Because we're in a global pandemic, I've had plenty of time to think to myself. And one day, I randomly came to the conclusion that 2010 might be the most utterly fascinating year for movies I can think of. It's not the best year for film, not when 1994 gave us The Shawshank Redemption, Forrest Gump, Pulp Fiction, and The Lion King, but the most fascinating as a whole. In this post, I'm going to explain why I think that. I was initially going to have fifteen reasons, but I realized that I had a lot to say for each bullet point, so I split that into two parts. Today, I'm going to be looking at some 2010 movies that personally interest me, while next week, I'll delve into general trends of 2010 cinema.
Also, before we begin, I just want to clarify that I'm mostly going to be focusing on the big blockbusters and not the critical darlings or indie movies. I don't really know much or care about all the more prestigious, critically acclaimed movies, so those aren't as interesting to me. Now let's start!
I guess I could try to give reasons why the 2010 release of Disney's Tangled was objectively significant. It was the 50th Disney animated feature film, a landmark for the studio. Its budget was an estimated $260 million, which, if accurate, makes it the most expensive animated movie ever. It earned $592 million at the box office worldwide and received praise from both critics and audiences. It even got a spinoff cartoon in 2017! But at the end of the day, none of that really matters. The release of Tangled was important because, plain and simple, it’s my favorite movie. On this blog, I've made two lists of my favorite movies, one in 2017 and the other this June. While a lot of opinions changed between those three years, one thing was a constant: Tangled was number one. I actually saw it in theatres a few months after it came out, not expecting much at all. I was eight years old and growing out of the obsessive Disney Princess phase of my younger years. But when I did see it, it blew me away. It's one of those movies where everything comes together perfectly. The characters are great, especially our two leads. Rapunzel is so spirited and lively, and Flynn is the perfect boyish rogue with a heart of gold. Flynn is easily my favorite Disney prince, and while Mulan is my favorite Disney Princess if you go by the official Disney Princess lineup, Rapunzel’s my favorite legitimate princess. Mandy Moore and Zachary Levi both do a stellar job in their voice roles as Rapunzel and Flynn, respectively. Together, Rapunzel and Flynn are my favorite Disney couple and watching them grow together is so enjoyable. The animation is gorgeous, especially with the lantern scene. In Thailand, there is a lantern festival called Yi Peng (video here) that's basically the Tangled lantern scene in real life and I need to attend it before I die. Tangled manages to have all the qualities we love from classic Disney movies, but still have its own distinctive flair. What other Disney movie would have a prince use a frying pan to swordfight a horse? And I know I say this nearly every time I talk about this movie, but "I See The Light" is a gorgeous song that needs to be played at my wedding, whenever/if it happens. It was nominated for the Best Original Song Oscar, but lost to some song from Toy Story 3 that I don't remember at all. I love Toy Story 3 and will actually be talking about it in a minute, but Tangled deserved that Oscar. I've seen many movies, and I still have a lot more that I need to see, but Tangled will always have a special place in my heart as one of, if not my absolute favorite, movies.
2. So did my best friend’s favorite movie!
One of 2010’s highest-grossing, most critically acclaimed movies was Inception. The Christopher Nolan-directed film grossed $825 million worldwide (the fourth highest-grossing of the year) and was nominated for eight Oscars, winning four. It also happens to be my best friend’s favorite movie. That was a big factor in my fascination with 2010’s cinema: the fact that both my favorite movie and my best friend’s favorite came out this year. And since she loves this movie so much, I thought I’d have her write a little segment about it. So without further ado, my friend Nike!
"It comes as a surprise to those close to me that my favorite movie is Inception. After all, I’m not one to watch every Oscar-hopeful as award seasons come around. To me, it is however the best movie—objectively and subjectively—that I have ever seen, and a large part of that is due to the incredible ensemble cast (shout out to Elliot Page) and Leonardo DiCaprio’s role in the film.
Many considered DiCaprio to be one of the world’s best actors even before his first Oscars win—which, in my opinion, was several years too late. I would say that DiCaprio is the best actor in the world right now for a stand-out reason. Of the many skilled and experienced actors we see time after time in films—Helen Mirren and Morgan Freeman, for instance—DiCaprio is the only actor who comes to mind whose name washes away at the beginning of the movie and stays that way. All the love for Morgan Freeman, but every time I see him in a movie, I can’t help but think “Oh my God, there’s Morgan Freeman in this movie!” DiCaprio becomes his characters due to the combination of his incredible acting skills and the perfect casting in each movie he features in. There’s a reason we can see him as Gatsby in The Great Gatsby or Cobb in Inception, and that’s because each character he plays falls into his typecast. DiCaprio melts into Cobb and makes us believe that such a skilled dreamer and thief in corporate espionage does in fact exist. Leonardo DiCaprio who? We only know Cobb.
