Welcome to the Theatre 3000 Awards. I want to respond to all of the vague, snobby and shitless award shows with these mothaf**kers (sic.). They're not the most prestigious awards by any means from an internet blog which has only 13 followers, but it's what I will say is that this represents the best movies of the past year and a half in my opinion and to all the following people who hand out awards only for star power, because you're too lazy to vote or you don't give a shit about movies, this is what you should see. (People's Choice Awards, Golden Globes, Oscars and MTV Movie Awards)
Like the Razzies and you should know about them as well, this is satire to all the awards that host for crap, hand out crap, and use red carpets to distract us from crap. Most of the nominations are satire. Each category will have two winners
My vote
Your vote
So here are the nominees.
1st Most Overrated Film... by Audiences
The Twilight Saga: Eclipse (RT Audience: 74%)
Iron Man 2 (RT Audience: 80%)
True Grit (RT Audience: 86%)
Alice In Wonderland (RT Audience: 72%)
Harry Potter And The Deathly Hallows (RT Audience: 87%)
Most Overrated Film... by Critics
True Grit
The Twilight Saga: Eclipse
Iron Man 2
The Kids Are All Right
The King's Speech
Best Film-Wrecking Moment (MTV Satire)
A character screws up pronouncing Aang - The Last Airbender
The ending in - The Tourist
The moment where a movie is announced it'll be shot in 3D - every movie made in 3D
The word 'Focker' in every line of dialogue - Little Fockers
When the whole movie turns into a fantasy flick about stalking - When In Rome
Worst nominations in an award show
The Twilight Saga: Eclipse - almost every nomination (People's Choice Awards, MTV Movie Awards)
The Tourist - Best Film: Musical Comedy, Best Actor: Musical or Comedy, Best Actress: Musical or Comedy (Golden Globes)
For the past week I have been complaining of how society is becoming tasteless with music and movies. It's not just that. There's reality TV shows like Jersey Shore and please-don't-mention-them the Kardashians and the biggest fad of all time. The Auto Tune.
But not everything's bad about 2010. I watch my best share in movies and music and whoever's following my views here's what good about 2010. It's where the geeks rule. IF you want to rebel against society's taste, you're a geek, if you enjoy video games, science fiction, fantasy or comic books, you're a geek. Well being is a geek is all that good. First of all you get to enjoy your youth if you're a nerd in your late 40s and second of all it breaks out your inner geekiness.
This is how 2010 had made geeks becoming gods.
First of all let's start off with movies. For the past 12 months, movies have evolve around 3D and absolutely the dumbest stuff we have seen on screen. They all have been successful which is why I've been complaining. Where Avatar had just killed the geeks, the geek culture may have come into revival.
My top ten movies involves four movies: Scott Pilgrim Vs. The World, Kick-Ass, Inception and The Social Network. All of these movies have geeks and it's no shame.
Scott Pilgrim Vs The World has a really geeky title, but it's full of true geek. Michael Cera is a geek himself playing the title geek falls in love with the girl of her dreams and must defeat seven evil exes in order to keep going out with her. The reason why Scott Pilgrim is so good is because they want to be a geek and chose to do it in a ridiculous and surreal manner. The characters geek, the music geek, and the visuals also belongs to geeks because it combines video games and comic book into screen life. Bursting a douche's head into coins had never felt so exciting
Kick Ass. Awesome title, but geeky. Where a geek dons a superhero with only two baton sticks as his weapons and has his ass kicked. Sure it has an 11 year old swaering and kiling. Sure if Nicolas Cage rips off Adam West. Sure it was a box office bomb since it never got our attention because it was blocked by Tea Party fanatics. But wahtever it is Kick Ass is a total geekfest and it is literally a geek itself when it is bullied by critics for all the sures above.
Inception. It's the year's favourite movie by a geek. There's one obvious trait about geeks. It is smart. And so is this movie which is a geek. Leonardo Dicaprio plays an extractor who thinks like a geek because he is obssessed with dreams. It is most talked about because it is confusing but a geek can quickly figure it out himself. It also has a huge fanbase
The Social Network (probably the best movie of the year) is a movie about a geek who makes the biggest social gathering on the Web called Facebook. Jess Eisenberg plays Mark Zuckerberg who is not only geek, but a genius, punk and billionaire. Zuckerberg has all the common traits of the geek. He rebels against the social world since he's socially inept, obsessed with computers and such. And he's the richest geek alive.
