Editors Notes

Top 10 Movies of 2010

2011-01-04T09:53:00.005-05:00

I actually managed to see 43 movies in theaters in 2010, which is probably a personal record. I hope to break it again in 2011, with so many good flicks on the horizon. So I figured I'd throw out my personal Top 10 just for shits & giggles. Here they are:

10-Machete
This was an awesome grindhouse type flick that was both funny and over the top. It's not quite as good as Grindhouse, which Machete actually debuted in as a trailer between 2 movies, but very similar.

9-The Crazies
This was one of the best horror movie remakes in some time, and it wasn't so much remake I guess as it was reimagining. Very well done.

8-MacGruber
The movie was dumb, had no real plot whatsoever, but damn this movie was funny as hell. I'm a sucker for this kind of comedy anyways. I love Will Forte & Kristen Wiig by the way.

7-Iron Man 2
Clearly not as good as the first movie, but this one was still really good. It sets up the Marvel Movie-verse even further with hidden gems all through it. This one really gets me jacked for Thor, Captain America & The Avengers.

6-Scott Pilgrim vs The World
This was a silly movie, but the visuals are alot unlike anything ever seen in film. I haven't read the graphic novels, but from what I've heard it stays pretty true. I'm sure anyone over 35 probably didn't like this at all. I did.

5-The Town
As an Orioles fan, it pisses me off to see the Red Sox a part of such a good flick. But I digress. This was certainly one of the best Affleck movies in some time. Pretty much everyone in it delivered, just a really good movie.

4-Kick-Ass
Now I'm a huge fan of the comics, and they stayed true to the vibes in this one. Just like in the books, the real standout is Hit-Girl, not the title character. They staged a few just flat-out awesome fight sequences, I loved almost everything about this one.

3-The Fighter
All that really needs to be said is that if you loved Rocky, the first one not the 5 that followed, then you'll love this movie. They're both very similar, but this one is actually based on truth. Very sad but inspirational sports film.

2-The Social Network
It's just the story of how Facebook came to be, but the direction and acting in this film are worthy of a Best Picture Oscar. It may well go down as one of the best films of the decade much less 2010.

1-Inception
I think the previous movie had better acting and direction, but this film blew the doors off of everything from 2010 for me. Anyone that saw this asks the same questions, spurning tons of conversations and possibilities. This solidifies Christopher Nolan as one of the best Directors of the last 20 years. One of the most visually stunning films ever, and it has one of the coolest fight scenes ever with the anti-gravity hallway fight. It should rack up a few Oscars.

**UPDATE**
I managed to see two more 2010 movies in theaters, True Grit & Black Swan. I think I'd probably slide both movies in my Top 10 like so:

1-Inception
2-The Social Network
3-The Fighter
4-True Grit
5-Kick-Ass
6-The Town
7-Black Swan
8-Scott Pilgrim vs The World
9-Iron Man 2
10-MacGruber

#95 The Last Picture Show (1971)

2010-08-19T21:46:00.003-04:00

Here's the link for the trailer:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VRKWMwNnfJU

The movie had a really good cast, especially in hindsight, including Jeff Bridges, Cybill Shepherd (in her film debut), Timothy Bottoms, Cloris Leachman & Randy Quaid among others. Leachman actually got a Best Supporting Actress Oscar for her role as a cougar. Ben Johnson also got Best Supporting Actor for his role as a tough but soft man that owned half the town. The movie is a coming of age tale of some teens in a dump of a Texas town in 1951. It contained many aspects of how it is to grow up; you lose some friends, you experiment with new exciting things, you lose love, and then eventually find a place you can be happy with for life. For me though, it was a somewhat long, drawn out movie that was very dry in it's pacing and storytelling. Shepherd was certainly hot back then though wasn't she? I'm glad I watched it, but doubt I would go out of my way to see it again. Overall, it wasn't my favorite movie on the list so far, so I'll have to give it 2 1/2 stars. As far as movies ranked below this, most were better, at the very least I'd rank Ben-Hur higher, but what do I know?

