Best and worst movies of 2010...so far

Okay, so I won't be able to do one of those fancy lists that has every awardsy movie in there. Why? Two reasons: 1) Most of them don't come out here until next year. 2) I don't often go to the cinemas because they are so far away and there are probably age restrictions on them meaning I can't watch them until they come out on DVD. It will be so much easier next year when I have my restricted drivers license so I can drive myself everywhere and when I am 16 so I'll be able to legally watch most of these movies.

Anyway, I haven't seen such films as Black Swan, The King's Speech, The Fighter, 127 Hours, The Kid's are All Right...the list goes on. But what I have seen you will find on here. I'll give you the best of each genre, some overrated films, some underrated films and some really bad films. Beware...I haven't seen a lot.

BEST DRAMA

Yeah, I'm a huge fan of The Social Network. I don't mind if it sweeps up every award at the Oscars. I was so interested in the story of Facebook before I had even heard of this movie, so seeing it all come to life was just amazing for me. The way Aaron Sorkin wrote it--as what could have possibly been a highly intelligent thriller--made the movie what it was. Hearing Jesse Eisenberg drone out his words in complete monotone was music to my ears. On that topic, Eisenberg has really grown into a proper actor with this role. Who would have thought that awkward lanky nerd would be an Oscar nominee (well I'm guessing he will be)? And where did Andrew Garfield come from? Thank God he's arrived on the scene. Justin Timberlake quashes all those thoughts on how a musician can't act. Complete with superb direction from David Fincher and an amazing score from Trent Reznor and Atticus Ross, The Social Network is the movie event of the year.

BEST ACTION

Does this need an introduction? Ever since I first laid eyes on Inception back on July 22nd, I fell head over heels for it. And since getting it on DVD and watching it eight times, I think it's fair for me to say that Inception was my favourite film of the year. I still love it, even though most critics have forgotten about it. Truth is, Inception will probably live on a lot longer than the likes of The Social Network because it is so creative and original, and that ending sticks in your mind long after you have watched it. Christopher Nolan has topped his efforts on The Dark Knight (even though that remains as my favourite film of all time), and now we just have to wait and see if he can top those two with The Dark Knight Rises in 2012. Should be all in a days work for the guy.

BEST COMEDY

While Kick-Ass is probably recognized as an action film, I thought it was simply the funniest thing I had seen all year. I am totally obsessed with this movie. It's so gloriously violent, crazily colourful and all out entertaining that I couldn't help but fall in love with it. That probably all comes down to a nerdy Aaron Johnson, a fellow nerdy Christopher Mintz-Plasse, a sweet but outrageous Nicolas Cage, a wickedly evil Mark Strong, and, well, a fantastically talented Chloe Moretz. With all the foul-mouthery and raunchiness of a general R-rated comedy, plus all the violence one could hope for, Kick-Ass was 2010's major win.

BEST HORROR

I don't generally watch a lot of horrors, though mostly every one I have watched this year has been crap (see further down the list). However, one--which is probably more along the lines of sci-fi--which stood out for me was Splice. Despite the fact that it was so stuffed up, I really enjoyed it, and thought it was a stunning piece of modern cinema with great performances from Adrien Brody and Sarah Polley. Edgar Wright, the director of Scott Pilgrim vs. the World, put this on his list of underrated movies of 2010, and said this: "This film was awarded a Cinemascore of F on the basis of two audience losing sex scenes that caused audible ‘What the fuck’ cries when I saw it in the cinema. I applauded them. This is a great twisted little piece of science fiction that deserved to be lauded for its smarts and guts." I couldn't agree more. While it does cause a few jaw dropping moments, Splice is still damn good.

BEST THRILLER

By now every one has probably forgotten about Martin Scorsese's delayed thriller Shutter Island, but it still deserves it's place on here. While it wasn't as good as I expected it to be, it was definitely edge-of-your-seat stuff, with a thrilling conclusion that was nothing but utter mindfuck. Featuring another superb and underrated performance from Leonardo DiCaprio, along with fine showings from man-of-the-moment Mark Ruffalo, Michelle Williams and Ben Kingsley, Shutter Island was a powerhouse of fun and pulpy horror blended in with a twisty thriller, and I applaud Scorsese for his achievements.

BEST ANIMATED

I don't think I have ever cried so much in a movie as I did at the end of Toy Story 3. It was a bittersweet farewell to those lovely toys I grew up with, and a pleasant reminder that Pixar will always make the best animated films. No other animated movie could come close to the greatness of this one, because no other animated movie could possibly capture the poignant moments or heart warming scenes that this one parades so well. Are we ready to say goodbye to Woody, Buzz, Jessie and the gang? Hmmmm...I don't know.

