My Top Ten Films of 2010: Better Late Than Never

I know this is really late but I wanted to get as much watched as I could from last year before making this list as I often will see a film after forming the list and then kick myself for not including it. So, I’ve waited quite a while this year, and there are still a few films I haven’t been able to get my hands on that I think may have found themselves somewhere on this list, but I figured I would go ahead and issue it. First some honorable mentions and then the top ten…

Some honorable mentions … (in alphabetical order)

Buried – Filmed entirely in a casket six feet under the ground, it’s one of the most unrelenting and best thrillers of the year.

The Crazies - A different take on the zombie flick that has a lot of fun with a dark sense of humor.

Cyrus - One of the best subdued comedies of the year. John C. Reilly and Jonah Hill bring it.

Dogtooth – Greek film that deconstructs modern society and language itself while making you laugh uneasily and creeping you out as well.

Easy A - Emma Stone is a freaking delight in one of my favorite female performances of the year.

Enter the Void – Definitely the most unsettling film of the year. Haunting in every aspect. Stanley Kubrick would be proud.

The Fighter – The best character-driven boxing movie since Rocky.

The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo – The Swedish flick that kicked off a great trilogy. One of the best classic mystery films of the last thirty years.

I Am Love – Italian love story that shifts gears again and again, keeping you on your toes, and teaching that you can’t love someone else until you start loving yourself.

Kick-Ass – Two words: Hit Girl.

The Kids Are All Right – Great family drama that doesn’t force anything in your face. Genuine people with genuine problems.

Let Me In – Finally, a remake of a spectacular foreign film that is actually just as good as the original.

Mother – A Korean Hitchcock film that twists and turns until you simply don’t know what to expect anymore.

Never Let Me Go - A bleak, melancholy drama that flirts with science fiction and speaks of what it is to be human and the importance of both life and death.

Predators - A love letter to the die-hard fans of the classic original.

Restrepo – Mind-blowing documentary following a platoon set up in one of the most dangerous outposts in Afghanistan.

The Town – Ben Affleck proves for a second time that he’s a filmmaker to be reckoned with and is quickly becoming one of the best voices in contemporary crime films we have.

True Grit – The Coen Brothers deliver a straight-away damn good Western with a deeper meaning about losing one’s innocence in a place where innocence is never rewarded.

Winter’s Bone – Backwoods Appalachian neo-noir film populated with genuine characters and amazing performances.

Youth in Revolt - Off-kilter teen comedy with one of the best performances by Michael Cera yet.

And the top ten are…

10. Catfish – There may not have been another film this year that I wasn’t more wrapped up in. Without giving anything away, it’s a perfect film for this generation and the sadness that comes with how easy it is to not have to reconcile ourselves with our own identities. It’s a documentary that is funny, creepy, mysterious, jaw-dropping, heartbreaking, and ultimately heartwarming.

09. Shutter Island – I’m with Gareth Higgins and David Dark when it comes to the brilliance of this movie and what it’s trying to say. On the surface, Scorcese is expertly revisiting his love of Hitchcock but under the surface is a much more serious indictment of something America is finding itself more and more apart of–lying to oneself about truth in order to feel better about our own selfishness.

08. Exit Through the Gift Shop – Whether this documentary is entirely genuine or not is missing the point. What begins as the story of the cultural phenomenon of street-art ends up a commentary on art itself, taking satirical jabs at art collectors, hipster lemmings, and even the exact kind of personas that Banksy himself typifies. Like a lot of art, it’s an abstract documentary that can mean a lot of different things at once.

07. Black Swan – Darren Aronofsky delivers a lesson in building intensity. From the get-go, this film builds to a release without the need for action scenes or explosions. And it’s all entirely in someone’s own psyche. The visceral way in which he depicts the fragmentation of a mind are expertly done with an amazing assist by Natalie Portman who has never been better.

06. Toy Story 3 – Pixar does it again with another hilarious and fun film that is subversively about something much more adult. The subject of death and loss is all over this film. The scene in the incinerator, where death is met not with kicking and screaming but with a solemn acceptance is one of the most beautiful and human things I’ve seen in a film in a long time–And it’s a freaking cartoon!

05. The King’s Speech – Classy filmmaking all around. Everyone does such a great job here, it reminds you why the English invented this stuff. It’s one of those timeless flicks that doesn’t need any kind of gimmick to make things work. It’s simply strong filmmaking. And for all you Bible nerds out there who also couldn’t not think of Moses the entire film–I salute you.

04. Scott Pilgrim vs. the World – Edgar Wright’s movies are so much fun they should be illegal. Most films that are qualified as “witty” are usually deemed so because of their screenplays. But Wright’s films are soaked in wit from the visual references to the editing. The flick is like if Lloyd Dobler had lived in some fantasy world constructed from comic books, video games, and eighties action flicks where his Diane Court is a punk-rock chick who constantly changes her hair color.

03. 127 Hours – What begins as just a fascinating true story becomes so much more as Danny Boyle starts to incorporate both appropriate film techniques to the building psychosis as well as a deeper meaning. Aaron Ralston is depicted as a loner who doesn’t need people in his life. And even after doing something to free himself, he still needs the assistance of others. It’s a simple but profoundly executed idea that rings so beautifully in a theological context–We can’t save ourselves.

02. Inception – Christopher Nolan continues to craft films that are a lot of fun while still having big ideas to wrestle with. The film deals with interpersonal manipulation and self deception but also has another even deeper meta-level to it about the filmmaking process itself as each character takes on a role from a movie set. But perhaps the most impressive thing about the film is that it is a wholly original piece of science fiction. (And yes, the top was about to fall.)

01. The Social Network – This is the kind of film that defines a generation and it does it so brilliantly that it can’t not be at the top of my list. David Fincher and Aaron Sorkin take the biggest phenomenon of this generation and not only tell its story, but comment on the impact of said phenomenon within the story itself. This film’s version of Mark Zuckerberg is a representation of all of us who can’t remember a time where we didn’t have online identities and we weren’t wrestling with being genuine in such a fame-obsessed world. It’s a masterful work of social commentary.