Last week, whilst sitting in the cinema watching and enjoying the hell out of a movie (which shall remain nameless at this juncture for fear of giving the game away too early) I thought to myself “this has got to be one of the best films of 2010 so far”. I then found myself distracted for the entire ending of the film whilst my over-active brain began to conjure other contenders for such a coveted crown, whilst also trying to put them into some kind of order.

After some time and considerable thought I selected my top 5. I have to say they’re probably going to be somewhat controversial with some movie buffs, but what can I say? I like what I like. Sometimes I find the film preferences of others perplexing, confusing and in the case of my sister I often feel nauseous at her fondness for the mundane and unbearably shite.

I know the year isn’t over yet and there could be more truly fantastical movies that could come in the latter half of the year that have the potential be included on this list, but some would argue that ever since Jaws Hollywood is primarily set up for the summer blockbuster and everything else is secondary. Judging by the list of movies set to be released for the rest this year, I’m compelled to agree. From this list, I can only identify four future movies which hold some interest to me and I may venture back to the cinema to watch: Machete, The Social Network, Red and True Grit

The Shortlist

Before I delve into my list and my fanciful reasons for their selection, it’s only appropriate that I share the shortlist of movies notable enough to be included in my careful deliberations. From this list, the final have been chosen.

• Inception
• Scot t Pilgrim vs The World
• Toy Story 3
• Kick Ass
• Book of Eli
• Alice in Wonderland
• Green Zone
• Repo Men
• Hot Tub Time Machine
• How to Train Your Dragon
• Date Night
• The Losers
• Iron Man 2
• Robin Hood
• Shrek Forever After
• Prince of Persia: The Sands of Time
• Get Him to the Greek
• The A Team
• Karate Kid
• Knight and Day
• Grown Ups
• Predators
• Salt
• The Expendables
• Dinner for Shmucks

The Box Office Hint

Rank	Title	Studio	Worldwide	United States and Canada	United Kingdom	Australia
1	Alice in Wonderland	Walt Disney Pictures	$1,024,298,794	$334,191,110	$64,437,055	$33,234,316
2	Toy Story 3	Disney/Pixar	$1,012,331,112	$405,931,112	$105,000,800	$42,196,833
3	Shrek Forever After	DreamWorks	$708,694,064	$238,070,960	$48,513,057	$24,395,431
4	Inception	Warner Bros.	$658,034,171	$271,034,171	$51,396,306	$31,933,224
5	The Twilight Saga: Eclipse	Summit Entertainment	$654,787,231	$298,087,231	$45,709,785	$31,989,874
6	Iron Man 2	Paramount Pictures	$621,730,345	$312,128,345	$30,456,328	$22,418,342
7	Clash of the Titans	Warner Bros.	$491,918,410	$163,214,888	$29,242,160	$17,033,579
8	How to Train Your Dragon	DreamWorks	$490,227,050	$217,581,231	$26,488,493	$16,883,185
9	Prince of Persia: The Sands of Time	Walt Disney Pictures	$329,364,624	$90,402,162	$13,514,456	$8,734,153
10	The Karate Kid	Columbia Pictures	$318,361,352	$175,908,763	$18,044,476	$11,280,447

Now for just a little nudge in the right direction. Above is a list of the top grossing movies of 2010 (source Wikipedia). From this list, only one movie appears on my Top 5 list.

Intrigued yet? Good. Let’s begin.

5. The A-Team

Last but not least in my list (or first, depending how you look at it) is The A-Team. This action-packed, sometimes intelligent and entirely hilarious film reeked of culty goodness and allowed me to geek the hell out. The finished product proved to be a lot better than the trailer first purported it to be, showing only some of the more far-fetched scenes without providing any reasoning or sense of possibility the rest of the narrative allowed.

Despite the trailer, one night I decided to give the movie a chance and boy, was I glad that I did. I laughed, I cried, I shouted “Jesus Christ, what’ve ya done that for!” as well as “look at the wagons on that!” (for the majority of the Jessica Biel scenes, naturally) and I enjoyed the film to the point where I wouldn’t mind re-watching the flick any time, anywhere or with anyone.

However, I do feel I have to give a shout out to the movie the A-Team narrowly beat out to edge into my top 5 list more than any others missed from the shortlist. That film was The Losers.

Those of you reading this who know me or have indeed read this blog before, will know I’m a major comic book geek and I just LOVED The Losers graphic novels. I found the story edgy, compelling and fresh and found that the movie echoed that in some respects, but like most things the movie couldn’t live up to the graphic novel. For some reason they rewrote the Aisha character to a pale, watered down version of her true self which never really sat right me at all and of course they couldn’t hope to mimic Jock’s (the comic book artist) intense shading which I felt added a darker side to some of the characters (Cougar in particular) and thus gave them a little edge. Whilst, I have no qualms about the rest of the movie (it was a good watch and I believe the rest of the casting was outstanding) this got to me and thus the surprise quality of the A-Team seemed to edge the cult classic ahead for me.

4. Inception

The controversy ariseth. The movie which broke into the top of 3 of IMDB’s illustrious top 250 movies of all time list within the first week of opening and has been unmoveable ever since…until it was finally budged down to 4th place in the last couple of weeks.

I’m not going to sit here and say it isn’t a good film. It was an intelligent flick, which was well made and beautifully acted. The problem I had with it was that nothing jumped out and grabbed me like some the movies higher on this list, I was waiting for the narrative to shock me but instead I found it predictable and disappointing.

At least that was my first impression. Looking back, I feel my expectations for the movie were set somewhat high thanks to the heavy marketing campaign and perhaps under that amount of hype no film could live up to such realistic expectations.