WORST FILM

Yay! A remake of A Nightmare on Elm Street! Because we soooooooooo needed one of them! Jeez, this movie was a mess. From it's unbelievable gore to it's generally laughable script and everything in between, it was awful. I feel sorry for Jackie Earle Haley, who may have put his all in, but he ain't no Freddy Kruger. And poor Rooney Mara. On her way to becoming a well respected actress in The Social Network and on to being Lisbeth Salander: version 2.0, she had to star in this crap. I don't hate it, it just could have been a hell of a lot better.
OTHER BAD FILMS FROM 2010:
The Last Song, Open House, Prince of Persia: the Sands of Time, The Bounty Hunter, Tooth Fairy, Legion, Killers, Eclipse, The Karate Kid, Clash of the Titans, Sex and the City 2, Dear John, Green Zone.

MOST OVERRATED FILM

I feel liked I should have loved I Am Love, considering European films which focus more on style are somewhat of a specialty for me. But I just couldn't. I found it generally boring (I hate using the word 'boring' to describe a film, but it really was). Yes, the aesthetic appeal of it was amazing, but it certainly wasn't as stunning or as triumphant as many made it out to be. I think this was because the film was lacking in story and felt genuinely unstructured, leading up to a ludicrous ending which only just won my attention. Tilda Swinton was undeniably gorgeous in this movie, and spoke Italian like she had been speaking it all her life, but even her dedication couldn't save this movie from the melodramatic soap it really was.

MOST UNDERRATED FILM

Last week I gave Cemetery Junction another look, and I fell in love with it. It's actually gut-bustingly funny, but moreso the movie is entirely true. The characters all represent that part of becoming an adult, which makes it so great. Add in appearances from Ricky Gervais (co-writer and director), Matthew Goode and a fierce Ralph Fiennes, and this movie has got it made. Cemetery Junction made me so happy, but also so sad that not many people have seen this British delight. Either way, it's bloody good and deserves some more audience.

BEST OVERALL FILM

This beast of nature deserves my highest honour as best film of 2010. Well done, Inception, you may not win Best Picture at the Oscars, but that doesn't stop you from being the actual best picture of the year. Now, Nolan, I expect to see you at the top of this list again in 2012!

HONOURABLE MENTIONS...OTHER GREAT MOVIES OF THE YEAR

What were your top movies this year? Drop a comment...I'd love some recommendations for when we finally get some more movies!

DVD--Splice

or: The most stuffed up movie I have ever seen.

One word to sum it up: Weird.

Even though we were somewhat promised a cinema release on Splice, this sci-fi horror somehow wound up in our preview drawer ahead of it's DVD release next month. Now I see why the movie Gods didn't quite trust this film to get on our big screens. No, it's not bad...I kinda liked it. But it's just so strange and stuffed up that our audiences would probably get a little freaked by it. I saw this about five days ago, and I'm still not happy with the rating I have given it. In some ways, it's a load of garbage, but in other ways, it's a great piece of modern cinema at it's best.

Two young rebellious scientists, Clive (Adrien Brody) and Elsa (Sarah Polley), are told by their employers to halt groundbreaking work that has seen them produce new creatures with medical benefits by splicing together multiple organisms' DNA. They decide to secretly continue their work, but this time splicing in human DNA. Their work results in a new creature, Dren (Delphine Chaneac), who appears to be just like a human (with some differences) at first. As she grows, she starts becoming trouble, and Clive and Elsa discover that Dren is the harmless creature they thought she would be.

As I said, I'm torn between good and bad when it comes to Splice. Let's start with the good things this movie has to offer. Splice is a fantastic sci-fi, but also a great horror, which provides more thrills then we have been seeing in the latest 'B-grade horror trend'. The premise is not only intriguing, but particularly relevant these days due to scientists trying to do this kind of thing. Fortunately, Splice doesn't suffer from the Hollywood syndrome, where they take a perfectly possible storyline, dumb it down to the lowest common denominator, and make it totally unbelivable. Splice, instead, takes a very realistic look at genetic engineering, which is quite believable and isn't bogged down by silly special effects. Another thing that Splice has over similar sci-fi's is the impeccable performances from Adrien Brody and Sarah Polley as the 'rock star' scientists.

