Maybe, Let's Just Get This Over With...

Best Films of 2010 by JTS22

So, I have been working on this post WAY too long. Months even. And the saddest thing is that it turned out so long that I’m pretty sure most people won’t read it. So I guess I’m just posting it on principle now—since I put all the work into it and stuff.

For those who do read on, you should know that this list cannot be taken seriously, for several reasons really. First off, because I haven’t seen the following movies:

- Get Low (update- I did watch this. But I was way tired and need to try again)

- 127 Hours

- Never Let Me Go (update- I watched this at the tail end of writing these reviews. It is one of my most favorite films of 2010. It easily knocks a movie off the below list)

- The King’s Speech

Also, I’m not a film critic. So, my rantings can only be interpreted as the misguided thoughts of a crazed movie fan.

For those who dare, buckle up, it’s gonna be a long ride. Here we go:

2^nd Runner-up.

Black Swan – I’ll be honest, usually when it comes to movies I don’t really care for the artsy fartsy films that have all the critics going gaga. Take that with a grain of salt, cause when I say the words “don’t care for” in relation to movies… well? It’s really hard for me to think of a movie I just flat out don’t like. So I really don’t know what “don’t care for means”. Chomp on that for a while.

I don’t even know if I liked this movie? Or if I have just bought into the hype? Here’s what I will say: go watch any of the latest Star Wars movies. Just pick one up and then watch it. And then watch Black Swan. You will be a mess. You will be blown away. You will not believe it is the same actress.

It starts to make you believe that there really are great directors out there. Because how Aranofsky got out of her what he did in comparison to what Lucas got out of her in the Star Wars movie is boggling. Simply boggling!

So I don’t know if I liked the movie. I’m still working on that. But I do know this, Portman’s performance is every bit deserving of the hype you’re hearing. She is crazy good.

1^st Runner-up.

Greenberg – You know what? I really don’t care for Ben Stiller. Most likely, it is the Focker movies that have turned me off. But as I think about it, I haven’t much cared for him in most of his movies. Even in Zoolander, which I loved. But I loved it for Will Ferrell and Own Wilson’s characters more than anything. Stiller just doesn’t do it for me. So, I was much the skeptic before my screening of Greenburg.

But this is not the Ben Stiller I hate. And yes, that IS a good thing. I like to think that this has more to do with director Noah Baumback (Squid and the Whale, Kicking And Screaming [totally underrated film]) than with Stiller himself. I like to imagine Baumback beating the living Stiller out of him, and filmed the pulp that was left.

Stiller’s character is the brooding Roger Greenberg; a has-been grunge rocker, coming home to LA after spending many years in New York, to house sit for his brother and to recover from a recent nervous breakdown. He is on meds galore and is an immature, self-absorbed, nasty little mouse of a man (and yes, I did just take a pop shot at Stiller’s stature). Forget a character arc; you spend the whole movie waiting for Greenberg’s next meltdown. Personal growth for this guy would be to finish a conversation without abusively freaking out on someone then storming off. My favorite quirk is perhaps his writing of very expressive, often ranting, letters, to the editor of the New York Times, a cab company, American Airlines, Mayor Bloomberg, and I forget who else. Stiller here has none of the silly or self-deprecating humor of Along Came Polly or the The Heartbreak Kid. Greenberg doesn't have the self-awareness to make fun of himself. Along with the house sitting and recovery, his great goal is to build a house for his brother’s dog. In Greenberg’s world, anything else that happens beyond that is more or less an unwelcome accident. This of course includes the central premise of the movie: a very awkward romance between Greenberg and Florence (Flo), his brother’s “family assistant” (nanny?) They have an awkward meeting, drink a bit, have awkward sex, and then part ways in equally awkward fashion.

Florence is as broken as Greenberg. She’s a little on the easy side, let’s people walk all over her and drinks too much (probably goes hand-in-hand with her first flaw). The big difference between Flo and Greenberg is that she’s only 25 and he’s 40. This allows her at least a chance of changing her life, while Greenberg seems doomed to roam the earth sulky and alone. Greenberg's behavior gets worse as their relationship (if I may use that word so liberally) continues. Some will be left wondering why exactly she continues to see him, and I can't explain it either.

