These few days, Green Tea Movie has made several countdowns to celebrate the year end of 2010 and the beginning of a new chapter in 2011. On Monday, we countdown some of the top ten most enjoyable movies of the year which you can read here. Then, we have the top grossing film in Malaysia and lastly, we have also covered the top ten worst movie of the year yesterday. It seems timely now that we go to our last countdown, where we look at the best reviewed movies of the year. It's not just ten but thirty in total. Oh yes, this will be the penultimate. Fasten those seatbelt and be prepared for the journey!
*Note: In 2010, GREEN TEA MOVIE has watched about 100 movies. This list however, taking only consideration for Hollywood movies for the compilation of Top 30. The final Green-Tea-O-Meter is subjected to minor modification during the ranking system, thus it would be best you refer the list from here (for final tally). Nevertheless, other foreign language films will be up in the list of special awards in Part 2. Do note that GREEN TEA MOVIE 1) has yet to watch several award-contender movies like Black Swan, 127 Hours, The Fighter, etc; 2) reviews movie that was released from December 30, 2009 to December 29, 2010 in Malaysian cinema, otherwise noted with an asterisk (*)
[30] 14 BLADES
Green-Tea-O-Meter Score: 14.64 (REVIEW)
Distributor: Golden Screen Cinemas
Director: Daniel Lee
Plot: During the late Ming Dynasty, the Chinese imperial court is plagued by corruption as eunuchs usurp state power and the reigning emperor is deemed incompetent. The Jinyi Wei (literally: Brocade-clad Guards) is the government's secret police, trained in clandestine combat since childhood, they are in charge of conducting missions to ensure peace and stability within the empire. They have the authority to prosecute anyone deemed as an enemy of the state and they devote their lives and lethal prowess to serving the emperor only. When the organization was first founded, the Jinyi Wei took orders directly from the emperor, but now they are under the control of the eunuch faction. The chief eunuch Jia Jingzhong is plotting with an exiled noble, Prince Qing, to rebel against the emperor and seize power. Jia orders Qinglong, the Jinyi Wei chief, to kill the Imperial Councilor Zhao Shenyan and take Zhao's safebox, which supposedly contains a list of names of traitors. However, Qinglong discovers later that he had been used, as the safebox contains the Imperial Seal, a symbol of the emperor's authority, and Jia wants to use it to legitimize Prince Qing's actions for convenience when the rebellion begins.
[29] DESPICABLE ME
Green-Tea-O-Meter Score: 14.66 (REVIEW)
Distributor: Universal Pictures
Director: Chris Renaud, Pierre Coffin
Plot: In a happy suburban neighbourhood surrounded by white picket fences with flowering rose bushes, sits a black house with a dead lawn. Hidden beneath this home is a vast secret hideout. Surrounded by a small army of minions, Gru (Steve Carell) is planning the biggest heist in the history of the world. He is going to steal the moon! Until, he encounters the immense will of three little orphaned girls who see something that no one else has ever seen: a potential Dad. The world's greatest villain has just met his greatest challenge: three little girls named Margo (Miranda Cosgrove), Edith (Dana Gaier) and Agnes (Elsie Fisher).
[28] THE OTHER GUYS
Green-Tea-O-Meter Score: 14.67 (REVIEW)
Distributor: Sony Pictures
Director: Adam McKay
Plot: Allen Gamble (Will Ferrell) and Terry Hoitz (Mark Wahlberg) are partnered NYPD detectives who work in the forensic accounting department and rarely see any action. Gamble is more than happy with his job while Hoitz has been assigned against his will after a public incident with his quick trigger finger. They idolise the city's top cops Danson (Dwayne Johnson) and Manzetti (Samuel L. Jackson), but when an opportunity arises for Gamble and Hoitz to step up, things do not quite go as expected.
[27] PRINCE OF PERSIA: THE SANDS OF TIME
Green-Tea-O-Meter Score: 14.68 (REVIEW)
Distributor: Walt Disney
Director: Mike Newell
Plot: In this most anticipated game-to-movie adaptation, we follow Prince Dastan (Jake Gyllenhaal) as he teams up with Princess Tamina (Gemma Arterton) to stop a ruthless leader from laying his hands on the Sands of Time, a gift from the gods that can be used to reverse time and rule the world.
[26] ROBIN HOOD
Green-Tea-O-Meter Score: 14.69 (REVIEW)
Distributor: Universal Pictures
Director: Ridley Scott
Plot: Russell Crowe plays Robin of Loxley in an origin story of Robin Hood that reportedly hews close to historical facts of the period. Abandoned as a child, he finds community with the common people of Nottingham. Robin's abandonment and trust issues hamper his ability to fall in love. He meets his match in Marion (Cate Blanchett), a strong independent woman.
