The King's Speech
P(ositive): The inspiring true story of King George overcoming his stutter, The King’s Speech is just the kind of uplifiting, beautiful, and classic film Hollywood needs today (just ask the Academy, who gave it Best Original Screenplay, Best Director, and Best Picture). With career defining performances from Colin Firth, Helena Bonham Carter and Geoffrey Rush, and a breakthrough directorial job from Tom Hooper, The King’s Speech is well worth a viewing.- Mike Natale
N(egative): I know what you’re thinking. “British royalty again? I’ve seen this a million times and they always get nominated.” Well this one shakes it up because the king...has a stutter! Groundbreaking work here. That’s it. The king has a stutter and needs to fix it. If only my heart had a stutter so I didn’t have to sit through this over hyped Oscar bait movie because British royalty is definitive Oscar gold.- Tom Lorenzo
N(egative): I know what you’re thinking. “British royalty again? I’ve seen this a million times and they always get nominated.” Well this one shakes it up because the king...has a stutter! Groundbreaking work here. That’s it. The king has a stutter and needs to fix it. If only my heart had a stutter so I didn’t have to sit through this over hyped Oscar bait movie because British royalty is definitive Oscar gold.- Tom Lorenzo
Inception
P: Christopher Nolan’s Inception may not only be one of the best movies of the year, but just might be the man’s best work yet. Following the masterpieces that are Memento, The Prestige, Batman Begins and The Dark Knight how could you pass this up? With each film, Nolan breaks his boundaries and being backed up with his 8 year long script this psychologically mind-bending blockbuster will have you wanting to watch it again as soon as the movie ends.- Josh Paige
N: Seriously, we get it. Christopher Nolan's good. His leg humping fans, now on par with the Tarantino-lovers, will tell you how fantastic Inception was, even though it's a lot of complex plot all shoved into Ellen Paige's awkward and clunky dialogue. They'll persist that Leo DiCaprio and Joseph Gordon-Levitt gave Oscar calliber performances in their two-dimensional roles, and that the lack of chemistry between Marion Cotillard and Leo is "fantastic". I'm gonna go out on a limb and say...Dark Knight spillover- Mike Natale
N: Seriously, we get it. Christopher Nolan's good. His leg humping fans, now on par with the Tarantino-lovers, will tell you how fantastic Inception was, even though it's a lot of complex plot all shoved into Ellen Paige's awkward and clunky dialogue. They'll persist that Leo DiCaprio and Joseph Gordon-Levitt gave Oscar calliber performances in their two-dimensional roles, and that the lack of chemistry between Marion Cotillard and Leo is "fantastic". I'm gonna go out on a limb and say...Dark Knight spillover- Mike Natale
Winter's Bone
P: Can I level with you? I…I haven’t seen this film. No one on our staff has. Quite frankly, no one I’ve spoken to has. But if the Academy selected this film out of total obscurity to place in its nominees, it must have some merit, right?- Mike Natale
N: Um…Yeah, seriously, no one has anything good or bad to say about it, since nobody’s seen it. Just pretend we said insightful things. You’re not gonna go see it anyway.- Mike Natale
N: Um…Yeah, seriously, no one has anything good or bad to say about it, since nobody’s seen it. Just pretend we said insightful things. You’re not gonna go see it anyway.- Mike Natale
True Grit
P: Most people went in to this movie asking one question, “What made the Coen Brothers feel the need to remake an Academy Award winning movie?” Those questions were answered very quickly as we were given a strong story driven by a performance from young newcomer Hailee Stenfield as a no-nonsense girl devoted to seeing justice served for the death of her father. Jeff Bridges is back with the Coen’s as Rooster Cogburn, a US Marshall with a “shoot first and ask questions later” motto. Finishing up the trio is Matt Damon, who gives Bridges someone to playfully banter with throughout the film- Adam Kampfer
N: Setting: The room in which Oscar nominations are decided. "Ok, so Social Network, King's Speech, all modern classics. Thank goodness we're being objective this year. I'm glad we put aside our personal preferences and just nominated movies that deserved the recognition, and weren't just bland remakes with a few good performances." "Hey, did you hear the Coen Brothers made a new movie?" "Holy crap, let's over-rate the s**t out of it!" Seriously, no one would care about this if Joel and Ethan weren't attached- Mike Natale
N: Setting: The room in which Oscar nominations are decided. "Ok, so Social Network, King's Speech, all modern classics. Thank goodness we're being objective this year. I'm glad we put aside our personal preferences and just nominated movies that deserved the recognition, and weren't just bland remakes with a few good performances." "Hey, did you hear the Coen Brothers made a new movie?" "Holy crap, let's over-rate the s**t out of it!" Seriously, no one would care about this if Joel and Ethan weren't attached- Mike Natale
127 Hours
P: Danny Boyle’s 127 Hours is an inspirational story of survival depicting the true tale of how Aron Ralston literally hung on for his life for five days and resorted to the most extreme of measures in order to survive. While the majority of the film is only Ralston stuck in a canyon in Utah giving his last testimonies to his handi-cam, James Franco’s acting blended with realistically claustrophobic cinematography is what makes this motivational true story stand out this year.- Josh Paige
N: The entire movie of 127 Hours: “Oh, my arm's stuck….It’s still stuck…I’m gonna cut it off.” There. I just saved you $10.25.- Mike Natale
N: The entire movie of 127 Hours: “Oh, my arm's stuck….It’s still stuck…I’m gonna cut it off.” There. I just saved you $10.25.- Mike Natale
Black Swan
