Films: 2010

FAVORITE FILMS OF 2010 (SO FAR)

The Wolfman (Joe Johnston) - 0/10

The Last Airbender (M. Night Shyamalan) - 0.5/10

Dear John (Lasse Hallstrom) - 0.5/10

Sex and the City 2 (Michael Patrick Scott) - 0.5/10

Death at a Funeral (Neil LaBute) - 1/10

Extraordinary Measures (Tom Vaughan) - 1.5/10

Cop Out (Kevin Smith) - 1.5/10

Robin Hood (Ridley Scott) - 1.5/10

Date Night (Shawn Levy) -3/10

Eclipse (David Slade) - 3/10

How Do You Know (James L. Brooks) - 3/10

Frozen (Adam Green) - 3/10

Eat Pray Love (Ryan Murphy) - 3/10

Welcome to the Rileys (Jake Scott) - 3/10

Love & Tambourines (Jeremy Cohen) - 3/10

Leaves of Grass (Tim Blake Nelson) - 3.25/10

Solitary Man (Brian Koppelman) - 3.5/10

Salt (Phillip Noyce) - 3.5/10

She’s Out of My League (Jim Field Smith) - 3.5/10

The Human Centipede (Tom Six) - 4.5/10

Morning Glory (Roger Michell) - 4.75/10

Hot Tub Time Machine (Steve Pink) - 5/10

Splice (Vincenzo Natali) - 5/10

The Other Guys (Adams McKay) - 5.5/10

Alice in Wonderland (Tim Burton) - 5.75/10

The Extra Man (Robert Pulcini and Shari Berman) - 5.75/10

Boogie Woogie (Duncan Ward) - 5.75/10

Youth In Revolt (Miguel Arteta) - 5.75/10

Chloe (Atom Egoyan) - 5.75/10

Due Date (Todd Phillips) - 6/10

The Runaways (Floria Sigismondi) - 6/10

Runaway (Kanye West) - 6/10

Restrepo (Tim Hetherington and Sebastian Junger) - 6.25/10

Nice Guy Johnny (Ed Burns) - 6.25/10

Dinner for Schmucks (Jay Roach) - 6.25/10

Buried (Rodrigo Cortes) - 6.25/10

Waiting for Superman (Davis Guggenheim) - 6.25/10

City Island (Raymond de Felitta) - 6.25/10

The Girl Who Played With Fire (Daniel Alfredson) - 6.25/10

The Book of Eli (Hughes Brothers) - 6.75/10

Catfish (Henry Joose and Ariel Schulman) - 7/10

Wall Street: Money Never Sleeps (Oliver Stone) - 7/10

Machete (Robert Rodriguez) - 7/10

Tamara Drewe (Stephen Frears) - 7/10

You Will Meet a Tall Dark Stranger (Woody Allen) - 7/10

Unstoppable (Tony Scott) - 7/10

Devil (Erick Dowdle) - 7/10

Easy A (Will Gluck) - 7.25/10

Love and Other Drugs (Edward Zwick) - 7.25/10

Green Zone (Paul Greengrass) - 7.25/10

Iron Man 2 (Jon Favreau) - 8/10

It’s Kind of a Funny Story (Ryan Fleck) - 8/10

Harry Brown (Daniel Barber) - 8.25/10

The Next Three Days (Paul Haggis) - 8.5/10

Please Give (Nicole Holofcener) - 7.25/10

Somewhere (Sofia Coppola) - 7.25/10

The Kids Are All Right (Lisa Cholodenko) - 7.25/10

Never Let Me Go (Mark Romanek) - 7.25/10

I'm Still Here (Casey Affleck) - 7.25/10

Mother (Bong Joon-ho) - 8.5/10

Cyrus (Duplass Brothers) - 8.5/10

Toy Story 3 (Lee Unkrich) - 8.75/10

127 Hours (Danny Boyle) - 8.75/10

Scott Pilgrim vs. The World (Edgar Wright) - 8.75/10

Hereafter (Clint Eastwood) - 8.75/10

The Secret In Their Eyes (Juan Jose Campanella) - 8.75/10

Let Me In (Matt Reeves) - 8.75/10

Despicable Me (Pierre Coffin & Chris Renaud) - 8.75/10

Animal Kingdom (David Michod) - 8.75/10

The Ghost Writer (Roman Polanski) - 8.75/10

Jack Goes Boating (Philip Seymour Hoffman) - 8.75/10

The Killer Inside Me (Michael Winterbottom) - 8.75/10

Mic-Macs (Jean-Pierre Jeunet) - 8.75/10

True Grit (Coen Brothers) - 8.75/10

Blue Valentine (Derek Cianfrance) - 8.75/10

Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: Pt. 1 (David Yates) - 8.75

