The Book of Eli
Directed by the Hughes Brothers
30 years after the Earth was flash fried in a holy war, a lone warrior played by Denzel Washington wanders into town carrying one of the only King James Bibles in existence (all religious texts were summarily destroyed after the conflict). As it happens, the founder of this town (Gary Oldman) is looking for a Bible, hoping to use religious fervor to expand his base of power. Denzel says no. They fight. You can praise this movie for many things: the great action, Denzel's performance (he seems to be having fun), the wry sense of humor, the mythic qualities of the story, the kindly old cannibal couple that Denzel meets later on, the awesome plot twists at the end (making repeat viewings interesting), Gary Oldman's performance (he seems to be having fun - ?), or the striking cinematography. My favorite thing about "The Book of Eli"? It reminds me of all those cheesy post apocalyptic action flicks that came out in the '80s after the success of "The Road Warrior". Stuff like "Nemesis", "Cyborg", "1990: The Bronx Warriors", etc. It's got a bit of the same seedy/brutal/cheesy atmosphere that those films had, along with a butt kicking '80s-like synth score by Atticus Ross. Ah, good times. . .
Buried
Directed by Rodrigo Cortes
It's Ryan Reynolds in a box for 90 minutes. And it works. Reynolds plays a truck driver in Iraq who's convoy is attacked by insurgents. He's captured, put into a cheap wooden coffin, and buried underground, where he is to remain until his captors receive his ransom money. Sure, he has a phone with him, but will that be enough to get him rescued before his air runs out? Except for the cool Saul Bass-inspired opening credits, it's 90 minutes of a guy in a box, and director Cortes should be praised for making such a gripping, tense ride with so few resources to work with. He even manages to make it visually interesting. Reynolds deserves nearly as much praise, since he's the only onscreen actor in the entire movie. Whether freaking out, making funny quips (the guy has perfect comic timing), or stomping the heck out of a poisonous snake, you can't help but root for his character to survive. Even when he's doing something questionable (you'll find yourself yelling at the screen more than once), but that only adds to the tension and makes the character feel more like a real dude. It's a solid, tense ride, from its colorful beginning to its "Tales From the Crypt"-esque ending.
How To Train Your Dragon
Directed by Chris Sanders and Dean DeBlois
Based on the kids book by Cressida Cowell, HTTYD (don't ya love acronyms) takes place on a mythical island of Vikings (with Scottish accents!) who spend most of their time fending off the attacks of deadly dragons. When the chief's son Hiccup secretly befriends a powerful dragon named Toothless, this relationship not only threatens his people's way of life but may also ultimately reveal the reason why the dragons attack in the first place. I was born in the Year of the Dragon and I love dragons and all dragon-related things. This movie is a dragon lover's paradise, chock full of rich dragon mythology and dragony goodness. But beyond that, its also well-animated, with solid voice work, a rousing musical score, cool 3-D (in theaters, at least), a crackin' good climactic battle, and it goes to a couple of surprising places (plot twist-wise) that other animated kid films do not. Dreamworks Animation had three films out in 2010 (with "Shrek 4" and "Megamind"), but this was the one to go out of your way to see. I also recommend checking out the short films that continue the story of the movie. Not only do they help expand the HTTYD universe a bit, they're fun to watch.
The Social Network
Directed by David Fincher
Based on the novel "The Accidental Billionaires" by Ben Mezrich, which is based on the real-life story of Mark Zuckerberg, the founder of Facebook, there is very little truth to be found here, and it should not be taken as gospel. It's storytelling, not documentation people. Actually, the most truthful part of the movie is in regards to Zuckerberg's clothing - every outfit the character wears in the movie is something the real Zuckerberg owns in his wardrobe. So there you go. It's a common tale - awkward genius comes up with a world-changing idea, overcomes obstacles, gets filthy rich and has a part of his life destroyed in the process (in this case, his social life). Nothing new there, but when you add one of my favorite directors (Fincher, director of "Seven", "Fight Club", "Zodiac", etc) and screenwriter Aaron Sorkin ("The West Wing") you get the recipe to awesomeness. This movie features some of the most finely crafted, multi layered dialogue writing I've heard in years, with layers of subtext that sometimes runs four/five layers deep (that's hardcore). There are solid visuals, genius editing (the best cross cuts in years), a great score by Atticus Ross and Trent Reznor (a.k.a. Nine Inch Nails), a pitch perfect cast, a knockout opening scene (watch a casual conversation go horribly, horribly wrong), and many, many visual effects that most people don't even realize are there (one human character is computer generated in quite a few scenes - nobody noticed). And it's also, surprisingly, very funny.
Paranormal Activity 2
Directed by Tod Williams
For scaredy cats only (like me) - if being at home alone at night has ever creeped you out, and you liked it, then here's the movie series for you. There were some damn fine horror sequels in 2010 (like "Hatchet 2" and "[REC] 2"), but I feel that PA2 is the best because it's the only one that I prefer to the original, and the original made last year's list. This movie follows the life a normal suburban family who, after their house is ransacked by burglars, decide to install lots of security cameras. We witness, through the security camera footage, as that pesky demon from the first film torments and terrorizes everyone in the house. How this movie relates to the original film is quite cool, so I won't spoil it, but I will say that this one has better acting, great scares, a more flexible storytelling flow (thanks to the multi-camera setup), more tension (because there's a baby involved) and a deepening of the PA "mythology". The only thing that I feel was done better in the original was the climactic scene. The ending of PA2 is good, but not quite as frightening as the end of PA1. Boo!
Not to be confused with "Paranormal Activity 2: Tokyo Night", a fully authorized, Japanese-made alternative sequel to PA1. It's not terribly great ("meh"), so I recommend you stick with the American PA2.
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