Top movies of 2010

Sorry its almost the end of 2011 but it took me a long long time to catch up on all the Oscar Nominees and important movies of 2010 (this blog has slowed down a lot because I just don't watch as many movies as I used to since Hollywood Video went out of business - 1 at a time Netflix doesn't provide as many opportunities).

So without further ado:

Let The Right One In Award - (Foreign film made prior to the current year but released domestically later) - Girl with the Dragon Tattoo

This movie completely blew me away and I'm not one of the scores of people that read the books first. Noomi Rapace as Lisbeth Salander sublimely becomes the character, the violence and peril seem very intense and real, and the movie takes its time setting up a fairly complex story and establishes a bleak mood with the harsh landscape. Yep, its subtitled in Swedish and yes, the penultimate rape scene is really tough to watch, but the redemption from said scene is amazingly badass. Beyond the fact that American audiences apparently can't handle subtitles at all, I have no idea why this movie is being remade (although David Fincher is an inspired choice for director and the previews look really good, plus its being released in prime "oscar bait" late December slot).


Just missed the cut - The Town (really well made/acted, but not that original - a little too close to Heat), Four Lions (a little uneven and strangely paced, yet had some of blackest and most memorable comedic scenes of any movie that Ive seen - sort of like a modern Dr. Strangelove), and How to Train Your Dragon (first Dreamworks movie to totally blow me away and contain no annoying smirky pop culture jokes)

So without further ado....

7. Machete

Robert Rodriguez's missing Grindhouse flick and Danny Trejo's finest hour, this movie was so enjoyable and fun. Yes, there was a little too much plot, a few too many superfluous characters, and actually tried to have a semi-serious political message (all problems that hurt Once Upon a Time in Mexico). But this sort of super kinetic campy action fest provides Rodriguez ample opportunity to use his active imagination. The cast including a host of Rodriguez favorites like Trejo and Cheech Marin are joined by Don Johnson, Steven Seagal, and Robert DeNiro. I almost wish this movie was with Planet Terror for Grindhouse with Death Proof being a fake trailer.

6. Toy Story 3

Up and Wall-E were more mature, the Incredibles had better action, and Monsters Inc and the second Toy Story had a little better humor, but Toy Story 3 balances the mature, action, and humor elements the best of any Pixar movie to date. Its the rare second sequel that improves on the original on almost every level.

Whereas the first movie had no major antagonist and the second had a comical one with Zerg, Lots O' Hugging Bear joins the rank of memorable Disney villains. Between Michael Keaton's brilliant turn as Ken, the various transformations of Mr. Potatohead, and a certain ethnic mode of Buzz, there's some of the best G rated humor in any movie. For me, its the raw emotion and finality in certain scenes (obviously the stuff in dumpster, but also the ending and beginning bits with Andy) that push this over the top.

There are a ton of characters, both new and old, but all the characters get a moment to shine, including Buzz and Woody. Its the rare movie that seems busy without being over plotted or over crowded and unlike the Dreamworks films, the celebrities are cast for vocal quality rather then just their celebrity status. Finally, I enjoy that Disney has kept producing Toy Story shorts to go before their subsequent movies. There's no way that a fourth movie could ever live up to this, but Disney started with theatrical shorts, so I like that Pixar is continuing that tradition. Also, I think this was the best picture nominee thats the best overall movie, but I personally liked one a bit better...

5. Inception

See, this has been reviewed to death, so I wanted to say first that I genuinely liked this movie, but its not number one because I feel like it kept holding back for the most part. Christopher Nolan is an intensely cerebral filmmaker with dense plots, multi dimensional characters, and deeply thematically stories populating all his films (even his worst work in Insomnia was a great study of character and theme). The funny thing is, as much I liked Inception, I liked Memento, Dark Knight, and maybe even the Prestige a bit more.

Now don't get me wrong, this movie is brilliant, with an amazing concept and a fantastic cast. Its tough to describe standouts, but a focused Joseph Gordon Levitt and an intensely likeable Tom Hardy headline for me. The last hour or so of the movie is one long pulse pounding series of action sequences (highlighted by everyone's favorite zero G hotel fight). I also enjoy the ambiguity of the ending as well as the general movie... the actual machine doesn't get a giant amount of explanation and I think the exposition level is perfect. Like Memento and the Prestige, you have to pay attention to fully appreciate all levels of the plot. Finally, the amazingly ominous music helps to ratchet up the suspense, the score is almost its own entity in this flick.

So... why isn't this my favorite? I think the whole concept of the reality of dreams is fairly underutilized. Compare this to inferior movies like the Cell or What Dreams May Come and the dreams for the most part seem far too rational and linear. I also found the character of Mal to be a fairly weak villain and I'm surprised that how proficient Joseph Gordon Levitt's character was that he never figured out DiCaprio's secret in that respect. Finally, I think the first hour of the movie is fairly slow... there's a lot of setup and exposition for the final hour. Now, these sorts of sequences can be done well (Ellen Page's character's introduction to the dream world is a good example) but considering the somber tone of the movie, to me I was just waiting for the "good stuff" to start. But overall, a very imaginative, well told movie.

