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Post by Her 69 Eyes on Feb 6, 2011 1:19:43 GMT -5
Now that most of us have had the opportunity to see the Oscar contenders... share your personal favorite movies of 2010! -- Honorable mention: A Film Unfinished (dir. Yael Hersonski). It's a harrowing film that i've been unable to shake, however due to it's subject matter I feel that it's inappropriate to attempt to rank it alongside the comparatively lighter entertainment that follows. I've included links to YouTube trailers because many of these films only received small releases. Obviously i'd recommend them all! 25.) Biutiful (dir. Alejandro González Iñárritu) 24.) Everyone Else (dir. Maren Ade) 23.) Vincere (dir. Marco Bellocchio) 22.) Alamar (dir. Pedro González-Rubio) 21.) The King's Speech (dir. Tom Hooper) 20.) The Square (dir. Nash Edgerton) 19.) Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: Part One (dir. David Yates) 18.) The Social Network (dir. David Fincher) 17.) Toy Story 3 (dir. Lee Unkrich) 16.) My Dog Tulip (dir. Paul & Sandra Fierlinger) 15.) The Kids Are All Right (dir. Lisa Cholodenko) 14.) Restrepo (dir. Tim Hetherington & Sebastian Junger) 13.) Prodigal Sons (dir. Kimberly Reed) 12.) Enter the Void (dir. Gaspar Noé) 11.) Somewhere (dir. Sofia Coppola) 10.) Coco Chanel & Igor Stravinsky (dir. Jan Kounen) 09.) Never Let Me Go (dir. Mark Romanek) 08.) Secret Sunshine (dir. Lee Chang-dong) 07.) Daddy Longlegs (dir. Ben & Joshua Safdie) 06.) The American (dir. Anton Corbijn) 05.) Last Train Home (dir. Lixin Fan) 04.) Dogtooth (dir. Giorgos Lanthimos) 03.) Another Year (dir. Mike Leigh) 02.) Sweetgrass (dir. Ilisa Barbash & Lucien Castaing-Taylor) 01.) Exit Through the Gift Shop (dir. Banksy) A few notes... * This was the year where I began sticking strictly to the eligibility requirement that the film had to have been released in the US in 2010 in order to qualify for the list. However, a few films which I love - A Prophet, Fish Tank, Henri-Georges Clouzot's Inferno - do not appear because I had considered them eligible last year. ** Ranking films is fundamentally stupid, but particularly so when you're ranking films that have only been with you for weeks or months. That is why several films have gone down the list from previous incarnations of this list, and why others have moved up. I suspect that the list will look very different in a year's time (though, if you're wondering, I still stand by Harry Potter's placement!). *** There are plenty of smaller films which i'm sure i'd love but have yet had the privilege of seeing: 45365, Guy and Madeline on a Park Bench, Lourdes, Marwencol, and so on. -- Also, just for fun.. Best Male Performance of 2010: Ronald Bronstein of Daddy LonglegsBest Female Performance of 2010: Lesley Manville of Another YearThe Worst Films of 2010: The Greatest & Welcome to the Rileys (there were many films that were just as bad and even worse than these two, but putting Alice in Wonderland on this list kind of goes without saying).
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Post by Maf on Feb 6, 2011 12:18:14 GMT -5
5. Inception 4. The Social Network 3. 127 Hours 2. Buried 1. Toy Story 3
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Post by AD on Feb 8, 2011 17:23:08 GMT -5
I still have a few movies I need to see before I can be satisfied with a year end list. My goal is to have it finalized before the Oscars.
In the meantime, here are some year end awards. (I'm pretty confident none of them will change anytime soon)
Most Underrated Movie of the Year - The American
Most Overrated Movie of the Year - The Fighter
Most Disappointing Movie of the Year - The Killer Inside Me
Best Remake - True Grit (I actually liked Let Me In more, but True Grit is a better remake because it’s better than the original in every way - including in the Wayne/Bridges comparison.)
Best Sequel - Toy Story 3
Surprise of the Year - Monsters
Worst Ending to An Otherwise Good Movie - The Last Exorcism
Most Undermining Director of the Year - Danny Boyle, for 127 Hours (I’m normally a fan of Mr. Boyle, but I found all his music video type stylistic flourishes to be absolutely abhorrent, and terribly distracting from an amazing true story that just doesn’t need that crap.)
