Films of the Year, 2010: #5 Black Swan

Pi, The Fountain, The Wrestler, and now Black Swan. Darren Aronofsky's on a serious roll (I still haven't seen Requiem for a Dream, regrettably).

With Black Swan, Aronofsky skillfully employed thematic and cinematographic aspects similar to The Wrestler - a painful focus on physicality, the stress and injury of physical exertion in performance, as well as the now-trademark tracking shots that evoke an almost documentary-like feel - and combined these with a marvelous, disturbing narrative (with echoes of Pi) about sexuality, independence, overbearing mothers and mental condition. These things aren't presented in a manner that's difficult to get ahold of either, as the story progresses naturally, and manages to be highly accessible, while still having all these things going on in it.

An underlying (or overbearing?) sensation of tension flows through the film's discourse, meaning that it feels uneasy at all times (not at all in a bad way), and it works hand in hand with the film's gloriously suitable, gloomy aesthetic, mostly consisting of blacks, whites and whites. There is some amazingly haunting imagery in the film, the opening scene standing out as a perfect example.

At the forefront of the film is, of course, Natalie Portman, who delivers an absolutely stunning performance. Despite No Strings Attached (Lord save us), Natalie Portman absolutely deserves the Oscar for Best Actress. Not that there's any chance she won't. (Sidenote: I wouldn't mind seeing it go to Jennifer Lawrence for Winter's Bone, mind). Vincent Cassel, Mila Kunis, Winona Ryder and Barbara Hershey are all great in their supporting roles, but the focus is really on Natalie's portrayal of Nina Sayers; a stressfully emotional, convincing achievement.

And however much the average hormonal male internet troll was raving about a certain scene in this ever since early last year, I would also like to congratulate Black Swan on being about the only movie where sex scenes weren't an unnecessary waste of film, put in just for the sake of giving it some sex appeal.

Black Swan was an excellently dark, memorable, and unsettling film.

I think I'll make my sentences shorter in the next post.

Films of the Year, 2010: #6 The Last Exorcism

For me, horror films that use the handheld camera / "found footage" approach are in a lot of ways, just inherently scarier than those shot in a traditionally cinematic way. The more human perspective that you see everything from, the resultant lack of peripheral vision, combined with the omission of any sort of sensationalised lighting, to put it simply, just makes it all look more real. It's how you'd be seeing it if you were there.

This worked brilliantly in The Blair Witch Project in 1999, and it worked hugely well in The Last Exorcism, 11 years later. The suspense builds from the offset; the moment Reverend Cotton Marcus mentions exorcism, and that he's going out into rural Louisiana to investigate a specific case. This setting provides a great sense of isolation for events to take place in, and thus poses a greater potential threat for the characters. Impending doom settles over everything.

Even in the daytime scenes when nothing typically scary is happening, a feeling of unease still closes in, and there's a nice level of intrigue and mystery present, i.e. what exactly is going on in this house?

As with all good horror movies, The Last Exorcism also plays with sound to achieve fear in creepy ways - don't read the rest of this paragraph if you haven't seen the film. I don't know if this was the result of some dodgy sound equipment in the cinema, but when the voice of Abalam speaks through Nell, it sounded as though it had been played through a shoddy-quality tape recorder, and was really, really frightening. If that was indeed intentional. Another fantastically disturbing moment happens when the sound of a child crying is heard with in a room - upon opening the door, the Reverend and co. find nothing but a doll.

Like I said, all of this was made so much more atmospheric due to the handheld cameras, but the progression of the narrative in itself provided a hugely satisfying build-up in tension, and was accompanied by a cast of well-acted performances that increased authenticity. There have been a load of exorcism / religious horror films (and we've been seeing a resurgence of them recently), but I'd easily say that this stands as the very best in that subgenre. It's also one of the very best "found footage" films. Everything in The Last Exorcism equalled brilliant scares; the best horror film of 2010, and one of the most absorbing horrors that has come out in a long while.

Films of the Year, 2010: #7 The Other Guys

Absolute insanity. I truly don't know what to say about this apart from the fact that I hadn't laughed this much at a film in a long time. I guess the humour just clicked with me.

Will Ferrell and Mark Wahlberg play off one another brilliantly, with Ferrell playing his usual naïve, offbeat, stupid character, and good old Marky Mark in one of his few good roles as the short-tempered, angry reactant.

