The Larry Morgan

Hey, everybody else is doing it, and as a self-proclaimed movie obsessive I decided the Top 10 List I was making in my head should be shared with the world.  Admittedly as I am not an officially recognized film critic, and I can’t say that I’ve seen everything that might be worthy of recognition, and considering as of this writing I have yet to see “True Grit”, “Blue Valentine”, “The Fighter,” “127 Hours” or the animated import “The Illusionist,” this might be a hasty exercise (stay tuned for a New Year Revision in case I do manage to catch up…) but, for now, here are the films that stayed on my radar for the year that was.

10.  “The Kids Are All Right” – At the time I saw this one it was a critic’s darling and seemed to be a sure bet for Oscar consideration, mainly for it’s sharp, timely script and excellent acting from the entire cast, especially Annette Bening and Julianne Moore.  But considering that I didn’t even remember it on my own until a look at a list of 2010 releases, I have to dump it to the bottom of my 10; still giving it high marks, but with some nagging feeling of emotional incompleteness.  Maybe it’s the lack of a satisfactory resolution with Mark Ruffalo’s character at the end…maybe director Lisa Cholodenko’s focus on subtlety kept it from being as outright entertaining as it coulda, shoulda been.  Still, the deft handling of what might have just been your standard high-concept indie adult comedy (along with the aforementioned first-rate performances) manage to keep it clinging for life on the list.  (But if my unabashed affection for the Coen Brothers holds up when I finally see “True Grit” I suspect this title will have to slip to Honorable Mention.)

9.  “Easy A” – Okay…another big-studio, teen-targeted comedy based on a high-school reading list standard (Nathaniel Hawthorne’s “The Scarlet Letter”) doesn’t seem like prime fodder for a snooty Best Of list.  But this one is surprisingly funny, politically incorrect (in a good way) and smart.  Plus, young lead Emma Stone comes into her own as a strong and sassy comedienne, essentially picking up the career that Linsday Lohan left coughing up blood on the side of the Celebrity Fame Freeway.  Her impeccable timing and smoky, Lauren Bacall-like delivery (please, Emma, tell me you’re not a pack-a-day gal at 22 years old!) as well as her strong turn hosting Saturday Night Live this year promises good things to come.  “Easy A” also gets points for being able to actually entertain and get LOL’s on a tiny in-seat screen from the coach section of American Airlines.  Unexpectedly it turned out to be one of the best comedies of the year.

8.  “The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo” – I will admit that I was one of the millions that got caught up in Stieg Larsson’s publishing phenomenon, the “Millenium” trilogy, featuring one of the most intriguing heroines ever imagined, Lisbeth Salander.  So, naturally, those of us who devoured the books couldn’t wait for the Hollywood adaptation (due to be released in 2011) and instead headed in droves to the art houses, making this one of the most popular foreign films of the year.  Leave it to the Swedes to keep the cold, unsparing landscape – both geographically and emotionally – perfectly intact.  But it’s Noomi Rapace’s pitch-perfect performance, bringing the enigmatic Salander right off the page and onto the screen, that drives the film.  You have to be able to handle the unsparing relentlessness of the character’s treatment (yes, there is a brutal rape scene and follow-up that’s hard to watch) that’s critical to how you end up rooting for her, but if you’ve got a strong enough stomach the payoff is quite satisfying.  It is by far the strongest film of the three “Girl” movies, unfortunately, but rent them as a set, lay out a spread of some Swedish meatballs and lingonberry jam and make a day of it.

A note about the forthcoming U.S. adaptation: I’d probably be more trepidatious about the English-language version on the way, but with director David Fincher taking the reins it gives me hope.  (See entry #1.)

7.  “Rabbit Hole” – If you’re the type that shies away from anything that even remotely smells of “a downer” then at first glance this story of a married couple grappling with the accidental death of their young son may be on your Must Avoid list.  If so, you’d be missing out on a film of great emotional power, healing and, yes, humor! Not to mention an ensemble of actors who absolutely nail it, including a heart-wrenching lead performance by Nicole Kidman (an odds-on nom-getter), the ever-reliable Aaron Eckhart as the patient husband trying hard to get them past the tragedy, and newcomer Miles Teller as the teenager who is fighting his own personal battle over the incident.  The excellent Dianne Wiest is also on board playing Kidman’s mother and has a speech in the script which, in lesser hands, could have come off as the only real “writerly” moment in the film.  But Wiest instead cuts to the core of what it’s like to have to live with seemingly unfathomable pain.  The original play won the Pulitzer, and it’s easy to see why – David Lindsay-Abaire’s adaptation of his own work is able to wrap the language and minutiae of everyday life around the anguish of a lingering loss leading to an ending that, while not necessarily “happy,” can leave you with a very real sense of the remarkable resiliency of the human spirit.  And, like I said…there are enough genuine laughs that help lift the story well above what could have been Hallmark Channel tear-jerker material.  Suck it up, have some guts, and feel something for a change.

