Oscar Week Part 2: The Top 10 of 2010 Oscar Time Edition

The Top 10 of 2010 Refined Oscar Edition

Commentary by Frederick Cholowski

    2 months ago I released my top 10 of 2010; as I look back on that list it feels very incomplete to me, so I have decided to go back and refine the list for Oscar time. Again as I am not a paid critic I have not seen all the films of 2010 (although more than when I wrote my last list) so this list will still technically be incomplete. Without further due here is my refined top 10 of 2010.

    

    10. Scott Pilgrim vs. the World

        After further review S.P.V.T.W. was the only film from 10-8 to stay on my list. Why? Because it was fun and cool and crazy and awesome. Nuff said.

 

 

    9. Winter's Bone

        This is a movie that I recently watched and really liked. It is one of those thrillers that does not rely on action scenes or giant twists, but instead on the characters. A fantastic performance by Jennifer Lawrence helps too along with a strong supporting cast. Winter's bone is a really cool film that you should check out if you haven't.

 

 

    8. The Girl who Played with Fire and The Girl who Kicked the Hornet's nest.

        What, two movies in one spot? For me the last two films in the Millennium trilogy are better watched together. They may be weaker than the fantastic first film but they are still solid thrillers and well worth at least a rent.

 

    7. Toy Story 3

        You've got a good threequal; you've got a good threequal. Toy Story 3 could possibly be the greatest third movie in a franchise. It was funny, charming and very emotional. Toy Story 3 is a fun motion picture that stands up as one of the best animated pictures.

 

    6. True Grit

        I always go backwards when I'm backing up! I was skeptical going into this remake of the classic, but if anyone could do it the Coens could. They did a wonderful job though and made a fun remake that trumps the original.

 

    5. The Social Network

        Man. This movie is all you want a drama to be. It has good writing, good acting and a good plot. The problem, well I put the next films ahead because they were more original and or in some cases slightly better.

 

    4. Inception

        I loved Inception. Nolan crafts a semi original idea and makes it awesome with cool effects and a plot that keeps you guessing. The heavy score helps too with giant base noises fit the mood where they fit. Overall Inception is just awesome.

 

    3. Black Swan

        When I get to reviewing this messed up movie I will attempt to describe how it screws with your mind. For now excuse me well I go back into recovery from this movie.

 

    2. The King's Speech

        For the first time in a while my favorite English speaking movie of the year could actually win an Oscar. The film is just old fashion film making at its finest with great writing, acting and general lovability. The King's Speech is fantastic and is my favorite non foreign film of the year.

 

1. The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo
   

   
    

   I could not take this out of the number 1 spot; I could not. This is a fantastic thriller in all aspects and far and away the best film of the year. Great performances, writing, plot, and the most fantastic female character to hit the screen (or in literature for that matter, you know the books). I love this movie and am scared for the upcoming American remake.

Oscar Week Part #1: The Oscars are Coming!! The Oscars are Coming!!

The Oscars are Coming!! The Oscars are Coming!!

Commentary by Frederick Cholowski

    The Oscars are coming!! Ahh!! Run! Hide! Anyways welcome to part 1 of my Oscar special. This article is me talking about the different aspects of the Oscars. On Wednesday I present my top 10 films of 2010 2 months later and then on Friday I give the lowdown on who I want to win and more importantly who is going to win. For now on this Monday I present my opinion article on everything Oscars.

 

    Another year, another Oscar ceremony. For the second time in two years 10 films have been nominated for best picture; and for the second year in a row we all know who the 5 real contenders because there are only 5 best director nods. First off the whole 10 best picture nominations needs to stop. What is the point when you know that five of the films in the category have no hope of winning? It's absolutely pointless! Anyways, the 5 best director nods (the films that have an actual chance) this year are Black Swan, The Fighter, The King's Speech, The Social Network, and True Grit. Although no best director nod for Chris Nolan is puzzling and I have not seen the fighter this year's list is pretty good. The two main favorites I hear are The Social Network and The Kings Speech; not to brag but I saw this coming and both are good choices.

 

    Acting is always crowded especially in the male category this year. Eisenberg vs. Bridges vs. Firth and those two other guys (smile, please don't kill me). Well we all know Firth will (deservingly) run away with it but the buildup is fun. I'm vying for new actress Hailee Steinfeld to win best supporting actress because she was fantastic in True Grit; the dames from the Fighter will probably win though but for now go Hailee (insert cheering noises here).

 

    

    One of my issues with the awards ceremonies of the last two years is no nod for The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo. Nothing for best foreign film despite huge praise by tons and tons of critics (including myself). I know I have not seen any of the films in the foreign films category but I know none of them receive as much praise as The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo (and personally having loved the film it is fun ranting about it getting snubbed).

 

    Well weather I like it or not the Oscars are coming to give their awards out and me a chance to argue with them. Anyways it should be fun yelling at my TV screen and complaining about the structure of the awards. Until then this ends part 1 of Oscar week 2011 join me with the Oscar edition of the top 10 of 2010 (now including The King's Speech).

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!!!

Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part 1 Review

Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part 1

B-

A film review by Frederick Cholowski

 

    Well after a year of waiting at anticipating for the last parts of the Potter franchise, here it is! Another set up film. This one is less than stellar than the last one though with some issues bogging it down. This should be where these movies begin to take off but instead part 1 is a grounded mess.

 

    I am not going to explain the plot of this film because it would be redundant because you probably know it. In simple terms Voldemort is getting super powerful and now has control of the ministry of magic and it's up to the terrific trio (Harry, Ron, Hermione) to destroy the mystical dark parts of his soul (horcroxes). The pacing is the film's main downfall as pacing in the books dose not translate well to the screen as it speeds up and slows down and then speeds up and then slows down. Basically building up nothing, it tries to build but instead of having a constant sense of build and tension it likes to take big gaping character brakes that at this point especially in the motion pictures is completely unnecessary.

