The Top 10 films of 2009: 1. 'Precious.' There were a million reasons the 1996 novel about an abused, pregnant and illiterate teen shouldn't have worked on-screen. Then there was director Lee Daniels. He believed in the heroism of Claireece 'Precious' Jones and in the talents of Gabourey Sidibe and Mo'Nique. Denver producers Sarah Siegel-Magness and Gary Magness believe in Daniels and fostered his vision of the story. 2. 'Up in the Air.' A high-flying dramedy about the things that ground us or grind us into a fine dust. George Clooney is perfection as the pink-slip specialist. Anna Kendrick and Vera Farmiga are ace as femmes, not fatale but life-rearranging. The best news? Director Jason Reitman's comedic ambition enjoys tussling with real life. 3. 'The Hurt Locker.' The production notes explain the title's enigmatic poetry as 'a place of ultimate pain.' But as soon as director Kathryn Bigelow shows a coffin that looks like a meat freezer, we know the hard truth of this harrowing war drama that follows a bomb-detonation unit in Baghdad. 4. '(500) Days of Summer.' Maybe it was the bluebird of slap-happiness twittering above Tom (Joseph Gordon-Levitt) after he spent the night with Summer (Zooey Deschanel). But this deeply romantic, anti-romantic comedy was perfect with its dashed hopes, cruel lessons and, yes, infernal optimism. 5. 'Star Trek.' J.J. Abrams and his doppleganger ensemble went boldly where we'd gone so often before and re-energized a franchise suffering entropy. 6. 'The White Ribbon.' Michael Haneke's fable, set in a German village on the eve of World War I, won't open widely for a few weeks. (I saw it at the Telluride Film Festival.) Stunningly composed, hauntingly paced, it's an authentically grim fairy tale about the roots of fascism. 7. 'Broken Embraces.' In this masterful drama, a blind writer-director recounts his blazing affair with a leading lady. But the incandescent torch here is the artistic one director Pedro Almodvar carries for magnificent muse Penlope Cruz. 8. 'Inglourious Basterds.' Morally confusing and cinematically exhilarating. From the opener at a French farmhouse to the conflagration at a Paris moviehouse, Quentin Tarantino proves yet again to be a master of staggering scenes. 9. 'Avatar.' Is this sci-fi fable great? Not sure yet. But James Cameron's gone-native epic does what colossally ambitious art should: please and rattle, with questions about our place in the scheme of things, about ethics, technology, love. 10. 'A Single Man.' This is becoming the directorial debut slot. Tom Ford's elegiac beauty about a widower (Colin Firth) preparing to end it all has gently edged out Cary Fukunaga's 'Sin Nombre' and Neill Blomkamp's 'District 9' -- two very different immigration thrillers. 