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#1- Inception Starring: Leonardo DiCaprio, Ken Watanabe, Joseph Gordon-Levitt, Marion Cotillard, Ellen Page, and Cillian Murphy Directed by: Christopher Nolan Easily the best film of the year as it had everything from amazing and trippy effects, great acting and a wonderful and mind blowing plot and story. Inception is a perfect example of a movie that mixes special effects and a deep and rich plot in a landscape littered with movies that only seem to care about effects. Inception is a thinking man’s movie one that even when it’s over you can’t seem to shut off your brain as it has you ask and answer so many questions in its two and half hour running time that it almost causes overload. You are never really sure what is real and what is not and not since movies like the Matrix or Memento has this been done so beautifully and entertainingly. |
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#2- The Town Starring: Ben Affleck, Rebecca Hall, Jon Hamm, Jeremy Renner, Blake Lively, Titus Welliver, Pete Postlethwaite, Chris Cooper Directed by: Ben Affleck The gritty and dirty feel of the town captures the imagination and the feel of a city unlike any movie before it. The Town crafts its characters and plots where even though it’s about a group of villains you actually have sympathy for the villains and want to cheer them on. The Town is a perfect example of the anti-hero kind of film where even though the movie is about bank robbers and crime you find yourself hoping the bad guys win and not the cops or the authorities. I love these kind of films because they turn the whole typical cliché storylines on their heads and you get to root for the bad guys and not the good guys for once. The Town is full of action, plot and great characters and you can’t help but truly be entertained by the film. | ||
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#3- The Fighter Starring: Mark Wahlberg, Christian Bale, Melissa Leo and Amy Adams Directed by: David O Russell What makes the fighter so good is the perfomances of its cast. It's hard to not see Christian Bale as a crack addled former boxer trying to hang onto his past or Mark Wahlberg as a boxer and family man that just can't seem to cut the strings that are binding him so tight even if they are slowly starting to suffocate him. And until a new girl comes into his life of Amy Adams he finds himself slowly sinking further and further into the depths of loss, hardship and despair his family can't seem to escape. It helps that the film is based on true events that give that story its extra little punch but its the acting that has it floating to the top like the cream of the crop. | ||
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#4- Toy Story 3 Starring: Tom Hanks, Tim Allen, Wallace Shawn, John Ratzenberger, Michael Keaton Directed by: Lee Unkrich Just like memories of our childhood Toy Story 3 manages to pull that nostalgia to the top and make you feel like a kid again. One of the things I love about Toy Story 3 and Pixar is that even though it’s a kids movie is that it works on so many levels and for so many different ages without having to go overboard with tons of innuendo. That seems to be the key a lot of the other kids movie miss out on and something I am glad Pixar realizes is that you don’t need a lot of innuendo to be a good movie that can be enjoyed by everyone. All of us had toys when we were children some of us more precious that others and the idea that when we are not around these toys come to life and have a personality of their own is fantastic. I also loved the intro where the toys are leaving out a world of adventures created by a child’s imagination and was my favorite part of the entire film. | ||
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#5- True Grit Starring: Jeff Bridges, Matt Damon, Josh Brolin, Nicholas Sadler, Bruce Green (II) Directed by: Joel Coen, Ethan Coen I watched the original True Grit with John Wayne on a Thursday and the very next day on a Friday I watched the remake so I found it hard at times to not see parallels between the films and decided which I like more. But a film like True Grit was perfect for the Coens as I doubt many other directors could have found the humor in the original that very offbeat kind of humor and ran with it so well. Sure John Wayne does a more iconic turn as Rooster than Jeff Bridges does but that doesn't mean Bridges doesn't do a good job as well. True Grit captures that beautiful classic western feel and mixes it with modern day appeal and action. | ||
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#6- Harry Potter and the Deathly Hollows Part 1 Starring: Daniel Radcliffe, Emma Watson, Rupert Grint, Tom Felton, Helena Bonham Carter Directed by: David Yates Much like the books I have felt the Harry Potter films have gotten better with each sequel and each progression of the story. That is partly due to the fact that the films have better source material to draw from but also because they seem to be better executed as well. The first installment of the last book the Deathly Hallows is easily the best Harry Potter film to date and makes the first movie almost seem a little childish. Just like our young heroes of the film the movies have grown up and are more serious, more action packed and a lot more mature. The seventh film is an action packed, drama driving marvel and one of the best films of the year. | ||
