Hanway's 2009 Movie List

Compiled 1/2/10 by Don Hanway (105 releases seen to date); based on personal impact: intellectual/emotional/sensual/spiritual.

1. GOODBYE SOLO - Winston-Salem taxi driver befriends suicidal client
2. BRIGHT STAR - the brief, intense love of John Keats & Fanny Brawne 
3. AN EDUCATION - Carey Mulligan shines as smart girl seduced by charmer 
4. WENDY & LUCY - young woman traveler loses her only companion 
5. *THE STONING OF SORAYAH M. - religion used to do horrific injustice in Iran 
6. ADAM - young man in love & peril as he lives with Asperger's Syndrome 
7. UP IN THE AIR - smooth "termination engineer" discovers limits of freedom 
8, AVATAR - James Cameron creates visually stunning world of sci-fi adventure 
9. FOOD, INC. - expose of America's corporate food system & its effects 
10. AN UNLIKELY WEAPON - inspiring bio of other great photog named Adams 
11. INVICTUS - wily hero Mandela uses rugby cup to unite his divided nation 
12. MOON - lonely astronaut learns terrible truth at his lunar outpost 
13. STAR TREK - J.J. Abrams shows how crew was formed, with fresh cast 
14. *INGLORIOUS BASTERDS - Tarentino's revisionist fantasy, payback to Nazis 
15. THIS IS IT - impressive close-up view of Michael Jackson's genius at work 
16. BROTHERS - young officer brings war trauma home, shakes up his family 
17. JULIE & JULIA - Meryl is lively apostle of French cooking, inpires American 
18. *THE HURT LOCKER - danger is addictive for bomb disposal expert in Iraq 
19. A SERIOUS MAN - Coen brothers do modern Job story in absurdist comedy 
20. AMERICAN CASINO - how the bubble was manipulated, and who got hurt

HONORABLE MENTION: AWAY WE GO, THE ROAD, SUNSHINE CLEANING, THE BLIND SIDE, THE GREAT BUCK HOWARD, COCO BEFORE CHANEL, EVERY LITTLE STEP, EVERLASTING MOMENTS, ANVIL: THE STORY OF ANVIL

*Movies marked with asterisk include graphic violence.

NOTES: 

1) Worthy 2008 films seen too late for last year's list: SYNECDOCHE N.Y., STRANDED, I'VE LOVED YOU SO LONG.  

2) 2009 films not seen yet: PRECIOUS, THE MESSENGER, BROKEN EMBRACES, A SINGLE MAN.

Published by permission:  http://www.fatherhanway.com

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