4. 127 hours

Man, this is a tough one, because I really, really liked this movie but I feel like I never need to see it again (but I will). When movies take you to a place where you have to realize its just a movie and not something real, its a special experience and the penultimate moment in 127 hours brought me to that raw, emotional state.

Why James Franco didn't win the Best Actor Oscar Statue for this is beyond me... (apparently the Academy rewards stuttering Brits over the emotional tour de force that was this flick)... Its literally 95% Franco with the star being on screen for literally the whole movie and for the last hour+ alone. After seeing the 60 minutes based on the actual events and reading the book and being pretty familiar with the story, I totally forgot I was watching Franco instead of Aron Ralston pretty quickly.

Credit has to go to Danny Boyle too... The guy has brought epic scope to movies like Slumdog Millionaire and 28 days later, yet with the limitations of shooting a movie that spends the middle 45-50 minutes in a tiny canyon, the direction and cinematography was exceptional. It never felt boring or limited and actually was amazingly gripping. I also didn't start playing armchair quarterback and questioning Franco's decisions... the guy seemed really capable and bright despite the awful situation...

Its a tough flick to sit through and really gritty, but in the end an amazing triumph. The climax actually feels uplifting rather then the downer it could have been (and after listening to and reading Ralston's account, I feel like they nailed the general tone).

3. Kick Ass

Speaking of uneven movies... I own this movie, I really enjoy it, I think especially the latter half is a great superhero comedy/deconstruction (I felt a bunch of jabs to Raimi's Spiderman series in particular). However, like Inception, I really feel like the opening third of this movie is a bunch of cliche recycled "high school" jokes that we've seen a bunch before. Christopher "McLovin" Mintz-Plasse's character is irritating, Mark Strong (who is contractually obligated to play the heavy in 2 big budget studio movies per year) makes for a bland villain, and we get a big side of Nick Cage ham...

So why do I love this movie (besides the breakout performance of Chloe Moretz as Hit Girl)? Well, the movie is called Kick Ass and the director got the right guy to play the titular hero, Aaron Johnson. At only nineteen while shooting, this breakout role could catapult Johnson to the same league as someone like Ryan Gosling, or Joseph Gordon-Levitt. He’s funny as the impossibly geeky hero, but what’s great about Johnson is that he’s also able to pull off some of the more dramatic scenes after this takes a dark turn during the final act.

Now, some people may complain that the tone of the film is inconsistent, but it worked for me, as there is a certain point when the film starts to take itself somewhat seriously, but thanks to the skill both in front and behind the camera, the transition is seamless.

Another great thing about Kick Ass is the use of music. Judging from his brilliant use of music in Layer Cake (Duran Duran was never so epic), Vaughn knows how to choose tracks for his films. Obviously, he took a lot of care selecting the soundtrack, with the film having three credited composers, in addition to a whole slew of source music from artists ranging from The Prodigy, New York Dolls, an epic sample from the 28 Days Later Soundtrack, and even Ennio Morricone’s Clint Eastwood theme from Fistfull of Dollars gets a work out. The film also has a gorgeous, wildly colorful look courtesy of cinematographer Ben Davis who also shot Vaughn’s other films. I was lucky enough to see this projected digitally, and the look was outstanding.

All in all, I found Kick Ass to be an incredibly fun time at the movies, its not particularly deep, but its a really, fun original superhero ride.

2. Scott Pilgrim vs The World

From the moment the iconic Universal logo unfurls in 8-bit style with MIDI fanfare, before making way for a Bill Hader narration and a musical cue from "The Legend of Zelda," you should know you're in for one of the most geek-friendly movies in recent history. But its for more then geeks...

Now, I'll get it out of the way, I'm not a big fan of Michael Cera, but he's an inspired choice for the titular role as Scott Pilgrim. It's not an easy challenge as Pilgrim isn't exactly a flawless protagonist. He makes poor choices, hurts people and generally falls into many 20something emotional pitfalls . But we always connect with him and relate to what he's going with and that speaks volumes to Cera's skills not just as a comic actor (his timing here is impeccable) but his dramatic chops as well.

The rest of the cast, including Mary Elizabeth Winstead, Ellen Wong, Kieran Culkin and Jason Schwartzman are so good it's easy to think that any of them could be the breakout star of the film. Chris Evans and Brandon Routh in particular completely steal the movie for their sequences. But fantastic cast aside, the real breakout star of Scott Pilgrim is the director of Shaun of the Dead and Hot Fuzz, Edgar Wright.

Wright has framed the film so it plays out something like a musical. We're in a relatively real and grounded world but instead of people breaking out into song and dance, they break out into massive fight sequences. And the action sequences are so brilliantly conceived, you never once flinch at the notion of Michael Cera kicking the ass of seven henchmen, Mary Elizabeth Winstead doing battle with a giant hammer or a Bollywood-style song/fight. Its a completely original series of spectacles (my minor gripe is after the Routh/Evans sequences, the final fight is a skosh anticlimactic).