6.  “Winter’s Bone” – A big, buzzy independent crowned by the audiences at Sundance earlier in the year, it’s easy to see why this backwoods-noir got so much attention; Jennifer Lawrence.  The relatively unknown young actress is not only in every scene, she’s virtually in every shot of the movie and is nothing less than mesmerizing every second.   Lawrence plays 17-year-old Ree, a girl who has had to take on the responsibility of tending for a near-catatonic mother and two young kids while trying to locate her delinquent father before they’re kicked out of their cabin.  By sheer force of will she pushes forward, tending to the family while treading dangerous ground with the closed-circle locals. But it would be a shame to focus just on Lawrence’s Oscar-worthy performance when the rest of the film casts its own particular spell.  Forget the hazy whodunit involving the fate of the meth-cooking dad-turned-stool pigeon; director Debra Granik completely immerses us into an almost invisible, gritty fringe world that we all know must exist, but never think about.  The mood is enhanced by incorporating actual locations and homes (and, in some cases, local residents) and you-are-there camerawork — we can almost feel the cold chill of the Ozark weather as well as the icy grip of dead end hopelessness.  Jennifer Lawrence’s work is impressive (and enjoy it now as she has been swallowed up by the Hollywood machine for the forthcoming X-Men movie) but it’s everything else about the film that continues to haunt you well after viewing.

5.  “Black Swan” – Director Darren Aronsofsky’s backstage ballet melodramatic sex-centric mind-trip is like a drug-enhanced mash-up of “The Turning Point”-meets-“All About Eve”-squeezed into “The Red Shoes.”  Which is soooo Darren Aronsofsky, a director who seems hell-bent on creating an impossible-to-define, hyphen-rich genre of cinema every time out and therefore can be hit (“Requiem for A Dream” and “The Wrestler”) and miss (everything else).  Likely to be the most polarizing film of the year there is no middle ground; you’ll either walk out saying that the film is shrill, ridiculous and over-the-top…or, you’ll walk out saying the exact same thing only followed by “and I loved it.”  There’s no denying that everyone involved has bought in and just goes for it; the success of the film (if you are in the camp that thinks it succeeds) rests firmly on the waif-like shoulders and toes of Natalie Portman, who also does much of her own dancing.  Barbara Hershey actually brings something fresh and scary to the role of the overprotective mom who lives vicariously (and unhealthily) through her daughters’ progress, and Vincent Cassel is perfect in the stock character of the harsh/horny director who equates striving for perfection with sexual availability.  It all kinda feels strangely familiar (or familiarly strange) until you add Aronofsky’s bravura filmmaking that relishes in cranking things up in a way that, just almost, drives the whole thing off the rails. And the most pleasant surprise is Mila Kunis as the dark, free-willed rival.  After proving to the world that she was more than a sitcom spare part with her rom-com chops in “Forgetting Sarah Marshall,” here she shows there’s also some dramatic depth to be mined as well.  Enough of the film’s theme – of the struggle to maintain a sense of self while giving yourself over to your art – and striking imagery has stayed with me since to make it worthy of the #5 spot.  It’s the most assured and entertaining hyper-hysterical hoo-ha I’ve seen in a long while.

