Emily's Top 10 of '10: Part 1

10. Easy A / The Trotsky

Seeing as I am unabashed teen dramedy enthusiast, I just had to find a way to sneak these two, equally whip-smart secondary school selections on my list. And seeing as they both follow adolescent underdogs, who pretend to be someone they're not (Easy A has Emma Stone lying about being the school slut, while The Trotsky  has Jay Baruchel embodying the reincarnation - or so he says - of Russian revolutionary, Leon Trotsky) to get through the seemingly most indelible years of everyone's life, it seemed more than fitting that they share a much-deserved spot. Although they're clearly set in modern day California and Montreal, both films feel straight out of the golden era of teen movies: the 80s. And I don't know about you, but in my heavily doodled books, that shoots them to the top of the class.

9. Piranha 3D 

I know, I know. I'm not starting off this list on a very high-brow note. But I don't care. I truly believe a great movie is defined by how it made you feel, sitting there in the dark with your best friend, big-ass bucket of 'corn and jumbo-sized Diet Coke. And Piranha 3D totally hooked me - and my inner 13-year-old boy - in. Yes, it's awful. But it knows it - and flaunts it like a beached bimbo at a wet t-shirt contest. The result is a delicious mash-up of mass underwater murder, soft-porn subplots, Elisabeth Shue and Christopher Lloyd monologues. In other, fanboyish words - best worst movie of the year!

8. The Fighter

There were more than a few prize-worthy dramas to choose from this year. But this one really stuck with me. Part of it had to do with the gritty, documentary-esque cinematography. A lot of it had to do with Christian Bale's emotionally jarring jab of a performance, which I'm hoping will lead him to long-deserved Oscar glory. But the main reason I loved it was because it exceeded my expectations. Despite what the title and previous descriptions have suggested, this isn't your typical boxing film. Sure, it's based on the early career of Micky Ward, an aspiring prize fighter (Mark Wahlberg in the film) who wanted to follow in the footsteps of his once-famous, now-cracked out big brother, Dicky (Bale). However, we hardly see Mick in the ring. The main event takes place in the Ward household, where Micky, Dicky and their over-extended fam take turns beating each other down with words. Their verbal sparring and heated emotional battles will knock you out, especially when Bale and his screen mama, Melissa Leo, are front and centre.

7. Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows, Part 1

With this, the latest adaptation of J.K. Rowling's stories about the boy wizard and his BFFs (and soon-to-be BF and GF), millions of Potterheads, including myself, were forced to face the beginning of the end of era. And boy was it magical. We laughed. We cried (multiple times!). We screamed. And most importantly, we totally loved. Because, unlike many of the other big-screen versions of the highly beloved books, this film rarely veered off-track. It gave us everything we were expecting (the forest-filled search for the remaining horcruxes, the still-fresh big death scenes) and much more (hello, Harry-Hermione interpretive dance party!). Let's hope next year's finale conjures up the same, effortlessly nostalgia-inducing feel. 

6. Joan Rivers: A Piece of Work

Love or hate it's subject, it's hard not to fall for this hysterical (both in the knee-slapping and slide-me-some-Kleenex sense) documentary film. Joan Rivers: A Piece of Work follows the oft-parodied comedic "semi-legend" (her words, not mine!) as she navigates the slippery slope of her long-coming comeback, including appearances at no-name casinos and The Celebrity Apprentice.  Rivers is a hoot throughout, throwing out completely un-PC assessments of everyone and everything, and pretending she doesn't give a bit of a shit about the consequences - when she TOTALLY does. But what's really fascinating about this real-life biopic, is that it treats her like the rest of the world refuses to, reminding us that behind all the make-up and plastic surgery  lies a remarkably dedicated workaholic who simply lives to make our lives more laughable. 

TO BE CONTINUED...

*All photos courtesy of allmoviephoto.com, except The Trotsky from tiff.net. 

