10 for ’10 – Most Forgettable

21 12 2010

It’s that time of the year when it’s time to put on the retrospective lens and look back on 2010 for what it was, the good and the bad, for better or for worse. To commemorate my first full calendar year of blogging, I decided to write a series I am calling “10 for ’10”, ten top 10 lists celebrating all things 2010. Half will be devoted to the movies, and half will be devoted to the blogging. Obviously, it will culminate on December 31 with my top 10 movies of the year.

To kick off, I’d like to feature a list that’s not your typical year-end top 10 list. Rather than celebrating the best or the worst, this list celebrates mediocrity. There were plenty of movies released this year that were just middling, not earth-shatteringly great yet not horrifically bad. These movies are often left to dry by the end of the year, but it’s time that they get their recognition.

So, without further ado, I present the most forgettable movies of 2010.

The American

Did anything even happen in this movie at all? Thanks to the RunPee app, I missed the big sex scene that was apparently so racy. As for any sort of plot, I’m pretty sure I had forgotten it before I left the theater.

The A-Team

Congratulations, you made a bunch of stuff blow up and freed yourselves from death and imprisonment multiple times.  Too bad you didn’t make this movie back in the ’80s, A-Team, because then it would have been exciting.  Now, it’s standard.  Next…

Conviction

Who knew that DNA evidence could clear someone wrongly convicted of murder? Try everyone who has looked at the front page of a newspaper in the past two decades. Like every single newspaper headline boasting the triumph of the truth, this movie heads for the back of my mind.

The Disappearance of Alice Creed

Not even the movie’s out of nowhere gay lovers twist could save this boring, minimalist kidnapping story from dissolving in my mind almost instantly.

Just Wright

Formulaic romantic comedy. Need I say more?

Leap Year

See above.

Morning Glory

I liked this movie a lot better when it was called “The Devil Wears Prada” and had Meryl Streep instead of crotchety old Harrison Ford.

The Other Guys

This Will Ferrell/Mark Wahlberg collaboration had nothing to make it stand out in either star’s catalog. Neither has a strong or memorable character spouting any quotable lines. Perhaps it’s best that we can forget this movie because I certainly know Farrell is hoping we forget the movies he made before this.  We’ve seen plenty of buddy cop movies done right, and there’s no reason to ever watch it done to mediocrity as it is here.

Secretariat

I have a well-documented distaste for inspirational sports dramas, mainly because they all come down to “this person shouldn’t have won but they worked hard and they were good people so they did win, and we should all learn a lesson.” This horse racing drama diverts a little bit, but it’s so packed with corny lines that I’ll forever group it with those that follow the template.

She’s Out of My League

“Knocked Up” dealt with everything this Jay Baruchel failed star-launching vehicle tried to tackle, only better and with much more humor. I’ll forever consider this a lame rip-off.





REVIEW: Just Wright

8 12 2010

Guys, don’t let the basketball fool you.  “Just Wright” is as much of a sports movie as “Forrest Gump” is.  If you take a gander at the poster, look at Common’s right hand (the one on top of Queen Latifah’s hand) for a better of indicator of what the movie is really like.  Substitute it for a microphone and Katherine Heigl/Gerard Butler and you’re right back in “The Ugly Truth.”

Now here comes the part of the review when I throw out words like cliched, formulaic, and predictable to warn you that if you’ve seen a romantic comedy in the past decade, you’ve seen “Just Wright.”  The only counter to all these negative adjectives is, of course, if the charms of the leading man and lady can overcome the familiarity.

While I could just heap on the insults on “Just Wright,” I just don’t have the heart to bash Queen Latifah.  She’s just seems so warm and friendly that it would feel like a low-blow to really go after her and tear her up.  We all know she can do better, and for the most part, she selects roles pretty well.  This is just a misstep.  As the physical therapist who can’t help but fall for the basketball player she’s rehabilitating, the story is just so uninspired that it can’t get you to care enough to be involved.

It’s not her fault that this movie wound up as bad as it did.  Common is a pretty pathetic actor, and Paula Patton just can’t do much with her confused character.  Queen Latifah is actually a nice presence in the movie, endowing it with some of her charisma and personality that’s hard to resist.  She’s like a juicy burger enveloped by a moldy bun, which wouldn’t taste quite as unpleasant if we hadn’t been fed nothing but burgers by the romantic comedy restaurant.  C-