The Best Movies Of 2010

Once again I present my favorite films of the year. As usual it's important to remember that this isn't the BEST films of the year, rather the movies that I've found the most entertaining; not necessarily the best crafted, most awards worthy, or most powerful dramatically, as a professional film critic might see them.

Personally I'm looking for a re-watchablity factor in all these films (do I want to purchase it on DVD for future multiple viewings?) There's a longevity factor to consider as well; I might love the film now but will I still love it in a year from now, or ten years time? Finally there's that highly subjective personal factor that means a film might have a look, or theme, or a story, or characters that talk to my tastes as an individual, more than it might to others who have viewed these films. What I'm trying to say is, this is my list. If you don't like it, go and compile your own!

As a year in movies, 2010 was disappointing. That's not to say the 20 movies listed here are poor; they're not. Primarily I wanted to see better quality blockbusters. There were so many let-downs from the studio tentpole movies; Knight & Day, The A-Team, Alice In Wonderland, Clash Of The Titans, Robin Hood, Prince Of Persia, Sorcerers Apprentice, Jonah Hex, The Last Airbender and Iron Man 2...mega-budget blockbusters all, and every one falling far short of their potential. These are the kind of movies I truly love, and wish to see succeed, and these are the ones that let me down. And there were so many that were merely "pretty good" but not great; Predators, The Wolfman, Green Zone, Expendables, Harry Potter 7, Salt, Cop Out, Piranha and From Paris With Love. All solid entertainment but nothing to get too excited over.

So, moan over, here we go:-

20/ Splice
A modern twist on The Fly and Frankenstein, Splice is a first class monster movie. Less a horror film, and more of a science fiction drama, it explores the family dynamic of 'mummy' (Sarah Polley), 'daddy' (Adrian Brodey) and 'child' (Delphine Chanéac). Great effects, lovingly designed and intelligently told.

19/ Whip It
The Drew Barrimore directed sports movie starring Ellen Page failed to convince me in it's opening scenes, only to become one of the most enjoyable dramedy ensembles of the year. Touching, exciting and very funny, Whip It breaks the sports genre mold and confirms it's director as a rising talent to keep an eye on.

18/ Jackass 3D
If you've seen the other Jackass movies you'll know what to expect with the second sequel as it's practically critic-proof. With the added bonus of 3D photography and ultra-slow motion, the gags are as disgusting, bone-crunching and gut-bustingly funny as you can get in a comedy movie.

17/ The Last Exorcism
Yet another entry in to the hand-held camera genre of horror films, but a unique, intelligent and gripping one never the less. Shot from the perspective of a priest trying to debunk the Catholic exorcism myth, Last Exorcism keeps you guessing as to whether the events are supernatural or not. Great turns from Patrick Fabian and Ashley Bell make this both amusing and freaky too.

16/ The Social Network
There are probably few directors that could have turned a story about social networking site Facebook into one of the years most enjoyable films, but auteur David Fincher did. Combined with a spot on cast, a great Trent Reznor score and Aaron Sorkin's multi-layered and amusing script, there simply is no bad here.

15/ Fantastic Mr Fox
A 2009 release I caught this year, indie film maker Wes Anderson turns Roahld Dahl's beloved children's book into a off-beat, too-good-for-kids animal adventure movie. The young ones will love the manic situations and adults will adore the quirky, well timed humour and subtly casual dialogue. The old-skool hand animated puppet-style makes this unique to look at too. There's nothing out there like it.

14/ The Town
It turns out that frequently derided movie star Ben Affleck is a great leading man given the right material and the right director; in this case himself. Who'd have thought that Affleck would be making crime thrillers approaching the level of Mann and Scorsese. He's not there yet, but if The Town is anything to go by he's a master craftsman in the making.

13/ Never Let Me Go
This delicate science fiction drama is perhaps the saddest films of the year. Once the relationships are established between the three exceptional leads (Carey Mulligan, Keira Knightly, Andrew Garfield) and the plot twist exposed it explores life love and death to full heartbreaking effect. It's a crime this is being ignored this awards season.

