Best Lines from the Best Pictures of 2010
What lingers most about a film?
Sometimes it’s a heart-wrenching display of acting that leaves you shaken (Ryan Gosling) if not stirred (Michelle Williams).
Sometimes it’s a disturbing plot twist (Winter’s Bone) that crumples your brain like a ball of aluminum foil.
Sometimes it’s the musical score; I can still feel the droning strings of Inception pounding its way through my prefrontal cortex: Brrrrm! …Brrrrrrrrrrmm! … BRRRRRRRRRRRMMMMM!!!!!!
Sometimes it’s an indescribable feeling of good will towards men. Leaving the theater after Toy Story 3, I held the door open behind me to let a group of apathetic teenagers pass through, and I never do that. They didn’t even say “Thank You” but I was still too beaming from Woody, Buzz Lightyear and the comeuppance of Lotso Huggin Bear to really care.
And sometimes it’s just a few words. You know: one-liners. Turn of phrases that stick with you and have you doing lame versions in the car on the way back home from the theater: “You talkin’ to me?”, “I’m gonna make him an offer he can’t refuse.”, “Show me the money!”, “Veronica Corningstone and I HAD SEX, and now WE ARE IN LOVE!”
Here are some lines from the past year in movies that left an impression on me. Just to keep it simple and recognizable, I’m limiting the lines to those that appeared in the ten Best Picture nominees for the Academy Awards.
Best One-Word Line of the Year:
Colin Firth as King George VI in The King’s Speech.
“Ffff… fornication?”
It’s a fornicating shame that The King’s Speech might steal best picture from The Social Network after the DGA’s and SAG awards isn’t it?
Best Rambling Stream of Consciousness Line Of the Year:
James Franco as Aron Ralston in 127 Hours.
“You know, I’ve been thinking. Everything is, just comes together. It’s me. I chose this. I chose all this. This rock, this rock has been waiting for me my entire life. It’s entire life, ever since it was a bit of meteorite a million, billion years ago. In space. It’s been waiting, to come here. Right, right here. I’ve been moving towards it my entire life. The minute I was born, every breath that I’ve taken, every action has been leading me to this crack on the surface.”
You know how some movies you have to keep reminding yourself that the story is fake? This movie I kept reminding myself that the story is real.
Bad Ass Line of the Year:
Jeff Bridges as Rooster Cogburn in True Grit.
“You go for a man hard enough and fast enough, he don’t have time to think about how many’s with him; he thinks about himself, and how he might get clear of that wrath that’s about to set down on him.”
Although I’m not so sure how bad ass Mr. Cogburn would be if his arm was wedged in by a ten-ton boulder for 127 hours with nothing but his own piss to drink.
Redundant Line of the Year:
Mark Wahlberg as Mickey Ward in The Fighter.
“I’m the one who’s fighting. Not you, not you, and not you.”
Almost felt like Mark Wahlberg was going to turn towards the audience, point his finger straight into the camera and say, “and not you with the box of Jujubes either.”
Provocative Line of the Year:
Pretty much every other line uttered by Lily as played by Mila Kunis in Black Swan. If Nina Sayers was Kobe Bryant seeking perfection at the free throw line, then Lily was the rowdy fan seated courtside taunting him about his rape case and how he’ll never measure up to Michael Jordan. Mila Kunis essentially served the role of heckler and all-around agitator throughout the film.
Rural Wisdom Line of the Year:
Dale Dickey as Merab in Winter’s Bone.
“Talkin’ just causes witnesses.”
Maybe I’m just slow, but this line perplexed me and took me a while to figure out (if at all). Talking just causes witnesses as in: witnesses like to talk? witnesses come forth when they hear other people talking? when you talk you make yourself a witness? Is it some kind of weird colloquialism of the Ozarks? Is there a double entendre involved? There’s a double negative somewhere in there right? Double negatives always throw me off. This was warping my mind more than Inception. By the time Jennifer Lawrence was well on her way towards uncovering the truth I was still puzzled by the conundrum that is “Talkin’ just causes witnesses.” Then again, I’m also the guy who has to read a fortune cookie fortune a few times over before figuring out what Confucius is trying to tell me.
