2010 Film Log (Features)
Here’s how my ratings work:
100: An all-time personal favorite; the stuff dreams are made of.
99-90: Just this side of paradise, but still a masterpiece.
89-80: Not quite a masterpiece, but certainly top ten worthy.
79-70: Perhaps not top ten worthy, but a very good film nonetheless.
69-65: A significantly flawed film with just enough redeeming qualities
to recommend it.
64: This is a special category for films with a roughly equal amount
of merits and flaws, films that rate neither thumbs up nor
thumbs down, but rather thumbs across.
63-50: A film whose flaws clearly outweigh its merits.
49-40: A pretty bad movie, but not without redeeming qualities.
39-30: A negligible film with few redeeming qualities.
29-10: A film within hailing distance of Plan 9 From Outer Space.
9-0: Execrable junk, worthy of the infamous Golden Turkey award.
Key:
Any film title bracketed with /slashes/ indicates that I had previously seen it.
001. (Jan 1)
Up in the Air (Jason Reitman, 2009)
Rating: 53
002. (Jan 1)
/Star Trek/ (J.J. Abrams, 2009)
Rating: 71
003. (Jan 2)
/Inglourious Basterds/ (Quentin Tarantino, 2009)
Rating: 82
004. (Jan 3)
Nine (Rob Marshall, 2009)
Rating: 42
005. (Jan 5)
It’s Complicated (Nancy Meyers, 2009)
Rating: 64
This uneven romantic comedy - one minute it’s indulging in broad comedy, the next it’s shamelessly pulling at your heartstrings - would be downright atrocious were it not for Streep and Baldwin, whose onscreen chemistry together is good enough to transform the sub-par sit-com material into something marginally palatable.
006. (Jan 7)
Lesbian Vampire Killers (Phil Claydon, 2009)
Rating: 40
007. (Jan 8)
Il divo (Paolo Sorrentino, 2008)
Rating: 70
008. (Jan 9)
Invictus (Clint Eastwood, 2009)
Rating: 39
009. (Jan 9)
Letting Go of God (Julie Sweeney, 2008)
Rating: 72
010. (Jan 13)
Amreeka (Cherien Dabis, 2009)
Rating: 60
011. (Jan 17)
A Single Man (Tom Ford, 2009)
Rating: 53
012. (Jan 19)
Home (Yann Arthus-Bertrand, 2009)
Rating: 39
013. (Jan 20)
Broken Embraces (Pedro Almodóvar, 2009)
Rating: 68
014. (Jan 23)
Crazy Heart (Scott Cooper, 2009)
Rating: 64
015. (Jan 24)
The Mole People (Virgil W. Vogel, 1956)
Rating: 33
016. (Jan 24)
Every Little Step (Adam Del Deo & James D. Stern, 2008)
Rating: 59
017. (Jan 27)
Of Time and the City (Terence Davies, 2008)
Rating: 41
018. (Jan 28)
Big Fan (Robert Siegel, 2009)
Rating: 63
019. (Jan 29)
Mary and Max (Adam Elliot, 2009)
Rating: 71
020. (Jan 30)
It Might Get Loud (Davis Guggenheim, 2009)
Rating: 57
021. (Feb 5)
/The Hurt Locker/ (Kathryn Bigelow, 2008)
Rating: 75
022. (Feb 5)
The Invention of Lying (Ricky Gervais & Matthew Robinson, 2009)
Rating: 53
023. (Feb 6)
The Lovely Bones (Peter Jackson, 2009)
Rating: 25
024. (Feb 7)
Burma VJ: Reporting from a Closed Country (Anders Østergaard, 2009)
Rating: 69
025. (Feb 9)
Lorna’s Silence (Jean-Pierre & Luc Dardenne, 2008)
Rating: 61
026. (Feb 12)
Bronson (Nicolas Winding Refn, 2008)
Rating: 46
027. (Feb 13)
The Blind Side (John Lee Hancock, 2009)
Rating: 20
028. (Feb 14)
Passing Strange (Spike Lee, 2009)
Rating: 68
029. (Feb 14)
24 City (Jia Zhang Ke, 2008)
Rating: 59
030. (Feb17)
The Last Station (Michael Hoffman, 2009)
Rating: 43
031. (Feb 18)
Hunger (Steve McQueen, 2008)
Rating: 77
032. (Feb 19)
