Film :: 2010

The year 2010 was, if you dug deep enough, an abnormally beautiful year at the movies. Probably the best since 2007 – and probably better than that year as a whole. Not only were there the great art house films like Black Swan and The American, but there were plenty of memorable blockbusters, comedies, foreign films, documentaries and, well, so on. There were so many great movies in 2010, in fact, that it took us until June of 2011 to see everything we wanted to see. Enough talk, let’s get on with it; here they are, my Top 100 films from 2010 (plus 14 additional lists):

100. Sex and the City 2 (Michael Patrick Scott) – 0.5/10
99. Death at a Funeral (Neil LaBute) – 1/10
98. Cop Out (Kevin Smith) – 1.5/10
97. Robin Hood (Ridley Scott) – 1.5/10
96. Date Night (Shawn Levy) -3/10
95. Eclipse (David Slade) – 3/10
94. How Do You Know (James L. Brooks) – 3/10
93. Frozen (Adam Green) – 3/10
92. Eat Pray Love (Ryan Murphy) – 3/10
91. Welcome to the Rileys (Jake Scott) – 3/10

90. Love & Tambourines (Jeremy Cohen) – 3/10
89. Leaves of Grass (Tim Blake Nelson) – 3.25/10
88. Solitary Man (Brian Koppelman) – 3.5/10
87. Salt (Phillip Noyce) – 3.5/10
86. She’s Out of My League (Jim Field Smith) – 3.5/10
85. The Human Centipede (Tom Six) – 4.5/10
84. Morning Glory (Roger Michell) – 4.75/10
83. Hot Tub Time Machine (Steve Pink) – 5/10
82. Splice (Vincenzo Natali) – 5/10
81. The Other Guys (Adams McKay) – 5.5/10

80. Alice in Wonderland (Tim Burton) – 5.75/10
79. The Extra Man (Robert Pulcini + Shari Berman) – 5.75/10
78. Boogie Woogie (Duncan Ward) – 5.75/10
77. Youth In Revolt (Miguel Arteta) – 5.75/10
76. A Woman, A Gun and a Noodle Shop (Zhang Yimou) – 5.75/10
75. Chloe (Atom Egoyan) – 5.75/10
74. Due Date (Todd Phillips) – 6/10
73. The Runaways (Floria Sigismondi) – 6/10
72. Runaway (Kanye West) – 6/10
71. Restrepo (Tim Hetherington and Sebastian Junger) – 6.25/10

70. Nice Guy Johnny (Ed Burns) – 6.25/10
69. Dinner for Schmucks (Jay Roach) – 6.25/10
68. Buried (Rodrigo Cortes) – 6.25/10
67. Waiting for Superman (Davis Guggenheim) – 6.25/10
66. City Island (Raymond de Felitta) – 6.25/10
65. The Girl Who Played With Fire (Daniel Alfredson) – 6.25/10
64. Get Low (Aaron Schneider) – 6.5/10
63. The Book of Eli (Hughes Brothers) – 6.5/10
62. Catfish (Henry Joose and Ariel Schulman) – 6.5/10
61. Wall Street: Money Never Sleeps (Oliver Stone) – 6.5/10

60. Machete (Robert Rodriguez) – 6.75/10
59. Tamara Drewe (Stephen Frears) – 6.75/10
58. You Will Meet a Tall Dark Stranger (Woody Allen) – 6.75/10
57. Unstoppable (Tony Scott) – 6.75/10
56. Devil (Erick Dowdle) – 6.75/10
55. Easy A (Will Gluck) – 7/10
54. Love and Other Drugs (Edward Zwick) – 710
53. Green Zone (Paul Greengrass) – 7/10
52. Iron Man 2 (Jon Favreau) – 7/10   (Read out review HERE.)
51. It’s Kind of a Funny Story (Ryan Fleck) – 7/10

50. Harry Brown (Daniel Barber) – 7.25/10
49. I Love You Phillip Morris (Glenn Ficarra) – 7.25/10
48. The Next Three Days (Paul Haggis) – 7.25/10
47. Please Give (Nicole Holofcener) – 7.5/10
46. The Promise (Thom Zimny) – 7.5/10  (Read our review HERE.)
45. Somewhere (Sofia Coppola) – 7.5/10
44. The Kids Are All Right (Lisa Cholodenko) – 7.75/10
43. Never Let Me Go (Mark Romanek) – 7.75/10
42. Cyrus (Duplass Brothers) – 8.5/10
41. Toy Story 3 (Lee Unkrich) – 8/10

