Okay, so here is 2009, 2008, 2007, 2006, and 2005. Just for your information (but mostly for mine).
I saw 23 movies that were released in 2010. This could be a record for me. I mean, that's a lot for me. I actually have more movies than 10 to put on this list! Without further ado, here is my list for 2010.
1. How to Train Your Dragon - I think that what put this at the number one spot was that I actually saw this movie twice, and I enjoyed it after the second viewing. This is one that I could definitely watch repetitively. The first time I saw it, I thought that the plot was pretty predictable, but in spite of that, I really enjoyed it. I really like the way that ...er... the movie people ... who made the movie... created Toothless. I became attached to that character during the movie. It was great. I also really liked the viking setting and the creativity of each of the dragons. I didn't know anything about it really when I saw it, and I was pleasantly surprised.
2. Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: Part 1 - Okay, I admit it. I'm biased. If it's Harry Potter, then chances are that I'm going to love it. I can't believe I enjoyed this movie as much as I did, but ultimately, it was awesome. Even the camping part, which I didn't really like at all the first time I read the book. I especially enjoyed the part when they used the pollyjuice potion. I honestly expected the movie makers to just really suck it up for at least one of the movies. I was especially expecting it with this one, but ultimately they did a great job and exceeded expectations.
3. Inception - It was a clever movie, and near the end I thought I actually was going to hate the movie... until the very, very end. Then, THEN I liked the movie. One of the most enjoyable parts of the movie to me was the special effects. The zero gravity part was awesome, purely awesome. All of the acting was great (yes, even Leonardo DiCaprio), and it was ultimately a time when I was captivated. I was totally into the movie.
4. The Chronicles of Narnia: the Voyage of the Dawn Treader - I like this series. I'm not a huge fan of this particular book, but they did a great job on the movie. I really enjoyed it! I had totally forgotten about the dragon part, and it was a little hokey when I thought about it, but somehow it still succeeded. I hope they continue on with the next ones of the series. I really liked the book "The Horse and His Boy."
5. Toy Story 3 - I am impressed with this series. They have kept up with the quality of movies throughout the series. I do have an issue with this movie, though. Some of the toys were overly scary. Almost to the point of those stop-action misfit toys scary. FREAKY. Anyway, it was an enjoyable movie. Fun for the whole family, as long as they can handle the freaky.
(This is where it got really hard choosing because a bunch were good, but not great.)
6. Despicable Me - Humorous. The little girls were cute, and I thought the plot seemed slightly... I don't know... canned or something. It was like I could see everything coming from a mile away. It didn't cause me to heave a hearty laugh, but it was still... good. Yeah, it was good. It was enjoyable and can likely stand up to multiple viewings.
7. Iron Man 2 - This was the same movie as Iron Man. Like, seriously, it seemed like the same movie as the first one. I enjoyed the first one, so... I guess I enjoyed this one, too. I have no major complaints; I'm just wondering why they made two movies that were the same movie? And why did I pay twice to see the same movie?!
8. Diary of a Wimpy Kid - I wasn't expecting this movie to be good at all, but it really tickled my fancy. I ended up giggling at a lot of the parts, and I actually loved the character of Rowley. He was hilarious to me.
9. The Ghost Writer - This movie wasn't extremely fast-paced, but I enjoyed it well enough. It was like a slow mystery that was adventurous at the same time. Probably the thing that impressed me most about this movie is that it seemed more true-to-life in its action and probability than other movies that are full of suspense and danger (ahem, Knight and Day). Also, it starred Ewan McGregor, which is good because he has an excellent accent. And I recognized a location in England that was in the movie because I went there last year. I love it when that happens in movies, especially if the movie is not set in NYC or Hollywood.
10. Tangled - Yeah, it was pretty good. I wasn't in love with it, but it had some cool parts. None of the songs were very memorable to me, and it deviated from the original story of Rapunzel in some significant ways and in some insignificant ways. It was enjoyable enough, though. Not terribly memorable, but good. I'm sure there are plenty of little girls who are in love with it, though. (So, what is the deal with recent heroes in princess movies being thieves or unemployed or whatever? Are there no regular guys who work in legitimate jobs anymore?)
I also enjoyed the following movies:
Alice in Wonderland - I should have been totally freaked out by Helena Bonham Carter's head among other things, but I ended up not caring and instead delighting in the visual art of the movie.
The Last Airbender - It was missing the hilarity of the cartoons, but it was still good.
Scott Pilgrim Vs. the World - The way they made this movie was very clever. It should definitely be added to your list for future viewing.
The Sorcerer's Apprentice - Enjoyable enough.
Prince of Persia: the Sands of Time - Ridiculous, but a good adventure.