Black Dynamite (Scott Sanders, 2009)
Rating: 70
033. (Feb 20)
Sita Sings the Blues (Nina Paley, 2008)
Rating: 68
034. (Feb 20)
I Sell the Dead (Glenn McQuaid, 2009)
Rating: 38
035. (Feb 21)
The White Ribbon (Michael Haneke, 2009)
Rating: 70
036. (Feb 22)
Pontypool (Bruce McDonald, 2009)
Rating: 58
037. (Feb 23)
The September Issue (R.J. Cutler, 2009)
Rating: 25
037. (Feb 25)
You, the Living (Roy Andersson, 2007)
Rating: 75
038. (Feb 27)
Sherlock Holmes (Guy Ritchie, 2009)
Rating: 44
039. (Feb 28)
O’Horten (Bent Hamer, 2007)
Rating: 51
040. (Mar 2)
Cannibal Holocaust (Ruggero Deodato, 1980)
Rating: 37
041. (Mar 12)
Danger: Diabolik (Mario Bava, 1968)
Rating: 53
042. (Mar 14)
Goto, Island of Love (Walerian Borowczyk, 1968)
Rating: 56
043. (Mar 15)
Shanks (William Castle, 1974)
Rating: 51
044. (March 16)
The One-Armed Swordsman (Cheh Chang, 1967)
Rating: 45
045. (Mar 19)
The Silent Scream (Denny Harris, 1980)
Rating: 37
046. (Mar 19)
Martyrs (Pascal Laugier, 2008)
Rating: 56
047. (March 20)
Police Story (Jackie Chan, 1985)
Rating: 54
048. (Mar 21)
The Ghost Writer (Roman Polanski, 2010)
Rating: 68
049. (Mar 25)
The Mummy’s Hand (Christy Cabanne, 1940)
Rating: 40
050. (Mar 27)
Police Story 2 (Jackie Chan, 1988)
Rating: 50
051. (Mar 28)
Police Story 3: Supercop (Stanley Tong, 1992)
Rating: 68
052. (Mar 31)
The T.A.M.I. Show (Steve Binder, 1964)
Rating: 64
053. (Apr 2)
Insomnia (Erik Skjoldbjærg, 1997)
Rating: 70
054. (Apr 3)
Twilight (Catherine Hardwicke, 2008)
Rating: 48
055. (Apr 3)
New Moon (Chris Weitz, 2009)
Rating: 23
056. (Apr 9)
/Samurai 1: Musashi Miyamoto/ (Hiroshi Inagaki, 1954)
Rating: 47
057. (Apr 10)
How to Train Your Dragon (Dean DeBlois & Chris Sanders, 2010)
Rating: 69
058. (Apr 10)
The Eclipse (Conor McPherson, 2010)
Rating: 57
059. (Apr 11)
Greenberg (Noah Baumbach, 2010)
Rating: 70
060. (Apr 12)
The Animal Kingdom (Edward H. Griffith, 1932)
Rating: 49
061. (Apr 16)
The House on Sorority Row (Mark Rosman, 1983)
Rating: 43
062. (Apr 17)
The Runaways (Floria Sigismondi, 2010)
Rating: 47
063. (Apr 17)
/Once Upon a Time in the West/ (Sergio Leone, 1968)
Rating: 100
064. (Apr 18)
Alice in Wonderland (Tim Burton, 2010)
Rating: 67
065. (Apr 18)
Samurai II: Duel at Ichijoji Temple (Hiroshi Inagaki, 1955)
Rating: 64
066. (Apr 21)
Batman: Mask of the Phantasm (Eric Radomski & Bruce W. Timm, 1993)
Rating: 65
067. (Apr 23)
Samurai III: Duel on Ganryu Island (Hiroshi Inagaki, 1956)
Rating: 60
068. (April 24)
Time Without Pity (Joseph Losey, 1957)
Rating: 53
069. (Apr 25)
Mamma Roma (Pier Paolo Pasolini, 1962)
Rating: 58
070. (Apr 30)
Lady in a Cage (Walter Grauman, 1964)
Rating: 44
071. (May 1)
Kick-Ass (Matthew Vaughn, 2010)
Rating: 65
072. (May 2)
Les Misérables (Raymond Bernard, 1934)
Rating: 73
073. (May 6)
The Mysterians (Ishirô Honda, 1957)
Rating: 38
074. (May 7)
Horrors of the Black Museum (Arthur Crabtree, 1959)
Rating: 42
075. (May 8)
Oceans (Jacques Perrin & Jacques Cluzaut, 2010)
Rating: 64
076. (May 8)
/Fantastic Mr. Fox/ (Wes Anderson, 2009)
Rating: 78
077. (May 9)
The Rock (Michael Bay, 1996)
Rating: 45
Ya know, sometimes you just feel like sitting back and taking in a stupid ass Michael Bay flick. Now that I’ve got it out of my system, hopefully the urge won’t come back for a good long time.
