Echoes in Eternity

It's that time again... a chance to look back at this year's (or, in some cases, recent) films and give a few recommendations and perhaps some denunciations as well. As a whole, 2010 was a pretty average year movie-wise, at least compared to 2009. Here are a few that stood out. As always, several of these may have crude language, violence, and/or sexual situations. If you want to know the content of any of these films, go to Screenit.com or Pluggedin.com.

Best Drama

Crazy Heart

~ While ultimately failing to point the viewer to Christ as the answer, this moving tale of redemption does offer some good messages and great performances, particularly by Jeff Bridges. **** out of 5 stars

Honorable mention: The Road, Invictus, The Town, The Visitor, The Blind Side, Shutter Island

Best Comedy

Date Night

~ The considerable comedic talents of Steve Carell and Tina Fey made this a very funny and enjoyable film about a married couple who try to just get away from their kids for one peaceful date night and instead find themselves caught up in a mistaken identity problem with the mafia. **** out of 5 stars

Honorable mention: Fantastic Mr. Fox, The Other Guys, the first half of The Invention of Lying

Best Action

Inception

~ If you haven't yet seen this Chris Nolan masterpiece, do so immediately! Not only is it a brilliant and mind-blowing walk through the human understanding of mind, memory, and dreams (similar to Memento, another superb Nolan flick), it also has probably the best and most ground-breaking action sequences since The Matrix. Very original (unless you believe the plot was stolen from a Donald Duck comic book). For those who have seen it, one question for you. Does the top stop spinning? ***** out of 5 stars

Honorable Mention: Sherlock Holmes, Iron Man 2, Salt, Unstoppable, Body of Lies, Edge of Darkness, Daybreakers

Best Family/Kids

How to Train Your Dragon

~ I've already posted about this movie before, but let me once again strongly recommend this film as one that both adults and children will love. ***** out of 5 stars

Honorable Mention: Toy Story 3, Fantastic Mr. Fox, Christmas Carol, Megamind

Best Chick Flick

Remember Me

~ When it comes to chick flicks, I am pretty picky but also don't consider all of them to be vapid piles of pig snot. Many are, but some actually attain a level of depth and realism that make them worth watching. Which leads me to this pick... while some may hate the entirely unexpected ending (I liked it), Remember Me was on the whole a good (though kinda dark) movie. It was definitely not what I was expecting and barely counts as a chick flick at all. **** out of 5 stars

Honorable Mention: Dear John, Leap Year

Best Foreign

Red Cliff

~ This epic Chinese film is based on the true story of the Battle of Chibi back around 200 AD. I found it on the recommendation of a blogger friend and it ended up at the top of my favorite Chinese movies list, which says a lot considering Hero, Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon, Kung Fu Hustle, and House of the Flying Daggers are on that list. While Red Cliff doesn't involve the same type of qinggong martial arts that those other films do, it does have some great action scenes along with a wonderful and engaging story.

NOTE: The international version is actually two DVDs and nearly five hours long, while the version released outside of Asia is only one DVD and two and a half hours long. Take the time to watch the full international version, you'll thank me. ***** out of 5 stars

Honorable Mention: North Face, The Stoning of Soraya M.

Best Indie

Moon

~ This great little sci-fi film consists basically of a cast of one, Sam Rockwell. And he does a fantastic job. The plot follows his character (Sam Bell) in his 3-year stint mining helium-3 on the surface of the moon. Things are going smoothly as he approaches a return to Earth and his wife and daughter when suddenly everything goes haywire. To say more would spoil the plot, but suffice it to say that things are not quite as they seem. Kevin Spacey lends his voice as the robotic computer assistant GERTY. **** out of 5 stars

Honorable Mention: Grizzly Man

Best Movie You've Never Heard Of

The Visitor

~ This film is actually from 2007, but I saw it for the first time a few months ago and found it a very touching and well-acted story of two very different cultures coming together. **** out of 5 stars

Honorable Mention: Daybreakers, The Messenger, Defendor, Following, Felon

Worst Movie of the Year

Extract

~ This comedy is just not funny. It had so much potential and just fell flat. Avoid it. ** out of 5 stars

Honorable Mention: Avatar, second half of The Invention of Lying