Shrek Forever After - It was just good. Enough with the Shrek movies, already!
The following movies were so-so or meh, whichever you prefer:
Letters to God - It was clean and touching. It reminded me of "Fireproof."
Date Night - It provided some laughs.
Knight and Day - Yes, I actually saw this. It wasn't that bad. Certainly not as bad as it could have been, considering it had both Tom Cruise and Cameron Diaz.
Clash of the Titans - Not great. I didn't regret seeing it, though.
Eclipse - Forgettable.
Movies I didn't really like or that were disappointing:
Percy Jackson & the Olympians: the Lightning Thief - I liked the book, but the movie was so dumbed down and sexed up. Weird.
Robin Hood - It just wasn't very good. It's like it should have been good but just wasn't.
Movies I wanted to see from 2009 and saw:
Terminator Salvation - Yep, I liked it.
9 - It was good. Just good. It kind of reminded me of "The Secret of Nimh" for some reason.
Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs - Eh... I didn't really love it. It was just okay.
Where the Wild Things Are - I didn't like it that much.
Cirque du Freak: The Vampire's Assistant - Not great.
The Twilight Saga: New Moon - Better quality than Twilight, which made it not as good because Twilight was hilarious!
Invictus - It was alright.
Movies I didn't necessarily want to see from 2009 but saw anyway:
Avatar - It was visually beautiful, but it wasn't great.
Inkheart - Wasn't great, but wasn't terrible.
Taken - I think I actually saw this in 2009 but forgot to put it on last year's list because I guess I forgot about it. It wasn't great.
Dragonball Evolution - This is what I imagine Mighty Morphin Power Rangers was like. I don't know that I saw more than a couple of clips of that show, but I'm pretty sure this movie was a lot like it. And throw in a teenage mutant ninja turtle for effect.
Whip It - I thought it was funny!
The Young Victoria - Enjoyable enough.
Movies I wanted to see from 2008 and saw:
Nick and Norah's Infinite Playlist - It was alright. I enjoy Michael Cera enough. I'm getting tired of him, though. I might need to go watch an 80s movie with John Cusack, just to remind myself that Michael Cera is not the only actor that can play awkward young roles.
Nim's Island - I did end up seeing it. It was alright. Nice-ish.
The Tale of Despereaux - I didn't love the book, so I didn't love the movie.
Movies I wanted to see from 2007 and saw:
1408 - I was so scared that I would be freaked out that I maintained constant dialogue throughout the movie and thus was not scared that much.
Rescue Dawn - Interesting. Not great, but interesting.
Movies I have a small interest in seeing that came out in 2010:
Unstoppable
The Social Network
MegaMind
The King's Speech
True Grit
Tron: Legacy
Most of those are maybes. I still need to see how they were reviewed because I haven't paid much attention to that.
Was there anything I missed that you loved? I find that I enjoy putting on a movie while I work at my house. I am more than willing to try out something that you've enjoyed if it comes with a good recommendation. Hope you enjoyed this post. I still didn't really enjoy writing it. Ah well. You win some, and you lose some.
12 comments:
First of all, I love your movie review and I know that I am not going to be the only person in blog world excited to see all your reviews! However, you and I are total opposite in our movie liking. Which is perfectly fine because it makes for good conversation when I run into you. ;)
I am a little shocked that you actually sat through Fireproof - that made me laugh. Haven't seen Letters to God yet, but figured it would be much like Fireproof. And of course, your twilight reviews are so funny.
Even though we are total opposite I think that you have convinced me to see at least one of the movies on your list, Inception. Okay, maybe I'll see Despicable Me. And another, even though I really don't like Michael Cera I think I might see what this Scott Pilgrim movie is. One last thing - I do love John Cusack!!!!
Love the review...That's all i'm writing. Later yo!
Yeah, I have noticed that we do have different movie tastes, but that's okay. We agree on some.
Some of these movies I saw were a product of the social gathering where I saw them. Some of them I would not have seen if I had not been in that social setting. Also, I've realized that I haven't been doing a great job of choosing interesting movies. Some of them just suck. I need to be choosier and not buy into hype or my own childhood nostalgia.
I'm going to have to disagree about Iron Man 2. The first Iron Man seemed to have more of a plot and climax to me and the main guy wasn't quite as much of a selfish jerk throughout the ENTIRE movie. The second one reminded us that Tony Stark is a jerk and not really that likable...then there was some imagined conflict thrown in there for no good reason (weird Russian guy is mad Starks dad screwed over his dad blah, blah) the climax of which was incredible only by how incredibly ANTI-climatic it was. A punch here, a laser blast there, the end? Seriously? Anyway, I thought the first one was a little better...although I wouldn't ever want to own either one. I like reading your movie posts though. Good job. :)
Nice list. You have inspired me to check out some movies I hadn't considered before.