The John Hughes Memorial Award (best movie about high school life) - Easy A
The John Huston Memorial Award (best film noir) - The Square
The “Poor Man’s David Cronenberg” Award - Splice
The “Narcissist of the Year”Award - Sylvester Stallone for the role he wrote for himself in The Expendables (Not only does he cast himself as the toughest badass in the world - laughable enough at his age - but he has every other character in the movie constantly telling him how great he looks and what great shape he’s in.)
The “Please Make It Stop” Award - all of the fight scenes in Scott Pilgrim vs. The World
The “Why Are They Doing This?” Award - the incessant and pointless sudden camera zooms in Cyrus
Best Inside Joke - Mattie Ross being dry after crossing the river on her horse in True Grit (it was a mistake in the original, it has to be a joke in the remake. Plus it just seems like something the Coen brothers would do.)
Facial Hair of the Year - Guy Pearce’s mustache in Animal Kingdom
Most Unintentionally Hilarious Moment of the Year - the stare-down between the top two horses before the Belmont Stakes in Secretariat.
Funniest Line of the Year - “I used to encourage everyone I knew to make art… I don't do that so much anymore.” - Banksy, from Exit Through the Gift Shop
Second Funniest Line of the Year - “That's why I call myself Mr. Brainwash. It's because everything that I do... somewhere... it brainwash your face!” - Thierry Guetta, from Exit Through the Gift Shop
The “Famous Last Words” Award - “It’s a crazy fuckin’ world.” from Animal Kingdom (revealing who says it would be a huge spoiler)
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Post by Maf on Feb 8, 2011 18:22:31 GMT -5
Most Undermining Director of the Year - Danny Boyle, for 127 Hours (I’m normally a fan of Mr. Boyle, but I found all his music video type stylistic flourishes to be absolutely abhorrent, and terribly distracting from an amazing true story that just doesn’t need that crap.) The “Please Make It Stop” Award - all of the fight scenes in Scott Pilgrim vs. The World Really? I thought the fight scenes in Scott Pilgrim were incredibly well done, yeah a bit over the top but it made sense with all the past video game references they were making. I liked the sort of MV style that 127 Hours had, and I'm really glad Boyle went in that direction instead of a documentaryesk style. Yes the story never called for any of that but I don't think it took anything away from it.
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Post by AD on Feb 8, 2011 19:46:52 GMT -5
Really? I thought the fight scenes in Scott Pilgrim were incredibly well done, yeah a bit over the top but it made sense with all the past video game references they were making. I love a good over the top action sequence, but the fights in Scott Pilgrim were supposed to be funny, and I just didn't find them funny. I hated the performances from most of the evil ex's and I just don't give a shit about the video game references ( even though I did understand them). I didn't dislike the movie as a whole. I really enjoyed the quieter parts, and what they were doing as far as editing in the dream sequences and things like that. I liked the sort of MV style that 127 Hours had, and I'm really glad Boyle went in that direction instead of a documentaryesk style. Yes the story never called for any of that but I don't think it took anything away from it. I suppose this one comes down to personal taste, but I just thought all that nonsense had an adverse effect on the story. Every time I started to care about this guy and his plight they'd cut away to some silly musical sequence that looked like a car commercial or something. It seemed like James Franco was giving likely the best performance he'll ever give, and Danny Boyle was making himself the star of the picture.
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Post by Maf on Feb 8, 2011 20:29:56 GMT -5
Eh, I guess I liked the music video parts of the movie because I don't really care much for James Franco. I thought he gave a great performance in the movie but I didn't really watch the movie because of him.
Different sense of humor for different people for the Pilgrim fight scenes I guess. Now, while I didn't think the lines in the fight scenes were hilarious, I did find myself chuckling at some of them.
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Post by Her 69 Eyes on Feb 9, 2011 0:54:50 GMT -5
I forgot to mention The Last Exorcism! Although 5% of it is absolutely infuriating, the remainder is one of the better achievements in the genre from the past few years. The filmmakers did an incredible job at presenting the ambiguity of whether or not the case was supernatural. After awhile, though - considering the reveal of the father's abuse and therefore the childish regression of the daughter (in that way she's not unlike the eerily repressed Nina of Black Swan) - it became absolutely clear that the film had nothing to do with the supernatural. One of the better scenes of the year was in the barn where the daughter was at the height of her self-destructive possession. After a convincing performance of being "possessed", she finally cracks. She offers a "blowing job" to the priest. I thought that was such a brilliant little detail, the idea that this sheltered girl exposed herself as a phony simply because she didn't know the exact terminology of an explicit sexual term.
