10. Secret World Of Arrietty
In the year's best animated film, the legendary Studio Ghibli of Japan released their 16th feature film. Based on the children's book The Borrowers, Secret World of Arrietty takes place in... well, the secretive world of Arrietty. Arrietty is a plucky and adventurous teenage girl who lives with her parents in the countryside of Japan. Arrietty is sweet, likable, and so small that she's barely larger than a sugar cube. Arrietty and her family are borrowers, diminutive people who live among us. They "borrow" household items from us under the cloak of night, creating their own fully-developed world within our own. Voiced by Atonement's Saoirse Ronan in the UK and Bridgit Mendler of Alvin and the Chipmunks: The Squeakuel fame in the US, Arrietty is accidentally spotted by one of the people living within the house. Fortunately, her fear is assuaged when she learns that the boy who spotted her is, despite being a hundred times her size, her own age. The two form a sweet friendship that verges on romance, were it not for the prejudices held by their families and huge discrepancies in stature. The relationships formed in this movie are wonderfully developed, but what makes this a true Studio Ghibli film is the world it fashions. Arrietty's home is fully-formed and imagined with intricate detail, a beautiful look into the holes in the walls within our homes.
9. Cabin In The Woods
There have been a number of self-referential horror movies in the past, most notably 1996's Scream and more recently Tucker and Dale versus Evil. But no film has managed to deconstruct the entire genre as intelligently or as funnily as Drew Goddard's Cabin In The Woods. We meet the protagonists early in the film, a redhead, her blonde friend and her boyfriend, his jock friend and the token pothead. They travel to the titular Cabin In The Woods for a weekend vacation and to get off the grid. What follows is a laughably absurd barrage of horror movie tropes, from the (not-so) virginal protagonist to inexplicably splitting up to cover more ground when danger strikes. In sending up the slasher flicks, what director and co-writer Joss Whedon accomplish is a hilarious descent into well-worn cliches. They offer an explanation for audiences' reactions for decades as they've shouted at their TVs "don't do that! Why are you doing that???" Their film is half-homage and half-mockery of the genre, constantly reminding the audience that they are indeed watching a film. They repeatedly ask of the audience why it is they attend and enjoy horror films, while simultaneously celebrating the genre. With Cabin, Joss Whedon again proves he can be relevant in a post Buffy and Firefly world. That and the billion dollars Avengers made.
Stay tuned for numbers 7 and 8 on the Beast Duels Blog.
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