12/ The Lovely Bones
Peter Jackson was heavily criticised for the heavy fantasy elements in his afterlife murder thriller, not to mention the way he soft-peddles the more disturbing aspects of the book on which it's based. A very theatrical movie, it's less real-life and more of an uplifting bedtime story. There's some standout sequences including one of the year's best when Lindsey breaks into Mr Harvey's house (a creepy Stanley Tucci) to solve her sister's murder. Under-rated.


11/ Buried
A one man movie. Well, pretty much. Take one Ryan Reynolds, bury him in a coffin with a pencil, a gas lighter and a mobile phone for 90 minutes and see if he escapes. Reynolds proves his movie star status in one of the years most tense thrillers which explores its intimate location to the maximum while the suspense unrelentingly snowballs.



10/ The Human Centipede - First Sequence
It wouldn't be an end of year movie list without a stomach churning European horror film included. Human Centipede takes the usual genre conventions of the strangers who have broken down and then knock on the local nutters house for assistance. Add one barking mad scientist and one of the most disturbing images of the year and you have a twisted classic. Remember kids, never go ass to mouth.

9/ Centurion
The top 20 is a largely worthy affair, but my enjoyment of certain 'low-brow' genres compels me to include some of the best examples of 'pure' entertainment. Centurion is Neil (The Descent) Marshall's forth film, considerably improving on 2008's Doomsday. A beautifully shot, stripped down to basics, action packed, raw chase movie with brilliant movie star performances from Dominic West and Michael Fassbender

8/ Let Me In
The Americanised remake of 2008's Let The Right One In was for me an improvement of the brilliant, but emotionally distant original. 15-20% less subtle, less real-life, less realistic and 15-20% more stylised, more overtly emotional and more polished than it's counterpart, Let Me In took a great story and made it 'more'. Atmospheric, moving and compelling, this reboot was more in tune with my tastes.

7/ The Losers
Tango & Cash, Passenger 57, Commando. If you didn't think they made them like that anymore then think again. Creative direction, a witty script and a charismatic cast (Chris Evans steals the show), complete with over-the-top sarcastic villain, made this the mercenary movie of choice in 2010 over The A-Team, The Expendables and Red. Utter, utter bullshit...which it thankfully revels in, The Losers is the most shameless guilty pleasure of the year.

6/ Black Swan
Take a simple tale of an ambitious, but emotionally naive, ballerina who wishes to have the lead role in a new, reinterpreted production of Swan Lake...and then add the dark, twisted imagination of Darren Aronofsky. A psychological thriller that uses an ambiguous art house style to tell it's tale, Black Swan may confound some, while others will revel in it, just as I have. If there's any justice in the world Natalie Portman should walk away with the best acting honours during this awards season.

5/ Toy Story 3
Put simply, nobody does it better than Pixar. Their forth straight mega-classic in a row after Ratatouille, Wall-E and Up, Toy Story 3 completes the trilogy of child Andy and his toy collection. The darkest of the three movies, and all the better for it, it's an emotional rollercoaster of stupid humour (Barbie's Ken / Spanish Buzz), tender moments (the climactic tear-burster) and white knuckle action (the incinerator). Classical storytelling for all, of the highest order possible.




4/ Scott Pilgrim vs. The World
A love it or hate it film from Hot Fuzz's Edgar Wright, Scott Pilgrim shows young love through the eyes of the manga/game console generation. What's astounding is that it manages to balance the whirlwind manic-ness of the direction with the grounded, flawed, realistic relationships of the characters. The editing is beyond exceptional, the humour-filled fight sequences unlike anything else and the dialogue fizzy and vibrant. Edgar Wright is officially A-List.

3/ Kick Ass
There's so many different takes on the superhero genre at this time that Matthew Vaughan's Kick Ass comes as a brutal breath of fresh air. A more realistic, darkly comic look at what it would really be like to dress up as a costumed vigilante, Kick Ass's masterstroke is that it has a extremely strong, well told story to tell. The violence is sometimes shocking, but Vaughan always pulls you back into comic strip territory; this is the coolest film of 2010.

