Brian's Favorite Movies of 2010
Another year has come and gone giving us plenty of great movies along the way. At one point I thought it was a rather weak year in film, but now that I think about it, it was actually pretty good. Maybe there weren't as many good films as other years, but 2010's good ones were excellent. As always I give you my favorites of the year. I narrowed my list down to 14, but only ranked the top ten. Here are my chosen films of the year starting with four honorable mentions.
Honorable Mentions
Despicable Me
It's flat-out funny and flat-out sweet. Super villain Gru (voice of Steve Carell) becomes an unlikely parent when he adopts three orphan girls. He attempts to use the girls to help him steal a weapon from another super villain. Carell is funny, but the heart of the movie is the three girls. At times it's an in-your-face comedy, but it's not afraid to get warm and fuzzy on us.
The Girl Who Played With Fire
This is the second film in the Swedish-made Millenium Trilogy and in my opinion the best. Punk heroine Lisbeth Salander (Noomi Rapace) is accused of three murders and she has to stay on the run while proving she's innocent with the help of journalist Mikael Blomkvist (Michael Nyqvist). Salander is a phenomenal character and this film will keep you on the edge of your seat.
Harking back to the days of The Little Mermaid and the like, Tangled already feels like a classic Disney movie. It's the story of Rapunzel told in Disney fashion with excellent songs by Alan Menken and beautiful computer animation. It's loaded with good humor and a few scenes that'll keep the eyes moist. One of the biggest injustices at the Academy Awards this year was the exclusion of this film in the Animated Feature category.
Is it a remake or another adaptation of the book? Who cares really. The Coen brothers are certainly the type of film makers that don't care how iconic the original movie was. If they want to make it, they'll make it. And what a great job they did. It's a classic American story about Mattie Ross (Hailee Steinfeld) who hires U.S. Marshal Rooster Cogburn (Jeff Bridges) to find and kill the her father's killer. Along the way they join up with LaBoeuf (Matt Damon). A truly great Western in times when Westerns are nearly dead.
Top 10
10. How to Train Your Dragon
10. How to Train Your Dragon
Wimpy viking Hiccup wants to learn to slay dragons like all vikings, but when he injures one he feels bad and ends up becoming friends with Toothless, he calls him. Hiccup needs to prove to his father that he's a world class dragon slayer, but now he knows dragons aren't all that bad. Including some breath-taking animation and a great voice cast, How to Train Your Dragon is delightful. It's an absolute joy to watch.
Easily the most unique film made this year. It's a documentary about a French amateur film maker named Thierry who begins filming famous street artists at work. His goal is to get a hold of the most famous street artist, Banksy who is a world famous street artist from the UK. After that things get a little more complex when Thierry starts becoming a street artist himself and Banksy decides to turn Thierry's footage into a movie about street art. Thus Banksy is credited as director of Exit Through the Gift Shop. It starts out as a very interesting and in-depth look at a growing form of modern art and turns into a plot-heavy story. It's quite an experience.
This is the story of King Edward VI, real name George (played by Colin Firth), who before becoming king hires a speech therapist (Geoffrey Rush) to help eliminate his stammer. He feels the country and world won't take him seriously if he can't speak properly. Marvelously acted by Firth, Rush and Helena Bonham Carter who plays George's wife. It's a very simple story, but, even though most of us aren't royalty, we can relate to it in one way or another. There are millions of stories of people battling disabilities when it's absolutely necessary, but this one feels fresh because it's told so well.
7. Scott Pilgrim vs. the World
Now this is more like it. This Edgar Wright film goes where it wants to go and does what it wants to do. It doesn't follow any common movie formula or any cinematic rules. It's entirely it's own. It's based on a series of books by none other than Bryan Lee O'Malley (I'm not joking). The plot is hilarious. Scott (Michael Cera), in order to date his dreamgirl Ramona Flowers (May Elizabeth Winstead), has to battle her seven evil exes. It plays out like a video game so when someone is cut in half with a sword they turn into coins. There are great supporting characters named Young Neil (Johnny Simmons), Stephen Stills (Mark Webber) and Wallace Wells (Kieran Culkin). But maybe the most entertaining character is Scott's jealous girlfriend Knives Chau (Ellen Wong). And a word to the Academy. I know this movie isn't very Oscar friendly, but it's without a doubt the most well edited movie of the year. Wright only has a few films under his belt. Hopefully this is just the beginning.
