Rueben's Ramblings

Every year I do my best to see as many movies as I can; sometimes seeing 4 movies in a month, usually averaging about 35 movies in a year. As is always the case, some movies are better than others while some are simply just disappointments. One never really knows when walking into the movie theatre if that movie is going to be good or bad; you just take the chance and dive in.

The movies for which I enjoyed the most this year included The Blind Side, Letters to Juliet, Prince of Persia, Easy A, Flipped, Tangled and Secretariat. And, I must say that The Tourist and Tron Legacy, both of them, were actually much better than I thought they would be.

Some of the bigger movies to grace the box office screen this year included The A-Team, Iron Man 2, Alice in Wonderland and The Twilight Saga: Eclipse. On the other spectrum of things, some of the movies that I saw that were less than stellar included: Did You Hear About the Morgans?, When In Rome, The Last Airbender and The Expendables.

But rather than let my opinions sway anyone, here are the top 10 movies according to ticket sales for the year:

1. Toy Story 3
2. Alice in Wonderland
3. Iron Man 2
4. The Twilight Saga: Eclipse
5. Inception
6. Harry Potter and the Deathly Hollows (Part 1)
7. Despicable Me
8. Shrek Forever After
9. How to Train Your Dragon
10. The Karate Kid

On the opposite spectrum there were some bad or simply terrible movies that were released this year and while the following is not based on any published list or on box office results or even critics’ reviews; they are simply my picks for the worst films of the year. They appear in alphabetical order:

Cop Out
Death at a Funeral
Dinner for Schmucks
Due Date
Furry Vengeance
Get Him to the Greek
Grown Ups
Hot Tub Time Machine
Jack Ass 3D
Killers
Lottery Ticket
MacGruber
Marmaduke
The Back-Up Plan
The Dilemma
The Other Ones
The Spy Next Door
The Tooth Fairy
Yogi Bear

And, just like last year I made up some special categories that capture just some of the best and worst from the 2010 box office:

Most Moving Movie of the Year – Secretariat
Breakout Star – Rebecca Hall from The Town
Movie Actress of the Year – Emma Stone (Easy A)
Movie Actor of the Year – Jeff Bridges (Tron Legacy and True Grit)
Movies That More People Should Have Seen – TIE: The Losers and Prince of Persia
Movie That Would Have Been Better Without All the Violence – Takers
Movie That Was Simply Too Violent – The Expendables
Best Summer Movie – The Twilight Saga: Eclipse
Movie Most Likely To Win An Oscar – The King’s Speech
Best Animated Film – Tangled
Best Coming of Age Film – Flipped
Romantic Comedy Movie That Was Neither Romantic Nor Comedic – When In Rome
Best Special Effects in a Movie that Was (Sadly) Boring – The Last Airbenders
Most Underused Actress in a Film – Charisma Carpenter in The Expendables
Best Independent Film – Nowhere Boy
Go-To Movie Co-Star – Betty White
Best Documentary – Waiting for Superman
Movie That Didn’t Turn Out to Be What It Seemed – Never Let Me Go
Most Fun I Had at the Movies – TIE: Easy A and Tangled
Best ‘Go To’ Guy in a Film – Stanley Tucci
Movie That Was Way Better Than The Reviewers Claimed – Burlesque
What a REAL Romantic Comedy Should Be – Letters to Juliet

What movies did you most enjoy seeing this year? Which movies were disappointments to you? Please share your thoughts and comments.