So the best movies I've seen of 2010 don't add up to ten overall, but I don't think that reflects less the quality of this year's movie than just my own limited intake.
1. Animal Kingdom
Most people just know it as a vehicle for Jacki Weaver's Oscar-nominated performance, but I didn't expect the rest of the movie or the other performances to be so damn good. You know one of these movies that never makes a single false move, where each moment is perfectly calibrated, and the movie takes you in during the first scene and the slow-burning momentum doesn't cease until the final second, when everything falls into place? Animal Kingdom is one of those. it's almost perfect.
Characters flit in and out of scenes, sometimes lasting for scarcely ten minutes of screentime, others are ruthlessly killed off (it is a crime drama, after all) but the human impact is never lost. You barely know who to turn your sympathies towards but you still feel towards everyone all the same. The violence is key to the story, but never feels desensitized or gratuitous. Oh, it's SO good. I love it.
2. The Social Network
I still have major problems with this movie, most of which have to do with Aaron Sorkin's glib and in many ways cheap stylization of a truly fascinating story, with what the laughable ending and somewhat ignorant/shallow/egotist perspective of the whole thing ("he wants to distinguish himself in a school full of people who got 1600s on their SATs!" "this movie is absolutely true!" "it's about how the internet is alienating a generation!"), but I really don't want to say much else about it because I feel like I've spent the last four or five months expressing the lady-boner I have for the directing/styling work from Fincher and the thrilling performances of the cast, in particular Jesse Eisenberg and Andrew Garfield (my massive crushes on those two actors doesn't hurt, either). Despite its major writing flaws, it's still hella memorable, exhilarating, and phenomenally executed.
3. How to Train Your Dragon
It's "one of these movies" where you don't realize how good it is until you've watched it for the fifth or sixth time and realized that it's still so much fun to watch. There are a lot of movies nowadays with a couple magnificent/slick visual scenes and little attention paid to whether the rest of the story sticks, but this isn't one of them. It works on every level, and I love all the details - Hiccup's brainy tech skills, every movement or expression Toothless makes, the perfected Gen-Y dialogue of the side characters ("Oh, I'm hurt! I'm very much hurt!" or "Isn't it weird to think that your hand was inside a dragon, like if your mind was still in control of it, you could have killed the dragon from the inside by crushing its heart or something?"
4. Winter's Bone
On some level, I guess that it could be this year's American equivalent of Animal Kingdom. They're both modern stories that evoke primal, very essential struggles - human survival at its most basic and bleakest. There's something greater at stake here. But there's a really stark beauty and compulsion to the story that makes the movie so pleasurable, and a richness in thematic content that makes it truly epic. And like AK, it's just some very fine storytelling.
5. Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part I
Loved the slow-burning pace. Loved the overall cohesion, the imposition of thoughtful details, daring sequences (Tale of the Three Brothers, anyone?) and one or two scenes that admittedly should have been cut but added an interesting layer nonetheless. Loved the action scenes and occasionally thrilling/frightening showpieces and the moodiness that in itself was faithful to the spirit of the first half of the 7th book. It means SO much to me that a Harry Potter movie can stand on its own. This is the second HP movie in the series that I've actually loved and respected - the first was the previous Half-Blood Prince.
Apart from those, I really liked True Grit, Fish Tank, Tangled, The Fighter, The Kids Are All Right, and Black Swan.
Favorite Scenes of 2010:
True Grit: Beginning sequence and midnight ride
Black Swan: Last fifteen minutes
The Social Network: hacking sequence, "Do i have your attention?","Lawyer up", meeting Sean Parker, the regatta sequence
How to Train Your Dragon: first flight, toothless and hiccup connect, opening scene,
The Kids Are All Right: Every scene that involves a family meal
The Fighter: Porch scene with Charlene and Dicky
Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: Beginning sequence, Ministry of Magic infiltration, graveyard, The Tale of the Three Brothers
Underwhelmed of 2010: Eat Pray Love, Scott Pilgrim Vs. The World, Toy Story 3 (SUE ME), Inception (ditto), Easy A
Haven't seen all of these, but I agree that some of my favorites of the year weren't even apparent to after I saw them, but when I tallied up everything in the end I realized they were the best of the year. The Social Network was entertaining, but I initially found it overhyped, however it was one of the more solid films of the fall with good acting, a witty script, and relevant content. I also loved How to Train Your Dragon because it was simply good. Finally a feel good film that didn't manipulate the audience into that. How often do you leave the theater with a smile on your face these days? True Grit was probably my favorite though, it just the most fun I've had in the theater in awhile. The character of Mattie Ross was so well realized by Steinfeld, Bridges was fun to watch, and it's the first time Matt Damon has had to act in years. The film was gorgeously shot, had a snappy script (although most of the dialogue is from Portis's novel not the Coens, still their adaptation of it worked well), and actually got me interested in a classic film genre I couldn't care less for beforehand.
ReplyDeletesadly, true grit was one of these movies whose impact diminished the more i thought about it, but it is still such a beautiful and well-made movie nonetheless, of course. i loveeeeed hailee steinfeld's mattie (it's been a banner year for kickass young girls) and how can the coen bros or roger deakins make a false move? i just thought it didnt match up as well to the coens' other "westerns", like o brother where art thou or no country for old men.
ReplyDeletebut there has definitely been a great revamping of western in the past few years. i haven't seen it, but i heard that 3:10 to Yuma is great entertainment, and Assassination of Jesse James was one of my favorites of 2007 - have you seen that one? Slow but powerful (Deakins also does the cinematography - he is unstoppable). Cannot comment on the recent bout of western-sci fi hybrids, however (like Jonah Hex or the upcoming "Cowboys and Aliens").....they're just.......dubious.