My Best And Worst 2010 Movies

This is probably a little late, since we're two weeks into 2011, but it doesn't really matter since there are probably still a few 2010 movies for me to see, especially if they're Oscar Best Picture nominees. So this may be updated a few times, depending on what I see and how much I love (or loathe) them. And remember, there may be some awesome (or dreadful) movies that I won't see at all unless I happen to catch them on cable or something. For now, though, let's talk about my 10 favorite movies of 2010.

A note: as of now I have one "A" movie and six "A-minus" movies, but I've bumped two of the "A-minuses" ahead of the "A." I discussed this issue here, and though I'm not changing the grades, I've decided to rank them differently. (Also, I have 10 "B-plus" movies and only 3 can make the top 10. Sorry, also-rans! Here's the entire grade list, by the way.)

The top 10 are as follows:

My Sunday Funday

You probably already know about the stunning come-from-behind win by the Eagles, who scored 28 points in the final 8 minutes of the game to beat the New York Giants. If you read my Twitter/Facebook updates you know I won a 50-50 raffle at Tabu. I thought I'd take a moment and fill in a few blanks.

The reason I was at Tabu to begin with was because there was a softball fundraiser for the Tabu Wolves. (Brief digression: my team, the Nighthawks, was also sponsored by Tabu in 2010 but the bar is only sponsoring the Wolves next year.) I've mentioned my discomfort going to bars, especially if it's crowded and I'm alone. I'm not a great socializer. I went back and forth in my mind Sunday morning when I woke up, deciding whether or not to go. I waited until the last possible minute to get out of bed and shower and get dressed in order to get there by 1 pm. I finally decided that I wanted to support the fundraiser, I figured there would be a few people I know there and, at the very least, the Eagles-Giants game would be there to distract me from the whole scene.

While it was crowded, it wasn't overly crowded so it wasn't too bad. I spent a little time now and then saying hello and talking to some of my current or former teammates (well, mostly former), so although I still had some of that awkward out-of-place feeling, it wasn't as bad as it might have been.

Besides the 50-50 raffle and sale of jello shots, to raise money the team ran one of those grid games (usually you see them during the Super Bowl) where you fill in your name in a box, then digits 0-9 are posted for each team in random order,

My Week In Comics 11-10-10

Here's a novel idea: post this on the actual day I bought the books! Oh, and by the way, I've finished the final two Scott Pilgrim volumes -- Vol. 5, Scott Pilgrim vs. the Universe and Vol. 6, Scott Pilgrim's Finest Hour. The last volume was only released in July, a month before the movie, so the film was obviously in the works for a while. Interesting. And, as I think I've said before, the differences between the books and movie aren't a detriment to the enjoyment of the film. Speaking of enjoyment...

Batman: The Return of Bruce Wayne 6 (of 6): ...or lack of it...this series ended up as kind of a mess. Confusing at times, and ending kind of abruptly. The best Batman moment this week came at the end of Red Robin #17, which I didn't buy but looked through at the store.

Comic Book Guy: The Comic Book 5 (of 5): This, on the other hand, I definitely enjoyed. Would it be a real spoiler if I revealed that Comic Book Guy wasn't actually dead? I suppose not. But the explanation is fun. Now, if someone can explain to me how Dr. Nick survived the giant shard of glass in "The Simpsons Movie" I'd really appreciate it.

Victorian Undead II -- 1 (of 5): So we've already had Sherlock Holmes vs. zombies and Jekyll & Hyde. Now, Holmes and Watson investigate a shipwreck and find themselves in danger. Meanwhile, Queen Victoria is also in danger, though she doesn't know it yet, as a certain Count from Transylvania is ushered into Buckingham Palace. Yep...now it's Holmes vs. Dracula!

My Week In Comics 11-3-10

I was only planning to buy one book, but ended up with three. And after those, a Scott Pilgrim update.

Superboy 1: A new ongoing series. Conner Kent has adjusted to life in Smallville, but strange things are happening. Plus he has to deal with an attack by the Parasite. By the way, if the Parasite is ever after you, just throw a bunch of wheat kernels on him. It totally works. Don't ask me how, though. I'll definitely be picking this up each month, at least to start.

Batman and Robin 16: Since I haven't been reading this book, some of what's going on makes no sense. But the current Batman and Robin are joined by the original Batman to thwart the criminals. Yes, here's another book in which Bruce Wayne is finally, officially, back. And it leads to a bombshell announcement on the last two pages that got a lot of media publicity this week. But it's like I said in my previous post: without the final issue of the "Return of Bruce Wayne" miniseries, there's a bit of something missing.