This isn’t a movie with a plot. There is no mystery to solve or prisoner to rescue. It’s more a glimpse into these seriously flawed lives. Which is probably why it struck a chord for me. These seem to be my favorite kinds of movies. The character driven kind. Because, even with all of his nastiness and flaws, I unfortunately see a bit of myself in Greenberg. Maybe we all do. Hopefully it’s just one little part, that part we resolve to work on or change January 1^st of every New Year. Greenberg gets his chances for redemption, the joy of the movie is watching him totally miss some and almost hit others.

10. The Fighter – Let me get something off my chest here: I felt like there was some serious false advertising done on this film. I went into The Fighter with a descent understanding of the career of “Irish” Micky Ward (I confess, my history stems from trying to find out who was this guy on the cover of the Dropkick Murphey’s album The Warrior’s Code back in 2005). Then I remembered seeing his final fight with Arturo Gatti in 2003. A fight- check that- a battle, I will never forget. From the trailers I thought this film was going to be a “sports movie”(ala Cinderella Man) about this warrior in the ring culminating with his three wars with Gatti, two of which received Ring magazine’s Fight of the Year award. Spoiler Alert!: it’s not a sports movie. Spoiler Alert! #2: the Gatti vs. Ward fights aren’t even part of the movie!!!

So you probably think I sound disappointed? Maybe a little. Despite all of this, I was really impressed with The Fighter. The performances! Holy cow! Director David Russell coaxed out of these actors absolutely astounding performances! Seriously. If you thought Amy Adams was being pigeon holed into floozy light hearted girly roles, wait til you see and hear her in The Fighter. And you have not seen scary, you have not imagined scary, until you see Adams character go up against the Eklund/Ward mom and sisters and all of the hair they brought with them! To date, Melissa Leo has taken home a Golden Globe and a SAG for her role in the “best supporting actress” category for this film. My personal opinion is that the whole brood of female Ward/Eklund’s should have won those awards together. They were crazy good. And crazy nasty/scary!

Mark Wahlberg puts in a solid performance as the quieter and mild mannered Micky. But Christian Bale just plain owns this show, playing Micky’s washed-up boxer now drug addict brother Dicky Eklund. The genius of Bale’s performance is that Dicky isn’t just any washed up, coked out brother. Bale is one of those rare actors that allows you to forget you’re watching a movie when he’s on screen. He literally becomes Dicky, and in doing so he becomes every brother or sister, mom or dad, husband or wife… every friend, with a problem or addiction that won’t let you help them. It’s crushing and painful to watch. It’s a heart breaking performance deserving of academy recognition.

9. Winter’s Bone – My experience with Winter’s Bone was like an awkward first date… that grew on me with time. See, I had heard good things about it. There was Oscar buzz-buzzing about Jennifer Lawrence’s performance. But when I watched it, I kind of remember waiting, and waiting some more, for the amazing to happen. And when the credits rolled I was kind of like—meh. Still, the darn thing stuck with me. I thought about it for days. Most movies don’t do that to me. Really, I still haven’t figured out why it haunted me for so long. I haven’t been able to put my finger on it. But I have conceded, I guess to my subconscious, that I do in fact like this movie. I guess it’s a good thing it wasn’t a first date, cause I totally would have waited too long to call…

Lawrence plays Ree Dolly, the daughter of a crystal meth dealer who has gone missing. Something that appears to be a fairly regular occurance. This of course affords Ree several dilemmas: caring for her mentally ill mother; caring for her younger brother and sister; and losing the house to a bail bondsman. Tack on top of that trying to finish high school and thinking about college or the army. Slowly the weight of it all begins to smother her, so Ree sets out to find her dad. Initially it appears she expects to find him holed up somewhere in a meth house totally strung out. However, it becomes very clear as she begins to visit the local spots, families, ‘friends’ and associates of her father that something is wrong. As her desperation to find her father grows and as Ree digs deeper she finds things are far more sinister than she ever imagined.

