Films of the year 2010

Yes hello everyone it's that time of year for pointless top 10 list that everyone forgets about the day after. Do you remember what film won best picture in 2008?

Exactly and btw it was No Country for Old Men but it should have been There Will Blood, but again who cares.

Anyway after the slagging of awards and top 10's in general, here is me being hypercritical with my top 10.

10. The Last Exorcism

I watched The Last Exorcism and I thought I was gonna hate it while watching the first 10-15 minutes as it was so slow but my God such a great film that I would recomend to anyone.
When the main bloke performs the first exorcism in the film I was in stitches. Such a brilliant and orginal horror/thriller film easily alongside Ringu and The Texas Chainsaw Massacre for me interms of originality.


9. The Disappearance of Alice Creed

I missed this in the cinema and I really wish I had watched it in the cinema as it's a cracking, smart and twisty British thriller.
This is defiantly one of my contenders for film of the year alongside Bad Lieutenant and Inception, as from start to finish I was gripped and it kept giving you another big twist though out the film. It genuinely leaves the audience guessing through out the film with great performances from all three leads.
Normally not a massive fan of Gemma Atkinson and tend to find her very average in everything else I have seen but she is dynamite in this film with a great performance from her as the title character Alice Creed.
This film had everything I would want in a film
1. Great script
2. Good director who keeps the flow of the film on a knife edge
3. Great performances from everyone and makes me completely emotionally engaged with all characters.
4. Well thought out plan set firmly in reality that goes horribly wrong due to the human element.


Can I think of a negative though in this film that they should have fixed...hmmm...marketing.
I'm sorry but it's unfair that a film like this has to compete against blockbusters that have millions put into promoting their films. This film deserved that and I wish more studios would put more money or effort into selling/making more films like this. Only reason films like Transformers and Pirates of the Caribbean make money is because they are well promoted. The only promotion I saw for this film when it came out was on Friday Night with Jonathon Ross and mentioned for five minutes...and that was it. POTC and Transformers I am drowned with when it comes out on TV, radio and internet.

Criminal

8. A Prophet

Really good film, started off a little slow but the rest of it was gripping. Best gangster film since Gommora. On why  it didn't win film of the year when so many have praised it so highly, purely because it dragged in the beginning a little too much which for cost it film of the year for me. If the filmmakers fixed that by either another draft of the script or whatever, then this would have won film of the year.

7. The Road

Really good film and the boy in it is gonna be a star in the future, he's fantastic in this film.

6. Scott Pilgrim vs. The World

Thought it was brilliant and I have no idea why it's made little money and it's been a marmite film with audiences.
Thought it was one of the most original films I have seen in ages and the video game nods were fantastic.
The fighting got a little boring at times but added humour and a great script hid this very well from me most of the time.
The ex's in this film were all brilliant but Brandon Routh was my fav and the Vegan police had me in stitches.
I hope this doesn't hurt Edgar Wright's career as he's clearly talented as seen before with the TV show Spaced and the two hit films Shaun of the Dead and Hot Fuzz.

5 Toy Story 3

Great film the best of the 3 as well.

4. The Social Network

I was well impressed with how well written this film was and its execution was perfect.
All casting in this film worked, he directing was well done considering it was very non-linear and the characters were just fascinating.
I think Jesse Eisenberg and Andrew Garfield are in for a good shout to get nominated for Oscars as well as Sorkin for screenplay in fact he has to win for screenplay in my opinion, as it's a complicated case (as well as computer coding involved at some parts) and he made it flow perfectly.

3. Monsters

Well this is a classic film without a shadow of a doubt to me and very nearly won film of the year for me.
The two leads are fantastic in this film but I have no idea who they are, but I found out the two actors got hitched not too long after the film was finished, might explain why they had great chemistry together in this ;)
The visual effects for an apparently five hundred thousand pound budget is money well spent to me. The visual effects looked like the quality of a 30-40 million dollar film.
But the real hero of this film is the director Gareth Edwards...Just talented and has a big future ahead of him. The crew of the film was him, a sound man and the actors...that is it...Just wow.

2. Bad Lieutenant Port of Call New Orleans

Another great film that has just missed out on film of the year for me.
Cage's best film and perormance ever. Didn't feel long at all and Cage was on fire throughout the film with me and the audience in the cinema loving every second of this gen of a film.





So number 1 and my film of the year....

INCEPTION!!!!!!!!

