Time to wrap up my Best of 2009 lists!  I hope you all enjoyed my lists of the Top 10 TV Shows of 2009, the Top 10 DVDs of 2009, and the Top 10 Movies of 2009!

Now here we go with my list of the Top 10 Comic Book Series of 2009!

First, let’s start with some Honorable Mentions:  RASL, Ex Machina, Young Liars, Astonishing X-Men, Batman: Streets of Gotham, Superman: Secret Origins, Supergod, Aliens, The Dark Tower, and X-Factor.  All of those are series that I absolutely love — and if you’re not reading them, you should be! (I also have great affection for Powers, but since only one new issue saw the light of day in 2009, it was hard for me to justify including it on this list.)

OK, now here we go with the Top Ten:

10. Witchfinder: In The Service of Angels (issues #1-5 published in 2009) — I am an enormous fan of the Hellboy universe, and I’ve picked up every single Hellboy-related limited series or one-shot ever since Seed of Destruction way back when.  But somehow I almost missed this series about occult investigator Edward Grey, set in London in 1879.  Boy oh boy I’m glad I remedied my error and picked up all five issues.  Not only is it a terrific, creepy adventure tale, but issue #3 connects some ENORMOUS dots and basically gives us the secret history of the Hellboy universe.  This is a critical piece of the unfolding Hellboy saga, and not to be missed.

9.  Stephen King’s The Stand (issues #2-5 of Captain Trips, issues #1-5 of American Nightmares, and issues #1-2 of Soul Survivors published in 2009) — I’ve never read Stephen King’s epic novel The Stand, but I have been absolutely devouring the series of mini-series based on that work.  Roberto Aguirre-Sacasa deftly handles the enormous canvas, weaving multiple story-lines in and out of one another with ease, and Mike Perkins’ beautifully rendered artwork brings a devastated America to glorious, haunting life.  I am chomping at the bit to know what happens next — so much so that I went out and purchased Mr. King’s novel last month!   Now I just need to decide if I want to experience the story through the comic adaptations first, and THEN go read the novel… or dive into the novel right now.

8.  Astro City: The Dark Age Book 3 (issues #1-4 published in 2009) — This four-book Astro City saga has been taking its sweet time to reach a conclusion, but boy is each installment worth the wait.  The Dark Age is the story of two brothers, Charles and Royal Williams.  After their parents were killed during a super-hero battle in the late ’50s, Charles decided to become a cop, while Royal fell in with the criminal element.  But here in Book Three, set in the 1980s, Charles and Royal are working together in an attempt to find the man who killed their parents, while at the same time trying to prevent themselves from being swept under by the escalating tide of super-hero/super-villain conflicts.  The Dark Age balances a very simple, personal story with an epic super-hero saga that mirrors the darkening of comics in the 80’s (when violent vigilantes became far more popular than the boy-scout heroes of old).  Kurt Busiek and Brent E. Anderson have been weaving a rich tapestry of Astro City stories for over a decade, and The Dark Age is a terrific continuation of the saga.

7. Star Trek: Romulans: Schism (issues #1-3 published in 2009) — The third and final installment in John Byrne’s Romulans trilogy, Schism tells the tale of the unraveling of the Klingon/Romulan alliance that was hinted at in the third season of the Original Series.  A great many familiar faces pop up (Kor, Koloth, Number One) as various competing plans and strategies come together.  Filled with compelling action and interstellar intrigue, as well as extraordinary attention to the details of Star Trek continuity, Schism is the best Trek comic book to come down the line in a great many years (probably the best since Peter David was writing the DC Star Trek series oh so many years ago).  Byrne fits beautifully into the Trek universe — I very much hope he has more Trek stories to tell.

6.  Detective Comics Featuring Batwoman (issues # 854-859 published in 2009) — Greg Rucka has been spinning a brutal, edge-of-your seat story as we follow the skilled and mysterious Kathy Kane’s efforts as the new Batwoman.  I’m intrigued by this young woman, and have particularly enjoyed the last several issues that have provided a heartbreaking look into her childhood.  J.J. Williams III’s art is breathtaking, as he constantly switches styles and layout-techniques, resulting in pages that I could stare out for hours.  Each page truly is a stunning work of art.  Magnificent.

5.  Incognito (issues #2-6 published in 2009) — Zack Overkill testifies against his former super-villain colleagues and is placed in a super-hero version of the witness protection program.  Given drugs that suppress his abilities, he is told to live a normal, ordinary life.  But the crushing mundanity of his new life as an office drone proves impossible for Zach to adapt to, and when he discovers that getting high negates the effects of the powers-suppressing drugs he’s been given, Zach quickly finds himself drawn back into his old world.  Ed Brubaker sure knows how to spin a tough-as-nails yarn, and Sean Phillips’ art will grab you by the throat.  I was expecting quality from this team, but was bowled over by just how terrific this limited series was.  I hear that Brubaker and Phillips have more tales set in this world in the works — I can’t wait.

