All Time Top 5 (Best and Worst Movies of the Year)

It's the end of the year (well it was a few days ago). Blogs everywhere are releasing best/worst lists at a torrid pace. In fact, bip-bip. has already released our list of the ten best albums of the year. And, as you'd expect, we're bringing you our favorite movies of the year as well. You'll have to forgive the fact that we're not posting it until 2010, but I wanted to wait until I saw Up In The Air because I had a feeling it might make the list (and sure enough it did). We're also bringing you our most hated movies of the year. Now, to be fair to the movies on that list, there were probably worse movies made, but these were the movies that actually had a chance to be good (as opposed to films that were doomed from the start -- think Old Dogs).

Here's the All Time Top 5 (Best Movies of the Year)

5

Zombieland/Adventureland (tie) -- I decided to put both of these at number 5 for two reasons. First, they are both great movies that deserve to be on this list (even though most readers probably never saw either of these). Second, they both star Jesse Eisenberg, an actor who had an absolute breakout 2009.

4

Avatar -- At this point, I feel like there's not much left to say about Avatar. The movie was an absolute smash hit (it's tally is now up to over $1B worldwide) and belongs on a pedestal along with some of James Cameron's other hits.

3

The Hangover -- The highest-grossing R-rated comedy in American history was this year's best comedy by far. I couldn't be more excited for the sequel (scheduled to come out around October 2010). I'd join Alan's wolfpack any day.

2

Up In The Air -- As I said earlier, I specifically waited to make this list because I thought Up In The Air would have a shot to make it. That being said, I still didn't expect it to be as good as it was. Even though this was Clooney's best film ever, the real story to me was a new star being born in Anna Kendrick.

1

Inglourious Basterds -- Perhaps the most polarizing movie on my list, Tarantino's WWII gorefest was an absolutely brilliant piece of filmmaking in this blogger's opinion. Christoph Waltz is almost a guarantee to win the Oscar for Best Supporting Actor. And I really hope Tarantino wins Best Director.

All Time Top 5 (Worst Movies of the Year)

5

Transformers 2: Revenge of the Fallen -- Sure, the special effects were what we expected. Sure, I'll go see the next one. But the storyline was one of the dumbest things ever. Don't believe me? Read this FAQ on the film (warning: some foul language).

4

Observe and Report -- Seth Rogen had been in a series of really funny movies, but this mall cop comedy was just plain stupid. I expected bad things from Paul Blart: Mall Cop (I never saw it, but apparently a lot of you did) but had higher hopes for this one.

3

I Hope They Serve Beer In Hell -- As a fellow Duke Law alum, I was hoping for a movie that would at least do some justice to Tucker Max's hilarious stories. Unfortunately, the movie was just plain garbage.

2

The Informant -- How the combination of Matt Damon and Steven Soderbergh resulted in this terribly boring (yet surprisingly well received by most critics) film is beyond me.

1

My Sister's Keeper -- Honestly the worst book adaptation I've ever seen. It's essentially a collection of scenes with sad songs playing that are intended to make women cry but never really develops any characters or a plot that would give them a reason to.

Live Long and Prosper (In an Alternate Reality...)

It's Tuesday so we've got another fresh batch of DVD's coming out. This week is highlighted by Star Trek. I've got to admit from the start -- I don't know anything about Star Trek culture. I've never once watched an old episode or movie. I have no clue who any of these characters are based off of or what the original actors who played them were like. But, nonetheless, I found the movie to be relatively entertaining.

The movie itself is essentially set up to provide a springboard for future films while giving audiences an explanation of why the characters are different. The plot is basically this: Nero (played by Eric Bana) travels back in time to destroy the world and the crew of the USS Enterprise before they become the well oiled machine they are in the old television series. To prevent him from succeeding, the Spock from the television series (Leonard Nimoy) travels back in time to warn his future friends (as well as himself). Captain Kirk (Chris Pine), the new Spock (Heroes' Zachary Quinto), and the rest of the crew finally get it together to save the day.

I know that the plot sounds sort of absurd, but I actually think it was sort of a genius way to provide an avenue for new movies to be made without erasing what happened in the television series. Now, the new guys are just living in alternate reality, forever changed by Nero's time travel. Then again, maybe I'm just a gigantic nerd, and we should all really just make fun of J.J. Abrams' dumb movie. Who knows? Either way, if you can embrace the plot for what it is and watch with an open mind, you'll probably find you enjoy the movie. The new members are pretty well cast. The writing is above average. And the special effects are top notch.

Bottom line: It's not as good as critics thought. But it's really entertaining and definitely worth seeing, if not owning, regardless of your Star Trek knowledge. (B)

Here's the trailer:

Other movies coming out on DVD:

Bruno -- It has its moments, but it's greatly inferior to Borat. (B-)

My Sister's Keeper --- This was just a horrible piece of film making, full of terrible dialogue and entirely too many three minute scenes set to some sad song to try and elicit tears from middle-aged women. It's one of the worst book adaptations I've ever seen. (D-)