Rustic Wisdom Line of the Year:
Hailee Steinfeld as Mattie Ross in True Grit.
“There is nothing free in this world… except the grace of God.”
Don’t it seem like country folk love to be philosophical about things? I would discuss further but apparently talkin’ just causes witnesses, whatever that means.
Snarky Line of the Year:
Jesse Eisenburg as Mark Zuckerburg in The Social Network.
“If you guys were the inventors of Facebook, you’d have invented Facebook.”
I just want to say, I hate the word snarky. I think it popped up sometime around the apex of Juno. I wish snarky would go away. Ironically the only way for snarky to go away is to say something snarky about snarkiness, in which case it still remains. So we’re stuck with snark. Thanks so much Diablo Cody.
Line That Could Have Been from Any Movie Line of the Year:
Natalie Portman as Nina Sayers in Black Swan.
“I just want to be perfect.”
Deep down don’t we all? Only some of us don’t go el pollo loco and sprout chicken wings over it.
The Trying Too Hard For Poignancy Line of the Year:
Rashida Jones as Marylin Delpy in The Social Network.
“You’re not an asshole, Mark, you’re just trying really hard to be one.”
Doh! And your script was so whip-smart right up to the very end there Aaron Sorkin.
Best Aaron Sorkin Line Not Actually Written by Aaron Sorkin:
Marion Cotillard as Mal in Inception.
“You keep telling yourself what you know. But what do you believe?”
I believe I heard Tom Cruise say the exact same thing in A Few Good Men. But it doesn’t matter what I believe. It only matters what I can prove!
Best Line That Would Have Bombed If It Was In A Tyler Perry Movie Starring Queen Latifah And Janet Jackson But Since It’s In A Clever Indie, We Give It The Benefit Of The Doubt And Laugh Along Uproariously Like George Clooney And Brad Pitt In Ocean’s Twelve:
Julianne Moore as Jules in The Kids Are All Right.
“My tongue was numb … and my tongue started working again.”
Ahahahahaha! …. AhahahaHAAHAHAHAH! … uh …. AhahahaHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!!!!!
Line That We Will Still Remember 10 Years From Now:
None really stands out. And maybe that’s a good thing. I’m still trying to erase, “I’m the King of the World!” from my mind.
Inspirational Line of The Year:
John Morris as the voice of Andy in Toy Story 3.
“The thing that makes Woody special is: he’ll never give up on you. Ever.”
And now you know why I held a door open for apathetic teenagers (when I never do) and why it didn’t even bother me when they didn’t say “Thank You” (but I did throw in a snarky, “You’re Welcome”).
What are some of your favorite movie lines of the year? What are some of your all-time favorites? Are you talkin’ to me? ‘Cause if you are, talkin’ just causes witnesses.
46 Comments
Man, that had to be hard trying to choose a good line from The Social Network since it’s loaded with them.
Yes indeed. That first scene alone is chock full of great lines.
That being said, if Sorkin doesn’t get that deserved Oscar for his screenplay, then the Oscars are really messed up.
Personally, I thought the most badass line of the year was from Winter’s Bone:
“Is this going to be our time?”
But it’s hard to argue against the dude himself speaking from that Biblical work by the Coen Bros.
How could I forget that line? What an oversight. That was indeed a badass line.
One rule of badassery is: the fewer the words, the more badass it is.
Great idea for a post, Rick. Anna’s right, lots of good lines from Social Network, but I like the two you highlighted here. LOVE that line uttered by Hailee in True Grit… and oh how true!
