So, 2010 is about to end, a week or two left, and like the last two years, its time for me to compile my 'Best of...' lists.
I've watched a lot of movies, this year as always, listened to a lot of good music, played a lot of games, and another great thing, I've started reading a lot once more; so I've read a lot of books too, this year.
Also, a lot of things on these lists would not necessarily be from 2010, just things that I've watched, listened to, read or otherwise experienced this year.
So let's start off with the movies...
There are a lot of very obvious choices for the top ten (read 'Inception'/'The Social Network' etc.), but some of these are somewhat obscure (maybe not), or surprising choices as well.
Ok, so in part 1, we have,
TOP TEN MOVIES-->
10. HARD CANDY -
Little Red Riding Hood with a twist. Ellen Page stars in this disturbing (at times) thriller about a 14 year old girl who meets up with a 32 year old guy whom she suspects to be a sexual predator.
What follows is a completely intense and very gripping hour of film. The storyline is brilliant, as is the acting. The camera work is in fact the best I've seen in a movie recently, when you think that most of the movie is set in a house, with just two people.
9. MOON -
A one man movie, if you don't count Kevin Spacey as the voice of GERTY, Sam Rockwell pulls off a performance of a lifetime in this sci-fi/mystery film.Sam Rockwell's character is nearing the end of a three year solitary stint on a mining station on the moon, when suddenly things start getting weird. A very well made movie.
8. L.A. CONFIDENTIAL -
The star-cast itself is enough for this to be on anybody's list of movies that need to be seen, with Kevin Spacey, Russel Crowe and Guy Pearce, not to mention Kim Basinger.A classic murder mystery, set in LA, with a backdrop of drugs, sex, alcohol and Hollywood. A very slick, intelligent and fun movie.
7. THE GHOST WRITER -
Directed by Roman Polanski, the Ghost Writer is about a ghostwriter (Ewan McGregor) hired to write the memoirs of a former British PM, played by Pierce Brosnan.What he discovers though, investigating into the former politician's life, puts his own life in danger. Some people who I talked to about it found the movie slow, and though it is a little long, its pace is part of its presentation.
With an amazing, and very surprising last scene, this is definitely one of the top ten movies I've seen this year.
6. SHUTTER ISLAND -
Leonardo DiCaprio has made a reputation for himself, starring in what are usually the best movies of the year. This time too, with Shutter Island and Inception, he's done the same.Directed by Martin Scorcese, Shutter Island delivers chills, excitement and a good measure of dread as it slowly chips away at the viewer's psyche.
Based on a novel by Dennis Lehane (which is now on my must-read list), it's been filmed extraordinarily well, creating a very gloomy atmosphere.
5. THE BLIND SIDE-
Based on a true story of Michael Oher, and his adoptive family, the Blind Side was one movie I did not really expect would qualify to be on this list as I began watching it. But as I found out, it's one of the more inspirational, and touching movies out there.There's great acting by Sandra Bullock and also by Quinton Aaron as Michael Oher.
A definite must watch.
4. THE SHAWSHANK REDEMPTION -
Yes, I understand its a crime that I saw this movie in 2010. The number 1 movie on IMDb's top 250 of all time, and I saw it this year.Oh well, let's just say there were some misconceptions about this movie's worth in my head.
With Tim Robbins and Morgan Freeman as lead stars in this story about how two men get to know each other, in a prison, and the unfolding of their lives, and of those around them, over something like twenty years, 'The Shawshank Redemption' definitely deserves the title of one of the greatest movies ever made.
And I was surprised to discover that this has been adapted from something Stephen King wrote.
3. DEV D -
Another movie I saw late.I'd heard a lot about Dev D, and Abhay Deol's portrayal of the classic character of Devdas. But nothing I'd heard even came close to how I feel about this movie.
It is, in my opinion, quite simply, one of the best movies to come out of Bollywood in a very very long time.
Edgy, dark, sometimes surreal, Anurag Kashyap has created something that I hope is the beginning to a whole new era of Indian cinema.
Abhay Deol is a great actor, as I've discovered recently in 'Oye Lucky! Lucky Oye!' as well. Hope he continues the good work.
2. INCEPTION -
Probably the most hyped movie of this year, it lived up to it.Christopher Nolan had to do something to raise the bar once more after 'The Dark Knight' and he managed to do it.
Leonardo DiCaprio makes all the right choices.
Inception is a movie I saw in the theater the week it released, and although I knew it then I had just witnessed something special, I knew I needed to see it again to really appreciate it. So I waited for the BluRay to be released so I could watch it in HD at home, and boy was it worth the wait. I've seen it three times now, and every time it gets better.
One amazing movie.
1. THE SOCIAL NETWORK -
From the director of 'Zodiac' and 'Fight Club' - David Fincher, came this year's best movie. 'The Social Network' is about the meteoric rise of the founder of facebook.com, Mark Zuckerberg, and the story of facebook's invention.Now this movie could have been made any number of ways, but the way it was, turned out to be one of the best movies of recent memory. Admittedly, the story itself is so fascinating, that it would've been hard to make a bad movie out of it, but everything from Jesse Eisenberg's acting to the amazing score by Trent Reznor (of Nine Inch Nails) is flawless.
I'm sure a lot of people wouldn't agree to this, as the choice for the best movie of this year, but I don't know...for me, it is.
Ok, so those are the top ten movies I saw this year. I'd love to hear about your choices, in the comments...do share.
Hope you'll read part 2 of this...coming soon.