40. Tucker & Dale vs. Evil (Eli Craig) – 8/10
39. 127 Hours (Danny Boyle) – 8/10
38. Scott Pilgrim vs. The World (Edgar Wright) – 8.5/10
37. I’m Still Here (Casey Affleck) – 8.5/10
36. Biutiful (Alejandro González Iñárritu) – 8.5/10
35. Hereafter (Clint Eastwood) – 8.5/10
34. The Secret In Their Eyes (Juan Jose Campanella) – 8.5/10
33. Let Me In (Matt Reeves) – 8.5/10
32. Despicable Me (Pierre Coffin & Chris Renaud) – 8.5/10
31. Animal Kingdom (David Michod) – 8.5/10

30. Tiny Furniture (Lena Dunham) – 8.75/10
29. Life During Wartime (Todd Solondz) – 8.75/10
28. The Ghost Writer (Roman Polanski) – 8.75/10
27. Jack Goes Boating (Philip Seymour Hoffman) – 8.75/10
26. Dogtooth (Giorgos Lanthimos) – 8.75/10
25. Mic-Macs (Jean-Pierre Jeunet) – 8.75/10
24. True Grit (Coen Brothers) – 8.75/10
23. The Killer Inside Me (Michael Winterbottom) – 8.75/10
22. The Freebie (Katie Aselton) – 8.75/10  (Read our review HERE.)
21. Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: Pt. 1 (David Yates) – 8.75

20. The King’s Speech (Tom Hooper) – 8.75/10
19. Another Year (Mike Leigh) – 8.75/10
18. Kick-Ass (Matthew Vaughn) – 8.75/10
17. The Town (Ben Affleck) – 8.75/10
16. Shutter Island (Martin Scorsese) – 8.75/10
15. Mercy (Patrick Hoelck) – 9/10
14. Exit Through the Gift Shop (Banksy) – 9/10
13. Carlos (Olivier Assayas) – 9/10
12. White Material (Claire Denis) – 9/10
11. Cemetery Junction (Ricky Gervais and Stephen Merchant) – 9/10

10. Greenberg (Noah Baumbach) – Noah Baumbach’s best since The Squid and the Whale gets funnier with each viewing. The result? My favorite comedy of 2010. Big, hearty laughs around every sun-drenched corner. 9/10

9. The Fighter (David O. Russell) – It wasn’t until my third viewing of David O. Russell’s comeback project (which, really, would be better defined as Mark Wahlberg’s passion project) that I realized the greatness of this movie. Sure, the story is good enough and the performances – especially from Christian Bale, Melissa Leo and Amy Adams – are fantastic, but it’s all the little production details that Russell slips in that makes this feel good pic something more than your average Academy-friendly drama. A movie about a town, a junkie, a sport, a love and hope. Usually, movies like The Fighter get big budgets, lame directors and big crowds (think The Blind Side); Wahlberg, who went far out of his way to make sure the film was made properly, worked hard to secure the details. The result is one of the best sports movies of all-time. 9.25/10

8. Blue Valentine (Derek Cianfrance) – In a year where the influence of actor-turned-auteur John Cassavetes was felt in a major way, it was director Derek Cianfrance’s collaboration with actors Ryan Gosling and Michelle Williams that took the lead. This challenging drama about both love and lost love is as authentic as they come these days, poetically displaying the pains of the heart. Love, what a tricky thing; Cianfrance and crew do an amazing job here, fleshing out a loose script with situation improv. And Gosling … damn, what a performance. 9.25/10

7. The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo (Niels Arden Oplev) – I knew that this movie was based on a book; I knew that there were two sequels already made; and I knew that there were three American versions coming of the same three films. By the time the movie ended, I also knew that it could never be topped (even if the other two easily can be). A big, strange story conquered with aplomb by its maker, director Niels Arden Oplev. 9.5/10

6. Winter’s Bone (Debra Granik) – Debra Granik’s small, moody Ozark-set film featured not just some of the year’s best direction, but one of its best scripts and acting performances from newcomer Jennifer Lawrence. Feels like the tough sister to early Coen Brothers films and Nash Edgerton’s little seen neo-noir classic The Square. 9.5/10

5. The American (Anton Corbijn) – As much a Western as it is a spy story or nuanced art film for fans of cinematography, this, the second work from director Anton Corbin (Control), feels very retro, very European. The story is small and has been told many times before, but add a cool leading man (George Clooney), a visually masterful director, an Italian beauty (Violante Placido) and countless breathtaking locations (Castel del Monte) and you have a tight, satisfying story that simultaneously feels classic, familiar and new. Corbijn, simply puts, speaks the language of film. 9.5/10

