Best of the 2010s: 51 - 60

Check out the entire series here.

The ordeal. What better way to test a hero's commitment than to run them ragged? An ordeal can be mental, physical, or spiritual, but it must reveal a character's interiority. How do they respond to strenuous circumstances? What is their fear response? Do they feel trapped? Determined? Or has a long life of ordeals worn them through?

The form of the ordeal refracts the needs of the protagonists. If a character seeks meaning in life, their ordeal may situate them as a cog in a narrative beyond their control. If a character seeks control, their ordeal may require perfection. If a character seeks perfection their ordeal may require surrender, surrender requires vulnerability, vulnerability requires violence. When a subject and an obstacle strike against each other, an entirely new being is formed.

A QUIET PLACE PART II: Aural Sects

Director: John Krasinski
Writer: John Krasinski
Cast: Millicent Simmons, Cillian Murphy, Emily Blunt, John Krasinski, Noah Jupe, Djimon Hounsou
Runtime: 97 mins.
2021

The out of nowhere barn-burning success of A Quiet Place was the moment that people began to see director and lead John Krasinski as something more than 'that guy from The Office.' Krasinski has since used that recognition to position himself as a bastion of conservative values in Hollywood while staunchly denying that he is doing so. The actor campaigned for Elizabeth Warren in 2012 (herself a former Republican), but his recent roles are either heroic men at the locus of the American military-industrial complex, or A Quiet Place, which many took to be a paean for 'traditional family values.'*

*It's worth mentioning that the indistinguishability between conservative and liberal values in Krasinski's career may have less to do with him being good at hiding his politics and more to do with the frequent indistinguishability of conservative and liberal values. (pro-military, pro-police, pro-heroic individualism)

This not-so-subtly features into the opening scene of A Quiet Place Part II, which exists only to feature Krasinski despite his character's death in the previous film. Krasinski's Lee is always the first to be suspicious and the first to take action-- and he is absolutely justified in his paranoia-- a model for the 'governments and aliens are coming to take my guns' crowd. The tone-setting scene also makes a big goddamn deal of highlighting his positive relationship with a local Black cop, who pointedly gets the Big Hero Moment of the prologue.

The scene is electric with tension, and probably the best filmed sequence of the movie, despite adding nothing of import to the story beyond a chance to see Our Hero Lee again. In effect the whole movie takes its shape from Lee's absence. The major new character is Cillian Murphy's Emmett, who is positioned as a father figure to Regan (Millicent Simmonds) and a husband surrogate to Evelyn (Emily Blunt) not because they share any chemistry, but because he is an Adult Man. Indeed, Emmett is compelled to regularly express his impotence in comparison to the late Lee, something that everybody seems to agree upon.

Best of the 2010s: 61 - 70

Check out the entire series here.

In certain moments of clarity, our self-destructive urges can be operationalized to accomplish great things. One word for this is commitment-- the trait of our finest heroes, and our most reviled villains. 

Full throttle commitment can take root at any level of our hierarchy of needs: commitment to survival, commitment to a loved one, commitment to a great work, commitment to having the most fun you can possibly have. Cinema is a psychologically external medium, meaning that although we are rarely party to the inner thoughts of our subjects, we see the results of their interiority play out. This often takes the form of spectacular tension as the subject does battle with their environment to accomplish their goals. These ten films show what can become possible when a person gives it all they got.

Best of the 2010s: 71 - 80

Check out the entire series here.

Economists, psychologists, evolutionary biologists, and political pundits will all tell you that we as human animals will always act in our best interest. All behavior that shows otherwise is categorized as 'error.' Yet this understanding of human action couldn't be further from the truth. Fortunately we have art to pick up on what many 'harder' lines of study have overlooked.

The seductive destruction of being human. We feel it in our bones every time we ask, why on earth did I...? One name for this unconscious unraveling is death drive. Thanatos. "The goal of all life is death." Film is an excellent medium to explore this self-destruction as an aspect of the human unconscious. It can be frustrating to watch characters screw up again and again in such obvious ways. "Turn the lights on!" we scream at horror movies, "Don't go through that door!" The best films contextualize what seems like senseless sabotage by showing us the raggedy contradictions of the human psyche. We destroy ourselves because we have something to prove, or because we don't know who we are. We destroy ourselves to be different, or to conform. We destroy ourselves for hatred, or for love. Some of the most complex work we can do with ourselves involves exploring the incongruity between our conscious desire and that pesky unconscious drive.

Best of the 2010s: 81 - 90

Check out the entire series here.

The turning of the decade saw exacerbated mass disaster. Global pandemic, unquenchable fires, rising oceans, economic collapse, political decrepitude-- integrated aspects of our wretched reality. Movies provided an escape. The play of sound, light, and movement on the big screen embeds us in the realm of fantasy, where we can explore grand ideas and even grander emotions. The bigness unique to cinema is both a monument to the very capitalist excess that has brought us to the brink of destruction, and a monument to the stubborn human creative impulse to stave off destruction.

