The Top 10 Films of 2010

When I look back at my top ten lists from the past few years, it becomes evident that 2010 has been a good year for movies, but not a great one. Take 2007 for example. My top films of that year were No Country for Old Men, There Will be Blood, Once, and The Diving Bell and the Butterfly. All four of these films have continued to hold a treasured place in my cinematic heart for the last few years. In fact, I would still place all of them on my top 100 list of all-time favorite movies. 2010, I’m afraid, won’t fare as well in the future. While I liked all the films on my list, I don’t imagine coming back to them for repeated viewings very often.

When I try to notice trends in my current end-of-year list, I am reminded of the fact that there is nothing new under the sun. My favorite film of the year was by an auteur who has explored very similar ground in the past (Lost in Translation). Two films on the list (Let Me In and True Grit) are ostensibly remakes of previous films, although the directors of both movies claim that they were simply offering an alternative adaptation of the source material in question, rather than a proper re-make of the first movie. It seems that few filmmakers this year explored uncharted territory. Despite the unoriginality of this year’s cinematic crop, I still found myself generally having a good time at the movies. I suppose there’s nothing wrong with cinematic comfort food sometimes. Here’s to the New Year. May all your film-going experiences in 2011 be merry and bright!

#10: The Ghost Writer (Directed by Roman Polanski)


In all of the hoopla surrounding Roman Polanski’s legal troubles, it is sometimes forgotten that Polanski is indeed one of the great directors of our time. The Ghost Writer is a reminder of Polanski’s former brilliance. Pierce Brosnan and Ewan McGregor star in this Hitchcockian thriller about a former British prime minister and the writer who is reluctantly called upon to pen his memoirs.

#9: Winter’s Bone (Directed by Debra Granik)


A bleak take on the drug crisis in America’s Ozark region, Granik’s Winter Bone is like a more emotionally gut-wrenching version of AMC’s Breaking Bad. Jennifer Lawrence plays a teenage girl who must not only provide financially for her troubled family, but also solve the mysteries surrounding her father’s death. Talk about true grit … Lawrence’s character surely has it.

#8: The Kids Are All Right (Directed by Lisa Cholodenko)


This dramedy about a modern family is both apolitical and authentic in its emotional honesty. Chock full of so many great performances I can’t even name them in this small space and employing a script full of beauty and truth, this is one of the most enjoyable character studies of the year. It also contains one of my favorite musical moments in the year in cinema, involving Annette Bening’s character and the Joni Mitchell record Blue.

#7: Let Me In (Directed by Matt Reeves)


Oh, vampires, how popular you have become. Every time I hear someone talking about the latest Twilight film, I so desperately want to turn them on to both the Danish film Let the Right One In and this, its American cousin. Both movies create an authentically creepy atmosphere while exploring what it means to be an outsider in contemporary society. While the imagery in Let Me In is quite chilling, the film hints at realities below the surface far more chilling than its eerie exterior.

#6: Exit through the Gift Shop (Directed by Banksy)


This “documentary” by “Banksy” is one of the year’s most endlessly fascinating films. Why do I put both the film’s genre and creator in quotation marks? Because the reality of this movie about the L.A. graffiti art scene is anything but unambiguous. Are we watching a document of reality? Are we watching a fictionalized account? Is Banksy real? Can we ever know for sure? Was the concept of this film lifted from Orson Welles’ classic cinematic essay F for Fake. Probably. That’s okay, though, it’s still loads of fun.

#5: Black Swan (Directed by Darren Aranofsky)


Who’s afraid of big, bad melodrama? I’m not, as long as it’s done with 100% emotional commitment to the material. Aranofsky has delivered one of the most madly over-the-top renderings of artistic turmoil in the history of motion pictures. Natalie Portman, Mila Kunis, and Barbara Hershey jump on board, delivering performances both physically and emotionally demanding. Prepare to have your image of ballet as a benign, gentle art form torn to pieces.

#4: Toy Story 3 (Directed by Lee Unkrich)


I have only cried at three movies in my life: GoodFellas, The Godfather, and Mean Streets. Well, make that four. I’m not sure how Pixar has done it, but they managed to top the artistic success of Ratatouille, WALL-E, and Up to make their most satisfying film to date. The fact that it’s the (presumably) final film in a trilogy renders its greatness all the more remarkable. It manages to touch on such universal themes as loss, death, and the illusionary concept of “home” without batting an eye. Long live Woody, Buzz Lightyear, and the rest!

#3: True Grit (Directed by Joel Coen and Ethan Coen)


Don’t call it a remake. It’s actually just an insanely faithful adaptation of Charles Portis’ 1968 deconstructive novel of the mythical West. Jeff Bridges can’t top the Duke—who would even try?—but he brings his own over-the-top flair to his interpretation of the great Rooster Cogburn. All the requisite Coen touches are here, but in smaller doses than usual. You might even be able to take grandma to this one, if she missed out on The Big Lebowski.

#2: The Social Network (Directed by David Fincher)


A film that truly deserves all the hype it has gotten (and that’s a lot). Aaron Sorkin’s screwball comedy-style script coupled with Jesse Eisenberg’s fascinating lead performance yields a truly delightful cinematic experience. David Fincher’s film has aspirations towards a Citizen Kane-like combination of subtle humor, intense social drama, and insightful commentary about the times in which we live.

#1: Somewhere (Directed by Sofia Coppola)


I am a sucker for this sort of deliberately-paced, atmospheric mood piece. Coppola won my heart with Lost and Translation, and Somewhere is like a more experimental, artistically mature sequel. Stephen Dorff plays a Hollywood actor with a mid-life crisis living an extended lost weekend at the Chateau Marmont. Elle Fanning plays his 11-year-old daughter. Over the course of several touching, beautifully rendered moments together, both father and daughter come to subtle, emotionally ambiguous realizations about themselves. Coppola’s film also contains one of the most effective pop-based scores I have heard in some time, provided by the French band Phoenix.

Honorable Mentions: The King’s Speech, Machete, Restrepo, Please Give, Waking Sleeping Beauty, The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo, Waiting for Superman, Greenburg


Best Performances of the Year (Leading, Supporting, Male, Female, or Otherwise): Jeff Bridges and Hailee Steinfeld in True Grit, Elle Fanning in Somewhere, Jesse Eisenberg and Justin Timberlake in The Social Network, Annette Bening in The Kids Are All Right, Jennifer Lawrence in Winter’s Bone, Colin Firth and Geoffrey Rush in The King’s Speech, Carey Mulligan and Keira Knightley in Never Let Me Go, Ben Stiller in Greenburg, Noomi Rapace in The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo, Tilda Swinton in I Am Love, Natalie Portman in Black Swan

 Biggest Disappointments of the Year: Scott Pilgrim vs. the World, Inception, Never Let Me Go, Despicable Me, Cyrus

 Biggest Omissions by Default (Eligible Movies I Regrettably Haven’t Seen Yet): 127 Hours, Blue Valentine, Rabbit Hole, 127 Hours, All Good Things, Another Year, Wild Grass


Top 5 Non-New Releases I Saw for the First Time in 2010: Glengarry Glenn Ross, The Exorcist, The Out-of-Towners, The Warriors, A Matter of Life and Death