Jan. 1, 2011
Beck's Best Films of 2010
By Jeff Beck
Special to Huntingtonnews.net
Editor's Note: Based in Richmond, Beck has access to viewing the "limited" and "exclusive" films --- especially those potential multiple award nominated titles --- when composing his Best/Worst Lists.
Richmond, VA (HNN) - These are the times when it’s great to be a film critic. 2010 had several great movies, but there wasn’t really an over-abundance of them, so this year, there’s only one honorable mention. There’s something else that makes this list extra special: It’s probably the only top ten list out there that doesn’t include David Fincher’s decent, but overhyped The Social Network.
Honorable Mention:
The Secret in Their Eyes: One of the big surprises at the Oscars this year was when this film beat out “The White Ribbon” (which had won the Golden Palm at Cannes) for Best Foreign Language Film. It’s about a cop who is trying to write a book about a rape case that happened several years before. It flashes back to the investigation as he tries to find who did it, while in present day, he tries to reignite a relationship with his former boss. It may be slow-moving, but it’s fascinating to watch for how the subtleties of certain conversations can have a major impact on the plot.
Now begins the countdown:
10. 127 Hours: The fascinating tale of how Aron Ralston got trapped while hiking and survived by cutting his arm off. It doesn’t seem like much of a story, but James Franco’s performance elevates it into a film that you can’t look away from. One of the most interesting things about the film was how he is able to adapt to certain situations like when he uses his harness to suspend himself so he can sleep. After awhile, he begins to daydream, which becomes more and more intense as time goes on, and yet he is able to do what he needs to when the time comes. A truly unforgettable film.
9. How To Train Your Dragon: It’s true I only gave this three stars in my original review, which was probably undercutting it a bit (it’s times like this I start thinking of splitting half stars and such), but after rewatching it recently, the great moments of it really stand out, particularly the relationship between Hiccup and his dragon, Toothless. The scenes that show them slowly getting to know each other are some of the most touching emotional scenes in recent animated film history, which makes that moment when they finally connect something really special. I still find that the third act drags on a bit with the big battle, but it remains a fun film with tinges of greatness that makes it worthy of a spot on this list.
8. Despicable Me: This barely beat out How To Train Your Dragon on the list because it is able to maintain the high emotional level throughout the entire film. It’s about an evil supervillain named Gru who wants to steal the moon by shrinking it. However, his shrink ray gets stolen by another supervillain, so he enlists the help of three orphan girls to get it back. Slowly but surely, he comes to like them and vice-versa. This film ended up being a big surprise, not only because I had barely heard of it before seeing it, but because it looked like another typical kids’ film, but with a lot of humor and heart, it ended up being one of the best of the year.
7: The Millennium Trilogy (The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo, The Girl Who Played with Fire, The Girl Who Kicked the Hornets’ Nest): The incredible Swedish trilogy that made a star out of Noomi Rapace. It begins when a man hires a journalist, Mikael, to help find his missing daughter. He is eventually joined by an expert hacker, Lisbeth, which is the beginning of a relationship that will last through all three movies and most likely beyond as truths about Lisbeth’s past are uncovered and more mysteries are investigated. The second part is not as strong as the other two, but it is meant to be seen as one piece with the others. It may be a lot of subtitles, which is a big turnoff for some moviegoers, but it is very much worth seeking out.
6. The Kids Are All Right: A strange comedy that has to do with two kids of a lesbian couple forming a relationship with their biological father. The whole film is lifted by the fantastic performances from Annette Bening, Julianne Moore and Mark Ruffalo. It’s not particularly a laugh out loud comedy. It’s more so a dark comedy with situations that are rather amusing. Sadly, I never wrote a full review for this as I saw it way after it was released.
5. Shutter Island: A fascinating, suspenseful mystery from Martin Scorsese about two U.S. marshals who go to an island mental institution to investigate the disappearance of a patient. What makes the film so great is the labyrinthine screenplay that has you thinking it’s about one thing, then half way through, it has you thinking it’s about something else, and by the end, it turns itself on its head again. Adding to the effect of the film is the great and eerie production design that creates a feeling of being trapped on this island with the characters. I rewatched this the other day as well, and it held up great on a second viewing.
