Powerful, action packed Turkish political drama centred on special-forces agent Polat Alendar, (Necati Sasmaz) and his vendetta to hunt down Israeli terrorists / IDF commanders who planned the massacre aboard Gaza bound aid ship ‘The Marvi Mamara’ (i.e. Freedom Flotilla).
An acquaintance of mine was on that vessel to Palestine, and though she survived, saw 9 Turkish aid workers killed in front of her eyes. I doubt she’ll be going to see this film anytime soon, but when you compare the dramatic reconstruction with footage of the attack itself, you'll see the filmmakers have gone to great pains in the pursuit of authenticity and realism.
Following on from the excellent Valley of the Wolves: Iraq (2006) and Valley of the Wolves: Gladio (2009) this is a stunning, poignant and timely look at international terrorism, and the pursuit of justice against those who consider themselves above the law. Classic 80s' style sensibilities when it comes to action: A tremendous achievement in film.
2. Outside The Law(Algeria, Belgium, France, director: Rachid Bouchareb)
Once Upon A Time In Algeria.
Italian auteur Gillo Pontecorvo's neo-realist masterpiece The Battle Of Algiers (1965) was the last word on the Algerian War Of Independence against France. So all credit to director Rachid Bouchareb ( 'Days Of Glory' ) for presenting a new angle on history. Spanning the years between 1945-62, Outside The Law follows the epic journey of three Muslim brothers who contribute their talents to the Algerian resistance.
'Outside The Law' can be seen as a companion piece and direct follow on from ‘Days Of Glory’ (WWII film about Algerian conscripts liberating their oppressor’s homeland from Germany). For France had promised Algeria independence if they helped them against the Nazis in WWII, which they did at great human cost (as depicted in 'Days of Glory'). The French government, however, reneged on its promise after WWII and carried out heinous massacres against unarmed Algerians at Setif, Guelma and Khenchela. These events spurred on the resistance and began a long war; which was fought in occupied Algeria and on the streets of France.
Similar in scope to films like 'The Godfather', 'Burn!' and 'The Quiet American'; 'Outside The Law' is a compelling, anti-imperialist treatise about revolution, self-respect and a people wresting their dignity from the clutches of colonial misrule. A modern classic.
3. Robin Hood(England, U.S., director: Ridley Scott)
Nottingham Forest home side, 1186 A.D.
Russell Crowe is Robin, Cate Blanchett is Lady Marion; Ridley Scott directs with a sure hand whilst screenwriter Brian Helgeland attempts to keep the narrative historically accurate, ought to be commended. An entertaining yarn, which isn't afraid to tell a good story or take its time on character development. At last; a mainstream, big budget movie that doesn't treat its audience with contempt. Enjoyable epic.
Hu Mei's excellent, if laboured, epic on the life and times of the ancient Chinese philosopher (played to the hilt by Chow Yun Fat). Confucius comes up with such gems like "Practice five things for perfect virtue: gravity, generosity of soul, sincerity, earnestness and kindness." And "There are three things which the superior man guards against. In youth...lust. When he is strong...quarrelsomeness. When he is old...covetousness." But that didn't stop people from flat out ignoring him or taking his sagely sayings out of context. A film of two halves: The first, arguably more exciting, part sees him rise to prominence whilst the second sees him wandering the wilderness in exile. A sober, well-directed and fascinating film.
Adapted from a 1985 miniseries,'Edge Of Darkness' is a sombre but stunning political drama with great performances all round. Mel Gibson goes into the well once more as a grieving father / committed policeman determined to find those who murdered his daughter: a corporate whistleblower working for a shadowy government agency allegedly producing nuclear WMD. Similar in tone 'Payback' and 'The Constant Gardener' 'Edge Of Darkness' is an honest-to-goodness, old school conspiracy thriller that gets down to brass tacks and delivers the goods.
[ 02. January 2011, 06:33: Message edited by: Kash ]
Posted by Kash (Member # 297) on :
Savvy sleuth DiCaprio employed all his skills to determine that this was, as he suspected; The Smoking Room.
