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2009 was a great year for movies! A man who ages backward, a bubbly shopaholic, a frog princess, wizards, zombies, aliens, and vampires arrived on our screens to provide some much-needed escapade from the realities of this economic recession.

Out of the many films of the year, the best and most memorable ones are, in no particular order:

"The must watch movie of 2009"

1. Avatar:

THE must watch movie everyone is talking about. It really does live up to the hype, with breathtaking scenery and CGI effects, a touching storyline, and a good cast. Watching the movie made me feel like going over to Pandora and living with the natives for life. How can anyone resist floating mountains and flying jellyfish?

2. Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince:

Combining fantasy, teenage romance, and morality issues together into one engaging film, this is by far the best Harry Potter movie. The conflicts faced by Draco Malfoy and Professor Slughorn were depicted perfectly, allowing us to feel the anguish and uncertainty they were experiencing. The movie doesn’t lose touch of its magical feel though. Loved it!

3. Up:

Pixar does it again. This is another great movie that is funny yet sad. The animation’s great, but most importantly, the story of an old man’s realization of his childhood dream touched millions of hearts. Lesson learnt? Don’t put off your dreams until it’s too late, but better late than never.

4. Zombieland:

Laugh-out-loud zombie movie. Listing out the numbered rules, the main character tells us how he survives in a world infested by zombies. Amidst all that gore and blood, he manages to find true friends and love, all in a very comical manner. The movie manages to turn scenes of vicious attacking zombies into hilarious moments.  Thumbs up!

Okay, the list of best movies can go on and on, including films like “Sherlock Holmes”, “The Curious Case of Benjamin Buttons”, “Bedtime Stories”, “Transformers 2: Revenge of the Fallen”, and “17 Again”. However, moving on to the worst movies of the year:

"Abs were the movie's main attraction"

1. New Moon:

When a movie’s main attraction is some guy’s abs, you know there’s something wrong. Taylor Lautner may have an amazing body, but it still can’t save this movie from being a waste of time. Sorry to the legions of (largely female) fans out there, but the plot can basically be summarized into 20 minutes and that whole thing about sparkling vampires is just ridiculous. Only redeeming part is the Volturi scene with Dakota Fanning acting as a wickedly evil vampire.

2. I Love You, Beth Cooper:

Pointless movie about a nerd’s best night with a cheerleader. Enough that the characters are dumb, the whole storyline is completely devoid of any winning points. Can’t believe I wasted RM7 for this.

3. He’s Just Not That Into You:

I don’t even remember what this movie is about. All I know is a bunch of women having relationship problems, which sounded nice on paper but turned out to be super boring on screen. Two hours of crying, complaining and silent fuming did not give me a good time.

4.  District 9:

Even though this was applauded by many critics, frankly it just gave me a headache. I get that it’s very meaningful and everything, but they don’t have to make it so painful to watch. I guess it’s just not my kind of movie.

I didn’t watch that many bad movies, but from what I heard, “Jennifer’s Body”, “Treasure Hunter”, and some others also belong to the movie junkyard of 2009. Hope that this year will be filled with more good movies!