It's not just movies that count, it's also the music. Where our radio stations punk'd us with music that is unlistenable, the music that is the listenable is ones the geeks are listening to at the moment.
First of all, Vampire Weekend started off the year with their second album Contra a poppy, catchy, cheery record with a lot of African beats and songs about hipsters and geeks alike like Cousins or Holiday. Indie rock is the new rock where after Nirvana introduced alternative rock with Smell Like Teen Spirit, Vampire Weekend might introduce us about the angst of geeks everywhere about certain traits and other crazy stuff.
If you don't think so, try listening to Arcade Fire one of the biggest bands... literally. Well they're not that big but they have a huge fanbase and that The Surburbs, the band's latest record is both critically acclaimed and a commercial success to the mainstream. Arcade Fire may be this generation's Radiohead. The Suburbs may their OK Computer, where a lot of music geeks called it the greatest album of its time.
Look how big Arcade Fire had become.
Another band with a similar fanbase is a big band called Muse.
Muse had became the best bands there is in the new millenium. If you want to see a live gig from some random band, buy tickets for Muse because they are the greatest live band of the 21st Century. How is this associated with geeks and 2010. First off their all of their records (Showbiz, Origin Of Symmetry, Absolution, Black Holes And Revelations, The Resistance) is like Edgar Wright (the dude who made Scott Pilgrim Vs. The World). He mashes up genres. If you imagine them composing the score of Scott Pilgrim or Inception you will have classical music meets alternative metal and progressive rock meets RnB. So this has been the geek's music because their lyrics involve science fiction and crazy fantasies.
Muse may become the Heir for Biggest Band In The World which is currently held by U2 (they still support them in their big tours). Their live performances should be a must see for any fan or any music lover there is.
So there you have it. Geeks rule 2010. If you want to avoid the travesty of our society today, become a geek today
Ok, I have reviewed all of these movies titled above. All of them I loved. All of them I've listed in my Best List. But I would keep these reviews short since I have bought and owned all of the DVDs. And some of them have been revised and rating. (These are reviewed in DVD form)
Inception
Christopher Nolan's dazzling and multi-layered masterpiece has turned one blockbuster like The Dark Knight the transformation to a work of art. The charisma follows with the rest of the cast including Leonardo Dicaprio, Joseph Gordon Levitt and Ellen Page who extract secrets in a person's subconsciousness and at the last minute changed a very person's life when putting an idea in his subconsciousness. Nolan is not an reincarnation of any cinematic pioneers, but earns a reputation as one of the best filmmakers there is. The screenplay written is the cleverest in story and in concept. Visually stunning Inception is a great movie to own. This may look like a tribute to The Matrix where a person goes into another universe, but nevertheless is very original and may get an Academy Award for Best Original Screenplay.
Key Scene: Scene featuring the first dream involves a shootout and a freight train coming in. Good for people who have a surround sound system
Film Rating: 10/10
Extras: DVD contains four featurettes explaining the film's concepts. Shame that I didn't get the Blu Ray
Extras Rating (DVD): 6/10
Scott Pilgrim Vs. The World
Warning_Spoiler Alert!
Michael Cera plays a new character named Scott Pilgrim which unlike the same people he portrayed, is a slacker to many of his peers especially his band Sex Bo-Omb's drummer Kim Pine (wonderful Allison Pill). When he literally dates the girl of his dreams the hair-changing Ramona Flowers ( a non-stereotype Mary Elizabeth Winstead), he meets her Seven Evil Exes who are out to kick his teeth in unless he obviously and simply defeat them. The incredibles visuals involved are the sounds you hear, pop culture references including Seinfeld, bleeping and most importantly all of that are the things you see in a comic book and a video game, tightly held together to make this one movie all thanks to Edgar Wright (Shaun Of The Dead and Hot Fuzz). Most of the cast steal their scenes with Kieran Culkin as Scott's gay roomate, Ellen Wong as Scott's pretend-girlfriend and the Evil Exes (with Jason Schwartzman as the final Ex). But the highlight is Wright who empowers this movie to a visual orgy. It's a shame that Cera's and Winstead's chemistry was way too short as most of the movie are up close with the repetitive fights. Scott Pilgrim wasn't great at the box office but will become an instant cult classic years to come.