2/ Tron Legacy
Many will be surprised to see the belated Tron sequel on my top 20 list, let alone at number 2, but this is a very personal film for me that encompasses everything I love about movies...even more so than the critically praised Avatar. I love hard-sci-fi more than nature based adventures, I love the electronic score pushed high into the sound mix, the way the story echoes the original film, the multi-layered themes of the film about mythology, responsibility, identity and parenting, the restrained Fincher-esque direction, the anti-authoritarian vibe and the reimagined lightcycles. This is pure catnip to a self confessed 80's sci fi geek and I make no apologies.

1/ Inception
Nothing came close to the enjoyment I got out of Christopher Nolan's Inception in 2010. Not only is it film making of the highest order possible, from every single level of it's production, but it pushes all the right buttons for me personally too. Take a classically filmed heist drama, add an original science fiction twist, make it a complex character study and add layers upon layers of meaning, subtext and thematic material. Not only does it demand multiple views to clarify the perfectly structured plot but it even suggests alternative stories that exist outside of the movie's narrative. Challenging, emotionally engaging, exciting (the action exists on five levels of dream space simultaneously!) and very moving (the final shot is powerful whilst being the most debated single take of the year) there isn't a film around that could touch Inception. And it made over $800 million at the box office to....let that be a lesson to Studios who still peddle vacuous blockbuster turds. Roll on 2011.



Not quite making the top twenty, and in no particular order were:- An Education, Predators, Easy A, Shutter Island, Hot Tub Time Machine, Daybreakers, The Crazies, Paranormal Activity 2, Despicable Me, How To Train Your Dragon

The Worst Movies Of 2010

Here's my bottom ten for 2010. This year I haven't included several ultra-low budget horror films (Perkins 14, Torment, The Hills Run Red) because, to be honest, I can barely remember anything about them

10/ The Tooth Fairy
Dwayne (The Rock) Johnson goes family friendly once more, but makes the mistake of going over to 'the dark side' with The Tooth Fairy being produced by Twentieth Century Fox. That means a well made production that equals blandness, boredom, zero laughs or any kind of fun in the entertainment stakes.

9/ Skyline
Just like The Brothers Strause previous affront to humanity, AVP:R, Skyline has some wickedly good effects and a glossy contemporary sheen. But once again they forget about an interesting narrative, remotely likable characters or an ending. So near yet so far.

8/ MacGruber
Poor Kristen Wigg battles valiantly as the only person working on this wretched MacGuyver spoof trying to raise a laugh. She's sabotaged by inept, so-called comedian Will Forte and three has-been action stars (Ryan Phillipe, Val Kilmer and Powers Boothe). There's two gags in the whole film that work, which places it higher than other comedies on this worst-of list.

7/ A Nightmare On Elm Street
Michael Bay's Platinum Dunes works it's evil once again by completely arsing up the long awaited remake of Wes Craven's 1984 classic. Boring, murky, forgettable and shock free. When will Platinum Dunes realise their folly and stop making films?

6/ Dinner For Schmucks
The talents of director Jay Roach, Steve Carell and Paul Rudd can't generate any humour out of a premise which should be a blast. Did they take the money and run? Were they replaced by alien imitators? Who cares?

5/ Takers
Any movies starring R&B artists Chris Brown and T.I. as well as lunk heads Hayden Christensen and Paul Walker would be difficult to like, but this crime thriller was plain obnoxious. The R&B of heist films; all attitude, swagger and flash but no substance or soul.

4/ Bangkok Dangerous
If there's one thing you can count on in a bad Nicholas Cage movie it's a great Nicholas Cage performance. Just look at Ghost Rider! But with Bangkok Dangerous Nicky lets everybody down. The directors and screenwriters are asleep at the wheel...and so is Cage. Dull.

While the previous movies on this list are pretty bad, they have many redeemable features that make them feel like missed opportunities that could have been corrected if the circumstances were right. The final three movies on this list have no such redemptive qualities and can be considered hateful works.

3/ Furry Vengeance
Take everything that's awful about talking animal movies...the unbearably cutesy creatures, the childish gags that are too babyish for an embryo to laugh at and the shameless mugging by over-qualified actors that are too good for this crap...and multiply it by ten. Even the animal effects are cheap and ineffectual. If the U.S. want to cut their military spending, all they have to do is ship boxes of Furry Vengeance DVDs out to the Taliban. Game over, man!

