The Other Guys

I have waited since 2004 to see a Will Ferrell movie I really really liked. Stranger Than Fiction was a good role for him, although I don't think I loved it as much as most people. Talladega Nights had its moments, but then Ferrell seemed to be typecast into a collection of sports-comedy roles, which I chose not to see. I hated Land of the Lost last year, worrying that Ferell might have permanently lost his comedic way. Finally, here he is back in a film that has consistent laughs and feels fresh for him.

He plays Detective Allen Gamble, a forensic detective who prefers to be at his desk rather than on the streets. He has had Terry Hoitz (played by Mark Wahlberg) as his partner ever since Hoitz accidently shot Derek Jeter during the World Series. Though the rest of the department thinks of the duo as butt-ends for office jokes and pranks, the pair get the break they never thought they'd get when their idol police detectives take a literally unexpected drop (which I found hilarious).

There are many great comedic moments in this movie, one of my favorites being an old lady with a walker being used as a go-between messenger when Gamble tries to make up with his extremely hot wife. I tend not to watch a funny movie too often for fear that the jokes will wear off on me if I overkill viewing them, but this along with Hot Tub Time Machine are two 2010 movies you should consider seeing more than once for a good laugh.

Inception

I have yet to walk out of a Christopher Nolan film saying, "Well that sucked!" Considering how much I love his work so far, I really hope I never will. What Nolan does so well is that he tells a great story while dazzling us with great special effects. That is never more apparent than in this film, where the topic of entering people's dreams allows computer technology to have a field day making these imaginative worlds come to life. Then we get into dreams within dreams. Everything goes much faster the deeper you get, allowing for certain ideas to be implanted into one's mind without the dreamer noticing these are not truly his original thoughts.

This has been a good year for Leonardo DiCaprio, who starred in the also quirky Shutter Island. I liked Shutter, and I think I liked Inception even more. DiCaprio has a great character to play, dealing with the loss of a his wife, whose memory sabotages his dream extraction missions. One day, he is offered a job that will clear him of murder charges and allow him to see his kids. Does he succeed and see his family? I won't reveal it here of course, but the ending, like Shutter Island, is one that will have its audience members talking. An early candidate for one of my top ten films of the year.