This wasn't the sort of comedy with relatable characters or a dramatic plot, simple a hugely enjoyable film where you just sit back and laugh at the laughs - liking it was all down to whether it's your kind of thing. It's from director Adam McKay, who also helmed Anchorman, Talladega Nights and Step Brothers, so that's the kind of comedy present here (although I only really liked the second of those three films).

Highlights included the scene where two cops try to fight one another silently during a funeral, Steve Coogan getting caught watching pirate-themed porn on his computer, and kidnappers stealing characters' shoes for absolutely no reason.

Here's the funeral scene:



'Nuff said.

Films of the Year, 2010: #8 Despicable Me

Despicable Me, the first feature from Illumination Entertainment, and Universal's first foray into the vastly overcrowded realm of CGI movies, looked "okay" in the trailer. It looked like light-hearted fun, but not much else. As if Universal was just trying to cash in on the kids' 3D movie market. Fortunately I was pleasantly surprised, the film containing lots of genuine, quirky humour, and an absolutely overwhelming level of colourful cuteness, aided by a cast full of adorable characters. Just try to last the whole film without going "awww!" during at least one of the scenes featuring the three orphans.

While Despicable Me of course doesn't match the celestially lofty standards set by Pixar in terms of modern animation, it manages to succeed due to a focus on character rather than random plotlines and gratuitous fart jokes. Although there is one fart joke. And that's not to say that the story here isn't as crazy as it usually is. Kids will obviously still enjoy it to be sure, but there's certainly more than enough here for adults to enjoy too.

The development of the main character, Gru the supervillain (voiced by Steve Carell), has an actual arc to it, making him more interesting than those in your average animated fare. Change in his personality makes him much less one-dimensional that one might expect, although the film contains some of the expected falling-outs and reconciliations that are present in all such films, like the Shrek series and Pixar's filmography.

In addition to the positives though, the animation is great to look at (smooth 'n' shiny), and all the characters are very nicely-designed, being suitably cartoony (see above). The Minions are a hilarious creation, and are the focus of some really fun scenes. Being small, cute alien creatures, there was a risk that they'd be exploited within the film and be over-used, becoming more prominent than the actual lead characters, but thankfully this is not the case. A good balance is met. I wish we could have seen some more humour from Russell Brand's character though.

Despicable Me stood out amongst the other lazily-produced animated films made for the sake of money, because it was actually worthwhile: delightful, upbeat, and held together by its distinguished charm.

Films of the Year, 2010: #9 Buried

Somebody decided to let Victor Reyes write a loud, bombastic score for this movie, and somebody decided that it would be appropriate if that score was actually used in the film. It works fine during the animated opening credit sequence, but for the rest of the film it is completely unnecessary and intrusive, managing to draw the viewer out of what is otherwise an incredibly involving experience. Anything other than silence, or at the most a quiet ambient score, is just too much for Buried.

I had to get that out of the way - it was my only real gripe with this movie. Buried is an intense thriller that has you on the edge of your seat from beginning to end, with an extreme sense of claustrophobia to boot. The orange glow of the lighter and the blue glow of the cellphone re-affirm an incredibly confined sense of space, especially when watching on a big screen. The entire film does take place within a coffin, after all.

The movie quite simply revolves around a man's survival and phone conversations, and due to the film's plot and concept (and of course thanks to the screenplay), this is all that's needed; it works up a huge amount of suspense. This minimalistic approach works wonders, and proves that films don't need to rely on huge concepts and big set-pieces to excite and thrill the viewer.

One mustn't go without mentioning Ryan Reynolds, who offers a very solid performance as the focus of the film, and manages to get the heart pumping through his various explorations of emotion, and the way in which he acts out the desperation of his situation. The film being about the main character, the choice of actor was a case of "make it or break it" here, but Reynolds pulls it off. He ensures that Buried is one of those great films that pulls you in and doesn't let go. It's hard to say anything else really, without ruining it.

Now if only they got rid of the soundtrack...

Films of the Year, 2010: #10 Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows, Part I

What I would describe as the "coldest" entry in the Harry Potter film franchise thus far, the first half of Deathly Hallows expectantly deals a lot in setting up what will be its no doubt epic conclusion; lots of running, lots of talking and lots of explaining. And while there is lots of explanation, sometimes it still manages to seem as though things are being rushed - having read the books, I know what is going on, but what with characters such as Mundungus Fletcher being introduced, or others like Fleur Delacour being reintroduced so quickly, I occasionally wonder if the casual viewer is given enough to keep up. Fenrir Greyback was given his own character poster for the film's advertising, but do non-readers even know who he is? Or that he's a werewolf?

