The Top 25 Movies of 2010, Part 1

Another year, another list.  Here we go.

I'm a year behind, and I like it that way.  As you may or may not know, I like to give my Top Movie Lists a little more time to percolate before zeroing in on my choices.  It filters out the trendy stuff and leaves the movies that I will actually be watching later on down the line.  Hence 2010 and not 2011.

2010 was a tough year for movies.  Overall, it was a shitty year (at least compared to 2009 or 2011), so it was tough picking 25 movies to fill the list.  I could've narrowed it down, but 25 is just a groovy number, ain't it?  And, of course, I will reveal my pick for Worst Movie at the end of Part 5.

Geronimo!


Centurion
Directed by Neil Marshal

It's northern England, at the height of the Roman Empire.  The renowned 9th Legion is sent out in a last ditch attempt to sweep the native Pict armies from the face of the Earth, only to get annihilated themselves.  Now a ragtag group of Roman soldiers, survivors of the massacre, must fight their way back to friendly territory.  Marshal, master of low budget cinemayhem like "Dog Soldiers", "The Descent", and "Doomsday", delivers another dose of propulsive, gritty mayhem anchored by deft characterizations, punchy action, blood, thunder and valor.  Which means I like it, a lot.  Throw in a great musical score, awesome (and misty) Scottish vistas, and solid performances (especially by lead actor Michael Fassbender, who's everywhere these days, and ex-Bond Girl Olga Kurylenko as a silent, vicious, yet sympathetic, villain) and you've got something that easily outdoes anything in "300".  There's also a lot of peeing in the movie.  If that doesn't convince you to see it, then I don't know what will.

Despicable Me
Directed by Chris Renaud and Pierre Coffin

The first animated offering from Illumination Entertainment, "Despicable Me" may be the cutest movie of 2010.  The film follows the schemes of Gru (Steve Carell), a down-on-his-luck supervillain, and his obsessive efforts to steal the Moon and become the world's top baddie.  In order to do so, he needs to adopt a trio of little girls from the local orphanage in order to procure a shrink ray gun from rival villain Vector.  That old story.  Steve Carell's ridiculous accent nearly steals the movie, but it's his babbling army of Minions who make the biggest impression.  They're hilarious, and I wish I had some Shifty Minions of my own.  Lots of funny, off-the-wall jokes abound, and there's a nice emotional core to this movie as well, provided by Gru's relationship with his faux adopted kids.  It's not quite Pixar-level, but close.  Curse you, tiny toilet!

The Fighter
Directed by David O. Russell

Yeah, "Rocky" is one of my favorite movies (and movie series) of all time, so I have a soft spot for boxing movies.  While "The Fighter" does indeed owe plenty to ol' Sly, it's also based on a true story.  Mickey Ward (Mark Wahlberg) is a young up-and-coming boxer with big dreams.  His older brother and trainer Dickie, played by Christian Bale, is a local legend known for his stunning knockdown of Sugar Ray Leonard many years earlier.  He's also a no-good crackhead.  Now, in order to fulfill his dreams, Mickey might have to leave his brother, and his crazy manager mother (Melissa Leo) behind.  Bale's got the showiest role, and he commands the screen with his twitchy presence whenever he's there, but he's nearly outdone by the ladies, in particular Leo, as momma Ward, and Amy Adams, as Mickey's feisty new lady.  Mark Wahlberg is, well, Mark Wahlberg.  He does okay, but it's Russell's seemingly effortless direction and the other stellar performances which seal the deal for me.  The characters are endearing, even when they're bickering like children.  There are some perfectly chosen song cues as well, and it all builds up to the "big fight", which had me cheering like a schoolgirl at a Justin Bieber concert.  The "Rocky" formula, when done well, always works.

Shutter Island
Directed by Martin Scorcese

Leonardo DiCaprio was in two major "mindfuck" movies in 2010, with "Inception" being the other one.  Back then, "Inception" was the one I dug most, but as time rolls on, I'm now at the point where I prefer "Shutter Island".  Based on the novel by Dennis Lehane, the movie follows a U.S. Marshal in the 1950s, played by DiCaprio, as he investigates the disappearance of a patient from the most secure looney bin in the United States.  Crazy shit happens.  Honestly, I figured out the "big twist" from the trailer, long before I went to see the movie.  But that doesn't matter.  Knowing the "big twist" actually adds an unexpected undercurrent of humor to many of the scenes.  Even though this is only his second horror movie (the other being "Cape Fear"), Scorcese knows how to unsettle and get you in the gut (emotionally).  It's also a visually fantastic movie, backed up with a score composed entirely of classical music and music from other movies, with "This Bitter Earth" by Dinah Washington (one of my favorite songs of all time) playing over the end credits.  The cast is perfect.  The visual effects are artfully crafted.  The trip into Ward C is scary as hell.  I also love the fractured editing and every one of the deliberate continuity errors.  And the very last scene gets me every time (sheds a single tear).  It's a hard-hitting trip to crazy town and I love it.

The Good, the Bad, the Weird
Directed by Kim Jee-Woon

A very loose remake of Sergio Leone's "The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly", this movie takes place in 1930's Korea, when the Japanese and the Chinese were fighting over the country and everything suspiciously resembled America's Wild West.  Three disparate characters - a lone crazy person on a motorcycle (Song Kang-Ho, the Weird), a vicious assassin (Lee Byung-Hun, the Bad), and an upstanding bounty hunter (Jung Woo-Sung, the Good) all fight for possession of a mysterious treasure map and the promise of reward it holds.  Stylish and adrenaline-charged, this is easily my favorite action movie of 2010.  Colorful characters abound, and the movie is shot through with a playful sense of humor.  Jee-Woon pulls it all together with style and grace, culminating in a massively epic desert chase sequence which takes the cake as best action sequence of the year.  While there are a couple of baffling plot twists and more than a few disposable (but amusing) characters, the movie leaves you with a lingering adrenaline rush not unlike the one delivered by Tarantino's "Kill Bill" movies.  Cool stuff.