2/ Twilight Full Moon
Why did I watch this abysmal film? Because I'm an optimist, that's why. I felt that there was no way that Twilight sequel New Moon could be worse than it's dull predecessor. Dear God was I wrong. Much, much slower in pace...very little happens...and third wheel Taylor Lautner can be content with delivering one of the most wooden, unconvincing performances of the year. Worst still is Kristen Stewart's Bella who qualifies as the most selfish, irritating bitch in modern movie history.
It's like the film has a sticker pinned to it's back saying "Hate Me!"...which I'm more than happy to do.

1/ Dinocroc Vs Supergator
How could Dinocroc not be at number one? The intent of most film productions is to make a great movie, no matter the experience or talent of those involved. Alas, the film makers behind this shoddy Roger Corman production just wanted to go to Hawaii and have a laugh. They evidently succeeded as the joke appears to be on us. What they didn't realise was that exploitation movies can be good, if you try and make them that way. Alas, no one tried, particularly the cast comprising of Corey Landis and chums who either ham their way, or stare vacantly through, the tongue-in-cheek-free narrative. If I lived next door to a psychopath I'd request he kill me before setting eyes on this death wish rolled up as a TV-transmitted poison pill.

The Best Soundtracks Of 2010

2010 turned out to be a vintage year for film scores...and there hasn't been a year this good for a very long time. Since Hans Zimmer established himself in the early 90's, new composers (including those that Zimmer has mentored himself) have flooded the market changing the overall style of mainstream film scores. This is nothing new as you only have to look back to the 70's to witness the deluge of funky guitar/jazz based scores which dominated the film industry then...or back further to pre-1950's cinema to see how melodramatic most soundtracks were.

What has bummed me out ever since the 'Zimmer Revolution' is two-fold;-
1/ While everybody (from new composers like John Powell, Trevor Rabin & Steve Jablonsky and established masters like Danny Elfman, Graham Revell and John Debney)has been copying Zimmer's lyrical mix of orchestra and electronics, very few of them were doing it anywhere near as good as the master.
2/ As a consequence, traditional orchestral film scores, like that of John Williams, John Barry and Jerry Goldsmith have taken a backseat. Traditionalists like Howard Shore and James Newton Howard infrequently make an impact on the industry these days and previous masters like James Horner and Alan Silvestri have, frankly, lost their talent to a large degree.

So, where as most years have seen a singular lonely 'great' score rise to the top (if we're very lucky), this year we have seven to celebrate. They are:-

7/ Cop Out - Composed By Harold Faltermeyer
Director Kevin Smith wanted Cop Ot to be part of the DNA of the comedy/thriller police movies of the 80's like Beverley Hills Cop, Tango & Cash and Kuffs. What better way to achieve that style than to get composer Harold (Axel-F) Faltermeyer out of retirement to work his old retro-synth magic. And he does.



6/ Doctor Who Season 5 - Composed by Murray Gold
When Stephen Moffatt took over scripting duties on the revamped Doctor Who TV series, regular musician Gold was asked to come up with new themes. The results are better than anything that's come in doctor Who before.



5/ Kick Ass - Various Artists
Director Matthew Vaughan took the unusual step of hiring four composers to work on his revisionist Superhero blockbuster. Not only is the soundtrack quite hip, it's got some uplifting and melancholy stuff too.



4/ Alice In Wonderland - Composed by Danny Elfman
Elfman is the biggest old-skool composer who has sold out his distinctive style to the more modern, blander electronic percussion scores. Terminator Salvation, Hellboy II, Wanted...all weak, forgettable scores...until his 2010 collaboration with Tim Burton produced one of his best ever works.



3/ The Social Network - Composed By Trent Reznor & Aticus Ross
This is the second of three brilliant scores which suggest that the 70's/80's synth, or electronica, style is coming back as a legitimate score type. Riffing on the film's 1980's setting, the score doesn't sync to specific events in the movie but provides a cool vibe for the drama.



2/ Inception - Composed by Hans Zimmer
Despite my earlier Zimmer rant, there's still no one that has more consistently produced more truly great film scores over the last 20 years than Hans Zimmer. Inception once again breaks from his usual box of tricks, this time introducing a brassy 007 vibe into the mix.