4.  Ultimate Spider-Man (issues #128-133 of Ultimate Spider-Man, issues #1-2 of Requiem, and issues #1-4 of Ultimate Comics: Spider-Man were published in 2009) — Month after month, year after year, Brian Michael Bendis demonstrates that he has mastered the art of long-form comic book storytelling while, at the same time, always making sure that each monthly installment packs a ferociously entertaining punch.  I have never loved Spider-Man more than I love Bendis’ Spidey, and frankly there are few long-running super-hero comic books that I have ever read that have captivated me more.  But while Mr. Bendis’ understanding of the character of Peter Parker is impressive, what really makes this book stand out is the extraordinarily rich supporting cast that Bendis has crafted.  Mary Jane, Gwen Stacy, Aunt May, Kitty Pryde, Johnny Storm, Kong, Flash, Liz… these characters are more interesting and fully-realized than the MAIN characters of most super-hero comic books.  I love each and every one of those individuals, and can’t wait to read about what happens next in their lives every month.  Stuart Immonen, who was the Ultimate Spider-Man artist for most of the year, is one of those guys who seems like he can draw absolutely anything — from intimate conversations between two teenagers to an action-adventure spectacle that results in the complete devastation of New York city.  Mr. Immonen’s crisp, clean line-work and detailed rendering leaves me in awe.  I’m not quite as taken by the more cartoony style of his replacement David Lafuente (on the newly renamed Ultimate Comics: Spider-Man — and I’m not quite taken with that verbose new title, either), but I’m willing to see how things develop.  This series continues to be the gold-standard in super-hero comics, and I don’t see that changing any time soon.

3.  Criminal (issues #1-3 of The Sinners published in 2009) — Ed Brubaker and Sean Phillips (the same team responsible for my #5 selection, Incognito), return to their crime series Criminal with another tense, can’t-look-away crime saga.  Tracy Lawless finds himself back in the city, working as a hit-man for Sebastian Hyde, just as his father once did.  He’s a killer who can follow orders, but he’s proving to be something of a pain in the ass for Mr. Hyde.  Tracy dreams of cutting ties and getting out of that world, but finds himself continually getting dragged further in.  When Mr. Hyde assigns Tracy a new task, it just might be his ticket out — or into a whole new world of trouble.  Criminal is a relentlessly compelling crime series that is the very definition of a page-turner.  It’s one of the most unique and compelling comic books on the stands.  Brubaker and Phillips make this look so easy.

2.  B.P.R.D. (issues #1-5 of The Black Goddess and issues #1-5 of 1947 published in 2009) — Years of story-telling began to reach their culmination in the mesmerizing mini-series The Black Goddess, as the Bureau for Paranormal Research and Defense struggled to rescue Liz from the enigmatic Memnan Saa, while the world-wide war with the frog-creatures escalated even further.  Shape-shifting mystical Yetis, enormous living machines from beneath the Earth, golden dragons, and a whole boat-load of other weirdness factor into an enormous battle on the snowy Russian-Chinese boarder that might just determine the fate of the world.  Oh, and the Lobster returns.  Meanwhile, 1947 is the second volume detailing the early years of the Bureau.  Nazis, witches, and vampires spell trouble for Professor Bruttenholm and his team in this spooky mystery story.  In these two very different mini-series, Mike Mignola and his extraordinary team of collaborators continue to flesh out the world of Hellboy, and each new stitch in the growing tapestry helps make clear that they have created one of the richest fantasy universes I’ve ever had the pleasure of enjoying.  And speaking of Hellboy…

1.  Hellboy: The Wild Hunt (issues #2-8 published in 2009) — Mike Mignola has blown the doors off of the Hellboy universe over the past few years, and I have been loving every single minute of it.  Both Witchfinder and B.P.R.D. found places on this list, but I was thrilled to see the core Hellboy title return to center stage in 2009 with the phenomenal mini-series The Wild Hunt.  The miserable pig-creature Gruagach sets in motion a chain of events that leads to the unleashing of a terrible, ancient evil, and the war long-simmering between heaven and earth (that we’ve seen brewing for years now in various Hellboy mini-series) erupts.  Meanwhile, Hellboy is at a crossroads, unwilling to face the hints of his terrible potential for evil that have been growing harder to ignore.  In issue #6, we (along with the Big Red Guy) learn an entirely new aspect of his origin that absolutely blew me away.  I’ve been reading Hellboy comics since the very beginning, and I never suspected anything like this.  And yet — it just feels right.  It’s an astounding revelation that sets the stage for the next act in the story (which I await with an insane amount of anticipation).  Mike Mignola has long been known as a terrific artist, but his work these last few years have solidified him as one of the best writers working in comics today.  Duncan Fegredo’s insanely detailed artwork proves a perfect companion (and makes me stop missing the days when Mignola would illustrate every Hellboy issue himself).  The man can draw creepy gatherings of witches in their dens as well as he can draw a vicious brawl between giants in the English countryside.  The combination is perfection.  Pound for pound and page for page, there was no finer comic book series published in 2009.

