Top 10 of 2010

And here we are, once again, at that annual of annual traditions where one looks back over what was offered the prior year and evaluates what will indeed live on, for them, as a fantastic film. Of course all these lists were released in December, right? Well, yes, for the critics who get to see everything well in advance and are able to publish these lists. But I am just a common moviegoer, and must wait to see that latest foreign film or simply catch-up (as is the case this year) with films I missed because I was busy with life. But now I have seen the year's offerings and I can say that this turned out to be a better year then I initially thought. But before I release my top ten, I'd like to start off by naming the worst movie of the year:

And the worst movie of 2010 is...

The Human Centipede: First Sequence (2009)

It's grotesque, disgusting and pointless. Actually, I would half admire it if it lived up to its claim of depravity, but once you get past the idea of the premise, it is not a hard movie to swallow and becomes more frustrating with every dimwitted decision made by the principal females. The doctor (played by Dieter Laser) is very creepy, but the rest of the movie is unmemorable and doesn't even make the impact on you it wants too.

Sorry, I just figured it would be better to get the filth out of the way. Now, on to the top 10 of the year 2010!

10. The American

This is oddly one of the most underrated films of the year, as critics and the general public alike seemed to be taken aback by this movie. What most people were expecting, I suspect, is an exciting actioneer starring George Clooney. What we get instead is a mostly quiet film about a hitman who must live his life in solitude (the opening scene alone defies hitmen convention). Clooney acts like a samurai for most of the film, as he hides in a remote Italian village building a gun for a final job. The ensemble is quite strong, and while the movies last moments are a bit telegraphed, the preceding build-up makes the whole film worth it.

9. The King's Speech

It seems like this will surely win the Oscar for everything now, and I'm not unhappy about this prospect. The King's Speech is a terrific film with a great ensemble (Colin Firth, Geoffrey Rush and Helena Bonham Carter, along with the likes of Michael Gambon, Guy Pearce and Timothy Spall), telling the story of King George VI's rise to power and how he had to overcome his stammer to inspire his people to be strong during war. The film works because of the actors, especially Geoffrey Rush who breathes so much life into dialectical coach Lionel Logue. Its a film that inspires you and makes you happy, and we need that every now and then.

8. Animal Kingdom

I had the pleasure of viewing this film with a fiery latin beat thumping through the floors from our neighbors. But that did not alter this film's quality in the slightest (though I have never heard Surfin' U.S.A. played at a more inappropriate time). An Australian film about a teen whose mother dies and is forced to live with his uncles and grandmother, who also just happen to be a mafia-type family. Its a taut film that spends a fair amount of time establishing itself before it really takes off. Guy Pearce shows up here as a detective, and there is one terrific scene after another, building up to a Godfather-esque ending (no, not the executing the five families scene. The other one).

7. Toy Story 3

The long-awaited sequel to the most beloved animated franchise finally arrived and didn't disappoint. While it is a bit of a step-backward from the previous entries, Toy Story 3 still delivers on all fronts, equal parts hilarious, thrilling, and heartfelt. The film deals with that inevitable point in a toy's life when their owner grows up and gets more interested in...well, the internet these days. The toy's donate themselves to a daycare center where they feel all will be better, if not for the oppressive cuddly bear that rules over the place. If anything, the film is incredibly nostalgic for me because it brought me back to being a kid again, and remembering playing with my toys and watching these movies. I do not currently know where all my old toys and dolls reside, but the film's ending is an oddly touching scene (an almost-man bids adieu to his playthings) that leaves one with a sense of fulfillment about the Toy Story universe.

6. Another Year

Mike Leigh may be one of the best directors out there no one knows about. I mean, his films are distributed, but most of the people I know have never heard of Leigh. Its a shame because he turns out such terrific films, and writes them in such a wholly unique fashion (lets just say actors work extra hard on his sets) that I'm surprised hes not more widely known. Another Year concerns a happily married couple, Gerri (Ruth Sheen) and Tom (Jim Broadbent), and, well, a year in their life that takes through select days of the four seasons. Its a fantastic study of loneliness and relationships and connections. Really, I don't want to say too much about this film because I went into knowing the bare minimum (the trailer gives nothing away) and came out confident that there are still terrific filmmakers out there.

