I Just Want To Be Perfect: Best Films of 2010 (2 of 2)

#5

"Toy Story 3"
Directed by Lee Unkrich

I haven't a clue what stone-hearted abomination could not have liked this film, let alone exclude it from their top ten, and I'm glad I haven't come across anyone of that nature so far. Toy Story 3, the eleventh film from Pixar Animation Studios and the last film in their premiere Toy Story trilogy, could've easily failed to meet expectations, and they've never been higher for a Pixar film. Somehow, first time Director Lee Unkrich managed to close out the trilogy with as much heart, wit, excitement, and emotion as they started out with. As somebody who has grown up with the series, and somebody who patiently waited ten years for the latest installment to come out, I cannot possibly minimalize the success that has been achieved.

That ten year hiatus, long as it may have been, is made all the more necessary by the real time break between films. The opening of Toy Story 3 plays almost like a dystopian future compared to the paradise the toys have lived in before. Most of the characters that we remember from before are gone, having been yard-saled away to new owners. It's enough to create a sad and depressing atmosphere, but the film never once drifted into tedium. It had tearful goodbyes, happy reunions, and I'll be damned if an evil pink teddy bear is not my favorite villain of this year. The extended climax of the film presents us with the greatest action set piece of the series, as well as the greatest emotional one. The ending of the film is undeniably tear-jerking, but the emotional core of it all was the moment when all hope was lost, yet the toys were still together. Never before has a animated film series dealt with themes of childhood, growing up, loss of innocence, and even death in such a strong way, and it makes for the best motion picture trilogy ever made, even beating out Lord of the Rings. I'd much more gladly sit down for a quick and perfect 4 and 1/2 hour session.

#4

"The Social Network"
Directed by David Fincher

I'm not about to say that there should be some major Oscar backlash against this film, because nobody could honestly say that they didn't absolutely admire this film. As routine as the awards race has become, if this film ended up winning Best Picture, which it probably will, nobody would be in disagreement. I know my adoration would be a little more whole-hearted if it hadn't been months since I last saw The Social Network. We all know the story by now. Mark Zuckerberg, a top student at Harvard and a bit of a social outcast steals an idea from a few upperclassmen and that idea ends up becoming "The Facebook". From there on, the website becomes a phenomenon, and as the success rises, Mark's relationship with his only real friend begins to crumble.

Director David Fincher has various tools at his disposal and utilizes them all here. He pulls top performances out of a cast of lesser known actors. Before The Social Network, Justin Timberlake was known for his music, Jesse Eisenberg was known for Zombieland, Andrew Garfield was known for The Imaginarium of Doctor Parnassus, Maya Rudolph was known for the Nightmare on Elm Street remake, and Armie Hammer wasn't known at all. Now, they're amongst the top up and coming actors, and a few are up for Oscars this year. The editing of the film is fast paced and flawless, and probably the only competition for Lee Smith's work on Inception. However, on top of everything and everyone else is Aaron Sorkin's screenplay. The man has no competition at this point, and I'm going to have to run through the film again for instant-classic quotes. The two hours zoom by and leave you wishing it just went on. Never a dull moment or a missed opportunity, The Social Network is a worthy statement on the world we live in today. What are you doing right now?

#3

"Black Swan"
Directed by Darren Aronofsky

This year has had an honest run at the psychological thriller subject, with Martin Scorcese and Leonardo DiCaprio tackling the subject with mixed achievement earlier this year with Shutter Island, and now Darren Aronofsky and Natalie Portman take it on to much greater and much more logical success in the literally breathtaking Black Swan. Perhaps it's because it's easier to sympathize with an innocent soul than an already fractured one, but younger audiences from ages 16-24 will be far more emotionally affected by this film. Aronofsky may have turned in the best directing job of the year and certainly his career best. I doubt that the disturbing sense of dread that this film makes us feel throughout would be brought to the surface without Aronofsky at the helm. His work along with the most edge-of-your-seat performance of the year from Natalie Portman makes it a terrifying experience to behold.