If you are going into this expecting The Dark Knight, you will be disappointed. The film works very similar to Memento with the narrative sometimes being in three structures, or better put a dream within a dream and then another dream lol
It's a cracking good blockbuster and even though it was as long as The Dark Knight, it never dragged like that film. It offers a film for people who like to use their brain in a film and all the action of other great blockbusters of the past like Batman Begins and Terminator 2 in terms of scope.
So in essence it really is Memento meets Batman Begins in a very good way, making it a very good film for everyone to enjoy.

Last film I have watched in 2010

...and the winner is The Last Exorcism

I watched The Last Exorcism and I thought I was gonna hate it while watching the first 10-15 minutes as it was so slow but my God what a great film that I would recomend to anyone.
When the main bloke performs the first exorcism in the film I was in stitches. 

Such a brilliant and original horror/thriller film easily alongside Ringu (The Japanese version of The Ring for those who don't know) and The Texas Chainsaw Massacre for me interms of originality.

Just watch it.

What I have been watching lately.

The Traveler (2010)

Terrible film and very obvious two twists at the end of the film. So obvious that I predicted them twenty minutes into the film. 
Fast forwarded after 40 mins mind as that's my rule, give every film at least 40 mins and I was spot on. 
I really hope the writer doesn't get another gig after seeing this. 

                                                      I want the old Val back :(

Poor acting, poor script, poor horror and not very well made. 

Don't bother.


Unstoppable (2010)

Christ this was boring and filled with loads of typical American action scenes that have been done to death already. 
Esspecially with one of the first ones involving a train packed with kids that almosts hits another train head on. 
It's a typical Tony Scott film with no brains and constant cameras that go around the main leads all the time trying to build up tension, but never does. 
If you like his films then you will like this but if you can't stand his films like Deja Vu and Taking of Pelham 123, then avoid this. 

                                           C'mon be honest...it is terrible but then again laughably bad


I turned it off after the fourty minutes but the one thing I did like about it was the fact that it didn't have a villan, which I have to give credit to the makers as they are not forcing one into the film, which is what tends to happen in these sort of films. 
The train is instead set loose because of an idiot being idiot and that did make me chuckle.


Black Swan (2011)

Yes it doesn't qualify for film of the year as it hasn't come out this year (2010 while writing this) but it comes out in January. Yes I got another press screening for a top film, go me!!!!!!!


Anyway the review.
Really really good film. 

I was a bit worried at first as it did start off a little slow, but once it got going it was nothing but gripping. 
Natalie Portman is fantastic in it and will get nominated for this film and I think has a good chance of winning the Oscar for this. 

The film reminded me of Stanley Kunbrick's The Shinning and Mary Harron's American Psycho as all the time you are questioning whats going on around Natalie Portman, what is real and what isn't, just perfect for building tension through out the film with plenty of parts that will make filmgoers jump out of their skin. 

I think Darren Aronofsky has firmly cemented himself alongside the hollywood elite now if he hadn't already with Requiem For a Dream and The Wrestler.


Skyline (2010) 

Well I was originally gonna avoid this but it had a decent word of mouth...Well most people said either "It was alright" or "Don't bother". 

So I gave it a go as about 50% said "it was alright" and I should have listend to the ones who said "Don't bother". 

Turned off atfer 40 minutes and the film was painstakingly slow and boring. I also felt the film production/visual effects was a bit overhyped as a lot of people said "The effects are awesome for a low budget film". 
Well it's the same level to me as some b-movie films that go straight to DVD. 
If you wanna see a film with impressive visual effcts for no money, watch Monsters as that film looks like a 50 million dollar film and it cost about a million dollars to make. 
Also the fact that Monsters is a really good film unlike Skyline which is a plie of used tampons!!!!!!


Buried (2010)

It was alright to be fair to it.

I have no idea how a film costs 3 million dollars and is set in a box for 99.99% of the time.
But anyway it's still well made and to my surprise featured some well set shots in the coffin. It always felt in terms of scale like a typical Hollywood action film. When all there is in the film is a man with a mobile phone, lighter and a pen for 90 mins.
But having said it positives I must also point out it's negatives...it dragged and it clearly should have just been a great short with a cracking ending.
But it's worth a watch but I wouldn't watch it again.


Somewhere (2010)

What a pretentious piece of garbage, turned it off after the 40 min rule. I mean It has to be one of the most self indulgent films I have ever seen this year. 

This is how the film started, just to give you a taste of how self indulgent this film is.