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#7- Shutter Island Starring: Leonardo DiCaprio, Mark Ruffalo, Ben Kingsley, Michelle Williams, Max von Sydow Directed by: Martin Scorsese At first glance Shutter Island isn’t your typical Martin Scorsese film. It is a much more psychological thriller and mind game kind of movie that one might associate more with a director like David Fincher yet it does have that very trademark kind of Scorsese feel to it. It was a little like what if Scorsese directed a film written by Fincher with all his cat and mouse and mind games but with all the very Scorsese like elements and cinematography to it. It is also the kind of film that shows that Scorsese is one of the finest directors in all of Hollywood as he takes a leave of absence from his normal genre of gangster films and proves that he can deliver in another genre as well. It is the kind of film that messes with your head the whole time and at the very last moment blows you away as all its secrets are revealed and even leaves you with one final question as the curtain closes. It is the kind of film you need to watch more than once to catch all the subtle and brilliant nuances that Scorsese delivers fantastically. | ||
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#8- The Social Network Starring: Jesse Eisenberg, Justin Timberlake, Andrew Garfield, Joseph Mazzello, Armie Hammer Directed by: David Fincher The Social Network found a way to mix real stories with intrigue and made talking fast seem cool. The Social Network tackles several tricky subjects and that is how to tell a true story that is mired in conspiracy and conflicting stories and how to make a computer geek and code based film something that the general masses will enjoy. And for the most part the film accomplishes both feats with relative ease and is quite entertaining to watch. It does help that there is so much drama and plot and conspiracy around the creation of something like Facebook that is perfect for a big screen adaptation. | ||
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#9- Black Swan Starring: Natalie Portman, Vincent Cassel, Mila Kunis, Barbara Hershey, Winona Ryder Directed by: Darren Aronofsky Easily the strangest and most trippy movie of the bunch as the film plays mind games with you and you are never really sure what is reality and what is not. That is the beauty of the film as it emerses you into the lead characters mind and as she slowly grows crazier and more depraved so do you as the audience member as well. You feel her insanity creeping up on you as well and slowly sink into madness with her as well. Couple that with amazing performances by Natalie Portman and Mila Kutis and you have a great film that you can watch a dozen times and still not know what is happening at times. | ||
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#10- Kick-Ass Starring: Aaron Johnson, Christopher Mintz-Plasse, Mark Strong, Chloe Grace Moretz, Nicolas Cage Directed by: Matthew Vaughn Kick-Ass might not be the first film to take a tongue and cheek approach at a comic book superhero type of movie but it definitely seems like the first. The film mixes moments of real superhero comic book heroes in with a nerd who just decides that it was time for someone to try and be one to perfection. The film goes back and forth between being somewhat of your typical comic book film to a more fun tongue and cheek look at the genre and it does it to perfection. You get that fun feel, that we don’t care about the genre and what has come before us but at the same time you get a great story and just a smidgen of what most comic book films try and be in a perfect blend of action and humor. | ||
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Honorable Mention- Tron: Legacy Starring: Jeff Bridges, Garrett Hedlund, Olivia Wilde, Bruce Boxleitner, Bruce Boxleitner, Michael Sheen, James Frain Directed by: Joseph Kosinski The most fun movie of the year as it found away to capture all the beautiful CGI of the original and mix it with a much improved plot over the original. One of the reasons the movie still captures that wonder of the original and a simpler time is that the majority of the movie takes place in the digital world of light bikes and gladiator like games involving futuristic light rings and ever menacing villains. The movie is gorgeous in modern day CGI and takes and expounds on everything that was so much fun about the original but now with the all the added benefits of technology to make it even better. The action sequences are even more breath taking, from the still awesome idea of bikes propelled on a string of light to gladiatorial games held high up in spires of glass the movie is spectacular to say the least. And that is what Tron should be an dazzling display of effects that leave you craving more and not even bothered by the gimmick of 3D for once. | ||