Michelle's Top 10 of '10: Part 1

10. The Book of Eli

The Book of Eli is so epic, in the non-trendy, currently over-used sense of the world. It's one man's voyage through a world saturated by evil to bring the book of all that is pure and mighty to the only safe haven on Earth, effortlessly defeating all that stands in his way. Like I said, so epic. With Denzel Washington as it's title star, you'd probably never expect this film to be as anti-Hollywood as it is (well, it's also super Hollywood at the same time). Yes, it's full of gore, but beneath the bloodshed, it's about fate and determination, which is something, it feels, that Hollywood tries not to take head-on because it's supposedly cliché (though might dance around it in some attempt to be quirky). Anyway, if you're looking for something unexpectedly badass and righteous, this is it.

9. Easy A

Comedies rarely make me laugh, especially comedies with rave reviews. Case in point: until this, You Don't Mess with the Zohan was the last film I would actually call funny, which came out in 2008. It's "rotten" by Rotten Tomatoes (36%) and 54 out of 100 on Metacritic (yes, totally the most legit method of judging films). On this theory, I shouldn't have liked Easy A (Rotten Tomatoes: 87%, though 94% from top critics; Metacritic: 72 out of 100), but sometimes I just have to give into the buzz and see for myself. So I did. And I laughed. And I loved it. And I pray that Emma Stone comes back with another heavy hit soon because she is too stellar to let herself plummet from the radar. She's paired up with Easy A director Will Gluck again for ensemble rom-com Friends with Benefits due out later this year, so by theory, you should mark your calendars. Except that my theories don't work.

8. Shutter Island

This was the first of a pretty slick, strong (though similar) pair of films of Leo DiCaprio this year (IMO). Shutter Island is a dark, classy, and, as a good friend of mine calls it, Scooby-Doo-esque film. What makes this film so compelling though is it's moodiness. It's clouded and bogged (and I mean that in an artistic kind of way) in memories and palpable emotions, not to mention a killer mirroring atmosphere. It's beautiful, thoughtful escape, that doesn't force the viewer to much thinking on her own part, wisping her off to some semi-real narrative.

7. Alice in Wonderland

I love Alice and I love Wonderland. They're such beautiful, insane Carroll creations. His potential modern film director incarnate: Tim Burton. Before this film came out, it was kind of unnerving to think about. What would happen when the minds of Carroll and Burton come together? It could be a very close balance between masterpiece and disaster. When the trailer came out, the over-marketing of Johnny Depp as the Mad Hatter turned out to be a reason in itself not the see the film, and I kind of though it would be the latter. But I saw it anyway. I expected it to be a lot more darker, frightening and bizarre than it actually turned out to be. On top that, I'm also a huge fan of the Disney version of the story, so I worried it would be difficult not the weight the two films against each other. But it was simple: this version turned out to be completely different, and even more compelling and escapist.

6. True Grit

There's something about modern westerns that I like and I don't know what it is. They're slow. They're testosterone-heavy. They're predictable. Yet there's something about all the sound of a horse's hooves through a dusty, barren land as the cowboy rides in to save the town that keeps pulling me in. The Coen brothers have yet again won me over with a brilliant film. Though aside from a slightly off-beat story (you can't stray too far with a western), admirable actors and thoughtful cinematography, what really fuels this film is Hailee Steinfeld as Mattie Ross. Yeah, she's a bit over-the-top, but she's just perfectly suited to this film and this genre. Who would have expected that in a film with both Jeff Bridges and Matt Damon, that the newcomer 14-year-old would be the driving force of it all?

All photos: allmoviephoto.com

TO BE CONTINUED...

DVD: Easy A

Photo: amazon.ca

(A for Emma.)

