But you should know, up front, this is not a love story.

(500) Days of Summer

By far one of the best films of the year, (500) Days of Summer is an endearing, off beat story about love that isn't a love story. It's beautiful, heart breaking, and entertaining. It explores a commonly experienced, but rarely shown in romantic comedies without a happy ending, feeling towards a person, uncertainty. This film is relevant to both victims and victimizers of love.

This was one of the most relatable films I've seen in quite sometime. Both Tom (Joseph Gordon Levitt) and Summer (Zooey Deschanel) are incredibly realistic characters. Summer is charming and bewitching, she's always just out of reach for Tom. She doesn't want anything serious, so Tom takes what he can get but she always keeps him at a distance. At some point in one's life, they are a Summer. You have a lot in common with a person, you connect in many ways but there is an unexplainable ambivalence. I really connected with Summer, after I was done hating her for not loving Tom. But Deschanel plays the role with great unapologetic honesty.

Gordon-Levitt is equally wonderful as Tom. A hopeless, naive romantic, Tom believes love is finding someone who likes the same weird stuff you do. Though having commonalities is important, it's not everything and Tom learns this the hard way. Gordon-Levitt captures the roller coaster of emotions felt when love is unrequited impeccably. He is physically and emotionally disheveled at some points, but at another performs the ideal dance sequence of a man in love. I could feel his heart pounding in certain scenes. Both Gordon-Levitt and Deschanel are a joy to watch and have wonderful chemistry. They play very well off each other, are very natural, and bring their non-stock characters to life.

Scott Neustadler and Michael Weber wrote a beautiful, witty and devastating chronicle of a break-up. The dialogue is infused with just the right amounts of wit, sarcasm, hope and sadness. The story is told out of order, jumping between Day 1 to Day 266 to Day 54, etc. This non-linear structure works perfectly for this film. We never remember every single day of a relationship, nor do we remember in order.

Another standout aspect of (500) Days of Summer was the soundtrack. Each song fit into the film perfectly, like the song was written for the film. While writing Garden State, Zach Braff wrote songs into scenes and got the rights later. I have no idea if this is the case for (500) Days of Summer, but it certainly wouldn't surprise me.

2009 was sort of a lackluster year for film, there were few very special movies released. But (500) Days of Summer was a gem, a fine piece of work in a year filled mostly with just alright. It's truly unlike any romantic comedy I've seen: no cliches, no stock-characters, just as close to reality as the cast and crew can get.

Mo'Nique in Precious

Yes, I can hardly believe it myself. Mo'Nique, of Flavor of Love Charm School pulled off an incredible performance as the shameless, complacent, and abusive mother of the titular character. She exudes hate and loss. She's a despicable woman. How Mo'Nique managed to pull this off I'll always wonder, but she turned out one of the best and scariest performances of the year. She is definitely one of the most memorable abusive mothers in film history.

Netflix

Death at a Funeral-Chris Rock is remaking this and it looks funny. I'd rather see the original first.
Mean Streets-Classic.
The Wind that Shakes the Barley-Netflix Instant. Really wanna see it again.