Key Scene: The second last fight between Scott Pilgrim's band and the second last exes is empowering. Great with High Definition TVs
Film Rating: 8/10
Extras: DVD includes deleted scenes, outtakes, commentaries and galleries. Collector's Edition includes alternate footage, behind the scene footage, music promos and trailers
Extras Rating: 9/10
Kick Ass
Like Scott Pilgrim, Kick Ass was underappreciated from critics and the public alike given how the ultra-violence in this movie was performed by 11-year old Chloe Moretz as a real-life superhero. Based on a recent graphic novel from the artist of Wanted, Kick Ass asks the oh-so-old question: How come there's no superheros in real life? It was asked by a comic book geek Dave (Aaron Johnson) and when he experiments a wetsuit and batons as the no powers Kick Ass . He'd finally got the answer: because you get stabbed in the chest. He then realizes that he's not the only one there is with father-daughter duo Big Daddy (Nicolas Cage) and Hit Girl. With a completely sharp screenplay that mixes the Tarantino-esque violence with a Coen-styled black comedy and some delightful performances that also see Nicolas Cage not to suck in this. A fanboy called it Kill Bill meets Spiderman. I have to agree.
Key Scene: The final scenes of this movie where Hit Girl and Kick Ass enters the mobster's lair makes it great for HDTV and Surround Sound
Film Rating: 9/10
Extras: Extended Edition contains The Making Of Kick Ass, The Art of Kick Ass and several featurettes including storyboards & designs and commentary.
Let's review 2010. The year was not a bad year for all cinephiles, however it is more of the year where the younger audience never cared about movies and its integrity to entertain. What I'm saying is 2010 is mediocre and superficial. Sure there are some great movies, but the relentless number of sequels, remakes and movies made out of 3D had made this an exhausting period. Yet again many films independently made are still good and might get a spot at the Oscars next year.
But more so when I was in the mood with movies that are really great, many peers at school dismiss my tastes in these kinds of movies. They either watched it and for no reason think it's boring or generally avoid it for the worst movies there is. This is the moral: kids will never respect you when you are doing or playing different whether it's movies, fashion or music. They go for the same mainstream music. After I learnt this lesson, I realize that I shouldn't care about what people are saying to you.
However there were some movies made by Hollywood runned by great filmmakers that had made some movies not just one of the best films of the year, but the greatest of its time. Maybe of all time. There are movies that made me think, that made me enjoy, laugh, cry and more fascinated by their stories.
OK, here's how I would arrange my best movies:
- All movies released in my place (i.e. Australia) should be released in 2010 (so if one movie was initially released in 2009, it would be released in 2010 if it wasin Australia)
- These is my own words
- My reasons on picking these movies are exact.
Oh and before we get into the list here's a review of 2010 in movies:
So let's get into it, shall we?
#10 - Up In The Air*
A lot of the public will either find this a great movie or a movie they have wasted their time on after being bored for 108 minutes about a guy who fires and consult his company for a living while flying around America to earn a million flyer miles along with a mysterious companion and his competitor.
Jason Reitman's film takes a witty and clever insight of employees working their asses off during the economic downturn. When their employment is terminated, they wreck everything in the room.
But you see George Clooney, even if you hate him because of his philosophy of life and his ambitions, playing this character doing things so unbelievable that it makes him believable.
Look Out for: There's a moment where Zach Galifinakis appears breaking down in the most hilarious ways
Great for DVD? Sort of. Deleted scenes and featurettes about the movie including an onlook of Jason Reitman's famous title sequences
#9 - The Town
We've seen this kind of story a million times. But Ben Affleck's The Town about a bunch of robbers who rob banks in the Boston area of Charlestown, is handled with true grit as both actor and director, proving that his last film Gone Baby Gone is no accident.
Crime in Boston is at times hard to combat. And Affleck proves that with some great action sequences including two car chases and a heist but at its heart some compassion and remorse.
This may be a director's film with Affleck the starlight for this flick, but Jon Hamm, Rebecca Hall and Pete Postlethwaite had some great things going on.
#8 - The Hurt Locker*
Winning the Oscar (I prefer the Academy Awards as many while the Oscar as for Best Picture) this year, The Hurt Locker deals with a bomb diffuser in the Iraq conflict who's unorthordox methods frustrates his colleagues considering him as reckless.
Jeremy Renner makes a great persona for his character William James who creates a climatic tension between character and story just like it did in Hollywood.