Starring Emma Stone, Amanda Bynes, Penn Badgley, Thomas Haden Church, Stanley Tucci and Patricia Clarkson. Directed by Will Gluck. 92 minutes. 14A

Pretty, but unpopular ginger gives nerd her panties. Nerd uses them to brag to his friends and get semi-popular for a night. Girl gets nothing - but unnecessarily harassed by a blonde, preppy bitch and a few geeks with hormonal agendas. It's almost too easy to find eerie similarities between Easy A and Sixteen Candles. And every other John Hughes teen movie made before 1987, for that matter.

The adolscent auteur may have passed on last year, but his spirit is alive and well in this Scarlett Letter-inspired teen flick. Easy A takes place in 2010, and features jokes that would sound like gibberish to Samantha Baker (think Twitter, texting and uncool Tom Cruise) and yet, it feels more like an 80s teen movie than anything you've seen since, well, the 80s. It's smart. It's silly. It's semi-scandalous. And it manages to make glad you're not in high school and wish you could go back, at the same time.

From the moment Easy A's protagonist, Olive falls into frame, her books and hair all over the place, you can tell that director Will Gluck (Fired Up) wants you to think of her, and her portrayer (the effortlessly hilarious Emma Stone) as a modern-day Molly Ringwald. There's even a moment where Olive asks why she can't find a guy more like John Bender or Jake Ryan (complete with grainy clips of their fist-pumping, convertible-leaning charm). But with her bug eyes and charming lack of coordination, Olive is a lot more awkward than Ringwald ever was - in a good way. She's not a princess in an way shape or form. She's a relatable, bedroom-dancing-on-a-weekend, cardigan-in-the-summer, stay-in-study-buddy kind of gal. You know, the kind of guy Lloyd Dobler, might fall for.

At the beginning of the movie, Olive is a female Farmer Ted - nerdy, nice and completely unnoticeable. But that all changes after she lies to her friend Rhiannon (Alyson Michalka) about losing her virginity to a college guy. All of a sudden, she's a school slut (you might say a randy Ronald Miller) and her "Kinsey 6 homo" BFF, Brandon (Dan Byrd, Cougar Town) is asking her to sex him straight. She declines. But because hates to watch him bear the wrath of her peers' homophobic hatred, she offers him another promising proposition. One pretend party hook-up - complete with bed jumping, self-made sex sound effects and her panties in his back pocket - in exchange for a gift card of her choice.

Their sexual experiment works perfectly. Brando becomes one of the straight boys and Olive finally gets a reputation. Albeit, a bad one. In order to keep up with her new image, Olive starts dressing like a hussy Hester Prynne - wearing bustiers with fabric As on the boob. And after a few boys find out the truth behind her talked-about tryst, she manages to turn her prude prostitute moment into a serious business. Suddenly, she finds herself swimming in store credits - and unwarranted male attention.

Although it's glossy, High School Musical-style exterior and webcam interludes suggest otherwise, Easy A is a sharply crafted commentary on teenage sexuality and the art of teenage over-sharing. A Can't Buy Me Lust, if you will. As Olive's favourite teacher (Thomas Haden Church) says in a particularly sassy soliloquy, today's teens broadcast their every move on Facebook and Twitter, and somehow, they're surprised when their peers are all up in their private business. And as Olive soon comes to realize, the horny details of your (active, or non-active) sex life are last thing you should be making public - whether that's through texting, tweets, profile updates or just good old-fashioned gossiping.

With an inspired message, snappy, era-defying pop culture dialogue and uniformly solid performances (In addition to Stone, we've got Amanda Bynes as a Bible-thumping Regina George, Lisa Kudrow as the Christy Masters of guidance counselors and Stanley Tucci and Patricia Clarkson as the coolest parents in teen movie history), Easy A makes the grade, and then some. A-

EXTRAS: Gag reel, Emma Stone's audition footage, Commentary with Stone and Will Gluck


*Review originally published September 27, 2010.

Easy A

Photo: allmoviephoto.com

(It's not easy being seen.)

