2010 (The Movie Year, Not The Movie)

I'm putting up a new post, though it's hard enough to even open up the Blogger template and attempt it.  And further, I doubt anyone checks out Pajama Guy any more, since we've been silent for over a month.

But it's the time of year when my friend Jesse Walker puts out his decade by decade lists, looking back, of the top ten films of the certain years.  This being 2020 (and don't we know it), he's starting out with a top ten list of the best films of 2010. A fine year--though we'll see what Jesse thinks.

Since I'm not sure how to link any more, I'll just spell out his url:

https://jessewalker.blogspot.com/2020/12/my-annual-movie-thingie-i-have-no-idea.html

Here's the list, followed by my comments.  Sorry, I still can't figure out how to embed photos. 

Top Ten:

1. True Grit

2. Tabloid

3. Toy Story 3

4. Winter's Bone

5.  Meek's Cutoff

6.  Four Lions

7.  Marwencol

8.  Essential Killing

9.  Scott Pilgrim vs. The World

10.  The Kids Are Alright

A pretty good list.  Just by chance I watched #1 and #4 in the past few days.

True Grit is top ten.  It's got great dialogue, which I though was from the Coen's, but I've been informed comes from the novel.

Tabloid is at least top twenty.  Toy Story 3 I like, though I wasn't as knocked out as a lot of people--I see diminishing returns in the series.

Jennifer Lawrence has become such a big star it's hard to believe she was an unknown when Winter's Bone came out.  A fascinating look at life in the Ozarks (though I wonder how the people who live there feel about the portrayal).

Kelly Reichardt's First Cow just won the New York film critics award for best film of 2020.  It's one of the few films I saw in a theatre this year.  Reichardt came out afterward and the interviewer told her he loved how she ended her films. She replied the company that put out her DVDs would regularly get complaints that the disc was defective since the ending was missing. She's was probably referring to Meek's Cutoff--still one of her best.

Didn't see Four Lions.  Didn't see Marwencol, though I did see the awful adaptation starring Steve Carrell. Didn't see Essential Killing.

Lot of great stuff in Scott Pilgrim, but it's still pretty empty and I still think the lead is miscast.

The Kids Are Alright would probably make my top ten.

Here are Jesse's honorable mentions:

11.  Greenberg.

12.  Inception

13.  Kick-Ass

14.  Carlos

15.  Exit Through The Gift Shop

16.  And Everything Is Going Fine

17.  The Secret World Of Arrietty.

18.  Black Swan

19.  Uncle Boonmee Who Can Recall His Past Lives

20.  Down Home Music

I thought 11 was horrible.  12 still doesn't make any sense, but still works--maybe even top ten.  13 might be my #1 film of the year.  Didn't think much of 14.  15 would compete with 13 for #1 film of the year.  Didn't see 16.  I like 17. 18 is overdone and tiresome.  Haven't seen 19 and 20.

Because I've written about 2010 in the past, I was able to pull up lists of films from that year--otherwise, not sure I could have pulled it off.

So here are some other films that would have made my top ten:

3 Idiots.  (Apparently it was released in Asia in 2009, but I saw it in America in 2010).  A huge Bollywood hit that gives you everything you could want in a movie in its three hours, and I mean everything--people in India expect a lot for their money. Another film fighting for the #1 spot.

City Island (which I also watched this past week--once again, some say it's from 2009 but it was released in regular theatres in 2010). A small comedy from Andy Garcia that no one seems to know about but I find a delight.

Easy A (though maybe I'm an easy grader on this one).

Tangled (my favorite Disney animated feature of the 21st century, and another potential #1 for the year)

Here are are a few more that might make my top twenty:

Despicable Me, Dogtooth, How To Train Your Dragon, Jackass 3, Rabbit Hole, Solitary Man, Somewhere (which I watched two weeks ago)

Here are some other films I thought were good.  Let me start with two that won lots of awards but Jesse doesn't go for, The King's Speech and The Social Network.  Then there's Blue Valentine, The Ghost Writer, The Illusionist, Another Year, Leap Year, 127 Hours, Nowhere Boy, Megamind, RED (which I watched earlier this month), The Town, Jean-Michel Basquiat: The Radiant Child, Please Give, When You're Strange, For The Love Of Movies: The History Of American Film Criticism (which I just watched last week, and which they say was made in 2007, but which wasn't available to see until 2010, at least for me). I also sort of liked Youth In Revolt, and at least didn't hate critically reviled How Do You Know?, Gulliver's Travels and Due Date

Here are some films that were okay, but not great:  Percy Jackson & The Olympians: The Lightning Thief, Rare Exports, Animal Kingdom, The Fighter (some people really loved this one), The Next Three Days, Faster, Unstoppable, Let Me In, Secretariat, Takers, Mesrine (parts 1 and 2), The Other Guys, Salt, The Infidel, Joan Rivers: A Piece Of Work, Smash His Camera, Get Him To The Greek, The Joneses, The Girl With The Dragon Tattoo, The Secret Of Kells, The Runaways, Daybreakers

Here are films I didn't like, and in a few cases despised:  Alice In Wonderland, Death At A Funeral, Legion, Hereafter, I Love You Philip Morris, Love And Other Drugs (bait and switch--seems to be a romantic comedy, but is actually about a young women suffering from an illness), Made In Dagenham, Morning Glory, The Switch, Life During Wartime (I had hopes), The Trotsky, Knight And Day, Cyrus (I'm glad mumblecore seems to be gone), Splice, MacGruber, Behind The Burly Q, Hot Tub Time Machine (though it's become a cult film), She's Out Of My League, Cop Out, Shutter Island, The Lovely Bones, Edge Of Darkness, The Book Of Eli, Little Fockers, The Wolfman, Clash Of The Titans, The Expendables, Grown Ups, The Sorcerer's Apprentice, Micmacs, Iron Man 2, The Twilight Saga: Eclipse, Harry Potter And Whatever (first half of the last film)