The movie begins with a static shot of what appears to be an elliptical race course. The way the camera is set up, we can see two sections of it - one in the foreground and another in the background (opposite sides of the oval). A Ferrari zips by, entering on the left and exiting on the right. Shortly thereafter, it re-enters higher on the frame, now moving right to left on the other side of the course. This is followed by a few seconds of inactivity during which we can hear the car engine. Then it reappears in the bottom portion of the frame, once again headed left to right. This continues for several laps and more than a minute. It represents the first of numerous times throughout Somewhere in which Coppola sets down her camera and focuses on mundane, repetitive action.

                                                Yes even this part bored me?????



The first five (well it felt like half an hour) minutes sums up how the rest of film is gonna be like.
Even the French New Wave films were no where near self indulgent like this film,
Sofia Coppala is always gonna be two things to everyone now.

1. She's Francis Ford Coppala's daughter!!!!!
2. She made Lost in Translation.

That is it in terms of highlights in her career. If it wasn't for her Dad she would't have had a career in films.

Videogames of the year 2010

Yes this isn't films related but this counts as a special occasion and here are my top 5

1.Red Dead Redemption

Well this is what a game should be for me as it had a world full of character, depth and is also stunningly very detailed.

The ending is one the best endings for a videogame and the acting in it is the best from what I can remember in a videogame.

It also features a welsh guy cracked me up on single player with the best quote "Come on then boyo"

2.Alan Wake

A great game that I felt unfairly got a bit backlash as some people went into it expecting a different game. Like Red Dead the attention to detail is mind blowing with references to Rod Serling’s Night Gallery and Twilight Zone with Night Falls and an atmosphere of the old TV show Twin Peaks (Almost wrote Twin Town lol).

Unlike most DLC I felt it was worth every MS point as it expanded the game and story even further for me.

Highlight of the game is when we see Barry for the first time with his Christmas lights armour

3.Splinter Cell Conviction

I will go on all day about this one as I love denible ops on this game far too much!!!!!!

4.Kane and Lynch 2

I agree the controls are rubbish but are a big improvement from the first one, but it just has that atmosphere and living breathing environments that never feel like levels to me.

The multiplayer of fragile alliance, cops & robbers and undercover cop are just great fun to play. The controls for the multiplayer (same as the game) work spot on and doesn't hinder the MP at all from what I have played.

It is a shame its let down by controls in all honesty as the attention to detail in both Kane & Lynch are fantastic but as games...I agree both are very flawed but I still love them both (except towards the end of Kane Lynch 1).

                      Both these guys should be in the film but what is Jamie Foxx doing in it??

If you can find a copy of this for a tenner it's at least worth a go. But you will either like it (I doubt anyone will love it like me) or hate it.

5.Halo Reach

Thought it was quite good and not short at all from what I played. The Star Wars level was bunk though and I thought that would have been awesome. 

The hardest level was when you had to destroy the turrets and you are in the chopper with two of you firing the minigun and the other piloting with banshee's everywhere as well. Very annoying part but not as annoying as not knowing where to go half the time, could have put a better system in place to tell you where to go.

Highlight of the game the first level reminded me of the Brecon beacons a bit for some reason lol.

Nicolas Cage wig, Chuck and a film on Film4.

Well I watched The Sorcerers Apprentice last night and thought it was a decent family film but there were three big negatives.

1. Nicolas Cage has another wig in this film.
2. The main character is so bloody annoying and the actor fails terribly at trying to add some kind "dopey average guy" comedy, the only time I have really liked a dopey average guy" is Chuck Bartowski in the comedy/spy TV show Chuck.
3. It's a little bit too cheesy and feel good but I did expect this as at the end of the day...it is a Disney film.


But other than that I sort of liked it in a guilty pleasure sort of way with Nicolas Cage and Alfred Molina holding the film well, stopping it from falling apart like domino's.
I also like the element of magical realism in the film but they ruined it at the end with a really bad cheesy bit of dialogue which basically went "Don't forget my friend science". I have always hated it in films where they force a "And the moral of the story is" in a film.
Oh yeah, loads of kids are gonna be queuing up to buy a bloody science set when the film's finished Disney...


The other film I watched was a film on Film4 (Yes I know they show a lot of shit) called Stop-Loss which I had never heared of before to suprise.
It had a good cast of Ryan Phillipe, Channing Tatum and Joseph Gordon-Levitt playing the leads and a really good supporting cast but I have no idea what their names are, well except for Timothy Olyphant.
If you have no idea what a Stop-Loss is let me (well Wikipedia) explain it for you.


