David O'Connell2010: SCREEN FANATIC YEAR IN REVIEW
January 17th 2011 02:43
With a bombardment of new releases aimed at us week after week, it sometimes feels a little pointless to gaze backwards. But to fulfil my duty as a humble critic, I needed to get these semi-coherent thoughts down on paper - perhaps the only way I'll remember one day what took place, cinematically, in the year of 2010. Despite the misgivings of many, it turned out to be a solid year with quality across the board.
I'll begin with my personal favourite 20 films of the year, which were as follows:
1. Kick-Ass. A blissfully entertaining genre-mash - by turns exhilarating, moving and hilarious with a first-rate score, showy set-pieces, Chloe Moretz in purple killing people with outrageous style, and Nic Cage as Big Daddy via Adam West. No other film this year called me back to the cinema with such yearning for a second and third dosage.
2. Un Prophete. Meticulous drama from the always superb Jacques Audiard, and one of the finest prison dramas of all time. Three or four scenes stand out but the authentic architecture built around them elevates this to lofty heights.
3. Air Doll. Not receiving a regular release, this MIFF screening was a real highlight. Surreal and moving drama as only the Japanese are capable of, in this case from director Hirokazu Kore-eda. I was haunted by this for days.
4. Lebanon. Intense, claustrophobic and gut-wrenching, Samuel Maoz’s long-gestating and cathartic depiction of his own life-shaping experience inside an oppressive tank was one of the most memorable cinema experiences of the year.
5. The Kids Are All Right. Family life in the 21st century revealed with all artificiality removed. Painfully real and showcasing a flawless cast, this is Lisa Cholodenko’s career highpoint.
6. Winter’s Bone. Gritty, star-making turn from Jennifer Lawrence in a stunning adaptation by Debra Granik of Daniel Woodrell’s 2006 novel set in the heart of his homeland, the ruthless Ozark mountains of Missouri.
7. Blue Valentine. A painfully grim relationship dissection drama, with the ever impressive Ryan Gosling and Michelle Williams simultaneously falling in love and battling inner demons as they drift apart thanks to Derek Cianfrance’s effective multi-strand structure.
8. Monsters. Sublime, ethereal, idiosyncratic, and mostly improvised genre-defying drama. Even better the second time around too and hopefully the beginning of a great career for Gareth Edwards.
9. The Social Network. David Fincher quickly shrugs off the disaster that was Benjamin Button to present to the world what is possibly his third great film after Seven and Fight Club. A fine cast he certainly assembled but its Aaron Sorkin he can thank most as the scribe continues preparations to hoist the Best Adapted Screenplay Oscar aloft.
10. Up in the Air. Jason Reitman liberally expands upon Walter Kirn's novel to bring an exceptionally entertaining and engaging drama to the screen. George Clooney proves nearly infallible, whilst Anna Kendricks and Vera Farmiga are far from shabby themselves.
11. Toy Story 3. Grown men reduced to tears by the undeniably bittersweet aftertaste of their ever-fading childhoods. That is what the magical Toy Story 3 has reduced the lesser species to.
12. The King’s Speech. A great follow-up to The Damned United from half-Australian Tom Hooper who presents Geoffrey Rush with, what may be, his most endearing character yet.
13. The American. Stillness and an exquisite artfulness of composition are what elevate Clooney’s stealthy, paranoid days through an old-world Italian village, hiding from those who in search of revenge.
14. The Messenger. Ben Foster forgoes the demented act for a powerful, understated look at an impaired, returned soldier forced into a seismic alteration of duties under the tutelage of Woody Harrelson’s discontented veteran.
15. A Single Man. Colin Firth has never been better (not even in The King’s Speech) and though Julianne Moore’s performance ratchets up the melodrama with a whiny turn, Tom Ford’s startling debut has an unmatched visual and musical mystique attached to it.
16. Inception. Mind-bending dream-logic action film that is close to perfection until its fatally elongated last act. That snowbound last layer drags on way too long; it’s also confusing and the main players become indecipherable but Christopher Nolan cements his status amongst Hollywood's elite and influential directors.
17. Symbol. A truly insane (in a good way) Japanese comedy from writer, director and star Hitoshi Matsumoto, with duel strands conspiring for what is a loopily inspired resolution. Nothing else quite like it.