4.  “The King’s Speech” – If there were step-by-step instructions for the construction of the quintessential Oscar-bait movie, this one couldn’t have followed the blueprint more perfectly.  Populate it with award-worthy foreign-accented actors, give it the sheen of historical significance, play into the American fascination with English royalty, add the attraction of a man overcoming a physical and/or mental affliction (Colin Firth’s stuttering prince, encouraged by devoted wife Helena Bonham Carter, must learn from eccentric speech therapist Geoffrey Rush to sound kingly as takes the throne during a turbulent time in his country’s history) and you’re virtually guaranteed an audience-pleaser flinted with Academy Award-plated gold.  But as formulaic as it might read (and even feel as you’re watching it) you can’t help but be completely won over by the very manipulative elements you want to resist.  First of all, Firth should now just go ahead and have his profile carved onto the Mt. Rushmore of Acting Gods – the guy can do no wrong.  Rush actually dials back on a role that could have been relished-to-death, and Bonham Carter makes the most of a very secondary role as the king-to-be’s supportive spouse.  Genuine tension and humor is generated from a script that makes no effort to hide where it’s headed, or be concerned that it couldn’t possibly be completely accurate.  But after a while you just don’t care; you have been lulled into submission by the language, the settings and The Struggle.  No matter that we shouldn’t care a whit about the speech impediment of a spoiled, entitled, living-in-the-lap-of-luxury figurehead; when Bertie/King George VI makes his triumphant, rousing call-to-arms as the country enters another World War we can’t help but be thrilled.  I suspect we’ll feel much the same way on Oscar night….

3.  “Scott Pilgrim vs. The World” – I am genuinely shocked that the rest of the movie-going public did not embrace this eccentric, giddy, video game/action movie that virtually screams the word “zeitgeist” in every frame.  In theory and by design it seems can’t-miss and ready-made for the collective fanboy populi, and I suspect that in time it will either gain it’s popularity and likely cult-status on home video or has already begun to achieve it via hacker-nerd illegal download.  It deserves to be seen and enjoyed by a much larger audience than that, though.  Director Edgar Wright is one of those rare and unique filmmakers who actually seems in command of every aspect of the cinematic process, and similarly (but in a much more accessible way) is like Aronfsky in creating his own film genre every time he works.  He invented the horror/zombie comedy with “Shaun of the Dead,” completely revamped the standard buddy-cop action comedy with “Hot Fuzz,” and now with “Pilgrim” puts to shame every popular video game film adaptation even if the source material wasn’t actually a video game, but a highly-regarded graphic novel series.  Throw in the hippest cast ever assembled headed by the modern-day Young Adult Everyman (until Jesse Eisenberg wrestles the title away from him) Michael Cera, and you’ve already got the makings of an Xbox-era classic.  Still, nobody showed up…and I still as yet have not heard the post-box-office-bust raves that I think the film deserves.  Not a single frame is wasted, it never overplays its quirkiness, it completely envelopes you into the plays-by-its-own-rules world that’s been created but still stays true to the basic teen crush romantic comedy roots the story is inspired by.  As I told my late-teen son after I had seen it without him; “If you’ve ever wanted to be in a rock band, played a video game, and been in love with a girl…you’ll like this movie.”  That’s covers a lot of us, so let’s go, gang; you’ve got some catching up to do on this one.

2.  “Toy Story 3” – Enough has already been written about how this film appealed to all ages – how the attendance at this and other animated films last year drew big box office from just as many adults in the audience as kids.  But in the case of “Toy Story 3” I want to bring more attention to the fact that the folks at Pixar have actually managed to do something rare in cinema – not only make a trilogy of films that were consistently entertaining, but actually wrapped up the series with the strongest and most enduring of the three.  (The only other instance of this that comes to mind is, arguably, the “Lord of the Rings” films.)  So often in sequels the filmmakers seem to think that bigger-louder-more is better.  Or there is a need to incorporate story or character elements that expand the universe to keep an audience’s interest.  No need!  (Dear George Lucas;  Ewoks?! ….hmmph…)  Where the “Toy Story” crew went right was to not just follow the ongoing adventures of Woody, Buzz and the other toys, but actually frame everything around the growth and progression of the human family, specifically the young boy Andy.  We can all relate in some way, no matter when and how we grew up, with the inevitable change that came with being part of a evolving unit.  Through relatable emotions, nostalgia for times gone by and the need for a sense of belonging, the “Toy Story” films did something that more serious-minded “arty” films have trouble achieving – allowing us to recognize the best and worst of ourselves in the characters on film.  Too high-minded for you?  Fine; “Toy Story 3” was also the outright funniest movie of the year.  And don’t slight the voice performances of Tom Hanks, Tim Allen, Don Rickles and the rest of the cast who are integral in bringing these images to real life.  Further kudos to Pixar for advancing computer-generated technology in a way that enhanced the experience instead of  distracting from it – including the best use of 3-D in a year when movies went frickin’ 3-D crazy.  But put all that techie stuff aside; it’s the deeply felt, genuinely moving tug-at-the-heart that will stay with you when the movie is over.  It’s the only film that actually brought me to tears in 2010…and not even the dead-kid movie that I really liked (see #7) could do that.

