It looks like two horror icons will be working together on a television adaptation of The Knife Man. The exciting part is the harshly grim nature of the subject matter fits right into what David Cronenberg (Scanners, The Fly) and Sam Raimi (The Evil Dead, Drag Me To Hell) are both best known for.

The Knife Man follows John Hunter, a man from humble Scottish origins,  who rose to become the most famous anatomist and surgeon of the eighteenth century. In an age when operations were crude, extremely painful and often fatal, Hunter rejected medieval traditions based on ancient Greek Orthodoxy to forge a revolution in surgery founded on pioneering scientific experiments.

Hunter’s scientific genius led him to become a central figure of the Enlightenment, which led him to be revered by fellow scientists and to become friendly with high society. Unfortunately, Hunter’s experiments required human corpses, and most were not donated. His tireless quest for human corpses immersed him deep in the sinister world of body-snatching.

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2009 was a great year for films in general, particularly if you’re a fan of the sci-fi genre. The year also saw the return of a beloved franchise to the big screen as well as the latest film by one of our best modern directors. And even with the current condition of the country and the economy, audiences still managed to fill theaters and the movies enjoyed record breaking successes that hopefully will continue on into the new year.

Even with all the great movies in 2009, there were also some not so great ones. Sadly, there will always be some real bombs, but that’s to be expected. Fortunately, there were also quite a few standouts that helped keep us entertained, enthralled and excited about going to the movies in 2009.

As usual with lists of this type, I need to disclaim and say this is my list of what I felt were the best films of 2009. Nobody can see everything and opinions vary. Your list may be different.

Differing opinions and the freedom to express them are one of the things that make this country great. There’s always something new and different to see and do and we all get to choose what’s best for us. What movies we watch and enjoy is no exception.

That said, here then is my list, in no particular order, of the films I feel were the best of 2009.

Inglourious Basterds — 2009 saw the return of director Quentin Tarantino and the release of this amazing film. Some might consider it overlong or self-indulgent, but it showcases Tarantino’s filmmmaking skills at their finest and serves as an example of one filmmaker’s singular vision and immense storytelling craft.

This film provides the audience with something they never got from real life: closure. To finally see the Nazis, and in particular Hitler, get the ending they deserve is a testament to the power of this film and to its creator.

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With 2009 and the ‘aughts’ portion of the new millennium coming to a close, Chris and Matt decided to forgo the usual news and commentary for this special episode of The Flickcast and instead, focus on some of the great movies, tv, comics, games and all things geek that were the best of 2009. In addition, the boys also made some picks of one or two of the highlights of the entire ‘aughts’ decade.

Some of the topics discussed include Chris and Matt’s favorite movies of 2009 such as Star Trek, Inglourious Basterds, Zombieland and Drag Me to Hell as well as some of their favorite 2009 tv shows including Community, Cougar Town and continuing series such as Fringe and The Big Bang Theory. The boys also made some picks of their favorite comics and games of the year including Blackest Night, Old Man Logan, Modern Warfare 2 and Ultimate Alliance 2.

As always, if you have comments, questions, critiques or offers of sponsorship, feel free to hit us up in the comments, on Twitter and at Facebook, MySpace or via email.

Rather than tell you what I think I should, I decided to come clean on this list. For instance, I am aware that A Serious Man might technically and artistically be a cut above some of these, but I just didn’t enjoy it as much. I’ll also preface this by saying since I was covering most of the main-stream movies this year, there were a lot of independent movies I didn’t see, so they may not appear on the list. The film title links to a review when applicable.

Up In The Air – Buoyed by a trio of fantastic actors, I found this movie to be utterly charming. Directed by Jason Reitman (Thank You For Smoking, Juno), the movie is touching, prescient, original, and funny. Vera Farmiga, George Clooney and Anna Kendrick all received Golden Globe acting nominations.  George Clooney’s depiction of a traveling man who keeps any type of human interaction at arm’s length is effortless, and is a joy to watch.

A Single Man – This film is still in limited release, so many people have not seen it, but I was absolutely blown away by designer Tom Ford’s directorial debut. He brings an artistic eye to the story of a gay man in 1962 who has recently lost a live-in companion. Heavy stuff, and Colin Firth gives a truly amazing performance that will break your heart.

Julianne is a stunning aging beauty who longs to have a relationship with the emotionally unavailable George. Universally relatable to anyone who has ever been in love, or experienced unrequited love. Seamlessly shifting from sepia, black and white, and color, the film is gorgeous. Beautifully scored by Abel Korzeniowsky as well.

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Cult actors have come and gone throughout the years cinema has been around, but one man manages to stay in the spotlight, and the hearts, of fans everywhere. That man is Bruce Campbell. During his career, Campbell has written a series of books, directed, acted, and even done some cologne commercials, but he never seems to really fade away.

We got a chance to talk to Bruce Campbell recently about a series of things including where his character Sam Axe is headed in the current season of Burn Notice, what his thoughts were on Sam Raimi’s Drag Me To Hell, and some info on his newest project, Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs.

Check out the interview after the jump. You can catch Burn Notice Thursdays on the USA Network.

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Welcome to Episode 10 of The Flickcast. We’re very happy to have reached this milestone and thank you, the readers and listeners, for making it happen. We appreciate you. Okay, enough pats on the back, let’s get on with the show.

Previously on The Flickcast, Chris, Matt and Christina discussed various topics including a Buffy the Vampire Slayer movie without Joss Whedon, the reboot of Flight of the Navigator, and the merits of Terminator: Rise of the Machines.

This week the team is back once again and ready for action. In this episode, they discuss a broad range of topics including the Twilight phenomenon, the MTV Movie Awards, the success of Pixar’s Up, the merits of Drag Me to Hell, some cool Deadpool and E3 news, Danny McBride’s new movie project, the Megan Fox as Wonder Woman “controversy”, who we think should star in a Wonder Woman movie and that Matt, for some reason, doesn’t seem to like Jessica Biel or Hallle Berry.

Plus, there’s some new picks this week including Matt’s favorite new horror movie, Drag Me to Hell, one of Christina’s favorite movies, Closer, and Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare, Chris’ favorite video game where you get to kill terrorists, drive fast, shoot machine guns from an airplane and blow stuff up.

As always, if you have comments, questions, critiques or offers of sponsorship, feel free to hit us up in the comments, on Twitter and at Facebook, MySpace or via email.

Far lost are the “classic” horror movies where you actually cheer for the protagonist. These days, with films like A Haunting in Connecticut or the Uninvited, not only do you not root for the main character being tormented, in some cases, you’re rooting for their death. We don’t get the typical strong hero like Nancy from Nightmare on Elm Street. These days its all about killing nameless teens, which is fine, but something fresh is always welcome. That’s exactly what Sam Raimi brings to the table with Drag me to Hell.

From the moment the last trailer hits, you get treated to a classic horror movie experience, starting with the classic Universal Pictures animation, going all the way through this thrill ride of horror and comedy. This is the type of film that begs to be seen in a drive in theater, or in my case, at midnight showing full of other fanboys. Many critics are calling this film the fourth film in the Evil Dead series, and they are all 100% correct. If you replace “spooky cabin in the woods” with “evil gypsy”, this could very easily be in the same universe, if not the same timeline.

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