Top 10 of the past 12 months
Baaaam, it’s been a while, I have seen so many films this past year but haven’t written anything in 8 months, that is serious slackness and I mean to address this problem from now.
Several reasons for this lack of output, #1, Day job, sucks ass and sucks my enthusiasm. #2, more festival viewings, screeners and screenings but less actual cinema visits. The original purpose was to write about films I’ve seen in UK cinemas but with the film work I’ve gotten involved with I have have been seeing a much more varied selection of films but my blogging hasn’t reflected this, I have a whole host to backlog in the coming weeks. #3 pretty mundane year for movies compared to recent years, I sincerely hope this changes.
Anyhoo, back to the polling.
1) Kick Ass. A reminder that popcorn films can be the most entertaining films when story and character aren’t neglected for gimmicky effects.
2) Bad Lietenant: Port of Call, New Orleans. Surprised to see Nicholas Cage featuring in my top 2 but when he’s good, he’s the best. Trouble is, he’s rarely good.
3) Inception. Christopher Nolan does it again, not his best film but certainly his biggest.
4) Private Eye. Not released here, but one of the most entertaining films I’ve seen in a long time. Highlight of London Korean Film Festival. I fear that this may be the tail end of quality Korean Cinema now that it is so reliant on Hollywood money.
5) Treeless Mountain. Slept on and incredibly sweet.
6) Whatever Works. Woody Allen relies heavily on Larry David and the end seems tacked on but an excellent laugh nonetheless.
7) Heartbreaker. A stupid chick flick rom com but done so well. Tough not to love.
8) Dogtooth. Fucked up in a good way, a million miles better than Anti Christ.
9) The Killer Inside Me. Brilliant performances but slightly textbook in feel.
10) The Illusionist. A cartoon hasn’t depressed me this much since Bambi’s mum died. Beautifully animated.
So some decent titles but can’t help but feel underwhelmed by much of what I saw, with many acclaimed directors not quite living up to their talents. MicMacs was amusing but too twee and preachy for me to really care about it. Four Lions had some funny parts and a good ending but all in all it wasn’t all that, considering what Chris Morris is capable of. Thirst had some good elements but suffered from Korean movie syndrome and all in all just seemed like an unrealised mash-up of three different films. A Serious Man was good but quite pedestrian in feel, I get that that was the point, to reflect the protagonists life but that doesn’t excuse the plodding pace. Shutter Island was enjoyable but so predictable that I left feeling disappointed and Hierro was practically Shutter Island in Spanish, but with boobs.
I still haven’t gotten round to seeing Ponyo yet but I’m confident that it would have made my top 10.
If you’re wondering where Avatar, Scott Pilgrim and the A-Team feature in this chart, go fuck yourself.
