If you don’t understand the title here please check out this post and look there for the first part of the list, the _0’s. And now, the ten movies in the spots that end in the number 9.
99. Thirst (2009)
Directed by Park Chan-wook. Starring Song Kang-ho and Kim Ok-bin
I don’t kill anyone, you know.
I like to call movies like this “messterpieces,” movies that are kind of crazy and out of control but still fascinating. The final scene is at once hilarious and sad. And beautiful. Like the rest of the movie.
89. Brick (2005)
Directed by Rian Johnson. Starring Joseph Gordon-Levitt and Lukas Haas
No more of these informal chats! If you have a diciplinary issue with me, write me up or suspend me and I’ll see you at the Parent-Teacher conference.
The opposite of a messterpiece, Brick is supremely well constructed and thought through to the tiniest detail. The combination of noir and high school shouldn’t work but it does. An amazing debut.
79. Once (2006)
Directed by John Carney. Starring Glen Hansard and Markéta Irglová
What’s the Czech for “Do you love him”?
A small little musical that has more heart than most films. The romance is so believable and the moment they first sing together gives me goosebumps. It feels more like a documentary than a typical musical.
69. Hot Fuzz (2007)
Directed by Edgar Wright. Starring Simon Pegg and Nick Frost
You’re not seriously gonna believe this man, are you? Are you? HE ISN’T EVEN FROM ‘ROUND HERE!
Minutely constructed, this movie takes at least two viewings to get all the jokes because the punchline often comes before the setup. It also works really well as a buddy cop movie, thanks to those three guys up there. The chemistry and direction are spot on.
59. The Truman Show (1998)
Directed by Peter Weir. Starring Jim Carrey and Laura Linney
Somebody help me, I’m being spontaneous!
Either before its time or a harbinger of doom that we didn’t heed, The Truman Show is a wonderful film. I love the pathos and the clever little touches like the commercials and the man in the moon controlling Truman’s life like the moon controls the tides.
49. A History of Violence (2005)
Directed by David Cronenberg. Starring Viggo Mortensen and Maria Bello
You’re supposed to call me Dad. That’s what I am, your Dad.
Here I’ll declare that I don’t like gangster movies except for the ones that do something other than the rise-and-fall that you find in, say, Goodfellas. A History of Violence is one of those movies. Here’s a man escaped who gets dragged back into his old life, kicking and screaming. There’s even some of the good old-fashioned body horror that Cronenberg is known for in the action scenes and Viggo’s uncomfortable-ness in his own house and family.
39. My Darling Clementine (1946)
Directed by John Ford. Starring Henry Fonda and Victor Mature
Sure is a hard town for a fella to have a quiet game o’ poker in.
John Ford made a lot of westerns. This is the best of the straightforward examples. Henry Fonda is awesome as usual and Victor Mature is way cooler than Val Kilmer’s take on Doc Holliday. And there’s a fun bad guy role for Walter Brennan, who seems to be in every movie that John Ford ever made.
29. Hoop Dreams (1994)
Directed by Steve James. Featuring William Gates and Arthur Agee
That’s why when somebody say, “When you get to the NBA, don’t forget about me,” and that stuff. Well, I should’ve said to them, “If I don’t make it, don’t you forget about me.”
One of the saddest movies I’ve ever seen. You see these two boys go from thinking they’ll be the next NBA stars to an uncertain future. Whether it be medical or motivational, these problems are both universal and unfortunately specific.
19. His Girl Friday (1940)
Directed by Howard Hawks. Starring Cary Grant and Rosalind Russell
Walter, you’re wonderful, in a loathsome sort of way.
The fastest dialogue I’ve ever heard keeps the energy going from start to end. Cary Grant is king of the screwball comedy and Rosalind Russell is up to the challenge of keeping up and even getting ahead of him. Consistently rewatchable.
9. Alien (1979)
Directed by Ridley Scott. Starring Sigourney Weaver and Tom Skerritt
I can’t lie to you about your chances, but… you have my sympathies.
The ultimate haunted house movie… that’s also set in space. Sigourney Weaver faces off against a man in a big rubber suit, and it’s one of the scariest movies of all time. Ridley Scott understands the Jaws lesson of showing less monster to get more scares. With one great sequel (3), one horrible sequel (Aliens) and one crazy sequel (Resurrection), I can’t wait to see what Scott does in the prequel. The original is an astounding film.
Benefits of a Classical Education 
Too many new films!
You do have some picks I like a lot, though. Brick, Once, His Girl Friday, Alien and The Truman Show are all knockout titles. A History of Violence is good stuff and Thirst is intriguing. Still haven’t seen Hoop Dreams–I fail.
In other words, keep being awesome!
3/10ths are from before I was born. That should count for something. If you want old, go to yesterday’s post.
Thirst is fascinating. And you really do need to see Hoop Dreams.
I know John Carney….. personally. Jealous?
By the by, Bob is doing Hawks again so I’ll be very excited to see His Girl Friday with a crowd.
No, because I know him as well. YOU CAN’T ONE UP ME ON MY OWN BLOG!
I love the ones I’ve seen: Once, Truman Show and Alien. I reckon the others are as good. 🙂
Some of them certainly are! The others are, too.
With one great sequel (Aliens), one horrible sequel (3) and one crazy sequel (Resurrection), I’m cautiously optimistic to see what Scott does in the prequel.
Fix’d
Alien3 is like Thirst. Kind of crazy, doesn’t always work, but has a cool idea and goes for it. Unlike Aliens, which is generic to the max.
Yes, Aliens is generic. Because it started it’s genre.
And here I thought that Starship Troopers (the book released in 1956) popularized the whole space marine thing.
Alien – yay! Love that you’ve got it so high.