My Movie Watching List 2010

Since I’m really into movies, I’d like to continue blogging about this topic for the time being.

This post is only a list to keep track of what movies I have watched in 2010. I’ll try to keep this list updated, especially with the movies I watch in the theaters. Scoring is from 1 (worst) to 10 (best).

Disclaimer: reviews and scores are biased to my preference, your mileage may vary

4. Alice in Wonderland

A popular classic story, directed by the unique Tim Burton, backed with a high budget, with the renowned casts like Johnny Depp, Anne Hathaway, and Helena Bonham Carter, and the awesome US$ 116.1  million breaking opening weekend box office records, will prove that this movie is one of this year’s top pick. Or not!

Last night (Mar 9) I came to the Grand Cathay to watch this movie. The Grand Cathay is currently, in my opinion, the best non-premium cinema in Singapore. With the size comparable to the GVmax cinema, it is also THX certified. Since Alice in Wonderland is not a pure 3-D movie — unlike Avatar, it’s filmed in 2-D and later converted to 3-D — I’d rather watch it in a bigger 2-D cinema than the smaller 3-D cinemas.

The movie is visually appealing. Tim Burton managed to build the wonderland wonderfully. The characters were alive and the casts were great. But unfortunately, the pace was quite slow to my taste. It couldn’t keep me excited throughout the whole duration of the movie, not even half. There were not enough surprises, if any. And the battle scene was so typical as other animated movies.

Score: 6

3. Percy Jackson & the Olympians: The Lightning Thief

The visual effect displayed on the trailer and the theme (Greek mythology) were the main attraction to me. At first, I thought that it was yet another Harry Potter-wannabe teenage movie (and it seemed that it was), so I didn’t put much expectation other than great visual effect for my viewing pleasure.

After watching the premiere show at GV Plasa Singapura on Feb 11, I found the movie quite enjoyable and entertaining. It was fast-paced and loaded with fresh humors. It turned out to be a fun parody of the Greek mythology. The cast could definitely be better though veterans such as Pierce Brosnan and Uma Thurman were involved as supporting roles.

Score: 7

2. My Ex

Horror is one of my favorite genre when it comes to theatrical movies. The problem is that it can be though to find companions to watch this kind of movies. Companions that won’t scream during the play. At least I got two friends who were interested to watch this movie last Feb 8 at GV Tiong Bahru.

My Ex is a Thai-horror movie. So the cast is not familiar to me. One of the main character, however, was very attractive. She is a fairly known Thai model and actress called Wanida Termthanaporn a.k.a. Giftzy, so it’s not hard to find her pictures if you’d like to know what I meant.

The movie, though pretty predictive, was packed with a nice dosage of surprising and shocking moments. But the make-up was kinda disappointing, it can’t help the acting skill of the actors which was mediocre at best.

Score: 6

1. The Imaginarium of Doctor Parnassus

Although this movie was released back in 2009, I watched it only recently on Feb 6 at Cathay Cineleisure, Orchard. Partly because my girlfriend told me that the movie was bad. Still I wanted to watch it because of the great list of cast: Heath Ledger, Johnny Depp, Colin Farrell, and Jude Law. And of course because I like fantasy-themed movies.

Well, although it’s not a really really good movie, but it’s not that bad either. The actors also played pretty well to live up to their great names. The effect of Heath Ledger’s death during the making of the film was cleverly covered by the other actors.

Score: 7

10 Must-See Movies in 2010

Hello 2010,

James Cameron’s Avatar has closed 2009 and at the same time, opened 2010 with record-breaking result. Now let’s see the next batch of movies to expect in this year.

1. Shutter Island

Release Date: February 19

Why? After Gangs of NewYork (2002), Martin Scorsese seemed to love Leonardo DiCaprio so much they worked together in all recent Scorsese’s movies. The previous three movies of their collaboration brought 26 Oscar nominations, of which 9 were won; culminating with the last movie, titled The Departed (2006), which won 4 out of 5 nominated Oscars, including Best Picture and Best Director. After that much of collaboration and achievements, we can only expect better from them, or not?

2. Alice in Wonderland

Release Date: March 5

Why? Tim Burton, Johnny Depp, Anne Hathaway, and Helena Bonham Carter. Popular people in a popular story, enough said.

3. Clash of the Titans

Release Date: March 26

Why? Because I always like the Greek mythology, especially when it is played by the rising star Sam Worthington.

4. Iron Man 2

Release Date: May 7

Why? Iron Man (2008) was a cool and highly praised by critics. Based on the movie franchise history (Spider-Man, Shrek, Pirates of the Caribbean), the second installments usually were better than the first. Based on the same history, the third were usually the worst.

5. Robin Hood

Release Date: May 14

Why? The legend of the nemesis of the rich but friend of the poor is so popular it has been filmed 9017841 times. Honestly I don’t expect a lot from this 9017842nd remake. But Russell Crow may bring something fresh.

6. Shrek Forever After a.k.a. Shrek 4 a.k.a. Shrek: The Final Chapter

Release Date: May 21

Why? Sure Shrek the Third (2007) was disappointing, but this is the final chapter, and everyone will want to know whether the green ogres will finally live truly happily ever after. This is the most important part of every princess-material story.

7. Prince of Persia: The Sands of Time

Release Date: May 28

Why? Based on a legendary PC game and powered by $200 million budget doesn’t mean this movie won’t suck. But still, I’d like to see my childhood game hero on the big screen.

8. The Twilight Saga: Eclipse

Release Date: June 30

Why? Ask the girls, why! Okay I’m not a girl, but still the battle visualization between vampires and werewolves  is always interesting to see.

9. The Last Airbender

Release Date: July 2

Why? I rarely followed television series. Avatar, the Last Airbender from Nickelodeon was the rare exception. I enjoyed the series and I only hope, this live-action film won’t suck as much as Dragonball Evolution (2009).

10. Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: Part 1

Release Date: November 19

Why? Unless you worship the books so much you consider the films are blasphemy, you will want to see this. Luckily I don’t read the books, so the movies are just fine for me.

In case you don’t know, Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows is the last book of the series and it will be split into two films. The first part will be released this year while the second part will be released on 15 July 2011. While surely it won’t stop the usual criticism that the movie was not as detailed as the novel version, it will still provide more details than the previous movies. So, considering this is the first part of the last movie, make sure you don’t miss it if you have been following it.

Other movies worth to mention

2010 will have much more movies, but my list is limited to 10. There are definitely other movies you might want to consider:

1. Sex and the City 2 (May 28)
2. The A-Team (June 11)
3. Toy Story 3 (June 18)
4. Jonah Hex (June 18)
5. Inception (July 16)

All images are courtesy of Wikipedia.