Now that the first six months of 2010 are behind us, it seems like a particularly appropriate time to look back at the movies that came and went.
All in all, it was a rather uneventful half-year, with only a handful of standout movies, a couple surprises, a lot of average movies, and, yes, a couple stinkers.
So without further ado, here are the reviews (click the titles) for every single movie I saw at Essex Cinemas this year, starting January 1, 2010.
(NOTE: There were actually 8 movies that played at Essex Cinemas that I did not see: Sex and the City 2, Repo Men, A Nightmare on Elm Street, The Last Song, Dear John, Crazy Heart, The Wolfman, and Phish 3D)
Best ‘younger kids’ movie: How to Train Your Dragon (3D)
Runner up: Tooth Fairy
Worst ‘younger kids’ movie: Marmaduke
Best ‘older kids’ movie: Shrek Forever After (3D)
Runner up: Percy Jackson & the Olympians: The Lightning Thief
Worst ‘older kids’ movie: Furry Vengeance
Best ‘guys shooting stuff’ movie: The A-Team
Runner up: The Losers
Worst ‘guys shooting stuff’ movie: From Paris with Love
The movie you should have seen but didn’t: Knight and Day
Runner up: Green Zone
The movie you should have skipped but didn’t: Grown Ups
Funniest movie: Get Him to the Greek
Runner up: Hot Tub Time Machine
Least funny movie: MacGruber
Most ‘not as good, now that I think about it’ movie: Shutter Island
Runner up: Alice in Wonderland (3D)
Most ‘even better, now that I think about it’ movie: The Crazies
Best romantic comedy: She’s Out of My League
Runner up: When in Rome
Worst romantic comedy: Valentine’s Day
Best Robert Downey Jr. movie: Sherlock Holmes
Runner up: Iron Man 2
Most ‘Gerard Butler is no Robert Downey Jr.’ movie: The Bounty Hunter
Most uplifting, inspirational story: The Blind Side
Runner up: The Book of Eli
Most utterly un-inspirational story: Diary of a Wimpy Kid
Best ‘date night’ movie: Letters to Juliet
Runner up: Date Night
Worst ‘date night’ movie: Killers
Most ‘surprisingly more than okay’ movie: The Back-Up Plan
Runner up: The Twilight Saga: Eclipse
Most ‘surprisingly only okay’ movie: Death at a Funeral
Best ‘people in funny costumes’ movie: Prince of Persia: The Sands of Time
Runner up: Robin Hood
Worst ‘people in funny costumes’ movie: Clash of the Titans (3D)
Best revenge movie: Edge of Darkness
Runner up: The Karate Kid
Worst revenge movie: Jonah Hex
and finally…
Best movie: Toy Story 3 (3D)
Runner up: Kick-Ass
Worst movie: Cop Out