What Are Your Best Films of 2010?
It’s the last day of 2010 and the time of year when film critics release their “best of” lists. My own favorite films released (in the U.S.) in 2010 were (in no particular order) Exit Through the Gift Shop, Mother, Inception, The Social Network, Black Swan, Prince of Broadway, Winter’s Bone, The Tillman Story, Restrepo, El Secreto de sus Ojos, I Am Love, and True Grit. I haven’t seen yet, but am looking forward to, The Oath, Blue Valentine, Catfish, Carlos, Inside Job, Somewhere, You Won’t Miss Me, Enter the Void, Monsters, Tiny Furniture, The American, Machete, Biutiful, The Ghost Writer, and, um, Toy Story 3. What were your favorite films of the year?
As for the picks of others, here’s a video review from The Onion’s media review offshoot The A.V. Club, which recently partnered with online TV network Revision3 to launch A.V. Talk. Their first episodes nicely recap their blockbusters and indie film picks of the year, while also offering a peek at the state of online TV/vlogging. I’m posting this here because Nathan Rabin is one of my favorite film critics, but I’m also wondering if there is anything like this specifically for D.I.Y. films. Anyone know of such a round-up? If not, it’s something to keep in mind for future articles…
There is some NSFW language in these videos.
Also see the following year-end recaps:
- The 15 Best Films of 2010 – The A.V. Club
- indieWIRE Contributors’ Top 10
- Rotten Tomatoes Editors Choose Their Favorite Films of 2010
- Metacritic – Films of 2010 by Metascore
How about you — what are the 2010 films you’d recommend to others?
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16 COMMENTS
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looking at the rates I’ve given on filmaffinity, 2010 has been a rather unremarkable year: the best I’ve shelled out was a seven (green zone, inception, toy story 3), while 2009 had a ten (up), several nines (el secreto de sus ojos, district 9, watchmen), and a bunch of eights (planet 51, coraline, whatever works, inglorious basterds)
or maybe it’s just that I’m a slow movie watcher, and I still haven’t seen many of the flicks you cite…
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For me 2010 was a terrible year for main stream movies. So save yourself a few hours you’ll never get back and skip The American and The Ghost Writer. Kick Ass, Toy story 3 and Inception were among the best I’ve seen, though I wonder if they only shine due to lack of competition?
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Constantin on 01.6.11 @ 3:57PM
I can agree with most of the films on your list such as I Am Love and True Grit although I’d say that Black Swan was by far the best film of 2010, Aronovsky’s finest piece of work so far and an amazing portrayal of a woman driven by ambition and a mother with a questionable mental condition that slowly descends into the realm of madness . Inception was a visually stunning movie with fine perfomances from most of the cast but a convoluted plot and way too much hype surrounding it. A film that just comes to mind and should have made your list is Van Dormaels’ Mr.Nobody, one of the most imaginative films in years in my opninion although I’m not sure when it got its North American release. In Germany it was released in 2010 and another one would be the quite remarkable Sin Nombre.
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Sin Nombre was 2009 in the US. I look forward to catching Mr. Nobody, and I completely agree that Black Swan is Aronofsky’s finest.
One question about Black Swan, though — did anyone else think the mother didn’t exist, that she was a figment of Portman’s imagination? You never see her outside the apartment except in the very last scene (just as a detached face in the crowd), and the only other character she interacts with is Milas Kunis’s — and much of that night turned out to also be a hallucination.
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Very plausible, in the scene where Kunis calls to the appartment and also when they return, there was no interaction between Kunis or the Mother. Maybe in that scene at least, they were both in her mind.
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Vincent Galiano on 01.6.11 @ 3:59PM
I still have a few films to see to be sure, but my top 10 films released in France are
The Ghost Writer
Uncle Boonmee who can recall his past lifes
Inception
Poetry/Mother
Buried
Enter the void
Les amours imaginaires
Life, Above All
Toy Story 3/The Social Network
Kick-AssOther great films: Antoher year, Copie conforme, Des hommes et des dieux, Jean-Michel Basquiat, Lola, Mammuth, Venus noire, Sound of noise, Rubber (french film shot in USA with a 5D, about a serial-killer tire).
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Buried — another film I didn’t get a chance to see but want to. Is Rubber available to watch anywhere?
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Travis on 01.6.11 @ 8:05PM
Ya tough year far as movies go, but still some diamonds, Inception for sure, and no one has even mentioned The Fighter? Quite possibly Christian Bale’s Picasso. Kick-Ass was….kick ass, and really enjoyed The Town as well. Best cartoon TIE between How To Train Your Dragon and Despicable Me. I haven’t seen Black Swan yet(hopefully this weekend) But I think I have a three way tie for my favorite: Social Network, Inception, & The Fighter. Great thread though thanks.
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Joyce on 01.6.11 @ 8:43PM
Yay! I was waiting for someone to mention The Fighter. Great ensemble cast well-orchestrated by the director.
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Rafa_Ga on 01.7.11 @ 9:44AM
I might get ***kicked, but I really have to say… Don’t know why sooo many people liked “Inception”… It’s well made, but in my opinion, at the end they tried so hard to “climax” that, there’s no climax at all… I got bored at the end. A script teacher once told me, a movie it’s like and erection, and the climax it’s when you cum… Well, from my very own point of view, “Inception” has a very (extremly, impossible) long CUM!.
Overrated!
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I just watched A Prophet and with a very nice aftertaste I’d easily call it my favorite of 2010
plus, I’ve got a great tip for another 2010 movie: check out Buried:
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1462758/
http://boxofficemojo.com/movies/?page=intl&id=buried.htmI haven’t watched it, so I don’t know if it is any good, but no matter what you have to admire it as a writer+producer masterpiece: with a budget of $2 million (I guess most of it going to the only one actor, Ryan Reinolds), it has grossed over $18 million worldwide
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well, I just watched Black Swan, and I had to blow some steam, so I figured this would be a good place for a rant…
not only did I feel it was not a good movie at all, but Aronofsky should go to jail for saying it is not based on Perfect Blue (Satoshi Kon, 1998); it is a direct ripoff, including all the basic story (star gets stressed with advances in career and starts to lose grip on reality, as she works on a play that tells the story of precisely what’s happening to her), but there are tons of details directly cut and pasted, in case your’re not one to care for subtleties:
* nemesis stabbed in belly with piece of broken glass
* wall with lots of pictures that suddenly start to talk
* motherly figure brings cake (which they don’t eat)
* seeing strange things while commuting in the underground
* and even the name of the main character (nina vs mima)and there’s even another “holding breath underwater in bath” scene, after having copied it already, pretty meticulously, in Requiem for a Dream:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=anlHmGA-Bvsbut of course the biggest concern is that the story is basically the same, with just a couple of different twists
poor Satoshi Kon, all his movies being ripped without any kind of decency or respect
I can’t imagine how Aronofsky could present his movie in Venice as “not influenced by Perfect Blue” with a straight face, just one week after Kon had died of pancreatic cancer
disgusting
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- Gen Ip’s ‘Filmography 2010′ Transcends the Trailer Mashup Genre | NoFilmSchool on 01.11.11 @ 9:23AM
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Me and a few of my fellow geeks just posted our top five lists this morning. Mine were 1) Scott Pilgrim 2)The King’s Speech 3)Inception 4)How to Train Your Dragon 5)True Grit.
Overall, Inception, Scott Pilgrim, and The Social Network showed up the most on our lists.