Thanks rtm! Yes, it was a great line. Like James Blake said, the Coen Brothers know how to pull off lines with Biblical stylings.
terrific post Rick (!). some great lines in there.
i know its an easy one, but Andrew Garfield’s deliver of ‘Lawyer up!’ still gets me going.
i loved Inception, but I also loved it cos of its terribly crummy dialogue.
‘Give me a puzzle, if i crack it easily the first seven times but you manage to make me take ten seconds longer the eighth time, I’ll hire you to do this job where you get no money but get to ask me lots of questions.’
and
‘Oh yeah, I forgot to tell you, you cant just die in this dream, Ive given you a dosage of something that pretty much makes the rest of this movie kind of exciting. I could have told you about that earlier… but… I didnt.’
those arent the exact quotes, i dont think. didnt have time to check imdb.
Ha! Hilarious!
“Lawyer up” is a real good one. Big ups to Garfield’s delivery. It’s a hard one to pull off. A lot of Aaron Sorkin’s lines teeter dangerously on that precipice over corniness and cocksureness.
hehe – i got edited! sorry Rick, thought Castor did the post.
i get that a lot too when people think Ross McD wrote something.
as if he could be as funny and insightful as me…
Ha! No problem Ross! This whole article was just quoting quotes that other people wrote anyways.
Nice post there, definitely some crackers! 127 Hours was monologue gold! My personal favourite was in London Boulevard, when talking about an arthouse actress someone said
“If it weren’t for Monica Bellucci she’d be the most raped woman in European cinema”
One of the only lines from 2010 that will stick with me for a long time.
Best contender of 2011 is the Mechanic: “I’m going to put a bounty on your head so high, your own reflection will want to shoot you in the face” – talk about hyperbole!
Best contender of 2011 is the Mechanic: “I’m going to put a bounty on your head so high, your own reflection will want to shoot you in the face” – talk about hyperbole!
Ha! Who says that line? If it’s Ben Foster it could be real good. If it’s Jason Statham? Not so much.
Statham always says the most ludicrous lines! Glad you didn’t have anything from Expendables… now there’d be a lot to pull from for the WORST LINES list
Animal Kingdom: “You’ve done some bad things, sweetie,” delivered by Jackie Weaver, with the temperance of a sweet old grandma and the intent of someone perfectly willing to put a knife in your back.
Kick-Ass: “I hate getting punched in the chest!”, by Chloe Moretz, as she lets Nicholas Cage blast her in the chest with a pretty serious hand cannon– just so she learns what it feels like to get shot.
The Social Network: Too many. From Timberlake’s, “You know what I’ve heard about you? Nothing.”, to Armie Hammer’s, “I’m 6’5″, 220 pounds, and there are two of me,” it’s a supremely quotable movie. Nothing beats Eisenberg’s venom-laced diatribe during the deposition with the brothers Winklevoss, though:
“I think if your clients want to sit on my shoulders and call themselves tall, they have the right to give it a try – but there’s no requirement that I enjoy sitting here listening to people lie. You have part of my attention – you have the minimum amount. The rest of my attention is back at the offices of Facebook, where my colleagues and I are doing things that no one in this room, including and especially your clients, are intellectually or creatively capable of doing. Did I adequately answer your condescending question?”
I need to see Animal Kingdom. Only hear great things about that one.
Timberlake’s “You know what I’ve heard about you? Nothing.” was cold cold cold.
If even a former boy band member is delivering icy lines, you know you have a film full of great quotes.
That is the best FYC for Mila Kunis’ performance ever. Effortlessly bringing down and taunting Nina like she does.
Also, my favourite line of 2010 was said by one of the girls from 127 Hours, an advice to Aron. “If you keep singing Phish out loud, you’ll never get laid.”
Or Emma Stone saying “Do you know that my name Olive is an anagram of I love?” to some guy she’s fake seducing.
Easy A is another movie I haven’t gotten around to seeing yet. I enjoyed Emma Stone in her SNL hosting stint so I think I should bump it up my queue.
