The Top Ten of 2010
So. 2010. Interesting year.
First quarter was pretty weak. Second quarter was a little better. The Summer was generally horrendous. The last couple months were a significant improvement. Great year for documentaries though.
A downgrade from ’09, but a good year all the same. With that being said, here’s my brief take on the best of the best of the best of the best of the best of the best of the best of the best and so on. (Click on the titles for the full reviews).
10. 127 Hours
How Danny Boyle managed to make this story of a boy and his rock one of the most exciting movies of the year is just further testament to how hard Danny Boyle rocks. So does James Franco.
9. Inception
Rotating hallway. ‘Nough said.
8. Blue Valentine
As bittersweet as they come and a total powerhouse to boot. He won’t get it, but Gosling totally deserves Best Actor.
7. Restrepo
Embedded journalism at its finest and it’s just harrowing like you wouldn’t believe. Might be the most important movie of the year.
6. The Social Network
Best script of the year, best score of the year, best trailer of the year. Ended up being infinitely better than it had any right to be.
5. Black Swan
It’s Darren Aronofsky. That alone is enough to put any movie on my Top Ten. And Portman’s got that Oscar in the bag.
4. Winter’s Bone
Achieves so freakin’ much on so freakin’ little. The most tough-as-nails movie of the year, some unreal performances from folks who deserve to be household names, and easily one of the best scripts I’ve come across in a while.
3. Scott Pilgrim vs. the World
A movie after my own heart. Best time I had in a theater all year (aside from The Room, of course).
2. The Tillman Story
Reminded me why I go to the movies, reminded me of the power of movies, made me want to punch Donald Rumsfeld in the fucking mouth. Required viewing for anyone who’s never heard of Pat Tillman or thinks they know the story.
1. Inside Job
The most important movie of the year by a long shot. Deserves to be part of High School and college curriculums across the globe, it’ll make you want to scream, and it’s just impossible to walk away from this and not be furious. Like I said, a great year for docs, but this one took the cake.
THE HONORABLE MENTIONS:
Never Let Me Go
Characters may have been somewhat polarizing, but it’s so damn good to have Romanek back behind the camera. Gorgeous movie, even better than the book.
Mugabe and the White African
Infuriating and gut-wrenching documentary that no one saw and got zero publicity. It’s on Netflix Instant, it’s absolutely phenomenal, it deserves to be seen even if the title does nothing to peak your interest.
Toy Story 3
Not as good as Up, still need to revisit the first two movies to see where this falls in the trilogy, but who am I kidding, I bawled like a fiend during the last five minutes of this movie. Pixar cannot be stopped.
I Love You Phillip Morris
Funniest movie of the year and the best Jim Carrey’s been since Dumb & Dumber. Too bad that no one saw it.
All in all, went and saw 58 new movies this year and I’ve still got a review for Somewhere coming this week . Not too shabby, huh? How I’ve maintained a semblance of a social life is truly a feat of the highest order. Anywho, that’s the score, and just for shits and giggles, here’s what I thought of the rest of ’em.
THE Eights:
– Waking Sleeping Beauty
– Waiting for “Superman”
– TRON: Legacy
– The Town
– MacGruber
– Let Me In
– How to Train Your Dragon
– Hot Tub Time Machine
– Get Him to the Greek
– Easy A
– Catfish
THE Sevens:
– Winnebago Man
– True Grit
– The King’s Speech
– The Killer Inside Me
– The Kids Are All Right
– Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: Part 1
– Get Low
– Genius Within: The Inner Life of Glenn Gould
– The Fighter
– Exit Through the Gift Shop
– Cyrus
– The Crazies
– Casino Jack and the United States of Money
– The A-Team
THE Sixes:
– Shutter Island
– Morning Glory
– I Am Love
– Green Zone
– Date Night
THE Fives:
– Iron Man 2
– Despicable Me
THE Fours:
– Splice
– The Karate Kid
– Eat Pray Love
– Death at a Funeral
– Buried
THE Threes:
– Sex and the City 2
– Robin Hood
– Prince of Persia: The Sands of Time
– Kick-Ass
– Greenberg
THE Twos:
– Resident Evil: Afterlife
– Alice in Wonderland
THE ONES I MISSED BUT WILL GET AROUND TO IN DUE TIME:
– Rabbit Hole
– Piranha 3D
– Monsters
– Inside Job
– Enter the Void
– Another Year
– The American
Alright, gang. Let’s see those lists!
Cut The Crap Movie Reviews 
Glad to see some love for Winter’s Bone. Scott Pilgrim is up there for me as well. Interesting number of docs on your top 10. I’m terrible at keeping up with documentaries, there usually the last films I get to, but I definitely want to check out Restrepo in the next week or so.
Yeah, Restrepo was one of many great docs this year and I’m psyched to hear you liked Scott Pilgrim! More people need to be on that bandwagon! Dying to see this doc Inside Job before it leaves theaters this week, but like I said, great year for docs.
Wow! Bombing list man! Still haven’t seen Tillman Story or Restrepo, but now that they have the Aiden Redmond seal of approval, I need to get around to it stat!
Congrats on another successful year, my most honorable compatriot! Cheers!
Hahaha. Glad to hear I have a Seal of Approval and that it carries some kind of weight.