4. Black Swan (Darren Aronofsky) – A gritty, nightmarish look at the behind-the-scenes life off competitive ballerinas, Darren Aronofsky’s highly stylized fifth film is his best work since Requiem For a Dream, the movie that earned him a lifelong pass behind the camera. The style, as expected, is amazing, detailed and unique. What really pushes this very simple story beyond the competition is the acting, most notably by leading lady Natalie Portman, who gives the performance of her career and the most memorable from a female lead since Audrey Tautou in Amelie. 9.75/10

3. Inception (Christopher Nolan) – John Ford. Then Akira Kurosawa and Orson Welles. Then, of course, Francis Ford Coppola, Steven Spielberg and even Quentin Tarantino and Michael Bay. Now: Christopher Nolan. I’m talking about is the progression of movie magic. Filmmakers who have crafted pictures that were, at their time, so big, impressive, magical and unthinkable that everything else of the time looked, by comparison, simple. Nolan’s latest film somehow tops his last (The Dark Knight), standing as one of the most complete and masterful all around productions of all-time. That something so strange and artful did so well amongst both critics and crowds is somewhat confusing. That so many also seem to denounce it is, for cinephiles, a comfort. A complex art house epic dressed up as a summer blockbuster … who’d have thunk it? (Read our Inception review HERE.)   9.75/10

2. The Social Network (David Fincher) – My third viewing of this masterpiece from director David Fincher was the one that mattered. Sure, the direction is smart and clean and the acting is spot on. Sure. But it’s Aaron Sorkin’s masterful adaptation of Ben Mezrich’s book that makes this film an instant classic. Rarely will you see writing so precise anywhere in modern pop culture. Everything else about the production, from the score to the cinematography, being so spot on doesn’t hurt either. 10/10

1. Un Prophete (Jacques Audiard) – Not just my favorite of 2010 but one of my new all-time favorites, Jacques Auidard’s fifth film is his by-far best, telling the story of a convicted felon and his unlikely rise to power while in prison. The endlessly soulful performance by powerful lead actor Tahir Rahim is one of the best I’ve ever seen and easily my favorite of this still-young millennium. The music, the editing, the photography, etc. is all so good. If you see one movie from 2010 – and have a brain that you like to use – make it Auidard’s epic gangster/prison classic. 10/10

TEN LEAST FAVORITE MOVIES OF 2010:
1. The Wolfman (Joe Johnston)
2. The Last Airbender (M. Night Shyamalan)
3. Dear John (Lasse Hallstrom)
4. Sex and the City 2
5. Death at a Funeral (Neil LaBute)
6. Extraordinary Measures (Tom Vaughan)
7. Cop Out (Kevin Smith)
8. Robin Hood (Ridley Scott)
9. Eclipse (David Slade)
10. Frozen (Adam Green)

BEST ACTOR
1. Tahar Rahim in Un Prophete
2. Ryan Gosling in Blue Valentine
3. Jesse Eisenberg in The Social Network
4. Scott Caan in Mercy
5. Colin Firth in The King’s Speech
6. Michael Nyqvist in The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo
7. Philip Seymour Hoffman in Jack Goes Boating
8. Casey Affleck in The Killer Inside Me
9. Javier Bardem in Biutiful
10. Joaquin Phoenix in I’m Still Here
11. Leonardo DiCaprio in Shutter Island

BEST SUPPORTING ACTOR
1. Christian Bale in The Fighter
2. Dax Shepard in The Freebie
3. John Hawkes in Winter’s Bone
4. Geoffrey Rush in The King’s Speech
5. John Ortiz in Jack Goes Boating
6. Mark Ruffalo in The Kids are All Right
7. Vincent Cassel in Black Swan
8. Ben Mendelsohn in Animal Kingdom
9. Jeremy Renner in The Town
10. Mark Ruffalo in Shutter Island

BEST ACTRESS
1. Natalie Portman in Black Swan
2. Jennifer Lawrence in Winter’s Bone
3. Michelle Williams in Blue Valentine
4. Katie Aselton in The Freebie
5. Cecile de France in Hereafter
6. Amy Ryan in Jack Goes Boating
7. Noomi Rapace in The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo
8. Nicole Kidman in Rabbit Hole
9. Annette Benning in The Kids are Alright
10. Helena Bonha Carter in The King’s Speech

