Inception (Christopher Nolan, 2010)

9/10
Definitely a lot of fun, and some fantastic visuals. I find Nolan's movies often tie themselves up into knots but Inception avoided that admirably right up until the end when I suppose he just couldn't resist the temptation to leave things somewhat open-ended. Wasn't a fan of that. I thought the dual stories sat together somewhat awkwardly and took a long time to gel, and I was never really invested emotionally in the characters. But I guess it's easier to talk about what I didn't like. Otherwise it was a really great, really fun, really interesting movie that, in a perfect world, is what all summer blockbusters would aspire to be. I didn't love it, but I liked it a lot. I'm sure people keep waiting for the Nolan Midas touch to wear off, and it certainly had potential to here...but nope, not yet.

The Human Centipede (First Sequence) (Tom Six, 2009)

8/10
Actually a lot better than I thought it would be. The acting is pretty top notch (the German doctor in particular is like some weird Klaus Kinski/Tommy Wiseau hybrid), there's a good amount of suspense and tension throughout, the gore is as brutal as you'd expect...basically it delivers, which is more than most Fantasia movies have done for me this year. It's also surprisingly witty and totally depressing. As far as torture porn goes, it's pretty well up there in my opinion.

The Last Exorcism (Daniel Stamm, 2010)

3/10
Incredibly disappointing. Why are we still making exorcism movies when it was all said and done (better) back in 1973? Just a note to the filmmakers, when you do a movie shot "handheld" style, as soon as you use non-diagetic music, you've completely betrayed your film. Additionally, your "cameraperson" should be filming the action as honestly as possible. Instead his filming (i.e. what we see) is so obviously directed, with the possessed girl shot from obtuse angles, through holes and behind fences, with reaction shots of the father and priest thrown in, when any sane person actually filming it would have trained his camera dead-on the possessed girl writhing around on the floor.
Finally the ending to this movie is one of the biggest cop-outs I've seen, almost felt insulting. Don't be tempted by the great poster when this comes out in a few weeks...total dud.

Black Death (Christopher Smith, 2010)

6/10
Kind of interesting action/horror starring Sean Bean in full Boromir mode as a knight searching for a first a way to quell the Black Plague that's ravaging his homeland, and eventually a necromancer. There was a lot of potential but I thought the film was mostly flat, although the way it juggled the characters and their morals (and the inevitable "who are the real good guys" moment) was well done. I dunno, I just think it mostly missed the mark and was pretty forgettable all told.

Winter's Bone (Debra Granik, 2010)

8.5/10
Surprisingly great, unheard of little movie I saw on a whim in the theatres. A 17-year old girl has to take care of her invalid mother and two siblings, living in this destitute loghouse in a barren, sparsely populated village. Her methhead father puts the house up as bond, so the girl has to either find her father or proof of his demise in order to keep supporting her family. Jennifer Lawrence as the girl is the movie and gives a fantastic performance, and the movie is consistently tense as she undertakes a brutal, undesirable journey with an inevitable ending. I thought the emotion was lacking a bit but otherwise, really good.

Red White & Blue (Simon Rumley, 2010)

6/10
"Revenge" horror movie in the mode of Eli Roth et al, definitely not without its flaws - the first half of the movie is very flat, some of the acting is pretty subpar (Noah Taylor is great in his role as the stereotypical hick psycho though), and you can tell they're working on a tight budget as most of the gore occurs offscreen or out of the camera's view. But it picks up towards the end and all in all is a decently competent horror. Other movies have done less with more, at least.

The Secret in Their Eyes (Juan Jose Campanella, 2009)

7.5/10
An enjoyable, very well-acted, very well directed crime/love story that just didn't really grip me enough to give it more than a 7.5. The dual stories are handled well and fluently and the dialogue was extraordinarily sharp, but I just didn't love it. I'd definitely recommend it though.