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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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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This week on The Flickcast, Chris and Matt again welcome recurring guest host Elisabeth Rappe and launch into a whole slew of new topics including Avengers casting and story news, The Road, potential Captain America actors, feature film adaptations of Magnum P.I. and ALF, films that should and should not be on Blu-ray and the films of Michael Mann.

Chris, Matt and Elisabeth also made some cool picks this week including Elisabeth’s pick of the Spanish thriller Alatriste, Matt’s pick of the Sly Stallone starrer Daylight and Chris’ pick of the Stanley Kubrick classic Dr. Strangelove, featuring George C. Scott, Peter Sellers, Peter Sellers and Peter Sellers. See the movie to get that joke.

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.

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This week we will be looking at the weekend box office as well as the 5-day holiday, which includes totals for Wednesday through Sunday. There were some interesting developments regarding the international box office scene as well, so this will be a jumbo sized report. New releases barely made a blip, it was the holdovers that led this weekend to the highest grossing Thanksgiving weekend ever.

The Twilight Saga:  New Moon continued to dominate on the domestic and international side. Playing on over 4,000 screens, it grossed $42.5 Million domestically. Over the five day stretch, it grossed $66 Million. No matter your thoughts on the movie, you have to admit we are witnessing a cultural phenomenon unfold in real-time.  Its domestic cumulative take for 10 days now stands at $230.7 Million.

Nipping at the heels of New Moon was The Blind Side. The movie grossed $40.1 Million for the weekend, and $57.5 Million for the five day, with that weekend total being higher than its opening weekend total of $34 Million. Wide releases rarely see an increase in ticket sales from one weekend to the next so this is unusual. This movie is getting exceptionally positive word of mouth, which is bringing more people into the theaters — a topic we discussed on the most recent edition of The Flickcast podcast.

The Blind Side drove over the $100 Million mark as well. Not too shabby for a family friendly film made for around $30 Million. I’m also starting to hear the “O” word casually mentioned regarding this film, as in Oscar. Sandra Bullock seems to be edging her way into consideration for best actress.

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The Road is the film adaptation of the Pulitzer winning novel written by Cormac McCarthy, who also wrote No Country For Old Men and All The Pretty Horses.  Our fascination with what a post-apocalyptic world might be like has been fodder for countless books, television shows, and movies. When I was in college, I was required to read George R. Stewart’s novel Earth Abides. Excruciatingly detailed, the book gave me anxiety attacks for months, as it told the story of a grad student looking for other people who may have survived a plague that wipes out the entire population.

As he traverses the land, the minute changes that he observes in the landscape and appearance of the United States are painstakingly recorded. More recently, The History Channel presented Life After People, which depicts what changes would occur to the earth’s ecological systems and the infrastructure we leave in our wake. Quite frankly, this type of topic scares the crap out of me.

Now we have The Road, which is the harrowing story of a father (Viggo Mortensen) and son (Kodi-Smit McPhee) trying to make their way across the country by foot after some unidentified event has wiped out most of mankind. The wife (Charlize Theron) is shown only in flashbacks. The threat of a harsh winter that they most certainly won’t survive serves as the impetus for their journey southward.  There is a vague possibility of finding other people, but it is based on faith and hope, rather than concrete knowledge of their existence.

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Once again we visit the post-apocalyptic wasteland of director John Hillcoat’s adaptation of Cormac McCarthy’s Pulitzer-winning best-seller The Road — in the form of a new trailer courtesy of Dimension Films. Previously, we brought you the first trailer for this movie, which showed more of an overview of what happened and sets up the journey a bit.

This one features more of the relationship between the father (Viggo Mortensen) and the son (Kodi Smitt McPhee) and delves a bit more into the perilous journey they are on after civilization is virtually wiped out. If you’re not familiar with the novel of the movie, this trailer should help you realize what kind of movie this is and, more importantly, why you should consider seeing it — regardless of its potentially disturbing and “downer” themes.

Be sure to check back as the film gets closer to release for a full review of The Road. In the meantime, take a look at this new trailer after the jump. The Road, directed by John Hillcoat and starring Viggo Mortensen, Kodi Smit McPhee, Robert Duvall, Charlize Theron and Guy Pearce, opens everywhere on November 25th.

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We got quite a bit of different stuff sent to us here at The Flickcast. Some of it is pretty cool like trailers for upcoming movies, game videos, comics previews and things of that nature. We also get a lot of movie poster art sent to us and some of it is also pretty cool. Case in point are the two new “official’ posters for The Road and Youth in Revolt.

Both poster feature what so many do these days, large pictures of the principal actors and a clever or meaningful tag line. Also, both are different than previous posters that have been released for these films. In addition, on the poster for The Road, Mortensen is clearly holding a gun so you don’t think this is just a movie about people talking and, curiously, the names of the writer and director appear again in larger print at the bottom of the poster so they are clearly visible. This is, of course, an obvious attempt to make sure that people know who they are — particularly those who nominated and vote on the Oscars.

The Youth in Revolt Poster, at least to me, reminds me of the poster for Stanley Kubrick’s film Lolita, which I’ve included after the jump for comparison. I’m not sure what the marketing department at Dimension/Weinstein was trying to go for, but obviously some of them are Kubrick fans.

We’ve talked about these two films here before and you can expect a review of each of these films closer to their release dates. Until then, be sure to check out the larger versions of both posters after the jump. The Road opens on November 25th and Youth In Revolt opens on January 8th, 2010.

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Twilight author Stephenie Meyer’s movie machine keeps humming along as another of her novels has been grabbed by producers Nick Wechsler, Steve and Paula Mae Schwartz. The trio, fresh from adapting Cormac McCarthy’s The Road to the big screen, reportedly used their own funds to acquire Meyer’s The Host, her first adult novel. In addition, the producers have tapped Andrew Niccol (Gattica, The Truman Show) to pen the script and direct.

In case you’re only familiar with Meyer’s Twilight novels, The Host follows a similar pattern and is a bittersweet love story set in a near future Earth which has been assimilated by an alien species of benevolent parasites. These creatures call themselves “Souls.” One such soul, the Wanderer, is fused with a dying human named Melanie Stryder, in an attempt to locate the last pocket of surviving humans on Earth.

According to the report, Meyer had, in the past, refused all offers to bring The Host to the big screen. But apparently, these producers came to the table with the right combination of deal and vision for the project which finally made her agree. Having never read The Host, nor any of the Twilight novels, all I can say is this must be good news for those of you who have. Judging from fan’s reaction to those books and films, I have little doubt The Host will meet with similar success — especially if the film somehow features Robert Pattinson and Kristen Stewart.

Summit releases the second adaptation of Meyers’ vampire series, The Twilight Saga: New Moon, on Nov. 20.

We’ve been waiting for this one for some time and now, thanks to the folks over at Trailer Addict, here’s the first trailer for the feature film adaptation of Cormac McMcarthy’s novel The Road. The film, which is directed by John Hillcoat and stars Viggo Mortensen, Kodi Smit McPhee, Robert Duvall, Chalize Theron and Guy Pearce, will be released in October.

It tells the epic story of a father and son’s journey across a post-apocalyptic wastland after the earth was blasted by an unnamed cataclysm that destroyed civilization and most of the life on earth. As a big fan of the novel, this trailer make me very interested in seeing the film. It looks great. Check it out.