What We Learned from a Decade at the Movies

In a year when Avatar, District 9, Zombieland and Paranormal Activity were plausible candidates for a 10-best list, and the small sensitive dramas that used to get critics' awards and Oscar nominations felt repetitive or sluggish, even a moviegoer who prefers caviar to beef jerky has to admit that action films are smarter than ever while indie films are close to kaput. Looking at a worthy picture like Brothers or The Messenger, I wonder why every political and emotional point has to be hammered home, and at such a poky pace. Can movies show real people getting into interesting trouble, providing nuance and astonishment? Since the Sundance-style drama is, basically, a TV movie, why can't it be as good as the best TV shows? Instead of, say, Two Lovers, the James Gray movie that finished in the top 10 of the 2009 Village Voice critics' poll, I'll take any episode of Mad Men or Big Love. And I'm not alone; there are many film critics who are, in their spare time, TV appreciators. In serial drama TV gives creators more freedom than films do, and gets more impressive results. That may be the movie message of this first decade of the 21st century: If you want to see amazing spectacles, go to the multiplex. If you want to see some heightened, smarter, more dangerous version of your actual life, stay home.

See the top 10 movie performances of 2009.