But honestly, all the cool action sequences in the world wouldn't make the flick worth without an emotional center and Cera brings that as Scott. I might sound like Im repeating myself, but his mistakes, stupid choices, and broken heart carries the movie between the fights. In fact, for a film that deals so heavily with pop culture and 20somethings, at its core, Scott Pilgrim is, dare I say it, a fairly adult film. Its about growing up and falling in love, choices, taking responsibility, coming to terms with the past and ultimately finding yourself. While taking on the seven evil exes, Scott isn't just defeating Ramona's past but his own demons as well.

The music will make your feet tap (epic contributions by Beck and Metric), the battles will make you cheer, the romance will warm your heart and, in the end, this movie will kick your ass (apologies to #3). It's one of the best films of the year and a movie I just absolutely loved.

1. Piranha 3D

This movie was perfect. There, I'll say it. Perfect. Is the technically best acted, best effects, best directed movie ever? Hell, no. But as far as... Did this movie accomplish what it set out to? Unequivocally yes!!!

I saw this in the theaters at a weekday matinee and it completely blew me away at every level. It was funny, scary, sexy, gory, all the actors "got it", well paced, pushed the American "R" rating right to the limit...

I'm not even sure where to start... Steve McQueen's grandson played the "hero" and he did a commendable job with the "straight" character and it was good to see Elizabeth Shue back in a leading role. However, all the supporting parts (and some are really more like extended cameos then anything else, sort of throwing back to the star studded 70s disaster movies) are what brought this home... In a scant 88 minutes, we get a badass Ving Rhames, a Jaws throwback Richard Dreyfuss, Dina Meyers, Eli Roth, comedian Paul Scheer, Adam Scott.... but for me, the two standouts were Jerry O'Connell playing a loud mouth, abusive, self centered asshole antagonist and Christopher Lloyd in an all too brief role as the "scientist" just completely channeling his inner Doc Brown...

The other star to me is horror phenomena director Alexandre Aja's technical work. The man brought me my favorite original horror film of the last 10 years (High Tension) and my favorite American remake (Hills Have Eyes) and he brought his skills to the table here as well. The flick was snazzyly shot, with stylish camera moves, sleek cinematography and gnarly Piranha POV shots (that reminded me a lot of the fact that original was a Roger Corman Jaws knockoff).

Aja is no stranger at generating tension(quasi pun intended)/suspense and delivering potent shocks and even though this is a much lighter tone then his previous work... I caught myself teetering on the edge of my seat many o times and even though the characters were two dimensional at best, I felt antsy for some of them and didn’t want “some” to buy the farm. To achieve that level of involvement with the characters with this goofy of a film... props go to Aja.

Finally, the special effects were bang on! As per usual, master gore peddlers KNB knocked the gory goods out of the park and the Piranha CGI did the trick design & execution wise. The film was shot in 3D and there were some memorable Piranha gore gags in 3D (that still look fairly decent at home). I was frankly shocked and amazed at the level of gore that the climax reached within the confines of a R rating. I'm not going to spoil that part, but if you enjoy nasty spirited kills and plentiful mutilation, the final act delivers in spades!

If Im going to nitpick at all, the score was pretty unmemorable and the characters make some dumb "horror movie character" mistakes. But to me, the latter was part of the charm. Its a crowd pleasing, man's movie that brings the boobs (yep, we finally get back to the horror movie nudity too) and blood in spades while wearing its inspiration on its sleeve.

On a post script note, Im looking forward to Piranha 3DDs (the sequel) and I hope it comes out in August 2012 as it would make a perfect late summer capper to the people tired of the onslaught of sequels/remakes/Snow White movies of 2012.

As its now a new year, my 2011 recap won't be up for a while... I am planning on seeing all the 2011 Academy Awards Best Picture nominees before I write my top 7 list. As I only have the 1 at a time Netflix, this might take a while. My New Year's Resolution is to finish my best of 2011 before New Year's 2012...

Take care and thanks for reading

Patrick

Worst Movies of 2010

Hello,

After a another long hiatus, here's my worst of last year. I no longer work at a video store, so I haven't had the privilege of seeing every single movie for free, but I still managed to hit up some choice gems on Netflix. I haven't seen Sex and the City 2, The Tourist, or Knight and Day (all of which are supposed to be horrible). So this will be a bottom 5 instead of 7.

Worst Oscar Nominee - Winter's Bone

Jennifer Lawrence's acting is superb here, there's a really gritty feel and look to the whole movie, I like the all character actor supporting cast (including the always underrated John Hawkes - the sheriff's brother from Deadwood or the shop owner from the intro to From Dusk Till Dawn). My problems are pacing (its a very slow, meticulous movie) and the whole plot/character arc of Lawrence' character. No one really changes much, the mystery at hand isn't really compelling, and it just sort of ends in a bittersweet sort of way. Its not a bad movie persay, but I really don't understand how it got an Oscar nomination (well, there are 10 nominees...)

5. Nightmare on Elm Street (Remake)

See, remakes of 80s horror movies can be good when improved on and made well. The remake of Texas Chainsaw Massacre (thanks to R. Lee Ermey) was entertaining on its right, while the Hills Have Eyes remake greatly improved on the original (thanks to Alexandre Aja's direction and a great ensemble cast). This remake improved the visual FX (thanks to commercial/music video director Samuel Bayer) but kept almost the entire original story intact. The resulting CGI/boo scare fest isn't scary or interesting. I'd love to see what a more polished visual director like Tarsem, Zack Snyder, or Fincher could do with Freddy's nightmare worlds...