Gotta hand it to Bay, though: he’s been remarkably consistent and true to himself his entire career – he started off making really bad, mindless action movies and he’s been doing the same ever since.
078. (May 10)
Victory Through Air Power (Perce Pearce, James Algar, Clyde Geronimi, Jack Kinney & H.C. Potter, 1943)
Rating: 68
079. (May 11)
Beat Girl (Edmond T. Gréville, 1959)
Rating: 39
080. (May 14)
The Human Centipede (First Sequence) (Tom Mix, 2010)
Rating: 52
081. (May 15)
The Cremator (Juraj Herz, 1969)
Rating: 70
082. (May 17)
Day of the Outlaw (André De Toth, 1959)
Rating: 71
083. (May 17)
Les Bonnes Femmes (Claude Chabrol, 1960)
Rating: 77
084. (May 18)
The Badlanders (Delmer Daves, 1959)
Rating: 47
085. (May 18)
The Hearse (George Bowers, 1980)
Rating: 25
086. (May 21)
The Screaming Skull (Alex Nicol, 1958)
Rating: 25
087. (May 22)
The Skull (Freddie Francis, 1965)
Rating: 66
088. (May 22)
Daybreakers (Michael Spierig & Peter Spierig, 2010)
Rating: 46
089. (May 23)
Daddy Longlegs (Ben Safdie & Joshua Safdie, 2010)
Rating: 75
090. (May 24)
Invisible Agent (Edwin L. Marin, 1942)
Rating: 37
091. (May 26)
Rampo (Rintaro Mayuzumi & Kazuyoshi Okuyama, 1994)
Rating: 34
092. (May 26)
Survival of the Dead (George Romero, 2010)
Rating: 53
093. (May 27)
Exit Through the Gift Shop (Banksy, 2010)
Rating: 72
094. (May 28)
Kill! (Kihachi Okamoto, 1968)
Rating: 46
095. (May 30)
/Paranormal Activity/ (Oren Peli, 2007)
Rating: 70
096. (May 31)
The Fastest Gun Alive (Russell Rouse, 1956)
Rating: 44
097. (June 3)
A Christmas Carol (Edwin L. Marin, 1938)
Rating: 36
098. (June 5)
The Racket (John Cromwell, 1950)
Rating: 38
099. (June 6)
Splice (Vincenzo Natali, 2010)
Rating: 64
100. (June 6)
That Darn Cat! (Robert Stevenson, 1965)
Rating: 50
101. (June 7)
/Fletch/ (Michael Ritchie, 1985)
Rating: 62
102. (June 9)
/Bluebeard’s Eighth Wife/ (Ernst Lubitsch, 1938)
Rating: 66
103. (June 10)
The Adventures of Marco Polo (Archie Mayo, 1938)
Rating: 33
104. (June 11)
The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo (Niels Arden Oplev, 2009)
Rating: 57
105. (June 12)
The Wolfman (Joe Johnston, 2010)
Rating: 19
105. (June 13)
Love from a Stranger (Rowland V. Lee, 1937)
Rating: 43
106. (June 14)
Peter Ibbetson (Henry Hathaway, 1935)
Rating: 47
108. (June 16)
The Adventures of Prince Achmed (Lotte Reiniger, 1926)
Rating: 70
109. (June 19)
The Book of Eli (Albert & Allen Hughes, 2010)
Rating: 39
110. (June 21)
Three Songs of Lenin (Dziga Vertov, 1934)
Rating: 42
111. (June 24)
/Vampyr/ (Carl Dreyer, 1932)
Rating: 77
111. (June 25)
/Suspiria/ (Dario Argento, 1977)
Rating: 64
113. (June 26)
Please Give (Nancy Holofcener, 2010)
Rating: 48