Besides the immersive acting, Inception also features riveting action sequences alongside a thought-provoking plot that has stuck with me personally ever since my first viewing years ago. The most important aspect of an action movie is its pacing, which neither the plot nor—critically—the action slows down in this instance. Oftentimes in this genre, the action scenes and shoot-outs carry on for too long or stagnate. Inception suffers from neither. Every burst of energy moves the story along, never occurring just to get the audience's heartbeat racing. Importantly, these scenes are always fresh and new with the mind-twisting visuals and effects used throughout the movie to create each dreamscape.
My favorite theme and topic that this movie makes me consider is the importance of reality. I have pondered the final scenes of this film hundreds of times. The top spinning at the cut to the credits is a powerful statement that reminds me of a philosophy of truth. This philosophy is that the condition of having lies or truths told to oneself is irrelevant if the subject doesn’t know. It doesn’t matter whether Cobb actually returned to the waking world or if he is deep within limbo. It is all the same to Cobb, as he is happy. Reality as a concept often takes the form of what society as a whole perceives, but Inception reminds its audience of the importance of an individual’s reality.
All in all, this is the movie that I recommend to everyone. If you like movies, you will like Inception. Much like a dream, there are layers to it; you will find a layer to this film that you will hold onto for years."
Thanks to Nike for writing that amazing reflection on a film that, according to review aggregation blog CriticsTop10, appeared on 273 different film critics' "Best Movies of 2010" list and topped 55 of those lists. I haven't seen it, but it's clearly an amazing movie. Now it's time to talk about something on the opposite side of the spectrum.
1. In the show, firebenders are able to produce fire out of thin air, but in the movie, they are only able to control pre-existing fire. To add salt to the wound, Iroh makes his own fire in the climax of the film and the characters are like, "He's making fire out of nothing!" as if it's supposed to be something groundbreaking. Um, hello, that's what firebenders are supposed to do! Shyamalan actually said that he made this choice to prevent the Fire Nation from being overpowered, which is also missing the point. They're supposed to be the most powerful! How else do you think they were able to maintain a century of imperialism and wipe out the entire Air Nomad population?
2. Sokka's romance with Princess Yue is even worse than I initially thought it was. I joked about how in the movie, they just look at each other, smile, and then Katara says in a voiceover that "My brother and the princess were friends right away." And that's already pretty dumb, but there's so much to their romance that wasn't in the movie. Sokka does fall in love with Princess Yue right when he sees her, but she doesn't notice him immediately, and he spends a good amount of time flirting with her in his charming Sokka way. She then tells him that she does like him, but can't be with him because she's in an arranged engagement for the good of her people. None of this happened in the movie. However the actress who played Yue in the film, Seychelle Gabriel, would go on to voice the character Asami Sato in the ATLA sequel series, The Legend of Korra. I'm watching Korra right now and Asami is my favorite character (she's so badass and cool and pretty and AHHHH), so she can be forgiven for appearing for this movie.
3. Another problem with the scenes in the Northern Water Tribe is the absence of Katara's conflict with Master Pakku. In the show, Aang, Katara, and Sokka go to the Northern Water Tribe so Aang can learn waterbending with a true master of the art, which turns out to be Master Pakku. Katara is also a waterbender, and although she's pretty good at that point, she wants to learn from the master to get better. However, Master Pakku refuses to teach her, stating that the only suitable role for women is that of a healer. She confronts Pakku and demonstrates her skills, proving that she's more than worthy of learning from a master. Of course, none of this is in the movie, even though it added so much to her character. Katara is motherly and caring, but she's also a total badass and one of the best waterbenders in the world. She always fights for what she believes in and won't tolerate any sexist bullshit. But again, none of this is in the movie, because she barely has any character traits to speak of. The film spends so much time on exposition that it forgets to develop its characters, even though the show's biggest strength (out of the thousands of things it does right) is its magnificent character development.
4. Zuko's scar is way, way too hard to see:
Because making the live-action actors actually look like the animated characters is too much for Mr. Shyamalan.