18. The Disappearance of Alice Creed. Electric chamber drama from debutant J Blakeson. Tight, intense and minimal, it works a treat with Gemma Arterton providing the unlikeliest top-notch performance of the year.
19. Fantastic Mr. Fox. So long ago now it’s hard to believe it was a 2010 release for us. Nevertheless, this sustained Wes Anderson’s upward spiral after the jolt-from-lethargy that was The Darjeeling Limited (2007) with a cannily-assembled voice cast and a unique Andersonian translation of Roald Dahl's children's classic.
20. The Waiting City. Very solid drama from Claire McCarthy with a unique look at India through the eyes of a troubled Australian couple hoping to adopt a sick local child, and with virtually all the stereotypes removed. Thanks to Denson Baker's cinematography, it was possibly the most magnificent looking film of the year too.
Ten more films I really liked:
Apart Together
Me and Orson Welles
Animal Kingdom
The Loved Ones
How to Train Your Dragon
Fish Tank
Buried
I Am Love
Poetry
The Wind Journeys
WORST FILMS OF THE YEAR
On the flip side, it was naturally also a year of embarrassing howlers and offensively over-proportioned commercial stinkers, each relentlessly dragging down the average cinemagoer's IQ in alarming digital clumps. The unappetizing aroma of The A-Team’s carcass still lingers most noxiously (and frankly, it pains to mention this abomination's name again), but Eat Pray Love certainly wasn’t far behind in its ability to nauseate audiences to within a hairbreadth of vacating cinemas on masse. Luckily some of us found a way to hold fast to the picture postcard background scenery, thus avoiding the gnashing Beverly Hills perfection of Julia Roberts’ troublingly equine smirk.
For untold depths of terribleness that have no peers, look no further than a quartet of MIFF screenings. The Strange Case of Angelica was made by an insane (and evidently blind, tone-deaf) man stumbling into his second century of life. Street theatre being projected onto a series of strung-up bedsheets in Fed Square would have provided more affirmation of cinema as art.
My Dog Tulip was excruciatingly awful and enough to induce near homicidal impulses (the incessant Christopher Plummer narration was like nails down a chalkboard after about 10 minutes). My Joy and Paju were potent misery-givers of their own and films I hope to never re-visit in this life or any other.
The rest of these I healthily despised for their general ineptness, or else, determined mediocrity:
The Girl Who Played With Fire
The Human Centipede
Splice
Iron Man 2
South Solitary
Leap Year
The Clinic
Little Fockers
Gulliver’s Travels
MOST OVERRATED FILM OF THE YEAR:
Scott Pilgrim vs. the World: Perhaps this equates to first notice of my inner self losing touch with childhood. From deliriously creative beginnings I soon wanted to throttle every cartoonish cipher. Granted it's clever, quirky and unique (in most vexing ways), but after about 15 minutes, I'd just about had a gutful. The characters are thinner than toilet paper and it's all just so silly really. People were clearly popping pills before screenings - surely the only way to enhance appreciation of something so pointlessly lightweight.
AUSTRALIAN CINEMA
After a stellar 2009, there was always going to be a downturn in local productions of outstanding quality. The Waiting City just edged out Animal Kingdom for me, whilst The Loved Ones (in fact a 2009 film itself) filled out the trifecta. After that, there was a significant drop-off.
Red Hill had style to burn and was a promising if clichéd, overly-familiar debut for Patrick Hughes, whilst Tomorrow When the War Began no doubt satisfied its target audience.
After that, mediocrity reigned supreme, with The Tree failing to utilise its sympathetic undercurrent to generate any real emotional catharsis, whilst the ‘Owl Film With a Ridiculous Name’ proved to be as deadly dull as any animated enterprise in history; I can proudly say that it did actually send to my sleep.
As mentioned above, South Solitary and The Clinic scraped the bottom of the barrel, whilst Bill Bennett's comeback Uninhabited wasn't too flash either.
GUILTY PLEASURES:
The Losers
Dream Home
Machete
Paranormal Activity 2
Get Him to the Greek
Tron Legacy
Piranha
Red
Devil
How can I seriously justify liking any of these often moronic, grotesque, bloodied, low-brow specimens? I can’t actually, but all I could watch again at the drop of a hat.