Hope you all enjoyed my Best of 2009 lists.  Have a great weekend, everybody!

Yesterday I began my list of my Top 10 Movies of 2009!  Let’s continue, shall we?

5.  Inglourious Basterds — Quentin Tarantino demonstrates, once again, that no one can wring more nail-biting tension out of simple conversation than he can.  What I thought would be  a simple men-on-a-mission story wound up being a much more complex, intriguing tale.  Filled with astounding, unforgettable performances (Brad Pitt as the tough-talking Aldo Raine, Melanie Laurent as the fiercely intelligent Shosanna Dreyfus, and of course Christopher Waltz as Col. Hans Landa, one of the most unforgettable film villains of the past decade) and some great Tarantino touches (yep, that is a Samuel L. Jackson voice-over at one point), the film is ridiculously compelling.  And that ending.  Ho boy.  Read my full review here.

4.  District 9 — With a budget reportedly in the ballpark of 30 million dollars (which, if my information is correct, is about a third of what was spent on the Alec Baldwin/Meryl Streep comedy It’s Complicated), first-time director Neill Blomkamp fashioned one of the most gripping sci-fi tales I have ever seen.  The film is set in Johannesburg, almost thirty years after an enormous alien spacecraft appeared over the city.  The aliens, nicknamed “prawns,” have been settled in slum-like conditions in a refugee camp called District 9.  When the corporation MNU bows to public pressure to remove the aliens from the vicinity of Johannesburg, the hapless Wikus Van De Merwe (who participates in the forced evictions) finds his life turned upside-down.  As a sci-fi fan I am always looking for smart, original new works of sci-fi, and this film has both qualities in spades.  With jaw-dropping special effects (I am amazed at how well the alien “prawns” are brought to life), a career making performance by Sharlto Copley (who plays Wikus), some terrific action, and edge-of-your seat intensity from start to finish, District 9 is a magnificent and haunting creation.  Read my full review here.

3.  Fantastic Mr. Fox — A deliriously fantastic combination of Roald Dahl’s story (about a family of foxes menaced by three vicious farmers) and director Wes Anderson’s unique sensibilities, Fantastic Mr. Fox feels to me like the film Mr. Anderson has always wanted to make.  He has filled the movie with his specific style — detail-filled sets and precise, stage-like staging — and the foxes are a classic addition to Mr. Anderson’s repertoire of wonderfully idiosyncratic, somewhat disfunctional families.  The script is complex and sophisticated (with characters who all possess strengths as well as character flaws, and no easy answers to their dilemmas in sight), and the voice-actors (including George Clooney, Meryl Streep, Jason Schwartzman, Bill Murray, Michael Gambon, Willem Dafoe, and many others) are wonderful.  The stop-motion animation has a hand-crafted, low-tech feel that fits the story perfectly.  (But that is not to take away from the great achievement in animation that this film represents.  Between the animation and the voice-acting, these foxes — and other animals — are unquestionably ALIVE.)  Somber and joyful, playful and serious, I can’t think of another movie that is anything like it.  Fantastic.  Read my full review here.

2.  Up — At this point I am really starting to believe that the mad geniuses working at Pixar can really do no wrong.  After each new Pixar magnum opus I continue to declare that there’s no way they’ll ever be able to top THIS one, and then the next film comes along.  Well, here I am again.  My jaw was pretty much on the floor from beginning to end.  The heartbreaking opening sequence (in which we follow Carl Fredrickson and the love of his life, Ellie, from childhood to old age over the course of a matter of minutes) is absolutely devastating, a gut-punch that could be one of the most powerful few minutes of film that I have ever seen.  It’s a hell of a way to start a film, and luckily the rest of the movie earns the emotional investment garnered by that opening sequence.  I absolutely adore the way the film slowly builds upon that somber opening until it becomes an explosion of, well, all sorts of wonderful weirdness that I wouldn’t dream of spoiling for you if you haven’t seen the film.  I will only add that Dug is, without question, one of the greatest characters created on film in recent memory.  The computer animation is absolutely stunning, and the 3-D effects give the film an extraordinary depth without ever becoming gimmicky or annoying.  It’s a masterpiece, and there’s absolutely NO WAY that those folks at Pixar will ever be able to top THIS ONE…  Read my full review here.

