My Faves of 2010

Just a little mixture of films that I personally enjoyed, even if they don't win any awards or anything.

Another Year

Mike Leigh’s last offering Happy Go Lucky a few years back was one of my favourite films ever, so I was hoping for more of the same. Another Year is different though, it doesn’t have the upbeat positivity of Happy Go Lucky’s Sally Hawkins. Instead what it offers is very real, raw and in a way comforting. Though this could also be interpreted as sad and depressing.  It follows one year in the life of middle aged couple Tom and Gerri, watching them go about their work, tend to their allotment and deal with friends and families problems as the seasons change. Tom and Gerri are solid and having a loving and affectionate marriage. The problem is the sadness and loneliness of the characters they have around them. Particularly Gerri’s friend Mary, a tour de force performance of insecurities, hope and despair by Leslie Manville. It’s a sort of glass half empty half full of a film.

Monsters

It wasn’t really promoted when it came out last December, but that doesn’t stop it from being one of the years more interesting  offerings. A sci fi film it pitches the idea that in a few years from now some alien matter falls on earth (or Mexico to b precise) and begin to evolve. These beings are huge in magnitude and as such much of Mexico becomes bordered off and monitored. It’s a bit like District 9 meets cloverfield meets The Road. A desperate journalist travels to the area to get a story and is tasked by his editor to bring his daughter back from the Hell hole. With all their options running out they decide to pay for illegal transport through the danger area. It’s got so much going on its interesting.

Step Up 3

Dance films are silly and limited. And I’m not talking Black Swan, but more specifically the Step Up franchise. They are cheesy, predictable but also impressive. Essentially just one long rather impressive music video, is good enough for me if the shapes that are thrown are mind blowing. And step up 3 delivers everything I need, sugary dialogue, an overly emotive narrative, and the cheesiest lines imaginable. The dance moves are incredible and it’s one of the few times last year I felt 3D actually improved the film. Yes it’s a dirty stinking guilty pleasure, but leave me to my squalor.

The Hole

Ok so it’s a kids film, it has a 12A rating, it comes from the man who made Gremlins when I was but an ankle biter, so how scary can it be? Pretty terrifying actually. Enough to make me jump a few times and be on the edge of my seat (I do scare easy though)

A teenage boy and his primary school brother move with their single mum to a spooky small town and enlist hot next door neighbour to explore creepy bottomless pit underneath their house. Out from The Hole pores their greatest fears, scary dead children, evil murdering clowns, and a wife beating child smacking father. I salute The Hole for pushing the boundaries of family films. Like Mickey Mouse wielding a flick knife; a tad unsettling but potentially interesting.

Salt

Angelina Jolie stars as an FBI agent who is accused of being a secret Russian spy who is going to kill The President. Fearing she might be set up, she flees and her former colleagues pursue. It’s hard to say anymore without spoiling anything, but it is perhaps a tad too far stretched but still brilliant fun and good solid action to boot.

Toy Story 3

What more can you say about Pixar’s films? Last years Up was a masterpiece. You laugh you cry you gasp. I felt knackered, drained and uplifted by the end of it, and that’s a weird mix of feelings to carry out to cinema with you.  Much in the same vein, Toy Story 3 is fantastic, settling back down with your favourite characters to a brand new tale of adventure, peril and fun. It ties up loose ends and acts as a cherry on top of a much loved family trilogy.

How To Train Your Dragon.

Slightly off putting title aside, once you get over the oddness of all the Vikings having Scottish accents and having American offspring, this animated tale really boils down to an unlikely friendship emerging between foes and for a kids film becomes strangely involving. The Vikings and The dragons are sworn enemies, till one loser kids accidently injures a rare dangerous dragon and aids in its recovery. The pair become mates, but are torn apart by their ancient war. It’s gripping, warm and funny.

Buried

Claustrophobics avoid. It is a movie set entirely inside a coffin. Ryan Reynolds is a contractor in Iraq who is kidnapped and buried alive with just a mobile. Can he secure a ransom in time? It’s pretty thrilling for a film set in a box.

Exit through the Gift Shop

It’s a documentary about the rise in graffiti or ‘street art’ culture, and focuses predominately on Banksy. But the real star of the show is the crazy French film maker who made this all possible by filming almost everything he did for about 10 years. He accidently documents most of the cultures movement. It’s really quite fascinating getting a peak at this secret little world. There’s also a moral in their about art and the value of it and how we deem something art. It’s really good.

Catfish

Another documentary but just as riveting as a fictional film. A documentary film maker takes an interest in his photographer brothers blossoming friendship with a gifted 8 year old girl threw Facebook, The 8 year old has been using the photographs as inspiration for paintings  and a bond is made between the two families. He then becomes romantically connected to her older sister, but only threw emails, texts and phone calls. A chance discovery sets them thinking that something is a miss and events snowball into a frightening and touching story. This is great watching for anyone that’s ever wondered about anonymity on the net and how easy it is to create a whole new fraudulent identity.







The Princess and the Frog

It's an old school Disney 2D animation and the drawings are beautiful. It's set it the southern states of America so think mardi gras, gumbo & blues. Disneys first black princess is actually a pauper girl saving up to fulfil her dream of owning a restuarant. But she's caught up in a voodoo scheme and is turned into a frog. It's old school Disney fun and it works.

The Ghost

Ewan McGregor is hired as a ghost writer to pen the memoirs of a contraversial war prime minster (think Tony Blair). He then gets embroiled in a murky shady conspiracy. It's quite a good watch if you keep invested in it. Pierce Brosnan is great as the exiled Prime Minister.

Splice

Adrian Brody and his wife are genetic scientists on the brink of amazing things when their funding suddenly gets threatened. Acting irrationally, they decide to proceed on secretly and splice a genetic creature half human half animal. The raise the child/monster, but as it grows things go a bit Frankenstein. It has a really interesting sci fi premise and it’s portrayed well. There is a ‘what the fuck just happened then’ moment in it that changes the tone. But a great film if you like moral questions about science.