My Top 10 Movies of 2009

Ever since I posted “In Print: EW’s Best Films of the Year” two weeks ago, I’ve been thinking a lot about what my own Top 10 would look like. After a little while to think about it, I’ve chosen ten of my favorite. Before I dive into my Top 10, here are ten others that are worthy of honorable mention: (500) Days of Summer, Avatar, Away We Go, District 9, Duplicity, Notorious, Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen, Up in the Air, Whip It, and Wolverine.

10. Funny People
(Adam Sandler, Seth Rogen, Jonah Hill, Leslie Mann, Eric Bana; directed by Judd Apatow)
Ballas’ Bottomline: Sandler and Rogen were good; I always enjoy seeing comedy actors in serious roles; disagree with other critics that it was an off-film for Apatow





9. The Blind Side
(Sandra Bullock, Quinton Aaron; directed by John Lee Hancock)
Ballas’ Bottomline: Good enough to make a grown man tear up; lived up to my high expectations






8. Zombieland
(Woody Harrelson, Jesse Eisenberg, Emma Stone, Abigail Breslin; directed by Ruben Fleischer)
Ballas’ Bottomline: Much funnier than I expected; the foursome had good on-screen chemistry






7. I Love You, Man
(Paul Rudd, Jason Segal, Rashida Jones; directed by John Hamburg)
Ballas’ Bottomline: Rudd and Segal were hilarious; the ultimate buddy comedy






6. Terminator Salvation
(Christian Bale, Sam Worthington, Moon Bloodgood, Anton Yelchin; directed by McG)
Ballas’ Bottomline: Solid performance all around; made me forget about T3






5. Star Trek
(Chris Pine, Zachary Quinto, Zoe Zaldana, Eric Bana; directed by J.J. Abrams)
Ballas’ Bottomline: J.J Abrams strikes again; made a Trekker out of someone with no prior Star Trek knowledge






4. Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince
(Daniel Radcliffe, Emma Watson, Rupert Grint; directed by David Yates)
Ballas’ Bottomline: I never considered myself a big Harry Potter fan until I saw this film.






3. The Hangover
(Bradley Cooper, Ed Helms, Zach Galifianakis, Ken Jeong; directed by Todd Phillips)
Ballas’ Bottomline: I saw Hangover three times in theaters, and it was nearly as funny each time.






2. Slumdog Millionaire
(Dev Patel, Frieda Pinto; directed by Danny Boyle)
Ballas’ Bottomline: A real feel-good movie; easy to understand why it won so many Oscars






1. Gran Torino
(Clint Eastwood; directed by Clint Eastwood)
Ballas’ Bottomline: Clint Eastwood was great in his final acting role.

Weekend Wrap-Up: January 1-3

Top Grossing Films of the Weekend

1. Avatar - $68.3 million

2. Sherlock Holmes - $38.4 million

3. Alvin and the Chimpmunks: The Squeakqual - $36.6 million

4. It's Complicated - $18.7 million

5. The Blind Side - $12.7 million

Congratulations, James Cameron! Avatar has been the #1 movie for three straight weekends. At $1.02 billion and counting, Avatar is just the fifth movie ever to gross more than $1 billion worldwide. Cameron also becomes the only director to have two films reach this elite status. Cameron's other film to do so was 1997's Titanic with $1.8 billion. With second-place Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King at $1.13 billion, it's not hard to imagine Cameron shortly becoming the director of the two highest-grossing films of all time. If you haven't seen Avatar yet, I highly recommend it. Even if you don't love the storyline, the visual aspect is incredible. It's definitely worth ponying up an extra couple bucks to see this one in 3D or IMAX 3D.

Avatar combines live-action and digitally enhanced performance in what could quite possibly be the future of film. I'm not saying Avatar will win 11 Oscars like Titanic, but I think it's fairly safe to say we will hear James Cameron's name called on Oscar night. The 82nd Academy Awards are Sunday, March 7.