Even if Kathryn Bigelow made me sick with the extreme hand held camera work, it's an important outline of the war today. Pity this arthouse film has to deal with pirates.
Look Out For: When William James is introduced the name of the base he's spearheading has some political issues.
#7 - In The Loop*
Another movie about the war in Iraq. This isn't about soldiers. It's about the stakeholders focusing on the most questioned issue in the early 2000s. The stakeholders: generals, public servants and politicians. All are which are idiots and one of them so acid tongue you would want to applaud him.
Based on the BBC's acclaimed TV series The Thick Of It, In The Loop involves looping your head with the biggest situation in politics whacked up into dry and potty-mouthed humour.
It's a modern update of Kubrick's Dr. Strangelove.
But what is more interesting is that these characters fail in spectacular style that is unrelated with the Iraq War.
And what's more interesting is that sadly it might be apparent on Wikileaks.
Look Out For: Many pop culture references including Keira Knightley and Shrek.
#6 - Animal Kingdom
This and Winter's Bone were joint winners at this year's Sundance Film Festival. For some reason they're both considered boring to the public. I might agree with Winter's Bone given how overrated it is but for Animal Kingdom I don't.
It takes place in Melbourne where a small criminal family runned by matriarch Smurf, played by an excellent Jacki Weaver, is taken down by authorities. And the boy J has to find his place.
Gritty and uptight, it's a psychological exploration of the criminal family, somthing we had never seen before. This is the best Australian movie in years.
Look Out for: Air Supply's "Outta Love" is featured where one of the characters die.
#5 - Toy Story 3
This may not have been a perfect film, but it is flawless and awesome. Even the most cynical could love this movie (except for Armond White). Toy Story 3 is a fun and entertaining animated ride filled with richly animated toys that has lot of heart. At the end of the day this is about being together and willing to belong to someone who would take care of Woody, Buzz and Jessie in a gentle stance.
But there is something that needs to be explained. It's not really the #1 animated movie of all time and also why do so many guys cry.
This is Pixar's best material. It keeps getting better film after film. It also proved to be the best movie trilogy of all time. Take that, Lord Of The Rings!
Look Out for: There's a Totoro toy in one scene which makes this movie cuter.
#4 - Scott Pilgrim Vs. The World
By far the most ridiculous story that has a completely niched audience, Edgar Wright's adaptation of Scott Pilgrim is very awesome.
Michael Cera plays a new character he has never played before as the eponymous name who date the girl of her dreams (literally!) and when he does he face seven ex-boyfriends. in this case, seven Evil Exes.
I don't get why the niche audience never saw this coming (maybe because it's released with one gender movies The Expendables and Eat Pray Love), it's visually exciting, and witty that even though it shamelessly borrows from spaghetti westerns, Bollywood musicals, Hong Kong action, comic books and video games it proves something. This is the surrealist state of art in cinema.
Look Out For: When Michael Cera comes in, there's the usage of the Seinfeld theme music.
Great for DVD? Probably. The two disc editon which is the collector's edition has deleted scenes, alternative footage and music promos.
#3 - Kick-Ass
Anyone who criticize this movie for its ultra violence and an 11 year old girl doing it is a prude. That include moralistic, conservative film critics, parents and priests.
This wonderful movie where it ask why there's no superhero in real life, a comic book geek gets that answer when becoming a no-power super is that you get metal plates when doing so.
Of all the comic book movies I've seen, this is a breakout for Chloe Moretz and a strong performance from Nicolas Cage who both play the irony of a generalised daddy-daughter relationship but they're still strong together.
This is a movie never to be taken seriously. It is refreshingly and darkly funny, this movie was considered an abomination.
Look Out For: The name of the weapon Hit Girl wanted for her brithday
Great for DVD? Probably. An extended edition incluedes the Making of Kick Ass
#2 - Inception Christopher Nolan had brought us great movies including Memento and The Dark Knight. But Nolan's latest epic is Inception, a mind blowing and bending movie about Leonardo Dicaprio's character who's an extractor and go into someone's dreams and steal secrets. But he, along with his crew has to plant an idea to someone that would have influence the lives of that person.
It is visually enhancing as Nolan creates a milestone. This film used a minimal amount of CGI for its main sequences and instead used a range of practical methods for these scenes including a shoot out and a fight sequence done in zero gravity .
Dicaprio has a lot of heart and compassion inside it and he's also melacholy and poignant given how he'd lost his wife at her dream state and had never seen his children since he is accused of his wife's death.
