THIS YEAR'S HONORABLE MENTIONS THAT AREN'T REALLY WORTH EXPANDING UPON WELL EXCEPT MAYBE ONE, POSSIBLY TWO, I'LL GET TO IT: 127 Hours, Black Swan, True Grit, The Losers, The Expendables, Green Zone, Polanski's The Ghost Writer: McGregor's Revenge, The Kids are Alright, Book of Eli, Shutter Island aka Scorsese's Inglourious Basterds (as in Shutter Island is a movie steeped in homage to a bunch of other movies, in case you didn't know Basterds is as well.)
TWO FILMS WORTH SEEING AND TALKING ABOUT:
Greenberg - Not as brilliant as Noah Baumbach's The Squid and the Whale but worth seeing just to remember Ben Stiller can still act.
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Catfish - This one can also be described as the "other facebook movie of 2010". Catfish is teeming with ideas intentional or unintentional that are all worth discussing. Whether this documentary is just cheap emotional exploitation, an intriguing look at web-based relationships or just about three entitled assholes with the need to document stuff, Catfish is worth the time.
DISCLAIMER: POSSIBLY GOOD MOVIES THAT I DIDN'T WATCH THIS YEAR, YOU PROBABLY DIDN'T EITHER BUT THAT'S OKAY: Never Let Me Go, Buried, Waiting for Superman, Get Low, The Extra Man. The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo, The Illusionist, and Let Me In.
15 MOVIES OF THE YEAR 2010
15. Red Riding Trilogy - These three films The Year of our Lord 1974, 1980, and 1983 have been unfairly compared to the Godfather trilogy and of all things The Wire. Well, I'll say that Red Riding doesn't even come close to the greatness of either of those but it is incredibly entertaining. It is pulp b-movie material brought to a-level with phenomenal acting by the three respective leads, Andrew Garfield (above), Paddy Considine, David Morrissey. It also has horrifying depictions of the British lower and working classes (if you were wondering where The Wire comparisons were coming from).
14. Centurion - Neil Marshall is easily the most under appreciated director working today. He makes genre films but he knows how to make them feel effortlessly entertaining, something missing from the supposed blockbusters (check Iron Man 2 and Tron:Legacy). Centurion is action done right, R-rated to boot, something we don't get enough of these days, especially when it's actually done well. This movie proves Michael Fassbender is a born leading man (see also 2008's Hunger).
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13. Restrepo - This documentary has received heaps of praise and deserves it. Restrepo has the most affecting and harrowing scene of 2010 when a soldier suffers an emotional breakdown hearing the news regarding the death of a fellow soldier. It is such a nakedly honest moment that is likely never to leave my memory.
12. The Killer Inside Me - I had hard time putting this film on my list. It is by no means an enjoyable film to watch and most people will probably look at you funny if you said you "liked" this film. The Killer Inside Me is incredibly brutal and fucked up. If the violence depicted in this film doesn't affect you somehow, you're completely fucked up in ways I can't possibly imagine. Think of it as a spiritual successor to American Psycho but much less funny. Casey Affleck delivers on another weird and great performance.
11. Exit Through the Gift Shop - The Banksy directed meta-documentary is one of the best explorations of art, pop-art, and artists to hit the screen. At times both poignant and hilarious, easily the best documentary of 2010.
10. I Love You Phillip Morris - Another in the insincere bordering on cruel dark comedy genre that includes anything by Jody Hill (Observe & Report, Eastbound & Down) and World's Greatest Dad. The movie is on my list just for the ballsiest move in a third act ever. Jim Carrey and Ewan McGregor's gay relationship was probably the best relationship on-screen in 2010.
9. Scott Pilgrim vs. The World - It's here, deal with it.
8. Inception - Easily Christopher Nolan's best film. Inception represents that perfect balance between auteurism and mainstream blockbuster entertainment. It's movies like this that can renew your love of film and what it can do.
7. The American -Anton Corbijin's second film is the kind of low-key uber-subtle character study we also don't get enough of. The fact that it has been made and released is kind of a minor miracle especially coming from a major studio. This is the most beautifully photographed movie of 2010.
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6. Winter's Bone - AKA, the third in what I call "The depressing living a shitty life featuring-an-amazing -young-actress-in-the-lead-trilogy" (includes Precious and Fish Tank). Can be easily dubbed as Precious for the white trash meth-addict crowd. Lead actress Jennifer Lawrence should be lock for at least a lead actress oscar nomination. My pullquote: "Watch this fucking movie already, it's life-affirming in the worst possible way, whatever the fuck that means!"
5. The King's Speech - Consider this one the Rocky of speech impediment movies. Great performances by Colin Firth and Geoffrey Rush (who both should also be locks for best actor and best supporting nominations). Also just behind that one other movie (see number 2), it is the second best written film this year and that's saying a lot (Why? Because I fucking said so).
4. Four Lions - The Brits seem to be leading the way in the socially conscious political comedy arena, which also includes 2009's brilliant In the Loop. Four Lions makes the trajectory from bitingly hilarious to downright sad. The fact that the movie makes you feel for a group of bumbling suicide bombers is probably one of the best cinematic achievements of 2010. (This was an ill-advised attempt at disparaging boring visual-effects films and blockbusters, if has to be re-stated again and again, the best films are the ones that focus on story and characters, the ones that can deeply touch a chord just through great writing (which Four Lions has in spades), in all I just wanted to say anyone older than 20 should realize how shitty boring and dull Tron: Legacy is.
3. Animal Kingdom - AKA: GREAT FUCKING SUPPORTING PERFORMANCES: THE MOVIE. There is a scene in the middle section of Animal Kingdom as Sullvian Stapleton is running through an open field fleeing from police officers as the film's score briefly takes over the soundscape of the movie that reminded me what great films are made of. I make no bones about it, crime films are probably my favorite genre and I get downright ecstatic and giddy when a really fucking good one comes along. Animal Kingdom is filled with great performances (especially Joel Edgerton, on the left) and future stars (all the men in this film represent the polar opposite of types like Zac Efron and Justin Bieber), one hopes the future of Hollywood is with the actors you find in this film (unfortunately that's unlikely to happen). It's films like this one that make me forget all the other shitty movies this year, and totally reaffirms my love and interest in film.
2. The Social Network - Easily the best written film of 2010, deserves every bit praise it has received, and if it sweeps the oscars, don't be too surprised. Every bit of this film is flawless, the performances, the editing, to the awesome electronic score. The Social Network is the definitive film of the aughts or about the aughts, it is the perfect snapshot of a time and place (I really wanted to say that time and place being "now" and realized how lame and cheesy that sounded but fuck it, that's what The Social Network is and it's fucking brilliant).
1. Enter the Void - Nihilistic, misanthropic, cruel, juvenile, mean-spirited, over-indulgent, messy, horrifying and just plain out amazing. I haven't been this pulverized by a film since Requiem for a Dream, it is confident aggressive film-making at its finest. It is refreshing to see a filmmaker just go all the fucking way and succeed, it is ambition meeting technical skill in such a way that is rare, that it is criminal not take notice of this confluence of ideas and visual audacity. (Too many times a filmmaker takes on their overly ambitious dream project and is unable to meet expectations, think Richard Kelly's Southland Tales or anything Gilliam has done lately). Gaspar Noe takes you on journey of isolation, existentialism and human depravity with such visual fervor you have no option but to sit back and ride this fucked up roller coaster of a movie.
