Best and Worst of 2010

I have seen so much of what is out there.  Yes, I missed the things I had a feeling would not be up my alley.  Let’s face it I’m not paid to be a critic so I can’t just see every movie that comes out.  So I have to have some discretion.  With that in mind some movies did not make the cut this year.  But others I think certainly deserve the mention you’ll read about soon.  I do not place them in any particular order I just categorize them as “Best” and “Worst”.  All that being said I don’t know about you but whenever I heard “I got good news and bad news” I preferred the bad first.

The Worst of 2010

Daybreakers- To this movie’s credit the visual look of it was neat.  I dig the 50s style to things. But the plot was ridiculous.  The character made no real sense in their motivations other than the most basic character aspects.  “I’m evil so I’ll kill you.”    If you want to see Willem Dafoe play an awesome vampire see “Shadow of the Vampire”.

Legion- A ripoff of “The Terminator” if I ever saw it.  Except where the threat of a cyborg could be bought with suspension of disbelief this could not.  They mow angels down with machine guns but for some reason we are to believe that governments could not take them down themselves? The script was complete crap as well. Not even trying to make you care for the characters you were supposed to.

Splice- This movie is so awful.  If you make a creature and you know it’s an unholy abomination of DNA splicing I got some friendly advice: Don’t fuck it.  Oh and scriptwriter! If a girlfriend caught a boyfriend giving it to said abomination they usually don’t just have a dismissive conversation about it like they are discussing the weather.

Jonah Hex- Such decent actors put together to be in one of the worst cowboy movies since “Wild Wild West.”  I am not a big Jonah Hex comic fan but I certainly don’t recall him talking to the dead.  That is like if Spiderman could all of a sudden shoot lasers out his eyes.  Oh and just cause she is pretty doesn’t mean Megan Fox belongs in a period piece.

Predators- This could have been ok if they gave you any reason at all to give a crap for the characters that they grouped together.  They are already in this horrible situation and all they can do is be the most obvious assholes they can be.  Oh and Topher Grace is not funny or threatening in any light.  I don’t know what casting director thought that but he is the sort of guy that should have saved his money after “That 70s Show” because he sucks doing anything else.

The Sorcerer’s Apprentice- You know as much fun as it is to make fun of Nic Cage, when the guy is in something bad he at least seems aware of it.  He will act crazy and at least have fun with a role.  Here it was obvious he had no fun whatsoever.  Alfred Molina is a wonderful actor as well.  And here his talent is wasted as he is a villain that is so cookie cutter you’d swear he is just playing Dr. Octopus again.  Oh and Jay Baruchel, I hate you.

Piranha 3-D- What the hell were people thinking?  There are award winning actors in this movie as well as porn stars and they could not even make it humorous.  They instead made a movie that was poorly animated and seemed a lot like a movie from the Syfy network. Even as a joke it should have worked at some level but seeing that a lot of comedy is timing this movie was practically stillborn.  It all was just so forced.

Case 39- The previews made it seem like the little girl was being chased by demons.  It showed Renee and the girl hiding under the bed even.  What the hell happened? Somewhere along the line they decided to either switch it on the audience or they changed their minds to what movie they really want to make.  Either way it was a weak movie with a weak plot and weak acting.

Let Me In- An unnecessary remake to a beautiful movie.  It was the weaker version in all ways.  They used CGI for a lot of things that were unneeded.  I thought it made it distracting.  The love story and tragedy is subtler in the Swedish version.  The U.S. version practically hits you over the head with it.  I hate when a movie assumes the audience is dumb.  That is annoying.  Save it for Michael Bay movies.

Skyline- Just another case of dumb aliens sucking our brains out.  Too bad it goes haywire at the end and they end up with a rouge alien against them for all the good it does.  The acting sucks.  The effects are cool but I’ve played PS3 games that have more plot development and characters that I actually give two hoots in hell about.

Now that we’ve looked at the bad let’s move on to bigger and better things.  These are what I found to be the best movies of 2010.

The Best of 2010

Black Swan- This might be Natalie Portman’s best work.  I was thoroughly impressed by it and enjoyed every minute.  It takes you on a roller coaster of emotions and in a colorful way it takes you into the mind of a girl losing her sanity in the fight for perfection.

Unstoppable- I really enjoyed this story. There are two working class Joes that put their lives on the line to save thousands when a train full of chemicals becomes an unmanned speeding bullet of doom. It’s a great story and Chris Pine and Denzel Washington sell it well.

127 Hours- A scary and hope filled story.  James Franco gives a sterling performance and it really is worth seeing.  I’m shocked more people aren’t flocking to this movie.  I said in my review that it probably wasn’t his best performance.  But I think it may at least get him nominated or recognized for certain awards, which is well deserved.

True Grit- A remake and with a snappy Cohen script some fine actors and a newcomer who I think is going to go places.  This movie is really great and should be seen.  If you read a lot into it it’s a great character study into the heroic character archetypes.  But if you don’t want to read a lot into it it’s also just a great movie.

Legend of the Guardians- This was a beautiful movie.  I loved “Happy Feet” so when I heard the producers made this I was interested.  Even more so when I found out it wasn’t a musical.  Sure enough it had a clever plot and really well developed story.  It’s one of the loveliest bits of animation this year.

Devil- Finally! M. Night is back to bringing a story that can creep us out a bit.  It was a clever concept and it was a smart script and the cast sold it well considering how strange the subject matter happens to be.  I enjoyed it a lot and I really think was his best work since “Sixth Sense”.

Karate Kid- A remake in a new location with a new cast and a new martial art type.  Oddly enough it was a very well done movie.  It was heartwarming when it needed to be. The action was tight and really well choreographed. Jackie Chan also showed acting chops I was a bit shocked to see.

Inception- Visually stunning. There was an intense story and great development of the characters.  My only complaint is that some parts seemed to run a tad long.  But it was a brilliant movie.  I can see why folks will be talking about it for years to come.

The Last Exorcism- I loved this movie.  Its subtle creepiness mixed with characters you like so much you don’t want anything bad to happen to them really makes this an interesting POV horror movie.  There are Lovecraft themes so that is very cool in my eyes as well.  All in all it’s a smart movie that shows charm.

Kickass- Raise a glass to Kickass. This movie was so fun and original.  Remember what I said about Nic Cage earlier in this review? This is the opposite.  This is him having lots of fun.  The movie relishes is the fandom of the superhero genre and has a lot of heart. As a comic geek there is a lot I enjoy about that.

​So those are my best and worst lists for 2010.  Hope you enjoyed them too.  This coming year I’ll be seeing a hand full of new movies.  Trying out some new games to review as well and I’ll be having my 100th review coming soon so I’ll be taking suggestions as to what to review for that since I think it should be something special.  Thanks for reading.