#96 Do The Right Thing (1989)

2010-03-30T16:56:00.003-04:00

#96 on the list is Spike Lee's movie about race, Do The Right Thing. Here's the trailer:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=muc7xqdHudI&feature=fvst

I think this was one of Spike Lee's first big movies before he did Malcolm X, which I thought was pretty good as well. It's a snapshot of race relations in the late 1980's/early '90's in Brooklyn. Even though Spike Lee was kind of the star of the movie, I thought a few others stood out more. Danny Aiello plays the owner of a pizzeria where Lee's character works, and he does an awesome job with the role. Throughout the film, you come to care about a guy that clearly has race issues. Another standout was John Turturro, who I'm sure still gets death threats for the hate his character spewed. Ossie Davis was good, as he usually is, but one of my favorite movie characters of all-time is Sweet Dick Willie played by Robin Harris. Harris was awesome in pretty much every role he had until his untimely death in 1990, RIP. A few other things stand out for me, like Rosie Perez's pointless role of sweaty girlfriend that dances too much, smaller roles by Samuel L Jackson & Martin Lawrence, and the overuse of the song "Fight the Power" by Public Enemy. I give this movie 3 1/2 stars.

#97 Blade Runner (1982)

2010-03-30T16:13:00.003-04:00

#97 on the list is the future film noir Blade Runner. Here's the trailer link:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KPcZHjKJBnE

This is yet another great movie from very, very many that Harrison Ford has done. He was on a roll when this came out, right after Empire Strikes Back & Raiders of the Lost Ark and before Return of the Jedi. This movie was directed by Ridley Scott, who had done Alien before this, which is one of my favorites of all-time. It's a futuristic story done in an old style of filmmaking, film noir. Everybody has seen the old private detective movies of the 1930's & '40's, this is alot like those. It's visually very impressive, even still today. It lost the Best Effects Oscar to E.T., which I guess I can see, but I think as a movie, this one holds up better. To me, the movie was kind of slow at first, but you do get into it more as it goes along. Rutget Hauer plays a very suitable maniac robot/cyborg, and Sean Young & Daryl Hannah stood out as well. You could've probably chopped some time off this as well, but I say that about alot of movies. If I'm going to be honest in my ratings, as much as I enjoy the work of Harrison Ford & Ridley Scott, I have to give this movie 3 1/2 stars. It was great, but the pace was a little slow for me.

#98 Yankee Doodle Dandy (1942)

2010-01-01T18:54:00.006-05:00

Coming in at #98 on the list is Yankee Doodle Dandy starring James Cagney. Here's the trailer for it:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qTec9v6fjN0

This movie tells the life story of Broadway star George M. Cohan, who apparently ran Broadway for the most part in the early 1900's. One interesting thing I found out was that Cohan actually died about 5 months after this film was released. Now I have to say, I'm not a fan of musicals, but this didn't come off as one after I'd watched it. It's really like watching Cohan's life work song by song with the other things in his life thrown in. The movie is, of course, overflowing with patriotism, so much so that I was ready to go enlist when it was over. James Cagney got the Best Actor Oscar, I don't know who he was up against, but he certainly deserved it. This dude performed his ass off, you can tell. You can certainly see why this movie was on the list, and it actually moved up 2 spots from the original list. I'll give this movie 4 1/2 stars, probably one of the best musical-type movies I've ever seen.

#99 Toy Story (1995)

2009-11-27T21:51:00.002-05:00

Next up on the list is #99, Toy Story. Here's the trailer for it:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KYz2wyBy3kc

This movie has become a classic, especially with my generation and younger (I was 15 when it came out). It was the first full-length feature film with 100 percent computer animation & also the first full-length feature for Pixar. The two main characters were voiced by Tom Hanks & Tim Allen as Woody & Buzz Lightyear respectfully. It's a very good buddy kind of movie, and you go up and down with these toys. I've seen this a handful of times, and each time I see it it's better than the last time. It takes me back to being a kid and your off in your own little world with your toys. I think every kid has that thought that the toys get up and talk and have fun even when your not in the room. This certainly makes me remember those days fondly, and I would highly recommend watching this, especially with kids. I'll give it 4 Stars, still a very good movie, it's a personal thing though that I can't give a cartoon 5 Stars.

