Inception
Christopher Nolan | USA | 2010
148 min

Inception is a clever film that combines summer’s core ingredients of big-budget, star actors, spectacular action sequences and believable effects with the panache of avant-garde cinema. Director Christopher Nolan’s movie gate crashes through the crowded 2010 movie calendar, over populated by sequels, prequels, remakes and adaptations, with a display of sheer originality that has by now become rare in mainstream Hollywood. Constructed atop an intricate plot device that can perhaps only be completely explained with elaborate hand gestures or diagrams, Nolan delivers a sophisticated film that adds yet another title to his impressive film repertoire. continue reading »»

The Last Airbender
M. Night Shyamalan | USA | 2010
103 min

To say that M Night Shyamalan has failed with The Last Airbender is a gross understatement. This once great director has completely lost his craft; this latest movie by Shyamalan looks like a bad work of an amateur filmmaker. The incoherent high-budget mess he makes out of The Last Airbender does not even contain the short bursts of brilliance that his last dud The Happening had. continue reading »»

The Karate Kid
Harald Zwart | USA | 2010
140 min

Although a star-vehicle for Jaden Smith, The Karate Kid manages to capture enough heart to be a respectable film. As a classic underdog story, it echoes movies like Rocky, channeling it for a new audience via a charismatic young lead. Owing to its genre, there is not much unpredictable about the story, yet it works suitably to be a crowd-pleaser. continue reading »»

Prince of Persia: The Sands of Time
Mike Newell | USA | 2010
116 min

There is a reason why summer blockbusters are considered fodder for Hollywood. People adopt a more lenient disposition during this period, allowing the holiday season to become an excuse for them to revel in what is now popularly referred to as “popcorn cinema”. Prince of Persia: The Sands of Time, (yes, that is the complete official title, more than hinting at the establishment of a future franchise), sits snugly in this category. The movie leaves little for audiences to figure out, instead relying on a deluge of entertaining sequences to engulf them. continue reading »»

The Losers
Sylvan White | USA | 2010
98 min

The Losers is an archetypal, modern action film. The title, promos and premise make abundantly clear what to expect from it and the movie delivers on its promises. Even though it is adapted from a graphic novel, it does not make the mistake of being overly stylish at the expense of being a good movie merely to be faithful to its source. continue reading »»

Iron Man 2
Jon Favreau | USA | 2010
124 min

In 2008, Iron Man smashed the box-office by defining the concept of a fun modern superhero movie. Unfortunately, Iron Man 2 falls into the same formulaic trap that many big sequels fall into: more being mistaken for better. It does boast of two wonderful action sequences, but Iron Man 2 undoes the strong characters that held together the action sequences of the first movie, reducing them to caricatures here, and in turn disconnecting the audience from a world that was so well defined in the first film. continue reading »»

Alice in Wonderland
Tim Burton | USA | 2010
108mins

It has been long, eleven years to be precise, since Tim Burton successfully employed his skewered imagination to an adaptation that worked. Not since 1999′s Sleepy Hollow has this eccentric film-maker made a movie that rekindled hope in fans-turned-critics that there may yet be good films in him. Although Alice in Wonderland is not one of Tim Burton’s best movies, it is certainly one of his more charming ones, being a mix of old school Disney magic and Burtonesque surreal visuals. continue reading »»

2010 could mark the beginning of decade where movies take advantage of the meteoric rise in advanced special effects that the noughties also heavily relied upon. It seems the big studios will make money (despite the ubiquitous recession) as long as there are super-hero graphic novels to pillage and tween vampire tales to tell. Unfortunately, this also means that the dearth of original ideas will continue to plague cinemas. Most mainstream movies today tend to be adapted from or are sequels of a book, movie, blog and/or a memoir. In fact, one upcoming movie is even about facebook! As many of us plan the year ahead — with resolutions, family, vacations, career, etc — we at WearetheMovies.com have shortlisted, from the 200-odd movies that Hollywood will unload on cinemagoers this year, a few of the more popular titles that we look forward to. The aim is to get you excited about what’s in store. Some of these may be postponed, even cancelled. Others may turn out to be total duds (Transformers 2, anyone), and yet others may surprise everyone, coming out of nowhere and stealing the limelight (like last year’s funny Hangover). The titles are sorted in ascending order of their US release dates. continue reading »»