2010 films redux

last year at about this time i put forth a short list of the new movies i'd seen the previous 12 months.  the list was fairly short and, looking back a year later, i've filled in a few gaps via netflix.  with that in mind, here's an updated list with eleven additional entries.  entries from last year have been updated somewhat and have their old number in parentheses.

26. macgruber - this was a terrible, terrible movie. 

25 (14). wall street: money never sleeps - is there any doubt now that the shine is off shia lebouf?  when this movie was made he was still spielberg's darling and it seemed like he'd end up in every movie ever made after 2014.  now he's probably a few steps away from a few direct-to-netflix frat comedies.

24 (13). the american -  every year there are movies that seem like they are supposed to be important that have completely disappeared six months later.  i really don't think i'd even remember this movie existed if i wasn't updating this list.

23. the other guys -at some point someone is going to get will ferrell to make another good comedy.  i'm not sure who, but some director is going to rein him in, focus his energy, and make something great.  in the mean time he'll continue to make slop like this where it's clear that the people on set were laughing at take 12's improvs more than anyone who'd see the final cut.

22. the expendables - action movies have never been in my wheelhouse, but i figured this one would be ridiculous enough to be enjoyable.  unfortunately this film was better on paper than in execution, just like stallone's other best film, over the top.

21 (12). green zone -  this has nothing to do with the movie, but i'm a bit worried about iraq now that we're pulling out most of our troops.  that place is nowhere near ready to rule itself, at least not in any way resembling a stable, representative, and safe government.  just as the taliban has had a huge resurgence in parts of afghanistan, extremists are going to gain a lot of power in the new iraq.

20 (11).  shrek forever after - last year i assumed this was the last we'd see of shrek or his ancillary characters.  this was not to be the case.  in december kim took our nephew to see puss in boots and was rewarded with an absolutely atrocious movie.  now that eddie murphy's comeback (tower heist was a thing, right?) has stalled, i predict we'll be seeing a movie starring donkey by 2013.

19 (10). iron man 2 - if  the dark knight did anything beyond giving heath ledger a suitable sendoff, it raised the bar for what a comic book movie sequel could and should be.  while the first of jon favreu's iron man movies was enjoyable in a completely different way from christopher nolan's work, his seuqel did not come close to being that interesting.  it was muddled and boring, not quite a batman and robin, but certainly not a good film either.

18 (9). the switch - last year jason bateman was in a movie where he swapped bio-matter and secretly/accidentally fathered his friend's kid.  this year he was in a movie where he swapped bodies with his best friend.  a talking dog movie can't be too far off the horizon, can it?  exciting times in the bateman household.

17. the book of eli - sometimes a movie can have a good concept, a great star, an interesting look, a twist, and still not be that great.  this is one of those movies.  post-apocalyptic stories can go in two directions, incredibly bleak (cormac mccarthy's the road) or bleak but hopeful (the road warrior comes to mind).  this movie was slanted towards the latter, but it wanted to be the former.

16 (8). the a-team - for some reason the a-team theme song has been stuck in my head for days.  i assume someone is working on a sequel and i'd enjoy seeing it so long as they don't spend half the movie flashing-back to plot points we've already seen like they did in this one.

15 (7). alice in wonderland - tim burton is very good at making movies in a signature style.  he's slightly less good at making great films.  this is not one of his best, but it sure looked good.

14. 127 hours - james franco did a great job acting in this one, but i couldn't fully enjoy the movie because of how much i dislike the praise aron ralston has received over the years.  yes, his story is one of long-odds survival, but it's also one where the protagonist created those long odds by being incredibly stupid.  that latter part rarely gets mentioned in the mainstream media, but it has been the subject of extensive debate in the mountaineering world.  to summarize those discussions: although everyone agrees he has an amazing, miraculous survival story he was put in that situation because he was climbing alone and didn't tell anyone where he was going or what he was doing.  smaller mistakes include choosing to bring a digital camera and video camera rather than survival necessities like adequate water and functional tools.

13. scott pilgrim vs. the world - in the last decade or so there has been a lot of talk about movies looking and feeling like the comic books that inspired them - ang lee's hulk anyone?  scott pilgrim is one of the few successful "comic book movies" because it isn't jarring when it veers from semi-reality to video game lunacy.

12. tron legacy - i cannot mention this movie without also mentioning that i watched the original tron so many times as a kid that my vhs copy is nearly worn out. i enjoyed this one, but aside from cool shots and special effects it doesn't have much to commend it.  the story is typical action movie mediocrity and the hype about jeff bridges being digitally altered to play the younger version of himself was overblown.  light cycles are still cool and daft punk made a great soundtrack.

11. the king's speech - usually i'm a sucker for period pieces and this was pretty good, but it left me a little flat.  i'd give it a 7.5, but i don't know if i'll watch it again.

10 (6). toy story 3 - this was a great way to end the franchise, but why didn't anyone else think it was creepy that it ended with a college freshman playing with a preschooler he didn't know?  that was unsettling.

9 (5). the fighter -  this is ranked so highly entirely because of christian bale's performance.  the story is a little uneven and everyone else in the film is good, but the reason this was as good as it was is bale's dickie ecklund.

8 (4). shutter island - i'm not usually all that interested in psychological thrillers, but this movie was good.  i still like the ending.

7 (3). the town - this year i read chuck hogan's book prince of thieves and i'm less in favor of jon hamm's character now than i was a year ago.  last year i defended it as merely being the foil, but in the book he's a true rival and fleshing him out on film would have been worthwhile. 

6. winter's bone - the ozarks never make any sense to me.  they're like this magical place where time stopped and civilization, at least the happier parts of it, disappeared.  the fact that a place like the ozarks exists in this country is truly mind-boggling to me.  you could tell me almost any crazy thing happened there and i'd probably believe you.

5. un prohéte - you should really see this movie.  one of the things that struck me, besides the overall greatness of this film, was how much freedom french prisoners have during their incarceration.  they have more creature comforts than your average low-income worker, freedom to congregate in their secluded cells, and, as a reward for good behavior, unsupervised "work" trips to the outside world where they're free to commit more crimes so long as they return at night.

4. exit through the gift shop - for me banksy's art is like early punk music: it's great as long as i don't think about it too much and get riled up about the naivety of its liberalism.

3. true grit - i must admit i haven't seen the original, but i'm going to side with the coen brothers and jeff bridges over john wayne and the 1960s.  i think it's probably save to assume that the 2010 true grit is to the 1969 true grit as the 2007 3:10 to yuma is to its 1957 counterpart.

2 (2). the social network - it's almost a year later and i still have no idea how this movie didn't beat out the king's speech for best picture.  oh wait, yeah i do: the oscar voters are idiots who won't even nominate christopher nolan for best director and picked shakespeare in love over saving private ryan.

1 (1). inception - in twenty years this might not hold up as well for everyone as i think it will for me, but this was hands-down the best movie-going experience i had in 2010.  did a director have a better decade than christopher nolan?