Movie Math

I have a class to prepare for tonight so naturally I thought now would be a great time to make my top ten list. I used a careful scientific procedure to determine my tops and bottoms. First, I checked online to find all the movies that were released in 2009. Then I highlighted the ones I saw and put a star, left it blank, or a down arrow. Following that process there was a clear bottom ten but I had to go through and give double stars to my favorites so I could narrow down my top ten.

In 2009 I saw 59 movies. I averaged a little more than a movie a week. (I think Christmas break helped me boost the average.) Of the 59 movies 22 were targeted towards kids/tweens. (No, New Moon did not make the list.) The remaining 37 movies had nearly a 1:1 ratio. For every favorable movie I watched there was one that was unfavorable or so-so. The same ratio appeared when I analyzed the kid flicks. Overall, I'd say I enjoyed 2009's year in film. So here goes the list:

2009 Best Films

1. The Blind Side
2. (500) Days of Summer
3. Away We Go
4. Capitalism: A Love Story
5. The Proposal
6. Julie & Julia
7. State of Play
8. Sherlock Holmes
9. Star Trek
10. Invictus/End Game (Technically, two movies but they are both set in South Africa so I figured I could group them together.)

Honorable mentions go to: Up in the Air, Avatar, and He's Just Not that Into You. I figured if I write them small I can get away with adding them. Renumbering the list to a top 13 just doesn't sound right.

2009 Worst Films

1. The Invention of Lying
2. The Ugly Truth
3. Public Enemies
4. Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen
5. Ghosts of Girlfriends Pasts
6. Obsessed
7. Push
8. Duplicity
9. Taking of Pelham 123
10. The Soloist

2009 Best Kid/Tween films

1. Up
2. Where the Wild Things Are
3. Harry Potter and the Half Blood Prince
4. The Princess and the Frog
5. Monsters V. Aliens
6. Shorts
7. Ice Age Dawn of the Dinosaurs
8. Ponyo
9. Race to Witch Mountain
10. Hannah Montana the Movie (I really liked the little dance song.)

2009 Worst Kid/Tween movies

1. Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs
2. Land of the Lost
3. Coraline (This movie was freaky and a lot scary)
4. G-Force (I have an unhealthy relationship with guinea pigs. There are about 15 buried in my mom's back yard)
5. Imagine That (Technically, I didn't see this movie but I "bought" it from Red Box because I forgot I checked it out and stuck it in my DVD player, so 25 days and dollars later I decide maybe I'll watch it and sure enough -- nothin. Blank DVD. So it makes my worst list by default.)

So there you have it. I didn't see any of the lame raunchy comedies that seem to be all the rage but still make critics' top tens. I like mainstream but I'm not afraid of mainstream/indie. I absolutely HATE horror or scary movies. I do not like to be scared. When I am I do stupid things. That's how I got Dudley.

Here are a few movies that were released in 2009 that I didn't see but want to:

Bright Star

The Boys are Back

Whip It!

Fantastic Mr. Fox

Adam

Food Inc.

and Dance Flick (I'm a sucker for a good parody.)