Fantastic Mr. Fox (2009)

Based on the book by Roald Dahl, director Wes Anderson constructs a breezy, stop-action playland — like those old “Frosty the Snowman” specials — where his family of foxes and other furry creatures act with the imagination of a child’s favorite toy.

d: Wes Anderson | imdb.com | trailer | “Charlie Rose”
You cussin’ with me? | Whack bat | Dig. | Latin roll call

The Road (2009)

Director John Hillcoat paints the end of the world in brown and gray, a bleak terrain of cannibals and thieves, starvation and terror. But Viggo Mortensen and his son (Kodi Smit-McPhee) carry the fire, their relationship a moving tribute to the last of humanity.

d: John Hillcoat | imdb.com | trailer | You never killed a man ...
Bad guys. | He’s a god. | We did good. | They are going to kill us.

The Blind Side (2009)

Based on the book by Michael Lewis, spunky Memphis mama Sandra Bullock (in a one-note performance) and her family adopt a black kid, and football success ensues in a big-budget version of a Hallmark Hall of Fame movie. Michael Oher is reduced to a mute.

d: John Lee Hancock | imdb.com | trailer | New room | Lunch

Bad Lieutenant: Port of Call New Orleans (2009)

Nicolas Cage gives a singular performance as a wonderfully unhinged cop investigating a multiple homicide. His personal life is a high-wire balancing act — Vicodin, cocaine, prostitute girlfriend and gambling on college football.

d: Werner Herzog | imdb.com | trailer

The Men Who Stare at Goats (2009)

George Clooney, Jeff Bridges (wonderful as another version of the Dude), Kevin Spacey and Stephen Lang are members of the New Earth Army, an experimental Army program centered on parapsychology in an enjoyable war comedy with little payoff.

d: Grant Heslov | imdb.com | trailer | the book | the documentary

The Fourth Kind (2009)

Milla Jovovich’s performance as Dr. Abigail Tyler — a psychologist in Nome, Alaska, who was abducted by aliens — is intercut with footage of the real Tyler and her patients’ freakout sessions. Except none of it is true, and either way, it’s not scary.

d: Olatunde Osunsanmi | imdb.com | trailer | It’s just not true.