6. Winter's Bone
Ree Dolly (Jennifer Lawrence in a star-making role) is a tough Ozark Mountain girl who deals with more as a 17-year-old than a lot of people do in a life time. Her family is poor and doesn't have much more than their house. Her father is a drug dealer and he goes missing before a trial for drug charges. The local police inform Ree that her father put up their house as collateral, so if he doesn't show up in court, they lose their house. Ree and her family can't afford that so she must hunt her father down or prove that he's dead. On the way she comes across several people who don't like her snooping around and things get dangerous. Ree realizes her father's disappearance is shady and she's willing to try anything to discover what happened to him, especially when her family's safety depends on it. It's as quietly tense as it gets and Lawrence really carries the movie. Some supporting cast members help out including Oscar nominee John Hawkes.
This is one of those stories that would seem impossible if it weren't true. It's the story of hiker Aron Ralston who ended up with his right arm trapped underneath a boulder while mountain climbing in Utah in 2003. Since he's deep in a crevice and he didn't tell anyone where he was going, he eventually has to attempt unthinkable things to escape. Most people know how he escapes but it's compelling to watch how he ends up there. James Franco is superb. For most of the movie he's acting alone. He doesn't even get Wilson the volleyball for company. Director Danny Boyle paces the movie nicely and even though we're essentially in one place for the majority of the movie, it's exciting throughout. I send a fair warning to anybody who might be squeamish because the escape scene is ultra realistic and extra gruesome.
I've seen it referred to as the "Australian Goodfellas." That's fair because the story is similar, but it's a much different style of movie. The lead character J Cody (James Frecheville) comes to live with his grandmother after his drug-addict mother dies. His grandma (Oscar nominee Jacki Weaver) also lives with her sons who are all professional criminals. J gets involved in the crime and ends up arrested. There he meets Detective Leckie (Guy Pearce) who vows to help J if he gives his uncles, mostly his Uncle Pope, to the police. J is a very quiet character and, though he is the lead, probably has fewer lines than several other characters. Overall it's very well acted, but the story itself is what keeps you watching.
3. Another Year
Now I move from a movie that's all plot to a movie that really doesn't have any plot. Director Mike Leigh has been known to make films that mostly rely on character structure and development. Another Year is no different. And I don't think he could have come up with a better title. The movie plays as if we're watching another year in the lives of some everyday people. It's a mighty challenge for the actors because it's all on them to keep their characters interesting and realistic. It's got a great British cast including Jim Broadbent, Ruth Sheen, David Bradley, Imelda Staunton and the standout Lesley Manville. At the core of the movie is a blissfully married couple (Broadbent and Sheen) who seem to grow closer every year they're married. Manville plays their single friend who desperately wants a husband. Simply put, it's a story about everyday people with everyday problems and we get to witness it. Who knew our lives could be so interesting?
2. Black Swan
Now it's time to get crazy. It clocks in at 108 minutes, but it feels much shorter with its lightning-quick pace and gripping storyline. Natalie Portman is Nina Sayers who wins the lead role in the ballet Swan Lake. The director of the ballet (Vincent Cassel) says she's perfectly delicate and fragile enough to play the White Swan, but doesn't have what it takes to be the Black Swan. We then meet Lily (Mila Kunis) who is Nina's polar opposite because she's easy-going and relaxed. Nina is so determined to perfect the Black Swan role that she's willing to lose her mind in the process. We witness scene after scene where Nina isn't sure what's real, and neither are we. As the film goes on, the themes get darker and darker and we start to see Nina becoming the Black Swan. I saw it once and I had a very lucid memory of every scene. Director Darren Aronofsky uses a maniacal pace, but he never loses control of it, even if Nina does. I haven't been that locked in watching a movie in a while.
1. Toy Story 3
If you know me well, this doesn't surprise you. The third installment of the ground breaking Toy Story franchise is the best yet. Those folks at Pixar always tell great stories that always seem new and fresh. We're all familiar with Andy's toys at this point, but on the verge of Andy going away to college, Woody and the gang are finally worried about their futures. They expect to spend eternity in the attic until Andy throws Woody in the box he's taking to college and then mistakenly throws the other toys away. They escape the garbage and end up being donated to a day care center where lies the possibility of being played with every day for the rest of time. Quickly they realize it's not all it's cracked up to be and they hatch a plan to escape and get back to Andy before he leaves. There are some great laughs including a scene where Ken (Michael Keaton) tries to woo Barbie by trying on his many outfits. Or there's the scene where Espanol Buzz tries to woo Jessie with dance moves. You'll definitely laugh, you'll probably cry especially if you've grown up with these characters. It's a touching and fitting ending to one of the best trilogies of all time.
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