Favorite Films Of 2010 : A List of Top Picks with Trailers

I didn't get to see everything I wanted to yet this year. When I get around to Documentary and animation I will compose separate lists for them. Still yet to see 'The King's Speech' 'The Fighter''Scott Pilgrim' 'Uncle Boonmee Who Can Recall His Past Lives' 'Enter The Void' and countless others, so don't be too surprised if you don't see them here. I will put together a Top 5 'What I Missed In 2010' list when I get caught up on some films. As well as giving my honorable mentions a bit more than just an honorable mention. But some folks have been asking me for a list since New Years, so.....here you go....




15. VALHALLA RISING Dir. Nicolas Winding Refn

A Few Words: A truly brilliant screen actor can carry an entire film without uttering a single fucking word. Mads Mikkelson does just that in this film. Beautiful cinematography in an otherwise brutal story about a place and time between heaven and hell that may have once been earth. WARNING: This movie is inspired by an acid trip, so don't take any when you watch it. The film itself is already dosed.


14. TRUE GRIT Dir. Joel Coen

A Few Words: Dude....it's the Coen Brothers. The usual perfection. Plus, like last year, best last shot, best last line. P.S. ~ Brolin and Barry Pepper's teeth.


13. SHUTTER ISLAND Dir. Martin Scorsese

A Few Words: Watch it again.



12. I AM LOVE Dir. Luca Guadagnino

A Few Words: There is essentially nothing very new or fresh about the plot or the themes of this film. But the cast, direction, cinematography, editing, color palette, the score, you name it...on a technical level, the craft and performance deliveries were flawless. Sit close, turn up the volume loud and just experience a magnificently assembles melodrama that it's hard not to look at. P.S. ~ Tilda Swinton is a Goddess.

11. EVERYONE ELSE Dir. Maren Ade

A Few Words: Is it me, or is Germany and Austria making the best fucking films these days...



10. THE AMERICAN Dir. Anton Corbijn

A Few Words: Another great 70's vibed character driven thriller. Relying on visuals and character, making old themes heavy again. And NOT bitching out in the end! Another solid one that deserves to be higher on the list. But this is favorites, not bests.




9. INCEPTION Dir. Christopher Nolan

A Few Words: First off; I am NOT calling this movie 'Kubrickian'. I'm not. But....if, mind you, IF, Stanley Kubrick were alive today....you do know this would be his favorite film of the year at least, right? Well, it would. But it's my 9th.



8. THE SOCIAL NETWORK Dir. David Fincher

A Few Words: Not an easy subject to turn into an interesting compelling story. Nor once written easy to translate from the page to the screen. And between Sorkin and Fincher they absolutely did it. They took something that could be extremely dated someday and founf the themes that made it a timeless story and that's what makes and will continue to make it hold up.



7. FISH TANK Dir. Andrea Arnold

A Few Words: Unlike any coming of age story ever before. While this stands a character driven coming-of-age drama it has also all at once the elements of unrelenting suspense thriller. You really have no fucking idea! Another one of the most solid of the year.





6. A PROPHET Dir. Jacques Audiard

A Few Words: Holy shit!!! Just...just....just watch it.



5. BLUE VALENTINE Dir. Derek Cianfrance

A Few Words: "You Don't Know What Love Is"


4. THE GHOST WRITER Dir. Roman Polanski

A Few Words: Say what you will about the guy, but he's a cinematic master! For more see my 'Spirit Of 77' blog.


3. RED RIDING: 1974 Dir. Julian Jarrold

A Few Words: The most authentic 70's film since....the 70's.



2. WINTER'S BONE Dir. Debra Granick

A Few Words: This years great detective story. Perfect storytelling, the most solid film of the year. And I hate saying things like this, but it's Les Blank meets Chinatown.



1. BLACK SWAN Dir. Darren Aronofsky

A Few Words: This film possessed all the facets of what the pursuit of much of today's cinema should be about. Clearly influenced, yet just as clearly original. Inspired, but reimagined. Guerilla, yet eloquent. Heavily thematic, boldly imaginative. And on a cinematic technical level, well fuck...the ONLY good example of GREAT hand held camera work in the last decade or more. The best use of sound in film all year that I have seen/heard. Providing character insight and emotion as well as foreshadowing. This combined with the editing along with one of the better uses of visual effects in sometime, all the while remaining a character driven, psychological story and I'd say Black Swan was one of the few films I'd seen in a while that had a perfect polygamist marriage of various periods and genres of cinema. So of course....it won't win an Oscar and it's gonna get belittled like all great films are in their infancy. For now, it will remain an ugly duckling...who sadly will die off through award season because her audience fell in love with the wrong movie...



BONUS PICK Special love to the film 'FLAME AND CITRON' which got lost between the 2009 and 2010 best of lists. Highly recommended!





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BONUS TRAILER

CROSSING AMC's RUBICON

There are many things about and relating to the AMC original series Rubicon that I would love to point out and discuss in the open, but I would probably be "terminated with extreme prejudice" for doing so. Things relating to the "real" world that we live in and events that have transpired over the last century. Things that Rubicon very subtly touches on in a way that keeps the show from hitting you over the head with a message. It's embedded into narrative, like code.


Subtext is an art of storytelling that most films and some television fail to grasp or bother to utilize today. But AMC original series such as Mad Men and more recently as of this Summer, Rubicon have it down so good, I want to send them a gift everyday to say "thank you" for entertaining me without insulting my intelligence or lulling me into stupidity.


