2010: The Year in Film

Hello, faithful readers! For those of you who have stuck around in my extended self-imposed sabbatical (all five of you), I thank you. For your loyal readership, you will be handsomely rewarded with this new rambling blog post! Unfortunately, the truth is that I really have no excuse for my absence, and for that I apologize. I started this blog in May of last year. My (admittedly personally ambitious) intent was to chronicle every single movie I saw with a thoughtful review. I started well with this goal in mind, but after a few months, things started to fall by the wayside, and as you can now see, I haven’t written a review in months. Many,many months. I want to extend great gratitude to good friend Thomas Flanagan, who has kept the blog as least partially alive with his thoughtful reviews. So here we are. It’s almost mid-April and we’re well into spring. What better way to celebrate the season than to reflect back on the year of movies in 2010? Timely, I know.

2010 was a strange year for movies, not only for cinema in general, but for my own personal movie watching habits. I probably watched less movies last year than I have in almost a decade. Between having a full-time job, other hobbies and interests and time with friends and family, my viewing habits just got pushed to the backburner. I didn’t bother to seek out the buzz movies like I had in years past. I didn’t have any real stake in who won Oscars this year (except for that excellent Trent Reznor and Atticus Ross score!). Instead, my entertainment habits seemed to fall elsewhere. I went to more concerts this year than ever before. I watched more quality TV than I think I have in previous years. I also rarely visited the multiplex--I’ve realized I’ve grown weary of nearly any film that’s a sequel, remake, “re-imagining” or any film that has “Saw” in the title. Save for the excellent scheduling from local haunts such as the Belcourt Theatre, the offerings this year at the multiplex were few and far between. Sure, there were some clear highlights (anything Pixar puts out is at least worth a trip to the theater), but the overall selections seemed to be lacking this year.

Another shift from the multiplex this year: Netflix Instant Watch and Redbox. I know what you’re thinking--why pay $10.75 to see Iron Man 2 in the theater when you can wait 3 months and see it for $1.00? Studios aren’t particularly happy with this model (and understandably so), but it’s increasingly becoming the norm for many people. I still believe that the optimal place to experience a movie is the theater setting, but it often requires a time commitment that is difficult to negotiate. On the other hand, avenues such as Netflix Instant Watch allow one to watch a movie anytime and virtually anywhere. My biggest drawback to the Instant Watch is that the quality isn’t quite there yet (both in terms of content and actual picture quality). However, It provides a great avenue for independent films and documentaries. As of today, you can watch many of the acclaimed documentaries from last year (Restrepo, Exit Through the Gift Shop) and acclaimed foreign films (Everyone Else, Dogtooth) that you might not have the opportunity to see at your local theater. That’s where the real power of the service comes in. Where the option to rent a movie at your local rental store has become virtually extinct, the ability to queue up and discover many films you probably missed in a second is invaluable.

Now, not all is gloom and doom for the movies. There was still quite a lot to recommend from this past year. Aside from new films, I was also able to revisit a few older favorites and catch up on films I had never seen, some of which quickly moved up my list of all-time favorites. Jean-Pierre Melville’s Le Samourai (also a clear influence on last year’s The American) was a clear stand-out discovery for me. I was also able to catch bits of a Kurosawa perspective presented by the Belcourt, and I was lucky enough to catch both The Seven Samurai and Ikiru on the big screen, a true treat for any cinephile. Of the films that were released in 2010 (or foreign films released stateside in 2010), here is my top 20:

1. The Social Network
2. Winter’s Bone
3. Scott Pilgrim vs. The World
4. Exit Through the Gift Shop
5. True Grit
6. Dogtooth
7. Toy Story 3
8. Let Me In
9. A Prophet
10. The Kids Are All Right
11. Inception
12. Black Swan
13. Shutter Island
14. Never Let Me Go
15. Somewhere
16. The Fighter
17. Best Worst Movie
18. Sweetgrass
19. Greenberg
20. The American

There are also a number of films I have yet to see, including (but not limited to): Carlos, The King’s Speech, 127 Hours, Another Year, I Am Love, Inside Job, Blue Valentine, Please Give, Mother, Everyone Else, Animal Kingdom, Red Riding: 1980 and Red Riding: 1983.

I want to thank everyone who periodically checks up on the blog from time to time, and I hope that I’ll be able to hold up my end of the bargain better this year.

Until then, stay tuned.