Wednesday, January 12, 2011

Best of (What I've Seen in) 2010

I'll admit that I saw more films in 2010 than I thought I did--24, if the list of U.S. releases I got off wikipedia is complete: 2010 Films. On a side note, where is the best place to go for this kind of info? I am sorry to say that I don't always pay attention to the year of release when I watch a film at home. I don't get to go the the theater that often, so a lot of the 2010 films I've seen were in my basement, most likely in the wee hours of the morning. For that reason, I need a list to to refresh my memory. Maybe this year I'll keep better track. See the lengths I'm willing to go for you guys?

As I've mentioned, I'm not keen on Top 10 lists, but I'll do my best here since I know you guys thrive on that sort of thing.

I was a little embarrassed with myself when I looked over the list of what I've seen this year. I guess I'm more of a lazy film watcher than I thought. Okay, to be fair, there have been a number of important non-2010 films I've added to my repertoire in my never-ending quest to balance out my film knowledge and exposure. But many of the 2010 films I've seen have been either kids' films (which I most likely saw at the theater) or mainstream action/comedy/horror kinds of stuff. Since it is only 24 films, I feel like I won't burden you by putting them all in a category of some sort. It's mostly because I haven't seen ten that I would put in a best-of list. Sad, I know.

Here goes (all in no particular order):

The Best of the Best (I could find very little fault):
Shutter Island
North Face (Nordwand)
True Grit
Toy Story 3

Almost Made It (Excellent, but I had some issues):
Inception
Greenberg
The Town
Scott Pilgrim
Paranormal Activity 2
Babies
How to Train Your Dragon

Very Entertaining (Scored high in at least one of the Big 3--Plot, Characterization, Special Effects):
Harry Potter and the Deathy Hallows, Part 1 (It's part one and needs the sequel to be judged appropriately)
Iron Man 2
Despicable Me
Frozen
Due Date
Date Night

Entertaining But Forgettable:
Leap Year
Cop Out
Hot Tub Time Machine

Almost Sorry I Watched It:
Legion (saved solely by handmade SFX)
MacGruber (barely--ever so barely--saved by the first celery in the ass scene)
Karate Kid (saved by the mountain temple scene)
Survival of the Dead (saved because I can't completely give up on Romero, but dammit, this is pushing it)

3 comments:

  1. I use IMDB for dating films. Nearly everyone agrees that IMDB is the most accurate resource we have. Still, most critics (and Brandon) tend to make their "best of" lists based on U.S. theatrical release, so a lot of films released in 2009 at festivals or other parts of the world make it on to those lists.

    The Wikipedia year in film is a fine place to start...
    http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2010_in_film

    U.S. critics list tend to be drawn from the same list as eligible films for the Oscars..
    http://www.slashfilm.com/248-films-eligible-2010-picture/
    \
    quote:
    "The rules for eligibility is as follows:

    Films must be feature length (defined as over 40 minutes)
    Publicly exhibited by means of 35mm or 70mm film, or in a 24- or 48-frame progressive scan Digital Cinema format with a minimum projector resolution of 2048 by 1080 pixels
    For paid admission in a commercial motion picture theater in Los Angeles County for a qualifying run of at least seven consecutive days, advertised and exploited during their Los Angeles County qualifying run in a manner considered normal and customary to the industry.
    Films that, in any version, receive their first public exhibition or distribution in any manner other than as a theatrical motion picture release will not be eligible for Academy Awards in any category. (This includes broadcast and cable television as well as home video marketing and Internet transmission.) However, ten minutes or ten percent of the running time of a film, whichever is shorter, is allowed to be shown in a nontheatrical medium prior to the film’s theatrical release."

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  2. Also, the Indiewire poll is a good place to see what a majority of critics considered 2010 releases.
    http://www.indiewire.com/survey/annual_critics_survey_2010/best_film_2010

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  3. I'm going to keep watching Romero just because, but in my heart I've given up on him.

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