This is another one of those 50/50 years. There's plenty of good, but plenty of "meh", mediocre and bad films. The Academy Awards selections were a marked improvement over the previous year's. Although, the pick for winner...does any still give a rip about King's Speech and did you even back then? Looking at the list, I'd say by and large at least 8 of those were far better films than King's Speech. King's Speech feels like that boring English movie that seems to be the shoe in stereotype for Best Picture in yesteryear. Could you tell how much I care less about King's Speech?
So, here's King's Speech followed by all the films that were better than it
WINNER - The King's Speech
127 Hours
Black Swan
The Fighter
Inception
The Kids Are All Right
The Social Network
Toy Story 3
True Grit
Winter's Bone
And now here's my films, that surprisingly does not contain King's Speech.
Black Swan
Masterpiece. Aronofsky crafts his best film (so far) through a homage-like movie to The Red Shoes. Although, I enjoy the darkness and more sinister vibe he brings to the table. Natalie Portman also gives her career best performance. The film also continues Barbara Hershey's string of excellence she started in The Mist. I absolutely loved this very unique psychological horror film and was hoping for it to win Best Picture even though I knew it didn't have a chance. And you're telling me that Tom Hooper's work even holds a candle to what Aronofsky did here? Ugh...
Harry Potter & The Deathly Hallows: Part 1
My pick for best Potter movie. This one just nailed it from book to screen, plus brought a healthy mix of darkness with the wonderful style David Yates had been putting in the previous 2 films. This one really masters the settings, character and emotions needed to bring this epic to life. There's also plenty of good action and suspense scenes. This is top notch Potter and really was a film that confirmed Harry Potter's place atop the pantheon of great film franchises.
Inception
This is likely Christopher Nolan's best film, but all the Batman blowhards will likely just keep talking loud to keep anyone from hearing Inception arguments. But, this is truly is the type of brilliant original stuff I love seeing from Christopher Nolan. He crafted a film that can be watched, analyzed, debated, theorized and written about for years. And he made the film in such a way that it can almost satisfy and not lose any of the general audience popcorn muncher and completely enlighten the more refined film viewers. Its got some terrific action, effects and performances as well. I truly think this is one of those great film that should stand the test of time and be talked about for years and years...but in this day and age I think we have just too damn many movies that it just buries everything and prevents films from becoming all-time classics. We're just engulfed in 2-3 new releases minimum per weekend...its crazy. And by the time the next weekend gets here we need to immediately shift the conversation. That's what I love about my blog here is, I enjoy talking about films past and trying to keep the discussion of them alive.
Kick-Ass
My distaste for the sequel to this one almost clouded my judgement putting this one on here. But this one really is a great film. Its full of action, violence, gore and comedy along with what you love about comic book movies. Oh, and its got Nicholas Cage with a role that provides both his dramatic side and his outrageous side. This one just really works in its own right and having a sequel only proved that this works primarily in a one-shot. Matthew Vaughn was also one key ingredient that made this work. When he doesn't quit them, he actually makes some really terrific films.
Predators
As said last year here "Predators is one really fun Saturday afternoon kind of movie. It successfully manages to play as a sequel and kind of reboot this series to a new audience. I know some have issue, but I love Adrien Brody's ridiculous performance here. It really adds some B-Movie level of goofy fun to something that's style suggests a more serious tone. Not a huge named cast, but they all manage to stick out in their own way. The movie evokes a lot of what you loved about the first Predator while carving everything into its own. I was really hoping we'd see a 4th one and am surprised we haven't. This movie didn't cost that much money and made profit domestically plus a solid overseas buffer."
Scott Pilgrim Vs. The World
Man, Ant-Man is gonna be fun if this movie's action is any sort of indicator. This 8-bit inspired comic book adaptation does what i've mentioned Edgar Wright does best. He provides, fun, laughs, action and some drama (even as off the wall as this one is). It sucks that this one didn't do better box office, but people often shy away from non-sequels or non-remakes. It didn't have a big brand name aside from geek recognition, plus Edgar Wright hasn't had a massive box office reputation, so I suppose its also no surprise. Michael Cera is terrific as someone you get on board with despite disagreeing with a lot of his decisions throughout the film. There's a lot of dynamite cameo-guest type roles that will easily win you over. This movie is visually stimulating and also quite amusing in terms of action and comedy. Not seen it? Check it the hell out.
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