5. True Grit

Probably the Coens most straight-forward film...ever, this is a fantastic Western, set in the dying days of the West as technology and progress move in and take over. Jeff Bridges is expectedly great as 'Rooster' Cogburn, a role that one John Wayne his Oscar, and Matt Damon as the Texas Ranger is equally impressive. But the real star of the film is newcomer Hailee Steinfeld, who plays the fearless and gregarious Mattie Ross with such verve that she lights up every scene. The simple story of a girl seeking revenge for her father's death is played out through many quiet scenes, punctuated by brief spurts of violence. It's a deeply touching movie, and is bolstered by Roger Deakins stunning cinematography.

4. Scott Pilgrim vs. the World

I only liked this movie initially, but like Edgar Wright's other films (Hot Fuzz and Shaun of the Dead) repeat viewings brought this movie to the front of my attention. Its a simple boy-meets-girl story, and plays out much like a musical. Except, instead of musical numbers, fight scenes where our protagonist (Michael Cera) must defeat his sweetheart's seven previous lovers ensue. The film is a hybrid of video games and graphic novels (it is based of such a graphic novel from a lover of video games). The movie is a kaleidoscope of effects that take some time processing, as various texts fly through the scene to accentuate actions. It's absurd and a lot of fun, and though its characterizations are slight (his girlfriend is quite literally the girl of his dreams), its something I never tire of. And those films are just as important as the prestigious ones, right?

3. A Prophet

This foreign film was up for the best Foreign Language Oscar last year, but was not give a real release until February so it counts. A stark, harrowing look at life in prison, as a young Arab is sent there and soon ends up working closely with mafia kingpin stuck inside. The movie kicks off with a fantastic first thirty minutes, in which Malik (Tahar Rahim) must sneak a razor in his mouth to a meeting with a victim and then kill him. Everyone remembers the shot of him, as his mouth bleeds, pulling the razor out. The movie flows seamlessly and is one of the standout films of the year.

2. Exit Through the Gift Shop

I don't think I've every ranked a documentary this high before, but this is that good. It may be in part because the film could be fake (I don't believe Thierry, the frenchmen who is the film's subject, is made up). But one thing is for sure: it gets us close to Banksy, the director of the film, a famously elusive and anonymous street artist whose work includes the guantanamo prisoner at Disney Land and stencils on the West Bank wall. It's about street art, it's about a mad frenchmen who films everything about the movement, and its about how art can be exploited and people are so hungry to grab the hottest item that they'll pay outrageous money for something that isn't necessarily art at all, but imitation. Its definitely one of the finest documentaries, and finest films, I have ever seen.

1. The Social Network

Yes, I know, I know. I have now associated myself with the hive mind of critics out there that declared this the best film. But I have seen it four times and know that there is nothing better this year. The film is about Facebook, and part of what makes it so damn brilliant is how it takes what sounds like the most boring film of the year and makes it the most fascinating. Aaron Sorkin's brilliant dialogue is supported by an exception cast that includes Jesse Eisenberg, Andrew Garfield (our new Spider-Man), Justin Timberlake (ironically playing the man that brought down record companies), Rooney Mara (the new Girl with the Dragon Tattoo), and Armie Hammer (playing both Winklevoss twins). From the sumptuous cinematography (shot on the R3D no less), to the perfect editing, to the fantastic and utterly unique score by Trent Reznor and Atticus Ross, there is no other film like this one. It is a film for out time, for our generation, our opportunity to turn to the world and say "Fuck you, I'm CEO, bitch!"

Black Swan (2010)

There have been many movies in the history of cinema that deal with people descending into the realm of madness: Ron Howard's A Beautiful Mind (2001), Martin Scorsese's Taxi Driver (1976), Stanley Kubrick's The Shining (1980), and Darren Aronofsky's own Requiem for a Dream (2000). Aronofsky's latest film, Black Swan, deals with obsession and madness through Natalie Portman's ballerina character Nina, who vies for the lead role in the widely-known swan lake.

But there is a catch to this Swan Lake: the director of the show, Thomas (Vincent Cassel), wants the same ballerina to play both the white swan and the black swan. For those who don't know swan lake, here is the quick rundown: a beautiful princess is turned into a swan, and must win the love of the prince to turn her back. Sadly, the prince is seduced by the black swan, the swan princess' sister, and so the white swan commits suicide. I'll be frank in saying this movie is not subtle about dealing with the duality of the swan characters and Portman's own inner struggle to embody both roles.