I thought the film seemed proudly atheist and, in that way, was a huge, welcome change for the genre. Then, of course, we get the big schmoz. I mean, even disregarding the content, the execution is cringe-inducing - the phony costumes and over-the-top performances. What was most offensive to me, however, beyond the ridiculous notion that this entire town is a cult, was when the priest grabs his crucifix and begins to apparently call for God's help. The entire film had been about his crisis in faith. This was his upbringing and his livelihood, but he found religious extremists harmful and, before the final scene, I was under the impression that he would have distanced himself entirely from the church. The documentary he is making is about his divorce from faith as much as it is about the truth of excorcisms. The final scene negates literally everything interesting about the movie. My other favorite line from Exit Through the Gift Shop: "I'm playing chess. I don't know how to play chess... but life is a chess game."
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Post by Harry on Feb 9, 2011 15:05:22 GMT -5
There were a lot of lines like that that I didn't really pick up on until watching the movie 2 or 3 times. Great stuff.
Got around to seeing Dogtooth yesterday, since it's on Netflix Instant View. I thought it was really compelling and well-acted.
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Post by Her 69 Eyes on Feb 9, 2011 15:33:46 GMT -5
I'm sure it's extra compelling when you're on Facebook while you're watching it!
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Post by AD on Feb 9, 2011 18:14:33 GMT -5
I forgot to mention The Last Exorcism! Although 5% of it is absolutely infuriating, the remainder is one of the better achievements in the genre from the past few years. The filmmakers did an incredible job at presenting the ambiguity of whether or not the case was supernatural. After awhile, though - considering the reveal of the father's abuse and therefore the childish regression of the daughter (in that way she's not unlike the eerily repressed Nina of Black Swan) - it became absolutely clear that the film had nothing to do with the supernatural. One of the better scenes of the year was in the barn where the daughter was at the height of her self-destructive possession. After a convincing performance of being "possessed", she finally cracks. She offers a "blowing job" to the priest. I thought that was such a brilliant little detail, the idea that this sheltered girl exposed herself as a phony simply because she didn't know the exact terminology of an explicit sexual term.
I thought the film seemed proudly atheist and, in that way, was a huge, welcome change for the genre. Then, of course, we get the big schmoz. I mean, even disregarding the content, the execution is cringe-inducing - the phony costumes and over-the-top performances. What was most offensive to me, however, beyond the ridiculous notion that this entire town is a cult, was when the priest grabs his crucifix and begins to apparently call for God's help. The entire film had been about his crisis in faith. This was his upbringing and his livelihood, but he found religious extremists harmful and, before the final scene, I was under the impression that he would have distanced himself entirely from the church. The documentary he is making is about his divorce from faith as much as it is about the truth of excorcisms. The final scene negates literally everything interesting about the movie. So true. The movie probably would have been in my top 20 of the year without that ending. The first 80 minutes you're watching an intelligent examination of the phoniness of evangelism and the danger of unquestioning faith, and then the last five minutes turns into a Sam Raimi movie.
I don't think it needed any sort of twist ending, but if they thought they absolutely needed one, I don't see why they couldn't have just ended with the reveal that the alleged father of the baby was actually gay. Then they ask the question about why the local priest would be throwing parties for teenagers. The implication being that he is a pedophile. They could either end it there and maintain a little ambiguity, or they could continue on and expose the priest as the father.
That's how I would have done it, but what the hell do I know? Anyway, I'm content to blame the whole thing on Eli Roth...
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Post by AD on Feb 20, 2011 18:10:41 GMT -5
Fuck it. I had hoped to see a few more movies before making this list, but that's not going to happen any time soon, so this is it.
