My best/worst movies of 2010

Ordinarily I would write this blog over at my Myspace account, which I have done for the past few years now. But since Myspace is dead to me and I've got this shiny, new blog thingy to use I figured I'd write my movie list of 2010 here. Besides, it's movie-related and thus entirely appropriate.

This was a strange year as far as my moviegoing habits went. In recent years I'd clock up around 50-60 visits to the cinema and see movies multiple times. But since getting a girlfriend things have changed. This year I saw 29 movies, only one of which I saw twice (Scott Pilgrim). Most of this year was spent doing boyfriend/girlfriend stuff (make of that what you will), and spending a lot of time behind the camera and editing screen. Still, it was much better being constantly too busy to go to the movies all the time!

Anyway, without further ado (and by "ado" I mean "rambling"), the movies I saw in 2010 are:

Avatar
Up In The Air
Shutter Island
The Hurt Locker
Kick Ass
Date Night
Hot Tub Time Machine
Iron Man 2
The Losers
A Nightmare On Elm Street
The A-Team
Get Him To The Greek
Toy Story 3
Predators
Inception
Ghost Writer
The Expendables
Scott Pilgrim vs The World
The Kids Are All Right
Salt
The Disappearance of Alice Creed
The Other Guys
Buried
Paranormal Activity 2
Saw 3D
Jackass 3D
The Social Network
Red
Machete
Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part 1

(It just occurred to me that I didn't tell Steve that we saw Harry Potter on a whim and didn't have time to invite him at such short notice and I hope he doesn't hate me for not seeing it without him. Sorry!)

Okay, so here's my list of the best of the bunch. Now, for those new to reading my lists please take note that this is my personal list based on my own opinions. I'm not saying that these are the definitive best movies of this year and that you should like them, too, or else. I'm not saying I'm right and everyone else is wrong. I hate having to constantly explain this, but due to some people with barely any intelligence who couldn't grasp this idea and decided to kick up a fuss about it a while back I feel it's necessary.

So here goes...

10) Jackass 3D - the ultimate switch-your-brain-off-and-enjoy experience. Had a lot of laughs and loved all the 1000fps camera work (ultra, ultra slow motion). The 3D was put to incredibly good use (Trudy actually ducked and yelped a little at a wobbling dildo flying towards us. That is a sentence I never thought I would ever write in a blog!) and all-in-all it was just great fun.

9) The Hurt Locker - a raw, low-budget action thriller that had to be seen to understand why it blew Avatar away at the Oscars. And upon checking it out I was convinced they chose the right one. Very tense stuff and brilliantly written.

8) Hot Tub Time Machine - don't let the title fool ya, while it certainly had it's silliness this flick was a welcome entry into the new breed of comedy movies a la The Hangover. Really funny stuff and the greatest gag ever filmed involving soap.

7) Buried - I was quite skeptical that a movie set in a box (and yes, that's the only location in the entire flick!) could be any good, but I was happily proven wrong. Utterly extraordinary stuff. Amazing camera work and lighting and a solid script. Worth checking out for the gimmick alone. The ending had to sink in a bit before I understood how genius it was, but once I accepted it I loved the movie even more.

6) Toy Story 3 - do I even need to write why this is on my list?

5) Paranormal Activity 2 - I loved the first one immensely and I felt this was one of those rare sequels that outdid the first. It was arguably the scariest Hollywood movie I've ever seen and I'm not afraid to admit it had me trembling. Really scary stuff. And the kitchen scene was without question the biggest BOO scare I've ever had in a movie. If you've seen it you'll know what I mean.

4) Scott Pilgrim vs The World - such a unique movie, and one that made me want to make movies. I love those inspirational kind of flicks. So many great ideas and a masterclass in editing. Not a dull moment in the entire thing. Loved it.

3) Get Him To The Greek - I thought I'd only get a kick out of this movie because I'm a huge fan of Russell Brand, but it turned out to be one of the best movies I've seen this year. Hilariously funny dialogue from great characters, a really entertaining story and the best soundtrack I've heard in years. Plus we're still quoting lines from it to this day, always the sign of a great script. When the world slips you a Jeffrey, enjoy this movie.