Portman's Nina is an uptight character who has a sense of entitlement to the role, and just wants to be perfect at everything. This is not what Thomas is looking for: he is looking for someone who knows how to let go, to inhabit the rigid, beautiful perfection of the white swan, and the dark, seductive nature of the black swan. Nina is a perfect white swan, but a terrible black swan. "Would you fuck this girl?" Thomas inquires of the ballerino (is that the correct term?). He can't answer. The point is made

(I have just googled "male ballerina." Indeed, ballerino came back as a positive name, though the french word "danseur" is also common)

This is a frighteningly tense movie, and it keeps you on the edge of your seat for so long that when Mila Kunis' character Lily shows up and takes Nina out for a night on the town, you relax because you can finally just let go, like Nina does. It is then to the director's credit that he keeps us as uptight as Nina, relieving us only when Nina does.

And the movie is incredibly effective as a horror film as well. Nina develops a rash on her back, and constantly has visions of peeling her skin off, cutting her toes, and even pulling feathers out of her back. The movie blurs the line between reality and fantasy so much that you get lost, with Nina, in what is going on. By the end all is clear, which is slightly disappointing because I would have loved some ambiguity left to whether certain events did transpire.

But where the movie goes too over the top is in its visual effects department. Nina's skin crawls, her legs bend awkwardly, and a whole assortment of weird stuff happens that doesn't need to. We get she is going mad, and crawling skin is too obvious a way to sell it to us. The audience is generally pretty smart and can figure out what is going on. The visual effects do pay off in when beautifully rendered shot near the end, as Nina fully embodies the black swan.

SPOILER ALERT

I really had a problem with the film's ending as well. I don't disagree with the events that take place, as it is appropriate for the story and the mirroring of the ballet taking place. No, what I don't like is how similar the ending feels to The Wrestler (2008), as Randy jumps from the ring and everyone chants his name before the screen goes black. Nina jumps too (it is the role of the swan), and then everyone begins chanting her name as the screen whitens out. It's not really that the endings are similar in story, but its also similar in the way he executes it.

END SPOILER ALERT

This movie belongs to Portman, who turns in a terrific performance that is sure to garner her tons of accolades and awards, perhaps an Oscar. Was it the best of the year? Hard to say, as I still have many more films to see. But Portman sells her role, and is able to transfer from uptight, to relaxed, and completely seductive throughout the course of the film. The Academy loves showy performances over the simply, quieter ones, and this one surely draws attention.

Black Swan, in the end, succeeds at being an exceptional thriller and performance piece, and showcase for both Aronofsky's excellent sense of tension and Portman's terrific prowess as an actress. Though it goes over the top and is not something I'd sit through again soon, I do recommend it highly. Just be warned that it is an exhausting movie emotionally, and as Nina feels relieved, so do we.

Rated R for hot lesbian lovin', hot Natalie Portman masturbatin', and creepy teacher-inappropriately-touching-student lovin'. Also blood.

Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: Part Une (2010)

Harry Potter has come a long way from where he started as a wide-eyed child entering the magical gates of Hogwarts. Then, the magical world was a bright and happy place, with dangers lurking around corners, but easily solvable with a little determination and ingenuity. The films and books have become increasingly darker in tone as the characters age and the bright world shatters around them; indeed, a metaphor for all children growing up and realizing life is not the easy, happy experience they thought it would be.

Deathly Hallows opens with the cold-blooded murder of a Muggle Studies teacher, and the bodies begin piling up from there. Harry, Ron, and Hermione (do I need to tell you who plays them?) must set out to find and destroy Horcruxes, evil objects that conceal bits of Voldemort's soul. They start under the protection of their elders, but soon set out on their own and are stranded in the English countryside with nary a clue as to what to do.

As a Harry Potter adaptation, this is the film I have been waiting for. By splitting the book in two parts (also a clever ploy to make more money), writer Steve Kloves and director David Yates are finally allowed to take their time, and really let us get to know these people that we have seen grow up before our very eyes. The movie adds scenes that aren't in the book that help deepen the characters: in the opening we see Hermione erase her parents memories and Harry and Hermione share a dance when all is bleak.

