My Favorite Movies of 2010

For a different kind of blog post (vs. me telling you what you should/should not do in the tech world), I am going to list my Top 5 movies of the year. I love movies, so I figured why not.

Note: I only used movies from 2010, not my all-time favorite movies...it's doubtful any of these would even be in that list if it existed.

Honorable Mentions that I really liked this year, but didn't make the final 5 cut (click name to see trailer):
Greenberg
Salt
Cyrus
The Crazies
Exit Through the Gift Shop
Easy A
Toy Story 3
Daybreakers
Book of Eli
The Switch

5. The Social Network

I had very low expectations for this movie, but it was really good. If you care anything about or have any interest in Facebook as a company (which most of you reading this will I'm sure), you will enjoy this movie. Although most people know about it by now, I feel like if you tried to describe this movie to someone verbally, it would sound really boring...but somehow it's not...at all. Characters are done really well and Jesse Eisenberg (Adventureland, Zombieland) does his role as Mark Zuckerberg perfect (and looks an awful lot like him).

4. Buried
I questioned adding this one because I doubt I'll ever want to watch this movie again and feel like some friends might be upset with me after watch it, but I've spent more time thinking about it afterwards than any movie I've probably ever watched. Ryan Reynolds does an awesome job-his best acting ever IMO. Yes, they do make the ENTIRE movie in a coffin with no other actors in the film and somehow they manage to pull it off. This movie had me sweating and stressed out the whole time...it was very intense and uncomfortable, but somehow very good at the same time.

3. Let Me In

Although I prefer the Swedish version of the film vs. the American remake (maybe just because it came first?), this movie is sooooo much better than most of the other Vampire-esque movies that are popular right now. I'm a big modern-day vampire movie fan (more like Underworld, Blade, Nightwatch, etc-not Twilight) and this movie is good because it's original & about a child vampire trying to survive in modern day. It is fairly graphic, but for a purpose. You can catch the original on Netflix Instant Watch...I highly suggest you do so.

American trailer:

Original Swedish version:

2. Inception

It's one of those movies that I think most everyone loved and most people have seen more than once. This movie was so good and so well written. Say what you want about the ending, but I actually like it. Leonardo DiCaprio is arguably the best actor of my generation, and this movie is definitely my favorite of his. I don't even need to describe it really because chances are you've already seen it at least once.

1. Scott Pilgrim vs. the World

Talking about this movie is one of the main reasons I even made this post (also was inspired by another article). If you were born before 1975 and you care or have cared anything about video games, you will probably like this movie. It's not a video game movie, but it's got a lot of nostalgic video game moments/effects/sounds in it. The movie starts off like a typical Micheal Cera movie (you know, kinda Juno-ish), but takes a very unexpected (at least to the one's who I've watched it with so far) turn, and kinda becomes really awesome. It's funny, original, and really entertaining. Even if you don't care about video games, there is a good chance you might still enjoy the movie because of the great cast and witty jokes (there's even a George Michael vs. Ann Veal battle-if you watched Arrested Development, you will know what I'm talking about here). It's not Inception-deep, or Let Me In-intense, but it's a fun, silly movie to watch--one of those you can repeat easily with friends.

Everytime You Shop at Best Buy, a Kitten Dies

Ok, so that doesn't really happen, but some of you wouldn't come here if I just said "Don't Shop at Best Buy!" But it does make me feel as sad as if a kitten died when I stand in a Best Buy and listen to some of the terrible mis-truths/misconceptions that their employees give to customers. I will make this brief. This is a situation I found that happened to someone today over at Reddit. I've edited the language slightly:

This morning I went to Best Buy to buy some Christmas gifts and witnessed Best Buy at its best, trying to rip off a clueless buyer:

Clueless Buyer trying to pay for a brand new PS3

• Cashier: "Do you want the extended warranty from Best Buy?"
• Clueless Buyer: "Well, I dunno.."
• Cashier: "Let me explain you. The PS3 comes with 8 cells and the Sony warranty only covers two, so if any of the other six malfunction is going to cost you a lot of money to repair your console but with the extended warranty from Best Buy you get full coverage and after a year we will perform a tune up to make your system run like it's new." <- completely false & just dumb
• Clueless Buyer: "Ok"
• Cashier: "Are you going to connect your console to the internet?"
• Clueless Buyer: "Actually I'm buying this as a christmas present so I don't really know."
• Cashier: "That's ok, because if you buy the in-home gaming setup for just $100 (more or less) you can call us any day you want and we will go to your house to set your internet account, update the console, etc..." 

At that point I decided to intervene and asked the clueless buyer for who was the gift and it turn out to be for his fifteen year old son, I told him that probably his son already knew how to do everything Best Buy was trying to scam him into and if not he could give me a call to guide him through it step by step.

I saved the gentleman a couple hundred dollars and then received the silent treatment from the cashier when he was attending me. Shame on you Best Buy.

It's situations like this that happen everyday to naive customers at Best Buy. People get duped into paying for something completely useless. Which brings me to a big point about Best Buy's extended warranties...NEVER BUY THEM! They are overpriced and usually have lots of stipulations, not to mention the BB employees usually mislead you about what the manufacturer themselves cover (as seen above). Using the above scenario...that guy would have paid $60+ for an extended warranty on his PS3, while you can get a better warranty from Square Trade for about 40% less ($39). Square Trade warranties cover much more and last 3 years vs. 1 year. Square Trade will give you a warranty on any type of electronics device. I strongly encourage you to use Square Trade vs. your cell phone company insurance plan on smart phones...much cheaper and usually there's no deductible. Ok, that's my spill on Best Buy's attempts to upsell you a million useless things when checking out. Just keep saying no as you checkout, that's the best option if you must shop there.

You can stop reading now, or if you want, I can tell you a few more reasons why Best Buy is a pretty low on the respectability list when it comes to business practices:

• Geek Squad-I am not saying this just because I compete with them, but these guys are typically considered the joke of the tech world when it comes to computer repairs. These are not some computer genius guys like you want to believe, they are regular John Doe's like you & me that needed a job, filled out an application, and got a hired...your 15 year old nephew can probably do just as good of a job, otherwise take it to a local shop or even a technically inclined friend, anywhere besides Geek Squad (or Staples for that matter, similar scenario). Most of the time, they just wipe your hard drive and reinstall Windows and say it's fixed...usually with disregard to your stuff (music, pictures, documents, etc).  That is not repairing a computer, that is taking the easy way out to get the job done as fast as possible with as little brain usage as possible. And they are super expensive. You pay a lot of money for less than average service. Also, don't even let them 'optimize' your computer if you choose to buy one there-it's expensive and does nothing to make it faster, usually quite the opposite...they just install more software to slow it down significantly.
• Prices-seriously, compare Best Buy with most retailers. Usually they have to have a HUGE sale just to match the everyday prices at Amazon, New Egg, etc. I understand some people are willing to pay more to have it right then and that's your prerogative, but when things like TV's and computers can cost hundreds more, you should really shop around. Also note-Best Buy is worried about all these smartphone users coming into their stores using these price comparison apps (like I mentioned in my previous post), mainly because it lets people see how much Best Buy is price gouging on most of their products (my source if you don't believe me).

Ok, my rants over now. Thanks for listening.