And so the end is here and I unveil my final movie. Imagine that sentence with Sinatra singing and you’ll get what I was aiming at. 25 days of counting down the top movies of 2009 has led us somewhat circuitously to this day. Only one remains, the final one, the best movie of 2009. Many favourites have fallen by the way side and if any of you have been trying to guess what it could be, waiting with baited breath well then the good news is the wait is over. The best movie of 2009 is…

Okay technically today’s choice is a 2008 movie but for the sake of clarity it meets the criteria having being released in January 2009 in Ireland. A great heart-warming master-class in cinema it deservedly walked away with many of the top honours in last years awards season. The second best movie of 2009 is…

I’m a sci-fi nut, love it to bits, and yet in my list of top films ever sci-fi fares poorly. Whether I’m just too picky or whether there are genuinely few epic sci-fi movies I don’t know. What I do know is that 2009 was a great year for sci-fi and today’s choice reflects just that. Worthy of mention with the likes of Silent Running, Blade Runner, Solaris and 2001: A Space Odyssey today’s choice reflects the ability of movies to make you think and wonder about ideas bigger than yourself. The third best movie released in Ireland in 2009 is…

It pains me greatly to put today’s choice at four instead of one. As soon as I saw it I felt about 10 again and realised why I love cinema so much. It brought me back to when I saw Jurassic Park, Star wars, and Raiders of the Lost Ark for the first time and evoked childhood memories the likes of which few movies can. For almost 2 hours I sat enthralled, moth agape and starred in wonder at the majesty that unfolded onscreen. It was only in hindsight that I looked at this movie critically and saw it’s flaws, but then I went back and saw it again, and again, and again, and each time I forgot the flaws and loved that I had chosen to spend my time watching this particular movie. Logic tells me it shouldn’t be one and like for one of the protagonists logic almost … There’s more →

Today’s movie is not quite the masterpiece everyone was waiting for but it was a truly brilliant, truelly delightful piece of cinema. Deeply flawed but equally charming it heralded a fine return to form for one of cinema’s favourite sons. Number 6 is…

Today’s movie was an unexpected treasure on it’s release earlier this year. A fresh and inventive comedy it stood head and shoulders above the rest and it gave us simply the greatest cameo of this or any other year. My choice for the 7th best movie of 2009 is…

Exactly one week to Christmas and one week till my number one movie of 2009 is unveiled. Today sees another American movie made in 2008 but released in Ireland in 2009 enter the countdown. A critics and awards favourite this could prove to be the final swansong of a legend. The 8th best movie of 2009 is…

Today brings us to my one and only foreign language film in the Top 25, well I say one and only but there is another yet to come that has large parts not in English. This film proves that great cinema, strong story-telling and indeed good old-fashioned scares are not subject to the constraints of language. A true fright at 9 is…

And now the games can begin. At last we have reached the top ten, the ten movies that I believe best reflect the raw power and visual majesty that was cinema in 2009. Not all of these will be critic’s darlings, but then many times what we like and what “professionals” think is best does not match. Instead I offer a top ten that will have some critically excellent movies and other that were just so enjoyable that it would be a crime to exclude them. And at 10 it is…

Today’s choice misses out on Top 10 status by the narrowest of margins. An epic tale of conflict, both external and internal, today’s movie will be high on the honours list when the Oscars come calling in February. Number 11 is…

We’re past the half-way stage in this countdown and we’re getting down to the nitty-gritty. Each one of the movies left is cinema at it’s absolute finest. Today brings us to another of the movies to score big nominations in the last Oscar ceremony. A monumental story and a superb film it absolutely deserves inclusion in my list. The 12th best movie of 2009 is…

The top ten are fast approaching and today brings me to the second of the animated movies that feature on this list. A little different from most and from a director unfamiliar with animation it was a brave and risky move that paid off, when it had no right to. The 13th best movie of 2009 is…

Number fourteen brings me to the first of the last batch of Oscar winners. A movie that has moved up and down this list every time I tried to sort this thing out, I absolutely had to have it in here. Right now I’m inclined to place it higher but the list was finalised 2 weeks ago. So here it is. And in at 14 it is…

14 days till Christmas and we reach my 15th favourite movie of 2009. I was profoundly moved by this film last month, and seeing one of Britain’s finest actors ever re-capture his staggering brilliance was an event worth shouting from the rooftops. Number 15 on my list is…