The flaws that this movie carries also have something to do with one of it's best assets. Blended into the storyline is a theme of growing up and teen angst, which comes in the form of Dren. As she grows up, we start witnessing her confusion over certain things, which contributes to the strangeness of this film. While that theme is so cleverly great, the way it is executed just led me to think 'WTF?!'...several times. In it's final act, Splice loses itself because I couldn't tell whether I should take the movie seriously or not. Either way you look at it, it's hard to take something out of what it is trying to say, and ends up becoming laughable for all the wrong reasons. I have come to the conclusion that Splice was a very good film, up until it became confused with what it wanted to be: a clever sci-fi horror or just another generic horror.


THE VERDICT: Could have been better, and could have taken itself a bit more seriously. However, the premise behind Splice is great, which makes up for most of the film's flaws.

7/10

Why is NZ getting all these films WAY later than everyone else?

With The Social Network being released this week (YAY!), even though the date was luckily pushed two weeks forward, New Zealand has been waiting quite a long time to see David Fincher's latest. But The Social Network isn't the only one with a delayed release date here. Check out this list:

Splice

USA release date: 4th June 2010. NZ release date: 18th November 2010. Distance between: around 25 weeks.

I think Splice is going into limited release here, but this release date keeps changing. It was first on during the New Zealand film festival in August, and then it was set up for release in September. Now it's going for November, but it's going to be released on DVD in January by Madman, which almost means an instant death in it's DVD release. Was it really that bad?

Machete

USA release date: 3rd September 2010. NZ release date: 25th November 2010. Distance between: 12 weeks.

Though there are several dates flying around for this one, it seems pretty clear that we will be getting this one more than 12 weeks after America. Meanwhile, some cheaters here will probably be downloading this film as I type.

Easy A

USA release date: 17th September 2010. NZ release date: 2nd December 2010. Distance between: 11 weeks.

This one, quite frankly, pisses me off. I really, really, want to see this movie! And by the time I do, everyone else will be like "this is old news!' It's not my fault!

The Kids Are All Right

USA release date: 30th July 2010. NZ release date: 26th December 2010. Distance between: over 21 weeks.

I have always wanted to see this film, mainly because of the amazing cast it seemed to get. However, when I went to the small cinema in the city it had a poster of this, with it's extremely late release date. The unfortunate thing it, this film will go into limited release here, and there's a possibility that we will miss out all together. Which will suck.

Secretariat

USA release date: 8th October 2010. NZ release date: 27th January 2011. Distance between: 16 weeks.

This one is undoubtedly delayed because it's one of those Oscar-bait movies and they always release here in the December-March period.

Hereafter

USA release date: 22nd October 2010. NZ release date: 3rd February 2011. Distance between: 16 weeks.

Despite the fact that it's directed by Clint Eastwood and stars Matt Damon, this film, which wasn't exactly greeted with rave reviews on it's release, won't be making it to NZ shores until next year. Even though there were interviews on the film on one of the chat shows.

127 Hours

USA release date: 5th November 2010 (?). NZ release date: 24th February 2011. Distance between: 16 weeks.

16 weeks until 127 Hours. Believe me, I'm counting down the days already.

Saw 3D

USA release date: 29th October 2010. NZ release date: 3rd March 2011. Distance between: 18 weeks.

Not that I give a shit, but most of the gore loving sadistic minded people who like this over-cooked series of blood will care that they don't get to see the final installment in 'mind-blowing 3D' until March next year. Even I think that's pretty stupid.

Never Let Me Go

USA release date: 15th September 2010. NZ release date: 17th March 2011. Distance between: 26 weeks.

Gosh, now I know that we are 26 weeks behind America in getting to see Never Let Me Go, I am really cheesed off. Yes, of course I want to see it because Andrew Garfield is in it, and the addition of Carey Mulligan and Keira Knightley certainly helps, but the trailer looked so sad and haunting I just can't resist seeing it. And I will still be excited once March rolls around, that's if its limited release ever happens.

Other films which have been released this year in USA, but have an undated release date here for next year:

Catfish

Jack Goes Boating

Stone

The Romantics

You Will Meet a Tall Dark Stranger

New Zealand may be the most beautiful country to live in, but why do the movie gods continue to give us lousy release dates which are weeks after everyone elses. That's the hardest thing about being in the blogosphere: by the time I see it, it's old news. Mind you, I watch them all on DVD, which I guess is kinda unique in the blogosphere.

Just promise me one thing. When I get to see The Social Network on Thursday (one of the first sessions here in NZ, so I am technically being an early-birdy), don't think I'm slack and think everything I'm saying is old news to you. It's not my fault!