My Top Ten Movies of 2010

Even the poster for Dogtooth was one of the best of the year!

10 – Now these films are in no particular order. Since I had such trouble coming up with them, I would be lying if I tried to pinpoint one of these as the “#1″ film of the year. Certainly, my #10 is the most unsettling. I had the opportunity to see Dogtooth at the MFA over the Summer. Jesse Hassinger and I watched the trailer in the Coolidge’s programming office and it spoke instantly to the two of us. The appeal was based on the fucked up imagery presented in the 2 minute clip; children on all fours barking for their father, a bloody sink, a young man decapitating a cat with gardening shears, knife play, and multiple assaults with VHS equipment. Sure enough, it was right up my alley. The premise is pretty simple, in Greece, a father and mother want to keep their three children safe from bad influences by keeping them confined within the compound walls of their rural home. They do this by telling them that there is a vicious “cat” that lives beyond the walls, and that it had previously eaten a sibling that none of them can remember. Their father tells them that they will be ready to venture forth into the world only after one of their canine teeth fall out. I should mention that these “children” are well into their 20’s and 30’s, and that familial tension fills each room of their home like the oxygen they breathe. The parents’ plan begins to unravel, obviously, mostly because masturbation can only take you so far in life, and these kids are forbidden to mingle. I knew this film would make my list during the screening based solely on the reaction of one man sitting to our left, who could not help but “booo” and “hisss” the film, even at one point exclaiming that it was “the worst film” he had “ever fucking seen”. Yes.

9 – Winter’s Bone is a pretty bad-ass detective film noir. It did really well at Sundance last year and we were excited to be getting it at the Coolidge. I was able to watch it during its run on film, which did not happen often enough this year for me and our movies. I immediately loved the character of Ree Dolly. I think Jennifer Lawrence should be given something for her amazing performance as a sister to two children who must also play the roles of mother and sleuth after her father goes missing. The elusive Daddy Dolly has vanished, and subsequently his bail jump threatens the only thing she has left, her home. John Hawkes also made this film for me in his role as Uncle “Teardrop” Dolly. The skeletal Hawkes plays a character that is so imposing and dangerous, that you feel you must keep an eye on him at all times so he doesn’t shiv you while your back is turned. I don’t want to give anything away (after all this is a mystery story), but I do have to say that there is a vicious scene involving a corpse, a boat full of women, and a chainsaw. Brutal.

8 – Piranha…whats that?…oh stop it. Wait just a second and let me explain, this is my goddamned list and I’ll put a flesh eating fish movie on it if I want to. Now, Alexandre Aja has directed some stuff that I enjoy. I truly believe that High Tension is a perfect horror film, if not for the last 10 minutes (even still those last few minutes feature the best gore this side of  1980s’ Maniac). At my core, I am a monster lover and a gore-hound, so how could I not include this immensely fun film here. Joe Dante’s original, Roger Corman produced classic, Piranha (1978), was a favorite of mine growing up. I loved all of the Corman creature features dearly, especially The Bees (1978). This new Piranha really captured the fun and insanity of these types of films. Yes, it is off the wall, yes, it is over the top, yes, the performances are mostly crap, (with the exception of the mighty Ving Rhames), but I would argue that all of this adds up to make one helluva fun time. Sure it has annoying “Spring breakers”, but you get to see those fucks eviscerated by prehistoric, man-eating fish! Oh, and Jerry O’Connel’s severed penis. Ouch.

Nuns with guns, yo.

7 – Ben Afleck is a decent director. Don’t believe it? Watch this flick and then tell me you didn’t have a good time. Some of my friends have described it as a “lame version of Heat“. I disagree with the “lame” part. This is the comic book version of Heat. The lose yourself in a movie – have fun laughing at the bogus accents – oh man those nun masks remind me of Point Break, version of Heat. The Town has all of the suspense needed for a heist movie. It has the expertly pulled-off bank jobs, and it even has a really exciting car chase sequence through the North End of Boston that Afleck silly-puttied onto his flick directly from the headlines. The final Fewnway park sequence gives all of us Bostonians just what we’ve always wanted; automatic gun fire outside of Fewnway Park! Throw in Pete Postlethwaite as a vicious, I-can’t-fuckin’-wait-til-you-get-what’s-coming-to-you, mick gangster, and you have one of the most enjoyable movie watching experiences I had this year. Nuns. kehd.

