Episode 2 4
This Week in Movies #24: The First Annual TWIMMie Awards
Sundays at 8pm PDT
Hosts
Introduction
No Farrell Roth in this special year-end wrap-up edition of “This Week in Movies.” Instead, Lon will give out the first annual Twimmies for the films of 2010, and then announce his Best and Worst Movies of the year list. ThisWeekIn’s Matt Raub was along to provide color commentary.
THE TWIMMIES!
BEST TITLE: “Exit Through the Gift Shop”
WORST TITLE: “It’s Kind of a Funny Story”
HAPPIEST SURPRISE: “Easy A”
MOST BITTER DISAPPOINTMENT: “Iron Man 2″
MOST BAFFLING MISFIRE: “Robin Hood”
BIGGEST WASTE OF POTENTIAL: “Alice in Wonderland”
WORST ADVERTISING OR PROMOTIONAL CAMPAIGN: “Killers”
THROBBINGEST NECK VEINS: “The Expendables” (The film also won the “Taken” Memorial Trophy for Most Throat-Punching in a Single Film)
MOVIE THAT, WHEN YOU BRING IT UP IN 5 YEARS, MOST PEOPLE WON’T BELIEVE WAS A REAL MOVIE: “Furry Vengeance” and “Repo Men” (tie)
BIG SCREEN ADAPTATION LEAST LIKE THE THING IT WAS ADAPTING: “The A-Team”
ONLY 2010 MOVIE LON TURNED OFF WITHOUT FINISHING: “I’m Still Here”
Worst Films of 2010
DIRECTED BY: Joe Johnston
WRITTEN BY: Andrew Kevin Walker, David Self
BASED ON THE 1941 MOVIE “THE WOLFMAN”
STARRING: Benicio Del Toro, Emily Blunt, Anthony Hopkins, Hugo Weaving
Lon: “This was a woeful attempt to imitate the classic gory, over-the-top Hammer films style…”
4. “Kick-Ass”
DIRECTED BY: Matthew Vaughn
WRITTEN BY: Jane Goldman and Matthew Vaughn
BASED ON THE COMIC BOOK BY: Mark Millar and John Romita Jr.
STARRING: Aaron Johnson, Nicolas Cage, Chloe Moretz
Lon: “The ‘jokes’ and comic set-ups are egregiously poor, and the dialogue is atrocious and embarrassing…”
Matt strongly disagreed with Lon’s selection here, arguing that the film’s weaknesses in living up to the standard for superhero films were intentional, reflecting the amateur status of the heroes themselves.
3. “Jonah Hex”
DIRECTED BY: Jimmy Hayward
WRITTEN BY: Mark Neveldine and Brian Taylor
BASED ON THE DC COMICS CHARACTER
STARRING: Josh Brolin, John Malkovich, Megan Fox
Lon: “It’s barely coherent. All kinds of plot strands are introduced that just sort of fade into the background, no one has any development or back story and it clocks in at a shocking 75 minutes…”
2. “MacGruber”
DIRECTED BY: Jorma Taccone
WRITTEN BY: Will Forte, Jorma Taccone, John Solomon
CAST: Will Forte, Kristen Wiig, Ryan Phillippe, Val Kilmer
Lon: “There are LONG STRETCHES of this movie that are completely without humor. This includes the first 3 or 4 scenes, which don’t even present an opportunity for humor…”
Matt again disagreed with Lon’s pick, saying that though “MacGruber” was silly, it was harmless and entertaining.
DIRECTED BY: Andrei Konchalovsky
WRITTEN BY: Andrei Konchalovsky, Chris Solimine
STARRING: Elle Fanning, Nathan Lane, John Turturro
Lon: “This baffling mess boasts awkward, clunky action, silly sci-fi touches (rats with jetpacks! robot rat dogs!) and dreadful attempts at comedy, none of which seem to have to do with The Nutcracker or anything else in the movie…”
The Best Films of 2010
Honorable Mentions: My Son My Son What Have Ye Done, A Prophet, Waking Sleeping Beauty, Get Him to the Greek, The Kids Are All Right, Winnebego Man, Black Swan, Somewhere, Shutter Island
DIRECTED BY: Steve Pink
WRITTEN BY: Josh Heald, Sean Anders, John Morris
STARRING: John Cusack, Clark Duke, Craig Robinso, Rob Corddry
Lon: “This is the funniest mainstream comedy in years…Rob Corddry gives a classic comic performance…”
Matt agreed with Lon’s assessment, and noted that the film’s greatness may lie in the fact that it was the only movie on the list that has its own branded theme song (called “Hot Tub Time Machine”).
14. “Frozen”
WRITTEN AND DIRECTED BY: Adam Green
STARRING: Shawn Ashmore, Emma Bell, Kevin Zegers
Lon: “A visceral horror film that forces you into this scenario and makes you think about what it would be like to be these characters…”
13. “Monsters”
WRITTEN AND DIRECTED BY: Gareth Edwards
STARRING: Scoot McNairy and Whitney Able
Lon: “Filmed guerilla style in real locations with non-actors, many of whom didn’t realize what kind of movie they were making…The result is powerful, moving and arguably the most realistic sci-fi movie in memory.”