The film is eerily set in the backwoods somewhere in the Ozark Mountains. It’s gritty and rough. You can’t watch it without feeling that you have mysteriously transported to some purgatory-like dimension. The only seen I recall that reminds you that these people actually might live in this world is when Ree is at high school. Other than that, the woods, the shanty houses, the littered yards, and toothless unkempt residents really feel other-worldly. At the same time it makes no judgements about these people’s lives—they do what they must to survive. The film never feels like it has an angle of sympathy or pity.

The standout performance, however, was not Lawrence. For me, it was John Hawkes who plays Ree’s uncle Teardrop, brother of her missing father. His performance is ridinky donkulous. Seriously. He is so torn between allegiances that he appears, believably, schizo. He’s terrifying and dangerous and caring and protective all in his own crazy way. His performance alone is worth the watch.

8. Youth in Revolt – Two Matt Cera movies on my top ten list? You’re probably thinking total man-crush? Not really. He’s not my type for man-crushing. But gosh dang the kid is funny. And I really feel like he stretched himself with this role—on the Francois side that is. If there is such a thing as “typical Michael Cera” I have not grown tired of it yet. Have you? Some of the funniest lines uttered by Cera are lines mumbled under his breath. So much so, at times, that I think a lot of people miss them.

Coming-of-age-nerd-in-disguise films are the bedrock of the film industry. It seems like they have been done every which way possible. So it’s always fun to see a fresh and slightly different take on the genre. Straight out of the trailer part, nerdy Nick Twisp (Cera) can’t seem to pull himself together enough to earn the romantic attention of the girl of his dreams. So what does he do? What most high school kids would do in his situation, he creates an alter ego named Francois: a slick-haired, chain-smoking, mustached, ascot-wearing, sociopath whose bad-boy nature gets nerdy Nick in a boatload of trouble, but also gets him closer and closer to landing his dream girl. This of course is Nick’s great dilemma: lose the alter ego (and possibly the girl) or see where it takes him, no matter what kind of destruction it leaves in his wake?

Youth in Revolt hits on the emotion, desperation, anger, violence and hilarity of those awkward teen years and does so in strong and entertaining fashion. I think I would have loved this film even more had I seen it when I was between the ages of sixteen and eighteen.

7. Kick-Ass: I liked this movie on a lot of different levels. But the reason I chose it for my list is because I think it is one of the greatest satires of our day. Let me explain...

Comic books are awesome (and popular) because they provide us with escape from the sometimes very brutal and sometimes very dark real world that we live in. And the heroes, especially the original comic book heroes, were idealistic ambassadors of good will to mankind who conjured ideas of justice, goodness and sacrifice within our young impressionable minds. That was, until the 80’s came along and my stupid generation fell in love with the anti-hero. Guys who had been villains in other comics suddenly became brooding detached heroes like The Punisher or Wolverine. Gone was the “Lone Ranger in his white hat atop his trusty white steed Silver”. Virtually overnight the heroes of yesteryear were replaced by darker, menacing “creatures of the night” who wreaked havoc on their enemies using fear and often tremendous violence. Gone were the days of tossing Lex Luther in jail only to have him escape to fight another day. We now liked our comics dark, and gritty. Or, so we pretended.

See, despite this “new” twist of the dark hero, we were still able to use them for escape. Despite the new violence and menace, things always turned out in the end. For instance, The Punisher wore a bullet proof vest—thank heavens no bad guys ever thought to try for a head shot on him. And he would certainly never go up against the likes of Abomination, or heaven forbid Magneto—who would render his seemingly endless arsenal worthless and then crush him with a dump truck or something. You see, things always turned out alright in the end. The hero lived and eventually foiled or killed the bad guys.

