Emily's Top 10 of '10: Part 2

5. 127 Hours

I saw Danny Boyle's latest heart-yanking film on an especially special evening at TIFF, attended by both it's star (James Franco) and it's inspiration (adventure enthusiast and Between a Rock and Hard Place author, Aron Ralston). After the screening the mega-moving one-man-show, in which Franco (as Ralston) amputates his own arm after having spent an excruciating 127 hours with it lodged under a rogue boulder, Ralston (and his hook hand) came on stage all bright and teary-eyed. He was just so grateful to see his true triumph of the human spirit come alive on screen for the world, and most importantly, his family to see. As he told the still-recovering audience (the fainting rumours are true!), he was blown away by Boyle and Franco's hyperactive and hallucinogenic treatment of his story, as it managed remain loyal to his reality even when delving into fits of hysterical fantasy. I couldn't have said it better myself.

4. Blue Valentine

This dark, depressing love story is not for the faint and or fantastical of heart. This film, which was nearly unfairly slapped with a NC-17 rating (America's version of R), is rough, raw and ridiculously real, to the point that sometimes, you feel as though you're Rear Windowing in on your loud, obviously unhappy neighbours. Blue Valentine takes us on a tour through the shards of a never-really-true romance, which starts as an unhappy accident and ends in unsolvable screaming match. Michelle Williams and Ryan Gosling pour their hearts and bodies (the duo totally transform in the later sections) into playing the couple in question (Cindy and Dean), giving us what may be the most genuine representation of modern love - and loss - I've ever seen.

3. Scott Pilgrim vs. the World

I still can't believe this movie wasn't a huge hit. It's 100 times better than Tron, Iron Man 2 and every other big budget action flick that came out this year. It's not a remake (although it is based on a series of graphic novels). It's not a mindless star vehicle (although Mikey Cera does get some sweet mega-closeups!). It's a true original - with some perfectly timed homages (Mortal Kombat! Seinfeld!) thrown in. Featuring a kick ass (not to be confused with Kick-Ass, which didn't quite live up to its name) plot - Toronto-based hipster 20-something has to defeat his new girl's seven evil exes - awesomely awkward dialogue, video game visuals and an insanely addictive soundtrack, Scott Pilgrim vs. the World has future unironic indie kid favourite written all over it. And it knows it.

2. Toy Story 3

This June, Woody, Buzz and the toy friends we've grown to love for over a decade rode back into Tinseltown for one last cinematic play date. And I don't know about you, but I'm searching for tissues. While the first two films in the animated series were undoubtedly superb, this installment was even better as it took us through most devastating moment of any toy's life: being put away in storage by their once-dedicated owner (in this case, Andy).  For my generation, who grew with the courageous cowboy and the sometimes-Spanish space cadet and kind of consider them our own, the bittersweet story hit so close to home it still hurts. 

1. The Social Network

A deliciously zeitgeist-y story, based on the controversial back story behind the most addictive website, ever? A wicked smart cast fronted by the next generation of hot nerds, Jesse Eisenberg and Andrew Garfield - and former Model Behaviour star and triple threat, Justin Timberlake? A talky, intelligent, Gilmore Girls speed script by West Wing scribe, Aaron Sorkin? What's not to 'like'? If this doesn't win Best Picture, I'm going to de-friend the Academy for at least a week.

ALSO AWESOME: The Other Guys, The King's Speech, Black Swan, Inception, Tangled, Shutter Island, Youth in Revolt 

*All photos from allmoviephoto.com

Michelle's Top 10 of '10: Part 2

5. Kites 

Technically, Kites is a Bollywood film, though with its mix of Hindi, Spanish and English, it's not so obvious. And almost by absolute necessity as a Bollywood export, this film is also a love story. But before you start to draw assumptions, let me straighten this out: this is not your typical Bollywood love story. OK, yes, it's overly dramatic and highly unlikely and at times, predictable, but it's really a film about true love to the nth degree in all it's purity and commitment. It's the odd film that comes along every so often to quench the thirst of hopelessly romantic cinefilles. The love between Jay (Hrithik Roshan) and Natasha (Barbara Mori) is so real and palpable that the film goes to surreal extremes to express it. Let me put it this way. This film is depicts true love in the most humanly way: it shows us what really happens when your heart explodes.

4. Splice

Science is frightening. Not just because I'm not very good at it, but because of the outcomes it can yield. In the case of Splice, that's a cross-human hybrid: a creature that loves and learns and feels, just like we do, though is not quite like us. This film is about boundaries and where exactly those boundaries exist. In this, it brings into question what exactly it means to be human - or not. It's an extremely unnerving film. It's disturbing and terrifying, though beautiful in it's ability to prod us with questions: Should this creature exist? Is this an experiment? Or has this become a relationship? Is this a being that needs to be loved? Or should this creature be killed? And where exactly did we cross the point of no return? 

3. Chloe

If you're on the fence about Amanda Seyfried, Chloe can almost surely set you straight (though may do the opposite sexuality-wise). I'm not sure I can describe her role better than I have before:

"Chloe is a spider. She weaves together a strangely sticky, embroidered web between relationships, imagination and suspicions, inviting unsuspecting prey to step foot in her domain, but along the way, gets caught herself. Seyfried is chilling as the closely-shadowing weaver. She's convincing and expressive as Chloe, who we see as old beyond her years but not hardened. She's fragile but brazen."

Working with Seyfried are the also brilliant Liam Neeson and Julianne Moore, tightening dramatic tension throughout the entire film until it's ready to snap.

2. Nowhere Boy

This John Lennon biopic is about the Beatles, despite what you may have heard. Can you honestly say that a film about one-half of possibly the greatest song-writing duo ever, who wrote the majority of The Beatles' songs, making them an international phenomenon, is not a film about the Beatles? But Beatles fans aside, what makes this film engaging is the whirlwind of confusing and dramatic family dynamics in Lennon's (Aaron Johnson) life in the midst of his adolescent, although mature, life. It's not really a film about the music (though there are a few scenes that hint at the brilliance to come), it's a film about the fragments that made the man who made the music. You do not need to be a Beatles fan to love this film (though I admit, it does help), you just need a taste for family secrets, hidden lives and watching loved ones break each others' hearts.

1. Inception

I like to think. And Inception is a film for those who hobby thinking: For those who stay up late at night in bed running through what ifs, hows and whys, this film is just for you. There is so much at work in this film that helps to create such a beautiful masterpiece that maybe I should just spew it all out: talented ensemble cast, gorgeous cinematography, brilliantly layered narrative, stunning visual effects... If you're asking for more, you're insane. While the world we see in this film is like a puzzle, the film itself a set of fragmented shards that fit together perfectly, though welcomes the viewer to pick them apart.

All photos: allmoviephoto.com

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...