Film can be escapist, but maybe I don't actually believe what I said about film providing 'an escape.' The fantasies of the big screen are never just fantasies, after all. They are figments that often confront us with the unknowable Real that we are stuck in, and that is stuck in us. Film, as a synthesis of visual art, music, and theatre, has immense power over our unconscious minds. Maybe the very fantastical escape we seek can shock us into remaking our reality.

These ten films wade into the realm of fantasy, then demonstrate the lasting consequences of such a sojourn. Whether that fantasy involves a reflection of the self, a telepathic mindscape, the battleground of politics, or the omnipresent specters of patriarchy and white supremacy, the best stories agree that you cannot turn away from your deepest held fantasies unscathed.

Best of the 2010s: 91 - 100

Check out the entire series here.

The ongoing shock of this global pandemic has affected us all in ways beyond our reckoning. What we do understand can't be communicated without cliche. We're too close. The implications need time to unravel. It's not just the big stuff; there are microtectonic shifts proliferating in our personhood that are nearly undetectable.

I lost the ability to watch new movies in a movie theatre, something that I held precious without even realizing it. For the first time in half a decade, I didn't feel like I watched enough new films in 2020 to put together a proper Top Ten List. To make right by that failing, I will here offer the ten film and film-like works that stuck with me the most from the year 2020.

10) The Platform - a limited allegory with an appealingly grisly design sense
9) The Old Guard - mediocre liberal propaganda dressed up in excellent stuntwork and fight choreography
8) Sonic the Hedgehog - a crap movie with crap effects and a crap plot salvaged entirely by an Oscar-worthy performance by Jim Carrey as the evil Doctor Robotnik
7) Borat: Subsequent Moviefilm - a return to form with an actual emotional core, and a matured political outlook to boot
6) Birds of Prey - an extremely colorful performance showcase for a bunch of cool folks
5) Invisible Man - although ultimately a bit hampered by its genre trappings, Elisabeth Moss's devastating performance and some wildly good suspense scenes make this a standout remake
4) Mank - Fincher takes his late father's story of a writer who takes another man's life story and makes it into a story taken by Orson Welles... all in lovely black and white
3) Opal - this formally experimental musical-horror youtube short is an impeccable stand-in for all of the amazing artistic work being done on that platform
2) Palm Springs - I could not have expected Andy Samberg's breakout existential drama/comedy to be so goddamn good on a molecular level, but the writing directing and acting are all exactly on point
1) "Fargo" S4E9: East/West - it's not a movie, but this sublime apex of a sublime season of television is rife with cinematic references, none more prominent than The Wizard of Oz

The upside is that the lack I experienced in 2020 spawned this project, a celebration of the riches of times past. Below are the first ten entries in my Top 100 Films of the 2010s list. I've seen hundreds of movies worth recognizing released between 2010 and 2019, so whittling that down to 100 standouts was long, arduous work. This was a labor of love all too long in the making.

These particular ten may have prominent flaws. They may not stick the landing the way better films do. They may be a bit awkward and gangly. But they are ten worthwhile examples of the riches this past decade had to offer us.

MORTAL KOMBAT: Soul Sucked

Director: Simon McQuoid
Writers: Greg Russo, Dave Callaham, Oren Uziel
Cast: Lewis Tan, Jessica McNamee, Josh Lawson, Joe Taslim, Mehcad Brooks, Matilda Kimber, Laura Brent, Tadanobu Asano, Hiroyuki Sanada, Chin Han, Ludi Lin, Max Huang, Sisi Stringer, Mel Jarnson, Nathan Jones, Daniel Nelson
Runtime: 110 mins.
2021

In the course of researching this movie I stumbled upon this hilarious little article about fan-favorite four-armed monstrosity Goro and how expensive he was to create. Here's the crux--

"He's extremely integral to the plot," [producer] Garner said. "He is a beloved character. He's awesome. He's obviously somebody that I would love to have in every movie. He's also really expensive. Not going to lie. He's really expensive. So again, if somebody wants to give me a billion dollars to go make a Goro movie, I'll make a Goro movie. I'll love that. Every second of him is a lot of money. Every second was like my house. So you got to use him sparingly, you got to be smart about how you use him. It's not that we don't love him, it's not that he's not hugely important. It's just practically, he's so damn expensive."

This quote provides a uniquely forthcoming depiction of the deranged way in which some producers approach filmmaking. The commodification mindset evident here penetrates every aspect of the production: the characters, the visuals, the story. Mortal Kombat is the sallow progeny of a deranged, unfocused video game series and an entirely cynical production process. It shows.

TRANSCENDENCE: Turding Test

Director: Wally Pfister
Writer: Jack Paglen
Cast: Johnny Depp, Rebecca Hall, Paul Bettany, Cillian Murphy, Kate Mara, Cole Hauser, Morgan Freeman
Runtime: 119 mins.
2014

Transcendence was clearly positioned as a buoyancy project for frequent Christopher Nolan cinematographer Wally Pfister to break into directing with some high concept philosophical sci-fi. Transcendence was also clearly positioned as a solvency project for decomposing megastar Johnny Depp to remain in the public imagination without putting too much effort in. I doubt either of them got much of what they wanted out of this project.