Of course, the film neglects certain details that help flesh out other characters: Lupin's reluctance to stay with Tonks is something they eliminated, though I think that is a powerful scene that forces Harry to accept the fact that he really is on his own, and can no longer rely on adults. And Kreacher's development is thrown out, as he becomes a loyal slave to Harry Potter, someone he once resented.

Otherwise, this film is basically the book, even including long passages in the second half of the trio wandering aimlessly through the woods trying to decide what to do next. As far as a Harry Potter movie is concerned, it is decidedly quiet. There are explosions and chases at the beginning, and many deaths permeate the film; but the film lives and breathes with its quieter moments, including a scene between Ron and Hermione playing a piano, and Ron's continual monitoring of the radio to hear who has died.

The reason Prisoner of Azkaban has been continually lauded as the best in the Potter series is because Alfonso Cuarón gave the film a natural pace, and it flowed as a movie would. It also changed the landscape of the Potterverse and brought the series down to darker depths. Harry Potters 1 - 2 and 4 - 6 have always had a rushed sense about them, though I feel Yates found a better sense of pace in Half-Blood Prince.

When both films are combined they will probably total five hours or so, and will be glorious retellings of a story every Potterfan loves. The only real problem with the film is its eventual and unavoidable sudden ending, but that can be forgiven as it is only half a movie. People will be frustrated because it isn't the same Potter film of the past; its a slower film, and I loved that. And it raises the expectations even higher for Harry's grand finale next July as the Battle of Hogwarts takes place. Yates has delivered introspective Potter; now, the public is hungering for epic Potter.

One final note: the film contains a beautifully animated segment telling the story of the Deathly Hallows, narrated by Emma Watson. Its these touches that help the movie succeed.

The Social Network (2010)

When David Fincher's latest film (and quite possibly his best) ends, you may wonder what was it about this film that you loved? I find it almost indescribable to tell you what was so wonderful about the film, but let me try and explain.

The movie concerns the invention of the social networking site, Facebook. It is about Mark Zuckerberg (Jesse Eisenberg), his friend Eduardo Saverin (Andrew Garfield), and the various other members who take part in this revolutionary invention. When it was announced two years ago that they were making a Facebook movie, many of us (including myself) scoffed at the notion. How could they make a movie about Facebook? Then when Fincher was signed to direct and Aaron Sorkin, creator and writer of the West Wing, signed to pen the script, many of us breathed a collective sigh.

And they have delivered. I think the film benefits more from Sorkin then from Fincher; his memorable dialogue is what drives every scene, and I would be surprised if this didn't win for Best Adapted Screenplay at this year's Oscars. Of course, Sorkin's dialogue would be nothing if he didn't have a fine cast to embody those words and make their own. And I am not diminishing Fincher's role in all of this; it was his sure hand that guided them through it all to the very finish.

Besides telling the story of how Saverin, Zuckerberg's only real friend, came to sue him for $600 million, the movie meditates on how Facebook has infiltrated our very lives. What made it appealing and different from MySpace or Friendster? Exclusivity. The site was founded solely for Harvard students, then expanded to Cambridge, Yale, and Stanford, and eventually across two continents and farther. When I first joined Facebook four years back, I had to be invited to join (I was only in High School), and it felt like I was being admitted into an exclusive club (I believe it had only recently be opened up to email invitation). Now to sign up is as simple as couple clicks, but then, it was something special.

The movie also does an excellent job of balancing between the invention and meteoric rise of Facebook, and the two depositions, one for Saverin, the other for three Harvard men who had an idea for a site called The Harvard Connection, which Zuckerberg essentially took and made better. These three men, two of the brothers, have a legitimate case, as does Saverin. In fact, from the very first scene, Zuckerberg isn't entirely likable. And I think that's what is amazing about this movie.

We've had unlikable protagonists before, but I think Zuckerberg's portrayal is so poignant because it proves that success and glamour don't go hand in hand, as people would like to believe. Before he invents Facebook, Zuckerberg is nobody, just a computer hacker and programmer (and an excellent one). But after, he gets groupies, and he suddenly becomes the person everyone wants to be friends with. If they spent time getting to know him, they might not like the person they see. The film opens with Zuckerberg on a date with Erica Albright (Rooney Mara, who will play Lisbeth in Fincher's remake of Girl with the Dragon Tattoo), and she says, "You are going to be a successful programmer, and you are going to spend your whole thinking girls won't date you because you are a nerd. And I tell you, from the bottom of my heart, that that is not true. It's because you're an asshole."

