Films of 2010

I was looking at the movies that came out in 2010 to see if any of them deserved to be added to my best films lists on my media blog.  It had not sunk in while I was watching the Oscars, probably because they were so bad, but last year was a horrible year for movies in general.  I went through some of the movies that came out and only a handful stood out in terms of the qualities I like to see in films: 1, a great screenplay regardless of whether it follows a convention or not; 2, excellent acting even if it means non acting (Keanu, yes, I'm talking about you); 3, intelligent direction and cinematography that brings something fresh to the screen without obviousness and artistic pretension.  So which of the films I saw in 2010 meet this criteria?

I've gone over the many movies that came out last year.  TRUE GRIT is a very good movie, probably my favorite from Hollywood.  INCEPTION also is well done even though I thought the side story of Dicaprio's wife was considerably more compelling than the main story of placing an idea into someone's mind.  When a side story is more interesting than the main story, it signals that an opportunity was lost.  I liked THE TOWN as well.  But despite its intelligence and the serious treatment of its subject, the screenplay has more than a couple of clichés that rise to the surface, bloated and stinking.  WINTER'S BONE is gritty and real and full of excellent tension, but it offers no wisdom, no depth apart from its portrayal.  It's a classic exhibit of 'show don't tell' which in the end becomes nothing more than a sketch or a slice of life.  Others deserve mention, including: RESTREPO, LET ME IN, THE GIRL WHO KICKED THE HORNET'S NEST, and even THE OTHER GUYS.

But the best film from 2010 is a Korean film called POETRY.  This drama will captivate you and make your heart ache; it is sweet and full of wisdom and beauty. The strange thing about this film is it's a small film but large as well.

Quick Review: "THE NEXT THREE DAYS"

I love crime stories.  I don't know a better way to create conflict and drama, and I think most authors would agree with me; war, of course, is another excellent way to imbue the story with conflict and drama but one could argue that war is a crime.  Anyway, I love crime films, and this film does a good job of keeping its audience interested in what is going to happen next.

Basically, one morning a husband and wife and their child here a knock on the door and it's the police with a search warrant.  They burst into the house and find the wife (played by Elizabeth Banks) washing some blood off of her trench coat.  She is arrested for the murder of her boss with whom she had a heated argument today before, plus she was seen leaving the crime scene.  She maintains her innocence but goes to the county jail, where she stays through the trial and subsequent appeals.  The husband (Russell Crowe) comes up with a plan to break her out but finds out that he only has three days to do it.

The film takes its time in developing the husband and the changes he has to go through to break his wife out of jail.  And even though the premise strains credulity, it makes an honest effort of maintaining as much plausibility as possible.  The acting was good.  The direction was good.  The script was good.  It was a good movie with a couple of really tense scenes and a couple of interesting twists.  But it was not outstanding. 

I liked it.  What I didn't like was how the film played with the original crime that the wife commits or doesn't commit.  Throughout the film the audience is kept guessing, but then at the end of the film we find out what happened, and I don't know about you, but I hate being manipulated by carefully edited flashbacks designed to create tension then at the end of the film the director essentially says "see, I got you". 3/5