It feels metformin hcl 500 mg dosage like just yesterday when The Hurt Locker “won” in arguably the most politically driven Oscar season ever. I just love seeing undeserving films win Oscars. Can’t get enough of it. I’m not entirely convinced voting even took place. But I’ve already written about that.
How’s the first half of 2010 been? Well, 4 of my Best 5 are foreign. And the lone American made film wasn’t even made IN America. Hollywood, you’ve failed us. Or me at least. Although, I must say that I have unfortunately not yet seen Toy Story 3. Here’s some of what I have seen.
5 Worst of 2010
5. From Paris With Love
There’s not much to say about this film other than the fact that the best part was John Travolta literally referencing himself from his Pulp Fiction role, Vincent Vega. Just a complete failure and supremely disappointing followup to 2008′s Taken from French director Pierre Morel. Nothing about this film made sense and the action wasn’t even serviceable or entertaining.
4. The Eclipse
I saw this Irish film by writer/director Conor McPherson at a Creative Screenwriting hosted screening. I was excited by the trailer and the supernatural element, but in the film it’s unbelievably pointless. It may succeed on a creep/fear level to some extent, and has a couple effective jump scares, but without a payoff or relevance to that fear in the overarching story it comes across more as a waste of talented actors than anything.
3. Iron Man 2
Maximus: Are you not entertained?!
Colin: Well, I guess I was but…
Maximus: Are you NOT entertained??!
Colin: Sure, Maximus–
Maximus: MY NAME IS GLADIATOR.
Colin: Gladiator…whatever. But the fact remains, the story and characters in Iron Man 2 were horrible. Black Widow, Nick Fury…I have no idea who the hell they are or what they do. Widow likes to wear leather, she apparently doesn’t like talking. Fury…well I guess Fury is just waiting for the Avengers movie. Until then he’ll walk around with magical antidotes and briefcases from the past.
Maximus: I will have my vengeance, in this life or the next.
2. Clash of the Titans
I didn’t want to give myself more reason to dislike Clash going into it. Director Louis Leterrier never intended for it to be in 3D, so why would I watch it? There was no potential upside to seeing the conversion. From what I’ve heard, if I had seen the 3D version, Clash might have occupied the top 3 spots of this category. All that aside, how were some of the effects in this film so bad? The medusa sequence, which could have been awesome, was ruined by effects far inferior to Beowulf and actually comparable to Neo’s CG doppelgänger during the burly brawl in The Matrix Reloaded. That was 7 years ago, and with what we saw from Avatar and much lesser effects-filled films than that, there’s no excuse. And the Kraken fight lasted about 35 seconds. Just horrible.
1. Splice
I’m the first to say that this genre of B horror movies isn’t really in my wheelhouse. That being said, this is my worst film of 2010 so far because I don’t feel it was entirely successful in balancing horror and humor. My real reference here is last year’s Drag Me To Hell, co-written & directed by Sam Raimi. Hell was successful because of Raimi’s mastery of the genre and balancing horror and humor. I enjoyed the hell out of it and had a great time seeing it in the theatre. For me, Splice had none of that. I wanted to leave the theatre about 40 minutes in, and I would have if I wasn’t with a friend. I’ve never walked out of a theatre in my life. I even sat through 175 minutes of Alexander six years ago.
5 Best of 2010
5. The Good, the Bad, the Weird
Ji-woon Kim’s re-imagining of Sergio Leone’s western classic The Good, the Bad and the Ugly reminds us what made the Action-Adventure genre so fun and exciting in it’s heyday. It’s not CGI reliant. It’s doesn’t have an overly complicated. It’s a treasure hunt story. There’s good guys, there’s bad guys, and there’s a lonely weird guy. They’re all after the same buried treasure. It’s surprisingly hysterical, mostly because of said weird guy, played by Kang-ho Song (one of my favorite working actors today, American or not). If you like Indiana Jones and any other film with that same Action-Adventure vibe, you’ll love this.
4. The Karate Kid
The original Karate Kid, or even the entire four-film series for that matter, is coined today as a classic. On this bar alone, “remaking a classic,” is never an easy task. I can’t say I had any shred of expectations going in. I saw this at an 11am matinee a week after it came out and my theatre was pretty filled. By the end, they were all cheering and clapping at every turn. It was just an awesome theatre experience. Jaden Smith is awesome. Jackie Chan is awesome. The fight choreography is awesome. Karate Kid has it’s faults, but what’s important is that it delivers where it needs to. In that respect, I felt it did on every level. My only relevant gripe? I wish Chan’s Mr. Han had a past history connection to the rival kung fu teacher. Maybe even a fight between the two. But whatever, it worked. This movie is awesome. I can’t wait to see it again.
(The next day I re-watched the original on Netflix Watch Instantly. I’m gonna go on the record here to say that it’s basically unwatchable and laughable in comparison. In nearly every way. No, every way. Sorry, nostalgia. It had to be said. Check out my full review for more.)
3. Micmacs
Jean-Pierre Jeunet basically opened my world to French cinema (and foreign work in general) after I first saw Amélie. It was one of those experiences that inspired everything I love about film as an art. If you liked (you better f*!^ing have) Amélie, you will without a doubt enjoy Micmacs. It’s not as deeply existential as Amélie, but Jeunet brings back that same whimsical fun with a play on Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs. Snow White is Bazil (French comedian Dany Boon), a video shop clerk who’s accidentally shot in the skull by a stray bullet. After barely surviving, and near death every second he takes another breath, he’s taken in by a family of street dwellers; his very own seven dwarfs. With their help, Bazil takes out his pain on two warring weapons manufacturers in France responsible for the land mine that killed his father when he was a child and the bullet that nearly killed him. This summary sounds way too serious, but I swear this film is actually really funny and entertaining.
2. The Girl With The Dragon Tattoo
Ironically enough, watching this felt like a David Fincher piece. Now he’s set to direct the American remake. Tattoo has some pretty heavy shit in it. It’s a dark, methodical investigative thriller that never feels contrived. Every plot point is well set up throughout. Every scene feels vitally important. It’s just a flat out well made film and keeps your attention peaked at all times, even with a 152 minute duration. Really, really impressive work from Swedish director Niels Arden Oplev. Can’t wait to see The Girl Who Played With Fire, the second installment in Stieg Larsson’s trilogy. It’s directed by Daniel Alfredson, younger brother of Tomas Alfredson, director of Let The Right One In. Some family.
1. Exit Through The Gift Shop
I wasn’t too confident going in what this was gonna be like. I thought I remembered reading/hearing someone talking it up a while back and went into it on impulse. I just wanted to see a movie, so I decided to see this. I was completely blown away. Not only from an artistic interest and fascination with a world in street art I had previously known nothing about, but the construction and story arc of the documentary itself. It’s hard to talk about without spoiling to an extent, but I guarantee this is worth your time and money. I had been practically bragging about this film for months to Jason, and when he came to LA I made him see it. Ended up as his #2. However you take the message of Gift Shop is almost irrelevant. I think it’s a genius piece of work any way you look at it. I’ve seen it twice in theatres now and I can’t wait to see it again.