Zuko is my personal favorite character in the show (although I love every single one of them, to be fair) because of how well-done both his backstory and character development are, which is represented by the scar. He's the Prince of the Fire Nation and his father is the Fire Lord Ozai, the most powerful/worst man in the world. When he was thirteen, he spoke out of turn at a war meeting, so he was forced to battle his father in an Agni Kai (a traditional Fire Nation duel). He lost the battle, was banished from the Fire Nation, and became permanently scarred on his face. His scar is his defining physical trait, but you can barely see it in the movie. They also messed up Zuko's alter ego, The Blue Spirit, and made the mask look really stupid and cheap. At least Dev Patel, who played Zuko in the movie, has actually apologized, saying "I'm sorry about this film. It was a little bit shit, wasn't it?" He said that he was a big fan of the cartoon growing up and he regrets appearing in the movie, so he can also be forgiven for it.
In conclusion: I've never used this word on this blog uncensored, but I need to say: Fuck The Last Airbender. That is all.
4. In fact, ruining my favorite fictional properties was kind of a thing in 2010.
Rick Riordan first released The Lightning Thief, the first installment of his bestselling Percy Jackson and the Olympians series, in 2005. The books are about what would happen if the Greek gods were able to have demigod children in the modern day. Percy Jackson, for example, has a human mother, but his father is Poseidon, the Greek god of the seas. I haven't read the books since middle school, but if I were to pick a favorite series of all time, I'd probably pick PJO, in addition to its spinoff series The Heroes of Olympus. I like comparing it to Avatar: The Last Airbender in my head. Both series just have everything: well-rounded, unique characters, kick-ass action, a fantastic blend of serious moments and lighter comic relief, incredible worldbuilding, a plot that cleverly alludes to various mythologies while still being its own thing, and even some pretty solid romance. On top of that, both series initially came out in 2005 and got atrocious live-action film adaptations in 2010! Percy Jackson & the Olympians: The Lightning Thief is nowhere near the monstrosity that The Last Airbender is. A lot of the casting choices were good (disregarding the fact that he's supposed to be twelve in the books, Logan Lerman really was the perfect Percy, and it's a shame he's too old to play him in the Disney+ Percy Jackson series that's supposed to be coming), and unlike The Last Airbender, I can see somebody enjoying it if they have no experience with the source material. But that's the thing: I have read the books, and this movie makes so many ridiculous changes that desecrate on the story I loved so much. The basic plot of the book is that Percy, Annabeth Chase (daughter of Athena, the goddess of wisdom), and Grover Underwood (a satyr) have to find Zeus's stolen lightning bolt, but the film adds in this weird sidequest where they have to look for Persephone's pearls so they can get information about the lightning bolt. They also made many changes to the characters that didn't need to be changed. Percy lacked his sass and sense of humor, Annabeth was more arrogant, and Grover was too confident compared to his book counterpart. The movie also forgot important characters, like Clarisse, the daughter of the war god Ares, and Mr. D/Dionysus, the god of wine who runs Camp Half-Blood. (There's also the frivolous-but-still-infuriating fact that Annabeth is a brunette in the movie, despite Rick Riordan stating countless times in the book that she is blonde.) But as much as the fans hated the movies, nobody seems to hate them more than Uncle Rick himself. He tweeted, "Well, to you guys, it's a couple hours entertainment. To me, it's my life's work going through a meat grinder when I pleaded with them not to do it." However, he also said, "I still have not seen the movies, and don't plan on ever doing so. I judge them from having read the scripts, because I care most about the story. I certainly have nothing against the very talented actors. Not their fault. I'm just sorry they got dragged into that mess." I think that's a good summation of the movie's failures. The cast did a good job with what they were given, but what they were given was terrible.