The other criminal problem is the array of bland, uninteresting "victims." I had high hopes considering the original featured a debuting Johnny Depp as well as the breakout role for Heather Langenkamp. Sadly, I can't honestly remember anything interesting about the various 20somethings in the remake. The only reason this wasn't my least favorite was the performance put in by Jackie Earle Haley. After completely stealing Little Children and Watchmen, Haley is put in the unenviable position of following up on Robert Englund's definitive role as Freddy. Haley toes the line between not straying too far from such an established character and not copying Englund. I just wish the rest of the movie was as strong as his performance.


4. The Last Airbender

Wow... Between the awful casting, multitude of poorly explained characters, and completely rushed story, this was a complete mess. I watched all of the TV show after the movie (its streaming on Netflix), this movie takes the first season of the show (20 episodes at 22 minutes each - a good 350 minutes of story minus padding/credits) and condenses it down into a poorly edited 103 minute movie. The actors are either wooden (Aang, Katara) or horribly miscast (Sokka, Commander Zhao) or both (poor Jackson Rathbone as Sokka). The really complex backstories are glossed over, a lot of the characters are grossly simplified, and although I didnt see it, the 3D conversion was pretty awful.

So why wasn't this my worst of the year? Dev Patel (better known as Slumdog Millionaire) has a lot of whiny, angsty dialogue but seems to be trying really hard as the show's most interesting character, Prince Zuko. The special effects used to convey the various bending arts are top notch and the sets and costumes look really good. Considering the lack of name actors (and the Indian guy from the Daily Show doesn't count), most of the 150 M budget went into visuals and it shows. Too bad the actual movie is a muddled, terrible mess.

3. Marmaduke

This was a conceptual disaster, and I shouldn't be surprised how awful it was. Marmaduke the comic strip has two jokes - he's a really big dog and he's really messy. That's it. Marmaduke the movie stays faithful for about five minutes until the writers realized "we need a plot." What they came up with is this weird dog park that acts like a high school cliche fest where Marmaduke is this angsty outsider whos trying to get the girl and fit in. It honestly has nothing to do with the comic strip besides being about a big dog.

The cast, voice and otherwise, puts forth a decent effort and I was ashamed and embarrassed for the excellent Bill Macy to be slumming it as well as confused as to why Kiefer Sutherland (with his growling voice, hes a good villainous dog) didn't ask Marmaduke where the terrorists were. Also, George Lopez is an unfunny cat stereotype. The movie was generally harmless and nowhere near as completely awful as G-Fore or completely racist as Beverly Hills Chihuahua, so it wasn't my least favorite. There's this nagging feeling that there was already a family movie starring a big messy dog from my childhood that I sort of like....

Oh yeah, freaking Beethoven (and his 'pack' of sequels) did this whole concept already and was a much better and enjoyable movie. Now I hope we can avoid Baby Geniuses 3: The Family Circus Movie.

2. Furry Vengeance

Oh Brendan Fraser... You are a talented physical comedian who 'can' act (like in Gods and Monsters for example) but insist on mugging your way through these awful family comedies. I'm all for environmental movies (like the well made A Civil Action or Medicine Man) when done right, but this was as subtle as a taser to the groin. This was brought to you by the director of the dreadful Raven Symone/Martin Lawrence effort, College Road Trip, so I shouldn't have been that surprised how bad it was.

Here's Furry Vengeance - terrible CGI/puppet animals humiliate and terrorize Fraser's real estate agent, no one believes him, and many, many awful pratfalls ensue. Even the usually hilarious Ken Jeong can't save this complete mess and I don't know why Brooke Shields un retired to co star here. There's also a fairly unsubtle bunch of awful stereotypes populating the supporting cast. The terrible cherry is the awful music, including a covers of Insane in the Brain and the infamous Rednex version of Cotton Eyed Joe.

I do understand that this movie was aimed at the under 10 set (and if you substitute Fraser for Yogi Bear, its an eerily similar plot in ways to that movie) and I might have found a lot of the slapstick a lot funnier if I was in the right age range. That doesn't excuse the movie from being lazy, sloppy, and boring. However, it wasn't my least favorite of the year...


1. When In Rome

I think that this was the overall worst movie bar none of 2010. Its lazy, uninspired, poorly acted, and completely wastes Kristen Bell (who has talent and needs to avoid the Kate Hudson career path). The plot setup - Bell is at a wedding in Rome when she gets drunk and takes some coins out of the fountain where you wish for love. This means that the men who threw them instantly fall in love with her. Including the charismaless Josh Duhamel (a member of the Channing Tatum school of "attractive blandness") as a character there to "fall in love" is bad.

