June is coming to a close, and that means 2010 is half-way over. Cinematically, we have seen a lot of bizarre movies, both good and bad, come to our local cineplex. Though I'll wait until next January to make my official Top 10 lists, I wanted to highlight the highs and lows of this year. So in no particular order, we have...
"Shutter Island" HIGH!
While "Harry Potter" fans bitch loudly about how much the movies have bastardized the books, "Shutter Island" comes on top as being almost a word-for-word, scene-by-scene adaptation of Dennis Lehane's psychological thriller to a frightening reality, thanks to another Martin Scorsese-Leonardo DiCaprio collaboration. Even after reading the book and knowing what would happen, the ending still came as a shock. Now THAT'S good filmmaking.
"Percy Jackson and the Olympians: The Lightning Thief" LOW!
How appropriate to go from the best literary adaptation of the year to the worst. By the time I had seen Chris Columbus's attempt to strike gold a third time with a popular kids' book series, I had read the first three books in Rick Riordan's series, which, the way I see it, is twice the series "Harry Potter" ever was. The problem is that the books were perfect the way they were, and Columbus, the great book slayer himself, decided to over-Hollywoodize "The Lightning Thief", murdering any chance of any of the remaining 4 books from becoming the movies they could have been.
"Cop Out" HIGH!
Upon hearing about this film, seeing that Kevin Smith was attached to it, I was in. Even if he didn't write the film, I was still in. And I was not disappointed. While "She's Out of My League" was calling itself this year's "The Hangover", "Cop Out" (originally called "A Couple of Dicks") actually WAS this year's "The Hangover". Clever humor and acerbic wit makes for tear-jerking laughter that doesn't stop. Add in one of the coolest cop shoot-outs in a film since "L.A. Confidential", and you have a film that's wildly funny as it is stylish and slick.
"Disney's Alice in Wonderland (2010)" HIGH!
Okay. It's Tim Burton and Johnny Depp, reimagining one of the literary world's most timeless pieces to a dark, beautiful light. How the hell was I not supposed to love this film? Even after 3 viewings in the theater, I was brought to tears every time by its stunning union of first-class acting, mind-blowing visual effects, and razor-sharp writing. So far, this is possibly the best movie to come out all year.
"The Ghost Writer" LOW!
Just because your mainstream critics like it doesn't mean it's good. Roman Polanski's latest foray in the psychological thriller genre was neither thrilling, nor particularly psychological. In 27 years of cinema-going, this is only the second film I've ever walked out on. Sure, it's possible the film could've gotten better after I walked out. But, seeing that I was falling asleep in the first 30 minutes of the film, tell me why I should give a shit? If Pierce Brosnan and Ewan MacGreggor couldn't make this film watchable, nothing could.
"Hot Tub Time Machine" HIGH!
The best title for a film since "Snakes on a Plane", John Cusack-produced "Hot Tub Time Machine" blends 80s satire, twisted humor, sadistic pratfalls, and mind-bending logic involving time travel in this year's guilty pleasure which, blending what we loved about "The Hangover" with what we loved about "Back to the Future", won't make you feel THAT guilty.
"How To Train Your Dragon" HIGH!
Two words: Fuck Pixar! This film has it all! The humor, the action, the heart. Not to mention the cast! Blending young blood Hollywood (Jay Baruchel, Jonah Hill, Christopher Mintz-Plasse) with the Hollywood established (Gerard Butler, Craig Ferguson, Kristen Wiig) and making a film that's sentimental and edge-of-your-seat intense without being too heart-felt or heavy-handed, like last year's "Up". Bravo, Dreamworks!
"Iron Man 2" HIGH!
Anyone who knows me, even for the briefest of times, knows I'm a comic book freak (maybe it's the glasses...or the fact I own a Spider-Man tee shirt). But how could I not love the sequel that finally gave the comic book fan respect, something only "Sin City" had before? And yes, Robert Downey, Jr. was awesome, and Don Cheadle makes us almost forget about Terrance Howard completely. But the true stars are Jon Favreau, our fearless director, for extending his Happy Hogan character from the background to
a full-fledged character, and Sam Rockwell for giving Tony Stark his Lex Luthor.
"Robin Hood" LOW!
Leave it to Ridley Scott to fuck up a perfectly good legend. Though the story was already perfectly written, Russell Crowe the perfect Robin Hood, Cate Blanchett the perfect Marion, and Mark Strong the perfect villain, extreme changes to the legend and pseudo-political awareness makes this arrow miss the target by a wide margin.
At a glance, here are the rest of the movies I've seen this far...
"Kick-Ass" HIGH!
"Date Night" HIGH!
"The Losers" HIGH!
"A Nightmare on Elm Street" HIGH!
"Furry Vengence" LOW!
"Death at a Funeral (201)" HIGH!
"Prince of Persia: The Sands of Time" HIGH!
"MacGruber" HIGH!
"Get Him To The Greek" HIGH!
"Splice" LOW!
"Knight and Day" HIGH!
And there you have it for the first half of 2010! So far, only a handful of truly remarkable films, but fear not. The second half seems to promise a lot better films, like "Inception".
Stay tuned my friends in film, my cinematic soulmates. The best has yet to come.
No comments:
Post a Comment