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Demisemicenturian 
"Four ever European"
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 Posted - 12/26/2010 : 04:36:16
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| Post your favourite and least favourite films of the year. I'm going to choose from films that I have seen at the cinema in 2010, but you may use films released in your country this year, films dated 2010 on the I.M.D.B. or any other parameters you wish. |
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Demisemicenturian
"Four ever European"
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Posted - 12/26/2010 : 07:17:17
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6/5
Nothing this year
5/5
Pretty Woman Anyone who dislikes this is both hard-hearted and an idiot.
The Social Network It is so full of poignancy, of flawed but somehow sympathetic characters. The moments of Facebook usership shown ring so, so true, especially the painfully accurate final scene.
A Single Man Very touching and authentic.
Toy Story 3 Iconic characters returning like old friends and inducing some real tears.
The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo I love listening to Swedish, it's nicely shot, the plot developments aren't too twee or stupid (in the main) and it has a great anti-heroine. (This has gone up in my mind since seeing it as I wouldn't class it as only a low 5/5 now.)
Back to the Future A well-deserved classic.
Casablanca I felt relieved to really, really enjoy it and felt that it hadn't dated at all badly compared to most films from that time.
I Love Phillip Morris Exhilaratingly awesome.
I'm Still Here If it is a mockumentary, it's possibly even better than if it is real.
Exit Through the Gift Shop Its message about the commercialisation of art and the emperor's new clothes is unaffected by whether or not the whole thing has been a set-up.
Avatar I loved it, but it's got a lot of flaws.
The Road I really enjoyed and was gripped by it. Excellent performances by the two leads, particularly Mortensen.
World's Greatest Dad With Robin Williams back to his best, I found myself hooked throughout.
Winter's Bone Bleakly wonderful, with Jennifer Lawrence carrying the whole film admirably.
The Disappearance of Alice Creed I love films where the number of characters is pared back to the minimum.
Inception I love my dreams, so I was a happy to see a film based on this subject. In particular, I experience architecture and location very vividly so it was interesting that that was covered in such detail in the film.
Mr. Nice Howard Marks is a charismatic guy, and Ifans really captures that well, although he definitely cannot pass for an eighteen-year-old, even in monochrome.
Nowhere Boy It's hard to be objective about how good this is because of the subject matter, but I really enjoyed it and found all the performances convincing and touching. Johnson is also an extremely good physical fit for Lennon.
Four Lions I know some quarters took badly to this film, but it's just brilliant. Love Kayvan Novak.
Due Date Zach Galifianakis is a very talented, if even more niche, actor and the film has an iconic gross-out scene; most of all I just love road movies and love R.D.j.
Shutter Island Excellent performance by DiCaprio. Good range of twists, in that the ones that one can see looming are not the real ones.
Day & Night It's utterly charming, with a beautiful retro feel and an only slightly heavy-handed moral message.
Certified Copy Nice concept, satisfyingly executed with good performances.
Hair I found it an unexpected joy. The pace is nimble throughout, hippiedom wins me over pretty easily and it just feels so different to anything else that I've seen.
The Lovely Bones I liked it for very possibly the reasons that others liked the book. It's dreamily enchanting and most of all different.
...
2/5
It's Complicated Fairly likeable but paper thin.
Centurion It's just about tolerable in the end, but only just.
Grown Ups Has some entertaining moments but is generally rather tedious and pointless.
Leap Year Goode and Adams are both semi-likeable but horribly, horribly, horribly fall into the stereotypes that Americans have of a visit to Ireland.
I Hate Luv Storys It's all very well sending up Bollywood love stories while also being a Bollywood love story, but you really ought to then have some kind of edge rather than being totally bog standard in plot and other terms.
Why Did I Get Married Too? Comedies with black ensemble casts seem to have been rather lame lately and this is certainly no exception. Occasionally funny and occasionally moving, but full of tired stereotypes.
Piranha Remove the softcore porn images from this film and there is even less to it than one would expect.
The Hole So stupid and clumsy, with extremely naff effects.
1/5
The Bounty Hunter It's just charmless, tired, predictable, all the things one gets in bottom-rung rom-coms. And that's even though I find Aniston likeable and Butler roguishly hot.
The Wolfman It's like a bunch of big names are taking part in a bad-acting competition. They're all so dreadful, as is everything else (the lacklustre special effects, the no-surprises plot), that it really feels like a spoof (without the jokes). Just awful.
The Next Three Days There is one quite striking action sequence that I don't remember from Anything for Her, so I have given it 1/5 instead of Quarantine's 0/5.
0/5
Nothing this year |
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GHcool 
"Forever a curious character."
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Posted - 12/26/2010 : 20:40:01
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1. Waiting for "Superman" - The best documentary of the year is also the best film of the year.
2. Shutter Island ("The basket case diaries.") - DiCaprio gives a nuanced, tortured, yet still sympathetic performance. I wish I could say more about this film, but for those who haven't seen it, its best if you go in knowing as little as possible about it.
3. Black Swan ("Kunislingus.") - Everything I wrote about DiCaprio goes double for Portman.
4. Toy Story 3 ("Too old for Woody?") - A $200 million budget is fairly obscene for a single feature film, but its kind of a miracle to see that kind of money being spent very, very wisely.
5. How to Train Your Dragon ("Cringing Viking, Hidden Dragon.") - Another well-produced animated film.
6. Scott Pilgrim vs. the World ("Exes of evil.") - Directed with style worthy of Tarantino, Edgar Wright has crafted a goofy cult film that still has a pulse on the human condition.
7. Inception ("REMming town, steal.") - They sold the film as a heist movie, but I thought the relationship between DiCaprio and Marion Cotillard was the highlight of the film.
