At this time of year it's traditional for me to look over the past year of DVD releases and pick the best of 2009.
And who am I to buck with tradition? This week we'll do animation, action, documentary and horror. Next week, mainstream and world cinema. Let the games begin!

Cool Cartoons
This would have been the category for Up to win but for reasons unavailable it hasn't been released yet in New Zealand. No matter since we have the brilliant Coraline, a story that spooked some adults but was lapped up by kids, who have a very different idea of what is scary than parents often think. Ignored young Coraline finds a secret door to another world where she meets and is captivated by her 'other” mother... Outstanding stop-motion animation in a beautifully realised fable.
Other top class cartoon treats came in the shape of that cute little robot Wall-E, and the serious documentary animation of Waltz with Bashir, a surprising and moving exploration of guilt in the aftermath of the 1982 Lebanon war.

Reel Life
Errol Morris' cold hard look at the realities that lay behind pictures of abused prisoners in Iraq's Abu Ghraib prison, Standard Operating Procedure, was as bleak and depressing as Man on the Wire – a look at French highwire-man Philippe Petit's walk between the twin towers – was uplifting. Morris misses nothing and leaves one with a powerful sense of injustice and anger at both human weakness and duplicity. Petit's astonishing highwire act makes the spirits soar – it is both a tense thriller and a celebration of the human spirit and its quest for the remarkable.
Also essential on the documentary front were Brazilian film Bus 174, con-woman story Forbidden Lies, and the best of the films about the late Hunter S Thompson, simply entitled Gonzo.

Where The Action Is
It was a good year for science fiction. Star Trek and District 9 both proved that there was new life in the genre (and the wonderful little gem Moon should be released here soon). Star Trek did the almost impossible – it reinvented a franchise that was old and tired, gave a new look to sci-fi action, and managed to be thrilling and funny while presenting interesting real characters. Wow. It really is impressive, with any doubts about recasting Kirk and Spock immediately laid to rest. And Kiwi Karl Urban is a great Dr McCoy!
District 9 simply rocks. Yep. A debut director and Peter Jackson as producer have turned in a coolly original take on aliens coming to earth. Dubious politics are irrelevant when you have great special effects and an original story told through a deft mix of faux-documentary and hard-fought action.
Back to earth – or at least two alternative-universe versions of earth – were Watchmen and Tarantino's latest Inglourious Basterds. Watchmen suffered somewhat from slavish adherence to the graphic novel but was visually so arresting and narratively so dense that it repays repeat viewings with its outlandish extremes and attention to detail. Some may be baffled – I loved it.
And Tarantino? Well the man likes to take risks. Here's a war film that mainly consists of people talking, much of it subtitled. It is endlessly skilful and entertaining, hugely flawed but compulsively watchable. Christoph Waltz is a new star, Brad Pitt is weird, Tarantino is on his own planet. Fortunately it's fun to visit.

The Horror, The Horror…
In the slew of bad remakes and cheap slasher knock-offs two horror films, both European, stood head and shoulders above the bunch. Swedish vampire movie Let The Right One In was a model of restraint – subtle, creepy, and as much a study of childhood isolation and violence as a horror flick. It was possibly the best film of the year in any genre. Meanwhile, Martyrs was a shocking bloody assault, a film that mixed transcendental philosophy with torture-porn and came on like someone repeatedly kicking you in the stomach. See it if you dare. It's French and, yes, it really is that good.