1.  Where The Wild Things Are — If there’s a theme to my choices this year, I think it’s pretty obvious that I am drawn to films that feel like unique, singular creations.  I love walking out of a movie thinking, boy, I’ve never seen anything quite like THAT before.  Well, no film made me feel that way — that I had been lucky enough to go on a cinematic journey unlike any I had taken before — more than Spike Jonze’s adaptation of Maurice Sendak’s beloved book, Where The Wild Things Are.  This film hit me like a ton of bricks, and I almost don’t know where to begin in describing my love of it.  To begin with, I was blown away by the emotional intensity and honesty of Max’s journey in the film.  A young boy with an enormous amount of energy and creativity, Max is also filled with great loneliness and anger, feelings that he is not yet old enough to be able to process or really understand.  This causes him to lash out at his sister and his mother (Catherine Keener).  After one such explosion, Max runs out of the house, at which point he finds a boat and sails away to the domain of the Wild Things.  The creatures are fierce and violent, but also gentle and childlike in their emotions.  Where the Wild Things Are is gripping but also almost dreamlike in its storytelling.  The film is not in any rush to draw obvious morals for either Max or for the audience, and it studiously avoids a standard narrative structure.  This gives the film a naturalism (which is a funny thing to say about a movie with giant Wild Things) and a sophistication and complexity that I adore.  The visual effects are astounding, as the Jim Henson Company’s giant puppets were seamlessly combined with computer-generated facial animation (not to mention terrific voice acting by the likes of James Gandolfini, Catherine O’Hara, Paul Dano, Forest Whitaker, Chris Cooper, and others) to bring the Wild Things to extraordinarily convincing life.  Young Max Records is phenomenal as Max — one of the best child performances I’ve seen in while, believable and gripping.  Spike Jonze (who directed the film, and co-wrote the screenplay with Dave Eggers) has created a true masterpiece, one I relish having the opportunity to revisit many more times to come.  Max may have gone home to his family, but I can’t wait to return to Where the Wild Things Are.  Read my full review here.

So that’s my list!  Do you agree?  Disagree?  Let me know.  In the mean-time, I’ll see you back here on Friday for my final Best Of 2009 list, my listing of the 10 Best Comic Books of 2009!  See you there!

Despite the horrendous batch of summer “blockbusters” that we had to suffer through, 2009 was actually a pretty darned good year for movies!  I’d been feeling otherwise, but when I looked back through my notes about all the great films that I saw this past year, I had a hard time narrowing down my Top Ten list!

As I did before beginning last year’s list, I should mention that, despite the rather large number of new movies that I saw in 2009, there were plenty of heard-they-were-great films (or films that otherwise seemed interesting to me) that I wanted to see but just didn’t get to.  These include The Hurt Locker, Moon, Pirate Radio, Broken Embraces, A Single Man, An Education, Me and Orson Welles, Invictus, The Road, and The Lovely Bones.  Might one or more of those films have wound up on this list, had I seen them?  Who can say!

So, without further ado, let’s dive into my List of my Ten Favorite Movies from 2009!

Honorable Mention: The Imaginarium of Doctor Parnassus — I was just tickled by every moment of this wonderfully weird trip into the mind of Terry Gilliam.  Heath Ledger’s final performance is delightful and enigmatic, and the trio of actors who stepped in to complete his role after his tragic death (Johnny Depp, Jude Law, and Colin Farrell) are all absolutely wonderful, as is the great Christopher Plummer in the title role.  Read my full review here.

10.  Coraline — I’ve got three animated films on this list, but they could not possibly be more different from one another.   Each is a magnificently unique creation.  In Coraline, Neil Gaiman’s fantasy story is brought to breathtaking life by gorgeous stop-motion animation.  Coraline is an intelligent but lonely little girl whose world is uprooted when her parents move into a strange new house.  When she discovers a small, secret door that leads into an alternate world where she meets far happier and more doting alternate versions of her parents, Coraline is delighted and entranced.  But all is not as it seems, and the young girl will need all of her wits to escape from the web into which she has fallen.  Dangerous and dark, this haunting tale is sweet and scary in equal parts.  I can’t wait to see it again.  Read my full review here.

9.  Watchmen — I’ve seen this film so many times already (in a variety of different cuts) that it’s hard to believe it came out this year!  Zach Snyder’s gloriously ambitious attempt at adapting Alan Moore and Dave Gibbons’ magnum opus Watchmen has its flaws, but even after many repeated viewings I remain dazzled by all that it gets right.  Through astounding visual effects and spot-on casting, the characters and world of Watchmen have been brought to gritty, rain-drenched life.  This is a super-hero film that makes no bones about being an R rated film for adults, and I applaud Snyder and his team for being rigorously faithful in their adaptation (a tack that I wish more makers of super-hero films would follow).  Though it lacks the complexity and ambiguity of the original graphic novel, there are so many moments that this film gets exactly right (my favorite would be the sequence in which Dr. Manhattan relives his life out of order).  It’s an incredible achievement, and I still can’t quite believe that it actually exists.  Read my full review of the theatrical cut here, and the director’s cut here.

8.  Sherlock Holmes — Guy Ritchie’s rough and tumble reinvigoration of Sherlock Holmes is terrific fun from start to finish.  Robert Downey Jr. seems born to play the brilliant and more-than-a-little-crazy central character, and Jude Law portrays, finally, a version of Watson who we can take seriously.  Add in Mark Strong’s creepily intense turn as the villainous Lord Blackwell, some great action, and a fast-paced script filled to the brim with verbose and clever torrents of dialogue, and you have a real winner.  Can’t wait for the (hopefully) inevitable sequel.  Read my full review here.