4. Scott Pilgrim vs. the World: A fantastic adaptation of the great series of graphic novel by Bryan Lee O’Malley. Michael Cera plays Scott Pilgrim, who at the start of the film had begun dating a high school girl, Knives Chau. He begins to have strange dream of another girl, Ramona Flowers, who he eventually meets in real life. He seriously wants to date her, but things become complicated when he discovers that he has to fight and defeat her seven evil exes. The film is a great mixture of comedy, romance, action, music, and is a definite must for fans of the graphic novels (though most people enjoyed it even without knowing about the novels).
3. Rabbit Hole: A surprising year-end find. It tells the story of a couple, played by Nicole Kidman and Aaron Eckhart, who recently lost their young son in an accident. The film explores the different ways in which they try to deal with the loss. At first, they both attend group therapy, but it doesn’t really do much for either of them. She seems to be erasing every trace of their son in their home while getting to know the teenager who accidentally hit him with his car on that fateful day. Meanwhile, the husband finds someone in their group session to talk to, but it seems that there could eventually be more than just talk involved. The film ends on the perfect note without trying to bring any kind of resolve to the situation, for that would have cheated the viewer of a realistic ending that shows that this is the kind of loss that you never truly get over.
2. The King’s Speech: An incredible true story of how the Duke of York, second son of King George V, becomes king of the British Empire after his brother, King Edward III, abdicates for love. The main problem is that the Duke of York (aka King George VI, or “Bertie” as his family calls him) has a stammer. He sees several speech therapists, but they aren’t able to do anything for him, so his wife seeks out another, Lionel Logue, whose methods are a bit unorthodox. So begins a fascinating relationship between Bertie and Lionel that builds up to the king’s first wartime speech that’s delivered at the end of the film. Colin Firth as the stuttering monarch gives a phenomenal performance and is the number one pick, and deservedly so, for the Best Actor Oscar for next year. Geoffrey Rush gives an equally brilliant performance as the eccentric speech therapist who believes that working as equals will allow him to help Bertie overcome his problem. Pay no attention to the R rating. It isn’t deserved in the least.
1. Inception: There really wasn’t much competition for the number one spot on this list. Inception is simply the most brilliant film of the year and could not be caught. It tells the story of Cobb, a man who hasn’t been able to see his kids for years because of the line of work he’s is: extraction. He enters peoples’ dreams and steals their secrets. A man by the name of Saito offers him a job in which he must get the heir to a business empire to break up his company, and if he is able to complete the job, he could go back to his normal life. This involves delving into a dream within a dream within a dream, all for the purpose of doing something that is believed to be impossible: Inception, or the planting of an idea in the human mind while making it seem like it was naturally formed.
Christopher Nolan, the greatest director working today, delivers a story that (literally) works on multiple levels and, by the end, creates tons of fascinating discussion as to what really happened. Did it end in a dream? Reality? Was the whole thing one big dream? Add to that the amazing special effects like the bizarre dreamscapes and, of course, the unforgettable corridor fight scene. This is a complex film that will have people talking for years to come. Truly deserving of the title Best Film of 2010.
Worst Films of 2010
Then there are times when being a film critic can try your patience. This year, like most years, there was an over-abundance of films to choose from in this category. However, unlike last year, this year’s list features one genre more prominently than any other: comedy. 8/11 films ended up being comedies that should have never seen the light of day, which shows a disturbing trend in really lazy comedy making. Let’s hope next year filmmakers are able to improve upon that.
I’ll start with a few dishonorable mentions before getting to the actual list:
Why Did I Get Married Too?: The only Tyler Perry movie I’ve ever seen, which was enough to make me not want to try any of his other films. Resident Evil: Afterlife: The latest entry in this incredibly tired series that once again sees Alice (Milla Jovovich) shooting zombies.
The Spy Next Door: A bizarre and just downright pointless action film that has Jackie Chan as a spy who ends up taking care of his neighbors’ kids.
