The Movies of 2010

Well, it's another year later, and once again, I have been looking forward to putting together my list (from best to worst) of every new movie that I have seen this year. This has been a good year for the site, not including the flub from about a month and a half ago where all of a sudden the deathbyhippopotamus.com url stopped linking to where it was supposed to... I'm still not sure if it's entirely fixed. However, the site has been visited on 3,712 different occasions, a relatively small by most Internet standards, but I'm happy with it, and hope to continue to grow into 2011. But, enough about the future, let's look back on the last twelve months.

As with last year, in doing this retrospective/excuse to post a list, I am realizing how many allegedly "good" movies I have failed to see. Here are some notable exceptions that I totally blanked on catching.

127 Hours
Black Swan
Despicable Me
Exit Through The Gift Shop
The Fighter
Four Lions
The Ghost Writer
The Illusionist
The Kids Are All Right
The King's Speech
The Social Network
Tangled
The Town
Toy Story 3
True Grit

And, y'know, any other movie that I don't have listed here. So, let's begin, scraping the bottom of 2010's barrel, as I introduce you to the worst new movie I saw this year.

21) Legion

What the hell, Paul Bettany? What the hell, Kevin Durand? Dennis Quaid, I don't really expect much better, but man, for such a potentially cool premise this movie was absolute garbage.

20) Predators

Having never seen Predator, any sequels, or its contrarian vs. reborquels, I came into this movie with no expectations and left with the need for a long, hot shower.

19. A Nightmare On Elm Street

What the hell, Kellan Lutz? What the hell, Jackie Earle Haley? I don't have any particular fondness for the original movie, but after seeing this remake, Wes Craven's original seems like a security blanket I can use to hide from this mess.

18. Clash Of The Titans

I was so jacked for this movie. Other critics swore by the stupidity of the trailer, but I said, "No, this looks awesome." And, I stand by that. By no means will I be defending the movie, but, given enough time, I'll be able to watch the trailer again, and hopefully my brain will purge the soulless, semi-campy movie it was attached to.

17. Alice In Wonderland

What the hell, Stephen Fry, Alan Rickman, Michael Sheen, Anne Hathaway, Johnny Depp, and Tim Burton? How could you get that many talented people together and make... this? The focus needs to be so much less on "What would it look like if Tim Burton did " and more on "Let's make some good movies, shall we?" Does anyone else remember Big Fish?

16. The Twilight Saga: Eclipse

Moments and tidbits of guilty pleasure are not enough to overcome the unpleasantness that is the sum of this movie's existence.

15. The Crazies

I never bothered to review this one because I saw it on an incredibly faulty pay-per-view system whilst on my honeymoon. I also never bothered to review it, because, by the time we got home, I kept forgetting that it existed until I'd see it on video shelves. Then I'd think "Hey, I should review that," and within moments, I would have forgotten again. Other people tell me it's good, but I think I remember enough to disagree.

14. Daybreakers

This was the first of quite a few frustrating disappointments this year. With its specific vampire mythology, and intriguing cinematographic way of educating us on it, the movie loses its way into a world of clichés and cardboard characters.

13. Devil

Here's another one for the it-could-have-been-better-but-it-wasn't pile. Devil starts to ask some interesting questions, but gives it all up for the sake of pleasant resolution and celebration of Christian forgiveness... or something.

12. Robin Hood

If Robin Hood had at least been the carbon copy of Gladiator it was threatening to be, then I could have just been disappointed by that. Instead, we have this sometimes cool, but often over-tame telling of a sort of familiar story.

11. Iron Man 2

While I've no particular love for Jon Favreau, it was impossible not to sympathize when the outstanding Iron Man gets neutered and Disney-fied in its second time around. No amount of Sam Rockwell dancing can save this hot mess. Well, maybe it can a little bit.

10. The Wolfman

If I'm allowed to only watch the trailer for Clash Of The Titans, then I should also be allowed to only watch the first half of The Wolfman and just *8/make up my own ending.
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9. Shutter Island

I don't pretend to be an expert in Scorsese's work, but I do know that Shutter Island ain't no The Departed. It's an interesting enough movie following a man through an investigation with a don't-tell-me-it's-shocking twist ending.

8. How To Train Your Dragon

Aside from the near-constant "awwwww"-ing whenever the lead dragon is on the screen, this movie also brings a bit of importance to its cookie-cutter story, teaching about inclusion and non-violence, while still blowing up a really big dino-dragon.

7. Easy A

I read a review somewhere that this movie is as great as it is because it frees itself from the structures of its 80's predecessors. Whoever said this is bonkers, as Easy A's nostalgic fascination with John Hughes is probably its biggest flaw.

6. The A-Team

This is not high literature. It's over-the-top, often dumb, and so much fun to watch.

5. Jackass 3D

See above.

4. Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: Part I

Albeit incredibly exclusive to anyone unfamiliar with the source material, the sixth film in the series is a sometimes-fun, often harrowing experience that serves as a fantastic penultimate entry to the 7+-book, 8-film investment that is Harry Potter

3. Kick-Ass

It was intriguing, and a whole lot of fun to see the superhero idiom turned on its head, shaken around a bit, then turned back over, settling into a world of uber-violence, and somehow realistic-feeling cartoonish frivolity.

2. Scott Pilgrim vs. The World

Even without being an arcade junkie, Scott Pilgrim rings true and familiar. Stripping away most of the inaccessibly animé-ness of its source materials, the movie panders to the generation of Zelda and Ritalin.

1. Inception

Way too talked about for its own good, Inception was the movie I was most looking forward to this year, and it delivered. Enjoyable supporting characters, unprecedented special effects, and an over-hyped complexity have made for, of the 21 one of seen, the best movie that 2010 had to offer.