7.  Adventureland — I was really taken by this little movie about a young man’s transformative summer spent working at a crappy local amusement park.  As someone who has spent much of his life working at a summer camp, I love the way this film brought to life that particular sub-culture.  Yes, it’s about an amusement park, not a camp, but this film truly presented the way in which the ups and downs of friendships and relationships made and broken over the course of a summer can seem like life and death matters to young people on the verge of adulthood.  Jesse Eisenberg and Kristen Stewart are fantastic in the lead roles, and they’re surrounded by a great group of supporting actors that include Bill Hader, Kristen Wiig, Ryan Reynolds, and Martin Starr.  Adventureland is funny at times, poignant at others, and it really spoke to me.  It’s a film I can’t wait to revisit.  Read my full review here.

6.  The Invention of Lying — Ricky Gervais plays a man living in a world just like our own, except that no human being has ever told a lie.  When he discovers that he, and he alone, somehow possesses the capability to lie, his life — and soon after, the entire world — are turned upside down.  What starts as a comedic romp soon turns into something much more complex and interesting.  The Invention of Lying is a very funny film, but it’s also a film with something to say.  Ricky Gervais is marvelous, as always, and the terrific ensemble with which he surrounds himself  – Jennifer Garner, Jonah Hill, Louis C.K., Jeffrey Tambor, and Rob Lowe — is absolutely dynamite.  One of the more unique cinematic creations that I have seen in quite some time.  Read my full review here.

OK, that’s it for today!  Click here for part 2 of my list, with numbers 5 through 1!

Let the Best of 2009 lists continue!  I hope you all enjoyed my list of the Top 10 TV Episodes of 2009.

Now let’s dive into my list of the Top 10 DVDs (or Blu-Rays) released in 2009!

First, I’d like to give Honorable Mentions to the complete series sets of three amazing TV shows that I had just about given up all hope of ever seeing on DVD: It’s Garry Shandling’s Show, Andy Richter Controls the Universe, and Andy Barker, P.I. So why aren’t these shows on my list?  Because I can’t put anything on this list that I haven’t actually watched, and I’ve been way, way too busy to get through any of these sets.  Of the three, the only one I own is Andy Richter Controls the Universe.  (That one came out first, and I’m not going to purchase the other two sets until I actually have time to watch them.)  But I take great delight in knowing that these three DVD sets exist here on planet Earth, and I know that I’ll get to them all in good time.

10. Watchmen: The Ultimate Cut (Blu-ray) — I’ve seen Watchmen quite a few times since it was released early in 2009, and while the film certainly has some weaknesses, I remain overwhelmed by the enormity of its successes.  It’s hard to believe that Zach Snyder brought this seminal graphic novel by Alan Moore & Dave Gibbons, which long had been considered unadaptable, to life.  It thrills me to see such a faithful take on the material and that the filmmakers had the confidence to craft a super-hero film that was aimed squarely at adults.  The Ultimate Cut of the film is Zach Snyder’s longest version, stitching together his Director’s Cut with the animated Tales of the Black Freighter sequences.  It’s pretty astounding.  This Blu-Ray set would be much higher on this list were it not for the paltry special features.  Not only are the special features lame (this is a movie that cries out for a full-fledged making-of documentary), but this set just reproduces the special features that were already released on the Director’s Cut set.  (I guess I’ve been spoiled by the amazing extended editions of the Lord of the Rings films, which came not just with phenomenal extended versions of the films but with extraordinarily elaborate making-of documentaries that didn’t duplicate the special features on the theatrical version DVDs.)  (Read my review of the theatrical version of Watchmen here, and of the Director’s Cut here.)

9. Contact (Blu-Ray) — A beautiful film that manages to combine a serious, cerebral sci-fi tale with an effecting story of the personal journey of scientist Dr. Ellie Arroway (Jodie Foster).  This is director Robert Zemeckis (Back to the Future, Who Framed Roger Rabbit?) working at the top of his game.  The special effects are elaborate but never come close to overwhelming the story.  It’s a terrific special edition, chock full of special features, and the film looks positively STUNNING on Blu-Ray.  (Read my full review here.)

8. Homicide: The Criterion Collection — Another film that I have been waiting a long, long time to be released on DVD.  David Mamet’s 1991 film follows detective Bobby Gold (Joe Mantegna) and his investigation of the murder of an elderly Jewish shop owner.  What follows is a great, twisty Mamet tale, filled with tough guys and double-crosses.  But what gives the film its weight is the way the investigation story-line is wrapped in a deeper story of Bobby’s struggles with his Jewish identity.  The fine folks at Criterion hit another one out of the park with this beautiful new edition.  (My full review of Homicide is coming soon, but click here for my thoughts on a variety of other films by David Mamet.)