Favorite line of the year?
Simple!
“Machete don’t text!”
No explanation needed!
That one has cult classic potential for sure.
The line you mentioned in “Winter’s Bone” is the one stayed with me the most, too. I think I even mentioned in my review. The other line I really liked from the same movie is when John Hawkes says “If she does wrong, you can put it on me.”
So many little but load bearing lines in that movie.
I remember reading the screenplay before seeing the film. It was very bare-boned but loaded with subtext. The actors stuck to the script almost verbatim and it paid off.
Oh, I forgot to mention. This line from Inception is one of my faves:
“You mustn’t be afraid to dream a little bigger, darling,” Hardy’s character Eames said just before he pulled out a giant firearm next to a lesser-equipped Gordon-Levitt’s Arthur.
Looking forward to seeing Hardy pull off more Nolan lines in the new Batman.
Ha! Poor Jo-Go. Got one-upped by Tom.
True Grit – Rooster to Ned “Fill your hands you son of a bitch!” Loved it from the Duke and loved it from Mr. Bridges. Glad the Coens kept it in! The Kings Speech, just loved hearing the F-word over and over again. Dang, I’m a super potty mouth!
I haven’t seen the original True Grit but that’s cool to know the Coens kept some lines from the John Wayne version. It was the same with No Country For Old Men. Some parts of that film pulled dialogue verbatim from the Cormac McCarthy novel.
I loved that line the TKAAR because it was just begging my dirty mind to go to dirty places – and naturally it went there, though it’s less the line and more Julianne’s delivery of it.
Most unintentionally hilarious line, Winona in BLACK SWAN: “You stole my things!” Oy!
Yes indeed, it’s all about delivery. That’s why the actors get paid the big bucks and reap all the red carpet glory.
Jacob in The Twilight Saga: Eclipse. “Let’s face it, I am hotter than you.” Oh this is for best lines? Ah… uh… ummm… ummm
Some great lines here Rick! “The Winkelvii” was one of my favorites…
Winkelvii was genius.
Bitchiest Line: “Or should I say eye.” Matt Damon in True Grit, why will nobody share with me in my fangirlish delight!?
I thought that was great too! True Grit was full of great dialogue. Pity most of what Bridges was saying was mumbled…
Always love Matt Damon’s delivery.
From Social Network that no one has mentioned:
I’m CEO, bitch!
You are probably going to be a very successful computer guy, but you are going to go through life thinking that girls hate you because you’re a nerd. But I want you to know from the bottom of my heart that won’t be true. It will be because you are an ASSHOLE.
“Dating you is like dating a Stairmaster!”
“Good luck with your video game.”
Could pick almost any line from True Grit for “Line Most Clogged Full of Elongated Syllabic Words To Amplify Southern Discourse”
Ha!
I have been putting together a similar post Rick! You beat me to the punch! Good form. I think, however, that a better quote from The King’s Speech would be this one:
Lionel Logue: [as George "Berty" is lighting up a cigarette] Don’t do that in here.
King George VI: Why not?
Lionel Logue: Sucking smoke into your lungs will kill you.
King George VI: My physicians tell me it helps to relax the throat.
Lionel Logue: They’re idiots.
King George VI: They’ve been knighted.
Lionel Logue: Makes it official then.
Ha! As people have been saying, there’s a boat-load of quotes from The Social Network and True Grit alone to make a hundred different posts on this topic without being redundant. So, I really look forward to seeing what some of your best and favorites lines are!
Another one from The Social Network:
“The guy who co-founded Facebook doesn’t know how to change his relationship status…on Facebook?”
If I was running Hollywood, Brenda Song would get an ensemble credit at SAG and more roles.
Oh yeah, forgot about that line. Love it when Andy was trying to save his skin (and failing miserably). LOL
OH I love that last line from Logue. I laughed so hard in the theater when I heard that. Good one, Scarlet!
Trackbacks