The other people who's coins were stolen include a sausage magnate (Danny DeVito), an artist (Will Arnett), a magician (Jon Heder), and a vain workout obsessive (Dax Shepard). I know what you're thinking: "This setup seems hammy and stupid, so I'm certainly glad they have noted models of restraint Danny DeVito, Will Arnett, Jon Heder, and Dax Shepard on board." Oh, wait....

This is painfully painfully awful and unfunny. We get constant declarations of love between Duhamel and Bell (not magical-coin-love, but what's meant to be actual real love) between people who effectively don't know each other. Bell responds to being stalked by the much older Danny DeVito with a sort of "ah, well" resignation. Stock characters like the snarky waitress, the wacky assistant, and the schlubby best friend all show up. We even get the alleged comedy of funny accents, a bunch of people stuck in a tiny car, people tripping and falling down ... it is a complete and total waste of everyone involved, and not even the usually reliable Will Arnett can salvage any dignity.

One more thing, the movie actually has a false ending, and this is not a movie that should have a false ending, because the realization that the movie is not yet over is not a happy one. For another thing, when Beth's father is introduced, they use a movie-star reveal, with camera work that says, "Aaaaand in the role of Beth's father, it's ... DON JOHNSON!" I mean, you can get away with that, maybe, if Beth's father is being played by Dustin Hoffman or Harvey Keitel or some other really talented actor who owes the director a favor. But Don Johnson?

Overall, please, don't waste your life, avoid When In Rome, and instead watch the best of the best from 2010. Coming next.

That's fortunately all I have to say about that.

7 movies I love that everyone else hates

Hello all,

This list might be tougher then the last because I fully acknowledge that some of the following movies have serious flaws, but aren't anywhere near as terrible as most people think. If you read the last post and were like "how can he hate on those movies?" then you have your virtual revenge and laugh at my taste here. As always, I realize this is super subjective. I also am going to try and list more 'known' movies... I'll save my "7 movies that no one saw yet are still really good" for another time.

7. Walk Hard: The Dewey Cox Story

This was a toughest addition to the list, because I really love all parts of this movie and a number of my friends do as well. I think the musical satire is really cleverly done, integrating a lot of musical history to go along with the more specific parodies of Walk the Line and Ray.

The biggest problem this movie had was the inexplicable December 21 release date, effectively burying it against the following releases the same or the preceding weekend: National Treasure 2, Alvin and the Chipmunks, I am Legend, Sweeney Todd, and the Tom Hanks/Julia Roberts vehicle Charlie Wilson's War. As a result, it ended up with only a 20 M gross on a 35 M budget, although brisk DVD sales enable the movie to break even.

I'm not sure if the movie was disliked or just lost in the shuffle, but I think its one of the better comedies so it opens the list.

6. Little Nicky

Adam Sandler definitely has a mixed bag, and to me it depends on how "normal" his character is: Billy Madison, Happy Gilmore, and the Waterboy are pretty good while Grownups, Big Daddy, and Mr. Deeds leave some to be desired. Little Nicky is a throwback in tone to the epic screwball comedies with the cast stuffed to the gills with celebrities and comedians. Yes, Sandler's Nicky voice gets grating and yes, the love story is very terrible. Pretty much every Sandler buddy gets to cash a paycheck, however, I feel like the scattershot nature of the movie makes the array of cameos easier to handle then more serious movies (Walk Hard also did a nice job balancing the cameos with the story).

However, some of the sight and throwaway gags make me laugh so much. Bill Walton's hair on fire, Dan Marino's frustrations with the Devil, Rodney Dangerfield as Lucifer getting no respect, and the inevitable Rob Schneider appearance all provide a ton of comedy. The movie is so silly and ridiculous that Sandler plays a sort of "straight" character who acts as a plot moving vehicle to get from set piece to set piece. Yes, I realize that not all the jokes work and the plot makes no sense, but the point of comedies is to make someone laugh. Its totally subjective, but a lot of people hated/hate Little Nicky... Timeless classic no, but not as completely awful as the popular opinion.

5. Return to Oz

This one is tough because it might be more of underrated or unknown movie then hated. I guess I'm going at this one from the critic's point of view in that Return to Oz just wasn't that good. Siskel and Ebert put it on their "worst of the year" list and the movie bombed theatrically grossing only 11 M on a 25 M budget. When people talk about 80s fantasy movies, nostalgic or otherwise, I usually hear mention of Labryinth, Neverending Story, Time Bandits, Conan, or Legend but rarely Return to Oz.

The biggest problem the movie had is that its the first live action "Oz" movie since the original Wizard of Oz, the charming, colorful, and immensely popular 1939 musical (an aside - this is weird in part because Frank Baum wrote over a dozen Oz books and only 2 have been made into live action movies and I dont count The Wiz. With all the remakes and sequels floating around, I'd love to see Tim Burton, Spike Jonze, Tarsem, or another visually dynamic filmmaker take a crack at an Oz movie). Return to Oz has a much darker tone, closer to the books, although it still has that pulsing surreal whimsy of the original movie.