7. Eddie Izzard: Live From Wembley — It’s been a long, long wait since Eddie Izzard’s last stand-up DVD.  (That would be Circle, released back in 2002).  Live From Wembley isn’t exactly the freshest material — the footage is from Eddie’s Sexie tour, from several years back.  And the camera-work is surprisingly amateurish in places (quite a few shots are rather blurry, and there are several instances where Eddie isn’t properly framed on-screen).  But forget all that — it’s new Eddie Izzard stand-up material, and the performance (while not reaching the heights of Dress to Kill), is superb and very, very funny.  There’s also a terrific special feature on the disc: 40 minutes of Eddie’s stand-up from long before Live From Wembley, in which we can see him beginning to work out some of the material that would eventually be included in his Sexie show.  It’s a funny performance, and a neat look into his process.

6. Futurama: Into the Wild Green Yonder – The fourth and final installment in the series of Futurama direct-to-DVD films.  In this one, Fry gets inducted into a secret organization of telepaths (that have been popping up in the background of the show since its very beginning).  The film’s wide-reaching story also deals with Leela’s involvement with a group of eco-terrorists, Bender’s affair with the wife of a robot mobster, and a lot of other zaniness.  At the time, it looked like this was the end of Futurama, and the film’s final scene provided a wonderful capstone to the series’ run.  Luckily, the show has once again risen from the grave, and new episodes are being produced to air on Cartoon Network.  Hooray!  (Read my full review here.)

5. Star Trek: The Motion Picture Collection (Blu-Ray) — Star Trek comes to Blu-Ray with this fabulous set containing nicely spruced-up editions of the first six Star Trek films.  The films themselves have never looked or sounded better, and there have been a number of new featurettes created for each film.  (The set also includes almost all of the special features from the previous DVD releases.)  I still wish that the featurettes had been edited together into a longer, more comprehensive documentary for each film, but I can live without that.  Extra props to the makers of this set for choosing to use the original theatrical versions of Star Trek II and Star Trek VI on these discs.  (The previous Special Edition DVDs of those two films used slightly re-edited versions, which I found to be rather inferior to the original versions.)  For a die-hard Trek fan like myself, this set is a treasure.  (Click here for my full review of the Blu-Ray release of Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan.)

4. Will Ferrell: You’re Welcome, America — A recording of Will Ferrell’s stage show featuring him as Geroge W. Bush, looking back on his eight years as President.  I was a bit dubious, at first, as to whether Ferrell’s Bush impersonation could really sustain my interest for 90 minutes, but it unquestionably did.  The show is well-crafted — while the focus is on Ferrell’s monologues on Bush, there is also good fun to be had with short appearances by other characters, which keeps things interesting.  But all that would be moot if Ferrell’s Bush wasn’t so relentlessly entertaining.  My favorite moments of the show are when he dives fully into total insanity, such as his elaborate and manic story about being trapped in a mine shaft with his father.  We’re lucky that this live show has been captured for us all to enjoy.

3. Battlestar Galactica: The Plan — Ron Moore’s reinvention of Battlestar Galactica takes its final bow in this tour-de-force direct-to-DVD film.  Diving deep into the show’s mythology, The Plan winds the clock back to just before the events of the original Battlestar Galactica mini-series, and then shows us the events of the show’s first two seasons from the point of view of the Cylons.  Cleverly weaving in-and-around the events that we saw, The Plan connects events and characters into a complex and fascinating tapestry, bringing a whole new light to the show’s beginnings.  A terrific lead performance by Dean Stockwell (Quantum Leap) and mind-blowing special effects combine to give the show a far superior farewell than the actual finale episode.  I wish there were more of these direct-to-DVD BSG films being made!!  (Read my full review here.)

2. Monty Python: Almost the Truth (The Lawyer’s Cut) — This six-hour documentary traces the full history of Monty Python, from the group’s beginnings to their work on feature films The Holy Grail, The Life of Brian, and The Meaning of Life.  Told almost entirely through interviews with all five surviving Pythons as well as an enormous number of their key collaborators, this documentary is endlessly interesting and also quite a riot. It’s also filled with elaborate little touches that elevate it beyond the usual sort of behind-the-scenes documentaries, such as the creation of new songs introducing each of the six episodes, sung by the same woman who sung the classic Life of Brian introductory tune.  With a third disc containing clips from their best sketches, extended interviews, and lots of other fun stuff, this set is a winner through-and-through.

1. Robot Chicken: Star Wars Episode II — I loved the first Robot Chicken Star Wars Special, but things are taken to a whole new level in this second go-round.  Focusing on The Empire Strikes Back (with lots of screen time for Vader, The Emperor, Boba Fett, and the other bounty hunters), this special has more laughs-per-second than anything else I saw all year.  Hard-core Star Wars fans like myself will be bowled over by the attention to detail in the recreation of key scenes and the references to obscure characters and moments in the saga, while there is also plenty of silliness for a more casual fan to enjoy.  (Who wouldn’t laugh at the image of an Imperial officer putting a styrofoam cup over the little Vader hologram on his console?)  Just having the special on DVD would have been enough for me, but not only is this set absolutely overflowing with special features (commentary tracks, behind-the-scenes featurettes, deleted scenes, and so much more), but it also contains a newly extended (almost twice-as-long) version of the original special filled with a ton of new sketches.  Phenomenal.  I can’t wait for Episode III.  (Read my full review here.)