5. Capitalism was born in 2010.
Animation had a really good year in 2010. I've already mentioned my personal favorite animated movie from 2010 and I'll continue to write about some of the many successful, influential, and acclaimed animated films from this year, especially in Part Two. In 2007, Chris Meledandri left his post as President of 20th Century Fox Animation and Blue Sky Studios and founded a new film and animation studio, called Illumination. In 2010, Illumination released their first movie, Despicable Me. The film starred The Office's Steve Carell as Gru, a supervillain with the DIABOLICAL PLAN to steal the moon, only to have his plans thwarted after becoming a makeshift father to three little girls, named Margo, Edith, and Agnes. But of course, none of Gru's antics are the reason why we remember the film. Nope, we remember it for those damn minions. Minions are yellow Tic Tac-shaped...things...that wear overalls and speak in unintelligible tongues, except for when they start screaming about bananas. They're the official mascots of Illumination and have been described as a corporate icon for the studio's parent company, Universal. After Universal merged with Comcast in 2016, the New York Times even referred to the minions as "the company’s Mickey Mouse." Minions are goddamn everywhere. Obviously, my heading of "Capitalism was born in 2010" is a lie, because capitalism has existed for hundreds of years, but when I think of capitalism, those idiotic yellow Mike and Ikes are the first thing to pop in my head. If there is a product out there, you can bet there's a minion-themed version of it. To quote Jetta Rae on Medium,
You can start your day with Minion cereal, smoke from your Minions vaporizer on the way to work, RVSP to your friend’s Minion-themed wedding and come home to find a Minion safeguarding the books you bought from Amazon. That book will make for a welcome respite from a social media feed replete with Minion tattoos, Minion makeup tutorials, hand-painted Minion bra and panty sets. You might find yourself popping off a desperate Minion pun to your friends, like a burst of suffocated steam — you’re really one in a Minion — in the tired and tepid hope that crying Minion will liberate you from this headlock.It's easy to see why minions are so popular. They're easily recognizable and people find them cute and funny. But that doesn't make their presence any less infuriating. Kids love them, obviously, but nobody loves them more than Facebook moms, who regularly post embarrassing memes about them. The popularity of the minions resulted in two sequels to Despicable Me, 2013's Despicable Me 2 and 2017's Despicable Me 3, but more importantly, these hellspawns got their own movie, 2015's Minions, which grossed $1.1 billion dollars and is the highest-grossing non-Disney animated film in history. (I actually contributed to that, as I saw it at a drive-in theatre with my friends in middle school. I'm deeply sorry.) As a film, Despicable Me got decently positive reviews, but the impact its yellow capitalistic fiends had on the world cannot be denied.
6. 2010 saw the end of an era.
In 1995, Pixar Animation Studios released Toy Story, a buddy comedy about the secret lives of toys. It was the first entirely computer-animated feature film, and a landmark for film as a whole. Although the computer animation itself looks dated by today's standards, it was truly groundbreaking for the time and the film received acclaim from both critics and audiences. Naturally, with the film being so successful, it inspired a sequel, Toy Story 2, in 1999. The sequel was originally supposed to be direct-to-video, but Disney demanded it get a theatrical release, which proved to be just as successful, and in many cases, better than the original. (I personally think it's better, Jessie's "When She Loved Me" song breaks my heart every damn time.) However, after a decade, Pixar released what would be the end to the trilogy, Toy Story 3, in 2010. Toy Story 3 was the highest-grossing movie of the year and was the highest-grossing animated movie ever at the time (it has since become the seventh highest-grossing). It was also the third animated movie, after 1991's Beauty and the Beast and 2009's Up, to receive a Best Picture Oscar nomination. Although I've long said that my favorite Toy Story movie was the second one, I honestly think the third one has always been my favorite. I saw it in theatres with my family, and those memories still hold a special place in my heart. My parents and I still make fun of my brother for crying when the toys were in the incinerator. I really think Toy Story 3 was the perfect note for the trilogy to end on. It has everything you want from a Toy Story movie: both the old and new characters are likable (special mention to Lotso, who is probably my favorite Pixar villain), the humor is spot-on, the plot has many twists and turns, and above all else, it's a gut punch of emotion. Even the most uptight of adults cry at that ending. However, although most agreed that Toy Story 3 was the best way to say goodbye to Woody, Buzz, and the gang, they still made a Toy Story 4 last year. And against all odds, it not only warranted its existence, but proved to be on par with the insane highs of the first three films. The third one is still my favorite, though,and will always have a special place in my heart.