The King's Speech (Tom Hooper) - 8.75/10

The Fighter (David O. Russell) - 8.75/10

Another Year (Mike Leigh) - 8.75/10

Kick-Ass (Matthew Vaughn) - 8.75/10

The Town (Ben Affleck) - 8.75/10

Shutter Island (Martin Scorsese) - 8.75/10

Greenberg (Noah Baumbach) - 8.75/10

Exit Through the Gift Shop (Banksy) - 9.5/10

The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo (Niels Arden Oplev) - 9.5/10

Winter’s Bone (Debra Granik) - 9.5/10

The American (Anton Corbijn) - 9.5/10

Black Swan (Darren Aronofsky) - 9.75/10

The Social Network (David Fincher) - 9.5/10

Inception (Christopher Nolan) - 9.75/10

Un Prophete (Jacques Audiard) - 10/10

BEST ACTOR

Tahar Rahim in Un Prophete

Colin Firth in The King's Speech

Jesse Eisenberg in The Social Network

Michael Nyqvist in The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo

Ryan Gosling in Blue Valentine

Leonardo DiCaprio in Inception

Philip Seymour Hoffman in Jack Goes Boating

BEST SUPPORTING ACTRESS

Lesley Manville in Another Year

Melissa Leo in The Fighter

Amy Adams in The Fighter

Mila Kunis in Black Swan

Sarah Steele in Please Give

Marion Cotillard in Inception

Emily Mortimer in Harry Brown

Daphne Rubin-Vega in Jack Goes Boating

BEST DIRECTOR

Christopher Nolan (Inception)

Darren Aronofsky (Black Swan)

Jacques Audiard (Un Prophete)

David Fincher (The Social Network)

Mike Leigh (Another Year)

Matt Vaughn (Kick-Ass)

Martin Scorsese (Shutter Island)

David Michod (Animal Kingdom)

Roman Polanski (The Ghost Writer)

David O. Russell (The Fighter)

Ben Affleck (The Town)

Derek Cianfrance (Blue Valentine)

Banksy (Exit Through the Gift Shop)

Bong Joon-ho (Mother)

BEST SCREENPLAY

Un Prophete (Jacques Auidard)

The Social Network (Aaron Sorkin)

Inception (Christopher Nolan)

Another Year (Mike Leigh)

Animal Kingdom (David Michod)

Black Swan (Mark Heyman, Andrews Heinz & John McLaughlin)

Greenberg (Noah Baumbach)

Jack Goes Boating (Bob Glaudini)

BEST CINEMATOGRAPHY

Wally Pfister (Inception)

Robert Richardson (Shutter Island)

Martin Ruhe (The American)

Black Swan (Matthew Libatique)

Robert Elswit (The Town)

Eduardo Serra (Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows, Pt. 1)

Tetsuo Nagata (Mic-Macs)

Barry Ackroyd (Green Zone)

Tom Stern (Hereafter)

Ben Davis (Kick-Ass)

Adam Arkapaw (Animal Kingdom)

This year was, if you dug deep enough, an abnormally beautiful year at the movies. Probably the best since 2007. 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. Enough talk, let’s get on with it; here they are, my so-far Top 25 films from 2010 (plus nine additional lists):

Ten Favorite Films of 2010 (So Far):

1. Un Prophete - 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.

2. Inception - 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?

3. The Social Network - 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.

4. Black Swan - 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.

5. The American - 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.

6. Winter’s Bone - 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.

7. The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo - 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.

8. Exit Through the Gift Shop - Scam or no scam, this documentary from the mind of Banksy works well as both a story and think piece about the treatment and place of fine art in the modern world. More than anything else in 2010 - book, album, film or otherwise - Gift Shop was the one new release that I couldn’t stop talking about for days, even weeks after seeing it.

9. Greenberg - 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.

10. Shutter Island - Martin Scorsese’s long awaited adaptation of Dennis Lehane’s book is an thoughtfully crafted film that brings to mind the moods and pacing of Hitchcock and the dreamy/hypnotic set pieces of Kubrick. The kind of production that only a tried and true master could manage.

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)

TEN FAVORITE DVD/BLU-RAY RELEASES OF 2010:

1. The Thin Red Line

2. America Lost and Found: The BBS Story

3. Un Prohpete

4. Paris, Texas

5. Vivre sa vie

6. Inception

7. Merry Christmas, Mr. Lawrence

8. Exit Through the Gift Shop

9. Night On Earth

10. Mic-Macs

TEN FAVORITE DOCUMENTARY FILMS OF 2010:

1. Exit Through the Gift Shop

2. I’m Still Here

3. Waiting For Superman

4. Restrepo

5. Inside Job

6. The Tillman Story

7. Waste Land

8. Client 9

9. Freakanomics

10. Joan Rivers: A Piece of Work

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 LANGUAGE 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)