114. (June 26)
The Prince and the Pauper (William Keighley, 1937)
Rating: 60
115. (June 27)
Joan Rivers: A Piece of Work (Ricki Stern & Anne Sundberg, 2010)
Rating: 70
116. (June 27)
Shutter Island (Martin Scorsese, 2010)
Rating: 49
117. (June 28)
Toy Story 3 (Lee Unkrich, 2010)
Rating: 65
118. (June 29)
The Secret on Their Eyes (Juan José Campanella, 2009)
Rating: 68
119. (June 30)
The Private Life of Don Juan (Alexander Korda, 1934)
Rating: 56
120. (June 30)
The Crazies (Breck Eisner, 2010)
Rating: 41
121. (July 1)
Winter’s Bone (Debra Granik, 2010)
Rating: 55
122. (July 2)
The Killer Inside Me (Michael Winterbottom, 2010)
Rating: 47
123. (July 3)
The Trail of the Lonesome Pine (Henry Hathaway, 1936)
Rating: 42
124. (July 3)
Hot Tub Time Machine (Steve Pink, 2010)
Rating: 50
125. (July 4)
/Treasure Island/ (Victor Fleming, 1934)
Rating: 64
126. (July 5)
Deserter (Vsevolod Pudovkin, 1933)
Rating: 57
127. (July 7)
Knight without Armor (Jacques Feyder, 1937)
Rating: 62
128. (July 8)
/Criss Cross/ (Robert Siodmak, 1949)
Rating: 75
129. (July 9)
The Captive Heart (Basil Dearden, 1946)
Rating: 48
130. (July 10)
I Am Love (Luca Guadagnino, 2010)
Rating: 41
131. (July 10)
/Dead of Night/ (Albert Cavalcanti, Charles Crichton, Basil Dearden & Robert Hamer, 1945)
Rating: 69
132. (July 11)
Despicable Me (Pierre Coffin & Chris Renaud, 2010)
Rating: 67
133. (July 11)
The Queen of Spades (Thorold Dickinson, 1949)
Rating: 80
134. (July 14)
Prophecy (John Frankenheimer, 1979)
Rating: 53
135. (July 15)
Hue and Cry (Charles Crichton, 1947)
Rating: 58
136. (July 16)
Inception (Christopher Nolan, 2010)
Rating: 73
137. (July 17)
Cyrus (Jay & Mark Duplass, 2010)
Rating: 66
138. (July 18)
Possessed (Curtis Bernhardt, 1947)
Rating: 68
139. (July 19)
The Ghost Train (Walter Forde, 1941)
Rating: 33
140. (July 21)
Never Take Candy from a Stranger (Cyril Frankel, 1960)
Rating: 69
141. (July 22)
These Are the Damned (Joseph Losey, 1963)
Rating: 69
142. (July 23)
Christopher Columbus (David MacDonald, 1949)
Rating: 36
143. (July 24)
The Kids Are All Right (Lisa Cholodenko, 2010)
Rating: 48
144. (July 25)
Mother (Bong Joon-ho, 2009)
Rating: 83
Don’t miss this one!
145. (July 26)
The Monster That Challenged the World (Arnold Laven, 1957)
Rating: 44
146. (July 27)
Cry of the Hunted (Joseph H. Lewis, 1953)
Rating: 47
147. (July 29)
San Antonio (David Butler, 1945)
Rating: 67
148. (July 30)
Sarah Silverman: Jesus is Magic (Liam Lynch, 2005)
Rating: 69
149. (July 31)
Slayground (Terry Bedford, 1983)
Rating: 59
150. (Aug 1)
A Very Private Affair (Louis Malle, 1962)
Rating: 23
This dreadful pap is one of the worst movies ever made by a major director.