1/ Tron Legacy - Composed by Daft Punk
Like The Social Network score this is a stunning retro-electronica score mixed with a full orchestra. Every single track works brilliantly, both in the film and as a album selection on it's own. Perhaps the single most listenable movie soundtrack of the last decade...perhaps even longer.

The Best Albums Of 2010

10/ RPA & The United Nations Of Sound - "United Nations of Sound"
The latest offering from The Verve's Richard Ashcroft won't be to every ones tastes, it being overblown orchestral and in the running length of the tracks, but there's no denying the unique soulfulness of his style of rock.
[Standout track = Royal Highness]

9/ Stone Temple Pilots - "Stone Temple Pilots"
I have no idea whether lead singer Scott Weiland is off the sauce or not, but this album from the reformed grunge legends is one of their best. A little more laid back and commercial from what we're used to, it hasn't a bad track on it.
[Standout track = Take A Load Off]

8/ Skunk Anansie - "Wonderlustre"
Another reformed band from the 1990's featuring the vocals of Skin, one of the greatest female vocalists of all time. On a par with their second album Stoosh, it's brilliantly written and performed with a surprisingly restrained performance from all involved. Mellow. Glad to see them back.
[Standout Track = My Ugly Boy]

7/ Morcheeba - "Blood Like Lemonade"
Morcheeba have been going since the mid-90's, but kind of lost their way when they departed company with iconic vocalist Skye Edwards. Now she's back and that chillout magic has returned. Jazzy, funky, bluesy, poppy, rocky, hip-hoppy cool.
[Standout track = Self Made Man]

6/ Chemical Brothers - "Further"
I've always admired from afar The Chemical Brothers...until now. Further takes the electronic vibe of both theirs, and The Prodigy's, work and fuses it with a lyrical ambiance worthy of a Vangelis film score. Hypnotic, groovy and raw.
[Standout track = Dissolve]

5/ Avenged Sevenfold - "Nightmare"
The same can be said of Avenged Sevenfold; I've always liked their sound and love a few songs, but there's not one album I adored until Nightmare came alone. Song writing of the highest order combined with flawless musicianship and vocals. This is one to turn up loud and proud!
[Standout track = Buried Alive]

4/ Airborne - "No Guts No Glory"
After Airbourne's magnificent debut album a couple of years back I feared the AC'/DC sounding Ozzie rockers may be a one-album wonder. Not so as No Guts No Glory just builds mercilessly on what they've achieved before. Modern classics done in a timeless retro way.
[Standout track = Back On The Bottle]

3/ Monster Magnet - "Mastermind"
If Mastermind wasn't up to scratch as an album there would be hell to pay as Monster Magnet are official my favorite band ever. As you'd expect it's meatily produced Sabbath riffs combined with Dave Wyndorf's soulful vocals.
[Standout track = Ghost Story]

2/ Rob Zombie - "Hellbilly Deluxe II"
Good old Rob Zombie, probably the most fun you can have listening to rock music. Virtually every track is a radio friendly track and it gets better, and catchier, everytime I listen to it. Several bonus tracks in an extended edition didn't hurt either.
[Standout track = Sick Bubblegum]

1/ Lostprophets - "The Betrayed"
The 'Prophets are a band whose style and quality has fluctuated over the years, but it wasn't until The Betrayed where both crystallised with the brilliant The Betrayed. Lushly produced with every single track being catchy as hell, this album is firing on all cylinders from start to finish. It all has the quality of every track being a different style or tempo or attitude, showing off the versatility in their song writing. It took me weeks and weeks to drag me away from the stereo with this album.
[Standout track = For He's A Jolly Good Felon]

Ultra Cool Snow Movie!!!!!!

You don't always need to get a big budget or a great cast, crew or script to get an entertaining movie. Sometimes all you need is a great premise. Saw, Buried, Adrift, Blair Witch and Paranormal Activity prove that if your central idea is strong enough and you have enough imagination to fully explore the premise you can get a strong movie out of it. Hell, look at the late 80's and early 90's...Die Hard is one of cinema's great movies and that's a "hostage drama in a skyscraper" that explores a primal concept and asks it's audience, "So then, how do they get out of that?". Simplistic brilliance.