Will Caster (Johnny Depp) is a famous scientist who gets poisoned by an anti-tech terrorist movement, so his wife Evelyn (Rebecca Hall) and friend Max (Paul Bettany) attempt to graft his consciousness to their burgeoning Artificial Intelligence project. It works, but as digi-Will starts to amass power, many folks become slightly irked by the idea of an AI overlord. This is all so much less interesting than it sounds.

It's hard to pinpoint exactly where Transcendence goes wrong, which often indicates bad direction. The film seems committed to only exploring its ideas with the most facile surface probings. IIf a movie doesn't thrive on its ideas, you have the meat and potatoes of human drama to fall back on, another aspect that Transcendence fumbles. How are we to care about how human digi-Will is or isn't if the original human Will was basically a walking corpse already? Most of Depp's work in this movie is as a monotonous floating head, which is perhaps a blessing because the actor doesn't seem invested at all. The character is theoretically charismatic, but Depp can barely muster a sickly smirk through his wine hangover. Pfister lacks the grace to mask any of this, or maybe he doesn't care. One thing that can be said about this film is that there are some somewhat lovely visuals, which probably indicates that the director's former line of work was his correct one.

If you want a deeper dive into the dumb as a doorstop world of Transcendence, I guested on a podcast with Jenna Kuerzi to talk about the film in great detail. Check out our episode of Depp Impact here.

0.5 / 5  BLOBS

GODZILLA VS. KONG: Darwin Some Darlose Some

Director: Adam Wingard
Writers: Terry Rossio, Michael Dougherty, Zach Shields, Eric Pearson, Max Borenstein
Cast: Alexander Skarsgård, Millie Bobby Brown, Rebecca Hall, Brian Tyree Henry, Shun Oguri, Eiza González, Julian Dennison, Lance Reddick, Kyle Chandler, Demián Bichir, Kaylee Hottle
Runtime: 113 mins.
2021

Godzilla vs. Kong is the capper to Legendary Entertainment's 'MonsterVerse' quadrilogy that began in 2014 with Gareth Edwards' Godzilla. That film, imperfect as it was, had a real artistic vision guiding it. Godzilla uses impressive CGI, restrained pacing, and painstakingly careful cinematography to capture the sublime terror of a godlike creature. The opening minutes of Godzilla vs. Kong unwittingly demonstrate the folly of jamming this iconography into a shared universe model. Kong casually lumbers around the jungle with no sense of suspense, reveal, or scale. It gets immediately worse once the first lines of dialogue kick in. Bored actors immediately inform us that they need to protect Kong because Godzilla is coming and, wouldn't you know it, two Alpha Predators (tm) are bound to fight.

This is one of the worst, most dully written movies I have seen in a while, stacked to the brim with talented actors pumping out insipid exposition while standing awkwardly around neutral spaces. These shambling bodies can barely be called characters-- everyone is given between zero and one piece of characterization that ranges from 'cares about Kong' to 'used to have a wife.' This is partially owing to the caked up shared universe mythology being ported in from previous lazy films. The result is a slate of new and recurring characters doing absolutely nothing.

MONEYBALL: Beane Counter

This review was requested by Don Rebel. Many thanks to Don for supporting Post-Credit Coda through our Patreon.

Director: Bennett Miller
Writers: Steven Zaillian, Aaron Sorkin, Stan Chervin
Cast: Brad Pitt, Jonah Hill, Philip Seymour Hoffman, Robin Wright, Chris Pratt, Stephen Bishop, Reed Diamond, Brent Jennings
Runtime: 133 mins.
2011

It's unbelievable how much you don't know about the game you've been playing all your life.
-Mickey Mantle

Moneyball is not the best baseball movie out there, but it may be the most interesting. That's because it's not about a player, a team, an important game, a magical season, or a comeback victory-- though it contains those elements. Moneyball is about an idea.

The film follows the true story of Billy Beane (Brad Pitt), General Manager of the Oakland A's, and picks up in the final hour of their 2001 season. Against all odds the A's have made it to the American League Divisional Series against the New York Yankees in a classic story of David vs. Goliath. Only, Goliath wins. We learn in short order that the magical season the A's cobbled together with luck, skill, and spunk, is not destined to be repeated. All of their rising stars (Jason Giambi, Johnny Damon, Jason Isringhausen) will be unceremoniously snatched up by teams that can afford their rising star paychecks. In the midst of this prologue's suffocating sense of deflation and disappointment, we see the all-important insert card: 

$114,457,768 vs. $39,722,689

These are the budgets of the respective teams, and their prominence in the prologue signals to us the themes that the film will insist upon over and over again: it all comes down to money, and baseball is an unfair game.