151. (Aug 3)
/Throw Momma from the Train/ (Danny DeVito, 1987)
Rating: 56
152. (Aug 4)
The Net (Irwin Winkler, 1995)
Rating: 27
153. (Aug 5)
/Hellraiser / (Clive Barker, 1987)
Rating: 70
154. (Aug 6)
Hellbound: Hellraiser 2 (Tony Randel, 1988)
Rating: 29
155. (Aug 6)
My Friend Flicka (Harold D. Schuster, 1943)
Rating: 52
156. (Aug 7)
Brooklyn’s Finest (Antoine Fuqua, 2010)
Rating: 64
157. (Aug 8)
Restrepo (Sebastian Junger & Tim Hetherington, 2010)
Rating: 71
158. (Aug 8)
Tentacles (Ovidio G. Assonitis, 1977)
Rating: 12
159. (Aug 9)
Cemetery Man (Michele Soavi, 1994)
Rating: 62
160. (Aug 11)
Troll (John Carl Buechler, 1986)
Rating: 40
161. (Aug 12)
Genocide (Arnold Schwartzman, 1982)
Rating: 68
162. (Aug 13)
The Detective (Gordon Douglas, 1968)
Rating: 42
163. (Aug 14)
Gummo (Harmony Korine, 1997)
Rating: 17
164. (Aug 15)
The Story of the Late Chrysanthemums (Kenji Mizoguchi, 1939)
Rating: 49
165. (Aug 16)
Sundown (Henry Hathaway, 1941)
Rating: 54
166. (Aug 17)
Old Enough (Marisa Silver, 1984)
Rating: 55
167. (Aug 19)
The Tiger Makes Out (Arthur Hiller, 1967)
Rating: 44
168. (Aug 20)
Life During Wartime (Todd Solondz, 2010)
Rating: TBD
169. (Aug 21)
Scott Pilgrim vs. the World (Edgar Wright, 2010)
Rating: 71
170. (Aug 21)
Lord of Illusions (Clive Barker, 1995)
Rating: 40
171. (Aug 22)
The Small Back Room (Michael Powell & Emeric Pressburger, 1949)
Rating: 69
172. (Aug 22)
/Deliverance/ (John Boorman, 1972)
Rating: 84
173. (Aug 25)
Midnight Movie (Jack Messitt, 2008)
Rating: 23
174. (Aug 26)
Centurion (Neil Marshall, 2010)
Rating: 52
175. (Aug 27)
Dive Bomber (Michael Curtiz, 1941)
Rating: 52
176. (Aug 28)
Get Low (Aaron Schneider, 2010)
Rating: 37
177. (Aug 28)
The Bride Came C.O.D. (William Keighley, 1941)
Rating: 59
178. (Aug 29)
Babies (Thomas Balmes, 2010)
Rating: 41
179. (Aug 29)
A Canterbury Tale (Michael Powell & Emeric Pressburger, 1944)
Rating: 66
180. (Aug 30)
Alambrista! (Robert M. Young, 1977)
Rating: 64
181. (Sept 1)
The Fighting Guardsman (Henry Levin, 1946)
Rating: 54
182. (Sept 1)
Red Riding 1974 (Julian Jarrold, 2009)
Rating: 72
183. (Sept 2)
Red Riding 1980 (James Marsh, 2009)
Rating: 76
184. (Sept 3)
Red Riding 1983 (Anand Tucker, 2009)
Rating: 64
185. (Sept 3)
The World at War (Lowell Mellett, 1942)
Rating: 48
186. (Sept 4)
The Final Destination (David R. Ellis, 2009)
Rating: 10
187. (Sept 4)
Hot Saturday (William A. Seiter, 1932)
Rating: 71
188. (Sept 6)
The Last Exorcism (Daniel Stamm, 2010)
Rating: 64
189. (Sept 6)
The American (Anton Corbijn, 2010)
Rating: 66
190. (Sept 7)
Torch Singer (Alexander Hall & George Somnes, 1933)
Rating: 39
191. (Sept 7)
/Body Heat/ (Lawrence Kasdan, 1981)
Rating: 70
Hey Mat, check your IMDb’s private messages. We need help by a film buff with good taste.
Hey - just sent you a response. Unfortunately, I was out of town until today and did not have access to the Internet. I didn’t even watch any films! It’s a damn shame when the real world (work) interferes with my moviegoing. Anyway, thanks for the invite - maybe next time.
Mat