2) The Disappearance of Alice Creed - 3 actors in the entire movie. That's right - 3! And that's all it needed. I was so engrossed by this story, with all of its twists and turns, and always kept wondering what would happen next. And it still has the single cleverest use of a title in any movie I've ever seen. (And that's a lot of movies!) I seriously cannot wait to see this movie again.

1) Kick Ass - it's quite a cliche from reviewers who mention that this movie lives up to its title, but what can I say? They're right. A very adult-oriented comic book movie that didn't hold back on the violence and a really great idea to back up the story. The cast was awesome, the action sequences a sheer delight, and there's not much more that can be said about Chloe Moretz that hasn't already been said before. But let's face it - she kinda did steal the show. Such an all-round winner.

So that's the best of the year out of the way, now onto the ones that made me suffer. To be honest I couldn't even make a list of 10 bad ones this year, so that's something. And I know I'm gonna cop flak for some of the inclusions here, but again these are my personal choices and I'm not saying they're bad movies (well, most of 'em...I challenge anyone to like #1!) but they just didn't do it for me.

*ahem* My worst movies of 2010 are...

8) The Other Guys - while not necessarily a bad movie, I just don't even really remember it. And that's never a good sign of an entertaining movie. I actually remember more of the other movies on this list, but since this one did have a few laughs I'll keep it at the back.

7) Inception - here we go. *Gasp*! How could this be on the worst list of the year??!!!! Look, I recognize that it was very well-made, but I'm not going to pretend I understood it. Quite the opposite, it confused the hell out of me. And for that reason I didn't enjoy watching it. Then to find out later on that the entire story was possibly a dream made it even more frustrating. If it was all a dream, then who cares? I don't like watching a movie and having to try and figure out what the hell is actually going on. The recent South Park episode that poked fun at it perfectly summed up how I felt about it.

6) Predators - even though I worship Robert Rodriguez I still have to say this movie really didn't do it for me. It had a lot of potential, yet I just found the whole thing kinda bland. And bland isn't really what you expect from a Predator movie!

5) The A-Team - if you take away the central characters, pulled from a well-known and widely enjoyed TV show, all that's left is a very dull action movie where nothing happens that hasn't already been done before. But even with said characters involved, it was still a turkey. The Losers had a similar plot to this one but was done far, far better, and almost made my top 10 list.

4) Iron Man 2 - the epitome of disappointment. After such a cracking first film, which was up there with the most entertaining superhero movies of all time, this one just fizzled. They turned the lead character into a douchebag, didn't use the characters to their full potential (especially Black Widow) and the end fight was over in about 12 seconds. I felt really cheated after seeing this.

3) Red - I must have missed something as most people seem to really like this movie. I just couldn't get into it. I didn't like the characters, and felt the story was muddled. It really jumped around too much and made me wonder where the missing reels were. Could have easily walked out of this one.

2) A Nightmare On Elm Street - you would think I would have learned my lesson about remakes by now. I never intended to see this, but was goaded into it reluctantly (albeit with a very mild curiosity). It was even worse than I'd imagined. Anyway, lesson is now learned. I don't wanna talk about it.

1) The Kids Are All Right - this was the worst piece of cinematic excrement I had to sit through all year. Seriously, it had not one single redeeming quality about it. At least with the other ones on this list there were a few things here and there that I liked (I recall liking the opening of Nightmare On Elm St, but it went downhill after that, and Red featured a cool stunt where Bruce Willis stepped out of a spinning car) but this movie had absolutely nothing. I think the moral of the story was something about how all a lesbian needs is the right man to come along to convert her, but they weren't even hot lesbians. I'm talking about middle-aged ugly ones. At least if, say, Josie Maran and Kate Beckinsale had the lead roles we might be talking about a quality lesbian movie, but not Julianna Moore and...who was it again? Susan Sarandon, maybe? I don't know. Either way I did NOT get turned on in the same way I have with every other movie I've ever watched involving lesbians. Very disappointing.

So those are my choices for this year. Like 'em or not. And if you don't agree with my choices I promise I won't delete you from Facebook.