I am not going to get into the plot and characters so much. If you don't have access to the show it's really up to you to gain clearance to such classy-fied material. But if you choose to cross the Rubicon there are things you should know. For starters, you have to pay attention. In return you are given a rich story, thoughtfully unfolding in a way you seldom see anymore. And characters that feel as real as anyone you know and even in the extraordinary circumstances of their daily work-life, make it easy to relate to them. Though this takes place in the world of Clandestine Services, these aren't the people who pull the trigger, these are the men and women who know too much. What they uncover, what they understand, guides the aim of the gun, for better or worse.

IF you dig crossword puzzles, patterns, hidden messages, connecting-the-dots, you'll will have an immediate attraction to the show. Don't misunderstand though, there is plenty for the "non-nerdy" to appreciate. Many shades of grey give way to danger and even romance, like all great espionage stories, just...not...like, other espionage stories. They make it fucking interesting. And like AMC's other originals, Mad Men and Breaking Bad, this drama of specific subject matter deals with struggles of conscience that anyone, who isn't a complete piece of shit or living in a sphere of Bubble Yum should be able to appreciate or at the very least, understand.

The other thing you should understand about Rubicon is that like Mad Men it's as much faction as fiction. No matter how much you may like to believe so, there really isn't anything about it that should be dismissed as far fetched or fantastical.

I am a great fan of the late great director Alan J. Pakula. Rubicon is in a way, the secret offspring of Pakula. Rubicon has a very specific resemblance to Poppa Pakula. The subject matter for one, of such films as The Parallax View, All The Presidents Men, Rollover, The Pelican Brief, and even moves it's tone at times in a direction remenicent of Klute. Beyond thematics, the tone is very Pakula. Pacing, lighting, visual composition. The score is even often at times like that of the scores done for Parallax View by Michael Small or All The President's Men by David Shire. All these, forgive me, Pakula-esque elements make for a rare, tough, grown up piece of work.

CHECK OUT THIS LINK FOR A LOOK INTO "THE LOOK" OF RUBICON
http://www.amctv.com/videos/rubicon/?bcpid=85690147001&bclid=91388676001&bctid=621114953001

If you like Pakula's films, you will probably like Rubicon. At least, that's what the latest intel leads us to believe.

Do I recommend it? Strongly. And don't wait, for Rubicon, like it's character's, may be at any time in danger of disappearing. So watch it closely, in fact, don't let it out of your sight, because if Rubicon falls out of our grasp, we will lose much more than a mere hour of entertaining television.

The Season One Finale airs Sunday October 17th at 9pm on AMC. To get caught up watch episodes ON DEMAND.

SCHEIDER FEST: 52 PICK-UP

SCHEIDER FEST. It almost always includes the traditional viewing of Steven Spielberg's JAWS, Which is an ALL-TIME FAVORITE, but for this SCHEIDER FEST we're talking up what I will now call, THE BAADASSS SCHEIDER COMPLEX. Which refers to the conscious craziness of the characters. Characters like Scanlon'Dominguez', Buddy 'Seven-up', and Harry Mitchell. Characters who say things like, "I'll get you, you fucker", and step on peoples heads, or carry crates of nitro while suffering from exhaustion and a bad case of the blues.

Let's start with Harry Mitchell.
Harry has it all. Action Slacks, a great haircut, an amazing pair of sunglasses, a wife and a mistress. Harry is in big business. Metallurgical business. With a big fat government contract. His wife Barbara (Ann-Margeret) was once the belle of the ball and is entering politics in an attempt to regain control of her own life. She knows her husband and holds out hope while further pursuing her new found independence. Only, she doesn't really know him. Sure Harry digs his fast classic cars, his Jazz, and his reckless drives along the coast. But he also digs 19 year old prostitutes/porn "stars" (Kelly Preston and Vanity). Like, a lot...and it gets him in trouble.


Trouble in the form of razzamatazz sleezeball pimp, pornographer, blackmailer, murderer, Alan Raimy(The amazing John Glover). A real piece of shit, who loves calling people "sport" and "slick" along with his gang of douches, Leo and Bobby (Robert Trebor and Clarence Williams III)Who pimp, murder, and blackmail their way into Harry's life. For 52 grand.

But that's not clear....

And like all scumbag fucks, they underestimate Harry, his fast cars, his Jazz, and his love for Babs. Raimy doesn't realize because he has fucked with Harry at a point in his life where all things have bottomed out, where the result of Raimy's scheme would more often than not go in one direction, will restore something in Harry Mitchell. Something that swings the pendulum wide in the other direction. A direction of resilience. Of survival. Of redemption.

As Harry reaches his wits end he rediscovers his edge, his cool, his "I'll get you, you fucker" side, and at the pick-up finds a proper way to spend that 52.

Sport.

52 is much more than a story about rich assholes and sleezy prick fucks. There are themes about partnership, trust, and second chances. The plot is driven through and re-enforced by these themes and makes for rich character conflict. Everyone is lost at it's start. And each and every character has their own ideas about freedom. And it's through the understanding or betrayal of these themes they pursue it. Most expect Harry's 52 to help them get it.

Every ones acting chops shine in this one. And the chemistry between Scheider and Margeret is very natural. I believe their marriage. What it once was, what's happened to it, and what they're holding on to. It's a truly great pairing.

And if Scheider and Margeret aren't enough for you...

Elmore Leonard.

John Frankenheimer.

And Clarence Williams III......I mean, dude.

This one ROCKS on every level and it chokes me the fuck up in some moments.

So what are you waiting for?