Cavalcade of Awesome

Here we are again.  It’s time for my annual encounter with The Movie Board.  We’ve been through a lot, Movie Board, and it’s time to do it again.  Let’s dance.

First off, let’s take a look at this year’s Movie Board.

My Movie Board 2010

According to it’s all-knowing whiteness I saw 52 movies this past year.  Very close to last year in which I saw 53 movies.  I was on a tear throughout the summer, way ahead of my pace for last year, but the pace slowed to a crawl in September with the birth of my son.  However, I rallied and was able to get my movie viewing total back up over 50.  Actually, the number of movies I saw was probably closer to 60 as I also saw movies like True Grit (the original), Death Trap and Harry Brown, but they were all released before 2010.  And this list is for movies released within the calendar 2010 movie season.

Anyway, from this list I’ve culled my favorites.  And here they are in no particular order.

Inception – Mind bending.  Best way to describe this movie.  Leo is great in this.  I think I prefer this movie to Shutter Island.  I’d definitely watch Inception again before watching Shutter Island.  Sure, some of the dream mechanics are a little…ill defined.  Sure, Ellen Page’s character actually going into the dream made little to no sense.  But I enjoyed it all the same.  Fun and interesting story, action and a cliff hanger ending that usually SERIOUSLY pisses me off but didn’t here.  I love that rotating hallway fight sequence.  So awesome.

Salt – I was blown away by this movie.  It’s brutally AWESOME.  The action is intense.  I was not expecting the action and suspense in this movie to be as balls out awesome as it is.  Angelina is great and Liev Shreiber is also great (as usual).  So ridiculously good.  It’s like a female Bourne Identity.  I seriously think this is nearly as good as the first Bourne Identity (not the last one, the first one).

Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part I – I have seen every one of these movie in the theater.  And dammit if every one of these movies hasn’t gotten better and better.  Prisoner of Azkaban is phenomenal, Goblet of Fire is pretty good, but then Order of Phoenix and Half-Blood Prince are nothing short of spectacular.  And this movie just continues that awesomeness forward.  However, many people I know have been saying they were disappointed with this one.  I think it’s all expectations.  This movie is much darker than any other of the movies.  Plus, it covers the section of the book where Ron leaves and Harry and Hermione are running/searching for horcruxes alone.  Many people thought that storyline was boring in the book but I loved it.  It shows just how difficult a time they had and just how cut off from the rest of the wizarding world they really were.  Makes what happens later mean more.  I love this movie and I can’t wait to watch the next one.  Oh, yeah, since this is a Part I, it sets up a lot of the story for Part II, which may throw people off also.

Toy Story 3 – Wow.  Pixar did it.  AGAIN.  They managed to bring back your favorite characters, add interesting new ones and craft a story that makes you laugh and cry.  The last scene in this movie had me BALLING.  Like. A. Baby.  What a fantastic movie.  I can’t recommend it any higher.

The Town – Ben Affleck you magnificent bastard.  I never think I’m going to like your movies and then I pop them in the Blu-Ray and BAM! I’m smacked upside the head with dark, intensely awesome stories.  What a one-two punch is Gone Baby Gone and The Town.  They almost seem like they exist in the same world.  Affleck and Renner are fantastic in this.  See it.

So those are, for me, the BEST movies of 2010.  They entertained me the most.  So, now, I want to talk about a few Honorable Mentions.  These movies aren’t really in the BEST category, but they are certainly worth your time.  A solid 3.5 out of 5.0 stars.

A-Team – What a great cast. The story on this is kind of all over the place, but the cast and the chemistry within the cast is fantastic. So much fun. I really enjoyed it. I almost put The Losers in this list because I also really enjoyed it, but it’s a very similar movie to A-Team and I would watch this movie again before I watched The Losers again.
How to Train Your Dragon – I was actually surprised how much I enjoyed this movie. I went in with little expectations and was totally drawn in by the funny characters and wonderfully designed environment.
Sorcerer’s Apprentice – I really didn’t know what to expect with this one.  Nic Cage is hit or miss.  He really almost lost me with Bad Lieutenant.   But the S/FX in this movie were awesome and the story was a lot of fun.  Lots of humor, too.  I gotta recommend it.  Hopefully I’ll be seeing Nic Cage’s Season of the Witch this week.  It looks awesome, but, it was filmed like 2 years ago and shelved, so it could be terrible.
The Other Guys – This has kind of taken on a life of it’s own with my wife and I.  I initially was disappointed after watching it, but I found myself quoting it over and over again.  That “I’m a peacock, let me fly” bit has been said to death in my house talking about my newborn son.  I don’t know if the idea of this movie is funnier than the movie, but I know that I keep quoting it.
Iron Man 2 – Many people thought this movie fell flat.  I disagree.  I thought it was several different kinds of awesome.  That suitcase armor?  Hello, BAD ASS.  The War Machine armor? Also, BAD ASS.  Robert Downey, Jr was again the highlight as Tony Stark.  I didn’t like Mickey Rourke.  But I loved Sam Rockwell.  I was so-so on Scarlet Johanssen but I loved Don Cheadle.  And the story?  Meh.  I liked the idea that the ARC reactor was poisoning Tony, but the “new element” reveal at the end was confusing and ham fisted.  Overall, it was a pretty awesome movie.  That final battle with the military drones was great.  Not as good as the first, but, for me, worth it.

This entry was posted on January 11, 2011 at 8:00 am and is filed under Academy Awards, Harry Potter, movies, reviews with tags Academy Awards, books, Harry Potter, Movie Board, movies, Oscars, reviews. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can skip to the end and leave a response. Pinging is currently not allowed.