BEST SUPPORTING ACTRESS
1. Lesley Manville in Another Year
2. Melissa Leo in The Fighter
3. Amy Adams in The Fighter
4. Soledad Villamil in The Secret in Their Eyes
5. Mila Kunis in Black Swan
6. Sarah Steele in Please Give
7. Marion Cotillard in Inception
8. Olivia Williams in The Ghost Writer
9. Emily Mortimer in Harry Brown
10. Daphne Rubin-Vega in Jack Goes Boating

BEST DIRECTOR
1. Christopher Nolan (Inception)
2. Jacques Audiard (Un Prophete)
3. David Fincher (The Social Network)
4. Derek Cianfrance (Blue Valentine)
5. David O. Russell (The Fighter)
6. Darren Aronofsky (Black Swan)
7. Mike Leigh (Another Year)
8. Matt Vaughn (Kick-Ass)
9. Martin Scorsese (Shutter Island)
10. Roman Polanski (The Ghost Writer)
10. Banksy (Exit Through the Gift Shop)
10. Coen Brothers (True Grit)

BEST SCREENPLAY
1. The Social Network (Aaron Sorkin)
2. Un Prophete (Jacques Auidard)
3. Blue Valentine (Derek Cianfrance)
4. Greenberg (Noah Baumbach)
5. Winter’s Bone (Debra Granik)
6. Inception (Christopher Nolan)
7. Mercy (Scott Caan)
8. Another Year (Mike Leigh)
9. The King’s Speech (David Seidler)
10. The Fighter (Scott Silver)

BEST CINEMATOGRAPHY
1. Wally Pfister (Inception)
2. Robert Richardson (Shutter Island)
3. Martin Ruhe (The American)
4. Black Swan (Matthew Libatique)
5. Tetsuo Nagata (Mic-Macs)
6. Robert Elswit (The Town)
7. Eduardo Serra (Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows, Pt. 1)
8. Tom Stern (Hereafter)
9. Ben Davis (Kick-Ass)
10. Roger Deakins (True Grit)

TEN FAVORITE DVD/BLU-RAY RELEASES OF 2010:
1. The Thin Red Line
2. Afterschool
3. America Lost and Found: The BBS Story
4. Un Prohpete
5. Paris, Texas
6. Vivre sa vie
7. Inception
8. Merry Christmas, Mr. Lawrence
9. Exit Through the Gift Shop
10. Night On Earth

TEN FAVORITE DOCUMENTARY FILMS OF 2010:
1. Exit Through the Gift Shop
2. I’m Still Here
3. The Promise
4. Waiting For Superman
5. Restrepo
6. Inside Job
7. The Tillman Story
8. Waste Land
9. Client 9
10. Freakanomics

TEN IGNORED OR PANNED FILMS FROM 2010 THAT I LOVED:
1. Mic-Macs
2. The Killer Inside Me
3. Jack Goes Boating
4. Hereafter
5. Please Give
6. Harry Brown
7. Devil
8. The Runaways
9. City Island
10. Nice Guy Johnny

FIVE FAVORITE FOREIGN FILMS OF 2010:
1. Un Prophete
2. The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo
3. The Secret in Their Eyes
4. Mic-Macs
5. Mother

FIVE FAVORITE PEDESTRIAN COMEDIES OF 2010:
1. Get Him to the Greek
2. Hot Tub Time Machine
3. The Other Guys
4. She’s Out of My League
5. Due Date

FIVE GOOD BUT OVERRATED FILMS FROM 2010:
1. The Kids Are All Right
2. Restrepo
3. The Girl Who Played With Fire
4. Youth In Revolt
5. Alice in Wonderland

Seeing as how very few of my Top 10 films are straight genre pictures, I figured I’d list my favorite common genre releases, as well as a few other favorites. Favorite Pure Comedy: Scott Pilgrim vs. The World; Favorite Offbeat Comedy: Greenberg; Favorite Pure Horror/Thriller: Let Me In; Favorite Pure Drama: Mother; Favorite Pure Action: The Town; Biggest Cheap-O Adrenaline Rush: Unstoppable; Most Impressive All-Around Production: Harry Potter; Most Fun at the Movies: Kick-Ass; Best Movie Almost No One Saw: Please Give; Most Memorable Usage of CGI: The Book of Eli; Most Memorable Editing of 2010: Scott Pilgrim vs. The World; Biggest Credibility Rise of 2010: Natalie Portman (Black Swan); Biggest Credibility Drop of 2010: Johnny Depp (Alice in Wonderland and The Tourist)

If you have a list of your own (or even just some thoughts), please, we beg you, post it below. We love seeing other people’s lists. We also love begging.

Check out 2009′s list HERE.