By Wren Culp

Staff Writer

Everyone seems to be making a “Top of the last year” list so I feel that in my reporter career, I should do one of these. And I am going to do one about movies. So these are the top five movies that I saw in the glorious year of 2009.

(These are in a random order)

Movie #1:  The Taking of Pelham 123

John Travolta plays a ticked off and disgruntled man who sets in motion a plan to take over a local New York Subway train; he closes off the track, takes hostages and demands a hefty ransom. On the other end of the negotiation is civil service worker Walter Garber (Denzel Washington), who finds himself in the unlucky position of having to be a go between for the unstable gunman and the authorities.

Movie #2: District 9

In his directing debut, Neill Blomkamp captures South Africa and aliens together in a favorable movie called “District 9”. It’s a great story about slavery, anger, and has a lot of history behind it even though it’s a fiction story

Movie #3: Inglorious Basterds

Oscar winner director Quentin Tarantino’s best movie will always be “Pulp Fiction”, but if you love action, great dialogue, and a tremendous cast, you will have a hay-day over this movie. It is superb in every category and will definitely get an award.

Movie #4: Star Trek

With J.J. Abrams taking over as director, the reboot to the Star Trek franchise was a success. With a slick style and feel, excellent acting, and a tremendous plot, Star Trek does not disappoint. You don’t have to know anything about Star Trek to enjoy this movie. Set your phasers to stunning.

Movie #5: The Hangover

With an all star cast and a fabulous script writer, the 2009 comedy “The Hangover” made me cry laughing. It’s a simple story of four friends getting drunk in Las Vegas for a friends Bachelor Party. It’s all about the day after when they are “hungover”.

Like my opinion or not, these were some of my favorite movies of 2009.

HONORABLE MENTIONS: Zombieland, 500 Days of Summer, Sherlock Holmes, The Men who stare at Goats.