This is where Kick-Ass really becomes awesome with its satire and where so many critics squirm in their chairs and take issue with the film. You see, Kick-Ass isn’t just a satire on comics, it’s satirizing our love of these new violent anti-heroes and love of violence in general. Through most of the film, we’re quite content to watch Hit Girl and Big Daddy violently dismantle the bad guys with bone crushing hand to hand and perfectly placed bullets. It’s all kicks and giggles until Frank D’Amico picks up Hit Girl. Oh crap! This shiz just got real!

I remember hearing people gasp in the theatre. I literally watched girlfriends turn into their boyfriends shoulder; boyfriends who were in-turn squirming in their chairs. When D’Amico begins wailing relentlessly on this 11-year old little girl, it literally destroyed the audience. We’ve been on a fun ride with this little fireball so far. We’ve really enjoyed watching her stick it to the bad guys. She’s like our kid sister at this point. And the minute she starts taking these brutal blows, we are reminded of that, and everyone is like “What in the hell is that little girl doing fighting cold blooded ruthless thugs!!!?? Who allowed this!!???” Suddenly we realize that this doesn’t feel like a comic book and D’Amico is most likely going to kill Hit Girl! What the…!??!! For the love of all that is holy, please, please, please become a comic book again!!! Please!!!

There in lies the genius of this film. What is being satirized? The audience. The audience and their so-called “desire for reality and violence” in comics. We’re the joke. It kills me that so many critics lined up to attack this film after years and years and years of reviewing and often promoting uber-violent films. Think about Kick-Ass up to this point: 16 year-old boy fighting crime? Okay, say the critics. 16 year-old gets jacked up and stabbed, almost dies? Sure, fine, say the critics. 16 year-old starts having sex with 16 year-old girlfriend because of his crime-fighter status? Sure, why not, say the critics. Little girl gets her face pummeled? What the…!!!! You’ve totally crossed the line you dirt bags!!!

That’s why I dare to call this movie brilliant. It reminds the audience that what they want isn’t realism. They want fantasy. They want the fantasy a bit gritty, sure, but there’s still a line.

6. Social Network – I should prolly front this review by addressing the elephant in the room: I do not have a facebook account. Those words were chosen carefully. You will note that I did not say “I do not facebook”. The reason I did not say this is because ‘facebook’ is not a verb, it’s a noun. I do not do other nouns like spa-ing or club-ing. I like to try and keep my verbs and nouns distinctly separated. I’m all old fashion and shiz. And my reasons for not being on facebook are certainly not principled or based on a strong moral aversion to the concept. No. It’s much simpler than that. I merely do not want people to be able to find me. And not in the paranoid sense. More in the—don’t call me, I’ll call you, kind of way.

So, while I have not jumped into the virtual world of facebook I am not ignorant of its phenomena. Even before being made a movie, the youth and genius of Mark Zuckerberg linked with his massive success was pretty amazing drama. Combine that with the fact that the story is still completely pertinent as facebook continues to grow, and you have the makings of what could be a great movie with total relevance to its audience. Still, Hollywood has proven time and time again, that it can take a great story and really screw it up.

I don’t know Mark Zuckerberg. I’m guessing no one reading this does either. I’m also pretty sure script writer Aaron Sorkin doesn’t know Zuckerberg. So, I just have to say that I get a little bent when I hear people, after they watch the movie, say things like, “He seems like a real dirt bag!” “I can’t believe he got away with stealing that idea!” Seriously!? Like the movie was a recording of the actual events that transpired? Get off it people! I’m not saying Sorkin had to paint The Zuck as a hero—but I don’t think he’s as bad as the movie made him out to be. But that’s just me.

Everything I’ve read outside of the movie makes me personally really like the kid. His HUGE donations to charities; like $100 million to New Jersey for their desperately hurting public schools. I like how nerdy and normal he dresses. I like how his girlfriend is conventionally pretty, kind of a crappy dresser (like him) and in no way a supermodel. I like how he’s renting, RENTING a small cozy home and that he drives a frickin’ Honda Fit. The kid has billions upon billions!!! He’s not out buying mansion, Aston Martins and sippin’ Cristal. That’s pretty cool.