"Stop-loss is a term primarily used in the United States military. In the U.S. military, it is the involuntary extension of a service member's active duty service under the enlistment contract in order to retain them beyond their initial end of term of service (ETS) date and up to their contractually agreed end of obligated service (EOS). It also applies to the cessation of a permanent change of station (PCS) move for a member still in military service."


So there you go and the film it self started off really well with a nice bit of characterisation and some conflict in Iraq but after an hour tried to be typical Hollywood thriller, when originally it started off really well as a drama. The ending was also a bit of a cop out and just felt like someone while making the film was forced to give that ending, rather than the one they intended. 

The Monico

For those who have no idea about the Monico or think I have spelt Monaco wrong, let me enlighten you.

The Monico opened in 1937 and In 1978 it was the first independent cinema outside London to install Dolby Stereo sound.
It was also the last independent cinema in Cardiff which was knocked down in 2003 and replaced with flats. To this day the Monico being knocked down is still the saddest day in my life when it comes to films/cinema.

                                                       Still makes my heart sink :(

It's will always be my cinema (even in death!!!!) and every time I want to watch a film in the cinema, I briefly think for a millisecond I'm going to watch in the Monico as it was part of the film magic for me for so long.

I watched films from Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade to Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers. I remember in the best times when there were huge lines to watch a film with people traveling outside to watch a film there.
It has also been home to some of my favorite LOL moments involving my brother Alex.

LOL moment 1.
My brother trying to sneak in to watch Independence Day (He was 10 and it was a 12) and hid his face in his jumper, right in front of the Monico owner Brian Bull.
Brian obviously asked him his age and my bother somehow managed to get away with it and watched the film with me and my Mum & Dad.

 Here is Brian Bull...what a legend and he was a really nice fella to everyone who visited.

LOL moment 2
My brother not being able to get into and watch the Little Mermaid as it was sold out and crying like never before. He was only four and I was six but my God it was funny and I remember a group of girls behind us also laughing.

LOL moment 3
Again Alex :p
His favorite character dieing in Jurassic park: The Lost World very early when in the book he didn't die and was far better than in the movie.

The sweat shop was great as well and you could pretty much buy the shop for a couple of quid.On the left there is where you bought your ticket mind, the right with the shutter down is where you would buy the sweets and sometimes they would open the other shutter if it got busy on the other side.

I loved Saturday morning cinema as well and the quizzes we used to do for prizes every week. Why don't cinemas no longer do this!!!!!!

Yes I still miss those sticky floors and those terrible seats as everything else was perfect

I hope someone reading this has an independent cinema and still supports it, if not please support it as every time I go into any independent cinema, it's always a joy where ever it is. 

Don't let them disappear like the Monico did and let "1984" in vain (as they all look the same and no one wants to be there) with no ushers and no dedicated projectionists run riot (Yes I mean the main multiplexes like Cineworld and Vue) which I'm forced to go to. 

This is what's replaced the Monico...1984 style flats, bloody ugly thing if you ask me. Don't let this happen to your local cinema.

Support your local independent cinema if you have one!!!!!!

What I have been watching lately.

Yes I know I haven't done this weeks reviews for a while and there are good reasons for this.

1. Not many films have come out that I want to watch in the cinema/DVD
2. Not many films on TV.
3. Busy trying to sell a flat
4. Work

So I might just scrap the "This weeks reviews" and just do one every month.

Anyway here are my brief reviews of what I have been watching lately.

Greenberg
Review
Hard one for me to review as it's not a bad a film but the humour just isn't to my liking at all. Turned off after 40 minutes as I wasn't enjoying and didn't know at times if it was a "growing old film" or a comedy or a drama...just felt out of place for me but I remember seeing the trailer for it and thought I might not like it

Final word
Hard for me to think of a final word for this one...If you liked Garden State (I liked that thinking about it) this will be more your cup of tea.
If you like silly comedy like Zoolander and Tropic Thunder to which Ben Stiller does normally, then avoid this one.


The American
Review
Boring film with nothing happing most of the time and very pretentious. The whole film was trying to build this cold tense atmosphere with George Clooney's character but never did in the forty minutes I watched of it.
Yes I used the forty minute rule which means it's a shit film. I don't mind films wanting to be arty but I mind films where absolutely nothing is happening. The director of this film clearly thinks that filming in exotic locations is going to make up for an empty film...clearly has little respect for the audience so I have little respect for his artistic endeavours in this.