[25] INVICTUS*
Green-Tea-O-Meter Score: 14.80 (REVIEW)
Distributor: Warner Bros.
Director: Clint Eastwood
Plot: The film tells the inspiring story of how Nelson Mandela joined forces with the captain of South Africa's rugby team, Francois Pienaar, to help unite their country through universal language of sport. Mandela rallies South Africa's underdog rugby team as they make an unlikely run to the 1995 World Cup Championship.
[24] TRON: LEGACY
Green-Tea-O-Meter Score: 15.00 (REVIEW)
Distributor: Walt Disney
Director: Joseph Kosinski
Plot: Following the 1982 original, this reupdate is a 3-D cyber adventure set in a digital world where Sam Flynn (Garrett Hedlund), the tech-savvy 27-year-old son of Kevin Flynn (Jeff Bridges), looks into his father's disappearance and finds himself pulled into the same world of fierce programmes and gladiatorial games where his father has been living for 25 years. Along with Kevin's loyal confidante (Olivia Wilde), both father and son embark on a life-or-death journey across a visually-stunning cyber universe that has become far more advanced and exceedingly dangerous.
[23] BRUCE LEE: MY BROTHER
Green-Tea-O-Meter Score: 15.11 (No Review Posted)
Distributor: RAM Entertainment
Director: Manfred Wong, Raymond Yip
Plot: As a young man, Bruce Lee was a rebel who was always engaging in street fights with his buddies, Kong and Unicorn. Invincible as a street fighter, Bruce's romantic escapades are not as smooth and successful. He is head over heels in love with Mandy only to realize his mate Kong shares the same passion. Meanwhile, another girl Monique has a crush on him. Against his father's wishes, Bruce studies the Wing Chun martial arts style instead of Tai-chi and tastes his first "public" triumph by knocking out a Caucasian boxer at a tournament with his kung-fu skills. On the eve of his triumph, he learns that Kong has become a drug addict and decides to rumble the drug lord's den together with Unicorn. This renders him the target of both the triads and corrupted cops who want him in jail. To save his life, Lee's father has no choice but to send him off to San Francisco to pursue his studies. And the rest is history...
[22] UP IN THE AIR
Green-Tea-O-Meter Score: 15.13 (REVIEW)
Distributor: Paramount Pictures
Director: Jason Reitman
Plot: From the director of "Thank You For Smoking" and "Juno", Jason Reitman brings a fresh comedy surrounding a human resource administrator (George Clooney) whose life up in the friendly skies becomes his only world as he works to reach his one-millionth frequent flyer mile. He is a corporate downsizing expert whose cherished life on the road is threatened just as he is on the cusp of reaching ten million frequent flyer miles and just after he's met the frequent-traveller woman of his dreams.
[21] THE KARATE KID
Green-Tea-O-Meter Score: 15.23 (REVIEW)
Distributor: Sony Pictures
Director: Harald Zwart
Plot: 12-year-old Dre Parker (Jaden Smith) could've been the most popular kid in Detroit, but his mother's (Taraji P. Henson) latest career move has landed him in China. Dre immediately falls for his classmate Mei Ying and the feeling is mutual, but cultural differences make such a friendship impossible. Even worse, Dre's feelings make an enemy of the class bully, Cheng. In the land of kung fu, Dre knows only a little karate, and Cheng puts the "karate kid" on the floor with ease. With no friends in a strange land, Dre has nowhere to turn but maintenance man Mr. Han (Jackie Chan), who is secretly a master of kung fu. As Han teaches Dre that kung fu is not about punches and parries, but maturity and calm, Dre realises that facing down the bullies will be the fight of his life.
[20] HARRY POTTER AND THE DEATHLY HALLOWS
Green-Tea-O-Meter Score: 15.24 (REVIEW)
Distributor: Warner Bros.
Director: David Yates
Plot: The final chapter of the "Harry Potter" saga comes to the screen in this feature adaptation of the popular novel by children's fantasy author J.K. Rowling, with series veterans Steve Kloves and David Yates writing and directing, respectively. The "Deathly Hallows" will be split up into two films, with Part 2 set for release in 2011.
Green-Tea-O-Meter Score: 15.28 (REVIEW)
Distributor: DreamWorks/Paramount Pictures
Director: Peter Jackson
Plot: Based on the best-selling novel by Alice Sebold, "The Lovely Bones" is the story of a 14-year-old girl from suburban Pennsylvania who is murdered by her neighbor. She tells the story from Heaven, showing the lives of the people around her and how they have changed all the while attempting to get someone to find her lost body. She must weigh her desire for vengeance against her desire for her family to heal.
