Hop

Hop; Cute kiddy fun w/eye popping colourific candy scenery. Humour & story no smarter than a child could handle, but great fun 4 families; B

Sucker Punch

Sucker Punch; If only all music video games could look as good as they cost. Fantasy eye candy genre bending imagery without complexity; B-

The White Stripes Under Great White Northern Lights

The White Stripes Under Great White Northern Lights; Intriguing portrait of Jack & Meg White with Rocky Canadian tour as the backdrop; B+

Gnomeo & Juliet

Gnomeo & Juliet; Pint sized fun for little ones, but little for adults to hang on to. Harmless misadventures with decent casting. C+

Rango

Rango; Animated cretins unlike anything we've seen b4, in tried n true tropes of ole westerns; humour & violence more suited for adults; A-

The Social Network

The Social Network; Nicely executed film buoyed by a combination of smart direction, snappy dialogue & savvy score. Very timely & talky; A-

Grown Ups

Grown Ups; Some very BIG laughs, and many that fall flat. Great cast that'd be more fun to hear them riff than try to save this script; B-

The Green Hornet

The Green Hornet; Overly violent comic book fun, Kato kicks @$$, Rogen supplies laughs, Gondry & crew give style, but still lags @ times; B

The Fighter

The Fighter; Fascinating story, superbly executed. Spot-on performances evoke many emotional responses. All aspire 2 epitomy of cinema; A

Black Swan

Black Swan; Grips you from the 1st frame, would be =ly powerful as silent film, lots of crotch grabbing, intelligently crafted & creepy; A-

The Best and Worst Films of 2010

Top 10 lists seem to be such an odd and curious item of pop culture.  So gregarious yet necessary at the same time.  i mean, truly, how can one film be considered "better" than another, when it all comes down to are a series of subjective components?  For example, a favoured genre will definitely appeal more than another.  Or one's time and place of viewing, along with the company (or solitude) involved.  A person's moment in life can seriously affect the way a film is interpreted, enjoyed and connected to at some level, (as evidenced by the run of children's animated films that have dominated my most recent Top 10 lists).

That being said, there's often no denying whether a film is good or bad.  Even if we see only 24 movies (which was the number of movies i saw in 2010 in theatres, on new release Blu-ray/DVD, or first run Movie Network premieres, by far the lowest amount i've seen in all my time writing reviews), we can usually agree on the good merits of a movie, while lambasting the worst of the worst.  But to say one film ranks higher than another, is just pure silliness.  SO without further adieu, please enjoy my pretentiousness, the Top 10 Films of 2010...

10.  Salt; Crazy action Bourne style, Jolie provides refreshing twist. Bring on more amazing ludicrous MacGyver stunts in this franchise to be.

9.  Tangled; Made for the Stage w/classic Disney musical numbers mixed with a bit of Spamalot fun. Sweeping action & spectacular animation.

8.  How to Train Your Dragon; well worth the time spent, visually entertaining, great work on the dragon varieties, good for the whole fam.

7.  Alice in Wonderland; typical Burton, in both a good way and bad way, neat visuals and set design, loses steam at points, but lots o fun.

6.  Magic and Bird: A Courtship Of Rivals; fascinating doc on 2 of b-ball's greats, no matter where your loyalties lie, you will root for both!

5.  Scott Pilgrim vs. The World; Edgar Wright superbly spoofed two genres, now has created his own: Video Game Comic Book genre, FANTASTIC!!

4.  It Might Get Loud; Really cool premise, purely awesome entertainment to see Page, Edge and Jack White sit around, play and talk music.

3.  Despicable Me; Fun, but a bit slow to start, good voice work (Borat springs to mind), silly minions steal the movie, great music track.

2.  Exit Through the Gift Shop; Insanely brilliant, bizarre & artistically profound. Thought provoking view of street art from many lenses.










and the number one film of 2010 is...

1.  Inception; A dream come true for lovers of fine films, filled with novel ideas, visual wonderment. A real heist of the mind. Stunning!








Honourable mentions:  Avatar, Oceans, Babies, The Kids are Alright, Harry Potter & the Deathly Hallows Part One, The Other Guys, Iron Man 2

The fact that i only managed to watch 24 movies in 2010 may reflect a rather poor year of offerings from  the world of film.  Or it may just suggest i am a little more discerning in my movie going, or basically way too busy to sit down and enjoy a film.  A by-product of this is the fact that even though 2010 won't be remembered as a banner year in the movie industry, the number of real stinkers, movies that were plain outright horrible, was actually down from year's past.  Maybe i managed to miss them, or maybe i just wouldn't let my daughter's whims be fulfilled (i'm looking at you, Beverly Hills Chihuahua), but the following five worst films pale in comparison to the atrocities that have made up the worst films in the past.  Each one has some redeeming quality, and appear here as the worst 5 of the 24 films i did see.

The Top 5 Worst films of 2010 are...

5.  The Sorcerer's Apprentice; Cage and Molina make magic happen, until it all goes POOF!! in the 2nd half, Bruckheimer formula blows again.

4.  Couples Retreat; Great to see Favreau and Vaughn together again, some big laughs, beautiful locale, but disappointingly unfunny overall.

3.  Toy Story 3; Fitting farewell for the toys, even though it's a full length video game designed 2 sell more merchandise. Pixar sells out.

