Movies I want to see in the 2009 list:

Avatar
District 9
Star Trek
Watchmen
Up
Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince
X-Men Origins: Wolverine
Drag Me to Hell (I totally want this to win and both of you Rocksmith and Esmoreit need to add it to your list)
The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo
The Last House on the Left


I haven't seen a lot of movie this year :(
Mostly blockbusters.

My top Movies of 2009 in no Particular Order:
The Princess & The Frog
Up
Coraline
The Hangover
The Lovely Bones
Cloudy With a chance of Meatballs
(500) days of Summer
Sunshine Cleaning
Away We Go
Precious

Where's Drag Me to Hell?!

I haven't seen it yet, I've heard good things about it but I can't say it good until I know its good

Come on, "Avatar". You can be #1 on this list.

I agree with Drag Me to Hell. It was the best horror film of 2009. It was brilliant how they put a comedic side to the movie as well. Movies you left out that were in my top 5 were Inglourious Basterds and Hurt Locker. Thanks for reminding me of that movie. New top 5

1. Inglourious Basterds
2. Up
3. Hurt Locker
4. Drag Me to Hell
5. Avatar

Honorable mentions: District 9, Star Trek, Up in the Air, and The Hangover

Here's my top 10 of 2009. Hopefully some of these great movies make IGN's top 10 as well!

1. Avatar (Yes yes, I know. Pocahontas. Dances with Wolves. Yadda yadda, you've mentioned it *like 10 times*. The fact remains that Pandora was one of the most stunning places I've ever had the chance to see, and the movie really hit me in a lot of areas that I'm wrestling with personally and spiritually. Avatar has made me ask a lot of questions and many of them haven't been easy. For such a movie to affect my life in such a way... it really is quite an experience. Oh, and the soundtrack by James Horner is wonderful... easily up there with Howard Shore's work in the Lord of the Rings Trilogy.)

2. Inglourious Basterds (Thaaaat's a BIIIINGO! I must say, that I may have a man crush on Christoph Waltz. I mean, "Once Upon a Time... In Nazi Occupied France is one of the most intense and gut wrenching scenes I've ever seen in a movie. I mean, you staring at the screen horrified... but you don't dare look away. I mean, the guy makes an entire audience gasp about ordering a glass of milk for goodness sakes! This guy better win best supporting actor. Two years, two amazing villains.)

3. Up (Up contains one of the most moving scenes I've ever seen. Period. For any movie, animated or not. Watching Ellie and Carl go through life and it's ups and downs went straight for the heart. Such hope in a dream... and it all seems to fade away. And just as you think Carl is going to give up on life, and the dreams that came with it, you see one of the best visualizations of hope I've ever seen. A house flying, pulled by thousands of wonderful little balloons. It was quite a wonderful site. Heh... and that's just the first fifteen minutes of the movie.)

4. The Hurt Locker (This is just a well done movie. I really hope that she wins best director. Not just because she'll be the first woman to win the Best Director award, but because I really think she deserves it. Wonderful acting, incredibly intense *I was at the edge of my seat for the whole time*, and it's a movie in Iraq... that's not a tool for a Political party *and they said that couldn't be done*. Kudos for making a movie that everyone can enjoy, Miss Bigelow.)

5. Star Trek (I've never been a Trekie. Heck, I've never seen an T.V. episode or a previous movie from the Star Trek universe before this one. But this isn't just a great Star Trek movie, or even a great Sci-Fi movie. It's a great movie period. A wonderful cast full of unknowns *Including Avatar's Zoe Saldana* and a director that many were sceptical about proved their doubters wrong by making a movie full of action, romance, humor, and heart. Bonus points for having Simon Pegg in the movie)

6. ZombieLand (I've never been much of a fan of Zombie flicks. I mean, there's all this gore and death and blood and stuff... there's nothing to laugh about *Unless you're watching The House of the Dead by Uwe Boll* but when there's a movie about Zombies that allows you to have a laugh, I'm all in. Loved Shaun of the Dead, and I loved ZombieLand. Woody was the one to root for in this one, every time he was on screen he demanded the attention that he deserved. Oh, and the movie contains one of the best cameos I've ever seen. I won't spoil it, but it just made this movie so much more awesomer *Yep, so cool it needs bad grammer*)

7. Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince (This was the "Empire Strikes Back" of the Harry Potter series, where the bad guys win and it leaves you wondering how Harry will now save the day. But this was also different from the previous Potters in that it takes a much more personal look at the characters themselves. Malfoy was no longer a whining shell of a character as he was in the previous films. He had hopes, dreams... and you constantly felt for him... even though he found himself on the side of Voldemort. Professor Slughorn was also a wonderful addition to Harry's world, and gave the film a lot of character and heart. Even the "romances", usually eye-roll worthy in the other films, were quite entertaining *Lavender is one scary woman...* But when it came down to the climax of the movie... it surprised all of us by not containing the "epic" battle scene between the Order and the Eaters. It just left us with hopelessness and an empty feeling of "What now?". Powerful stuff.)

8. Coraline (I was plesantly surprised by this one. It's just a wonderful movie full of imagination and wonder. The "Other" world starts out as someplace wonderful *The "Other" scenes with the Band playing Mice as well as the Two Sisters were highlights. Hilarious!* but it starts to become much more sinister as time goes on... you just know something isn't right in this "perfect" world. It's just wonderful to see such imagination come to life.)

9. District 9 (This is a tale of two movies. The first movie is a documentary film about the daily life of a man that has to deal with aliens. I found it wonderful, simply because it was something I've never expected in a Sci-Fi movie. It was unique, it was fresh, and it always led to one interesting detail to another. The second movie is a Half-Life 2 appreciation piece. It's got giant robots, action galore, and the always welcomed gravity gun *It shoots pigs!* It was entertaining, but I wanted my intriguing alien documentary back. I've seen this before.)

10. Paranormal Activity (I'm wierd *Shocker*. I've always been curious about the scary stuff that we deal with here and there. Ghosts, hauntings... that sort of stuff really interests me *Probably because I love The Haunted Mansion ride so much. Favorite attraction ever!* But I'm also a complete scardey cat. So I was interested in this movie, but I knew it would scare the pants off me. But I went! And It scared the pants off me! But it was really well done... if only because it wasn't cliched to death like so many other scary movies. Now half the fun is watching it with others and watching them squirm. I'm such a jerk.)

^
I want to approve your list but I found The Hangover, (500) days of Summer and Drag Me to Hell are missing!

Nice list Smeags.

You have to watch Drag Me to Hell ASAP

saicho said: ^ I want to approve your list but I found The Hangover, (500) days of Summer and Drag Me to Hell are missing!

Guess I'll have to go and see Drag me to Hell from all of the recommendations its been given. Seems like the type of horror movie I could enjoy! I also saw The Hangover, and it was good... but for me it wasn't that good as everyone said it was (OMG best comedy evar hahaha *instert 20 quotes from movie here*). I'll probably watch it again now that my expectations are lowered (We have the Blu Ray).

As for (500) days of Summer, I'll give it a look see. I hear it's a refreshing take on the love story (One of the quotes is "This is a story about love, not a love story". Seems intriguing.)

@Boutros

Roger that!