Anyway—you wanted to know about the movie? It’s really good! Great script, awesome soundtrack and wonderful performance. Jesse Eisenberg was great—though, he already proved himself to me in The Squid and the Whale, The Education of Charlie Banks, Adventureland and Zombieland. For me, Andrew Garfield was the standout performance as Zuck’s college buddy/business partner Eduardo Saverin. I really enjoyed his performance and have just started to notice him in other projects. He’s in Never Let Me Go that I am dying to see. And has been cast in the lead role of Peter Parker in The Amazing Spider-Man reboot.

Facebook or no facebook, the movie is really well done and def one of the best of the year.

5. The Town – Two great heist movies in one year!? Uh, nice! Following up his directorial debut of the evocatively good Gone Baby Gone, Ben Affleck’s (am I pronouncing that right?) crime/heist drama The Town leaves us no doubt that this guy belongs behind the camera! Don’t get me wrong, he is a fine actor, he has just done so many awful roles, it’s hard to get them out of my head.

Gigli!!!!!!!!! Argh!! My eyes!!!!

Somewhere I read a critic comparing The Town to Michael Mann’s Heat… Woe!!!!!!! Slow down there tiger. The Town is freakin’ good, but let’s just let that simmer for a few years before we go comparing it to something like Heat. Though, I will add this- I have no doubt it will in fact stand the test of time as one of the great heist dramas. I just don’t think it will reach Heat status.

On the surface, The Town can appear a bit formulaic- a group of tight knit friends, born and raised in the same crime ridden neighborhood (in this case, Charlestown of Boston) that all end up in “the life”. When one wants out, it throws everyone off. Of course the solution is let’s just do one last job. That said, I really felt like Affleck and company gave the heist formula some unique and subtle twists.

Everybody is at the top of their game in this movie. Blake Lively is so believably trashy. John Hamm is great as the obsessed-with-getting-his-guy FBI agent. Pete Postlethwaite is horribly sinister as the town florist/backer for the jobs. Rebecca Hall nails it as the vulnerable hostage/new love interest of Doug (Affleck’s character). But it should be no surprise that Jeremy Renner as Affleck’s life-long friend Jem, just straight-up steals the show! Flat out blows it up on-screen. The cat is volatile!!! His transitions are jolting—he makes blazing shifts from whispering calm to complete and total volcanic-like chaos that really keep you on your toes! Every time he was on screen my anxiety level would spike to a 10. He’s that good.

Add up the great performances, the awesome car chases, the gun battles, the romances and friendships- this is easily one of the year’s most entertaining films. I’ll tell you what, with Gone, Baby, Gone and The Town under his directorial belt, Ben Affleck the director has me very curious for his next project.

4. True Grit – Rooster Cogburn abides. (you know… like The Dude. He he). The Dude revising a role done by The Duke. That’s straight up spooky stuff right there!

Many of you may not get that. Oh well.

I love westerns. Gosh heck all to bits and pieces I like ‘em! In fact, one of my all time most favorite movies is Sergio Leone’s Once Upon A Time In the West. I even took a college course entirely dedicated to the Western novel. I think there were like six or seven students in the class. It was friggin’ sweet. One of my favorite child-hood TV shows was The Lone Ranger. I would watch it and then play for hours.

John Wayne. Clint Eastwood. Henry Fonda. Westerns sweet westerns.

Sadly, the demand for the western movie seems to have fallen off the edge of the earth. So it’s pretty awesome when one surfaces now and again. Even more awesome when it’s a frickin’ sweet movie!

Though it is, in technical terms, a remake; it is interesting to consider that the Coen brothers did not go to the John Wayne movie for their material, but to the original source. That is, Charles Portis’ novel. In fact, as I understand it, virtually all of the dialogue is pulled directly from the novel. Which really makes me want to read it.

True Grit is an awesome and beautiful display of self restraint. From the score, to the cinematography, to the bare bones acting—this is minimalism at its best. It is a sham and a total waste that the awards have all but shunned this great film. I wish with all my heart that its success would resurrect a new western movement. But I thought the same thing with Open Range, and we had to wait nearly seven years for another western worth our while. Sheesh. I guess our wait begins again.