 

    Then there is the ending which is expected is a cliffhanger but not an awesome heart stopper. No this movie just kind of ends. It just starts to gain momentum and actually start to build; Bam movie over thanks guys. This is the second potter movie in a row which the ending is one of the movie's significant downfalls. Last film it was anticlimactic this time it was way too sudden. They need to get it right in a hurry because they kind of have to end the franchise.

 

    The action presented here is good but not mind blowing. The effects hold up in most places although with some exceptions (the car chase yes a car chase). It still has that great atmosphere that director David Yates is so good at too. You feel like you are in a war torn world and you can feel the trials of all the characters.

 

    The acting has gotten better, much better. This is the strongest performances from the trio as they have really grown into their roles. They for the first time take the characters into really dark places something welcomed by me and it is tightly done by the crew.

 

    This to me is one of the biggest disappointments of the year for me. It is by no means a bad film with some redeeming qualities but bad choices in pacing and a fail of an ending keep this one from pushing this series to new highs. We will see what happens with part two which with all the set up and character stuff out of the way has the potential to be a great film. If not though we could be looking at one of the biggest let downs (and poor decisions) ever in film.

The Social Network Review

The Social Network

A+

A Film Review by Frederick Cholowski

    In 2004 Mark Zuckerberg launched facebook. Since it has become a global phenomenon becoming one of the (if not the) biggest social networks in the world. The next logical step was to make a movie about its founder's right... Yeah when I heard about this I was very skeptical. In the end though this is an amazing character study and one of the best of 2010.

 

    The film opens in the middle of two lawsuits against the founder of facebook Mark Zuckerberg (Jessie Eisenberg). One is by his former best friend and business partner Edwardo (future Spiderman Andrew Garfield) and the other is from two brothers who say that Zuckerberg stole their idea. From there the movie is a set of flashbacks from how it all began up to that point.

 

    The flashback method works well here. This film pulls it off with amazing writing and interesting characters. All the performances are spot on as well with Jessie Eisenberg leading the way as Zuckerberg as well as (surprise) Justin Timberlake as the mouthy founder of Napster Sean Parker.

 

    David Fincher dose an amazing job of making this film seem modern and smooth. Every shoot is clean and crisp giving this a very modern feel. The writing is amazing as well. Aaron Sorkin's dialog is crisp and witty adding that extra spark to the film. Let's not forget the score either that fills in the wholes when needed.

    
 

    The Social Network for me is one of the surprises of the year. At approx 2 hours this film blows by. With fantastic characters, acting and writing The Social Network is one of this years big winners.

Summer Movie Awards 2010

Summer Movie Awards 2010

A film article by Frederick Cholowski

    Well it's that time of year again. Time to take a look at the summer that passed and find the best films. This summer was a bit disappointing for me. The filler films this year where just not as good as last years and there weren't many movies that made me go back. Let's get to the awards now!!! As usual I have not scene all of the films the summer have to offer including Shrek. So without further due here are the second annual summer movie awards.

 

Best Action film:

    Scott Pilgrim vs. the World

        No matter what category this film fits in it is a front runner. From the awesome action sequences to the visual style and writing this movie had it all. An amazing film all around there was no competition in this category

Runner up: Prince of Persia

 

Best Si Fi film:

    Inception

        Three cheers for Chris Nolan!! The guy just keeps delivering with another amazing summer film that is on par or maybe even better than my favourite film of 2008 the Dark Knight. Sweet creative plot about dreams pared with some of the best cinematography and action sequences ever and you have your self the best film of the summer.

Runner up:????

 

Best Trailer:

    Harry Potter and the Deathly Hollows Parts one and two

        Is this just because I'm a Harry Potter geek?! The trailer makes the movie look so epic and awesome. This is still just a trailer and we have yet to see how they will turn it into a two part affair, but wow this trailer got me jacked for the film finales and is not that the job of a trailer?

Runner Up: Sucker Punch

 

Best Comedy:

    Toy Story 3

        Yay!!! Woody and Buzz return for the best threequal ever!! This movie is intelligent and funny while keeping the heart that the first two had. It even tugged the old heart strings at the end. The last adventure we will see from Andy's toys will not be one to be forgotten.

Runner Up: Scott Pilgrim Vs the World

 

Most Anticipated film for next summer:

    Super 8

        Yes all we got was a short little teaser but Super 8 looks awesome. Produced by Spielberg and directed by J.J. Abrams this film is in good hands. If this film is even released next year it should present a cool original film.

Runner Up: Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part 2

 

Most Disappointing film:

    Robin Hood

        Man this sucked. From the director of Gladiator and Russell Crow I had some expectations for this film and it fell on its face. It was boring and all the acting talent is wasted with bad dialog and not much to do.

 

Runner Up: Vampires Suck

 

Worst Film of the Summer:

    Vampires Suck

        Man I'm not going to go into detail. I did not laugh!!!!!!! This film made me furious. This is one of if not the worst film I have ever scene.

 

Film of the Summer:

    And the nominees are:

        Inception

        Iron Man 2

        Scott Pilgrim Vs the World

        Toy Story 3

 

    And the winner is...

 

 

 

    Inception

 

        Creative, well thought out, and amazingly shot Nolan has struck gold again with Inception. A mind bending thriller with the best action sequences all summer. The characters are fleshed out as well each with physiological problems. This film bends the mind and reality and is the best of the summer.