Thanks and right back at ya’ on a solid year, man!
Gotta hand it to ya, that’s a really solid top ten.
…Tron Legacy scoring an 8 is crazy, though….
hahaha. i have a feeling i’ll be defending that score for a while. but thanks all the same, they were definitely some really solid movies.
Ahah, I was going to say the same thing about Tron, but hey, it’s YOUR opinion, so who am I to argue?
Great list! My favourite films of last year were Te Social Network, Toy Story 3 (went with some friends and it was an absolute test of strength to not cry and look like the biggest softie even though we all cried in the end!), Scott Pilgrim and Imception although I really enjoyed little Brit film Made In Dagenham. Annoyed that I haven’t seen a lot of these movies because they haven’t been released in the UK yet (Black Swan doesn’t get released till FEBRUARY!!)
wow I love your list! I hadn’t seen the Tillman Story last year, but you just influenced me to watch this one!
Lots to like on this list, and a number one for me to put high up on the ‘to-see’ list! Just saw BLUE VALENTINE last night (watch for a review later today) and totally agree with you that it was one of the year’s best.
Sorta makes me wanna go back and rejig my own top five, but rules are rules.
Haha, I think I rejigged my Ten last year after seeing A Single Man after the fact, so I say go for it, homey. And really glad you dug Blue Valentine, can’t wait to read your review.
I have to admit, I always pass by RESTREPO when I shop for DVDs. Maybe I won’t simply ignore it next time. I was afraid it’d be one of “those” war movies again.
I’m still not over how disappointed (but so close to being pleased!) I was with SCOTT PILGRIM VS. THE WORLD. It’s nice to see it on someone’s list, though.
BLUE VALENTINE needs to expand. I’mthisclose to watching it online. =O
Awesome list! I always look forward to them this time of year.
Lol. Definitely not one of “those” war movies in the least. Give it a shot.
Sorry Scott Pilgrim didn’t quite blow your mind the way it did for me, but I think it helps to be a combo movie/video game nerd.
Def see Blue Valentine if you can, I’m just gonna look the other way on that one.
And I’m right there with ya’. Love these Top Ten lists.
Sweet list. Unfortunately we haven’t gotten EITHER of those documentaries down under. I also really want to see I Love You Phillip Morris and 127 Hours
Cool list. Nice to see some love for documentaries, seems most people overlook them. I think you are the only person who listed The Tillman Story in their top ten. Gonna have to check that one out.
I think you’re right about my love for Tillman, and that’s a bummer if there ever was one. Definitely give it a look, would love to see your review.
Wow. Apparently I have had absolutely no time to watch moves this past year, because I have seen exactly 4 movies from 2010, including one from 2 days ago. Which is too bad because there are so many I need to see.
But congrats on the great year for the site, keep up the good work.
Haha. Well I hope those four kicked ass.
And thanks, homey! Will do.
I think you and I are the only people in the blogosphere to have seen The Tillman Story. I feel bad for putting it so low on my list now.
Dude, the fact that it’s on your list at all makes you the man. Don’t you feel bad now, sweetheart.
Boy, to say you’re productive is a huge understatement! I saw barely half of the movies you did last year so I haven’t seen many of these. It’s amazing that you even saw Eat, Pray, Love and SATC 2, totally understand the low scores on those, ahah.
hahaha. such is the drawback of having a movie blog and thus agreeing to see any girlie movie my girlfriend wants to see. at least EPL had an awesome bit role by Richard Jenkins going for it, wish I could say at least *something*positive about SATC2 though.
Dang you got some good taste – I knew I liked you for a reason! 😉
Makes me want to see Tillman even more…I suck as an Arizonan for having not seen that in theaters. Soon!
Read the book of Never Let Me Go, but it didn’t sound at the time like the film was anything to shake a stick at, so I was meh on seeing it. Didn’t help that I was pissed at the trailer for giving away the twist, more or less. Anyway, cool to see that on here.
A 3 for Kick-Ass? I don’t remember that – that’s the only score that really made me go ‘huh?’
haha. thanks, man.
definitely see Tillman, amazed that’s not required viewing in AZ.
and you should absolutely give Never Let Me Go a shot even if you’re probably better off not having read the book beforehand like you and I did. still, Mark Romanek is a fucking unreal director and it totally does the book justice.
and if there was one review that’s made me the black sheep of my friends this year, it’s been Kick-Ass. I don’t know, man, just one of those movies that tried so hard to be cool but ended up falling flat on its ass for me. except for Chloe Moretz though, she was awesome.
Agreed on Moretz, but everything else is just not good.
The movie itself, or my disliking of the movie?
1. Enter the Void
2. Dogtooth
3. Everyone Else
4. Alamar
Those are my top 4 and only one is mentioned? I predict good films in your future, if you choose wisely.
Only recently heard about Everyone Else, but Enter the Void and Dogtooth reviews should be coming up next week. Looking forward to ’em.
May I add that #2 is now The Temptation of St. Tony? Just saw it in the theater and, yeah, amazing. Reminiscent of Songs from the Second Floor and Kafka. And if you haven’t seen Songs from the Second Floor – well, it’s my favorite film of the last… since it came out, that time period.
Never heard of either of those, will check ’em out though. Thanks for the heads up.