Appetite for Deconstruction

After several years of ineptitude, I’d held out hope that this year would prove to be a redeptive one for movies.

No such luck.

Hollywood barely coughed up ten movies of true quality in 2010. Sure, there were a number of movies I’d tell you to catch on satellite or Netflix if you needed something to watch (The Town, Hot Tub Time Machine, The King’s Speech, et al). However, in paring it down to the movies I really liked this year, it didn’t take long to separate the wheat from the chaff.

That said, of the ten finalists, there were some gems – if you haven’t seen any of these, I highly recommend them. Some are of a required taste, of course (depending on your tolerance for horror, gore, violence and subtitles), but that goes without saying.

Without further ado, here are the Top 10 Movies of 2010:

10. “The King’s Speech” (B-)

What I said then: It’s Oscar consideration season, so that means Hollywood primarily trots out two types of movies: quality films and acting showcases. The latter are movies that offer up serious thespians, meaty dialogue, fancy costumes and pretty scenery.

I have no real interest in English royalty. I’d imagine someone who does (like, say, my wife… who’s already making plans with my four year-old daughter to watch Prince Willie’s wedding next year. I think it’s next year…) would likely find this movie that much more entertaining. As for me, the acting kept me engaged and, at times, even moved. Most of all, I loved Firth and think he’ll get a well-deserved Oscar nomination for this (they all will, actually – Bonham Carter and Rush, too). There’s even a good chance he’ll win.

Postscript: In retrospect, I don’t think anyone bests Firth for the big O. See it for him alone and you won’t be disappointed.

Read the full review here.

9. “Nowhere Boy” (B)

What I said then: The movie doesn’t rely on the Beatles to drive it – well, in name at least. But any fan of the band – or rock n roll history – will become engrossed the minute John starts plucking away at a banjo. And even more so when a young lad named Paul is introduced to John and the two begin and immediate love-hate, dependency-jealousy, instant musical chemistry sort of thing.

For portraying an icon who was “bigger than Jesus Christ,” Aaron Johnson does an admirable job – from depicting John’s love affair with music to the makings of a tortured young soul who is caught between too many dysfunctional family members who never really seemed to have his best interests at heart, even if they thought they had at the time.

Postscript: One of those really nice little indie films you always hear me squawking about. True… it can be a little plodding at the beginning. But once it gets rolling, you are hooked. And once it’s over, you want to put on the White Album and find more books and movies about John and his buddies.

Read the full review here.

8. “Kick-Ass” (B)

What I said then: Nothing… I never saw this one when it was in theaters, despite several people telling me I’d like it and requesting a review.

Postscript: I finally got around to seeing Kick-Ass a few weeks ago in my quest to see anything and everything before the year was out. My verdict? THIS is a comic book movie – unpredictable and over the top, with some biting bits of dark humor (my favorite is when Kick-Ass returns to take on the street toughs that mugged him before he became a super hero). Throw in fantastic performances by Nicolas Cage and Chloe Moretz (who, in tandem with her stellar performance in Let Me In, wins Performer of the Year in my opinion) and you have a surprisingly good little movie.

7. “The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo” (B)

What I said then: The movie has me yearning to pick up Larsson’s sequel (he wrote three before he died): The Girl Who Played with Fire. I know, I know… but I’m eager to see how these interesting on-screen characters are colored in all the more on the page. Of course, I’ll see the movie sequel as soon as I can illegally download it it comes out in the theaters. Either way, consider me hooked.

Postscript: …and I did. The books are wild, genre-busting thrill rides that are fun reads but difficult to adapt into movies because the story veers so often into the absurd. But taken on its own merit, the first Girl made for a gripping, tight thriller with two really interesting main characters. Good stuff.

Read the full review here.

6. “Piranha 3-D” (B)

What I said then: Piranha is not everyone’s cup of blood-streaked lake water. It is wildly overstuffed with gratuitous (and extended) boobie shots, bad acting, endless rip-offs of Jaws (I told you little ones not to take the boat out…) and enough spurting blood to make Tarantino blush.

However, for people who like this type of movie (and even some who don’t), you’re going to be pleasantly surprised. It’s just a crazy, sick fun ride – from the opening cameo of Richard Dreyfuss, reprising his role of Jaws’ Matt Hooper, to the endless string of creatively gross deaths (e.g., the topless chick who gets cut in half is particularly funny tragic) to the scene-chewing hamminess of the great B-cast (Back to the Future’s Christopher Lloyd as the kooky fish expert, Jerry O’Connell as the Joe Francis-esque porn director, Elizabeth Shue as the town sheriff, etc) to the, um, interesting use of 3-D effects (the lesbian underwater ballet must have Jimmy Cameron slapping his forehead, V-8 style).