8. The Social Network ("Facebook profile.") - The entire cast is great and I found the characters fascinating.
9. Easy A ("Emma lies with boys.") - Emma Stone carries this film with grace, humor, and pathos.
10. The Fighter ("Micky Mark.") - Christian Bale and Melissa Leo steal every scene as boxer Mickey Ward's destructive family members.
11. A Matter of Size - In this very funny, touching Israeli film, Itzik Cohen plays a cook who gets no respect because he is overweight. He and a few friends decide to become sumo wrestlers in an attempt to gain self esteem and respect in their community. I saw it at the Israel Film Festival and hope it finds a wider release. If it doesn't, I heard that the Weinstein Company is going to remake it with an American cast.
Films I haven't seen that I eventually will that might make the list: The Fighter, Get Low, Harry Potter and the Whatever It Is This Time, Inside Job, The Kids are All Right, The King's Speech, Rabbit Hole, Somewhere, The Tillman Story, and Winter's Bone. |
Edited by - GHcool on 01/01/2011 08:43:06 |
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GHcool
"Forever a curious character."
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Posted - 12/26/2010 : 20:43:34
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quote:
Originally posted by Salopian
Pretty Woman Anyone who dislikes this is both hard-hearted and an idiot.
Guilty as charged, I guess. So are most feminist film critics. |
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demonic
"Cinemaniac"
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Posted - 12/27/2010 : 23:26:51
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I'm glad to finally discover that I'm both hard hearted and an idiot - it's always baffled me why I've never had a taste for schmaltzy, formulaic chick flicks, now I get it. Luckily I'm in good company. Do you also love "My Best Friend's Wedding" Salopian?  
As usual your lists are nothing if not entertaining.
I've got a question about how you think most of the films of the 40s are badly dated... that's funny. Given you've only just seen the highest rated movie from the 40s on IMDB which other films of the era you've seen? I also wonder if Knight and Day, World's Greatest Dad and Due Date will be quite so highly regarded in 2060?
Oh, you reminded me. I finally caught Quarantine on the TV and now I half understand some of your earlier complaints given they appear to have shot the film in exactly the same apartment block with all the key moments shot identically - I did imagine some, any, variation. A very bizarre thing to do, let alone want to do. The biggest crime is that none of the key moments of the film even approach the skill 2of the original's execution - it's a bit like asking a bad actor to study a great actor's performance over and over and then recreate as best they can. That actor ends up using all the same technical tricks and looks and sounds pretty much the same, but the difference is obvious... same here. The end of [Rec] actually made me shiver, and would if I watched it again. It looks much the same in the remake but just doesn't get there. For anyone who hasn't seen, or refuses to watch, the subtitled film it's a poor substitute but would seem a whole lot more scary and interesting. But maybe not. I still wouldn't give it 0/5.
My best and worst... follow almost immediately. |
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demonic
"Cinemaniac"
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Posted - 12/27/2010 : 23:55:18
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In no particular order - my favourite films seen in the cinema this year - many will be obvious choices, probably because there weren't that many really good films to see in 2010. I've missed a lot as I've been working in places for half of the year with practically no cinema at all, which has been very painful - Restrepo, Another Year, The Kids are Alright, Carlos, Greenberg, We Are What We Are, Machete and Monsters all passed me by. I'm looking forward to catching Black Swan, The King's Speech, The Fighter and True Grit in the New Year.
Most of the following don't need much additional praise - they're great movies for one reason or another, or a whole heap of reasons at the same time.
A Prophet
Precious
The Road
Bad Lieutenant: Port of Call New Orleans
Crazy Heart
Ponyo
Exit Through The Gift Shop
Dogtooth
Inception
Toy Story 3
Winter's Bone
The Social Network
The Worst of the Year
The Blind Side - for a film supposedly about breaking down the racial and social divides this is one seriously suspect film, and if I could be bothered to sit through it again demonstrably racist. And Sandra Bullock is only good in stark comparison to her previously lightweight screen persona... Oscar worthy? Don't make me laugh.
The Lovely Bones - ugh. What a waste of material, talent, time and money. A day-glo, insipid, sentimental and stupid film. I didn't hate it as much as The Blind Side which made me pinch myself to prove I wasn't imagining the racial slurring going on but it did give me a headache and a profound wish to leave the cinema as soon as possible.
Clash of the Titans - boooorrrriiiing. Further proof that ever increasing budgets and bigger stupider more slow-mo CGI than Michael Bay could handle doesn't make for an engaging movie experience. How's about the old fashioned methods first... write a great script, hire a talented director and cinematographer, hire charismatic interesting actors to play your leads and go from there. This missed the first three parts.
The A-Team - an action movie for 12 year olds. I spent most of the time trying to understand that everyone was saying and the rest wondering how they persuaded Neeson, Cooper and Copley to sign on to such a witless enterprise. Felt a bit like having an idiot shouting the crappest story you've ever heard at you for two hours. Mind numbing. |
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GHcool
"Forever a curious character."
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Posted - 12/28/2010 : 00:13:47
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quote:
Originally posted by demonic
I've got a question about how you think most of the films of the 40s are badly dated... that's funny. Given you've only just seen the highest rated movie from the 40s on IMDB which other films of the era you've seen?
In Salopian's defense, he did say that he liked Casablanca. |
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demonic
"Cinemaniac"
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Posted - 12/28/2010 : 01:30:16
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| Objection sustained. Still interested though. |
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Demisemicenturian
"Four ever European"
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Posted - 12/28/2010 : 18:48:50
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quote:
Originally posted by demonic
I also wonder if Knight and Day will be quite so highly regarded in 2060?
I haven't seen or mentioned that film...
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Best and worst of 2010