6 – Shutter Island is pretty solid horror flick. And I do mean “horror”, this one has some pretty great visual scares in it. It is dark, and atmospheric, and possesses an old school film noir quality that isn’t easily replicated in this day and age. I had been eagerly anticipating this film as I prepared promotional materials for it on the Coolidge website, and it was one of the few that I was able to sit down and watch at the ‘Lidge this year. I do have a bias in selecting this, however. The Coolidge was fortunate enough to be selected by director Martin Scorsese as his venue for screening films to inspire the cast of the then filming Shutter Island. He had seen our theatre the year before , during our Award ceremony honoring his editor Thelma Schoonmaker, and really took a liking to the place. So, he decided to screen the Robert Mitchum film Out of the Past here, as an inspiration. I was able to talk with Mr. Scorsese and Mark Ruffalo in the lobby before and after the screening, both of whom were really awesome dudes who showed genuine appreciation for the work that we do at the Coolidge. I really couldn’t wait to watch the film in the theatre where the cast of the film I was watching had watched a film to inspire their performances in the film that I was watching. Whew!

5 – Valhalla Rising was one of the more unique movie going experiences I had this year. This one wasn’t in theatres for

One-Eye axes his gods a question.

long, and lucky for me, The Brattle carried this flick for a little while before it returned to Asgard. I fell asleep, dizzy from Brattle beer, during the boat journey scene, and awoke with the characters in the New World. Normally falling asleep during a flick would mean it was crap, but the rocking of the boat and the dreamy sepia tone really took me to another place, literally. You really can’t go wrong with this one, it’s like Gladiator meets The Holy Mountain with Vikings! Despite the extreme violence, the film gets pretty sleepy at times, and at others, it is downright trippy. Mads Mikkelson owns as the supernaturally strong, mute, one-eyed warrior named…of course, One Eye. I remember this one sticking with me long after the screening. Numerous times over the following weeks I would find myself turning around to my Coolidge Programming and Operations office mates, Andy and Jesse, and saying, “Valhalla Rising was really sweet”. Metal.

Bansky is one crafty monkey.

4 – Exit Through the Gift Shop was a pretty great “doc” that I was able to catch over at the Kendal. Banksy’s graffiti is a lot of fun, and I was immediately interested in a film that carried the usually secretive artist’s name. His promotion of the film saw some of his artwork pop up in Boston and Cambridge during it’s run, which added to my interest. The film is the story of a French videographer who has a passion for his camera and art. That passion turns to shit after he discovers that being a “street” artist could earn him some big bucks. It’s all send up, a commentary about the current fads of industrial art, but it is all incredibly funny and ultimately enlightening.

3 – Inception was my first cinematic IMAX experience, which I thoroughly enjoyed. Christpher Nolan is one of the only directors shooting mainstream film specifically for the IMAX capabilities, and it really makes for a great time in a theatre. I didn’t love this movie, but I loved the experience of this movie. Inception is as smart as a film of its kind can be. It is a heist film, which are usually complex plot boilers. Nolan throws the issue of dreams in into the mix and births a dizzying and well dressed hybrid of a movie. I hate to have yet another DiCaprio film on this list, I seldom enjoy him in roles. For me, watching Leo is like watching the word “ACTOR” wearing a suit and reciting lines. He’s the personification of the sad face version of those happy and sad actor face mask thingies, youknowmsayin’? Even still, the supporting cast here is great; Cillian Murphy, Tom Hardy and Joseph Gordon Levitt are great in this flick. The imagery is gorgeous, and the complexity of this films concept is really what made it for me. Layers.

2 – Black Swan is the best film yet from Darren Aronofsky. I loved The Wrestler and everything else this director has made, but this one is by far his best. My friend Evan described this film as “Bring It On meets Videodrome“, and that is best snipe I’ve heard for the film so far. It is much more David Cronenberg than anything else, comparisons should have been made to his The Fly (1986) rather than to The Red Shoes, although the later is certainly valid. Natalie Portman is phenomenal in this film. She plays a character that goes through a truly horrific transformation. Her nightmares carry over into her waking hours and Aronofsky knocks all of these daymares out of the park. The climax of this film was shocking, beautiful, horrific, and cathartic. Honk.

1 – True Grit is the most recent film that I’ve seen, but even it if wasn’t, it would still be high on this list. The Coens are fantastic, we know that, and I’ve actually just wasted your time by repeating it. This is exactly the type of material they thrive on, biblical, eye-for-an-eye-raw, with a small cast of amazing and fleshed-out characters. Jess Bridges is really fun to watch as Rooster Cogburn. He’s the druken master marshall of the wild west. A whiskey soaked, and one-eyed hero for all time. Every actor that appears onscreen is at the top of their game, especially Barry Pepper as “Lucky Ned Pepper”, who I would like to believe is his great grandfather (don’t look it up just believe it). This film is as gorgeous as it is brutal, go see it now. Pow!

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My Top Ten Movies of 2010

This was a tough list to come up with. I've seen so much this year, but I had a hard time recalling which films really excited, saddened, and affected me. It must be old...

Posted 26 Dec 2010 | Movies, News, Reviews, sliders | 2 Comments