Adapted from a crime novel by Dennis Lehane; this is a brilliant, if somewhat overloaded, film noir by the master Martin Scorsese. Leonardo DiCaprio turns in his best performance of the year as a cynical detective out to solve a mystery on an island asylum for the criminally insane. Too many noir references to name in one review but great for Raymond Chandler readers. Mark Ruffalo is excellent as usual and the excellent supporting cast made this movie one of the most engaging, if bizarrely complex, thrillers out there.
Angelina Jolie plays CIA agent Evelyn Salt, who goes on the run from U.S. authorities after she's accused of being a Russian spy. Conspiracy, action, Angelina Jolie wearing a variety of hats and adopting not one, but two, different hair styles. Escapist entertainment, and sometimes, that's all you need a film to be.
His last few movies were close but no cigar, this time...
'BL: PCNO' sees Nicolas Cage as bent copper Lt. Terence McDonagh; an out of control, smack addled lunatic who tires to hold it all together in order to solve the murder of a Senegalese family in post Hurricane Katrina, New Orleans. Eva Mendes co-stars along with a host of familiar faces in minor roles; including Val Kilmer and Faruzia Balk. Nicolas Cage's best film in years: Fast, funny and completely insane. A must for Nic Cage fans.
My money's on the guy who taught Bruce Lee. Clue: Its not the boxer.
Sterling sequel to the 2008 hit. Donnie Yen plays Wing Chun master Ip Man (he taught Bruce Lee) as he tries to earn a living in British occupied China, circa 1949. Great martial arts action, wonderful story about self-respect, dignity and honour. A great movie and a must for fans of the original.
"Call me Bennifer one more time...I dare ya' : one more time..."
Following on from his directorial success with 'Gone Baby Gone'. Actor /director Ben Affleck chalks up another winner with Boston crime thriller 'The Town'. Armed robber Affleck tries to turn over a new leaf when he falls in love with a girl his gang took hostage in a recent heist. Great ensemble acting, brutal violence and authentic Bostonian accents and dialect. Excellent film, brilliantly executed and thoroughly entertaining to boot. Worth a purchase.
[ 02. January 2011, 06:36: Message edited by: Kash ]
Posted by Helen_S (Member # 5804) on :
Nice
I went to see 8 and enjoyed them all. I'd rank and rate 'em as:
Machete - 8/10 The Last Exorcism - 8/10 Ondine - 8/10 Iron Man II - 8/10 Brooklyn's Finest - 7/10 Buried - 7/10 Rare Exports: A Christmas Tale - 7/10 Knight And Day - 6/10
Posted by aTomiK (Member # 6575) on :
Oh you´ve seen Rare Exports Helen. It´s a finnish flick. I´ve not seen it yet but people are really liking it.
Posted by Crash (Member # 7484) on :
The best films of 2010 were the Red Riding Triology, brilliant, depressing, and unforgettable. Runners-up were The Social Network (a seemingly unfilmable subject made fascinating), and Unstoppable (a seemingly old school concept made thrilling), and Despicable Me (a seemingly routine animated family film made heartwarming). Most disappointing film: Kick-*** (a seemingly classic adaptation in its first half, it just falls apart into a cliched super-hero action adventure by the end).
Posted by Helen_S (Member # 5804) on :
quote:Originally posted by aTomiK: Oh you´ve seen Rare Exports Helen. It´s a finnish flick. I´ve not seen it yet but people are really liking it.
It was great, yeah. Wasn't the horror I was led to believe, more of a dark family film. It had a nice surprise in it and hilarious ending. It was visually stunning. The boy and his dad were great Posted by aTomiK (Member # 6575) on :
Sounds good. The director said he likes Gremlins and movies like that so i´m really looking for to see Rare Exports.
Posted by Stitch Groover (Member # 2895) on :
I wasn't able to get to the movies much this year coz money was very tight, so most movies I've seen were on DVD or the internet. However, in some sort of order are my picks...
