Roper Review of the Year 2010

Roper Review of the Year 2010

All good things must come to an end…and half way through this year Roper Review stopped. I struggled to balance work and leisure, and between those two pockets of life blogging was cut. However my cinema going didn’t.

As 2010 draws to a close I have spent 2.2% of my year in the cinema, in fact not counting sleep, it is more likely to be over 3% and what a 3% it was. All 71 films I’ve seen in the cinema this year (DVD hasn’t been counted) have been worth it. Even a bad film is worth the time as it brings one of life’s greatest pleasures, bitching about movies.

Here are the top ten films that I wasted my time complaining about this year.

Bottom 10 (no. 10 = worst)

10) Robin Hood: A poor remake by Ridley Scott who seems to have lost his prime with last decades Gladiator. The action is boring and badly edited, the story is lacking in emotion and there is no fun to be found in his ‘merry men’.

9) The Blind Side: An overtly racist, Oscar baiting film that panders to its audience in an overtly sentimental and patronising fashion.

8) A Nightmare on Elm Street: Freddy Krugers legacy has been tainted by this ‘re-imagining’ which throws a lot of loud noises at you and little else

7) Knight and Day: An ‘Action-Comedy’ that has little to excite and little to amuse

6) Death at a Funeral: About as much fun as…

5) Red: One of the most impressive cast lists of the year, and only slightly worse than the Expendables, but being slightly worse than that film is an impressive feat

4) [Rec] 2: A sequel to one of the best horror films of the decade’s starts of well but then takes on an ill-conceived possession plot which makes little sense and takes away all the scare

3) Clash of the Titans: Awful plot, awful effects, and it shows that only the experts should use 3D

2) The Ghost: Roman Polanski’s snore fest is the most soulless, rambling and dry films of the year

1) Saw 3D: End it now please. Finish it. It was good. It is certainly not any more.

Honourable mentions

The Expendables, The Bounty Hunter, The Wolf Man

The following are the best films of the year. I have based this on how much I enjoyed the film whilst watching it, my thoughts on it afterwards and if I would watch it again.

10 Best Films of the Year

Top 10 (no. 10 = best)

1. Buried: Ryan Reynolds in a coffin and that’s it. A simple and brave premise that leads to the tensest 90 minutes of the year
2. Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows (Part 1) : They just keep getting darker and darker, and better and better.
3. Piranha 3D: A guilty pleasure, you get what you pay for. Gore, Babes and of course Piranahs all in glorious 3D
4. The Social Network: A brilliantly scripted and seminal piece that could not be more relevant for our social networking times.
5. Monsters: This year’s biggest surprise and made for a minute budget. Monsters is a beautifully shot and tender film about a lot more than just Monsters.
6. Kick Ass: Read my review, it struck quite a chord with one individual and I still stand by it as being one of the best films of the year.
7. The Road: Deeply moving adaptation of Cormac McCarthy’s fantastic novel
8. Inception: Believe the hype. I could (and have) watch this film again and again.
9. Four Lions: A funny, disturbing and important film that should have a bigger audience than it did. It crowns Christopher Morris as he decade’s most important writer.
10. Toy Story 3: Pretty much perfect.

Honourable mentions

Crazy Heart, Scott Pilgrim Vs The World, Love and Other Drugs, The King's Speech, Karate Kid, A Single Man, Avatar, Shutter Island, The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo, The Killer Inside Me

So that’s it for 2010. Not a bad year in movies at all and at least two films that will be future ‘classics’. My new year’s resolution is to start blogging again so keep checking and have a great 2011 in the cinema.

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