What movie would you consider the best picture of 2010, and why?

Eric Ringham February 25, 2011, 5:00 AM Feb 25, 2011

Ten films are in contention to be named Best Picture Sunday night at the 83rd Academy Awards. Today’s Question: What movie would you consider the best picture of 2010, and why?

About the blogger

Eric Ringham

eringham@mpr.org

tim

Don’t care. With all the issues going on in our world today, I really don’t care about the fluff.

Stan

Ditto Tim’s comment.

Steve the Cynic

C’mon, folks. We’re a clever bunch. We should be able to turn this into our usual partisan food fight. Last year when this question was asked we managed to have a good scrap over whether or not James Cameron’s Avatar was thinly veiled leftist propaganda. Isn’t there anything like that we can dredge up this year, or was Hollywood really that boring in 2010?

Bruce

Well haven’t seen a first run movie this year at a theater this year. Don’t really know which movies are up for best picture!

Abby

I can certainly agree with the statement that the real world is enduring much strife and suffering, many wars and a few victories that deserve our full attention. However, we must not neglect the impact media – including movies – have on our society. Feature films like the King’s Speech and short films like Na Wewe among others have the power to shape us, and many films throughout history have caused societies to take great strides forward. I’m not promoting ignorance, but between researching the news from the Middle East, protesting in Wisconsin, and engaging in important debates locally and globally, there will be a couple hours of downtime. With that time, taking in a film is a great choice. Thankfully, there are writers and directors who are producing not fluff, but films that have the power to uplift, to inspire, and to forever alter our perspectives.

Kevin VC

Sorry,

Like so many year, I do not recall one movie that stood out.

I wish Hollywood would make less fluff. To many movies are high action without a story or plot or character development. They say you can tell how much a movie sucks by how much they advertise it, and more so if in a week afters its release you see nothing.

Most of 2010 was that in my honest opinion, not one stands out in memory. There are many I wish I never spent money on though.

Kevin VC

(Scratched head more on this one)

I do recall one I liked:

Green Zone

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0947810/

Good action, acting was very good.

Based of real world events, some still ongoing.
C M

Don’t know, don’t care. Movies, like TV, are all trash. The only difference a movie is that it’s a bigger garbage can than a TV set.
Joe Schaedler

True Grit all the way!

The story moved well and was well done throughout by local greats the Coen brothers.
Raul

Best documentary film:

“IRANIUM”___ finally , the truth about Iran’s threat to Israel and America comes out.
Carla

Toy Story 3. I saw it twice and it moved me to tears both times. It’s genuine, smart and excellently written and produced. And, unlike most movies, it can by its very nature — animation — only be a movie. Many films, even Best Film winners, do not necessarily _have_ to be film: they could work as theater or a novel.
Suzanne

“Biutiful”. It was tragic and amazing at the same time. Javier Bardem for best actor!
Patrick

The latest failure in Hollywood movie making (and there are many) is the scene editing. A character cannot finish half a sentence without cutting to another shot. Many of the edited scenes resemble MTV video garbage.

Last night, while watching a documentary on PBS, I noticed the same milli-second editing from scene to scene. It becomes a nightmarish collage of flashing scenes that have no resinance.

Modern movie editing literaly gives me headaches. The story may be great, but I am forced to turn it off. Bizarre!
C M

@Patrick

You’re right. I don’t even watch TV, (or movies), partly because of the flash-flash-flash. It really is very tiring on the eyes. The only TV I ever watch is football. So only the commercials are the sources of this ocular over stimulation. Note to advertisers: I hit the mute button and look away.

So is it any wonder I refuse to go to the movies? As I watch movie trailers on TV, as exceedingly rare that it is, my goodness, I can’t stand 30 seconds of these microsecond image flashes, how could I possibly endure two plus hours of this crap?!

I guess TV and movie audiences today no longer want a mind and soul stimulating storyline, soundtrack and cast or characters, they just need a visual methamphetamine trip to stimulate that pail of mush in their skulls formerly known as brains.
john brown

we will and already have stoped our personal spending, stopped shoping, less driving, if i dont absoultly need it i will not buy it. we are a family of 5, we will save our money for gas. we are using up our pantry, and freezer food stores, to also save money.
Neil

I’m in agreement with ‘Pat’ and ‘CM’.