Coming on Monday:  My list of the 10 Best Movies of 2009!  See you there!

Yesterday I began my list of the Top 10 Episodes of TV from 2009.  Click here for numbers 10-6.  Now here is the rest of the list!

5.  Lost: “The Incident” (season 5, episodes 16/17, aired on 5/13/09).  Everything comes together, questions are answered, and (of course) new questions are raised.  We finally get to meet the oft-discussed Jacob, and we see how this apparently ageless man has interacted with the lives of many of the castaways long before they ever crashed on the island.  In the ’70s, Jack seeks to change the future by detonating a hydrogen bomb, thus destroying the island.  This once again puts him in conflict with Sawyer, who believes that “what’s done is done.”  In 2007, Locke, Ben, and the mysterious other survivors of Ajira flight 316 converge in the shadow of the statue, we learn the true final fate of Jeremy Bentham, and a shocking murder is committed.  The cliffhanger ending leaves us in the dark as to whether Jack’s audacious plan has succeeded, or whether he has just caused “the incident” that we’ve been hearing about since “Orientation” in season two (that necessitated the construction of the Swan Station and the button).  Either way, this was a magnificent two hours of television.  It’s been a great delight watching the makers of Lost weave together the show’s many characters and story-lines as we prepare for the show’s final year.  I have high hopes for what’s ahead!

4.  Parks and Recreation: “The Hunting Trip” (season 2, episode 10, aired on 11/19/09).  I thought that Parks and Recreation was extraordinarily mediocre in its first season, but just as NBC’s The Office only found its footing during its second year, Parks & Rec has really turned things around this season.  Many weeks I consider it — are you sitting down? — the strongest of NBC’s Thursday night comedies.  ”The Hunting Trip” is a prime example as to why.  Ron prepares to take the men in the office out on their annual hunting trip, but Leslie (Amy Poehler) wants the girls (and Tom Haverford) to be included too.  Since Ron is legally forbidden from excluding them from what is tenuously a work-related outing, the whole gang heads out to the woods, rifles in hand.  What follows is an escalating series of madness that culminates in poor Ron getting shot (not fatally, of course!!).  The whole episode is a riot, in which every member of the ensemble gets a lot to do.  But Leslie steals the show when she realizes that she cannot reveal the identity of the person who shot Ron to the ranger who comes to investigate, so she tries to take the fall by putting on a “daffy woman who knows nothing about guns” act.  This montage had me in hysterics.  It begins with her saying “I got that tunnel vision that girls get” and just goes from there. Comedy gold.

3.  Battlestar Galactica: “The Oath” (season 4, episode 15, aired on 1/30/09).  BSG’s final run of episodes certainly had its flaws, but this astonishing, nail-biting hour was exactly the type of intense episode that made this series so frakking phenomenal.  Outraged by the alliance with the Cylon rebels, an embittered Felix Gaeta throws in with Tom Zarek and stages a mutiny on-board Galactica, taking control of the ship right out from under Adama.  Old grudges are paid off and long-gone chickens come home to roost as the survivors of the Pegasus take their revenge on Helo, Sam Anders is beaten and tossed in the brig, Tigh and Adama are escorted out of CIC at gunpoint, and Kara and Lee find themselves back to back in an impossible situation one final time.  The whole tapestry of the show comes into play as characters we haven’t seen in a while return (such as Laird, the engineer from the Pegasus, and Kelly, who was one of the Galactica crew-members back in the original miniseries), and some of our beloved characters (Racetrack!  Skulls!  Seelix!) make shocking choices.  In an episode stuffed to-the-brim with fantastic moments, I have never-ending love for the scene in which old men Adama and Tigh kick the asses of a bunch of armed marines.  I’ve seen mutiny episodes on ship-based sci-fi shows before, but never anything like this.  As always, BSG plays for keeps.

2.  Curb Your Enthusiasm: “The Table Read” (season 7, episode 9, aired on 11/15/09).  The glimpses that this episode gives us into the Seinfeld Reunion that we’ll never see would be enough to get this installment a spot on this list.  I loved seeing actual events of Larry’s life (from previous seasons of Curb) acted out by Jerry & the gang, and I loved the storyline the Larry created for George.  (”George, are you marrying her for YOUR money?”)  I really enjoyed all the Seinfeld supporting cast cameos.  But what is amazing is that this episode has far greater pleasures than all of the Seinfeld reunion fun.  There’s Marty Funkhouser’s painfully awkward interactions with Jerry.  There’s Larry’s inability to shake his new nine-year-old texting friend (that leads to the great last line of the show that had me on the floor with laughter).  And there is the incredibly ballsy, heads-on manner in which Larry & co. tackle Michael Richard’s infamous outburst.  Once I glimpsed Leon Black dressed in that Nation of Islam get-up, I knew we were in for it, but I never guessed just how far things would go.  Unbelievably brilliant.

