Chris Long's Top Theatrical and Disc Releases of 2009

Though it takes a lot longer than a year to get perspective on a film or a group of films, the last 12 months have reinforced my belief that 2008 was a hell of a year in world cinema. I look back at my Top 10 list from last year and my opinion of the best films has, for the most part, continued to grow. "Birdsong," "Still Life," "Wendy and Lucy," and "The Wrestler" are all movies I continue to savor and I still think that "Iron Man" is the best comic book movie of the CGI era.

The barren wasteland of 2009 has given me plenty of time to appreciate these gems from last year. The past 12 month produced disappointments from the auteurs (The Coen Bros., Michael Haneke, Lars von Trier, Todd Solondz) and didn't even yield a single enjoyable blockbuster film.

Even worse was the sorry collection of documentaries that hit American screens this year, a lack made keener by the bumper crop of 2008 docs. Agnes Varda's brilliant "Beaches of Agnes" is not just the best documentary of the year but also the best film (by a lot) but beyond that the pickings are fairly slim. "Collapse" was a hell of a compelling feature-length interview, and "Tyson" was a creepy-funny portrait of a bright yet clueless man but after that… what? There were so many great documentaries last year, I offered a separate list of fifteen wonderful films. This year, I couldn't tell you what I'd place fourth. "Herb and Dorothy?" OK, that was a lot of fun. "Food, Inc.?" Yeah, that was scary. But I doubt I'll be thinking about either of them a year from now. And then? Don't get me started on "The Cove."

At least Jim Jarmusch delivered with his criminally maligned riddle that only an idiot would try to solve "The Limits of Control." "Police, Adjective" proved that the so-called Romanian New Wave wasn't just a two year wonder. And we got two damned funny movies in "The Maid" and the potty-mouth perfection of "In the Loop." Herzog's double dip in feature filmmaking won't make anybody forget about his glory days, but they both turned out a whole lot better than expected. Herzog remaking "The Bad Lieutenant?" With Nic Freaking Cage? It wasn't much more than a good chuckle, but coaxing a good performance from Nic Cage has to go down as one of Herzog's most improbable achievements yet.

And, of course, there's Agnes Varda who, at the age of 80, may have just made her best movie. What a miracle she is.

CHRIS'S TOP TEN THEATRICAL RELEASES OF 2009:

Beaches of Agnes (Varda)
The Limits of Control (Jarmusch)
Police, Adjective (Porumboiu)
The Maid (Silva)
Sugar (Boden/Fleck)
Summer Hours (Assayas)
In the Loop (Iannucci)
Revanche (Spielmann)
Coraline (Selick)
Jerichow (Petzold)/Collapse (C Smith)

Honorable Mention: My Son, My Son What Have Ye Done? (Herzog),
Trash Humpers (Korine), Crazy Heart (Cooper), Crank: High Voltage (Neveldine/Taylor), Leslie, My Name is Evil (Harkema), The Hurt Locker (Bigelow), Moon (D Jones), You, the Living (Andersson), Tyson (Toback), Bad Lieutenant: Port of Call New Orleans (Herzog)

On DVD, Criterion provided three godsends with a proper region 1 release of "Jeanne Dielman" and two luminous Blu-Ray versions of two of the most beautiful films ever made: "Last Year at Marienbad" and "Playtime." Milestone continued to bat 1.000 with their lovingly produced release of the long-neglected Kent MacKenzie gem "The Exiles." I can't think of a more thorough and exhaustive DVD collection this year.

"Wendy and Lucy" isn't just a great movie, but Oscilloscope released it with several short experimental films by Bard faculty filmmakers that would never see the light of day otherwise. Even though the transfer was indifferent, this unexpected windfall was one of the happier DVD events of the year. Eclipse's Rossellini also opened my eyes: the director's later films, his (gasp) "television" movies are actually some of his most vital work.

CHRIS'S TOP TEN DVD/BLU-RAYS OF 2009:

Jeanne Dielman, 23, Quai du Commerce, 1080 Bruxelles (Criterion, Akerman 1975)
Last Year At Marienbad – Blu-Ray (Criterion, Resnais 1961)
Playtime Blu-Ray (Criterion, Tati 1967)
The Exiles (Milestone, MacKenzie 1961)
Made in U.S.A. (Criterion, Godard 1966)
2 or 3 Things I Know About Her (Criterion, Godard 1966)
Rossellini's History Films: Renaissance and Enlightenment (Eclipse/Criterion)
Wendy and Lucy (Oscilloscope, Reichardt 2008)
Trouble the Water (Zeitgeist, Deal/Lessin 2008)
From the East (Icarus, Akerman 1993)

HONORABLE MENTION: The Three Stooges Collection: Volumes 5, 6, and 7 (Sony Pictures), Dusan Makavejev: Free Radical (Eclipse/Criterion), Science is Fiction (Criterion, Painleve), Philippe Garrel x2 (Zeitgeist, 1989), Dreams with Sharp Teeth (Docurama, Nelson 2008), The Golden Age of Television Boxed Set (Criterion),