[18] HACHIKO: A DOG'S TALE
Green-Tea-O-Meter Score: 15.74 (REVIEW)
Distributor: Golden Screen Cinemas
Director: Lasse Hallstrom
Plot: This heartwarming true story is an American adaptation of a Japanese tale about a loyal dog named Hachiko. This very special friend would accompany his master to the train station every day and return each afternoon to greet him after work. Sadly his master departs one day, passes away and never returns to the station. Hachiko faithfully returns to the same spot at the station the very next day, and every day for the next nine years to wait for his beloved master. During his daily visits, Hachiko touches the lives of many who work near and commute through the town square. He teaches the local people love, compassion and above all unyielding loyalty. Today, a bronze statue of Hachiko sits in his waiting spot outside the Shibuya station in Japan as a permanent reminder of his devotion and love.
[17] MONGA
Green-Tea-O-Meter Score: 15.78 (No Review Posted)
Distributor: -
Director: Doze Niu
Plot: Monga is the name of an old quarter of Taipei located in Wanhua District. Mosquito (Mark Chao) and his friends have no illusions about the unwritten laws that prevail in this part of town: if you want to survive here you’ve got to be stronger than your enemies.
Mosquito (Mark Chao), Monk (Ethan Ruan), Dragon (Rhydian Vaughan), Monkey and A-po are all members of the ‘Gang of Princes’. They formed the gang when Mosquito’s chicken drumstick was stolen on his first day at school in Monga. The five teenagers decided that they don’t want to be pushed around. The boys soon begin to enjoy their new found gangster lifestyle and are already planning to take over as top gangsters on the streets of Monga. But little do they know that there are others who are deeply jealous of Mosquito’s success.
[16] GREEN ZONE
Green-Tea-O-Meter Score: 16.02 (REVIEW)
Distributor: Universal Pictures
Director: Paul Greengrass
Plot: Green Zone", a film set in the chaotic early days of the Iraqi War when no one could be trusted and every decision could detonate unforeseen consequences. During the U.S.-led occupation of Baghdad in 2003, Chief Warrant Officer Roy Miller (Damon) and his team of Army inspectors were dispatched to find weapons of mass destruction believed to be stockpiled in the Iraqi desert. Rocketing from one booby-trapped and treacherous site to the next, the men search for deadly chemical agents but stumble instead upon an elaborate cover-up that inverts the purpose of their mission. Spun by operatives with intersecting agendas, Miller must hunt through covert and faulty intelligence hidden on foreign soil for answers that will either clear a rogue regime or escalate a war in an unstable region. And at this blistering time and in this combustible place, he will find the most elusive weapon of all is the truth.
*Note: In 2010, GREEN TEA MOVIE has watched about 100 movies. This list however, taking only consideration for Hollywood movies for the compilation of Top 30. The final Green-Tea-O-Meter is subjected to minor modification during the ranking system, thus it would be best you refer the list from here (for final tally). Nevertheless, other foreign language films will be up in the list of special awards in Part 2. Do note that GREEN TEA MOVIE 1) has yet to watch several award-contender movies like Black Swan, 127 Hours, The Fighter, etc; 2) reviews movie that was released from December 30, 2009 to December 29, 2010 in Malaysian cinema, otherwise noted with an asterisk (*)
TOP 30 BEST REVIEWED MOVIES ON GREEN TEA MOVIES
[30] 14 BLADES
Distributor: Golden Screen Cinemas
Director: Daniel Lee
Plot: During the late Ming Dynasty, the Chinese imperial court is plagued by corruption as eunuchs usurp state power and the reigning emperor is deemed incompetent. The Jinyi Wei (literally: Brocade-clad Guards) is the government's secret police, trained in clandestine combat since childhood, they are in charge of conducting missions to ensure peace and stability within the empire. They have the authority to prosecute anyone deemed as an enemy of the state and they devote their lives and lethal prowess to serving the emperor only. When the organization was first founded, the Jinyi Wei took orders directly from the emperor, but now they are under the control of the eunuch faction. The chief eunuch Jia Jingzhong is plotting with an exiled noble, Prince Qing, to rebel against the emperor and seize power. Jia orders Qinglong, the Jinyi Wei chief, to kill the Imperial Councilor Zhao Shenyan and take Zhao's safebox, which supposedly contains a list of names of traitors. However, Qinglong discovers later that he had been used, as the safebox contains the Imperial Seal, a symbol of the emperor's authority, and Jia wants to use it to legitimize Prince Qing's actions for convenience when the rebellion begins.
