Best Movies of 2010

Below are my movie rankings for 2010.  Yes, I am a nerd, and I have been doing this since 2007.  I know there are a few movies I still want to see but it seems clear this wasn't one of the best movie years.  Since 2007, this year was tied with 2008 with the fewest 4 star movies (6) and had the fewest 3.5-4 star movies (13).

For me, there were 6 great movies this year.  Only one is somewhat of a surprise, You Don't Know Jack, which was a movie on HBO depicting the life of Jack Kevorkian.  Al Pacino was amazing to watch.  He transforms into Dr. Kevorkian, and fully immerses himself into the role  The movie shed's light on the life of a man who has mostly been written off as a villian in this country, or laughed off as a joke.  No-one wants to talk about death, and for a longtime Dr. Kevorkian has been one of the few fighting for the rights of the dying.  Living in this country has afforded all of us an innumerable number of basic rights, but the fundamental right of choosing how we leave this world is out of our hands.  Great movie, great message.

The rest of the best are expected, and are all nominated for a best picture Oscar.  I've posted quite a bit on True Grit and still think it's the best, though I think an argument could be easily made for The Social Network.  Should be interesting to see what the Academy says!

My ranking of the best movies of the year (4 stars):

1. True Grit

2. The Social Network

3. The Fighter

4. You Don’t Know Jack (HBO)

5. The King’s Speech

6. Toy Story 3

Really good movies (3.5 stars):  Easy A, Inception, Shutter Island, Ghost Writer, Get Him to the Greek, The Other Guys, Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows 1

Good movies (3 stars):  The American, Date Night, Dinner with the Schmucks, Paranormal Activity 2, Let Me in, Tron: The Legacy, Hot Tub Time Machine

Movies I wouldn't recommend (0-2.5 stars): Death at a Funeral

Still want to see:  Shrek The Final Chapter, The Town, Buried, Hereafter, Nowhere Boy, Morning Glory, I love You Phillip Morris

Movie Review - The American

The American is a good-looking thriller about a lonely American hitman who's searching for love.  Edward (George Clooney) just shot and killed his last girlfriend after suspecting she set up the ambush that awaited him at their Swedish retreat.  And being the old pro that he is we are left to wonder how many other girlfriends he's had to off in the past.  One thing this movie makes clear is that he is a master hitman and gunsmith that goes about his work with exacting precision.  His new job is to lay low in a beautiful Italian city and put together a hitman bag of goodies for a fellow assasin.  While there, he befriends a local priest and has some conversations about morality.   He also finds love in an Italian prostitute, Clara, but as you could imagine he finds himself hesitant to trust her.

The film is shot in a very quiet, introspective style, with long stretches of scenes with little to no dialogue.  This solitide works well to personify the loneliness in this hitman's life.  He clearly is a man that is desperate for some human contact other than screwing and killing.  But besides the loneliness, we don't get a lot of character development.  By just giving us the very surface of Clooney's character, and barely introducing us to his love interest, this film misses the emotional impact it could have had.  But in the end, lots of sexy women and scenery, and some compelling espionage makes for a fun movie.  3 stars.

Helplessness Blues - Fleet Foxes

Great new single released by the Fleet Foxes.  Their new album will be released May 3rd.  Listen Here

The Sunset Limited

2 men: one convinced of the existence of God and the brotherhood of man, the other convinced otherwise.  The man of faith (Sam Jackson) just saved the non-believer's life (Tommy Lee Jones) and now is trying his damndest to save his soul.  The entire movie is a conversation between these two men.  Will Sam Jackson's character convince his house guest of the meaning of life, and save him from making another suicide attempt? 

This play was written by Cormac McCarthy, and having read "No Country for Old Men" I kind of guessed where this was going.  But boy was it fun to watch these two talk about life, and death, and what it all means.  And being a skeptic myself, I guess I found myself relating more to the arguments of the non-believer.  But by the end, I was hoping for the argument for God to win.  The argument that we all have a purpose, that life has meaning beyond our daily affairs.  I think we all hope for that at some level.  But can an argument proving God's existence really be made?

