Best Films of 2009

So I have finally seen the three true contenders for the best film Oscar.  I have to say there wasn't much between two of them for me.  The third was really only in there because of it's financial success.

Avatar got the awards it deserved.  It was lauded for its special effects and it's cinematography because that's all it was.  The plot was averagely engaging with a few layers but nothing profound.  It certainly has changed movies for what I think is the better.  It was really a breath-taking visual masterpiece.  Unfortunately that's not everything in a movie.  Anyone who legitimately thought it had a shot for the best film doesn't really understand what the Academy is looking for.  True they expanded the field of nominees from five to ten as a marketing ploy, but the true contenders, like in years past was never more than two.

I loved The Hurt Locker.  Kathryn Bigelow did an excellent job of keeping tension.  Every single scene I was just waiting for something to explode.  That has got to be what it is like in Iraq.  You don't know who or what is for or against you.  What I really loved was the relationships between the squad members under the pressure.  One minute Sanborn (played by Anthony Mackie) and James are picking off insurgent snipers with utmost precision.  Then they are beating the crap out of each other in a game of chicken gone too far.  It highlights the frustration of daily lives.  Sanborn is just trying to get out alive while James is just trying to feel alive.  These two conflicting mantras really provide a great underlying tension on top of the tensions of guerrilla warfare.

To me, it was a toss up between Up In The Air and The Hurt Locker.  Maybe it's because Up In The Air hits really close to home.  The basic shell of getting fired mirrors Ryan Bingham's life.  Throughout the movie he is trying so hard to avoid rejection.  He doesn't stay in one place, his acquaintances are almost all by necessity: bosses, flight attendants, etc.  He has surrounded himself with a world full of connections but at the same time empty of true personality.  His own sisters don't know him.  Then, his cocoon world is shaken.  His company looks to shift its standard operating procedure to eliminate the need for travel.  This is a wake up call.  I won't ruin it for anyone but the rest of the movie shows him and the two women in his life (pseudo-girlfriend play by Vera Farmiga and co-worker Anna Kendrick) dealing with such rapid change and different reactions to it.  Very well done movie on the psychology of everyday Americans in a time of uncertainty.  It is a shame that the movie got shut out of pretty much every category.