Lupe's Top 20 of 2010

20. The Town (crime)
Ben Affleck should stay out of the tabloids and do more of this.  Normally, I'd be bored of the love story, but this one keeps my interest by giving Affleck a secret identity, like Batman.  If Batman robbed banks.

19. Get Low (drama)
Robert Duvall witnesses his own funeral, but the good townspeople of Geezerville stop short of burying him alive.  This ain't no horror movie, sad to say.

18. The Fighter (drama)
How can a movie be this watchable with so many douchebags on parade?  Chalk it up to the strength of the acting, I guess.  Never fear, sports movie fans, I got your montage right here.

17. The King's Speech (drama)
I can't overemphasize the importance of this character arc.  We needed the king to step up and do what Winston Churchill couldn't: give a good speech.  "We shall fight them on the beaches…"  Wait...

16. Toy Story 3 (animated, children's)
I eventually got too old for He-Man and Ninja Turtles, but you're never too old for Lots-O'-Huggin' Bear.  Excuse me while I suppress a shudder.  This film is a welcome condemnation of those freakish "bronies".  Grow up, weirdos!

15. Youth in Revolt (romantic comedy)
Evil Michael Cera is pretty awesome, though if you look closely enough, this is almost the exact story as Black Swan.  I'm not sure why the girl doesn't just knee him in the junk and never speak to him again.

14. Inception (science fiction)
The team of paramilitary dream invaders just squeezes past the suspension of disbelief.  My only real complaint is that you shouldn't make your whole movie pointless for the sake of a twist ending.  M Night Shyamalan directed the last five seconds and it ruined everything that came before.

13. The Chronicles of Narnia: Voyage of the Dawn Treader (fantasy)
Not as good as the first Narnia movie, but better than the second, thanks to Eustace Scrubb and his mean spirited limericks.

12. Animal Kingdom (crime)
In The Departed, everyone gets shot willy-nilly until Marky Mark is the last man standing.  That looks kind of farcical compared to this movie.  That's the difference between random violence and deliberate violence.

11. Restrepo (documentary)
Thank God the cameras cut away before we see any Afghanis take a squat.  Seriously, they don't know how to use a commode.  Not making that up.  Instead, we get to see real live war, and it's totally mesmerizing.

10. Iron Man 2 (action)
Hopefully, Tony Stark can still be a drunk, narcissistic womanizer even after hooking up with Gwyneth Paltrow, since that's what made him so likable and fun to watch.  God bless Iron Man, God bless America.

9. Black Swan (drama)
It's not the pressure that drives Queen Amidala insane, it's her explosively pink bedroom.  Maybe that also explains why she's so into Mila Kunis.  Lord knows that's my excuse.

8. The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo (foreign, crime)
The Swedish version of this movie is a modern murder mystery with computer hacking, video surveillance, and soundproof rooms, and guess who's the culprit?  Spoiler alert: it's Hitler.

7. Let Me In (horror)
A wish fulfillment scenario I can appreciate.  If my best friend was a vampire, then everyone who was ever mean to me would be sorry.  That means you, Ralphie Parker.

6. Scott Pilgrim vs. The World (comedy)
If you don't know Launchpad McQuack, this might not be the movie for you.  And if your life had a face, I would punch it in the balls.  The rest of you are cool.

5. Winter's Bone (drama)
The premise, of a teenage girl looking for her dad so their impoverished family doesn't get kicked off their land, sounds dull until you hear the phrase "redneck mafia."  Plus, she can really peel a squirrel.

4. 127 Hours (drama)
Surprisingly gripping for a movie about a dude trapped under a rock for two hours.  James Franco is so hardcore, he drinks his own pee.  Just like Kevin Costner in Waterworld, though maybe that's not the best comparison.

3. The Social Network (drama)
Mark Zuckerberg craps money.  He's all like, "Hey, lawyers.  See this?  Yeah, that's my middle finger."  I should invent something that makes me super rich and overthrows Arab dictators.

2. True Grit (western)
The years have not been kind to drunken cowboys.  He looks like if Kurt Cobain was still alive, and also a cowboy.  Kind of gritty.  Truly gritty.

1. Carlos (biopic, political thriller)
This film, the anti-Che, tells of the utterly engrossing true life criminal career of Ilich Ramirez Sanchez, aka Cobra Commander.  Watch all six hours and love it, or I'll send over Serpentor to eff you up.

Strat's 20 of 2010

The resurgence of quality movies from 2009 continued on for 2010.  Movies moved further along into blurring the line between fantasy and reality with docu-dramas and quasi documentaries at the same time other films questioned your entire perception of the film by its end.


