The 2010 Roundup Part 2: The Top 10 of 2010

The Top 10 of 2010

An article by Frederick Cholowski

    Well the year is over and while 3D gimmicks and bad action flicks where plenty there were a lot of standout movies. These are my favorites of the year the crème de la crème of the bunch. Of course there is no way I have seen every film of the year (sorry The King's Speech please forgive me) but now here it is my favorite movies of the year.

 

    10.
Scott Pilgrim vs. the World

        This one snuck on the list. Not that it didn't deserve it though as Scott Pilgrim vs. the World is an amazing action comedy that was equally as funny as it had cool actioness (so not a word). The acting was great with the first real breakout role for Michel Cera and the humor mixed with stylized action was perfect. A fun movie with a great premise and a lot of epicness (again not a word) it deserves the number 10 spot on this list.

 

    9. Shutter Island

        Another one that snuck on this list. Very odd in every way with a neat little twist at the end Shutter Island is one of my guilty favorites of the year. While it did have its problems and the story is not that original, Scorsese always finds a way to put that touch on a film that will make it soar. Well by no means a great film this is my personal list and I thought that it was a very good one that I had fun with.

 

    8. How to Train your Dragon

        I couldn't not put this on the list. The best DreamWorks animated film to come out in a long time this film had what had been lacking from their films for a while, heart. Well good writing and amazing flying sequences help as well. This was the second best animated movie of the year and one that deserves a lot of mention.

 

    7. The Girl who Played with Fire

        Out of the two of the three Millennium Trilogy movies I have seen this is the weakest. Barley the weakest but still. This film though is still amazing with Noomi Repace caring her role of Lisbeth Salander (and the movie) to new heights. Through in a good plot and some good writing and some James bond style villains and you got an awesome thriller worthy of recognition.

    6.
Toy Story 3

        Pixar you are amazing. The way they create the best threequal ever with such ease and suaveness. Well I guess I don't know about that but what I do know is that Toy Story 3 soars on the screen. Pixar's animation is still the best with crisp colors and detailed little plastic toys. It doesn't stop there though as the writing, direction and voice acting is still the best in animation with each role lighting up the screen. And the ending, who can forget the ending. It was the perfect way to end the series (and almost made me cry shh).

 

    5. True Grit

        "I always go backwards when I'm backing up". Ok I don't know how that fit but man that line still holds up. So does the story of True Grit witch with the fingerprints of the Coen brothers all over it this remake was great. It had better atmosphere, action, writing, and most of the acting (except John Wayne no matter how great Bridges is he can't top that performance) than the original. True Grit is one of those remakes (a la the Departed) that excels over the original.

 

    4. The Social Network

        Slick modern direction, brilliant snappy writing and great acting propel this movie to greatness. Yes I said it, the first great film on this list the Social Network was everything you want in a drama. Just not quite enough to beat out these next three…

 

    3. Inception

        Chris Nolan dose it again! After the best film of 2008 The Dark Knight Nolan had massive expectations for his next film and man he met everyone of them. Slick action met with sophisticated plot and an A list cast this film excelled and was awesome. And let's not forget the final scene which will be discussed for a while.

 

    2. Black Swan

        Man this movie screws with your head!!! Black Swan makes the confusing and messed up parts in Shutter Island and Inception look silly as it was not afraid to punch you in the stomach and make you want more. With beautiful cinematography and one of the best performances of the year by Natalie Portman Black Swan was truly a gem missed by most. If you liked to watch great film and be thrown around and shocked in the process this is the film for you. I know it was for me.

 

    And my film of the year is….

 

1. The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo
   

   The best film of the year a Swedish film yes, yes it is. Well it was a tough race for the top 4 with most of the top 4 being interchangeable, this film always landed at number 1 for me. With brilliant acting (yay Noomi Repace!) and one of the best female protagonists in film. Mix that with brilliant writing and a plot that will keep you at the edge of your seat at all times. As well as some great characters and some truly shocking stuff that goes down. The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo is a great film that I don't want to see Hollywood ruin with the remake.
   

The 2010 Roundup Part 1: the Awards

The End of Year Awards (Other than best picture)

An article by Frederick Cholowski

The roundup of 2010 is here and it's filled with awesome. I have decided to split my year end roundup into two parts. The first being the awards where I have fun and select winners for random categories, then in part two I give you my top ten films of the year. In other words this is all the awards except film of the year which will come in another article. So let's get down to business (mixed with fun like a mullet). As usual I am not a paid critic so there for I have not seen all the films of 2010 (most notably The King's Speech sorry!) and I am going with what I got, fools. Here we go part uno of the 2010 roundup.

 

Most Underrated:

    Scott Pilgrim vs. the World

    Question, why did no one go and see this? It was a very good film that was both funny and thrilling (although more awesomely funny). This movie didn't even break even. The puzzling question is why not? Am I missing something, in a year with bad 3D movies and stupid twilight sequels this should have been a huge hit.

 

Most Innovative:

    Black Swan

        Sure movies that screw with the mind are nothing new and neither are ballerina films. Mixing these together and putting it from the perspective from someone who goes insane with no distinction of reality from hallucination and you have one film spurring with new light.

 

Best Character

    Lisbeth Salander

        Tough, gothic and anti social Lisbeth Salander from the millennium trilogy is one unique character. She is the example of a character that is well developed, interesting to watch and unique from head to toe. One of the best cinema characters of all time Salander is truly amazing.

 

Most Disappointing:

    Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part 1

        Man beginnings of books do not work as whole movies. I wish Warner had thought of that before splitting the final Harry Potter chapter. Poorly paced and abruptly ended it did not satisfy on the level that it should have at this crucial point in the franchise. If they can make part 2 great all can be forgiven but if not this could be one of the biggest disappointments (and not to mention poor creative decisions) ever.

Best Performance Female:

    Noomi Rapace as Lisbeth Salander in the Millennium Trilogy

        Man what a performance! Lisbeth is not an easy character to play and young Sweetish actress Noomi Repace is flawless as the gothic heroin. Fearless yet tortured violent yet peaceful if left alone feared yet strangely appealing Repace plays the character to perfection and lights up the screen every time she is on it.

 

Best Performance Male:

    Jesse Eisenberg as Mark Zuckerberg in The Social Network

        Wow as far as breakout roles go this has to be the largest. Before this role Eisenberg was a comedy actor and sort of another Michal Cera. Then comes The Social Network where he plays the youngest billionaire and the creator of facebook and is absolutely brilliant. Fast talking and incredibly snippy Eisenberg plays the role to perfection and will hopefully never look back.

 

Worst Film:

    Vampires Suck

        Do I have to say anything else than this movie is a piece of crap with nothing funny or entertaining about it. Or that the writing is terrible and the acting for the most part sucks (pun intended). Yeah it ran away with this one, right into the dumpster.

 

    Stay tuned folks for part two the top 10 of 2010!!!