The movie cites this incident as Zuckerberg's initial creation of Facebook. If you search Erica Albright Real on Google, you'll return articles contemplating whether this character actually exists or not. In fact, Zuckerberg said the movie plays out a lot like fiction, some of it weighed in fact, of course, but certain events dramatized or invented for the filmmakers benefit.

And I say good for them. My favorite biopic (which this essentially is) ever made is Amadeus (1984), but that movie makes a rivalry between Salieri and Mozart that didn't actually exist in real life. But do I care? No, because the movie plays out with terrific drama and is one of the best movies I have ever seen. If you want straight fact, go find a biography (which I'm sure we'll see one soon about the ACTUAL Zuckerberg story).

Fincher and Sorkin and everyone involved have crafted one of the year's best pictures, and one I eagerly await seeing again. It's a film about our times, about lives. It is also the story of how to skillfully screw your friend out of a business. Sean Parker (Justin Timberlake), the founder of Napster, exclaims to Zuckerberg "This is our time!" Indeed it is.

The Other Guys (2010)

The Other Guys was chugging along nicely, a rather stupid action-comedy starring Will Ferrell and Mark Wahlberg, but really what did I expect? Then the movie ended, and the most surprising thing happened: the end credits began displaying graphs, charts, and data on the bailout, CEO spending, CEO salaries, Ponzi schemes, and the like. For a minute, I wondered whether The Other Guys had been a smart satire on America's economy. Then I realized nope, Adam McKay just thinks throwing up a bunch of info like that will make us think the movie was smarter then it really was.

But really, it isn't half-bad. It opens with Sam Jackson and Dwayne Johnson being super-macho stereotypes of themselves, which is pretty funny, and Ferrell is actually hilarious in his early scenes as a subdued worker. It's nice to see him restrained and not the pompous idiot of Anchorman, Talladega Nights, Semi-Pro, or Step Brothers. Mark Wahlberg is less funny as Ferrell's partner, but he still does a good enough job. Much of their chemistry in the beginning is what makes the movie fun (a debate over tunas versus lions is the film's best moment).

But then the film becomes embroiled in its plot, and then the film becomes less inspired. Ferrell starts becoming hyperactive again, and the movie hits its lowest points when Eva Mendes comes onscreen. This isn't because Ms. Mendes is a bad actress (she was exceptional in Bad Lieutenant), but because the joke around her character is totally miscalculated. Ferrell completely disregards her beauty and mocks her constantly, yet hot women are still attracted to him. She is given terrible lines as well ("I show him my breasts every morning and tell him, 'these are waiting for you.'"), and overall is squandered.

Then there's the plot, which involves Steve Coogan carrying out a Ponzi-ish scheme, I guess. He keeps borrowing money from investors with no real intent on paying them back. What is particularly odd about this film is how Ferrell and Wahlberg spend most of their time protecting Coogan from the villains, when in the end, he is put behind bars and is himself the main villain. It's funny to have the heroes stake so much for the villain.

Finally, the action itself is less-then-inspired. I can tell this film was influenced by Hot Fuzz, the far superior action-comedy, and that's because that film had style. This film lacks any sort of style and is dead in the water. Helicopters fly around and car chases ensue, but there's really no awe coming from them, and in the end you are left yawning.

So, in the end, this picture fails because apparently it wants to be a satire on the economy and big business, when really, it is anything but.

Inception (2010)

It's hard to really give a thorough description of what Inception is about, but here's the most basic ingredient to understanding how complex it is: Imagine the Matrix. Now imagine that there was a Matrix inside that Matrix. And possibly another one inside that one. You kind of get the head trip that Inception is about to take you on.

The movie concerns that which is most precious to movies: dreams. Movies realize our greatest dreams and greatest fantasies, and Inception is a movie to challenge all those notions. Here is the reason we go to the cinema: to see things we've never seen before, to experience thrills that we've never dreamed of. A Trip to the Moon was a modern marvel in 1902, and I'm happy to report that in a summer full of sequels, reboots, and whatever else, Christopher Nolan has delivered what could very well turn out to be his best movie.