Starring Emma Stone, Amanda Bynes, Penn Badgley, Thomas Haden Church, Stanley Tucci and Patricia Clarkson. Directed by Will Gluck. 92 minutes. 14A

Pretty, but unpopular ginger gives nerd her panties. Nerd uses them to brag to his friends and get semi-popular for a night. Girl gets nothing - but unnecessarily harassed by a blonde, preppy bitch and a few geeks with agendas. Oh, and a few Home Depot gift cards.

Aside from the shameless Home Depot cameo, it's almost too easy to find eerie similarities between Easy A and Sixteen Candles. And every other John Hughes teen movie made before 1987, for that matter. But that's precisely why it works.

Hughes may have passed on over a year ago, but the adolscent auteur's spirit is alive and well in Easy A. The Scarlett Letter-inspired teen flick may take place in 2010, and feature jokes that would sound like gibberish to Samantha Baker (think Twitter, texting and uncool Tom Cruise), but it feels more like an 80s teen movie than anything you've seen since, well, the 80s. It's smart. It's silly. It's semi-scandalous. And it manages to make glad you're not in high school and wish you could go back, at the same time.

From the moment Easy A's protagonist, Olive falls into frame, her books and hair all over the place, you can tell that director Will Gluck (Fired Up) wants you to think of her, and her portrayer (the effortlessly hilarious Emma Stone) as a modern-day Molly Ringwald. There's even a moment where Olive asks why she can't find a guy more like John Bender or Jake Ryan (complete with grainy clips of their fist-pumping, convertible-leaning charm). But with her bug eyes and charming lack of coordination, Olive is a lot more awkward than Ringwald ever was - in a good way. She's not a princess in an way shape or form. She's a relatable, bedroom-dancing-on-a-weekend, cardigan-in-the-summer, stay-in-study-buddy kind of gal. You know, the kind of guy Lloyd Dobler, might fall for.

At the beginning of the movie, Olive is a female Farmer Ted - nerdy, nice and completely unnoticeable. But that all changes after she lies to her friend Rhiannon (Alyson Michalka) about losing her virginity to a college guy. All of a sudden, she's a school slut (a randy Ronald Miller?) and her "Kinsey 6 homo" BFF, Brandon (Dan Byrd, Cougar Town) is asking her to sex him straight. She declines. But because hates to watch him bear the wrath of her peers' homophobic hatred, she offers him another promising proposition. One pretend party hook-up - complete with bed jumping, self-made sex sound effects and her panties in his back pocket - in exchange for a gift card of her choice.

Their sexual experiment works perfectly. Brando becomes one of the straight boys and Olive finally gets a reputation. Albeit, a bad one. In order to keep up with her new image, Olive starts dressing like a hussy Hester Prynne - wearing bustiers with fabric As on the boob. And after a few boys find out the truth behind her talked-about tryst, she manages to turn her prude prostitute moment into a serious business. Suddenly, she finds herself swimming in store credits - and unwarranted male attention.

Easy A is basically The Breakfast Club of coming-of-age comedies, exceeding your expectations at every turn. Although it's glossy, High School Musical-style exterior and webcam interludes suggest otherwise, it's a sharply crafted commentary on teenage sexuality and the art of oversharing (a Can't Buy Me Lust, if you will). As Olive's favourite teacher (Thomas Haden Church) says in a particularly sassy soliloquy, today's teens broadcast their every move on Facebook and Twitter, and somehow, they're surprised when their peers are all up in their private business. And as Olive soon comes to realize, the horny details of your (active, or non-active) sex life are last thing you should be making public - whether that's through texting, tweets, profile updates or just good old-fashioned face-to-face gossiping.

With an inspired message, snappy, era-defying pop culture dialogue and uniformly solid performances (Amanda Bynes as a Bible-thumping Regina George, Lisa Kudrow as the Christy Masters of guidance counselors and Stanley Tucci and Patricia Clarkson as the coolest parents in teen movie history), Easy A makes the grade, and then some. A-