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Honorable Mention- Repo Men Starring: Jude Law, Forest Whitaker, Alice Braga, Liev Schreiber, Carice Van Houten Directed by: Miguel Sapochnik Tjis is my guilty pleasure pick of the bunch as its probably not the best movie out there and will be missing from most top 10 lists you see but I thourghly enjoyed it and it was a lot of fun to watch. I wasn't very happy with the weird twist the movie decided to take but all in all the movie was actually a fun science fictiion film that flew under the radar. Sometimes not being froced to try and be an award pleasing kind of film is liberating as you can actually please your audience instead and have a lot of fun with it in the process. Other off the radar sci-fi films like Starship Troopers and Startgate where never well recieved by the critics but audiences loved them and that is the scenario with Repo Men as well. | ||
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Worst Movies of the Year #1- Killers Starring: Ashton Kutcher, Katherine Heigl, Tom Selleck, Catherine O'Hara, Katheryn Winnick Directed by: Robert Luketic 2010 was the year of I married or dated a spy and I did not realize he was a spy to well after we had fallen in love now what do I do and of all these films the Killers was the worst of the bunch. It took everything about this new sub genre and just made it boring and unappealing and unwatchable. The characters are cliches and cookie cutter cutouts and that is exacltyhow Kutcher and Heigl played them with little emotion and not adding anything to the movie. Throw the poor performances in with a weak plot that just seemed like a copy cat idea, mix it with some over the top very unbelievable action sequences add some nyguil and you have the Killers. | ||
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#2- Clash of the Titans Starring: Sam Worthington, Liam Neeson, Ralph Fiennes, Jason Flemyng, Alexa Davalos Directed by: Louis Leterrier This is a movie that the more I thought about it the more it sunk in my rankings of films for 2010 despite the fact that I gave it a lukewarm review after first seeing it. The acting was rigid, the effects were not that grand and the story was a terrible mess and I didn't even see it in its supposedly horrid 3d conversion. Months later after seeing it I realized I had no desire to ever see it again even if I wasn't paying to see it the second time. The movie was a clunky mess and a remake of a cult film that was very cheesy to begin with. Sometimes films that are cheesy for their limitations of the effects at the time should be left in the past and not be remade because they will always live fondly in our memories where clunky messes like the remakes will not. | ||
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#3- Eclipse Starring: Kristen Stewart, Robert Pattinson, Taylor Lautner, Xavier Samuel, Bryce Dallas Howard and Dakota Fanning Directed by: David Slade The terrible nature of the books finally caught up with the movies as this to me was the single most boring movie of the year even if it wasn't the worst. The books themselves have always relied on a very flimsy to nonexistent plot and story with cliched characters that do not grow nor develop and with rushed endings trying to pack to much into such a short little space. The movie enbraced all the worst parts of the books developing no plot nor advancing the characters in anyways and just relying on the rabid devotion of its fan base to fill seats. What it made for was a movie so boring and so lacking life I felt I almost needed to slap myself constantly to try and stay focused on it and not fall asleep as the over played and now very tiresome characters of Edward and Bella did nothing for two hours. | ||
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Biggest Disappointment of 2010 Chronicles of Narnia: Voyage of the Dawn Treader Starring: Georgie Henley, Skandar Keynes, Ben Barnes, Will Poulter, Tilda Swinton, Gary Sweet, Lauren Brent, Arthur Angel, Simon Pegg Directed by: Michael Apted For what was easily my favorite book of the Narnia series to be turned into easily the weakest film of the series in a very hohum manner was a great disappointment. There was probably a reason that unlike the first two films in the series this movie didn't get much ad time or any kind of push and that reason is the prodicers must have known they hadn't made a very good movie. The film seemed to only be made and exist just so they could continue the series and when a series gets to that point it's easier and better just to hang up the towel and move on. The film was a mess, very uninspired and just felt like a paint by numbers painting of the book following the plot but never really caring to give the film any kind of artistic feel of its own. | ||