1. District 9 (2009)
The most under-rated sci-fi film, although the director, Neill Blomkamp, and the star, Sharlto Copley, are now getting more recognition with Blomkamp's larger budget Elysium and Copley being in Maleficent. For a relatively small budget the CG created aliens are amazing, especially because they're so intricate, and it's interesting to see aliens shown as neither the enemy or the friend but as complex characters. The film is in a mocumentary style and then falls away from that, I love mocumentaries and the fact Blomkamp doesn't stick too rigidly to it. The most disappointing thing about this film is that it feels incomplete and I am still hoping for sequel eventually. Worth watching even if you're not a fan of traditional sci-fi because it doesn't take place in space and deals with very human issues.
2. Up (2009)
With the greatest opening of a film ever, Up never gets boring even after re-watching it thousands of times. Up taps into a lot of basic human fears about living life to the fullest and achieving your goals, which is what makes this film so amazing for a wide range of people. It has an annoying but oddly loveable cast of characters, with the grumpy Carl, endlessly chatty Russel and desperately friendly Dug, and you want all of these characters to just be happy because they all suffer from loneliness, another very common feeling. Up is also a very beautiful because it is animated with such colour and vibrancy, one moment in particular was when the balloons filled a little girls room with multi colour lights is very memorable. It's a typical Pixar film, family friendly and with a lot of heart.
3. 500 Days of Summer (2009)
This is such a lovely, charming film and it does make you fall in love with Joseph Gordon-Levitt's Tom but unfortunately a lot of people hate Summer because she is the one who breaks Tom's heart. This is quite a misinterpreted film, I'm not sure how it's meant to be interpreted but it's not meant to be a pure love story and yet everyone thinks of it as such, it's almost more of a cautionary tale about falling in love too quickly. Aside from the story, the film is created beautifully, with Marc Webb incorporating interesting techniques like an Expectation vs. Reality split screen or a shot which is transformed into a sketch. It's one of the better rom-coms because it doesn't deal with The One, but rather shows a realistic portrays of a transitional relationship, which is rare to see. Along with being a cute but realistic film, it's also funny, so it's a good film for a date night (maybe) because hopefully everyone can enjoy it.
4. Inglorious Bastards (2009)
Everyone loves a bit of Quentin Tarantino and this is one of his most approachable films because it isn't quite so abstract and stylised as Kill Bill or Pulp Fiction, and deals with a very common filmic topic of WWII. It's wonderful to see a big Hollywood film filled with European or bilingual actors who can actually speak the languages, Tarantino even makes fun of the American actors trying to speak Italian, and it is nice for a Hollywood film to actually cast people correctly rather than just getting big stars and trying to train them to speak in certain languages or accents. Everything about this film is masterful, from cinematography to script to acting, and this makes for an enjoyable watch for the casual viewer and film buffs. It's also funny, bloody and fast paced (for a 153 minute film) so you don't get bored, despite the length. It's just a very good, well made and fun film, so I find very little reason that it shouldn't be on this list.
5. Star Trek (2009)
I haven't seen anything else in the Star Trek cannon but this film creates an exciting alternate universe from the originals to introduce a new generation to the franchise. It's a good sci-fi action film that introduces the characters and world really well, which allows the old fans to understand the differences between this version and the previous ones, as well as new fans to get a grasp on everything. The story was really interesting, because it's about parallel universes and time jumps, etc. which I think is a popular subject for most sci-fi fans because it's so interesting, and this also allows these films to head off into a different direction than the earlier version. It's brave to remake a very popular franchise, because although you will definitely make money you will also suffer from fan-boy hate, however this film's popularity is testament to the skill and care of its creators. For a fan of sci-fi, you can't go far wrong with Star Trek.
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