*based on US release dates*
25 - Valhalla Rising 24 - Jack Goes Boating 23 - Toy Story 3 22 - The King’s Speech 21 - Animal Kingdom 20 - Greenberg 19 - Monsters 18 - True Grit 17 - The Secret in Their Eyes 16 - The Social Network 15 - Vincere 14 - Winter’s Bone 13 - A Prophet 12 - Never Let Me Go 11 - Somewhere
10 - Mother - Staying power earns this film a spot in my top 10. It didn’t make a huge impact on me upon my initial viewing, but it keeps popping back into my mind for some reason. It’s been like seven months since I watched it and I can’t fucking shake it. Compare that to something like “Inception” which I loved upon first viewing, but more or less forgot about within a month. I’ll take the film haunts my dreams.
9 - Let Me In - An outstanding Americanization of the outstanding Swedish horror film “Let the Right One In.” It’s not as good as the original, because it’s not the original. It’s still pretty god damn good, though. The best American horror movie of the 21st century, actually… probably. After “Cloverfield” I thought Matt Reeves was just a director who got lucky with a gimmick. After this movie it appears he is the real deal.
8 - The Square - I’ve come to accept that I must be genetically predisposed to love this sort of noir-ish suspense thriller. Something about watching seemingly normal people sink to such abhorrent behavior is fascinating to me. I think even people who aren’t necessarily crazy about the genre would agree that this little Australian flick is pretty close to as good as it gets, though.
7 - The Kids Are All Right - Just a quirky little indy comedy about lesbians raising a family, right? Wrong! It’s actually a surprisingly honest, heartfelt, and insightful portrait of family relationships. It’s a testament to the quality of the performances and the writing that I was actually hoping for the Hollywood happy ending, but this film is too good for that. I was not prepared for the emotions that it stirred in me.
6 - Exit Through the Gift Shop - What can I say about this film that hasn’t been said already? Well, one thing that hasn’t been said enough is that it’s probably the funniest movie of the year. There's been a lot of speculation as to how "real" it is as a documentary, but I really don't give a shit about that. None of the other movies on this list can claim to be real, either, so what difference does it make?
5 - Dogtooth - If you grew up in a small town chances are you knew at least one weird home-schooled kid with super creepy parents. Well, this movie gives us a very extreme example of one of those families. “Disturbing” is the word that everybody uses to describe it, and I’m not gonna argue with that. I didn’t know comedy could get this dark.
4 - The American - They don’t often make ‘em like this anymore. Poorly marketed as a formulaic action-thriller, this subtly plotted character study is a throwback to the films of Jean-Pierre Melville, and, in it’s own way, Sergio Leone. George Clooney has become by far the most interesting American movie star working right now.
3 - Black Swan - The year’s second best Roman Polanski movie. Well, not really, but it might as well be. Part lurid melodrama, part psychosexual horror film, Darren Aronofsky’s latest is arguably his most audacious, and also his best. Natalie Portman has never been better, but her performance isn’t a big part of what I found interesting about the film. It is, at the very least, the second best ballet movie I’ve ever seen.
2 - The Ghost Writer - It’s such a rare treat to get this type of Hitchcockian thriller these days. Too much has been made of the film’s connections to real life politicians (Tony Blair, in particular). The allusions are there for those who are interested, but those looking for a purely cinematic experience should be more than satisfied. The closing shot is a thing of pure poetry, in that nihilistic style that only Roman Polanski can deliver.
1 - Fish Tank - In my earlier list I said I wouldn’t be shocked if this was still number one at the end of the year… and I’m not. Andrea Arnold. Remember that name people. Her first feature - “Red Road” - was a minor masterpiece, and her second is even better. Let’s all just hope that she’s got a lot more where those two came from.
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Yep, so that’s my list. Don’t take it too seriously, though. Number 10 could have just as easily been number 1 had I been in a different mood today. I kind of wanted to do a “worst of” list as well, but there were too many to choose from.
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Post by Her 69 Eyes on Feb 20, 2011 21:27:13 GMT -5
Good list!
I'm anxious to revisit Mother, and Let Me In. I enjoyed the former, but it was the fourth film that I saw back-to-back at the Chicago Film Festival, so much of it is a blur. I didn't care for the latter at all, but i'd seen the original a week earlier in my horror cinema class and couldn't overcome the comparisons. In addition to being disappointed by a lot of it - the pool scene, for example - what probably tampered with my enjoyment most was the the awful theater experience - bad sound, annoying popcorn eaters, etc. What I do remember most fondly about the film was the sequence in the car, which I thought was an inspired addition. Like Hitchcock so often gave us, it's a simple suspense scene that forces the audience to completely identify with the villain.
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