As I've talked to people online, I've found it odd that I've heard so many people say that 2010 was one of the worst years for movies in recent memory. However, to me, 2010 was probably the best year for movies. Normally, I go to the theaters maybe once or twice a year, three times tops. But this year, not only do I have enough movies to fill a Top 10 list (which will be coming soon) but I also have a list of notable movies that I missed out on. You see, I'm not a professional critic, no matter how much I'd like to be one. Can you imagine complaining about crap you hate...and actually getting PAID for it? But no, I have to spend my own money, of which I don't have much, and therefore I have to be much more judicious in what I see. In some cases, it works out in my favor. As much as I'd like to see how bad The Last Airbender really was for myself, I don't want to actually waste money on it. But in other cases, there are movies that I genuinely want to see but missed out on just because I didn't want to see them badly enough or was just plain broke.
Let Me In
Once I finally got my hands on Let The Right One In (yeah, maybe I got the "inferior" version with the "dumbed down" American subtitles but so what, I still got it, alright?), I loved it. While I wasn't necessarily scared by it, the haunting atmosphere was enough to evoke the intended emotions. In the end, I consider it a highly superior vampire "love story" to Twilight. Then again, I also think The Chipmunk Adventure is a better vampire "love story" but that's neither here nor there. Of course, when I heard there would be an American-ized remake, I was naturally cautious. Let's be honest, there are more bad remakes than good ones. But when I heard that Chloe Moretz was cast in the lead role, I figured it would be worth a shot. Then I saw the trailer and it looked pretty faithful to the original source material. But remakes are a double-edged sword to me. They somehow need to find the balance between giving props to the original and creating something new. And to me, at least judging by the trailer, Let Me In looked like a carbon copy of the original. So why would I want to go see it when I could watch Let The Right One In whenever I wanted? I felt the exact same way when the trailer for the Nightmare On Elm Street remake came out. It looked so much like the original that it made me want to watch the original instead. Thankfully I dodged that bullet as I heard, despite Jackie Earle Haley's best attempts, that movie ended up being quite horrible.
Red
"Watch old people blow shit up." I don't know if that was the actual tagline for the movie but if not, it should've been. Because honestly, that simple premise was enough for me to want to see it. With the likes of Morgan Freeman, Helen Mirren and John Malkovich, it felt like the high-end version of The Expendables for people who drink champagne with their pinkies up. Also, I don't know if it actually happened but if Morgan Freeman dropped f-bombs like he did in Wanted, I would've seen it immediately. So why didn't I go see Red? I don't know. I was invited by friends but I didn't go. I must've been broke that week or something. Or maybe I forgot about it. I can't imagine another movie I was so psyched to see then was so ambivalent towards when it finally came out. Except for maybe The Losers, a movie whose existence I totally forgot about until about last week, when I saw it at Wal-Mart for less than $10. Really? Already?
The Human Centipede
To be fair, I don't think this particular gem was screened anywhere near me, which was probably a blessing in disguise. The Human Centipede seems like the kind of movie that should be played in a smoky, seedy Grindhouse theater instead of the multi-plex at the mall. But I guess the floor's gonna be sticky either way, right? Nevertheless, I still haven't seen it now that it's been on video. Honestly, I think the main reason that I haven't watched it is because I don't want to see what happens when I queue it up on my roommates' Netflix account and see what kind of other stuff they get recommended to watch. Well, I DO want to see what happens...I'm just not that mean of a person. Still, I heard the movie wasn't all that bad, despite the gruesome concept, and a part of me was almost deflated once I heard that. I haven't seen a really shocking film lately and I don't want to go off the deep end by giving A Serbian Film a shot.
Jonah Hex
Honestly, Jonah Hex was one of my most looked-forward-to films of 2010. Not because I've ever read a Jonah Hex comic (I haven't) or I liked any of the casting choices (though Josh Brolin is pretty badass and I thought Will Arnett getting a role was kinda funny). Nope, the main reason I wanted to see Jonah Hex was because I heard freakin' Mastodon would be doing the music for the movie. This was the metalhead version of Daft Punk doing the music for Tron: Legacy (a choice I also supported) so I was super-pumped. Then the movie actually came out and the reviews started rolling in. But despite all of the negative reviews ripping the movie to shreds (or perhaps BECAUSE of them), I still wanted to see Jonah Hex for myself, even if only to hear some new Mastodon material. Unfortunately, it fell into the same category as The Last Airbender, where I couldn't really justify spending $10 or more to see it, even if I might enjoy how bad it is. But I'm still willing to give it a chance someday.
Inception
Yes, I have not seen Inception, making me one of the few people out there that hasn't. I don't know if it's my anti-socialness or what but I've found that I tend to stay away from whatever's popular, regardless of if it's good or not. The way I see it, there are tons of people that have seen Inception. Do I really need to? If I really wanted to know what's going on, I could just ask any of my friends that have seen it. And much like Avatar last year, Inception is one of those movies that NEEDS to be seen in a movie theater. I doubt the experience can be recreated on a home system, even if you have a Blu-Ray player and a 105" 3D TV. So instead of watching Inception, I think I can just watch The Dark Knight while tripping balls and get the same effect. Actually, that sounds like the end of Batman Begins, now that I think about it. So I'm just gonna watch Batman Begins.
Toy Story 3
This is going to sound rather mean considering Toy Story's standing as one of the best animated franchises of all time, but I've grown to HATE Toy Story 3 without actually having seen it. Anytime I hear the words "Toy Story 3" anymore, I'm filled with rage. Why? Well, first of all, I made the mistake of asking out the girl I liked to see Toy Story 3, which would've been our first date...had she said yes...which she never did. So now that's one of the many things that reminds me of her whenever I see them. But if that weren't bad enough, Toy Story 3 came back to haunt me at the end of the year. When I did my Black Friday shopping online, I found it for fairly cheap and decided to get it for my mom for Christmas, thinking it would be a good movie to have on hand for my nieces and nephews to watch whenever they're over. But it never came. Thankfully, Amazon was willing to give me a refund...and once they did, Toy Story 3 magically showed up in the mail. Oddly enough, it was about a day or two before Christmas, almost a full month after Black Friday, and it was delivered with a bunch of other missing mail such as out-of-date election fliers. Yeah, my mail here is horrible lately. I thought about watching it and giving it a chance but at that point, I just wanted to be done with it. On Christmas Eve (which was after my family's Christmas celebration), I just handed the DVD over without even wrapping it. So when I get angry about Toy Story 3, I need to remind myself just who the true enemies really are: girls and the United States Post Office.
The Other Guys
When a couple of my friends asked if I wanted to come along to see The Other Guys, I politely declined. I've been getting tired of Will Ferrell's schtick over the past few years and put his movies into two separate categories: Anchorman and Not Anchorman. As much as I liked Anchorman, I felt that his other movies couldn't really compare...even though the only other movie of his I saw was Semi-Pro, which was just OK. So imagine my shock when my friends said it was one of the funniest movies they've ever seen. But still, that didn't really egg me on to watch it for myself. Suddenly, for no real reason at all, my mom decided to get it for me for Christmas (bundled with a copy of Talladega Nights as well, which might I add was Full-Screen compared to The Other Guys' Widescreen because Wal-Mart are a bunch of idiots). So I watched it and liked it. And I even liked Talladega Nights to boot. Honestly, neither movie compares to Anchorman in my book but it did remind me that Will Ferrell can be great when working with the right people. The best way I can describe The Other Guys is like watching a buddy cop movie with a mentally handicapped person. The movie will be going like normal when suddenly they'll just blurt out something so completely random and unrelated to the rest of the movie that ends up being hilarious.
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