Overall, this has been a very weak year in film so far. While there have been some quality films, they have been few and far between. This summer especially has been full of dissapointments, but that's what happens when studios are only investing in sequels and remakes. While I'm hoping for the best, there doesn't seem to be much evidence the year will get much better. That being said, here is my top 10 of the year to this point. Keep in mind, there are many films I have yet to see that may end up on my list at the end of the year, and occasionally the order may change as my opinion may change due to repeat viewings and extensive thought on the films. Without further ado, here's my top 10.
10. Shutter Island - While there are aspects of this film I did enjoy, mainly the art direction and Dicaprio's performance, I thought this film was an overall dissapointment. I felt as if the film could have been much shorter, and I felt as if the film relied on its twist ending a bit too much. While I wasn't a big fan of the film, the lack of quality this year has allowed it to make an appearance on my top 10 of the mid year.
9. Hot Tub Time Machine - In a slow year like this, sometimes you have to resort to listing the movies that entertained you the most. I had a great time watching this movie, and I felt as if the comedy, while broad, was very successful.
8. The Crazies - This is another example of a movie that entertained the heck out of me. I thought this was a rather successful horror film, and it had plenty of gore. What more can you ask for?
7. Youth in Revolt - This Michael Cera comedy was actually surprisingly intelligent and entertaining. Normally January is a dumping ground of films that are just plain bad, but this January comedy was quite a treat.
6. The Ghost Writer - This latest film from Roman Polanski worked on many different levels. Not only was it a successful thriller, it also served as a tongue-in-cheek satire in a sense. It also worked as a sort of subtle autobiographical comment on his own controversial life by Mr. Polanski himself.
5. Toy Story 3 - While I enjoyed this film quite a bit, it seems that most people enjoyed this film quite a bit more than I did. While I thought it was excellent, I felt as if it was a slight drop from Pixar's previous 3 films, and I felt as if it didn't work on every level it attempted to. Again, I did enjoy this film, but I didn't feel as if it was the best animated film released this year.
4. How To Train Your Dragon - While I felt as if this year in film was lacking in many areas, one area it has been strong in so far is animated comedy. The two films mentioned were very successful, and Despicable Me was an acheivment in its own right, even though I felt like it was a bit too cute for me. I thought How To Train Your Dragon was absolutely visually stunning. This is one that needs to be experienced in 3D, because the flying sequences are quite a sight to behold. While it may have been a bit lacking in other areas, I felt like this was far and away the best animated film of the year, and one deserving of the Academy Award when that time comes.
3. Greenberg - This latest film from Noah Baumbach was quite an achievement. This featured two of the finest acting performances this year from Ben Stiller and frequent indie film actress Greta Gerwig. I thought this was a fascinating character study, and I am looking forward to seeing what Gerwig has in store for her future as an actress.
2. Inception - Putting these last two films in some sort of order was a huge struggle for me, but I decided to go this route mainly because this film has already received quite a bit of critical acclaim, for good reason as well. This was quite an achievement for a big budget blockbuster. It was incredibly creative, which is extremely rare for a film with its budget, and it was well executed. While I did find a few problems in my second viewing of the film, they were out-weighted by the achievements of the film. This film featured an incredible cast, and it featured many moments that just left me speechless.
1. Cyrus - This film was the complete opposite of Inception, which made it very hard to compare the two. While one was an incredible spectacle, the other was one of the most honest and subtle films I have seen in a while. This film presents an interesting situation that could have been used for ridiculous, broad comedy, but instead, the Duplass Brothers created realistic characters with real emotions and motivations. This resulted in a film that was hillarious, touching, awkward, and heartfelt all at the same time.