It's been generally hard for me to describe Darren Aronofsky's film to the average moviegoer, as most have described it as simply a psychological thriller about a dancer who loses her grip on reality. At the core of what this film is, it's about a girl who has been raised in something of a cradle by her overbearing and mollycoddling mother, and as she gets the biggest role she's experienced thus far in a new rendition of Swan Lake, her fairy tale delusions about good and evil grit and grind against the gray area of the real world. It's the story of a child who is thrown to the wolves and forced to adapt to the task at hand. It's terrifying as the innocent Nina Sayers is forced to quickly change into somebody who can survive in the real world, and that forced transition is what breaks her. It deals with so many different themes like the loss of innocence, pursuit of perfection, and what we wish the world was compared to what it actually is, and if you gave yourself enough to the film, you figured out that it's something you can actually relate to. Somehow, after I left the theater yesterday evening, I found myself relating to her character in how she always hoped for the best and quite often got the worst.

#2

"The Kids Are All Right"
Directed by Lisa Cholodenko

This was almost my favorite film of the year, and I was dead set on it being so about a week ago, and then, as per usual, I went to the movies and the whole list changed. Nonetheless, The Kids Are All Right had an unprecedented amount of meaning for me when I saw it just before heading out to college. It's the natural story of a family headed by two lesbian mothers, and then the kids become curious enough to contact the sperm donor who helped bring them into existence. From then on, the family is emotionally tested by this new cog being thrown into the works, and it's occasionally hilarious, but it's always something heartfelt.

Lisa Cholodenko and Stuart Blumberg really made something that felt palpable and almost realistic, which is a dangerous word for a critic to use in describing a feature. It didn't really hit me what the title meant until a few days ago, at which point I said to myself, "Wow, you are a stupid idiot! I can't believe I have to share a consciousness with you!" The kids are legitimately fine in terms of who they are, and they haven't made the mistakes the adults have made. The heart and soul of it all is Joni, played by Mia Wasikowska, who is making the transition into adulthood, and the ending few scenes with her were so relatable for me when I first saw them. They still do ring true, but something about where I was at that point, heading out to college for the first time, really made the experience all the more emotional for me.

#1

"True Grit"
Directed by Joel & Ethan Coen

I've had a mixed relationship when it comes to the work of Joel and Ethan Coen. The two certainly have a distinctive style that they usually keep to, and they rarely do things the way one would normally do them. That does cause their work to be rather off-the-wall at times, and it can be something of an acquired taste. True Grit is probably the most mainstream film the brothers have released to date, and that could be seen as a bit of a disadvantage by some, and I was heading in to see the film with that frame of mind. Fortunately, for me, it turned out to be just the film I needed to see in order to head back into their previous work. It's just like the night after I first saw The Dark Knight and decided to give Michael Clayton another shot. There are some films that get you in the perfect frame of mind.

Not to say that True Grit can be summed up as purely that. I wouldn't have it anywhere close to this place if I did. It's the story of young Mattie Ross, a 14-year-old girl who hires a rugged and dangerous U.S. Marshall, Rooster Cogburn, to hunt down the dumb coward that murdered her father. On the way, they are joined by egocentric Texas Ranger La Beouf, and the trio form an unlikely and rigorous alliance with conflicting goals for their journey. It's a deeply nuanced classic tale of retribution, and I do mean classic. Maybe it's my unfamiliarity with the original True Grit that makes me so keen to praise this one. I'm not sure what John Wayne did with the role of Cogburn, but it frankly doesn't matter.


Though Cogburn is a fantastic character, the star of the show is very much Hailee Steinfeld as Mattie Ross. I already had my say about her performance, and she'd be my top female performance of the year if I hadn't caught Natalie Portman's performance in Black Swan later that day. It's her drive that propels the manhunt forward, and it's a fascinating to see the loss of her innocence, and in some ways, the loss of her life. One of the most spectacular moments of this year, no matter how I figure it, is Cogburn's brutalization and killing of Mattie's horse. It'd certainly make the horse loving friends of mine shed a tear, but I found it to be on the most iconic images of the year, and the most dynamic and meaningful moment of the feature. All the technical aspects, from music to cinematography, are in top form throughout the entire film. I can't figure a single shot or scene in True Grit that I didn't absolutely love on both a critical basis and from a simple entertainment standpoint.


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