2009 on the Silver Screen

Not only did I finally achieve my goal of watching at least half of the movies in the IMDb Top 250 this year, but I also watched almost twice as many movies this year as in 2008 (114 compared to last year's 67, although this total includes films I've watched on DVD, on TV and on planes, as well as in the cinema). This meant it was even more difficult to pick my top five movies of the year (like last year, I'm only considering movies released in the UK in 2009), but these are my final choices, in chronological order:

1. Gran Torino (2009 was the year I really got into Clint Eastwood films and this was the one that kicked it all off; only Clint could make, "get off my lawn" into a catchphrase)
2. Moon (Bowie Junior did good--a haunting and compelling film that stayed with me, even though I'm not usually fussed about films set in space)
3. Mesrine: L'instinct de mort (I watch so many thrillers that there had to be at least one in the top five and this was tightly structured, well-paced and with great acting from the charismatic Vincent Cassel)
4. The Boys Are Back (not just because it starred Clive, although he did a great job and it was by far the best of his three films released this year)
5. An Education (I was waiting for this to be released for a long time and it definitely lived up to my expectations)

Honourable mention: In the Loop, a) because although there are some wonderfully funny lines in An Education, it's really more of a drama than a comedy and although I tend to watch fewer comedies than dramas, I felt there ought to be at least one funny film highlighted, and b) because it was this film that got me into the TV series from which it was spun off, The Thick of It, which is now one of my favourite programmes.

And here is the full list of new films I've watched this year:
The Wild Bunch
The Reader
Paris, Je T'aime--DVD
In Bruges--DVD
The Machinist--DVD
Slumdog Millionaire
Milk
Notorious
The Curious Case of Benjamin Button
Frost/Nixon
Brassed Off--DVD
Dog Day Afternoon--Plane
Falling Down--Plane
Revolutionary Road
Barry Lyndon
Withnail & I--DVD
Doubt
Vertigo--DVD
North by Northwest--DVD
Gone with the Wind--DVD
The Wrestler
The Big Sleep--DVD
Anvil! The Story of Anvil
The Class
The Terminator--DVD
Gran Torino
The International
Gun Crazy
Watchmen
Chinatown
The Maltese Falcon
The Sting--DVD
Duplicity
Two Lovers
Genova
Fifty Dead Men Walking
Million Dollar Baby--DVD
Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf?--DVD
Les 400 Coups
Trainspotting--DVD
His Girl Friday--DVD
In the Loop
Sleuth--DVD
State of Play
Psycho--DVD
The Manchurian Candidate (1962)--DVD
Dial M for Murder--DVD
Sounds Like Teen Spirit
To Catch a Thief--DVD
Synecdoche, New York
The Birds--DVD
A Woman Cut in Two
Straw Dogs--DVD
Days of Heaven--DVD
Fireflies in the Garden
Star Trek
Pour Elle
Sunset Blvd--DVD
Looking for Eric
Sunshine Cleaning
Rudo y Cursi
Public Enemies
Heat--DVD
Point Break--DVD
Brüno
Good Will Hunting--DVD
The Private Lives of Pippa Lee
The Conversation--DVD
Moon
Once Upon a Time in the West
Life of Brian--DVD
The Taking of Pelham 1 2 3
Coco avant Chanel
Mesrine: L'instinct de mort
The Time Traveler's Wife
Hotel Rwanda--DVD
Inglourious Basterds
Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas
Valkyrie--DVD
Adam
Walk the Line--DVD
Mesrine: L'ennemi Public n° 1
The Hurt Locker
Broken Embraces
Away We Go
(500) Days of Summer
Play Misty for Me--DVD
Julie and Julia
Unforgiven--DVD
Guess Who's Coming to Dinner--DVD
The September Issue
Dorian Gray
The Soloist
Bellamy
The Way We Were--DVD
The Informant!
The Boys Are Back
Croupier--DVD
Chloe
Capitalism: A Love Story
The Imaginarium of Dr Parnassus
Roman Holiday--DVD
The Thomas Crown Affair--DVD
An Education
Citizen Kane
Glorious 39
Bright Star
Close My Eyes--DVD
The Brothers Bloom--DVD
The White Ribbon
Cracks
Avatar
Father of the Bride--TV
Le Promeneur du Champ de Mars--DVD