If you got HBO, DVR it or watch it now!  Otherwise, queue it up for later.

Adele - 21

Holy shit, I am blown away by this album, especially the first couple songs.  This type of music is definitely not normally my cup of tea but this is some powerful stuff.  And created by a 21 year-old...wow.  You can listen to the whole album here for free.

Episode 425: Slow To React - This American Life

A recent episode of This American Life entitled Slow To React was really fascinating to me.  This episode was about stories where people were slow to react to a life event for various reasons.  The act one story is the one that really got to me.  It was originally published here in the Denver Westword entitled "Stalking The Boogeyman."  It's a story about a man who hid a dark secret about his childhood his entire life, and how he finally confronted the "boogeyman" at the center of it all.  Listen Here

Movie Review - The Fighter

If I told you this movie featured a montage of boxing bouts showing an old, washed-up fighter making a comeback while "Back in the Saddle" by Aerosmith is playing in the background, would you think this was a movie nominated for 6 Academy Awards?  Although this movie has all the boxing movie cliches you come to expect (including a second montage with the boxer racing his trainer down the street while obligatory classic rock music plays in the background), the great acting all around and gritty in-your-face feel of the movie sets this sports movie apart from the rest.

The movie depicts the life of a 31 year-old Lowell, Massachusetts boxer, Micky (Mark Wahlberg), as he vies for his last real shot at boxing glory while struggling to overcome the clutches of an opressive family.  His brother Dicky (Christian Bale) was Micky's childhood hero and taught him the game.  Dicky is known as the Pride of Lowell for having knocked down Sugar Ray Leonard in a fight 14 years ago, but now is known more for his addiction to crack and many stints in jail.  The movie centers around Micky's fight to find his own voice amongst his drugged-out brother, over-powering, controlling mother (Mellisa Leo), and a whole gaggle of sisters that seem to have nothing better to do than cling to his every punch in the ring and obsess about his life.  And when Micky finds a new girlfriend (Amy Adams) that is helping him find his own path in life, one that doesn't require his family, the shit hits the fan, culminating with his girlfriend slamming one of his sister's heads into the ground.

The core of the movie is Micky's struggle to distance himself from the brother that has taught him everything he knows, but who's self-destructive life style is ruining Mickie's last shot at a title fight.  A fortunate stint in jail for Dicky gives Micky the opportunity to find his own inner strength and regain his confidence.  And when he finally let's Dicky back in his life, it's on his own terms.

The movie is shot in a very gritty, documentary style, which works great for this lower middle class neighborhood full of raw characters that make no excuses for themselves.  The number of  close-ups in the movie makes for an almost claustrophobic experience, but really works to bring you into the lives of these people (whether you like it or not).  And enough can't be said about the great acting in every role in this film.  Christian Bale is definitely the stand-out here, with the most physically and emotionally demanding role.  But not to be outdone was Mellisa Leo as the Mother.  As the leader of her daughter minions she was pitch-perfect.  And speaking of those sisters, they bring all the humor into the film.  Just watching their intense, desperate lives, with those early 90's clothes and hairstyles is about the funniest thing I've seen in the theater in a long time.

 

The Angry Video Game Nerd

For better or worse Nintendo made up a huge part of my childhood.  We would spend hours and hours trying to beat a game, or beat each other.  For those of us of the Nintendo generation, you know exactly why watching  reviews of all those nostalgic NES games we grew up with is good fun.  And we all know there were just as many shitty games as good ones.  But we didn't discriminate, because who wanted to do anything but play Nintendo?

Alright, so the Angry Video Game Nerd is childish, and swears all the time, but so what.  Watching him play all these crappy games we all remember is a lot of fun.  He's reviewed nearly 100 games so far, you can watch them here.  All those great memories of staring at a glowing TV screen while smashing buttons like your life was depended on it, will start flooding back.  Below is his review of the game Friday the Thirteenth.  Man, I remember vividly how much this game pissed me off.  But that didn't stop me from playing it over and over and over...