So if it’s action and excitement that you want, then why does this movie beat the A-Team or the Losers? It’s a good question and the simple answer is quality.

It’s hard to miss the exceptional quality that Inception brings to the plate in the imaginative concept, the cast and the acting. The film is very clever and the narrative sets up plot points and notions with expert ease that smoothly allows the viewer to fully immerse themselves into the story.

3. Predators

But quality can’t overcome personal preference. A good ‘ol sci-fi flick is right up my street and there’s very little more established in the genre that the Predator franchise.

Ok, both the Alien vs Predator flicks were beyond crap, but the original Predator movies were fantastical and this new reboot was no exception to the rule.

The entire concept of the rule fit in with the characterisation of the Predator aliens and culture and in places often expanded on it, with the tactical methodology they put into use, the different types of Predator’s, the other aliens brought in for the hunt and also the entire concept of a hunting planet.

I also enjoyed the array of characters and their inner conflicts which ran parallel of the alien Predator threat. The casting for the movie played a big part in that. On paper, Adrien Brody didn’t look the best choice to play the male lead but it was clear that director Nimrod (huhuhuhuh) Antal knew precisely what he was doing. As he told comingsoon.net :

“Again, it was a challenge in finding a balance. I think when we cast Adrian, there were a lot of people going, ‘What?’ but at the same time, if we cast a Vin Diesel in that role or if we cast anyone who is Arnold-esque, we would have been attacked for doing that. So we decided early on to go in a very different direction as far as the casting process, but it turned out fantastic. He plays a mercenary in the film and if you look at the guys in Iraq and Afghanistan today, they’re not ‘yolked-out’ Schwarzenegger-looking guys. They’re all very wiry and thin guys, and I think it’s going to play well.”

And play well it did. Brody played his character to perfection and made the ease from (relative) normalcy into alien smoothly. He played the intelligent and crafty soldier well and made it entirely believable that he could outsmart the Predator (more so than Arnie or Danny Glover at any rate). So it retrospect, Brody may very well have been the perfect cast for this movie.

I also enjoyed the clear mark-out moments the movie allowed. I loved the introduction of other aliens being hunted in the same breath as humans, I loved the group of humans that were selected to be hunted (the movie title Predators was only partly alluding to the Predator aliens – it also alluded to the type of humans chosen to be hunted) and I loved the role reversal of the self-destruction tactic – this time it was a human who blew up a Predator.

All in all, this was a superb film that took all the ideas that made the original movie great and built upon them, thereby sticking to the well-established paradigm of the Predator franchise whilst at the same time freshening it up the concept a little.

2. Scott Pilgrim vs The World

What can I say? The movie’s a little off the wall and may not be to everyone’s liking, but I found witty, funny and oddly compelling all in the same heartbeat.

Going into the film, with only previously experiencing the trailers (I haven’t read any of the comic books), I wasn’t hoping for much. My friend (who had read the comic book) talked me into going with him, promising me that I’d like it. His judgment with comic book movies was very good, but still I wasn’t entirely convinced. Romance story’s aren’t my thing and I’ve been somewhat disappointed in some of Michael Cera’s latest films (Youth in Revolt particularly). But I decided to go in with an open mind and give it a chance and it was one of the best decisions I’ve made this year.

It was as ‘out there’ as I expected it to be, but I found the interaction between the characters and the undeniable humour grounded the movie enough to make it enjoyable, whilst at the same time geeking out at all of the video game references that were previously long buried in the deepest recesses of my mind.

I think it was the low expectations I originally had for the film that really lead me to enjoy so much and place it second on my list, notably the direct opposite of my feelings going into Inception. There has to be a connection.

1. Kick Ass

That’s right…GeekZenith.com’s official favourite movie of 2010 is KICK ASS! Either you know me, have read this blog before or have made an educated guess in just reading this article, but this selection should come as shock to nobody.

Kick Ass has been one of the standout comic book titles of the last year and with its somewhat fresh look at the comic book hero, its (real) easy attitude towards gratuitous violence, bloodshed, death and foul language, it stood out from the crowd. When it was translated to the silver screen, it stood out even more. It mixed all the attributes from the comic book and added an injection of humour that blended so well with the established narrative it felt like it truly belonged.

I think therein lies the answer to why it’s my number one movie of 2010. Kick Ass has everything a geek like me requires from a movie: action, adventure, violence, blood, gore, inappropriate cursing, all perfectly tinted with enough comedy elements to make it the full package.

Much like The Losers, the adaptation to cinema diverted from the comic book considerably. The comic book saw Kick Ass remain the loser right up until the end; he didn’t get the girl and he didn’t much prove himself as a superhero. But in this case, was it a bad thing? That’s tough to say. I can certainly understand why it was adapted – after all Hollywood wasn’t really built on the hero who didn’t get the girl and, well, didn’t turn out to be all that much of an hero either.

The film was trying to trying to reach out to a wider audiences and in this case I have to say I found myself identifying with the changes a little more and reluctant as I may be to admit it, I feel a little more satisfied with the conclusion to the film rather than the original ending in the comic book. After all, who can’t be satisfied when the hero of the flick launches a crime boss out of the top floor of the building with a bazooka, then have him explode over New York?

Conclusion

I may have been a little controversial with my choices – some will agree with me that Inception shouldn’t have been higher on the list, but some wouldn’t and if you didn’t agree with some of my choices, then come on a let me know. All comments are welcome and if you wanna let us know of YOUR top 5 movies of 2010 then feel free to share them.

I’ll also be throwing up some sort of poll based on the shortlist of notable movies of 2010 as previously alluded to earlier in this article and allow the readers (both of you ) to decide GeekZenith’s People’s Choice top 5 movies of 2010 which will undoubtedly throw up some interesting results.

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