------------------------------------------
[29] DESPICABLE ME
Distributor: Universal Pictures
Director: Chris Renaud, Pierre Coffin
Plot: In a happy suburban neighbourhood surrounded by white picket fences with flowering rose bushes, sits a black house with a dead lawn. Hidden beneath this home is a vast secret hideout. Surrounded by a small army of minions, Gru (Steve Carell) is planning the biggest heist in the history of the world. He is going to steal the moon! Until, he encounters the immense will of three little orphaned girls who see something that no one else has ever seen: a potential Dad. The world's greatest villain has just met his greatest challenge: three little girls named Margo (Miranda Cosgrove), Edith (Dana Gaier) and Agnes (Elsie Fisher).
------------------------------------------
[28] THE OTHER GUYS
Distributor: Sony Pictures
Director: Adam McKay
Plot: Allen Gamble (Will Ferrell) and Terry Hoitz (Mark Wahlberg) are partnered NYPD detectives who work in the forensic accounting department and rarely see any action. Gamble is more than happy with his job while Hoitz has been assigned against his will after a public incident with his quick trigger finger. They idolise the city's top cops Danson (Dwayne Johnson) and Manzetti (Samuel L. Jackson), but when an opportunity arises for Gamble and Hoitz to step up, things do not quite go as expected.
------------------------------------------
[27] PRINCE OF PERSIA: THE SANDS OF TIME
Distributor: Walt Disney
Director: Mike Newell
Plot: In this most anticipated game-to-movie adaptation, we follow Prince Dastan (Jake Gyllenhaal) as he teams up with Princess Tamina (Gemma Arterton) to stop a ruthless leader from laying his hands on the Sands of Time, a gift from the gods that can be used to reverse time and rule the world.
------------------------------------------
[26] ROBIN HOOD
Distributor: Universal Pictures
Director: Ridley Scott
Plot: Russell Crowe plays Robin of Loxley in an origin story of Robin Hood that reportedly hews close to historical facts of the period. Abandoned as a child, he finds community with the common people of Nottingham. Robin's abandonment and trust issues hamper his ability to fall in love. He meets his match in Marion (Cate Blanchett), a strong independent woman.
------------------------------------------
[25] INVICTUS*
Distributor: Warner Bros.
Director: Clint Eastwood
Plot: The film tells the inspiring story of how Nelson Mandela joined forces with the captain of South Africa's rugby team, Francois Pienaar, to help unite their country through universal language of sport. Mandela rallies South Africa's underdog rugby team as they make an unlikely run to the 1995 World Cup Championship.
------------------------------------------
[24] TRON: LEGACY
Distributor: Walt Disney
Director: Joseph Kosinski
Plot: Following the 1982 original, this reupdate is a 3-D cyber adventure set in a digital world where Sam Flynn (Garrett Hedlund), the tech-savvy 27-year-old son of Kevin Flynn (Jeff Bridges), looks into his father's disappearance and finds himself pulled into the same world of fierce programmes and gladiatorial games where his father has been living for 25 years. Along with Kevin's loyal confidante (Olivia Wilde), both father and son embark on a life-or-death journey across a visually-stunning cyber universe that has become far more advanced and exceedingly dangerous.
------------------------------------------
[23] BRUCE LEE: MY BROTHER
Distributor: RAM Entertainment
Director: Manfred Wong, Raymond Yip
Plot: As a young man, Bruce Lee was a rebel who was always engaging in street fights with his buddies, Kong and Unicorn. Invincible as a street fighter, Bruce's romantic escapades are not as smooth and successful. He is head over heels in love with Mandy only to realize his mate Kong shares the same passion. Meanwhile, another girl Monique has a crush on him. Against his father's wishes, Bruce studies the Wing Chun martial arts style instead of Tai-chi and tastes his first "public" triumph by knocking out a Caucasian boxer at a tournament with his kung-fu skills. On the eve of his triumph, he learns that Kong has become a drug addict and decides to rumble the drug lord's den together with Unicorn. This renders him the target of both the triads and corrupted cops who want him in jail. To save his life, Lee's father has no choice but to send him off to San Francisco to pursue his studies. And the rest is history...
------------------------------------------
[22] UP IN THE AIR
Distributor: Paramount Pictures
Director: Jason Reitman
Plot: From the director of "Thank You For Smoking" and "Juno", Jason Reitman brings a fresh comedy surrounding a human resource administrator (George Clooney) whose life up in the friendly skies becomes his only world as he works to reach his one-millionth frequent flyer mile. He is a corporate downsizing expert whose cherished life on the road is threatened just as he is on the cusp of reaching ten million frequent flyer miles and just after he's met the frequent-traveller woman of his dreams.
