So, 2009… the first year I failed to reach my stated goal. Still, I saw 94 new films and bothered to review several others — and here’s a full alphabetical list of the lot of ’em!

– Airplane! (1980)
– Aliens (1986)
– Alien³ (1992)
– Alien Resurrection (1997)
– Alone in the Dark (2005)
– An American in Paris (1951)
– Angels & Demons (2009)
– Anne Frank Remembered (1995)
– La Antena (2007)
– The Apartment (1960)
– Ashes of Time Redux (1994/2008)
– Avatar (2009)
– AVP: Alien vs. Predator (2004)
– AVPR – Aliens vs Predator: Requiem (2007)
– Babel (2006)
– Batman (1966)
– Big Nothing (2006)
– Blade Runner: The Final Cut (1982/2007)
– Brute Force (1947)
– Children of Heaven (1997)
– Cinderella (1965)
– Copycat (1995)
– Culloden (1964)
– Dark Floors (2008)
– Eastern Promises (2007)
– Exiled (2006)
– Fatal Instinct (1993)
– A Few Good Men (1992)
– Flags of Our Fathers (2006)
– Flesh for Frankenstein (3D) (1973)
– For All Mankind (1989)
– For Your Consideration (2006)
– Friday the 13th Part III (3D) (1982)
– Glory (1989)
– The Great Dictator (1940)
– Hamlet (2009)
– Hannah Montana/Miley Cyrus: Best of Both Worlds Concert Tour (3D) (2008)
– Hard Candy (2005)
– Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince (2009)
– High Anxiety (1977)
– High Society (1956)
– In Bruges (2008)
– In the Shadow of the Moon (2007)
– Inglourious Basterds (2009)
– Insomnia (2002)
– Jumper (2008)
– The Kite Runner (2007)
– The Knack …And How to Get It (1965)
– The Lady from Shanghai (1947)
– Lethal Weapon (1987)
– The Man in the Iron Mask (1998)
– Marnie (1964)
– Michael Clayton (2007)
– Murder on the Orient Express (1974)
– No Country For Old Men (2007)
– Paths of Glory (1957)
– Predator 2 (1990)
– Rage (2009)
– Red Riding: 1974 (2009)
– Red Riding: 1980 (2009)
– Red Riding: 1983 (2009)
– The Right Stuff (1983)
– Ripley’s Game (2002)
– Rock n Roll Nerd (2008)
– Runaway Train (1985)
– Sarah Silverman: Jesus is Magic (TV edit) (2005)
– Saw (2004)
– Saw II (2005)
– Saw III (2006)
– Saw IV (2007)
– Seance on a Wet Afternoon (1964)
– Shadow of the Vampire (2000)
– Sherlock (2002)
– Sherlock Holmes in Washington (1943)
– Sky Captain and the World of Tomorrow (2004)
– Solaris (2002)
– Son of Paleface (1952)
– Son of Rambow (2007)
– Stand By Me (1986)
– Star Trek (2009)
– State of Play (2009)
– Stranger on the Third Floor (1940)
– The Taking of Pelham One Two Three (1974)
– There Will Be Blood (2007)
– The Thief of Bagdad (1940)
– Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen (2009)
– Transporter 3 (2008)
– Wallander: Before the Frost (2005)
– Wallander: Mastermind (2005)
– Watchmen (2009)
– Watchmen: Director’s Cut (2009)
– Where the Sidewalk Ends (1950)
– The X Files: I Want to Believe – Director’s Cut (2008)
– X-Men Origins: Wolverine (2009)

Alternate Cuts
– Alien: The Director’s Cut (1979/2003)

Other Reviews
– The Birds (1963)
– Flash Gordon (1980)
– Predator (1987)
– Some Like It Hot (1959)

Shorts
– Commentary! The Musical (2008)
– Cut (2009)
– The Gruffalo (2009)
– The Lunch Date (1990)
– The World of Tomorrow (1998)
– The Wraith of Cobble Hill (2005)

In the end, I watched 94 new feature films in 2009, the first year I’ve failed to reach 100.

I watched three features I’d seen before that were extended or altered in some way. Two of them even factored in the main list. I also reviewed four films I’d seen before. (All 99 films are included in the statistics that follow, unless otherwise indicated.)

I also watched six shorts this year, which by some coincidence falls exactly mid-way between the number I saw in 2007 and the number I saw in 2008. Exciting stuff. (Shorts aren’t counted, except the total total running time.)

The total running time of new features was 166 hours and 51 minutes. The total running time of all features and shorts was 177 hours and 44 minutes.

I saw 6 films at the cinema this year, including, for the first time, one in 3D. That’s far beaten by the number of new films I saw on DVD though, which stands at 29 (rising by just one if counting extended/altered films, five if counting all features). Surprisingly, however, that’s also soundly beaten by the number I watched on TV: 44, including 8 in HD and, appropriately, 3 in 3D. This compares to 14 in 2007 and 10 last year, making 2009 a highly unusual year by comparison. Otherwise, I watched 8 via download, 6 on Blu-ray and 1 via online streaming, which is a first (for a feature-length film) for me. VHS has finally disappeared however, dropping steadily from five in 2008 to two last year, and now to zero.

The most popular decade this year was, as ever, the 00s, with 51 films. Of the rest, 10 were made in the 90s, 12 in the 80s, 5 in the 70s, 8 in the 60s, and 6 each in the 40s and the 50s. The oldest film on this year’s list dates from 1940. (Where alternate cuts offer up multiple decades (Ridley Scott, I’m looking at you) only the decade of production/original release is counted.)

My average score was 3.7, equal to 2007’s and 0.1 higher than 2008’s. Seems I’m consistent. This year that average comes from 21 five-star films (up on both previous years) and 4 one-star films, the first year I’ve doled out more than one of the latter. The majority of films, as usual, scored four stars (there were 42 of them this year). There were also 21 three-star films (down on 2008, which was down on 2007) and 11 two-star films (in the same ballpark).

15 films appear on the IMDb Top 250 Films at the time of writing, which is slightly up from last year. Their positions range from 28th (Avatar) to 231st (Glory). From Empire’s Top 10 of 2009 (only to be found buried away here, apparently) I’ve managed just two. As ever, there are too many other lists around to consider them all.

At the end of both 2007 and 2008 I included lists of 50 notable films I’d missed from that year’s releases. With all of 2009 taken into account, I’ve managed to see four more from 2007 (bringing the total number seen from that 50 to just 21), and, equally, a mediocre four from 2008’s list (shamefully, I actually own or have recorded 14 of the remaining 46). Hopefully further films from both lists will crop up in 2010.

A total of 87 directors appear on this year’s list, as well as two partnerships (both pairs of brothers) and two directing teams. Topping the list of those with multiple films is Darren Lynn Bousman with three (all Saw sequels), while there’s two apiece for James Cameron, Alfred Hitchcock, Rob Reiner, Ridley Scott and Billy Wilder. Zack Snyder also appears twice, with two cuts of the same film.

35 of the films are currently in my DVD/Blu-ray collection (plus four of the shorts).

I’m not done with 2009 yet. Aside from 21 outstanding reviews (by which I mean they’ve yet to be posted, not that they’re exceptionally good), there’s my Top 10 and Bottom 5 of what I saw this year. All of that to follow shortly… or, y’know, one day…