As I looked over my list of the best movies of 2009, it suddenly struck me: where are all the women on screen? Except for Nora Ephron's Julie & Julia and Jia Zhang-ke's 24 City, this is a chronicle of lost, deluded, damaged, pathological men. Why is that? Has the chauvinism of the film industry run amok? Is this list a symptom of my own jaundiced personality? A knee-jerk reaction to the threat to masculinity posed by Sarah Palin? I don't have an answer to such questions, but these are my choices.
10. The Baader-Meinhof Complex
This account of the decade-long reign of terror of these pseudo-Leninist loonies left me torn between my impulse to overthrow the establishment and my revulsion at what idiots they were. Perhaps wisely, director Uli Edel doesn't reflect much on this dilemma — his jagged narrative rockets along like a Godard film without a subtext, propelled by violence and murky motives. Why did they do it? Was it to make up for the Nazi crimes of the past? Was it an excuse to engage in mindless anarchy? Bruno Ganz as a police investigator provides a quiet voice of reason that's mostly ignored.
Related:
Review: The Road, Review: Brothers, Review: Crazy Heart, More 
- Review: The Road
John Hillcoat doesn't stray from Cormac McCarthy's Road For those who found the Coen Brothers' adaptation of Cormac McCarthy's No Country for Old Men too lighthearted, John Hillcoat's relentlessly faithful version of the author's post-apocalyptic Pulitzer-winning novel might hit the spot.
- Review: Brothers
Operation Enduring Freedom seems to have replaced Vietnam as Hollywood's go-to military quagmire from which to dredge gut-wrenching meditations on the psychological carnage of war.
- Review: Crazy Heart
Every great actor has at least one washed-up, alcoholic, award-winning-country-singer role in him. For Jeff Bridges, it's "Bad" Blake, a former C&W legend now reduced to playing bowling alleys and dive bars in tiny towns in the Southwest.
- Oscar predictions 2010
After years of shrinking audiences and low-grossing Best Picture nominees, the Academy this year is hedging its bets.
- Hanging with The Hurt Locker
Whatever happens at that other film awards gala in Hollywood next month, The Hurt Locker solidified its hold on indie-minded critics this past weekend when it dominated the Boston Society of Film Critics (BSFC) third annual awards dinner. That film's star, Jeremy Renner, was on hand at the Brattle Theatre on Saturday night to accept his Best Actor award, which the BSFC announced back in December.
- Oscar predictions 2010: Locker is a lock
Except for some pipe-dream scenarios in which the 10-nominee/weighted-voting system could turn out a victory for Inglourious Basterds or some other dark horse, everyone concedes that this year's winner for Best Picture and just about every other significant award is — The Hurt Locker ! How did this happen?
- Marwencol and Jafar Panahi star at Boston Society of Film Critics awards
From Boston to Oscar.
- The laid-back intricacies of Hong Sangsoo at the HFA
"Your sincerity needs its own form," a film professor advises a student in prolific Korean director Hong Sangsoo's most recent work, OKI'S MOVIE. "Form will take you to the truth. Telling it like it is won't get you there."
- Review: The Illusionist (2011)
Sylvain Chomet and Jacques Tati work their magic.
- Review: Blue Valentine
Look to the sky above Scranton, Pennsylvania. There's a rainbow nestling among the downtown buildings as, below, a city bus crosses in traffic. Can we assume it's conferring a benediction on the young man and woman who, moments later, meet adorably on that very bus and, despite her suspicions, embark on a torrid romance?
- VHS is the new vinyl
I was a VHS addict. In the '80s and '90s, I practically lived at the video store, renting every movie I could get my hands on. As my obsession with movies grew, renting was not enough; they needed to be mine. I amassed a few hundred videocassettes, and I was proud to own each one of them.
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