in mainstream Hollywood right now.

If you see it without kids, you should love it anyway. And if  you’re a kid, you should be in heaven. For us adults and older people though, Up will help bring back all those wondrous, heart-warming, spine-chilling childhood movie experiences, that once made a kid’s trip to the movie house so intoxicating and madly enchanting. And adventurous.

Yet, in what might appear a paradox, the hero of Up – albeit with a kid sidekick — is a harsh, isolate, seemingly past-it and mean old man named Carl Frederickson, voiced with classic gruffness by Ed Asner.

Much of up takes place up there in the sky too, in Carl’s balloon house and on hero-villain Muntz’s (Christopher Plummer) spectacular whirlybird, super-dirigible-like, propeller-driven sky-ship. And there are chases and wild escapes, and the characters fight and slide all over the sky ship’s body and Carl’s porch, in scenes that will either feed your vertigo or kill it dead. Exhilarating is a word that was made for the likes of Up.

It’s exhilarating though for more than mere (Mere!) adventure and spectacle. This is a movie which spiritually delivers a well-earned knockout blow to the rejection, marginalization and sometimes abusive mistreatment that the elderly here — and elsewhere — suffer. Damn your souls, if you have any, you anti-Health Care creeps. Edna might have lived longer and more happily, painted more pictures, or died with less pain, if not for the likes of you.

That’s the kind of theme and undercurrent that makes Up more than kid stuff.– Michael Wilmington

2. Inglourious Basterds (238 lists, 29 top spots)

“You know something, Utivich,” says Brad Pitt to B.J. Novak, and to us, “I think this just might be my masterpiece.” As it directly precedes the title card “written and directed by Quentin Tarantino,” that line is obviously more than a bit self-referential, and could be seen as unbearably smug if it wasn’t true. Tarantino has delivered a ridiculous amount of cinematic thrills since 1992’s Reservoir Dogs, but this brutal, and brutally funny, World War II revenge fantasy is, I think, his most thrilling work yet, a staggeringly enthralling piece of revisionist history that boasts over a half-dozen sequences that could easily qualify as the year’s finest. After the stunning suspense of the film’s opening set piece – involving a terrified farmer, a large glass of milk, an oversize pipe, and a thunderously good Christoph Waltz – you’d think Inglourious Basterds would have nowhere to go but down. Yet miraculously, one scene after another manages to match it, and Tarantino provides no end of unforgettable moments: Mélanie Laurent’s stricken horror when confronted with her family’s assassin; a basement-tavern shootout only slightly less terrifying than its dazzlingly protracted lead-up; Pitt’s Lieutenant Aldo Raine attempting, hilariously, an Italian accent (“Bone-jore-no!”); the cackling revenge of the giant face. All told, it’s just about the Tarantino-iest movie you could ever hope for, which means it’s just about perfect. — Mike Shultz, River Cities’ Reader

1. The Hurt Locker (314 lists, 65 top spots)

There’s not a moment’s safety in The Hurt Locker — not for the soldiers whose excruciating job it is to defuse explosive devices, and not for us, the audience thrust into the hot sun with average men who risk their lives moment to moment. We see the ground from their eyes; we feel the terrible excitement of battle from the inside.

The Hurt Locker works from the guts out — that’s the awesome power of this year’s best picture. These American soldiers happen to be in Iraq, just as real American soldiers are these days. But the foreign sand could be anywhere. And in stripping politics away from her stunning war pic — as well as the comforts of an inspirational story structure — director Kathryn Bigelow has made an action movie that bluntly, efficiently conveys the cost of battle. Nothing is predictable here, nothing. Bigelow’s is the first modern combat drama to convey the narcotizing, men-being-men thrill of an unfathomable job. These soldiers must know which wire to snip and whether a stranger who speaks an unfamiliar language is lifting his cell phone to call a friend or to detonate a bomb.

Tight with its action, sparing with its words (Mark Boal’s vivid script benefits from his days as a journalist embedded with the kind of men he created for the screen), and pinpoint accurate with the performances of a superb ensemble cast led by Jeremy Renner, The Hurt Locker blows away outdated movie depictions of bravery and obsession, risk and responsibility. This is not just the movie of the year, but must viewing for the tough war years ahead.  — Lisa Scwarzbaum, Entertainment Weekly