20. Catfish (documentary)
The Blair Witch Project makes you afraid to go out into the woods to follow a creepy witch tale. This makes you afraid to go out into the boonies to meet an online girlfriend.  It feels sorta like David Lynch had a hand in this.


19. How to Train Your Dragon (animated comedy)
It's not often DreamWorks tells an animated tale exceptionally well without it being chalk full of pop-culture clichés and for once they did that.  It's essentially the same classic tale of the lion who befriends the man that removes the thorn from his paw. Quite enjoyable.

18. Four Lions (mockumentary)
You normally don't associate terrorism with funny. But that's exactly what great comedies like Dr. Strangelove do with serious subjects like this.

17. The King's Speech (drama)
Wonderfully told and executed historical drama. Colin Firth may not ever have a better roll in this somewhat inspirational tale of the King of England.

16. Inside Job (documentary)
A lot has been said about the causes of the collapse of the global economy in 2008.  No film leaves the evidence on who to blame so clearly on the table. 

15. Easy A (comedy)
It's been a long time since there's been a teen movie that was this memorable. Off the top of my head, Election and Clueless are the only two that come to mind.  I expect lead actres Emma Stone to have a very successful future in comedy.


14. The Disappearance of Alice Creed (drama)
A heist film shot in only three locations with three actors that is as thrilling and exciting as anything of more well known fare this year.  It certainly takes its cues from Resevoir Dogs and Dog Day Afternoon but in a very refreshing way. Quite possibly the most underrated movie of the year.

13. 127 hours (drama)
No film is likely to make you squirm as much as this one as James Franco spends most of it alone with a camera and an arm trapped under a rock.  The movie is make or break on  a terrific performance which gets you into his head to really understand what would make a man sever his own arm with a dull knife.


12. Death at a Funeral (comedy)
Of the comedies on the list, this is your most broad based humor/laugh out loud film of the bunch.  One of the best ensemble comedies in a long while.


11. The Social Network (drama)
If you've seen my other lists, you know I'm partial to David Fincher's films. This is no different. While I've heard the movie mentioned for all sorts of things, it's just a great film in the same vein as The Pirates of Silicon Valley.

10. Shutter Island (drama/thriller)
Martin Scorsese turns in a modern mind-bending Gothic/scary film that is a strange cross between The Last Temptation of Christ and Cape Fear.

9. True Grit (drama)
If you've seen the original with John Wayne, there's little in common with it. It's one of the few westerns I've seen that are not hung up on trying to be "westerns" or an homage to westerns. It just tries to adapt Portis' novel to the screen.


8. Kick Ass (action/comedy)
This is the reality/absurdity check of all comic book movies as it asks the question of what would happen if the super hero gets his butt kicked and really isn't so super in anything other than his determination to be super? 

7. Restrepo (documentary)
The best documentary in the field of battle I have ever seen. The film takes your right to the front lines of one of the most dangerous battle-zones on earth - the Korengal Valley in Afghanistan and at the same time humanizes the omnipresent fear that the soldiers feel about death.

6. Youth in Revolt (comedy)
A fabulous movie about teenage rebellion, imaginary friends and French literature.  It's quite possibly the best rendition of Michael Cera's awkward yet cute persona.


5. Exit Through the Gift Shop (documentary)
At face-value, this is a documentary about street art.  As you look beyond the movie, you discover the potential for so much more out of it.  Whether or not this film is fact or fiction or somewhere in between, you be the judge.  In any case, it's a marvelous bit of storytelling.


4. The Town (drama)
Maybe we're getting to know who was the real brains behind Good Will Hunting. Ben Affleck manages to write/direct and star in a movie that exclaims that his streak of terrible film choices is over.

3. Black Swan (drama)
Given the his body of work, I'm pretty sure Darren Arronofsky has a neurotic sadomasochistic streak.  It's a melodramatic Gothic horror film in a dramatic thriller's clothing.  And certainly one of the filmmaker's best works to date.
  
2. Toy Story 3 (animated comedy)
When Disney announced the first Toy Story sequel, many of us groaned, fearing a crap-fest of a film. We were quickly rewarded with another in a long line of good to outstanding films by Pixar. And this one is not the Godfather Part III by any means to the Toy Story trilogy.

1. Inception (drama)
There are few movies in the same class as this one.  It is one part remarkable it was made, another that people came out to see it in theaters. And even more remarkable is the amazing blend between psychological and action in the film which Christopher Nolan has become the master of like no other since the days of Alfred Hitchcock. The only other movies that fall in the same breadth as this are Fight Club, Almost Famous and The Departed.