I say could because I'm not sure of the movie's greatness yet. But it is a movie that, once over, immediately warrants a repeat viewing because you want to go back, knowing what you now know, and reconstruct the movie from there. Repeat viewings, as is true for all movies, test whether something is truly a masterpiece. For now, I will say Inception is one of the best of the year and maybe that opinion will change later on.

The movie is about a specialized group of people who steal ideas from other people's dreams. Leonardo DiCaprio plays Cobb, one of the best in this field, along with Joseph Gordon-Levitt. I won't even begin trying to explain how this process, known as "extraction," exactly works, and I won't even delve too far into the concept of Inception except to say, it is the opposite of an extraction.

Marion Cotillard is also in this movie, as Leo's wife, and she has a stare that terrifies the shit out of you. There's also Ellen Page, who doesn't know how this stuff works and so serves as our entry point into the whole idea of the dream world. Her job is to construct the reality of the dream so that the subject doesn't realize there are other "dreamers" there.

Nolan, who is the sole writing credit on this one (usually his brother Jonathan collaborates, but this one was maybe to intricate for Nolan to lay out for him on paper), proves how adept he is at juggling multiple story lines. This movie is the perfect study of parallel editing over the course of an hour to build tension so high that you are about to burst at the seams with craziness just wanting it to all end.

Undoubtedly there will be several knockoffs of this film down the line, but we will weather them. People will try to be as brilliant as Nolan, but few if any will succeed. He is working on a whole new level, way ahead of the rest of his competition, and inventing the curve. Did I understand Inception? Yes. Can I explain it? Yes, but it would take far too much time to lay out, and honestly, you should just go see it. It's a movie that has to be experienced, it cannot simply be explained.

Midway 2010

Around this time, critics reflect on the first half of the year and usually name some of their favorite movies that you should go and see immediately. Last year I was able to do this because I had already seen a fair number of movies and had five I could easily recommend (though none of those made it into my top 10 at the end of the year). Usually movies that come out in the first half of the year are easily forgotten, with a few rare exceptions. I have seen less movies this year because I became busy with life's projects. Also, the majority of movies out there right now just look like plain shit.

I will tell you this. The best movie I've seen so far this year is Toy Story 3, and the worst movie I've seen is MacGruber. The rest of the movies I've seen this year are as follows (alphabetically):

Get Him to the Greek

The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo

Iron Man 2

Kick-Ass

Shutter Island

Winter's Bone

A limited range of movies that I do not feel much like writing about. Let's just say only one of those movies is really good, two of them are decent, one is fair, and the rest are poor. So instead of focusing on the best so far this year (as there aren't many I have evidence of) I will focus on six movies coming out over the next six months that I really want to see.

Inception

Release Date: July 16th

In a summer filled with sequels and uninspired adaptations, here is what appears to be the only original movie to come out of Hollywood in the summertime. Thank God for Christopher Nolan, who can make almost anything he wants now that the Dark Knight is the third biggest money maker of all time, domestically. Leonardo DiCaprio, Ellen Page, Michael Caine, Joseph Gordon-Levitt, Cillian Murphy, and Marion Cotillard all star in this intriguing thriller about dreams, or something. The trailers are intentionally vague, and I refuse to read any reveal about the plot elements. Nolan hasn't made a dud yet, so let's hope he doesn't start here. This movie looks amazing.

Scott Pilgrim vs. the World

Release Date: August 13th

It doesn't look like a masterpiece by any means, but Edgar Wright is a talented director (he helmed Shaun of the Dead and Hot Fuzz), and this movie looks endlessly inventive. Michael Cera is Scott Pilgrim, in a boy-meets-girl story with a twist: apparently they exist in some video game/comic book universe, because in order to date the girl Ramona (Mary Elizabeth Winstead) he must first fight off her seven evil exes. It's a nice set-up, and the film's palate reflects both a comic book and a video game as various actions are accompanied by their verbal form (for example, ding dong). This movie just looks like plain, awesome fun at the end of the summer, and one of only two movies I am actually looking forward to this season. Otherwise, it's the art house for me.