DOCUMENTARIES:
Only three notables spring to mind. Firstly, the excellent Exit Through the Gift Shop, after which most fun - besides the fascinating glimpse it offers into the world of street art - comes from debating the film’s dubious authorship.
Gasland may have been shoddily filmed by writer/director Josh Fox, but his compelling subject matter shone a much-needed light on the legalised poisoning of American water systems by reckless, venal gas-mining companies.
At the other end of the scale, The Two Horses of Genghis Khan, which I saw at MIFF, was a true delight and an eye-opening view beyond the veil of beautiful, mythic terrain rarely glimpsed on cinema screens.
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Comment by Bryn
Horrorphile
Many movies I haven't seen.
For me Kick-Ass was the most over-rated movie of the year. But I have to take into account that when I finally saw it it had been hyped to the sky.
No need to deliberate The Human Centipede, we both know where we stand with that one.
I really enjoyed The Girl Who Played with Fire. I hadn't read the novel, so I couldn't compare, but I thought it was excellent filmmaking.
I really enjoyed Fish Tank, surprised that didn't feature higher on your ranking. I'm curious as to why Animal Kingdom didn't impress you more.
... I wish you'd seen Trash Humpers ...
Comment by David O'Connell
20/20 Filmsight
Screen Fanatic
As for Kick-Ass, there's undoubtedly more people in your court than mine on that one. Just one of those strange things I guess. I couldn't have loved it any more.
I'm curious as to why I don't have Animal Kingdom higher too. It's a very fine film and ticks all the right boxes but there's just something a bit generic about the storyline itself. Typical crime drama, in other words, beneath a lot of admittedly outstanding qualities.
Talking about overrated - I'll put my hand up now and say "Jackie Weaver". Not that she isn't good, mind you, but seriously - all this award attention she's receiving is a bit much. I mean is she that good??!!
Comment by JohnDoe
Film & TV on DVD
I'm just composing my own 2010 review for later in the week 2 and several you have included will make mine too. Including several of your guilty pleasures
Comment by David O'Connell
20/20 Filmsight
Screen Fanatic
Comment by Bryn
Horrorphile
Piranha remake, yes, that is a guilty pleasure! Apparently a sequel is being planned with the tentative title of Piranha 3DD ... LOL
Comment by Always Eighteen
Always Eighteen
Thanks for this recap!
Comment by David O'Connell
20/20 Filmsight
Screen Fanatic
Comment by Bryn
Horrorphile
Comment by David O'Connell
20/20 Filmsight
Screen Fanatic
And may I add a late addition to the 'Guilty Pleasures' category: JACK-ASS 3D (totally forgot it).
It truly was the year of the ASSES.
Comment by Bryn
Horrorphile
Comment by Matt Shea
Kick-Ass: I obviously liked it enough to be happy with it sitting at number one on 20/20, even if I thought it had a couple of clear faults. Pilgrim is its clear adversary, and would be my pick of the two.
Animal Kingdom: For me this was clearly the best Australian film of the year. It was a genre film, but I felt the young protag allowed it to avoid becoming generic. Agree with you on Weaver, though, and Edgerton's award? That was up there with Dench for Shakespeare in Love.
You saw Gulliver's? Poor sod.
What else... I finally caught Greek the other night and really liked it. And Bryn: I will never understand your love of Girl Who Played With Fire
Still, so much here that I'm yet to see...
Comment by Mountain Fog
Infognito
Screen Trek
QUOTE ME NO QUOTES!
I liked Kick Ass too, but, maybe it is my age showing finally, I wouldn't see it at top of my list. I adored Single Man, and Up in the Air was fabbo, loved Made in Dagenham, yet to see PA2, Piranha, Machete, and sorry, but Devil annoyed me intensely, as I disengaged when I saw all its terrific potential being wasted, I could rant on, but, to each his own of course, if we all agreed, how boring would that be?
Eggggsheeelent work however old top!
cheers
fog
Comment by David O'Connell
20/20 Filmsight
Screen Fanatic
Fog, thankfully I can say I successfully dodged Wog Boy 2 as I did its predecessor. I'll take your word on its dire qualities!
And Bryn, what Matt said - The Girl Who Played With Fire was shoddy as anything I've seen in years. A bad telemovie that looks like it was shot on my mobile phone (and mine's a crap one!)
Comment by Bryn
Horrorphile