#93 of 2010: B13

the script was fairly shallow, with the white, male, compassionate, heroic ass-kickers bringing it from both sides of the "tracks" (or wall) with wonderfully choreographed flair. as with several of mr. besson's film projects, the characters are fairly strong iterations of recognizable stereotypes, the underlying message is thought-provoking, and the outcome is warm and right, even though the situations sometimes skirt absurdity without fully embracing it (a dangerous place to be). i found the little sister's story undeniably lacking and hurried and flat where it could have either contributed or been left alone. but i'll recommend "B13" overall for the parkour and solid action storyline.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/District_13

#80 of 2010: Moon

Sam Rockwell is, in general, fun to watch. The retro effects and costuming combine with the binary scenery (in the base or in the rover outside the base) and "British" filming to give the film a "walking with dinosaurs" style documentary kind of look into a time we can't see photographic evidence of. "Moon" is like a dramatization of the future, a recreation of what happens years from now, when the line between valuable life and expendable life rests in a different place than it does now (currently, corporations allow oil rig employees to blow up because safety hampers production. in the future that kind of abuse might be a little more flagrant). yea, the story wasn't air-tight. if it had been weightier, more emotionally demanding, i would have taken issue with the glaring moments of "nah-ah, no way". but the film was mostly sweet or funny or thoughtful rather than epic or conscience-shaking or heart-rending. its axe grinding was more akin to the main character's whittling (versus the extreme display of corporate greed in, say, "District 9"): it's not all that detailed, it simply beats sitting on your ass and forgetting about life's finer print (that is, what actually makes it matter, which people profess to care about, though not enough to read into it too deeply). what i mean is, Jones and Parker sort of indict LUNAR inc., but the story is more about being a human- and the "sarang" (the name of the base which i learned from wikipedia means "love" in Korean) that defines us, whether clones from a common source or simply fellow members of the species- than fighting "the man", or even picking out an "evil" "the man" to fight. "Moon" doesn't point fingers or seek violent comeuppance, it quietly asks us to consider the question of the opening credits: "where are we now ?" on the timeline that leads to the future depicted here.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Moon_(film)

#63 of 2010: Battle Royale

holy distopian microcosm of teenagers participating in a twisted, government-ordered, popularly sanctioned bloodbath. this story and director do a fantastic job of taking the viewer along on the emotional and mental rollercoaster that the kids are strapped to by way of their electronic collars. there are points where you're definitely gonna want to shut it off, and it'll be because of the obliteration of cinematic boundaries of "decency" that you're used to as an American. the movie itself stands as an attention-holding, thought-provoking examination of social issues, especially those that make complicated shitstorms out of the lives of many young people. it serves it's humor dark and absurd, and even though you get a little pulled out of the drama and chuckle, deep down, the part where the girl shoots-to-kill the boy and the boy tells her to run and save herself and she says "why?" and he says "you're so cute", that's gonna give you back the ability to see the characters as kids, which in turn is going to make it even more clear how scary and fucked up the premise requires this future to be. watch it when you get the urge to rent a slasher, but subsequently realize that you'd like your disbelief to be suspendable and your two hours to mean something (even if it's not precisely clear what).

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battle_Royale_(film)