Ironically, the thing that most people remember about Return to Oz is the scare factor. Between the demented Wheelers, the creepy stop motion gnomes, and the desert that turns all living matter that touches it into sand, its definitely intense. However, the wicked witch from Return to Oz is one of the more terrifying villains in any movie and the level of peril actually makes Dorothy's adventures a little more engaging. Unlike the sunny original, the characters are in varying degrees of peril throughout the movie, making the exciting climax more satisfying. Sort of a cult movie now, its definitely worth a watch if you like dark fantasy.

4. The Thin Red Line

I really debated putting this movie on this list, it was nominated for the Academy Award for Best Picture and a lot of critical love back when it released back in 1998. The problem the Thin Red Line had was getting constantly compared to a little WW2 movie called Saving Private Ryan that was unfortunately released in the same year.

Thin Red Line was the return to directing by the great and somewhat reclusive Terrance Malick, his first movie at that point in 20 years. This might be the most beautiful non documentary movie I've ever seen, which is interesting because its in part about the bloody battle of Guadacanal. Malick treats the natural environment as a supporting character, using a natural perspective to show the effects of war along with the stresses on the different soldiers.

I'll admit that the movie is long (just under 3 hours), the pace is often slow and a lot of people were lost amongst the vast multitude of characters... In other words, this is a movie that you don't want to turn on at midnight. Its also a movie that you really need to see more than once because its a little hard to understand all the different character arcs the first time. I know they look similar, but Jim Caviezel's character goes AWOL and back to nature, while Ben Chaplin's character is the one with the flashbacks about his wife. I mention this because the actors look somewhat similar and some critics even confused these 2 main characters with each other.

One criticism I've heard is the amount of famous actors in glorified cameos, but almost everyone plays their part extremely well (John Travolta with a horrid mustache possible the lone exception) and the disjointed nature of the cast works well with the chaotic nature of wartime military. With hard hitting dramatic veterans like Nick Nolte, Elias Koteas, Sean Penn, John Cusack, and John C. Reilly all performing well, the movie was completely stolen by Jim Caviezel who I think deserved an Oscar nomination for his intensely introspective performance (Its sad to me that Caviezel's career seemed to peak with his portrayal of Jesus in Passion of the Christ).

3. Jersey Girl

Its not a View Askew movie (no Jay or Silent Bob), it features Jennifer Lopez in a small supporting part, and Liv Tyler falls in love with Ben Affleck... again. Jersey Girl is a comedy with a lot of heart and isnt the awful bomb it was billed to be at all. Its a romantic comedy with a lot of actual comedy to go with the romance (Kate Hudson, Katherine Heigl, take note of that) including a hilarious elementary school rendition of Sweeney Todd.

Beyond the unfair negative criticism the casting of Jennifer Lopez brought, the fact that the movie was a distinct departure from Smith's normal screwball comedies almost doomed it to failure. Smith's core audience didn't get the sex humor and pop culture jokes while mainstream audiences didn't come out to see a movie from the notoriously risque Smith. The DVD cover confirms this confused identity as Smith's face is up on the top right corner, despite the fact that he doesn't appear onscreen, as a way to say "hey, remember this funny guy, he was involved in the movie, go see it!"

Jersey Girl has a lot of heart and emotion and to me resembles a Cameron Crowe film more then a Smith one (with Liv Tyler playing a manic pixie dream girl type). Surprisingly, Ben Affleck and George Carlin make a believable family unit. The movie is stolen completely by ten year old Raquel Castro who plays Affleck's daughter and manages to act like a 10 year, avoiding the child actor cliches of being cloyingly cutesy or overtly mature and adult. In the end, a lot of the trashing of the stars of the movie clouded how good and genuine the actual movie is.


2. Soldier

This is the other movie that I debated about putting in it because its almost completely forgotten and unknown. I think I'm the only person I've met who really loves this movie, so I can't even call it a cult classic. I really love Kurt Russell as an actor: hes been in some utterly terrible movies like 3,000 Miles to Graceland and Overboard but he also starred in the amazing remake of The Thing as well as Escape from New York Tombstone, and Backdraft.

The main plot of Soldier: a soldier raised from birth to be a killing machine becomes obsolete after the next generation of soldiers are genetically constructed to be better physical specimens... The classic balance of physical power against smarts and tactics. The movie keeps it simple and on an emotional level, Kurt Russell makes it all happen. He has extremely minimal dialogue throughout, but his wounded eyes and body language convey more than a three-page monologue. The main character thread propels the movie the whole way; his search for purpose after being denied what he is.

The actual action is bloody and intense and reminded me of the better parts of 80s action fests like Rambo and Commando. In fact, the whole movie has a great retro vibe and is definitely the best work of Paul Anderson (who also directed all the Resident Evil movies as well as the Mortal Kombat movie) The supporting cast is also able, with the criminally underused Sean Pertwee as the human dad, Jason Isaacs bringing the evil, Jason Scott Lee being mucho ripped and intense as the next gen soldier, and even a fun extended cameo by Gary Busey of all people. Soldier was dismissed as being derivative and is often lumped in with Anderson's other terrible movies, but I find it a super fun and engaging 80s style action fest. Bonus points because the screenwriter also worked on Blade Runner and made Soldier to exist in the same universe (some of the same technology is present in both movies).