Skyline: Here’s a film that shows just how generic films can feel when they don’t try at all. It tried to be just like Independence Day, but fell extremely short of getting there by being extremely dull.
The Warrior’s Way: A film that tries to blend East and West, but ends up doing nothing more than wasting the viewer’s time. Now begins the countdown:
10. Burlesque: The filmmakers were going for something along the lines of a Fosse musical, but they fail every step of the way. The storyline is as clichéd as they come, the music is horrible (especially when Christina Aguilera starts to sing), and it runs for far too long at two hours. I can only imagine that the Hollywood Foreign Press meant it as a joke to nominate this for “Best” anything.
9. She’s Out of My League: A romantic-comedy that follows the formula to the letter, using the dumbest of reasons to make the audience think that the couple will break up before the inevitable conclusion. Its other main problem is that it’s filled to the brim with incredibly lowbrow sexual humor that continues from one awkward situation to the next, turning this somewhat short film of 104 minutes into an endless, agonizing experience.
8. Valentine’s Day/How Do You Know (tie): Since How Do You Know ended up reminding me so much of Valentine’s Day, I thought they deserved to be on here together. They are both overly long (two hours) and have plots that are bland as can be. Valentine’s Day tries to get you to care about the several characters of its story and fails, while How Do You Know tries to get you to care about the very few characters of its story and also fails. To top it off, they both end up following the same tired formula that romantic-comedies have been suffering from for awhile now.
7. Death at a Funeral: The most pointless remake since Gus Van Sant remade Psycho shot for shot. The original British film was an incredible, hilarious delight. A mere two years later, these guys felt the need to remake it, taking the exact same jokes and situations. The director of this disaster, Neil LaBute apparently didn’t learn from his previous remake failure, The Wicker Man.
6. Grown Ups: Another terrible comedy from Adam Sandler and director Dennis Dugan. I still don’t get the supposed charm that Sandler has. The guy hasn’t been funny since he was on Saturday Night Live. Here, the film merely becomes an excuse to squeeze in as many bad, juvenile jokes as possible before the runtime is done, turning this into another unbearable comedy from this disastrous duo.
5. MacGruber: With MacGruber, SNL movies hit their all time low. It’s also a great indicator of how far the show has fallen. This film is filled to the brim with lowbrow sexual and scatological humor that didn’t get a single laugh. Luckily, it failed at the box office, so hopefully the filmmakers will think twice before trying to adapt anymore of SNL’s recent skits into movies.
4. Cop Out: It’s still extremely hard to believe that this terrible comedy was directed by Kevin Smith (Clerks, Clerks II, Dogma). Luckily he had nothing to do with the terrible screenplay, which is filled with lowbrow jokes (I know, this is a running theme with these “comedies”). Hopefully, Smith will use the money he got for directing this junk and put it toward another one of his original projects.
3. The Virginity Hit: A film about a group of friends who try to get their last friend to lose his virginity. It’s as mind-numbingly boring as it sounds. It’s presented in a pseudo-documentary style that ends up feeling like a never-ending series of bad home videos filled with sexual jokes. Before this, I had never really noticed anybody walk out of a screening, but here, it was hard not to notice the several audience members disappearing throughout the film, and the empty rows that had been filled at the start.
2. Saw 3D: Leaving the “comedies” behind at last, we come to a franchise that is no stranger to a list of worst films of the year. This latest (and hopefully last) entry in the Saw series is just as bad as the other sequels. Gratuitous violence, a nonsensical plotline that tries to reintegrate old character for no reason, and bad performances galore are all that you’ll find here. It’s so sad to think that many people think this is what horror films are supposed to be like.
1. The Human Centipede: Never heard of this? Consider yourself lucky. I’ll save you the disgusting details and just tell you that it’s about two girls on their way to a party who get kidnapped by an insane doctor. I’ll let you think about what could possibly happen from the title. There was absolutely no reason for this film to be made. It’s got awful performances all around, disgusting imagery, and it ended up being so bad that I never even wrote a review for it because it felt like it would be a complete waste of time to consider it any further.