7. And the beginning of another.
2010's Alice in Wonderland wasn't the first live-action Disney remake. Technically, 1994's Rudyard Kipling's The Jungle Book, 1996's 101 Dalmatians, and the latter's 2000 sequel 102 Dalmatians predated it. But if Tim Burton's Alice in Wonderland remake hadn't made a billion dollars, it's likely that our theatres wouldn't be cluttered with all the mediocre Disney remakes we see today. Since 2010, there have been eleven(!) live-action remakes, with sixteen(!!) set to be released at some point. Many people will tell you that the live-action remakes are soulless cash-grabs. They only exist because people think "Hey, I remember that movie from my childhood! Now it has super realistic CGI and a bunch of famous people! It's gonna be great!" And when I say "many people," I absolutely count myself as one of those "many people." I think that live-action Disney remakes are thoroughly useless, and I see no reason to watch them over the animated versions. They forget the qualities that made the originals so memorable. For example, I haven't seen the Aladdin or The Lion King remakes, but both of those seem to have really dull color palettes, which is a disgrace considering that their animated counterparts were so vibrant. They also like to add a bunch of frivolous garbage that doesn't need to be there. My favorite example of this is the Beauty and the Beast remake, which bafflingly insists on adding this backstory on Belle's mom dying of the plague. The original was already as perfect as a Disney movie could be, why the hell was this needed? I admit that I have fallen victim to the appeal of Disney's live-action remakes, and it's all because of the damn casts. When The Lion King was announced, I remember Nike and I were freaking out because of how stacked the cast was: Seth Rogen as Pumbaa, John Oliver as Zazu, Chiwetel Ejiofor as Scar, Keegan-Michael Key as one of the hyenas, James Earl Jones reprising his role as Mufasa, and most of all, Donald Glover as Simba and freaking Beyoncé as Nala! The idea of a Childish Gambino/Beyoncé cover of "Can You Feel the Love Tonight" was simply too exciting for me to handle. I had fully planned on going to see it with my friends, but our schedules didn't align, so it didn't happen. Then the reviews for the film came out and were pretty mixed, so I was glad I didn't see it. However, despite the criticisms it received, the 2019 The Lion King still made $1.6 billion at the box office. And I don't know if it would have ever existed if not for the success of Alice in Wonderland. Alice set the blueprint for the modern Disney live-action remake: famous director, star-studded cast (Johnny Depp, Helena Bonham Carter, Anne Hathaway, and Alan Rickman!), overabundance on CGI, and overall mixed reviews from critics (the only Disney remake that seems to have unequivocal acclaim is 2016's The Jungle Book). But it was influential, alright, and it led to all the mediocre remakes we have today.
8. 2010 had many blockbuster films, but it also saw the release of one of the decade’s biggest cult classics.
On August 13, 2010, Scott Pilgrim vs. the World was released in theatres in the US. The film was directed by Edgar Wright (Shaun of the Dead, Baby Driver) and based on the Scott Pilgrim graphic novel series by Bryan Lee O'Malley. Although the film was a box-office bomb, it received positive reviews from critics and garnered a cult following. I had heard good things about the movie, and I saw it was on Netflix, so I decided to check it out for this post. And yeah, it's really good. It's kind of an acquired taste and it's got a lot of quirky charm to it, but I liked it. The main idea of it is that Scott Pilgrim, a nerdy bass player in a band called Sex Bob-omb, falls in love with a girl named Ramona Flowers and has to defeat her seven evil exes. The first thing that stands out to me is just how stacked this cast is. Michael Cera is perfectly adorkable as Scott, and Mary Elizabeth Winstead nails her role as the manic pixie dream girl Ramona. There are two Marvel Cinematic Universe actors, with Chris Evans playing one of Ramona's evil exes and Brie Larson playing one of Scott's exes. Anna Kendrick from Pitch Perfect plays Scott's younger sister Stacey, Aubrey Plaza from Parks and Recreation does the same perfect deadpan snarky stuff she does on Parks and Rec (I haven't gotten too far into Parks and Rec, but I like it, and Plaza's character, April, is probably my favorite), and of course, the eternal Avatar: The Last Airbender nerd in me has to note that Mae Whitman, the voice of Katara, did a great job as another one of Ramona's evil exes. I really loved the visual style of the film, which is heavily inspired by both video games and comic books. I loved the special effects, especially at the Battle of the Bands scene, and the fight scenes were endearingly ridiculous. To quote Entertainment Weekly's excellent oral history of the film, Scott Pilgrim vs. the World is "a superhero film, martial-arts epic, coming-of-age comedy, rock musical, exercise in magical realism, and love letter to vintage videogames." It's one of the most singular films I've seen, and I'm glad I saw it. Despite its initial failure, people did start appreciating it over time, with Evans himself saying in the aforementioned oral history, "The Marvel fan base is rabid, but the Scott Pilgrim fandom is just as dedicated and loyal as any fandom I’ve ever seen." It deserves its reputation as a cult classic.
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That's all I have for Part One. Next week, we're gonna talk about a few more 2010 movies I find interesting and then talk about some trends from the year. I can't wait to write it!
Stellar
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