Nolan had been making this movie for ten years and whilest its screenplay is smart, multi-layered and original, it's pretty hard to understand. I really think this is one of my favourites of the year since it does something an average blockbuster had never done. Make the audience think. This is how you can like this movie. If you can't, then you just can't take this movie.
I was disappointed that no one in my school had got the balls to see this mind bender. Inception is one movie you should watch a few times and is great science fiction flick.
Look Out For: When the music plays as a warning that the dream is collapsing, the song Non Je ne regrette Nien is sung by Marion Cottilard who sung that song in the 2007 movie La Vie En Rose for which she recieved an Oscar.
Great DVD? Absolutely. People are anticipating the Blu Ray since it has extra features and goodies including a replica spinning top.
#1 - The Social Network
David Fincher's movie about the largest social gathering on the web (i.e Facebook) has much irony to the website's purpose. The owner, CEO and founder Mark Zuckerberg has made nothing social to his colleagues leading to two seperate lawsuits between the Winklevoss twins suing him for stealing their website and his co-founder Eduardo Saverin for freezing the company's share.
Facebook started because Zuckerberg was dumped by a girl. Is it because he was desperate for social acceptance as he wanted to be in Harvard's finals clubs.
Jesse Einseberg brilliantly executes the contrasting yet reflective persona of the Facebook founder in Fincher's darkly timed epic.
Fincher has brought up a great crew to this movies including Aaron Sorkin (West Wing creator) who fills his screenplay with politics at a bullet speed, Trent Reznor of Nine Inch Nails as the composer and Kevin Spacey who is the executive producer, to bring up a zeigeist defining movie that also defines a generation of Net users.
For the first time since American Beauty, The Social Network is the most talked about movie by both the public and the critics. A strong chance of winning the Oscar, Fincher's movie has poignancy to a person who is not just a billionaire and a creator, but a genius.
Look Out for: Aaron Sorkin makes a cameo as an advertising executive.
Honourable mentions to:
Fantastic Mr. Fox; Shutter Island; Green Zone; Easy A; Robin Hood; Boy; Four Lions; Tron Legacy; The Kids Are All Right; A Single Man; Greenberg
Best Upcoming Movies (Movies I wanted to watch):
1. Black Swan 2. 127 Hours 3. True Grit 4. Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part II 5. Tintin: The Secrets of The Unicorn. 6. Paul 7. Sucker Punch
And the worst...
Seriously, 2010 hasn't been a great year for movies especially comedies which are getting broader. And the more broader, the less attention younger audiences get to the movies like the ones mentioned above. When Inception asked What is the most resilient parasite? The movies that are made for grabbing cash. Most of these movies I haven't watched yet observed so you would argue how did I made this list. But when the numbers are high, it's apparent that younger audiences are immature and lazy at the cinemas.
#10 The Last Airbender Was a fan of the TV series that turned into the big screen with nadir results from the direction of M Night. Shylamalan, performances of the cast and the worst 3D visuals.
#9 Eat Pray Love
This chick flick based on the memoirs promoted by Oprah Winfrey would be a waste of your spare two hours. Add in the ten minutes and like a boring traveller's TV show. Julia Roberts who was pretty in the 90s returned as this self-absorbed women who just travel for no apparent reason other than to 'find herself'. Yeah right
#8 Killers or Life As We Know It The more rom-coms Katherine Heigl appears, the more society will hate her. Baby jokes and literally killer jokes are so lame.
#7 Marmaduke, Yogi Bear and Cats & Dogs
There's something I'm uncomfortable with. Talking animals in a live action kids flick. They can't shut up.
#6 The Twilight Saga: Eclipse
Along with Justin Bieber and Jersey Shore could somebody get rid of this abomination we have in this society?
#5 Sex and the City 2
Another torturous waste of your spare two hours. And twenty minutes.
#4 Vampires Suck Makes #6 looks better
#3 Resident Evil: Afterlife
Hand me that dog and I will rip it in half - Robert Downey Jr
#2 The Last Song or Dear John
Like #6, Nicholas Sparks is an abomination. Why does he has to be brainwashed by Hannah Montana to write this turkey?
#1 Grown Ups or Cop Out
Grown Ups has to put down everybody in their system while Cop Out just been copped off. Grown Ups was watched by everybody at my school. I resented it because they think it is funny. It's not.