Share This Story:
Make HNN Your Homepage (IE Users Only)
Beck's Best Films of 2010
By Jeff Beck
Special to Huntingtonnews.net
Editor's Note: Based in Richmond, Beck has access to viewing the "limited" and "exclusive" films --- especially those potential multiple award nominated titles --- when composing his Best/Worst Lists.
Richmond, VA (HNN) - These are the times when it’s great to be a film critic. 2010 had several great movies, but there wasn’t really an over-abundance of them, so this year, there’s only one honorable mention. There’s something else that makes this list extra special: It’s probably the only top ten list out there that doesn’t include David Fincher’s decent, but overhyped The Social Network.
Honorable Mention:
The Secret in Their Eyes: One of the big surprises at the Oscars this year was when this film beat out “The White Ribbon” (which had won the Golden Palm at Cannes) for Best Foreign Language Film. It’s about a cop who is trying to write a book about a rape case that happened several years before. It flashes back to the investigation as he tries to find who did it, while in present day, he tries to reignite a relationship with his former boss. It may be slow-moving, but it’s fascinating to watch for how the subtleties of certain conversations can have a major impact on the plot.
Now begins the countdown:
10. 127 Hours: The fascinating tale of how Aron Ralston got trapped while hiking and survived by cutting his arm off. It doesn’t seem like much of a story, but James Franco’s performance elevates it into a film that you can’t look away from. One of the most interesting things about the film was how he is able to adapt to certain situations like when he uses his harness to suspend himself so he can sleep. After awhile, he begins to daydream, which becomes more and more intense as time goes on, and yet he is able to do what he needs to when the time comes. A truly unforgettable film.
9. How To Train Your Dragon: It’s true I only gave this three stars in my original review, which was probably undercutting it a bit (it’s times like this I start thinking of splitting half stars and such), but after rewatching it recently, the great moments of it really stand out, particularly the relationship between Hiccup and his dragon, Toothless. The scenes that show them slowly getting to know each other are some of the most touching emotional scenes in recent animated film history, which makes that moment when they finally connect something really special. I still find that the third act drags on a bit with the big battle, but it remains a fun film with tinges of greatness that makes it worthy of a spot on this list.
8. Despicable Me: This barely beat out How To Train Your Dragon on the list because it is able to maintain the high emotional level throughout the entire film. It’s about an evil supervillain named Gru who wants to steal the moon by shrinking it. However, his shrink ray gets stolen by another supervillain, so he enlists the help of three orphan girls to get it back. Slowly but surely, he comes to like them and vice-versa. This film ended up being a big surprise, not only because I had barely heard of it before seeing it, but because it looked like another typical kids’ film, but with a lot of humor and heart, it ended up being one of the best of the year.
7: The Millennium Trilogy (The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo, The Girl Who Played with Fire, The Girl Who Kicked the Hornets’ Nest): The incredible Swedish trilogy that made a star out of Noomi Rapace. It begins when a man hires a journalist, Mikael, to help find his missing daughter. He is eventually joined by an expert hacker, Lisbeth, which is the beginning of a relationship that will last through all three movies and most likely beyond as truths about Lisbeth’s past are uncovered and more mysteries are investigated. The second part is not as strong as the other two, but it is meant to be seen as one piece with the others. It may be a lot of subtitles, which is a big turnoff for some moviegoers, but it is very much worth seeking out.
6. The Kids Are All Right: A strange comedy that has to do with two kids of a lesbian couple forming a relationship with their biological father. The whole film is lifted by the fantastic performances from Annette Bening, Julianne Moore and Mark Ruffalo. It’s not particularly a laugh out loud comedy. It’s more so a dark comedy with situations that are rather amusing. Sadly, I never wrote a full review for this as I saw it way after it was released.
5. Shutter Island: A fascinating, suspenseful mystery from Martin Scorsese about two U.S. marshals who go to an island mental institution to investigate the disappearance of a patient. What makes the film so great is the labyrinthine screenplay that has you thinking it’s about one thing, then half way through, it has you thinking it’s about something else, and by the end, it turns itself on its head again. Adding to the effect of the film is the great and eerie production design that creates a feeling of being trapped on this island with the characters. I rewatched this the other day as well, and it held up great on a second viewing.