1. “The Social Network” – I know I’m not alone in placing this one at, or near, the top of a Best Of list, and there are published critics who like to pontificate on how this is one of the “defining movies of our time” telling us more about ourselves than blah blah blah.  I don’t know – I’m not smart enough to analyze movies that deeply.  All I know is that “The Social Network” managed to be completely thrilling filmmaking and dazzling storytelling and I absolutely savored then devoured every second of it.  Who knew that David Fincher would be the perfect director to match with Aaron Sorkin’s filled-to-the-brim script?  Sorkin’s characters tend to be infinitely more eloquent and witty than most average human beings ever are (I call it the “Neil Simon Syndrome”) and in the wrong hands those characters can come off as overbearing, self-important or, even worse, completely unrealistic.  (See Sorkin’s short-lived TV series “Studio 60.”)  Luckily the Harvard-then-Silicon Valley setting suits Sorkin’s take perfectly, but it’s Fincher who wins the gold here.  In a way, “The Social Network” (much like Fincher’s terrific “Zodiac”) recalls director Alan J. Pakula’s masterfully constructed film around William Goldman’s script for “All the President’s Men”; a story whose resolution we all know well about individuals who are still in the public eye that is essentially a bunch of characters talking.  But, like that 1976 film, we are enthralled every step of the way.  Perhaps the biggest accomplishment is the way the filmmakers dealt with the central character of Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg, who is pretty hard to like and, at least in this movie’s take, not dripping with integrity or loyalty.  Ultimately we watch things unfold through the eyes (and testimony) of Andrew Garfield’s Eduardo Saverin and you’re not really aware of it until much later on, but it’s actually Eduardo’s story we’re following and him we’re rooting for, allowing Sorkin and Fincher to maintain Zuckerberg’s snarky complexity, for better or worse.  And give Jesse Eisenberg major kudos for generating one of the most difficult and textured performances of the year.   It would have been enticing to play the budding boy-genius as grating and arrogant, but by the end attempt to show the effects of “a lesson learned.”  Instead, Eisenberg’s portrayal is consistent, more layered, more human…maintaining Zuckerberg’s hubris to the end, but with just the slightest flicker of regret – not over how he treated friends, but how he allowed himself to lose ultimate control over his real love; this thing called Facebook.  “The Social Network” accomplishes so much, so economically, and executes it so perfectly and entertainingly – there may be much deeper, more intellectual reasons to admire this film, but there are reasons aplenty already to crown “The Social Network” as The Best Movie of 2010.

Missing in Action:  Some films got lots of acclaim and/or box office but didn’t make my list this year.  “Inception” impressed me with Christopher Nolan’s twisty-turny enter-your-dreams concept, but I felt his script got lost in his own labyrinth of pretension, and ultimately devolved into typical action shoot-em-up theatrics that betrayed the serpentine journey that got him there.  And another stern-faced, no-soul performance from Leonardo Dicaprio did nothing to enhance the trip.  I could say the same for his turn in the dour and dull “Shutter Island,” a movie that thinks it is way more suspenseful and creepy than it really is, with a ho-hum twist that barely satisfies.  In the sterling canon of Martin Scorcese this will ultimately be considered one of his most forgettable.  (P.S. to Leo…it’s really time to lighten up.  Where’s the delightful, brash rapscallion that Spielberg brought out of you in “Catch Me If You Can”?  We know you have more than two emotional shades…how about dusting them off and bringing them back out again?)  I was suitably impressed with Ben Affleck’s directing effort for “The Town,” and nobody is more of a sucker for bank heist movies than me, but an otherwise excellent effort from all concerned (including the excellent Rebecca Hall and other-worldly-good Jeremy Renner) unravels completely with a script that has these characters doing the most inane, dumb things. There’s only so much eye-rolling and turning off of the brain you can do, so that by the time the climactic shoot-out comes you’ve lost all interest in who gets it and who doesn’t.

The List

1. The Social Network
2. Toy Story 3
3.  Scott Pilgrim vs. The World
4.  The King’s Speech
5.  Black Swan
6. Winter’s Bone
7. Rabbit Hole
8.  The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo
9.  Easy A
10. The Kids Are All Right