P: Darren Aronofsky's companion piece to The Wrestler is one of the most elegant, disturbing, striking and unique films in recent memory, pushing the boundaries of what the public is willing to pay for. Sure, the "indie" cinema has been making movies somewhat akin to this for a while, but finally, the viewing public cared. This is not Dogtooth or a Michael Haneke flick, sitting gleefully in its inaccessibility. Aronofsky invited the average audience into his dark vision, and created something beautiful and bleak.- Mike Natale
N: While Darren Aronofsky is one of the most unique filmmakers out there, Black Swan is not much more than a stale sexual “thriller” surrounding ballet. While Nina slips into madness, the film’s psychological illusions become nothing more than anything you’ve seen in previous films depicting insanity. It’s sad that a movie nominated for Oscars gets most of its hype from its girl-on-girl scene between Natalie Portman and Mila Kunis. Go ahead and spend the extra money just for that scene… You’ll be sorry you spent 108 minutes watching this overrated disappointment.- Josh Paige
N: While Darren Aronofsky is one of the most unique filmmakers out there, Black Swan is not much more than a stale sexual “thriller” surrounding ballet. While Nina slips into madness, the film’s psychological illusions become nothing more than anything you’ve seen in previous films depicting insanity. It’s sad that a movie nominated for Oscars gets most of its hype from its girl-on-girl scene between Natalie Portman and Mila Kunis. Go ahead and spend the extra money just for that scene… You’ll be sorry you spent 108 minutes watching this overrated disappointment.- Josh Paige
Toy Story 3
P: Toy Story wasn't a big part of my childhood, but the thing about Toy Story 3 is that, as I rapidly approach the kind of adulthood that becomes obsessed with the "real world", I find these characters going through what I am. They lose friends to separation, feel lonely and unneeded, and finally see what the real world really is. All this, and these characters are toys. Don't miss this film if you've ever been scared about what life may end up being, and if you want to be comforted by the fact that change isn't always a bad thing.- Carrie Ferrante
N: (From a Facebook post upon which comments informed me I had no soul) "I didn’t much care for Toy Story 3. It was just so f*****g bleak the whole time. There was barely any fun. It was sad, I cried, I just didn't...smile...often. Yes, it was sad, but the other two balanced sad with joy. This one was just way too dark. I couldn't in good conscience show it to a kid. I just...it was nice, a good end to the trilogy, but it was just a s**t ton of bleak. The creepy monkey, the baby, a lot of really sad s**t. It was made to affect people our age, not for kids. I just...I was affected by it; I just didn't much enjoy it."- Mike Natale
N: (From a Facebook post upon which comments informed me I had no soul) "I didn’t much care for Toy Story 3. It was just so f*****g bleak the whole time. There was barely any fun. It was sad, I cried, I just didn't...smile...often. Yes, it was sad, but the other two balanced sad with joy. This one was just way too dark. I couldn't in good conscience show it to a kid. I just...it was nice, a good end to the trilogy, but it was just a s**t ton of bleak. The creepy monkey, the baby, a lot of really sad s**t. It was made to affect people our age, not for kids. I just...I was affected by it; I just didn't much enjoy it."- Mike Natale
The Fighter
P: With the world going crazy for MMA, we have quickly forgotten about the great boxing stories that we have left to tell. The Fighter a film about the rise to champion of ‘Irish’ Mickey Ward is one of them. Led by emotional performances from Wahlberg, Adams, Leo and Bale who steals the most of the film as a crack addict hooked on his past. Director David O. Russel makes every scene hurt, even the ones where no punches fly.- Adam Kampfer
N: You know, I gotta say, I really loved The Fighter. The harrowing story of Jake Lamotta, told in stark black and white with a poetic visual style, The Fighter is…oh, wait, that’s Raging Bull. The Fighter’s the one about Stallone as a boxer from Philly, right? Wait, that’s Rocky? Oh, The Fighter is that one with Hillary Swank as…Million Dollar Baby, huh? You getting the point? It’s just another movie about a sport no one watches.- Mike Natale
N: You know, I gotta say, I really loved The Fighter. The harrowing story of Jake Lamotta, told in stark black and white with a poetic visual style, The Fighter is…oh, wait, that’s Raging Bull. The Fighter’s the one about Stallone as a boxer from Philly, right? Wait, that’s Rocky? Oh, The Fighter is that one with Hillary Swank as…Million Dollar Baby, huh? You getting the point? It’s just another movie about a sport no one watches.- Mike Natale
The Kids Are Alright
P: The most unique and heart-warming film of the year has tragically has been reduced to being dubbed "that lesbian movie". Well, the truth is it transcends the boundaries of gay or straight, and stands instead as the best family-themed comedy since Little Miss Sunshine.- Mike Natale
N: We get it, gays are interesting too. They’ve had some great movies about them. But that doesn’t mean every gay movie should be hailed as some masterpiece. By the rationale, every movie about Italians should be masterpieces. Because of The Godfather, Knockaround Guys should be iconic. Kids Are Alright is a nice little movie, but far better gay movies have come out and been snubbed. Like Batman and Robin. No love for B&R, no love for KAA in my opinion.- Tom Lorenzo
N: We get it, gays are interesting too. They’ve had some great movies about them. But that doesn’t mean every gay movie should be hailed as some masterpiece. By the rationale, every movie about Italians should be masterpieces. Because of The Godfather, Knockaround Guys should be iconic. Kids Are Alright is a nice little movie, but far better gay movies have come out and been snubbed. Like Batman and Robin. No love for B&R, no love for KAA in my opinion.- Tom Lorenzo
