It’s always hard to decide your ‘Top 5’ of anything, so as a film fan I had to think long and hard about my five favourite films of last year. It’s been a particularly good year, with films like 127 Hours, Kick-Ass and The Social Network being some standout examples. And as the tyrannical editor (our very own Sam Caveen) wasn’t too keen on a top ten, here it is: my Top 5 of 2010. Hope you enjoy reading, and feel free to comment telling me how right/wrong I’ve got it.
Not heard of this? You’re obviously not as cool as me. There I was, watching this, saying hello to Jason Isaacs, smug in the fact that the majority of the public wouldn’t even see this piece of indie magic. In a way, this makes me better than all of you. Only joking of course, but Skeletons really was damn good, with a bizarre and original setup where two men, Bennet (Andrew Buckley) and Davis (Ed Gaughan), are employed to literally remove the emotional ‘skeletons’ from the proverbial closets of their clients. It all starts to go down when they are given their biggest job so far by their creepy boss The Colonel (Jason Isaacs). I won’t go into it further, but the resulting film has a subtle emotional touch and a set of great performances, set-ups and dialogue as the pair wrestle with the morality and ramifications of their day jobs.
Giving a human side to an often never seen part of British culture, as well as portraying a (relatively) disadvantaged individual overcoming adversity, this had Oscar-bait written all over it in big red capitals. Whether or not it deserves the awards it’s received amongst the stiff competition this year is a redundant question. Colin Firth does an accomplished turn as the repressed stutterer King George VI, or ‘Bertie’, that makes almost every single member of the audience identify with him and root for him simultaneously. We embark on an intimate journey as he starts elocution lessons with speech therapist Lionel Logue (Geoffery Rush) that really pulls on the heart strings. Helena Bonham Carter bleeds royalty as the Queen Mother and without her the aforementioned human side would not be present in the tender on-screen relationship between her and Bertie. Black Swan not your thing? Watch this instead, you’ll enjoy the warm fuzzy feeling.
What a noodle baker. Who says blockbusters can’t be excellently directed, edited, acted, and scripted (and did I mention the soundtrack? “BOOOOOOOOOOM!!!”). Multiple layers, fantastic set-pieces and the universally human notion of dreaming weave together with an engaging storyline and Leonardo DiCaprio doing a great job of his brooding, wounded mystery-man-with-a-past character. If you haven’t seen this already, go and buy it. Or get someone to ‘share’ it with you. However you watch it, make sure you see it twice.
I challenge you to watch this and not be moved. The Toy Story films have an almost all encompassing appeal, brilliantly portraying the childhood glee of play and imagination but skilfully exploring themes of loss, friendship and parenthood through the metaphor of walking, talking toys. This is particularly apparent in Toy Story 3. All our favourite characters are back, funny as ever and up to their usual hijinks, but this time there’s a larger than usual emotional punch that was heavy on the schmaltz, but tastefully so.
Aronofsky’s latest masterpiece sits proudly at my top spot for the best films of 2010. One of the most important elements in a film is a mesmerising and powerful leading performace, and Natalie Portman’s Nina ticks all the boxes alongside powerful direction, immersive cinematography and a good supporting cast. I’m not usually one for melodrama, but Nina’s escalating insanity is acted and portrayed so powerfully that I completely forgot my preconceptions about ballet (although, I saw the Nutcracker when I was five and apparently loved it). The story of Swan Lake is excellently mirrored by the narrative, and it may be too dark for some, but hey; psychosis isn’t exactly a walk in the park.
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