Machete

Release Date: September 3rd

The fake trailer that opened up the Robert Rodriguez/Quentin Tarantino double bill Grindhouse three years ago has actually morphed into a feature film of its own. There is no official trailer, though Rodriguez released another fake trailer on Cinco de Mayo that made the film look like it was about immigration (which it apparently isn't, according to Rodriguez himself). Still, the man can be entertaining when he's not doing Spy Kids sequels or Sharkboy and Lava Girl, and instead focuses on adult-themed movies. Lindsay Lohan is in this, as a nun or something, which is a big what? Overall, though, I will be happy to see this when it comes out.

The Social Network

Release Date: October 1st

A movie about Facebook? No thank you. Oh wait, it's written by Aaron Sorkin and directed by David Fincher, starring Jesse Eisenberg? Sign me up! I don't know much about this film, except that it's about the invention of the revolutionary networking site that this entry will be published on (and you too blogger), and Jesse Eisenberg is giving Michael Cera a run for his money as the uneasy but sympathetic young male. The poster states "You don't get to 500 Million Friends without making a few enemies first," and is about how the creator had a falling out with one of his close friends, played by Andrew Garfield. I'll admit, if anyone less credible was attached I wouldn't be interested, but Fincher can usually produce something interesting.

Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: Part I

Release Date: November 19th

I am a lifelong Potter fan, but the movies have never really done the stories complete justice. Current director David Yates is the oddest choice to take the series into the finishing stretch, but the film has been shot, and we are now getting Part I of two parts. This might become a trendy new way to capitalize on your ending series, as Twilight has now unnecessarily decided to break its final book into two parts, rather then make a three-hour movie. Whatever. Basically the final two movies focus on Harry's journey to find and destroy Horcruxes, which are dark magical objects that Lord Voldemort has hid his soul in to ensure immortality. Hopefully Yates delivers, but we'll see.

True Grit

Release Date: December 25th

The Coen Bros. are hit and miss with me. I love Fargo, No Country for Old Men, and A Serious Man, but could care less for The Big Lebowski (though I want to give that a rewatch) and Burn After Reading. I haven't seen John Wayne's True Grit, though I plan to before this is released. Really, I know nothing about this movie, but it's the Coen Bros., and with them you are always in for an interesting treat. This also marks the fourth movie they've released in four consecutive years, which is quite a feat for anyone. IMDb has three projects in development for them, but no word on if they are taking 2011 off. If they are, they deserve it. Either way, I will be there to see this movie.

MacGruber (2010)

Spoilers. But do you really care?

The fact that Will Forte, John Solomon, and director Jorma Taccone took a one-joke sketch from SNL and turned into a feature-length movie that is only half-bad is admirable. The original sketch spoofed MacGyver, a show I'm not terribly familiar with, and locked Will Forte, Kristen Wiig, and a random guest star in a non-descript location while the threat of a bomb going off was imminent (Wiig's only duty was to remind MacGruber of the countdown). The sketches are all about a minute long, are pretty funny, and always end with the bomb exploding and everyone dying.

Val Kilmer plays the villain of the film, Dieter von Cunth, and once you hear that name you can pretty much telegraph the trajectory of the rest of the picture. The film is filled with wall-to-wall raunch, some of it funny, most of it not. MacGruber is called into action when Dieter steals some missile, and he rounds up his old team of "Killer-Stoppers," which mainly consist of WWE wrestlers. Their fate is one of the movie's inspired moments, and forces MacGruber to recruit the much-less-80s Lt. Dixon Piper (Ryan Phillippe), and his old flame's friend, Vicki (Kristen Wiig, in the same role as the show).

The movie gets some mileage out of the joke that MacGruber's accomplishments are a bit exaggerated. He attempts to make a homemade grenade, which fails to work, and refuses to use guns only because "He never learned how." When he does finally fire a semi-automatic, he does so with glee, and wonders why he always bothered with those intricate gadgets in the first place.

But besides being a buffoon, MacGruber is also somewhat of a psychotic, disturbed man. A fellow driver insults his ride, and MacGruber memorizes the license plate of the offending vehicle. He even writes the plate down over and over in a steno book, and whether the audience is supposed to find this funny or disturbing is a bit of a mystery, though I assume it was supposed to be comedic. It was a bit more disturbing to me. When Mac finally finds the car, he burns it, and I guess we're supposed to feel good for him, but I didn't.