#100 Ben-Hur (1959)

2009-11-26T19:43:00.002-05:00

The first movie I watched, which is #100 on the list, was Ben-Hur. Here's a link to the movie trailer:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LlzfqVtmxVA

I've seen this movie a number of times in bits and pieces, but never all the way through. I have to say that I enjoyed it alot despite it being so long (212 minutes). You can read all the info including synopsis on imdb.com, but it won 11 Oscars that year including Best Picture and I can see why. For a movie that came out exactly 50 years ago, it was very impressive. The special effects were very good for the time, and all the acting was top notch starting with Charlton Heston. I've always been a huge fan of his since watching The Ten Commandments & Planet of the Apes when I was a kid, although I thought he mailed it in in Airport 1975, but I digress. There was also alot of Christian undertones in the movie that become a bigger theme throughout, which unfortunately I don't think they can get away with in big movies like this these days. I enjoyed everything about the movie outside of length, so I'll give it 4.5 stars, almost perfect, but not quite.

I Know...

2009-11-26T12:56:00.002-05:00

I know it's been since July the last time we put anything up, but it is what it is and we'll move on. We haven't done a Editors Notes podcast since then either. Hopefully, we can get back on the ball and start doing more things. I just recently started doing something that I hope to blog regularly about. I'm trying to watch all 100 movies on the American Film Institute's 100 Years...100 Movies-10th Anniversary Edition list. The list was put together in 2007, and is updated from the 1st list they put out in 1997. I'm starting from 100 and moving my way up to the top, even if I've seen over a quarter of the movies, I'll watch them again. I hope to watch the film, then post my thoughts about it on here. I'll be using a 5-Star ranking system, 1 being bad and 5 being spectacular. I hope you enjoy the ride as much as I will.

R.I.P.

2009-07-05T03:37:00.002-04:00

First we lost Ed McMahon and all my memories of The Tonight Show with Carson, Publisher's Clearing House, Star Search, and that Blooper show with Dick Clark. Then we lost Farrah Fawcett, not much of a fan myself, just a little before my time. Of course we then lost, the same day as Farrah, Michael Jackson. What can you say really? For the kids of my generation, ( I was born in 1980), he was one of the biggest stars during my life. Many, many memories, too many to list here right now. Just a couple of days later, infomercial pitchman Billy Mays dies. This hit Will especially hard, it was certainly unfortunate. Then on July 4th, NFL QB legend Steve McNair gets shot in the head and dies way too young. Also, on a more personal level, the "powers that be" so to speak shut down NWA Charlotte, an indy wrestling promotion I was helping out. We've all lost too much recently, let's hope that's it for a long, long, long time.

Black Dynamite

2009-06-04T01:00:00.005-04:00

I saw the trailer for this movie months ago, I just thought I'd put it out there for those who haven't seen it yet. "Black Dynamite" stars Michael Jai White in the title role, and it's supposed to be released September 4, 2009. It looks like one of the greatest movies ever made.

Check out the Red Band Trailer on YouTube:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Z2N66XO3awk

First Time For Everything...

2009-06-03T03:30:00.003-04:00

This is the first time I have ever blogged, so it'll be pretty rough, but hopefully I'll get the hang of it with time. I'm still trying to figure everything out, but it'll be a fun ride. My name is Josh Adkins, and I'm a co-host of a podcast called Editors Notes, as you may or may not have figured out is also the name of this blog. I hope to kind of connect the two things together, so we have a written forum to go along with the audio forum that is podcasting. My co-host Will Smart and I haven't done a podcast since March, but we hope to do a new one shortly. You can listen to the show by visiting http://www.talkshoe.com/tc/42342 or by looking up Editors Notes on iTunes. We mostly talk about movies, TV, sports, comics, music, etc., typical dork stuff. It's late now...time for bed...more upcoming...