Mini Movie Reviews: 2010 (Part 1)
I’ve been really slack the past couple of months with writing up reviews of all the movies I’ve seen. One of my New Years resolutions is to blog more regularly about the movies I have seen, but I thought I should catch up with writing up some of the stuff from last year. I was shocked to realize my last proper review was back in August (seriously?!? How did that happen?), that’s too many movies I’ve seen that I didn’t end up writing about!
There are at least 20 movies I hadn’t written about yet, so I’ve split it up into two posts. Ten reviews today, and 10 more in a couple of days.
Tron: Legacy
As I’ve said in previous blog posts, I enjoyed Tron Legacy. There’s a lot about the movie that’s not good (especially the plot), but it’s still a lot of fun. Seeing it at the IMAX was really worth it; the visual effects and the 3D are gorgeous. And the score by Daft Punk? AWESOME. The story though was very disappointing and I wish they’d have come up with something better. There are just too many plot holes and inconsistencies for me to really love this film.
Inception
I know, I know, it’s really bad of me that I haven’t even written about Inception here! I love Christopher Nolan’s movies, so I was really expecting a lot from Inception. I know so many people who adore this movie, but I didn’t like it as much as I was hoping to. It is a good movie, but I was hoping for something a bit… smarter. Yes, Inception is a confusing and complex movie, but I wish it was less straightforward, and made use of the dream element much much more. Nolan introduces rules to the world of dreaming, while in reality anything is possible in dreams…
The Social Network
I wanted to like The Social Network and I sort of did. It’s one of those movies of which I wonder if I’m maybe to close to the “real” world (like how CSI would be for actual crime scene analysts). Some stuff in The Social Network just feels over the top (the hiring-interns scene… yeah, it’s exactly like that in real life… “take a shot for every 10 lines of code you write”). Maybe I should rewatch it again, but first time around I didn’t find it amazing.
Megamind
I wasn’t expecting much of this movie, but it turned out to be quite funny. It “stars” Will Ferrell as Megamind, an evil villain who tries everything to bring down his arch enemy Metroman (Brad Pitt). Once he does though, he realizes that without his arch enemy his life is empty. The story is a bit predictable, but it’s still sweet to see the transformation Megamind goes through.
RED
This movie was a lot of fun. Take a bunch of old actors, throw in some action and a touch of romance, and you’ve got yourself a cheesy yet romantic over-the-top action flick.
Scott Pilgrim
Again another movie I liked, but didn’t find as fantastic/awesome/phenomenal as most people seemed to think it was. Yeah, it did look sort of cool, but I just didn’t like most of the characters. Neither Scott or Ramona were particularly likable (although Knives was awesome!). I did like the video game references, but the movie came nowhere near my favourites list of this year.
The Next 3 Days
This movie starred Russell Crowe as a teacher whose wife (Elizabeth Banks) gets convicted for a crime she says she didn’t commit. Crowe becomes obsessed with figuring out how to help her escape from prison. It was an okay movie, nothing spectacular, but great for a quiet night in. Crowe is great as the husband afraid of losing his wife forever, and will do anything to get her back.
Easy A
I loved this movie! It stars Emma Stone as Olive, a teenager who lies about losing her virginity. Before she can admit it’s a lie, it spreads through the rumour mill at her high school and Olive is branded a slut. Instead of denying it though, Olive decides to embrace her new identity and tries to take advantage of it. The dialogue in this movie was awesome with some of the snappiest oneliners of the year. Plus even though it’s about sex and losing your virginity, the movie is really sweet.
Salt
Angelina Jolie as a spy? That should be awesome, right? It sort of was. On one hand I really liked that they attempted to make a smart movie: barely anything was explained with unnecessary over-expository dialogue, allowing the viewers to make their conclusions. On the other side… it was predictable.
Despicable Me
“It’s so FLUFFY!” Not sure I can add more than that. The movie is okay, but that one line is just brilliant.