4. Scott Pilgrim vs. the World: A fantastic adaptation of the great series of graphic novel by Bryan Lee O’Malley. Michael Cera plays Scott Pilgrim, who at the start of the film had begun dating a high school girl, Knives Chau. He begins to have strange dream of another girl, Ramona Flowers, who he eventually meets in real life. He seriously wants to date her, but things become complicated when he discovers that he has to fight and defeat her seven evil exes. The film is a great mixture of comedy, romance, action, music, and is a definite must for fans of the graphic novels (though most people enjoyed it even without knowing about the novels).
3. Rabbit Hole: A surprising year-end find. It tells the story of a couple, played by Nicole Kidman and Aaron Eckhart, who recently lost their young son in an accident. The film explores the different ways in which they try to deal with the loss. At first, they both attend group therapy, but it doesn’t really do much for either of them. She seems to be erasing every trace of their son in their home while getting to know the teenager who accidentally hit him with his car on that fateful day. Meanwhile, the husband finds someone in their group session to talk to, but it seems that there could eventually be more than just talk involved. The film ends on the perfect note without trying to bring any kind of resolve to the situation, for that would have cheated the viewer of a realistic ending that shows that this is the kind of loss that you never truly get over.
2. The King’s Speech: An incredible true story of how the Duke of York, second son of King George V, becomes king of the British Empire after his brother, King Edward III, abdicates for love. The main problem is that the Duke of York (aka King George VI, or “Bertie” as his family calls him) has a stammer. He sees several speech therapists, but they aren’t able to do anything for him, so his wife seeks out another, Lionel Logue, whose methods are a bit unorthodox. So begins a fascinating relationship between Bertie and Lionel that builds up to the king’s first wartime speech that’s delivered at the end of the film. Colin Firth as the stuttering monarch gives a phenomenal performance and is the number one pick, and deservedly so, for the Best Actor Oscar for next year. Geoffrey Rush gives an equally brilliant performance as the eccentric speech therapist who believes that working as equals will allow him to help Bertie overcome his problem. Pay no attention to the R rating. It isn’t deserved in the least.
1. Inception: There really wasn’t much competition for the number one spot on this list. Inception is simply the most brilliant film of the year and could not be caught. It tells the story of Cobb, a man who hasn’t been able to see his kids for years because of the line of work he’s is: extraction. He enters peoples’ dreams and steals their secrets. A man by the name of Saito offers him a job in which he must get the heir to a business empire to break up his company, and if he is able to complete the job, he could go back to his normal life. This involves delving into a dream within a dream within a dream, all for the purpose of doing something that is believed to be impossible: Inception, or the planting of an idea in the human mind while making it seem like it was naturally formed.
Christopher Nolan, the greatest director working today, delivers a story that (literally) works on multiple levels and, by the end, creates tons of fascinating discussion as to what really happened. Did it end in a dream? Reality? Was the whole thing one big dream? Add to that the amazing special effects like the bizarre dreamscapes and, of course, the unforgettable corridor fight scene. This is a complex film that will have people talking for years to come. Truly deserving of the title Best Film of 2010.
Worst Films of 2010
Then there are times when being a film critic can try your patience. This year, like most years, there was an over-abundance of films to choose from in this category. However, unlike last year, this year’s list features one genre more prominently than any other: comedy. 8/11 films ended up being comedies that should have never seen the light of day, which shows a disturbing trend in really lazy comedy making. Let’s hope next year filmmakers are able to improve upon that.
I’ll start with a few dishonorable mentions before getting to the actual list:
Why Did I Get Married Too?: The only Tyler Perry movie I’ve ever seen, which was enough to make me not want to try any of his other films. Resident Evil: Afterlife: The latest entry in this incredibly tired series that once again sees Alice (Milla Jovovich) shooting zombies.
The Spy Next Door: A bizarre and just downright pointless action film that has Jackie Chan as a spy who ends up taking care of his neighbors’ kids.