Bakjwi (Thirst)
Although somehow irregular and overlong, Thirst is wonderfully well-directed, stylish and bloody, and its pitch-black humour sets a hugely bizarre tone, utterly hilarious, in Park's surreal gore fest - and check out Kim Ok-Vin in this as she's fantastic in it.
Not as good as Oldboy but my God much better then I'm a Cyborg but I can see it being a bit of a marmite film.
I think Chan Wook Park is one of the best living directors today and once again his film is a nice breath of fresh air.
It's really worth a watch this one and I wish I watched this one in the cinema.

Monsters (2010)

Well this is a classic film without a shadow of a doubt to me and a strong contender for my film of the year as well.

The two leads are fantastic in this film but I have no idea who they are, but I found out the two actors got hitched not too long after the film was finished, might explain why they had great chemistry together in this ;)

The visual effects for an apparently five hundred thousand pound budget is money well spent to me. The visual effects looked like the quality of a 30-40 million dollar film.

But the real hero of this film is the director Gareth Edwards…Just talented and has a big future ahead of him. The crew of the film was him, a sound man and the actors…that is it…Just wow.

If you haven’t seen, check it out in the cinema as it’s easily alongside some of the best films this year.

Easy A

Well I enjoyed it but it did drag unfortunately in some parts and if it didn’t have Emma Stone in it…well it would have left the cinema after the 40 min rule, as she was that good in it.

Bland, predictable and not a very good job from the supporting cast didn’t help as well as a black comedy approach which fell flat at the end with a “happy/moral” ending.

Average film in all fairness but further proof that Emma Stone is a star in the making and this will be forgotten about very soon.

Thirteen Days (2000)

No idea how I missed this film but I quite enjoyed it but it is a bit cheesy, you know the whole “American dream” sort of feel with the music, saluting the America flag every five minutes, the bad guys are always ugly/dirty and the Americans giving each other high fives all the time.

If you can’t stand any of that then don’t watch this film but luckily for me I found the subject matter very interesting (even though I know what’s gonna happen as I know my history) and is well told. The performances are a bit average considering it has a decent cast but what holds it together is the great script.

Bit of a sudden ending to the film and we also didn’t have the bit after the credits where it tells you what happened to the real life people after the events of the film.

But as a whole a decent watch and I enjoyed it.

Clubbed (2008)

Christ what a boring film and yep, I turned it off after the 40 min rule. I shall list the problems I had

1. Annoying narrator who explains everything in the film and you will not like at all.
2. Very predictable and bland storyline
3. It’s called “clubbed” and I was expecting a film like Human Traffic where it would be about clubbing.
4. All the actors in this film are rubbish.
5. Makes the 80’s set period boring and makes no use of that era except for some cars parked outside people’s houses. Why set the film in a certain period and not use it at all??????
6. The writing and directing are poor in his film with no signs of spark at all.

A Might Heart

I enjoyed it but the film itself was very TV movie for me but the directing from Michael Winterbottom was spot on and gives the film that gritty look and feel that it needed. A great performance from Angelina Jolie that was Oscar worthy and a very tough subject matter handled with great care and heart but did it drag in parts and was predictable.

4.3.2.1 (2010)

Tries to be Britain’s answer to Doug Liman’s film GO but was just bright lights and edgy camera shots with no interesting characters and poor acting. It didn’t really make use of using five different point of view on the same story like GO did and never really got going. I liked it when Kevin Smith popped up in the film now and again mind.

Grown Ups

It’s not funny and I even hate talking about it, also as you may have already guessed I turned it off after 40 minutes. So how many rubbish films have Adam Sandler been in now then?, feels like about five now.

Devil (2010)

As it was only 80 minutes long I wasn’t sure if I was allowed to break my rule, as it’s more than half the film. But I thought to myself “I’m in a good mood so I will not use the rule on this one and it’s short anyway”.

My God I regret that decision as it’s painstakingly slow and feels like a rejected drawn out episode of the Twilight Zone. The twist was always gonna surprise people as it really could have been anyone in the lift, so I had no respect/admiration of it and the filmmakers clearly thought to themselves “The twist will save he film”.

Not surprised M Night Shamlyn (whatever his name is) had his dirty hands on this film as it reeked of his bad ideas of his previous films.