I haven't seen it yet, but everyone I know who has seen True Grit really liked it. So I'm hoping to see it now too.
Did anyone see Ramona and Beezus? I was pretty curious about it since I grew up reading the books.
I LOVE your movie lists but can totally see why it would be a hard post to write. I LOVED Despicable Me; I think it hit my funny bone a certain way...I laughed a lot when I saw it. Didn't manage to see Inception, but will probably when it hits Netflix. I too enjoyed How to Train Your Dragon and Harry Potter. I was pleased with how they managed the first half of the story and am soooo excited for the final segment!
I didn't love Tangled but was pleasantly surprised by Scott Pilgrim. It was pretty funny and I'd watch it again. I haven't seen the last two Shrek's but I agree with you...the madness needs to end!
As for movies from 2010 that you didn't see, I surprisingly enjoyed MegaMind, even the second time I saw it (not by choice). In fact, I liked it more the second time. I also liked True Grit, and I went in with high expectations because I really enjoy the John Wayne version. Tron and Unstoppable were good but I could have totally waited to see them on Netflix. I really really really want to see The Kings Speech. I *heart* Colin Firth and this story really interests me.
Thanks for the recap! I didn't see about half of the movies you listed but I may try to catch a few of the ones you liked on Netflix.
Hahahaha, Kiera. I just love your analysis of Iron Man 2. Fantastic!
Brita, yeah, I've only heard good about True Grit, too! I totally want to see it, especially since I actually like that John Wayne. I haven't heard much about Ramona and Beezus. Did you check Rotten Tomatoes to see how it did?
Julie - I wanted to see Megamind because you liked it. Thanks for letting me know it was good!
A Horse and His Boy just might be my favorite in The Chronicles of Narnia series. I'm really excited to find someone else who likes it enough to mention it by name.
Fun list! As always. I love reading your take on the movies.
I LOVE your movie reviews and LOVE to read them every year, so I'm glad you wrote this even though you didn't want to! ;0)
I really like Ramona and Beezus. It's a really cute movie. We bought it and so did 2 of my siblings.
We saw Secretariat and Unstopable last weekend. I liked both of these movies and would recommend them.
That's my 2 cents worth! :0)
"Harry Potter" and "Despicable Me" better than "The Ghost Writer"? Get outta here, Cardine. Oh, I liked HP and DM just fine, but "The Ghost Writer" really snapped. So many movies try to be Hitchcockian, but "The Ghost Writer" actually succeeded.
Dana - Hooray for "A Horse and His Boy!"
Angela - Thanks for the info on " Ramona and Beezus!"
Cash - Yeah, I didn't think that movie would stand up to multiple viewings for me, whereas HP and DM would. Speaking of Hitchcock, I have been in the mood for him lately. I think I'm going to go with "Dial M for Murder."
Harry Potter and Inception were the only ones I saw in the theater, via anniversary and my parents' treat. Both very good. Though I found it funny how many people said Inception was hard to follow and they had to watch it multiple times to understand what was happening. Really? It seemed pretty straightforward to me. Though, do you think the main guy was really awake at the end? ooooohhhhh.
Harry Potter- much better than I remember the book being, but I will be rereading it soon so we'll see how it is on second glance. I've thought it has been so perfect to cast Helena Bonham Carter as Bellatrix Lestrange; I think she could be her if she lived in the HP universe.
We just got How to Train Your Dragon on netflix this week. It was good. I liked that Craig Ferguson did one of the voices. And since we got the Sorcerers Apprentice before that,I totally was picturing the real guy who did hiccups voice. I liked the references to D&D, which I've never really played, but have lots of family members who do.
Toy Story 3, also excellent. I almost believed at the end they were going to let them burn in the trash heap. Loved Kens metrosexual character. And yeah, freaky giant baby.
Iron Man 2- meh. But I have yet to sit through the first one all the way, so...not a big fan.
Alice in Wonderland- pretty good I guess. Loved all the imagery, and the fact that the twins were her fiance. Haha. And that she tells her aunt to see a doctor about her delusions.
Okay: Airbender, Avatar (I bought it for Joseph, he loves it), Prince of Persia, Percy Jackson...I agree Clash of the Titans wasn't that exciting, because well, I've seen it, just with less special effects.
aaand...thats all I'm gonna write right now.
Tearese - Yeah, that's why I thought "Inception" was good. It could go either way with the end. I didn't know Hiccup was the same guy as in "The Sorcerer's Apprentice." Hmmm. Thanks for putting your opinions here. That is the bright part of writing this post: getting to read all the comments!
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