1. Lady in the Water

Yep, M. Night Shymalan is a walking punchline now, with the appearance of his name in the Devil trailer causing the whole theater I saw the movie in to erupt with laughter. Yep, Avatar: The Last Airbender and the Happening were both completely dreadful cinematic abortions. No, Lady in the Water isn't perfect. But to almost everyone, it gets lumped in with those 2 terrible movies instead of being put with Unbreakable, Signs, and the 6th Sense where I think it belongs.

Shymalan's better movies involve him making a "mature" version of a very simple, archetypal story. Thus, 6th Sense is his "ghost" movie, Unbreakable is the "superhero", Signs is the "alien invasion", and Lady in the Water is his "fairytale/fantasy". The movie has a definite meta awareness with a lot of the usual fairytale cliches being inverted and the twist at the ending plays on the audience's expectations. There's even a character whos a film critic who comments and lampshades the various plot devices of fairytales within the movie.

The best subversion involves the schlubby Paul Giamatti in the "handsome prince" role and he puts on a nuanced, interesting performance opposite the ethereal Bryce Dallas Howard (who I like a lot better here than in the Village). The trademark Shymalan suspense shows up as the shapeshifting wolflike villain is actually fairly frightening while kept in the shadows/background. Critics that hated the movie treated the plot far too literally while forgetting that its basically a fairytale. A lot of what makes fairytales fantastical and magical doesn't make much sense and over analyzing the plots are silly.

Lady in the Water does have some dodgy supporting acting, the dialogue isnt perfect, but I really love the spirit, tone, and look of the movie and don't think that it deserved to buried in a similar grave to Shymalan's recent terribleness.

I think my next post will be my favorites of 2010 (I've now seen all 10 Oscar best pic nominees and the only popular movies I haven't seen are Tangled and Tron Legacy). Since I don't work at a video store anymore and don't have unlimited access to all movies, the format will change. I won't do a separate top and bottom 7, but a top and bottom 3 in the same post with some favorite moments from movies that didn't make the cut included. So that's whats in the works next. Anything specific anyone wants to know, speak up... I know lists are a cop out, but Id rather write a little about a bunch of movies rather then a bunch about a few.

Till next time

Patrick

7 movies I hate that everyone else loves

Okay,

This is a tricky topic and is purely opinion, but something I wanted to address in my return to writing. There are certain movies that everyone, including a lot of critics, seem to love that I just don't care that much for. I'll share my reasoning and thoughts, but remember, this isn't a slam or a personal attack if you like these movies. On to the list...

7. Love, Actually

See, I don't mind romantic comedies when they are really good, like When Harry Met Sally or Garden State or Say Anything. This movie has a lot going for it... an amazing, diverse cast, the director behind the great British comedies Mr. Bean and Blackadder, a Christmas theme, but it just seemed bloated and overstuffed. Everyone seems to be having a good time making this, and I don't know how many smirks and chuckles there were, but there are very few actual jokes.

This also seems to use every single cliche about love and every obvious rocom situation it can toss together (I realize the director also did Notting Hill and Four Weddings and a Funeral, but he didn't need to recycle the better parts of those movies). As a result, the characterizations are fairly thin and the more interesting (I personally did enjoy Bill Nighy's aging rock star and the pairing of Alan Rickman and Emma Thompson) are lost in giant sea of plots. The overall acting quality ensures its not an awful movie, but I don't understand why its considered a modern romantic classic at all.

6. Nell

Jodie Foster has amazing talent, but for me, this is Jodie Foster's "Simple Jack." (Tropic Thunder reference). Its amazingly self indulgent, cliched, weird, and unrealistic. Foster at this point had won Best Actress for both Silence of the Lambs and the Accused and this was her big followup to Silence. A lot of people seem to forget that she did get nominated for Nell for best actress for both the Golden Globes and Oscars and the movie was up for the Best Drama Golden Globe. Nell also gives us the worst Liam Neeson performance that I'm aware of as the obvious "romantic" lead. Just a lazy character arc, easy acting choices, and a part that literally any middle aged actor could play. Critically acclaimed, I just didn't like any part of it.

5. Avatar

What I liked about this movie: the spectacle of seeing it in theater in 3-D. It was really amazing and cool to look at, it reminded me of Jurassic Park the way it took technology to the next level. The low gravity world especially was amazingly photorealistic, seemed believable, and all the little details with the plant life and such was a joy to look at. That all being said... once you get past the visuals, the rest of this movie (acting, script, and editing) ranges from mediocre to awful.

Acting... Sam Worthington might be one of the blandest actors working today (except for maybe Channing Tatum), I mean hes in great shape and sounds intimidating, but fell flat here. The dude playing the General tore pages out of the Hopper/Malkovich book of cheeseball villain performances. Sigourney Weaver didn't have much to do besides look concerned... Giovanni Ribsi seemed really miscast... That dorky guy from Dodgeball seemed really out of place... and all the blue cat people were recycled characters from Dances With Wolves... Wise Chief, check. The love interest, check. The angry warrior guy who doesn't respect the lead, check.

