2010 Movies: #28, 27

#28 Four Boxes

Haven't heard of this one? That's okay-I hadn't either. My ladyfriend is buddies with a woman who helped finance this Minnesota-bred indie flick. Its biggest star is MN native Justin Kirk (Nancy's brother on Weeds) and beyond that, there's really only two other actors-Sam Rosen and Terryn Westbrook, both of whom are unknowns but up-and-comers.

Rosen and Kirk play Rob and Trevor, small-time liquidators who have set up camp in the house of a man who just died in order to get footage of his stuff and sell it over eBay. Westbrook's character is engaged to Rob and dated Trevor for quite some time. She's ever present and it drives Trevor Four Loko. Creepy things start happening around the house--in particular with a typed, fragmented note that Trevor puts together. Beyond that, the trio (trevor in particular) become addicted to a website called fourboxes.tv, which is a voyeuristic look into the life of a masked man they know only as "Havoc". Havoc lives in some weird kind of cave-like apartment, and the four boxes refer to the four rooms that are on a live feed. Before long, things take a turn for the insane as they witness Havoc destroy an animal and put what appears to be a giant bomb together. With that knowledge what will they do? The script was weak at times, but this was a digital-age thriller done right, that throws many curveballs at the viewer right up until the twisted final ten minutes, and shows us the exact pitfalls of voyeurism. See it if you get the chance.

#27 Scott Pilgrim v. The World

I'll be the first to admit--I'll see just about anything Michael Cera is in. However, There was a little while there in which I was pretty sure Michael Cera would be typecast his entire life, playing the same goofy youngster well into his mid-30s. Though Michael Cera's awkward teen schtick (still maybe at it's best in Arrested Development) is still intact, he spent this year adding a little bit more range with his roles in Scott Pilgrim and Youth in Revolt (more later). It goes without saying that if you've seen this movie, you'd know that even with a good effort from Cera, it's the aesthetic and originality of Scott Pilgrim that makes it worth seeing.

Scott is a bass player in a Toronto punk band who lives in an efficiency and shares a bed with his gay roommate, also Scott (Kieran Culkin). He has a cute little girlfriend named Knives Chau who lets him hold her hand every now and then; when he meets Ramona at a party, he flips for her and he leaves poor Knives in the dust. In the middle of a big performance with his band, a shrieking goth dude flies in and challenges Scott to a battle, causing Ramona to reveal why maybe it has been a little to good to be true: in order to win her love, Scott will have to physically conquer all of her 7 evil exes. From there the film takes a unique turn in which his survival depends upon live-action battles that are visually one part anime and one part video game; when he defeats a character they turn into coins, and he receives "power-ups" throughout. It's a good showcase of special effects, and it marks the first pseudo-action role for superdork Cera--a small step in a different direction.