3. Toy Story 3 – The Godfather. Star Wars. Lord of the Rings. Evil Dead. The Dollars (Clint Eastwood). Indiana Jones. And now, Toy Story. What do these have in common? Fan-friggin-tastic trilogies!!! Do you remember that moment, when our heroes (three movies later, now our friends) stood hand in hand at the landfill dump, facing and accepting their fate as they slowly descended toward their demise? Has there ever been a moment that touching and gripping in cinema… live action or animated? The only bad thing that comes from Toy Story 3 is that Pixar is now too good for their britches. You know? At this point, do you expect anything less than perfect from these guys? Their next film is Cars 2 and I just really feel like they don’t have a prayer of impressing people with it as the follow-up to Toy Story 3.

2. Inception – No matter what your stance is on the final shot; or whether or not you want to debate that Cobb’s totem was really his wedding ring; or whether Cobb was in a dream the entire time… the simple fact is, this was an amazing movie. I saw it in theatres four times. Blown away the first time. Totally blown away. Like brains splattered all over the wall, blown away. That kind. The second time I was driven nearly to the brink of insanity as I nit picked it apart. Tried to analyze every little thing and then re-analyze it after that. It was brutal and left me a pulpy mess of a man. The third time, I was able to answer a lot of my questions and let go of others. The fourth time I was really just able to sit back and enjoy the whole movie. The score. The editing. The characters and roles. The incredible thought and imagination that went into staggering the time lines. It was easily the best ride of the summer. And perhaps the coolest thing of all about Inception? When whittled down to the bare bones, Inception is a heist movie, which has long been one of my favorite genres. Hopefully the Nolan brothers will be making films for a long time.

1. Scott Pilgrim vs. The World – Well. I can say this—my wife will give me “that look” when she reads this. You know- The Look. She’s pretty sure I tortured her by having her watch this with me. Like, in her mind I literally tied her to a chair in front of the TV and taped her eyelids open and threatened to give her an Indian rug-burn every time she dared look away from the telly. The experience was different in my mind. I was so excited to show it to her, cause I heart this movie so much. Out of love and mercy I tied her to the chair because I knew the movie would be so intensely enjoyable that she might start jumping up and down and miss part of it. You just don’t understand how it pains me to have her loathe something I found so enjoyable!

My first screening of Scott Pilgrim vs The World took place the Friday it was released. I went with a couple of co-workers. I am not embarrassed to say that I literally forgot there was any one else in the theatre. This is how I know that I loved Scott Pilgrim vs The World, because I completely lost track of all time and space for the next two hours. I will tell you what I remember. I remember that from the moment the 8-bit Universal logo appeared on screen along with the midi version of the Universal music until the movie ended with video-game-Scott smashing up the “The End” letters, I had the biggest, dumbest, most child-like grin on my face! Not the laughing kind-of-smile smile (though the movie is incredibly funny). Just that big goofy almost awe-struck smile that kids get when you can tell that their brain is having a hard time processing the magnitude of what they are experiencing. I remember watching a foolish, somewhat unlikable protagonist stumble his way through first relationships and first loves. The ones that impact us forever. I remember an 8-bit-like pee bar. I remember bad guys exploding into coins all Mario Bros. like. I remember the movie exploring the battle lines between self-respect and love in some fun, light and yet surprisingly deep ways. I remember a pretty bitchin’ soundtrack. And I remember wanting for it to never end.

In the end, many people will write-off Scott Pilgrim vs The World off as a silly light hearted comedy—and that’s too bad, as I feel it makes palatable some pretty heavy relationship issues.

Miscellaneous:

Best 2010 Eye Candy: Tron Legacy – Sure, sure, go ahead, shoot all the holes you want into the storyline/plot. I really don’t care. For me, Tron Legacy was a 120 minute Daft Punk music video with breath taking visuals! And that’s all it needed to be.

2010 Movies that were just plain fun:

The A-Team

Iron Man 2

RED

The Expendables