Matt agreed and called the film one of his favorites of the year.
DIRECTED BY: Tom Hooper
WRITTEN BY: David Seidler
STARRING: Colin Firth, Geoffrey Rush, Helena Bonham Carter
Lon: “Colin Firth is pretty spectacular here as George VI, a role that requires him to not only realistically simulate having a speech impediment and a stammer, but also to remain silent for most the movie while remaining relateable and sympathetic…”
11. “Catfish”
DIRECTED BY: Henry Joost, Ariel Schulman
STARRING: Yaniv Schulman
Lon: “It’s one of the best representations I’ve seen, in a movie, of what it’s like to live in a wired world. I think it will be remembered as representative of our time and how humanity and technology were interfacing at this moment in history.”
10. “Scott Pilgrim vs. The World”
DIRECTED BY: Edgar Wright
WRITTEN BY: Michael Bacall and Edgar Wright
BASED ON THE NOVELS BY: Bryan Lee O’Malley
STARRING: Michael Cera, Kieran Culkin, Mary Elizabeth Winstead
Lon: “This is what romantic comedies would be like if we lived in a video game world rather than the Earth we all know and love…For people around my age, who grew up during the first HUGE wave of home video game culture, this taps into something elemental about how we see the world around us.”
9. “Exit Through the Gift Shop”
DIRECTED BY: Banksy
STARRING: Thierry Guetta, Shepard Fairey, Banksy
Lon: “It’s a great introduction to street art and its central players, an examination of what happens to art when it collides with commerce and an exploration of what is art on a fundamental level. Plus it’s hilarious.”
8. “127 Hours”
DIRECTED BY: Danny Boyle
WRITTEN BY: Danny Boyle and Simon Beaufoy
BASED ON THE BOOK “Between a Rock and a Hard Place” by Aron Ralston
STARRING: James Franco
Lon: “It feels like it shouldn’t work, like it should be cheesy, but it’s actually really effective, and there’s a realism to the flashbacks (little stolen moments that Aron sees, rather than climactic, significant events) that makes them compelling…”
DIRECTED BY: Debra Granik
WRITTEN BY: Granik and Anne Rosellini
BASED ON THE NOVEL BY: Daniel Woodrell
STARRING: Jennifer Lawrence, John Hawkes
Lon: “Part crime thriller, part coming of age drama, it’s kind of remarkable on every level…”
DIRECTED BY: Roman Polanski
WRITTEN BY: Robert Harris and Roman Polanski (based on Harris’ book)
STARRING: Ewan McGregor, Pierce Brosnan, Olivia Williams
Lon: “Vintage Polanski…It has that effortless confidence you only get from films directed by skilled veterans. A perfectly modulated thriller.”
5. “Inception”
WRITTEN AND DIRECTED BY: Christopher Nolan
STARRING: Leonardo DiCaprio, Joseph Gordon-Levitt, Ellen Page
Lon: “‘Inception’ combines pretty much every film genre into one tangled, complex, provocative 160-minute experience. It’s a well-executed caper, an over-the-top action film, a trippy science-fiction fantasy, a brooding romance, a psychological thriller and even, at times, a far-out comedy.”
DIRECTED BY: Lee Unkrich
WRITTEN BY: Michael Arndt
STARRING: Tom Hanks, Tim Allen, Joan Cusack, Ned Beatty
Lon: “They manage to build up such a reserve of good feelings towards these characters, the entire final 45 minutes of the film is basically 1 big long chase sequence and you stick with it…”
DIRECTED BY: Derek Cianfrance
WRITTEN BY: Derek Cianfrance, Joey Curtis and Cami Delavigne
STARRING: Ryan Gosling, Michelle Williams
Lon: “Ryan Gosling and Michelle Williams play a couple, and we bounce back and forth between two time periods – their initial meeting/courtship and 5 years later, when their marriage has hit a rough patch. They’re both stellar, and undergo pretty significant physical transformations to show the 5-year time difference…”
DIRECTED BY: David Fincher
WRITTEN BY: Aaron Sorkin
BASED ON THE BOOK “The Accidental Billionaires” by Ben Mezrich
STARRING: Jesse Eisenberg, Andrew Garfield, Justin Timberlake, Armie Hammer
Lon: “Sorkin’s screenplay ingeniously anchors the film in not one but two lawsuits, but keeps everything moving quickly and never gets confusing…”
1. “True Grit”
WRITTEN AND DIRECTED BY: Joel and Ethan Coen
BASED ON THE NOVEL BY Charlies Portis
STARRING: Hailee Steinfeld, Jeff Bridges, Matt Damon
Lon: “Throwback to classic Westerns, but with a sly, self-aware sense of humor…Roger Deakins’ cinematography is gorgeous, particularly the nighttime sequences.”
Closing
Lon closed by discussing two videos. The first was the venerable Harrison Ford YouTube parody “Wife Force One.”
Next was the already-classic “Filmography 2010″ remix which combines 270 films from this past year into one seamless video. The collage was created by YouTube user “genrocks” and we thank him for allowing us to show it during This Week in Movies.
See you all in 2011!