Batman/Catwoman: Follow the Money 1 (of 1): This is unrelated to anything currently going on in the Bat-books. It's an amusing little tale, though. Someone (not Catwoman, despite the presence of her name in the title) has managed to make the Wayne Enterprises' pension fund disappear, and the investigation into the theft not only has consequences for the company's employees, but for Batman as well. After all, as someone once put it, "Where does he get those wonderful toys?" The Wayne fortune, of course, and Batman can't have the government finding that out.

As for that Scott Pilgrim news: I mentioned a while back that I bought the other five volumes in the series when Amazon had them on sale for half-price. I've managed to finish volumes 2 through 4 (titled Scott Pilgrim vs. the World, Scott Pilgrim & the Infinite Sadness and Scott Pilgrim Gets It Together). There's really a lot that had to be left out to condense the six volumes into one movie, but I have to say they did a pretty good job in doing so.

No Time To Read!

What's a boy to do? While downtown yesterday I stopped in Giovanni's Room, the oldest LGBT bookstore in the country. Sure, my financial situation requires I save as much as I can when shopping, so I'm often buying from Amazon or other discount sites, but I still think it's important to spend locally and support local businesses, particularly those that are gay-owned or gay-friendly. So those of you with more disposable income, please pick up the slack for me! Anyway, today I picked up the paperback edition of Gregory Maguire's "A Lion Among Men," the third volume in the "Wicked" series -- the original, of course, having been turned into the spectacular Broadway musical.

Problem: I now have a backlog of four books to read! In addition to the book I bought today, I have the Harry Kalas biography "Harry the K" by Randy Miller, Simon Doonan's memoir "Beautiful People" (turned into the delightful BBC series that aired on Logo in the USA) and the novel "Boomsday" by Christopher Buckley (the hardcover, picked up for $1.80 at a Borders Express that was having a store-closing sale). I've read the first chapter of the Doonan book, and that's it. Four books -- no, wait! I also have the five Scott Pilgrim books I got at more than half-off through Amazon. Even though they're graphic novels, they're like little paperbacks, ranging from 184 to 248 pages. So that's nine books to read! Plus I get Entertainment Weekly and Sports Illustrated every week, the Phila. Daily News six days a week, the websites and blogs I read online, Facebook and Twitter...and then there are the TV shows I watch regularly, and sports...Eagles and NFL, Phillies in the baseball playoffs, and now this coming week the Flyers begin the new season? Helllllllp! I'm drowning!

My Week In Comics 9-22-10

Remember how I bought the first volume of the Scott Pilgrim series earlier this month? I figured that every so often I'd pick up a succeeding volume. Then Amazon had all six volumes on sale -- at more than half off the cover price. So I ended up buying the other five all at once. Yay for discounts! Now all I have to do is read them. And, of course, comment on them here as I finish each one. Meanwhile, back in my usual realm...

Supergirl 56: Supergirl has taken Bizarrogirl back to Bizarro World, under attack from something Bizarrogirl calls "the Godship." Of course, on Bizarro World Supergirl is called "Bizarro Bizarrogirl." So Bizarro Bizarrogirl meets Bizarro Lex Luthor, "Bizarro World's #1 Genius." And he answers the question, "Why don't all Bizarros speak in exact opposites?" And I think using the word "bizarro" so many times in this paragraph has given me a headache.

The book's quality is erratic, but the logo is way cool

Superman/Batman 76: Hey, it's not another flashback tale from when Bruce Wayne was still around! Instead, it's a flashback tale that focuses on the immediate aftermath of Bruce's "death" during Final Crisis, in particular the reactions of Clark Kent and Dick Grayson, and Clark's reaction when Dick takes over as Batman -- which, even if you want to allow for it being the reaction of a grief-stricken friend, rings extremely false.


The Simpsons' Treehouse of Horror 16: The yearly dose of Halloween goodness with various writers putting their spin on the Simpsons, with varying results. One of the stories guest-stars Motörhead. Would you be surprised if I told you it was written by Motörhead's Lemmy? Probably not. The best thing was the insert in the middle: Marge Attacks! trading cards. No, not Mars -- Marge Attacks!

Become Michael Cera! And Another Movie Thing...