1. Scott Pilgrim vs the world A live action comic book/manga/video game. Like absolutely nothing I'd ever seen before. And the fact that it's an Edgar Wright film practically guarantees that I'll love it
2. Inception Was not difficult to follow with a little concentration, and your concentration was rewarded with multiple simultaneous levels of suspense.
3. Kick *** Another comic book style movie, very American but directed and starring English men.
4. Toy Story 3 Simply a masterpiece, not just of animation but of film making in general. Anyone who didn't shed a few tears in the final 15 minutes is not human.
5. Date Night Missed this at the cinema but watched it at home. I hope Steve Carell and Tina Fey make more films together because their chemistry is perfect. Fey forced Carell to move beyond his usual (although always funny) schtick, and the movie was better for it.
6. Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows A wonderful looking film, and finally a Potter film that was able to give time to the characters rather than the plot. The scene of Harry and Hermione dancing in the tent along to Nick Cave (who is from my hometown by the way) is now my favorite Potter series scene)
7. The Crazies A very tense and frightening remake of the George Romero film from the 70's. An inteligent horror film, made with adults in mind.
8. The Human Centipede I downloaded this because I wanted to see what all the hype was about, and was very suprised to find that it was a very good film. Very disturbing, not only in the visuals, but the characters are very well written, and the film is suprisingly well acted, considering most of the cast were unable to speak!
9. The Last Exorcism I only watched this last week, and it was nothing like I expected. I had only seen the posters, not even read a review, so I didn't expect it to be the kind of film it was. I don't know if the film does itself a diservice by being very different to what the advertising leads you to expect.
10. Daybreakers Again, another inteligent horror/ suspence film, made by the fantastic Aussie Speirig brothers. Sleek, dark and suspenseful, Daybreakers is a modern vampire movie. And they don't glitter in the sunlight. ` I've only included films that I've actually seen. Obviously there are better films from 2010 and they would have made the list if I'd seen them. Some of them I have but just haven't watched yet. For example -
Animal Kingdom The Social Network The Black Swan The Town Buried Bran Nue Dae Precious
Posted by Helen_S (Member # 5804) on :
quote:Originally posted by Stitch Groover: 9. The Last Exorcism I only watched this last week, and it was nothing like I expected. I had only seen the posters, not even read a review, so I didn't expect it to be the kind of film it was. I don't know if the film does itself a diservice by being very different to what the advertising leads you to expect.
I wished they'd stuck with the original title of Cotton.
Posted by Muffy Tepperman (Member # 1551) on :
I have only seen one film from the list Shutter Island and it was predictable and not awesome for me?
I did love KickAss though............I really thought it was different and had a great narrative style.
Date Night was horrific! I love Tiny Fey and Carrol (sometimes in movies) but Date Night was totally missing something??? it was not great for me.
Just my two cents....as i'm stuck in the 80s Posted by amaranth (Member # 8882) on :
What about worst films of 2010 Piranah is one that comes to mind
Posted by Veronica Sawyer (Member # 2221) on :
I don't really have a top 10, but this year I liked The Runaways, The Last Exorcism, Paranormal Activity 2, Alice in Wonderland, Youth in Revolt....Nightmare on Elm Street was OK.
A couple terrible movies I saw this year were When in Rome and Leap Year. Ugh, horrible movies.
I still really want to see Black Swan, Social Network, Scott Pilgrim, Let Me In, and Inception.
Posted by Ronnie (Member # 465) on :
quote:Originally posted by Veronica Sawyer: A couple terrible movies I saw this year were When in Rome and Leap Year. Ugh, horrible movies.
i hated when in rome. i usually shut off the movie, once i find that i can't even pay it any more attention but for some reason i kept watching... it was garbage!
Posted by Stitch Groover (Member # 2895) on :
quote:Originally posted by amaranth: What about worst films of 2010 Piranah is one that comes to mind
I thought Piranha 3D was hilarious, it was a very 80-s movie in my opinion.
The Nightmare on Elm St remake was probably the low point of the year for me, it was so unremarkable that by the next day I had completely forgotten watching it.
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