Script, wow... totally uninspired, goofy, and obvious. The story about disrespecting native peoples and technology (I'll go with some less obvious examples of Medicine Man) , or trying to fit into a foreign less technologically advanced culture (Last Samurai) or the little guys beating the technologically advanced (Endor in Return of the Jedi)... This has been done so many times and the problem was that Avatar brought nothing new storywise to the table at all. All in all, not a total waste of time, but man, not deserving of the #1 movie all time of box either.

4. Crash

This actually won best picture and by the end, I was hammered over the head with the amazingly unsubtle message that racism is A) still very prevalent B) bad and C) Everyone's racist. Most of the acting was decent, but the obvious silly dialogue and huge cast made it seem fairly disjointed. This movie has loads and loads of characters who have clever intersecting lives I'd have liked to have seen the movie focus more on the pair of cops played by Matt Dillon and Ryan Phillipe. There are movies that do the whole "ensemble story" thing really well; the underrated Syriana and Babel to name a couple recent examples. This movie's clumsy "important society commentary" took away from fairly strong acting and that's part of why most people probably forget it won best picture less then 10 years ago.

3. Cars

I really enjoy most of the Pixar films (I own both the Incredibles and Wall-E with the Toy Story trilogy being a definite future buy) which is why this one sticks out like a sore thumb to me as far as overall quality. The story here is amazingly basic and cliched: an arrogant city dwelling champion has to go back to the country to rediscover what made him happy/successful. Then, we have the Pixar cliche checklist...

Stranger in a community or group? Check.
Brooding moment from a main character? Check.
Goofy sidekick with a heart of gold who forms a comedic duo with the straight laced main character? Check.
Obligatory love interest interrupted by some awkwardness? Check.
Group full of wacky members with their own useful quirks? Check.
The new relationships threaten to go downhill when something happens to separate or alienate the stranger? Check.

I will admit that some of the throwaway gags are somewhat funny (the car talk guys and Jay Leno cameos, the fact that the "cars" womens bathroom line is super long compared to the mens, and the Richard Petty crash tribute at the climax. I'm also scared for the sequel this summer in which the cars are secret agents (why can't we get Incredibles 2?). Considering the enduring popularity of the merchandise and video games, I just don't get it.

2. Moulin Rouge

I have similar problems with the cliche storm that forms this movie.. Its a super derivative plot chock full of romantic archetypes, with a super hammy villain, where everyone breaks out into song... Moulin Rouge was the first original musical to be released for a really long time and while I understand the point behind the cliches (its trying to be the ultimate musical) I don't like that there are no original songs. The adaptation of a wide range of well known famous songs works pretty well for the most part, but Id like to have seen at least one memorable original instead of a constant mash up.

On the positive, I do appreciate the choreography and cinematography as well as the extremely opulent costumes and sets. Baz Luhrmann has always been an extremely visually dynamic director and this movie fits his overall style. However, the rapid fire editing in some of the more frenetic sequences make it difficult to take in the grandeur of whats going on.

This film also contains one of my least favorite cliches from an editing/storytelling standpoint: telegraphing the ending in the opening couple minutes by telling the whole story in flashback. This can work well in certain cases (Usual Suspects and Memento are excellent examples) but by telling the audience about the women he loved (obvious past tense) lets everyone know whats going to happen to Nicole Kidman's character. Like Avatar, I can't forgive the beauty for the bad writing.

1. Seven Pounds

Will Smith... The funny thing is that his obviously terrible movies (Wild Wild West, Men In Black 2, Legend of Bagger Vance) are recognized as such while his better efforts like Ali and Pursuit of Happyness have gotten much acclaim. While I Am Legend definitely had problems, I can blame most of them on a poorly edited and rewritten ending. This movie, I blame solely on Will Smith going for some Oscar Best Actor awards. I feel like Smith (and Russell Crowe in Beautiful Mind) got snubbed in favor of Denzel at the 2002 Oscars (I thought Denzel in Training Day should have won best Supporting Actor as the lead was Ethan Hawke).

Seven Pounds was a critical miss (only a 26% on rotten tomatoes and a 4.6/10 on metacritic) yet it still made $167 million worldwide on a $54 million budget and has a 7.6/10 positive rating on IMDB meaning that a lot of people think this is a legitimate good movie.

Spoilerwise, I'm not going to get into massive detail, but the whole premise of the movie is fairly obvious despite the "shocking twist" that shows up towards the end complete with stirring musical score. Smith angsts his way through one of the goofiest, illogical series of plot contrivances I've ever seen. The only other actor who escapes this storm of silliness is Rosario Dawson who puts up a fairly believable showing as the love interest.

Heck the opening scene in which Smith's character calls 911 to report a suicide, the operator says "Who's the victim" to which Smith replies "I am" is a great example of the "telling the movie backwards" plot that makes the final reveal super obvious. For example, I'm pretty sure that keeping a box jellyfish as a pet wouldn't work in so small a tank and would be illegal. There are other plot holes concerning how Smith is able to do what hes doing and why no one else tries to stop him. The end result is an admirable act of redemption completely lost in melodrama and complete pretentiousness. I just don't understand how anyone could like this overly maudlin movie or consider it good.


Next up, the reverse: 7 movies that I love that everyone else hates