The problem is that Hollywood is appealing more to the video game generation, where everything is geared for the short attention span. The trend is fast, frenetic eye candy with little or no substance.

Noise is also being shoveled like sugar into people’s skulls. Listen to trailers, if you can. They’re a cacophony of yelling, explosions, revving motors, gunfire, full volume death metal, and that ubiquitous ‘whoosh’ every other image for a cheap dramatic effect.

Thank goodness for movies like The King’s Speech or Get Low. Methodical and appropriate cinematic art is not dead yet.
DNA

Last year I saw the documentary: “The Union”

http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=-9077214414651731007#

I’d consider it the best picture of 2010, though it came out earlier and it did win a few awards.

The plot outline:

A determined but surprisingly entertaining feature documentary on British Columbia’s marijuana industry, The Union kicks off its proceedings with a rapid-fire history of hemp. It then follows with an encyclopedic examination of the B.C. scene, with its grow-ops and the vibrant underground economy that has grown up around them. By the time the film gets around to taking on the contemporary drug laws, it’s so convincing you can’t imagine why hemp and marijuana are still illegal. A powerful advocacy film along the lines of The Corporation, The Union corrals enough former drug officers, jurists and convicted growers that viewers might just begin to wonder where are the powers-that-be who have kept marijuana statutes on the books for the past century. Visually energetic and wildly informative, The Union is a must-see non-fiction film for anyone trying to keep up with contemporary pop culture.

Awards:

• WINNER “PEOPLE CHOICE AWARD”

Okanagan Film Festival

• WINNER “BEST CANADIAN DOCUMENTARY”

Okanagan Film Festival

•NOMINATED “BEST BRITISH COLUMBIA FILM”

vancouver film critics circle

• WINNER “OUTSTANDING DOCUMENTARY FEATURE”

The Winnipeg International Film Festival

• WINNER “BEST CANADIAN FEATURE DOCUMENTARY” – NATIONAL FILM BOARD Award

The Edmonton International Film Festival

• WINNER “GRAND PRIZE BEST EDITING”

The Rhode Island International Film Festival

• WINNER “PEOPLE’S CHOICE FOR BEST CANADIAN FILM” – Runner-Up

The Vancouver International Film Festival

• NOMINATED “BEST CANADIAN FEATURE DOCUMENTARY”

The Vancouver International Film Festival

• NOMINATED “BEST FEATURE DOCUMENTARY”

The Beloit International Film Festival

Starring: Joe Rogan,

Directed By: Brett Harvey

Screenplay By: Brett Harvey

Produced By: Adam Scorgie, Stephen Green, Kieran Maguire

I think that people need to know and act on the truth of the matter:

•The criminalization of the world’s most useful and versatile plant, Cannabis/Hemp/Marijuana/Ganja, was Unconstitutional … a crime against humanity and nature.

•Why use up the forests which were centuries in the making and the mines which required ages to lay down, if we can get the equivalent of forest and mineral products in the annual growth of the hemp fields?

– Henry Ford

•Prohibition… goes beyond the bounds of reason in that it attempts to control a man’s appetite by legislation and makes a crime out of things that are not crimes… A prohibition law strikes a blow at the very principles upon which our government was founded. – Abraham Lincoln

•The illegality of cannabis is outrageous, an impediment to full utilization of a drug which helps produce the serenity and insight, sensitivity and fellowship so desperately needed in this increasingly mad and dangerous world. – Carl Sagan

•Hemp is of first necessity to the wealth & protection of the country.

– Thomas Jefferson, U.S. President

•”The war may not be quite over but any stigma still left lingering around cannabis consumption today is largely restricted to out of date and increasingly unenforced pieces of legislation. So indelibly stamped on our culture has cannabis become that it must now rank as the most popular and controversial plant on the planet.” – Nick Jones

Otherwise my picks would be in this order:

The King’s Speech

Toy Story 3

Inception

The Social Network

The Kids Are All Right

True Grit