January 4, 2011
A Top Ten list from Glenn Watson
A classic year for the kids and a thoughtful year for the rest of us at 2010’s box office. Animation proved itself again as the most inventive and intelligent branch of cinema. Some big books made big bucks – Harry Potter’s latest outing and a Swedish bestseller trilogy. The social media of cinema played host to The Social Network, an expose of Facebook’s origins. Inception played with our heads. Flash in the pan films like Knight and Day cruised on their charm while bang-crash blockbusters (The A-Team, The Expendables) failed to live up to their hype. On the crest of 2011 hopes are high for one-to-watch movies. Meanwhile, here are ten lords a-leaping from 2010.10. 4.3.2.1.
A crackerjack crime caper from Noel Clarke (Kidulthood). A chance encounter with diamond thieves throws the lives of four female friends into turmoil. Clarke riffs on the rewind-play-again plotting of Pulp Fiction and Love Actually’s multi-strand stories as each girl’s perspective is played out. Crammed with enough incident for several movies, Clarke scripts and directs with Hitchcockian bravado. Fast, fun and impressive.
9. The Book of Eli
Action films about faith and scripture are hard to come by. Trekking a different road to The Road, this asks if religion is a blessing or a bane, a friend or a foe. Denzel Washington is a protector to a sacred book that’s wanted by Gary Oldman’s power-hungry gangster. Set in a post-apocalyptic America, and washed out with the Hughes Brothers’ visual palette, it’s an exciting, optimistic and beautiful actioner.
8. Inception
Christopher Nolan loves to mess with our minds (Memento, The Prestige). And he does so again with Inception. A trippy thriller, it’s like The Matrix with dreams instead of machines. Leonardo Dicaprio is a dream stealer whose team attempt the tougher task of planting an idea in Cillian Murphy’s head. Vertiginous special effects and complex plotting make for a quirky and not-so-easy watch. It demands attention – and divides opinion.
7. Battle for Terra
Swept up in Avatar’s slipstream, this similarly-plotted animated movie is a gem in its own right. Aimed at kids but with an unstinting approach to death and destruction, it’s a punchy little movie. The feisty airborne heroine is appealing and the action fabulously filmed. Kids too young to sit through Avatar and anyone interested in films brave enough to overturn expectations should give it a go.
6. Ponyo
A fish in a jar turns into a water-spouting human girl under the care of five-year old Sosuke. Naming her Ponyo, the two form a friendship which transforms Sosuke’s world. But her undersea father wants her back. Hayao Miyazaki’s fantasy returns to, and surpasses, the childlike innocence of My Neighbour Tortoro. A magical tale of friendship and freewheeling adventure, crammed with ideas and emotion.
5. Girl with the Dragon Tattoo
Stieg Larsson’s bestseller is perfectly adapted for the screen as goth-chick punk hacker Lisbeth Salander aids a disgraced journo (Mikael Blomkvist) to untangle a series of grisly murders. Nuanced performances from Naoomi Rapace and Michael Nyqvist earth this intelligent and brutal movie. A slow-burn, screw-tight thriller, it works whether you know the books or not.
4. Karate Kid
Transported to China, this reboot of the 80s original may lack karate but the kid is great. Young Jaden Smith (Will Smith’s lad) excels as a bullied 12 year old taught kung fu by Jackie Chan’s mild-mannered janitor. Scintillating camerawork, edgy drama and post-Bourne action make for a surprising hit.
3. Secret of Kells
Blink and miss it, this one hardly made the cinemas. But its labyrinthine visuals are a wonder to behold in an animated fairytale about the book of Kells. Magical and lyrical, it casts a beguiling spell. Issues of faith and friendship play out in a 9th century monastery threatened by a Viking invasion. Boy monk Brendan and mystical forest spirit Aisling conspire to keep the book of Kells safe. Like an Irish Studio Ghibli, it dips its quill into history, myth and magic.
2. Toy Story 3
The lid comes off the toy box for one last time in Toy Story 3. Andy’s off to college and Woody, Buzz and co are about to be cast off. Ending up in a daycare centre for unruly tots, is this the end? Cranking up the action to new levels, it perfectly captures the riotous imagination of a child. Pulling off a surprisingly emotional coup at the end, even critics cried: with laughter and otherwise.
1. Everybody’s Fine
A wonderful ensemble, this small-scale movie is a multi-faceted gem. Quirkily directed by Brit-helmer Kirk Jones, it follows widower Frank (De Niro), as he pays unexpected visits to each of his grown-up kids. And soon finds out that everyone isn’t fine after all. A cracking cast and subtle, poetic direction wring every ounce from this not so flimsy story about staying in touch.