------------------------------------------
[21] THE KARATE KID
Distributor: Sony Pictures
Director: Harald Zwart
Plot: 12-year-old Dre Parker (Jaden Smith) could've been the most popular kid in Detroit, but his mother's (Taraji P. Henson) latest career move has landed him in China. Dre immediately falls for his classmate Mei Ying and the feeling is mutual, but cultural differences make such a friendship impossible. Even worse, Dre's feelings make an enemy of the class bully, Cheng. In the land of kung fu, Dre knows only a little karate, and Cheng puts the "karate kid" on the floor with ease. With no friends in a strange land, Dre has nowhere to turn but maintenance man Mr. Han (Jackie Chan), who is secretly a master of kung fu. As Han teaches Dre that kung fu is not about punches and parries, but maturity and calm, Dre realises that facing down the bullies will be the fight of his life.
------------------------------------------
[20] HARRY POTTER AND THE DEATHLY HALLOWS
Distributor: Warner Bros.
Director: David Yates
Plot: The final chapter of the "Harry Potter" saga comes to the screen in this feature adaptation of the popular novel by children's fantasy author J.K. Rowling, with series veterans Steve Kloves and David Yates writing and directing, respectively. The "Deathly Hallows" will be split up into two films, with Part 2 set for release in 2011.
------------------------------------------
[19] THE LOVELY BONES
Distributor: DreamWorks/Paramount Pictures
Director: Peter Jackson
Plot: Based on the best-selling novel by Alice Sebold, "The Lovely Bones" is the story of a 14-year-old girl from suburban Pennsylvania who is murdered by her neighbor. She tells the story from Heaven, showing the lives of the people around her and how they have changed all the while attempting to get someone to find her lost body. She must weigh her desire for vengeance against her desire for her family to heal.
------------------------------------------
[18] HACHIKO: A DOG'S TALE
Distributor: Golden Screen Cinemas
Director: Lasse Hallstrom
Plot: This heartwarming true story is an American adaptation of a Japanese tale about a loyal dog named Hachiko. This very special friend would accompany his master to the train station every day and return each afternoon to greet him after work. Sadly his master departs one day, passes away and never returns to the station. Hachiko faithfully returns to the same spot at the station the very next day, and every day for the next nine years to wait for his beloved master. During his daily visits, Hachiko touches the lives of many who work near and commute through the town square. He teaches the local people love, compassion and above all unyielding loyalty. Today, a bronze statue of Hachiko sits in his waiting spot outside the Shibuya station in Japan as a permanent reminder of his devotion and love.
------------------------------------------
[17] MONGA
Distributor: -
Director: Doze Niu
Plot: Monga is the name of an old quarter of Taipei located in Wanhua District. Mosquito (Mark Chao) and his friends have no illusions about the unwritten laws that prevail in this part of town: if you want to survive here you’ve got to be stronger than your enemies.
Mosquito (Mark Chao), Monk (Ethan Ruan), Dragon (Rhydian Vaughan), Monkey and A-po are all members of the ‘Gang of Princes’. They formed the gang when Mosquito’s chicken drumstick was stolen on his first day at school in Monga. The five teenagers decided that they don’t want to be pushed around. The boys soon begin to enjoy their new found gangster lifestyle and are already planning to take over as top gangsters on the streets of Monga. But little do they know that there are others who are deeply jealous of Mosquito’s success.
------------------------------------------
[16] GREEN ZONE
Distributor: Universal Pictures
Director: Paul Greengrass
Plot: Green Zone", a film set in the chaotic early days of the Iraqi War when no one could be trusted and every decision could detonate unforeseen consequences. During the U.S.-led occupation of Baghdad in 2003, Chief Warrant Officer Roy Miller (Damon) and his team of Army inspectors were dispatched to find weapons of mass destruction believed to be stockpiled in the Iraqi desert. Rocketing from one booby-trapped and treacherous site to the next, the men search for deadly chemical agents but stumble instead upon an elaborate cover-up that inverts the purpose of their mission. Spun by operatives with intersecting agendas, Miller must hunt through covert and faulty intelligence hidden on foreign soil for answers that will either clear a rogue regime or escalate a war in an unstable region. And at this blistering time and in this combustible place, he will find the most elusive weapon of all is the truth.
------------------------------------------
This is the END OF PART ONE - Stay Tune for the next part in which we feature the Top 15 Best Movies Reviewed in GREEN TEA MOVIE!!