1.  The Daily Show.  Day in and day out, there is nothing funnier or more piercing on planet Earth than Jon Stewart and The Daily Show.  Wondering why this is at the top of my list?  Check these out:

My list of my Top 10 DVDs of 2009 is coming later this week!  See you there!

Hi everyone!  It’s that time of year again — welcome to the first of my four Best of 2009 lists!  We’re kicking things off today with part one of my list of the 10 Best TV Episodes I saw in 2009!

Let’s dive in, shall we?

10. Lost: “Jughead” (season 5, episode 3, aired on 1/28/09).  The craziness of Lost’s superb time-hopping fifth season kicked into high gear with this episode, and all sorts of fascinating connections were made.  Trapped in the past, Locke meets a young Charles Widmore and Richard Alpert and we finally get an explanation for Alpert’s weird childhood visit to Locke (that we saw in “Cabin Fever” ).  Meanwhile, Daniel Faraday discovers that the American army came to the island in the 1950’s to test hydrogen bombs, explaining a lot of tiny references that have been layered into the show since back in the second season (such as Ana Lucia pointing out to Goodwin that the Other they killed carried an army knife from decades ago).  But this episode gets the nod because of its focus on one of my very favorite Lost characters: Desmond, who spends the hour attempting to unravel the secrets of Daniel Faraday.  Mind-bending Lost at its best.

9.  Dollhouse: “Belonging” (season 2, episode 4, aired on 10/23/09).  Oh Dollhouse, we hardly knew ye.  Though Joss Whedon’s short-lived series was frustratingly hit-or-miss, episodes like this make we wish fervently that the show was continuing.  This episode spotlights Sierra, one of the “dolls” (men and women regularly programmed with completely new personalities in order to meet the whims of the Dollhouse’s wealthy clients), and we learn how the young woman once named Priya came to be a doll.  It is a twisted, heartbreaking story, and an absolutely riveting hour of TV.

8.  The Office: “Broke” (season 5, episode 23, aired on 4/23/09).  I’ve been a bit let-down by The Office this year, but the mid-fourth season run of episodes centering around the Michael Scott Paper Company were classic, and this episode provided a note-perfect culmination of that storyline.  Michael & co. have finally succeeded in cutting into Dunder Mifflin’s business by undercutting their prices, but that action has also left Michael’s company penniless (and unable to afford even a delivery van for the paper they’re selling, as we see in the episode’s opening).  Luckily, David Wallace decides to try to buy Michael out.  The negotiations that follow are hysterical — and also a stunning moment as Michael rises to the occasion by serving as a surprisingly sly negotiator.  Also, Charles Miner (The Wire’s idris Elba), who has been running the Scranton branch in Michael’s absence, is finally undone by his ill-chosen support of Dwight.

7.  30 Rock: “St. Valentine’s Day” (season 3, episode 11, aired on 2/12/09).  Liz foolishly insists that she and Drew (guest star Jon Hamm from Mad Men) have their first date on Valentines’s Day, while Jack’s new girlfriend Elisa (Salma Hayek) insists that he celebrate the day with her in church.  The escalating chaos that befalls Liz and Drew on their first-date-from-hell is a riot, but what earns this episode a place on this list is Jack’s prayer/phone call to his assistant while sitting next to Elisa in church: “Our Jonathan, who art in the office, hallowed be thy reservation…”  Oh, and I should also mention the waiter’s reaction to Jack sitting alone in front of an enormous dessert at his favorite restaurant: “I’m sorry, is this a Sixth Sense thing?  Should I bring a place setting for your friend?”  Genius.

6.  Curb Your Enthusiasm: “Officer Krupke” (season 7, episode 8, aired on 11/8/09).  Larry’s plot to reconcile with Cheryl by casting her as George’s wife in the Seinfeld reunion is imperiled when another actress (Elisabeth Shue) auditions very well for the role.  Jeff is in hot water with his wife Susie because she found another woman’s panties in his car, so Jeff desperately begs Larry to tell Susie that the panties are his — which leads to the classic moment: “I’m Larry David, and I happen to enjoy wearing women’s panties.”  Larry gets into an argument with the fellow behind the counter at the department store where he left a pair of his pants, as they debate the difference between “lost” and “gone.”  (I’m with Larry on this one.)  Larry meets a police offer with the same name as the famous character from West Side Story.  All of those story-lines are terrific, but what elevates this episode beyond the rest is the phenomenal closing moment when Jeff shows up at Larry’s door wearing a neck-brace: “you’ve got to tell Susie I was in a car accident!”  (I won’t spoil the meaning of that gloriously dirty joke for those of you who haven’t yet seen this episode.)

Click here for numbers 5 through 1!