Frozen is another simple but great premise. Three teens get the last chair-lift of the day in a weekend ski resort, and through various mis-communications by the staff get stuck there, with it becoming increasingly obvious that they won't be discovered for a week (by which time they would have all frozen to death.) In true high concept fashion the screenplay explores absolutely every obstacle that faulty machinery, the weather, the wildlife and the 60 foot high location can throw at them. And frankly that's all you need for a suspense filled 90 minutes.

The cast are solid with The Walking Dead's Emma Bell being the most non-decrepit participating actor. Better are Wrong Turn's Kevin Zegars as her cocky boyfriend and X-Men's Shawn Ashmore as his quick-to-anger best mate. The direction and dialogue is nothing special either, both handled by Adam Green, but it gets us from A to B with competence and efficiency. Well worth checking out, you'll be gripped by Frozen from start to finish with two questions to occupy your time; will they survive and, if so, who? Sometimes that's all you need.

I've Grown Up To Hate Grown Ups

After the laughter occupied zone that was You Don't Mess With The Zohan, I was prepared to accept that the normally unfunny Adam Sandler would start making comedy that contained proper humour; in essence, stuff that would make me laugh. I wrote off 2009's Funny People as another attempt by Sandler to stretch his dramatic side, but fully expected his return to mainstream blockbuster comedies to be on a par with the excellent Zohan.

I couldn't have been more wrong. What makes it worse is that Grown Ups is an ensemble comedy featuring Sandler's closest pals from regular collaborator Rob Schneider to Kevin James, Davis Spade and Chris Rock. All that talent and nothing to laugh at. It's as if the very concept of them all sharing the screen would be enough for audiences to roar with laughter and so a script was never required. Perhaps they decided that the comedy would be the result of some magical ad-libbing and improvisation...but it that's the case, the only people that finds this group funny is each other. In fact the only person to actually be funny is Steve Buscemi in a small , but well timed cameo.

There's no story to speak off. What you get instead are a dozen subplots hanging on the weak premise of five blokes who've been reunited after 20 years. It's also a weak PG-13, sentimental family comedy as well, so any attempt to raise a giggle by swearing or any other daringly inappropriate behaviour is off the table. Grown Ups is safer than safe. It's a baby smothered to death by an over-protective parent that now finds itself cradling a rotting corpse of a movie. Still despite that unappealing image it's still has more likability as a 'comedy' than Dinner For Schmucks or Funny People, but I'd recommend you don't watch this unless your kids have demanded you see it one Christmas Day afternoon or if it's one of your Iraqi hostage takers demands.

Cthulhu In Love

When I first heard about Gareth Edward's low budget science fiction movie Monsters, I had the feeling it would be very similar to District 9...quarantined, intelligent aliens living next to a major world superpower. But when I got to eventually see the festival darling, what I got was a different kettle of fish. I was bored. Now that might have got to do with the quality of the film's presentation or the fact I was distracted by others in the audience at the time. So given it's mainstream acclaim on its wide release this December, I felt obliged to check it out again.

Unfortunately I was still bored.

That's not to say Monsters has nothing to offer as it has has a great, moody look, an eerie, atmospheric score, a fantastic premise and layers upon layers of subtext. In fact the social commentary is the film's saving grace. If anything it's about communication, or more importantly, the lack of communication between people, parents, nations, cultures and even species....and what devastating effects that can have. There are parallels to the separation of the Israeli and Palestinian states as well as the rising tensions regarding illegal immigration from Mexico into the United States and it also explores the morality of the media during crisis situations.

Where the film falls down is the central relationship between engaged, rich girl Sam and the impatient, cynical photographer, Kaulfield, who's assigned to escort her from central America to the USA, avoiding the alien infected quarantined zone inbetween. It's quite cool that the events in the world reflect their volatile friendship; both characters are so stupid that as a viewer you don't really care if thy hook up or not. Scoot McNairy's Kaulfield is such an archetypal dick that you wish he'd just leave Sam to her own devices.

What you get is a well made, well meaning film with little heart and without a heart, all you're looking at is a carcase for 90 minutes. And where's the fun in that?