Monday, January 3, 2011

2010, A Year in Review - Part 2


2010 was a year where the cinema just kind of coasted along on the fumes left from 2009, but that still doesn't mean there aren't movies worth awarding, and that's what we're gonna start doing today with the first three categories of my 2010 awards! Let's get things started, and remember check back in a few days for Part 3 where we'll delve into the winners of the tech categories for this year.

Worst Movie of the Year - Percy Jackson and the Olympians
I always like to start with the worst so that anything beyond this point can just be seen as going up, and for me there was no other movie that missed the mark in 2010 quite like Percy Jackson and the Olympians. I liked the book, but the movie just failed to capture any of the charm that the book had with its deft blend of Greek mythology and modern day adventure with smart, savvy humor. The movie took far too many liberties, left out the main villain of the story, and never took anytime to let anything ever sink in or develop, leading to a large disappointment, but also an almost unwatchable movie in and of itself.
(Runners-up: Black Swan, Endhiran, Due Date, and The Legend of the Guardians-The Owls of Ga'Hoole)

Biggest Disappointment of the Year - Inception
Usually the biggest disappointment isn't a movie I fully hated, it's typically a movie that I found good, but could have been more, and that was the case this year. I didn't hate Inception, but I'd be lying if I didn't say I wasn't disappointed. The movie was entertaining, but never seemed to fully coalesce. Many ideas were proposed, but most were never fully explored, and left the movie kind of searching for an identity. While the action was thrilling, and the overarching story entertaining enough to warrant seeing, the movie's expectations were far greater than what it delivered.
(Runners-Up: Percy Jackson and the Olympians, Iron Man 2, Shutter Island, and Black Swan)

Biggest Surprise of the Year - The A-Team
A surprise can be anything, from a movie that I hadn't even heard of till I stepped into the theater, to a movie that I didn't expect to be any good and to only come out loving it, and that was the case with the greatest surprise of 2010, The A-Team. Let's be honest, remakes, especially of old TV shows, are typically horrendous, but this one defied convention. The movie maintained the spirit of the classic TV show while being a fun and entertaining action flick on top of it all. To put it simply, there were few movies this year that I had this much fun watching in a movie theater, and that's why it was the most pleasant surprise of 2010.
(Runners-Up: Mao's Last Dancer, The Karate Kid, It's Kind of a Funny Story, and The Book of Eli)

No comments:

Post a Comment