That said, Deathly Hallows, Part I offered many more intimate character moments between the lead characters than we have seen recently; particularly with regards to Harry and Hermione. Certain scenes, such as that in the wonderfully-realised Godric's Hollow, provided a much quieter, slower tone to things. They enhanced the relationships that we have come to assume over the past ten years. Other moments that I particularly enjoyed were the opening montage of the film, depicting the trio leaving their families, and the scene towards the end in which Harry, Ron and Hermione are pursued by Death Eaters through the forest. Well done on whoever decided to omit any music in the latter; it was much more effective without.

Unfortunately the final scene of Part I (the scene I was most looking forward to from the entire book), while sad, was not given as much sentimentality as I would have liked, in part due to its relative briefness, and in part due to Alexandre Desplat's score (which was fine, but not as prominent as the music in the films that have come before). But that's just a sidenote.

While Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows, Part I isn't among the very best in the series so far, it was still a fine film in the magical world we have become used to, breaking away from the Hogwarts and school life setting that has dominated the previous films. I loved how things seemed much more dangerous this time around, and the paler visuals and characterisation amongst the main characters made for, if anything, a great set-up for events to come. I hope Part II is as epic as it has the potential to be, and that the two films end up complementing each other well.

Game Review: Limbo

Limbo is the one of the most imaginative, beautiful games I have played in a long time. And while it may be a bit short for its asking price of 1200 Microsoft Points (£12.75), it is absolutely worth buying.

It's the style and the atmosphere of the game that make it so wonderful. It takes on the appearance of an old silent movie, and is completely in black and white. The environments and characters are 2D, and almost look like shadow puppets. This sensibility works wonders for the game, and is resultantly rather creepy. It reminds me of Lemony Snicket's A Series of Unfortunate Events somehow, and it's certainly refreshing in world where most games are FPSs taking place in grey, gritty, urban near-future warzones. It just looks absolutely fantastic, and is a joy to look at. The soundtrack is equally brilliant, consisting of mostly ambient drones and quiet noises like soft wind and small creatures. It helps contribute to an isolated, haunting, and etheral aura, and is much better than being bombarded by loud, generic techno beats that you find in other games (some, but not all).

This sense of minimalism carries on to other aspects of Limbo. There is no dialogue or story presented to you directly; instead, you just play things as they happen. If you manage to avoid reading the plot description / synopsis on the Xbox Live Arcade, everything will remain mostly ambiguous to you. And it's better that way, so I won't be recalling that synopsis here. I love the way the game begins, without any exposition or tutorials. You don't know who the boy you're controlling is, where you are, or what you're doing. The way the game ends is also marvelous.

The gameplay itself is rather simple too - apart from movement, you'll only need to use two other buttons: one to jump, and one to "use." This seemingly leads to a kinda laid-back approach, and in some ways, it is. But the game contains some elements of both platforming and puzzles, and some of the puzzles are reasonably difficult in finding out what you have to do. This leads into my only real complaint with Limbo, which is essentially a matter of personal preference. The game begins in organic, woodland areas which are incredibly pleasing to look at. The further into the game you get though, the more man-made the environments become, eventually leading to things like machine-guns and anti-grav lifts. It leads to increasingly complex and frustrating puzzles that sometimes reminded me of N+ (although nowhere near as hard or anger-inducing). While I understand that this development in aesthetic is perhaps even a key factor in the game, I simply like the rural, natural areas more. Don't get me wrong though, the entirety of Limbo still looks phenomenal.

The other of Limbo's pitfalls, as I said before, is that it's rather a short game. I'm not entirely sure how long it took me to complete, but it probably wasn't much more than 3 hours. The achievements might give the more hardcore among you reason to go back, but searching for hard-to-find collectibles isn't really my thing. The length was initially a put-off for me (considering the price), but the art style and the atmosphere are just too good to miss.

This being PlayDead Studios' premiere title, I sincerely hope it gains them some much-deserved recognition, as I'll be looking forward to whatever their follow-up releases may be. After playing this and Amanita Design's gorgeous Samorost 2 recently, I think there's more reason to be watching indie game developers than there is the big studios. It's not very likely to happen due to the big dollars that first-person shooters and sequels bring in, but I really really wish there were more games like these.

8.5/10