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With the summer movie season of 2009 drawing to a close, it’s time to look back at the ten films that made us laugh, cry, howl and above all entertain us. Now bear in mind while films like The Hurt Locker and Moon saw release over this summer, they won’t be included here as this focuses more on the blockbusters than it does some films that had play at festivals. Enough babble, onto the films.

10. GHOSTS OF GIRLFRIENDS PAST

Some are going to have films like Land of the Lost, The Proposal, or dare I utter Year One on their top ten lists, but I’m going to opt to put this one on there. Oh yes, it’s a shock this shows up here but the film was actually a decent little romantic comedy. It’s more a comment on how this summer has been, but let’s not discredit a movie that actually took the time to develop the leading characters and moved rather briskly. Matthew McConaughey is more than tolerable as Michael Douglas steals every scene he’s in. May 1st started blockbusters off on the wrong foot with Wolverine, but romantic comedies started off well with this fairly underrated movie.

Current Grade – 7/10

9. HARRY POTTER AND THE HALF-BLOOD PRINCE

Potter die-hards snatched this film up and drank every last drop of it, others (like yours truly) felt it did just enough to be considered good, but lacked an explosive action scene present in most blockbusters. Word on the street is the book has a climatic battle that could have been present here helped the picture. Instead this remains a decent Harry Potter picture that shows the growth and talent of the leads and might be considered one giant build up for the final two films. If it is, it’s a well done ad for Deathly Hallows and did get me interested to see where this is going to end up.

Current Grade – 7/10

8. G.I. JOE: THE RISE OF COBRA

First, this by no means has anything in it resembling a good, even decent film. However, the film spoke to the child inside me and for that I enjoyed the hell out of it. Besides when you’re a kid playing with your action figures you don’t care about your Boba Fett or Batman action figure on a deep quest to find themselves. No, you want them to take out everyone in the room and engage in an all-out war, plot be damned. While the effects are spotty in some spots, it doesn’t matter in the end as Stephen Sommers gets the tone of G.I. Joe right and gave us the blockbuster Terminator Salvation, X-Men Origins: Wolverine, and Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen promised but failed to deliver.

Current Grade – 7/10

7. DRAG ME TO HELL

Look for this in something I’ll concoct at the end of the year called “Films I Was Wrong On.” It’s still not one of the films of the year, the movie is a nice mish-mash of new and old Raimi while the director just has a blast making a nice throwback film. Like another film on this list, it gets a little too self-indulgent for it’s own good and Raimi’s slapstick style doesn’t always work, but who doesn’t love an anvil taking out a demon. The performances were a little better than expected as well, the best of whom comes from Dileep Rao. Oh yeah, and I’ll still stand by it being one of the best horror films of the decade, credibility be damned.

Current Grade – 7/10

6. THE HANGOVER

You have to applaud this film for being the one to debunk Warner Brothers’ “no more tentpole R” films as this went on to become one of the highest grossers of the year. As far as the funny goes, this film brought it in spades with a decent plot and some great comedic performances. In fact, most of the random things these characters end up in are plausible considering this is supposed to be the craziest Vegas hangover ever. Ed Helms was terrific both on the piano and as “Dr. Douchebag” as Zach Galifiankis made up for his turn in What Happens in Vegas. It loses it’s way toward the end, but it still comes out as one of the funniest films of the year.

Current Grade – 7.5/10

5. STAR TREK

Most have called this ‘the film to beat this summer.’ While the film has some really big plot problems, overall J.J. Abrams brings it all together to craft one of the most entertaining and best films not just of the summer, but the year. This one also furthers the destruction of the “even-good odd-bad” theory that Nemesis helped to take care of. I may be the only one, but I still feel Chris Pine gave a better Kirk than Shatner (flame me below) but Karl Urban so sneakingly steals the film away from everyone, he should be arrested for it. It was action-packed, featured wonderful characters and while fun, wasn’t completely dumb. Oh, and it’s fourth best of the entire Trek series.

Current Grade – 8/10

4. DISTRICT 9

Boy, science fiction sure is having a wonderful year with Moon, Star Trek, Watchmen, and now this. It doesn’t insult it’s audience’s intelligence, the action is coherent and shot well, and the performances are just as powerful and moving as anything you’ll find this year (Sharlto Copely deserves at least a nomination.) One of the most original pieces of the year, District 9 remembered what it was that made summer such a gold mine for films in the first place. It’s tough to talk about anything in the film as the less you know going in the better but just know this: District 9 is the summer blockbuster we deserve and hopefully it’s a success so studios take notice that we want our movies to have some form of intellect behind them. Leave now, go see it.

Current Grade – 9/10

3. PUBLIC ENEMIES

I love Michael Mann, and will worship pretty much any film he makes (hey, I’ll at least admit it.) Public Enemies is another great one of his, and is the equivalent of Picasso painting a masterpiece or Mozart conducting another classic. That won’t work for some as Mann follows the beat of his own drum but at least here it ended up being one of the best flicks of the summer. It’s the 1930′s through the eyes of Michael Mann, and seldom has it ever been this stylish or cool. Public Enemies also has the best shootout this year with the cabin shootout and one of the most beautiful scenes that Mann’s ever filmed with Dillinger’s last moments. It’s poetry, pure poetry.

Current Grade – 9/10

2. UP

Pixar just outdoes themselves every year, even though WALL*E made a case that the trend had ended. Well, it doesn’t as Up edged the robots out to take the crown. Ten minutes in, Up gives one of the best directed scenes ever in ANY film and doesn’t let go from there. There’s likely not going to be a more deserving animated film to break the barrier and be nominated for Best Picture. It still overwhelms me how terrific this film is, from how subtle it is with telling it’s characters to making Ellie a character without her being there and not making Russell an annoying little kid. All that, and we’ve yet to talk about the story is pure bliss. In short, it’s Pixar’s finest hour to date.

Current Grade – 9.5/10

1. INGLOURIOUS BASTERDS

If I were a history teacher, I’d be teaching this film in history classes as fact. Tarantino has crafted a movie that’s his best since Jackie Brown, and no that’s not an overstatement. The journey might have been a long one for the Basterds to get to the screen but it was well worth it. Brad Pitt is at his finest and way, way better than he appeared in last year’s The Curious Case of Benjamin Button namely because he as a personality in this one. The big winner of this is Christoph Waltz who should go on to bigger things thanks to his performance as Col. Hans Landa. For Tarantino, he does self-indulge like he did in Death Proof, but doesn’t go overboard and uses the dialogue to build tension during scenes. Also unlike that film, there’s no fat to be cut as everything moves the film along briskly. The results are magic, and as the writer/director himself puts it, a “masterpiece.”

Current Grade – 9.5/10

So there you have it, these are the films that took summer 2009 by storm. Sure things started off bumpy with Wolverine and there were pot-holes along the way in Terminator Salvation, Year One, and Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen but this summer didn’t limp to the finish line. In fact it went out with a big bang and turned in some fun and two seriously great pictures. In fact, that may as well define the summer as one that showed promise, faltered, then delivered big time in the clutch. Here’s to a great end of the year with The Lovely Bones and Black Dynamite still to come.