Postscript: This is for all you people who think I take movies too seriously. Because, honestly, nothing could be further from the truth. I can enjoy mindless fare with the best of them… it does have to provide some entertainment, however. And Piranha had that in spades. Bloody, naked, eviscerated spades.

Rock on, Alexandre Aja.

Read the full review here.

5. “Inception” (B)

What I said then: Christopher Nolan must have overdone the pot brownies before coming up with Inception, an ambitious, visually dazzling Sneakers-meets-Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind-meets-Dark City-meets-Shutter Island tale of corporate dream raiders (and yes, we would’ve accepted Dreamscape-meets-The Matrix-meets-Ocean’s Eleven as an acceptable analogy. Thank you for playing).

Postscript: People made way too much out of this movie than was necessary. I never understood all the “that movie was wayyy too complicated” complaints/musings. Or how the movie did or didn’t stick to the ground rules for traipsing around inside someone’s psyche. Relax, people… I’m pretty sure that can’t happen (yet). When you get right down to it, this is just a fancy, big budget, summer sci-fi movie. And when you look at it from that perspective, it’s pretty darn good.

Read the full review here.

4. “The Social Network” (B)

What I said then: …this is where the movie excels, though – Eisenberg makes Zuckerberg fascinating. You don’t exactly root for him, but you can’t help but want to know what he’ll do next. Eisenberg has finally climbed out of his pigeon hole as the poor man’s Michael Cera here and delivers a performance that will likely be pushed hard at Oscar time. He makes you ride that wave with Eisenberg – watch him feel social acceptance as his site gains in popularity and yet, at the same time, feel his disdain for the personal popularity/enjoyment his friends experience. Facebook is one big fuck you to all those people who gave him a wedgie when he was a kid or called him an asshole for unwittingly putting down the fact that you went to Boston University.

Postscript: I am really looking forward to watching this movie again – perhaps more than any film I saw in 2010. I liked The Social Network a lot… but I felt distant from it, emotionally. And to me, that’s what kept it from being great.

I wonder on second viewing if I’ll be able to overlook that a little more easily and immerse myself in the movie’s brilliant writing/lead acting… or if it will continue to frustrate me.

Read the full review here.

3. “True Grit” (B+)

What I said then: Leave it to the Coens to once again help salvage a crappy movie year. Last year, it was the quirky and underrated A Serious Man. This year, it’s True Grit, an adaptation of the 1968 Charles Portis novel and remake of the 1969 film that won John Wayne his only Oscar for the iconic role of Rooster Cogburn.

I had my doubts in the opening minutes that this film might be more Burn After Reading than Serious Man. The Brothers lay the fancy dialogue on thick, young Mattie Ross seems far too old a soul for a 14 year-old girl, and Jeff Bridges’ interpretation of Rooster initially comes off a bit like John Wayne-meets-Sling Blade (mmm-hmmm).

But thankfully, the movie settles into a rhythm quickly and you’re soon hooked.

Postscript: Not much – just wrote this review 5 minutes ago.

Read the full review here.

2. “Let Me In” (B+)

What I said then: My fellow deconstructonist may not speak to me for a while after this review, based on the movie blasphemy I’m about to commit. But I’m sorry, I can’t help it:

This movie was awesome.

This despite the fact that I went in with about as much skepticism as I have had for any movie in a long while, based on my absolute adoration for the Swedish original (“Let the Right One In,” which was featured at #6 in our Top Horror Movies of All Time article last year) as well as my sizable disdain for crappy Hollywood reboots, remakes and do-overs.

Postscript: Indeed, this one was the biggest surprise of the year – I went in expecting a cheesy, Americanized, watered down piece of crap… and instead got a haunting movie that barely got edged out for the best movie of the year.

Read the full review here.

1. “Black Swan” (B+)

What I said then: Black Swan is like a mishmash of “Showgirls” and Aronofsky’s own “The Wrestler” with some Sybil, Single White Female and Fight Club sprinkled in along the way… on acid. And yes, that’s primarily a good thing. Admittedly, it’s melodramatic and ham-handed in some ways.

However, it’s the way in which the director blends his own gritty style with the surrealism of, say, David Cronenberg that makes it so compelling. It’s such a different movie than I expected, and as you watch the surprisingly strong Natalie Portman go further down the rabbit hole, you become sucked in with her.

Postscript: This is everything a “best movie of the year” should be: ambitious, well-acted, emotionally gripping and beautiful to watch. Somehow, I think it will slip through the cracks at awards season because it is too edgy or unconventional for the morons that vote for this sort of thing.

But so be it… this honor should be all it needs, really.

Read the full review here.

Happy viewing…

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