I don't know when this was made but I'm sad it didn't mention Scott Pilgrim...



Speaking of which, I was thinking about my movie grades. I gave "Toy Story 3" an A, while "Despicable Me" and "Scott Pilgrim vs. the World" both got A-minus grades. Yet the latter two movies were the only ones I wanted to, and did, go back and see a second time. So should I reverse these grades, or at least downgrade "Toy Story 3" a little? I still sort of think it was the superior movie, but I didn't have the same pull to see it again as I did the other two. Thoughts?

My Week In Comics 9-9-10

Just one book on my list again this week, and unlike last week, I didn't add to it with a bonus purchase (although at some point I will be buying the remaining Scott Pilgrim volumes).


Comic Book Guy: The Comic Book 3 (of 5): There's chaos on the streets of Springfield. The death of Comic Book Guy led to the Internet being shut down, and the nerds and geeks are running wild. Only one man is smart enough to figure out how to stop the rampage: Homer Simpson. Meanwhile, because of the changes the new owner made to the Android's Dungeon comic shop, Bart needs a new hobby, and takes up...well, I won't spoil it. I will say that one of my friends, Martha Thomases, who does an excellent job writing this column weekly, will heartily approve. And both Marge and Lisa have dreams in which they receive a message that could...change...everything!

My Week In Comics 9-1-10

There was only one comic this week that I planned to pick up, but after seeing a certain movie recently I decided to check out the source material. (If you saw my Twitter feed you already saw my photo of that particular purchase...)

Superman: The Last Family of Krypton 2 (of 3): The Elseworlds mini picks up with a teenage Kal-El. So, as we see in a number of books where Superman's features are reminiscent of Christopher Reeve, here he's drawn to look very much like Tom Welling from TV's "Smallville." In this series, where Jor-El and Lara accompanied their son to Earth (and have now added twins to the family), the alternate takes on all of these characters are sometimes interesting, but for the most part there aren't many differences in personality from regular continuity. Even with the fact that the Els are all famous, Kal-El still takes on the Clark Kent secret identity, and takes a job as a reporter with the Daily Planet, and still falls for Lois Lane and so on. It's kind of a fun read, though.

Scott Pilgrim's Precious Little Life: Yeah, big surprise, I know. The picture gave it away. This is, of course, the first volume of the six upon which the movie is based. From what I can tell, other than a few minor things there isn't any difference yet between this and the movie. The only thing that's odd for me is the black-and-white artwork. It's like an old TV show or movie -- where's my color? Oh, and if you didn't see my Scott Pilgrim avatar, go here!

Quick Review: Scott Pilgrim vs. The World

This is probably one of those movies that younger audiences will get, while the elders who dare to go might sit there scratching their heads. I think "Kick-Ass" had a similar problem, which is part of the reason it didn't do as well at the box office as some thought. And the same thing has happened to "Scott Pilgrim vs. the World," which is, like "Kick-Ass," based on a graphic novel series. Fortunately, as I am sometimes (but not always) more able to adapt to the ways of the youth than other cranky 48-year-olds, I rolled with it. It was like watching a cartoon, a video game, an action flick, a comedy and a romance all rolled up into one. Scott (Michael Cera) is the slacker 23-year-old bass player for the band "Sex Bob-omb" and, while he's all Michael Cera-y with that soft voice and gawky boyishness, he's also kind of a cad. An ex-girlfriend is the band's drummer, and he's currently dating a 17-year-old girl, and then starts cheating on her when he meets, and falls for, Ramona Flowers (Mary Elizabeth Winstead). Then Scott learns that Ramona has seven evil exes -- among them, movie heroes Chris "Human Torch" Evans and Brandon "Superman" Routh -- and that he must defeat them in battle in order for Ramona to keep dating him. Throughout the movie, but particularly in the fight scenes, there's a variety of graphic additions on-screen, from little pop-up notes about characters to TV-Batman "K-POW!" blasts during the fight scenes, to video game graphics and sound effects. It's funny and moves quickly, although there's a bit of a lack of logic now and then that even I can't completely overlook. And then there's the fine performance by Kieran Culkin as Wallace Wells, Scott's sarcastic (and gay) friend and roommate -- Wallace may be the funniest part of the movie. He's not the typical gay best friend by any means. He's a much more fully-formed character, and he has a love life. Which is interesting, since Wallace's and Scott's small apartment has only one bed. My grade: A-minus.