Skyline: Here’s a film that shows just how generic films can feel when they don’t try at all. It tried to be just like Independence Day, but fell extremely short of getting there by being extremely dull.
The Warrior’s Way: A film that tries to blend East and West, but ends up doing nothing more than wasting the viewer’s time. Now begins the countdown:
10. Burlesque: The filmmakers were going for something along the lines of a Fosse musical, but they fail every step of the way. The storyline is as clichéd as they come, the music is horrible (especially when Christina Aguilera starts to sing), and it runs for far too long at two hours. I can only imagine that the Hollywood Foreign Press meant it as a joke to nominate this for “Best” anything.
9. She’s Out of My League: A romantic-comedy that follows the formula to the letter, using the dumbest of reasons to make the audience think that the couple will break up before the inevitable conclusion. Its other main problem is that it’s filled to the brim with incredibly lowbrow sexual humor that continues from one awkward situation to the next, turning this somewhat short film of 104 minutes into an endless, agonizing experience.
8. Valentine’s Day/How Do You Know (tie): Since How Do You Know ended up reminding me so much of Valentine’s Day, I thought they deserved to be on here together. They are both overly long (two hours) and have plots that are bland as can be. Valentine’s Day tries to get you to care about the several characters of its story and fails, while How Do You Know tries to get you to care about the very few characters of its story and also fails. To top it off, they both end up following the same tired formula that romantic-comedies have been suffering from for awhile now.
7. Death at a Funeral: The most pointless remake since Gus Van Sant remade Psycho shot for shot. The original British film was an incredible, hilarious delight. A mere two years later, these guys felt the need to remake it, taking the exact same jokes and situations. The director of this disaster, Neil LaBute apparently didn’t learn from his previous remake failure, The Wicker Man.
6. Grown Ups: Another terrible comedy from Adam Sandler and director Dennis Dugan. I still don’t get the supposed charm that Sandler has. The guy hasn’t been funny since he was on Saturday Night Live. Here, the film merely becomes an excuse to squeeze in as many bad, juvenile jokes as possible before the runtime is done, turning this into another unbearable comedy from this disastrous duo.
5. MacGruber: With MacGruber, SNL movies hit their all time low. It’s also a great indicator of how far the show has fallen. This film is filled to the brim with lowbrow sexual and scatological humor that didn’t get a single laugh. Luckily, it failed at the box office, so hopefully the filmmakers will think twice before trying to adapt anymore of SNL’s recent skits into movies.
4. Cop Out: It’s still extremely hard to believe that this terrible comedy was directed by Kevin Smith (Clerks, Clerks II, Dogma). Luckily he had nothing to do with the terrible screenplay, which is filled with lowbrow jokes (I know, this is a running theme with these “comedies”). Hopefully, Smith will use the money he got for directing this junk and put it toward another one of his original projects.
3. The Virginity Hit: A film about a group of friends who try to get their last friend to lose his virginity. It’s as mind-numbingly boring as it sounds. It’s presented in a pseudo-documentary style that ends up feeling like a never-ending series of bad home videos filled with sexual jokes. Before this, I had never really noticed anybody walk out of a screening, but here, it was hard not to notice the several audience members disappearing throughout the film, and the empty rows that had been filled at the start.
2. Saw 3D: Leaving the “comedies” behind at last, we come to a franchise that is no stranger to a list of worst films of the year. This latest (and hopefully last) entry in the Saw series is just as bad as the other sequels. Gratuitous violence, a nonsensical plotline that tries to reintegrate old character for no reason, and bad performances galore are all that you’ll find here. It’s so sad to think that many people think this is what horror films are supposed to be like.
1. The Human Centipede: Never heard of this? Consider yourself lucky. I’ll save you the disgusting details and just tell you that it’s about two girls on their way to a party who get kidnapped by an insane doctor. I’ll let you think about what could possibly happen from the title. There was absolutely no reason for this film to be made. It’s got awful performances all around, disgusting imagery, and it ended up being so bad that I never even wrote a review for it because it felt like it would be a complete waste of time to consider it any further.
Share This Story:
Make HNN Your Homepage (IE Users Only)