The origins of Dieter and Grubs' rivalry is also a tad more disturbing then you would expect. They were all friends in college, when MacGruber stole the woman Dieter was in love with and talked her into having an abortion (the apple of their eyes is Maya Rudolph), so Dieter retaliates by blowing up Maya Rudolph and their wedding. It's a backwards story, and I admire the filmmakers somewhat for making MacGruber not totally relatable, but he's still one messed-up guy.

But the movie's jokes are also hit-and-miss: MacGruber's technique of running around naked with celery sticking out his butt to distract guards is amusing, but not funny or worth repeating. And the sex scene between MacGruber and Vicki and then later the ghost of his dead wife are more annoying then funny (he makes love while hee-hawing), or the joke would be funny if it weren't played out so long.

But I also don't think the movie embraces its ridiculousness enough, and instead feels like its being restrained by its action-comedy quota. Wayne's World and The Blues Brothers are two terrific comedies that totally embrace absurdity, but also give us characters we more or less love, despite the fact that they're not really honorable. MacGruber isn't lovable, and instead can't seem to fully explore the realm of the absurd.

Part of the reason this movie flounders is that it feels like these men haven't grown-up at all. Immaturity is fine, but the script feels like it was written by a 13-year-old, though I firmly believe it was written by the 13-year-old spirits of the men who loved the 80s action movies they are spoofing, just injecting it with things their inner 13 would have found hilarious. That's fine, except this movie is rated R, and is a hard R, so adults will mostly come to see this (and frankly, 13-year-olds probably shouldn't. 14 is ok). Most of them will leave disappointed, but the few whose 13-year-old spirit still lives on in them will love it. I guess that means mine is dead.

Kick-Ass (2010)

Kick-Ass starts out with a noble goal: "Why hasn't anyone ever tried to be a superhero before?" inquires the hero, Dave Lizewski (Aaron Johnson). "Probably because they'd get their ass kicked," responds one of his friends. And when Dave first dons the outfit of Kick-Ass, he does get his ass thoroughly kicked, so much so that he nears death. You'd think this would stop him, but instead it screws up his nerves so that he can't feel pain as much and can endure more.

Dave is a normal High School nerd who dreams of the hot girl (Lyndsy Fonseca) and whacks off daily, with an ever-expanding collection of comic books. Fed up with getting pushed around, he becomes Kick-Ass, with the hope to do good, though he fully acknowledges he has no reason to seek vengeance: no murdered parents or otherwise.

It is sad then that the movie's best characters, Big Daddy (Nicolas Cage) and Hit Girl (Chloë Grace Moretz) conform to the conventions of the comic book. Big Daddy is seeking revenge for one reason or another, and has trained his daughter to become a totally bad-ass killer. Yet in a movie that is trying to convey realism, it is these characters that shatter that realistic barrier, taking on dozens of villains by themselves and standing victorious over them all. And while their scenes of kick-assery provide much of the movies action thrills, I was more interested in Dave's story of grappling with the responsibility of being a superhero, rather then Big Daddy's quest to take revenge on Mob Boss Frank D'Amico (Mark Strong).

Some people may find the notion of Hit Girl altogether unsettling and quite disturbing. She is, after all, a kid who kills dozens upon dozens of people. And superheroes traditionally don't kill when they have to, right? I have no moral qualms over her actions (does that make me a bad person? Maybe so), but I think the movie has a bad sense of timing in the fun it's going after. In the first scene when we see Hit Girl annihilate a crowd of baddies, it is completely awe-inspiring. But when she storms D'Amico's New York penthouse to Joan Jett's Bad Reputation, the stakes have changed, and the fun factor is all but null. In fact, when Hit Girl is getting her ass kicked, it seems like the movie is still going for laughs. What?

I really enjoyed the movie, but I can't help but pick apart it's inconsistencies, and I have one more complaint: the movie seemed to be heading in a totally unexpected direction, and for a good minute I thought that this movie would do the unexpected. But, alas, it conforms to the clichés of the genre and disappointed me somewhat. While the tone of the film would have been much darker, I think it would have been a bold way of challenging audiences. Just saying, I think they pussed out.

But, overall, the movie is still a fun entertainment. It succeeds more then the film version of Watchmen (2009) did of examining the life of a superhero, so that's something. But, in the end, it's not near the satire it quite wants to be.