More Film Bitch Awards coming at'cha. The Snow White casting news last week got me to thinking of heroics at the movies. Snow White isn't really an active heroine is she? She's more like a pretty pretty princess waiting to be rescued.
None of my choices for hero of the year waited for rescue -- not even Rapunzel in Tangled -- though a few of them did need to be cajoled into action. I can relate. Hero, rescue thyself! But in the end, it doesn't matter how you get to your heroics, so long as you eventually get there. The top ten in no particular order. [Edited to add: TOP ELEVEN. I forgot to list one of my intended medalists. An excel error!]
- Sally Hawkins as "Rita O' Grady" in Made in Dagenham
- Dany Boon as "Bazil" in Mic-Macs
- Colin Firth as "King George VI" in The King's Speech
- Angelina Jolie as "Salt" in Salt
- "Hiccup" in How To Train Your Dragon
- Hilary Swank as "Betty Anne Waters" in Conviction
- Jennifer Lawrence as "Ree Dolly" in Winter's Bone
- "Rapunzel & Flynn" in Tangled
- Mark Wahlberg as "Mickey Ward" in The Fighter
- Hailee Steinfeld as "Mattie Ross" in True Grit
- Michael Cera as "Scott Pilgrim" in Scott Pilgrim vs. The World
There was less to choose from as villains go even if you get creative. Do you cite the financial institutions in Inside Job. I mean, come on, they were SCARY... like scarier than Jason or Freddie. But I decided that was too diffuse to be a single entity... Sometimes though, if you narrow the lens, system do work as symbolic primary villain:. Hailsham haunts in Never Let Me Go.
Elsewhere in 2010 villains were just no match for the heroes. I normally love Josh Brolin and Barry Pepper but True Grit was totally unbalanced; the villains had no performative spark in comparison to the heroes. I didn't like Kick-Ass but even there the villains didn't measure up the heroes. It takes two to make beautiful battle. Is it too much to ask for great heroes and great villains simultaneously? I think only Tangled managed that this year. Finally, I was about to cite Jacki Weaver's wicked "Smurf" in Animal Kingdom but in the end the villain of the piece is really the family. Smurf is but a henchwoman, to use superhero vernacular, who fills in when the bosses are on vacation (i.e. jail, six feet under, etcetera). The top ten:
- "Gru" in Despicable Me
- "The Cody Boys" in Animal Kingdom
- "7 Evil Exes" in Scott Pilgrim vs. the World
- Helena Bonham Carter as "The Red Queen" in Alice in Wonderland
- "Mother Gothel" in Tangled
- Hailsham in Never Let Me Go
- "Lotso Huggin' Bear" in Toy Story 3
- Niels Arestrup as "César Luciani" in A Prophet
- Mickey Rourke as "Whiplash" in Iron Man 2
- Justin Timberlake as "Sean Parker" in The Social Network
HERE ARE THE NOMINEES & WRITEUPS
Which heroics thrilled you and which evil deeds made you grip your armrests last year?