I really liked ‘I Love You Phillip Morris’

As a birthday gift my brother took me to see I Love You Phillip Morris.

Snapped this grainy mobile photo of the backlit poster on the way in, not knowing:

A. That it was based on a true story.

B. That I’d really really like it.

Jim Carrey’s intense hamming doesn’t muck up the excellent story. Surprisingly emotive.

And because I’m being all reflective, and I keep notes throughout the year,

here are mini-reviews of every other movie I saw in 2010.

IN THE THEATER:

A Single Man – Devastating. Beautiful.

How to Train Your Dragon – You can almost feel the animated follicles of hair on the Viking’s forearms and shoulders. Aside from that feat, there’s a great story here. A solid entry in the Dreamworks catalog.

The Runaways – So sparse, it almost felt arty. And when it felt arty, it was good. Totally worth Kristen Stewart having to wear that wig in Eclipse to take on the role of Joan Jett.

Hot Tub Time Machine – Trashy comedy, just like they used to make in the 80s.

Kick Ass – Didn’t really kick my ass at all. It had moments, but they didn’t add up to the price of admission.

A Nightmare on Elm Street – I saw this remake with a friend who was bugging to see it. I’m still holding it against him. Just awful. No redeeming qualities.

Iron Man 2 – Managed to be fun and entertaining.

Prince of Persia – Blah blah blah. Sword fight, acrobatics. Jake Gyllenhaal smiles. Blah blah acrobatics swordfight. Smile. Blah. Credits.

Get Him to the Greek – I was in a mood when I saw this. The kind that made me cry from laughing.

Toy Story 3 – That part near the end when all the toys were holding hands? I cried then too.

Twilight: Eclipse – This would play out better as a really short picture book. Painful. Only redeeming quality was the soundtrack.

Inception – I’m not scratching my head over the story-within-a-story-within-a-story, I’m more perplexed how it turned into some old Bond movie at the end with the guns on skis or whatever. Didn’t love it.

Piranha 3D – I actually loved this movie. Seriously.

Tangled – Sweet in all the right ways.

Tron 2 – Pretty. Better than the first, but I wished they didn’t go into the uncanny valley and just gone ahead and used latex and make-up on Bridges’ Clu character.

Black Swan – Freaky great heavy stick-to-your-mindribs.

True Grit – Solid, but wanting. I feel this way after a lot of Coen Bros. movies. They hold up well to repeat viewings so I’ll say if there’s anything missing, it’s my fault and worth another go round or two. Excellent dialog. Shot beautifully. Hailee Steinfeld was pretty much incredible.

The King’s Speech – Saw this without watching a preview or reading too many reviews. Probably wouldn’t have stopped this movie from being really really really excellent. Applauded.

ON THE SMALL SCREEN:

The Road – So. Very. Dark. Achieved total bummer.

Sunshine Cleaning – Was hoping for a light comedy, got a little heavy there.

New York, I Love You – Star studded shitfest.

Watchmen – Their outfits were funny looking.

Alice in Wonderland – I can’t believe I fell asleep through a Burton flick.

Clash of the Titans – Silly.

I am Love – Killer good.

Valentine’s Day – Not groundbreaking or horrible.

The Blind Side – I saw this on a plane, it was free. Oscarwhat?

The Last Song – I can’t believe I’m even admitting that I watched this, but I did.

Date Night – Pulled my empathetic funnybone for all my friends that are exhausted parents. Solid fare.

Sex and the City 2 – So bad, made me rethink ever liking the series.

Machete – I saw a bootleg in Thailand that was horrible quality. The movie still kicked appropriate ass.

Joan Rivers, A Piece of Work – Interesting to a point, but kind of Kardashian beyond that point.

The Kids are All Right – Earnest and sensibly uncomfortable.

Eat Pray Love – I only liked the “Eat” part, the rest fell flat.

THINGS I WANTED TO SEE BUT WILL JUST ADD TO MY NETFLIX QUEUE:

Youth in Revolt – Shutter Island – Greenberg – Hubble 3D – Exit Through the Gift Shop – Salt – Scott Pilgrim vs. the World – The American – Rush: Beyond the Lighted Stage – Stolen – The Town – Easy A – The Social Network – Due Date – Unstoppable – Burlesque – Love and Other Drugs – The Fighter