2.  Nanny McPhee Returns; British tripe w/an overly intrusive score and actors i'd rather be watching in Harry Potter, cloyingly annoying.







and the Worst movie of 2010 is...

1. Gulliver's Travels; Lame, overblown, wastes advantage of 3D to show off scale F/X, feel sorry for Blunt & Segel, Black gives a few laughs.











Please feel free to leave a rebuttal, or check the thumbs up/thumbs down/agree/disagree boxes.  Let the debate begin...

Gulliver's Travels

Gulliver's Travels; Lame, overblown, wastes advantage of 3D to show off scale F/X, feel sorry for Blunt & Segel, Black gives a few laughs; C-

The Other Guys

The Other Guys; Great cast of comedians, LOVE seeing Keaton back in action, Eva=fabulous, plot taken too seriously, great credit reel; B+

Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: Part One

Harry Potter & the Deathly Hallows: Part 1; Most grown up of the series, but also boring at times; good scenes w/nice set up for part 2; B+

Tangled

Tangled; Made for the Stage w/classic Disney musical numbers mixed with a bit of Spamalot fun. Sweeping action & spectacular animation; A-

Exit Through the Gift Shop

Exit Through the Gift Shop; Insanely brilliant, bizarre & artistically profound. Thought provoking view of street art from many lenses; A+

The Kids Are All Rright

The Kids Are All Right; Very honest & emotionally savvy portrayal of family relations. Treats all perspectives respectfully. Great acting; A

Iron Man 2

Iron Man 2; Every bit as good as the original, with some great supporting players. Funny, light, great sound and action. Clever sequel; A-

Megamind

Megamind; Would've been cooler as live action w/that cast. Daughter said, "The funny parts have ended and now we're just watching, right?"; B

Legend of the Guardians: The Owls of Ga'Hoole

Legend of the Guardians: The Owls of Ga'Hoole; Action packed bit of animation, like Lord of the Rings meets 300 meets Endor with Owls; B+

Couples Retreat

Couples Retreat; Great to see Favreau and Vaughn together again, some big laughs, beautiful locale, but disappointingly unfunny overall; C+

Scott Pilgrim vs. The World

Scott Pilgrim vs. The World; Edgar Wright superbly spoofed two genres, now has created his own: Video Game Comic Book genre, FANTASTIC!!; A-

Nanny McPhee Returns

Nanny McPhee Returns; British tripe w/an overly intrusive score and actors i'd rather be watching in Harry Potter, cloyingly annoying; D+

Babies

Babies; 4 to be exact, quaint study on Mongolian, African, Japanese & American birth 2 tot time span w/o narration, images do the talking; B

The Royal Tenenbaums

Just rewatched this the other night.  The Royal Tenenbaums; Holds up beautifully. i love the soundtrack, as much as the attention 2 detail, brilliant direction & stellar cast; A+

Salt

Salt; Crazy action Bourne style, Jolie provides refreshing twist. Bring on more amazing ludicrous MacGyver stunts in this franchise to be; B

Toy Story 3

Toy Story 3; Fitting farewell for the toys, even though it's a full length video game designed 2 sell more merchandise. Pixar sells out; B+

Inception

Inception; A dream come true for lovers of fine films, filled with novel ideas, visual wonderment. A real heist of the mind. Stunning!; A+

Magic & Bird: A Courtship of Rivals

Magic & Bird: A Courtship Of Rivals; fascinating doc on 2 of b-ball's greats, no matter where your loyalties lie, you will root for both!; A

The Sorcerer's Apprentice

The Sorcerer's Apprentice; Cage and Molina make magic happen, until it all goes POOF!! in the 2nd half, Bruckheimer formula blows again; C-

Despicable Me

Despicable Me; Fun, but a bit slow to start, good voice work (Borat springs to mind), silly minions steal the movie, great music track; B+

Oceans

Oceans; More stunning and otherworldly than any F/X summer movie you'll see. Vibrant & beautiful, spectacular imagery. A must see!; A

It Might Get Loud

It Might Get Loud; Really cool premise, purely awesome entertainment to see Page, Edge and Jack White sit around, play and talk music; A

How To Train Your Dragon

How to Train Your Dragon; well worth the time spent, visually entertaining, great work on the dragon varieties, good for the whole fam; A-

Alice in Wonderland

Alice in Wonderland; typical Burton, in both a good way and bad way, neat visuals and set design, loses steam at points, but lots o fun; A-

Avatar

Avatar; stunning visually, same sweeping scale as Titanic and as much fun as T2 and Aliens; still a very hokey story w/goofy dialogue; A-

Trying Something New, Something Different

As the reviews seem to be too time consuming for me to write on a consistent basis and yet people still seem interested in hearing an opinion or two, i am attempting something new, something different for Keepin' it Reel in 2010.

Twitter sized reviews, 140 characters in length, which should come across as more immediate, more timely reviews, whittled down to quick, bite sized nuggets of "should I or shouldn't I see it" suggestions for recent films in theatres or new releases on DVD, Blu-Ray or The Movie Network.

Let me know what you think, thumbs up or thumbs down, by leaving a comment. i figure it is better than nothing, as i was considering abandoning this blog altogether.