The Top 10 Best Movies Of 2010

Well I dunno…what is YOUR favorite movie of 2010…?

Oh how I hate to see 2010 go. It’s just such a nice round number and it will be remembered for a variety of reasons, several of which I will be naming right here. My Top 10 favorite films of 2010 are an eclectic bunch. Maybe not as strong as some years, but still every bit as entertaining as the last 4 or 5! Here are MY personal favorite movies of this past year. Let me know how YOU feel and what are your favorites!

10. The Kids Are All Right
Not every family unit is dysfunctional but this little gem does a pretty good job of tearing up a family and then piecing it back together. Annette Bening is her usual fantastic self and Mark Ruffalo is top notch as a sperm donor father with the urge to have a family.

9. Toy Story 3
Oh come on…who DOESN’T love these toys. If you don’t at least sniffle at the end, you don’t have a heart.

8. Unstoppable
My heart was pounding through most of this film as Tony Scott keeps the pacing fast and the editing frantic as Denzel Washington chews up screen time and the train steamrolls along.

7. Iron Man 2
The role Robert Downey, Jr was BORN to play, it’s as slick and centered as the first one but with more action and less talk. Can’t wait to see The Avengers!

6. Kick Ass
Based on the comic book, this…kick ass flick is a perfect blend of fanboy fun and ultra-violence. And look for the star-turn of Chloe Moretz in her role as Hit Girl! I predict some Oscar love…

5. Hereafter
Clint Eastwood directs this look at prospect of life after death and what happens to people who cheat it. Gracefully done and the actors are all top notch.

4. Scott Pilgrim vs The World
Another comic book turned major motion picture, but in this case, it feels more like a video game than it does a comic. With some awesome art direction and great music, THIS is the most fun I’ve had at the movies this year that didn’t require me to think.

3. The Social Network
How did The Facebook come to be? Well…some truths are in here, some are not. Either way it’s still pretty damn interesting to watch as a drama brought to you by Aaron Sorkin.

2. Inception
Cool concept makes its way as a cool film and having DiCaprio as the lead always makes for some interesting dialogue! I love the way this movie spins from drama to action and then gets psychological without a pause.

1. Monsters
What could have been a typical alien action film turns out to be a character study of a budding relationship between a 2 people who are a little lost in their lives. Quality entertainment that should have gotten more notice and I love the idea that the monsters aren’t the highlight of the film.

Movies I Have NOT Seen Yet That MIGHT Be On This List Later…

“Let Me In” – I’ve seen the original foreign film and it is awesome! Many say this version is even better. I plan on seeing it as soon as it’s released on video.

“Black Swan” – It’s been getting RAVE reviews and I have to believe that if anyone can put together a disturbing film about a ballerina it’s Darren Aronofsky.

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Biggest Disappointment Of 2010…”Tron: Legacy.” Maybe my hopes were just too high for this one but overall? Not anywhere as good as I had hoped it would be.

Not Surprising That It Was So Bad…”Salt.” It was just terrible and Angelina Jolie was obviously cashing a paycheck.

Biggest Surprise That Wasn’t “Monsters”…”Easy A.” I thoroughly enjoyed this little comedy, mostly for it’s 80’s movie references and the sly lead played by Emma Stone. But it’s her onscreen parents that steal the show…

Funniest Moment In A Film That Really Wasn’t All That Funny…”The Other Guys.” When Mark Wahlberg is first introduced to Will Ferrell’s wife (played by Eva Mendez), he doesn’t believe they are actually married. This 5 minute scene is almost worth the price of admission. Almost.

Movie Most Likely To Win An Oscar…”Inception.” It’s slick and the storyline is pretty convoluted but I gotta believe that it’s the most interesting & unique film of 2010.

And The Oscar Goes To __________ For Best Actor/Actress…
The Best Actress nominees will be stronger than the men this year. I have to imagine with both Bening & Julianne Moore in “The Kids Are All Right,” Nicole Kidman’s turn in “Rabbit Hole” (which I hear is excellent) and Natalie Portman in “Black Swan,” the Academy is gonna have it’s hands full on THAT debate. As for the dudes? I’m gonna go with the only person I’ve seen this year…Leonardo DiCaprio in “Inception,” but admittedly I have not seen a lot of films that are highly regarded as Oscar material this past year.

Hereafter

Death is always an iffy subject in movies. Because we have no idea what to expect, the idea of what the afterlife is like is always up to the director. So in the case of say…”The Lovely Bones,” Peter Jackson’s version was colorful and chock full of random, beautiful images. In Tim Burton’s “Beetlejuice,” the afterlife was a gruesome and crazy place with tilted doorways and the dead wandering around holding their disembodied parts. In this film, Clint Eastwood imagines the afterlife much like most would choose to imagine. It’s a serene and peaceful place where you yearn to go. And it’s within this premise that this story builds around 3 separate storylines. One centers on an American psychic. Another follows a French reporter who is swept into the current of a tsunami, changing her life forever. And the other follows a little boy who loses his identical twin brother in an accident.

Let me just say that going into this movie, I really wanted it to be one of the better films of this year. I didn’t care much for Eastwood’s last film, “Gran Torino,” which was a study in racism and under-acting. However this film has a couple of big name actors (Matt Damon being the most notable) and a premise that intrigues me, so I went in with an open mind. And for the most point, “Hereafter” did not disappoint. It’s definitely a quality film. However, much like most of Eastwood’s films, the middle kind of drags as the storylines gel and it’s in the middle that I found myself wondering how it was going to end and when it would get there.

In the lead role, Matt Damon is psychic George Lonegan. This was a role taylor-made for Damon. As much as I would like to think he can be pigeonholed into action roles like “Bourne Identity,” the guy continues to impress and this role is so subtle and heartbreaking for him that it has notched up my appreciation of his abilities. In the 2nd storyline, French actress Cecile De France is the reporter who finds herself being swept undercurrent and then experiencing life after death. De France’s Marie LeLay is the true heart of this movie. The only credit she has that I have ever heard of is the 2003 horror flick “High Tension.” She has starred in many foreign films though and her ability to convey emotion without speaking a word is one of the highlights of this movie. She’s a natural beauty and her grace under such stressful situations throughout the film is a treat to watch. I’m thinking Oscar nod for her performance here. And lastly, the young McLaren brothers who play the twins in the 3rd storyline. They turn in a fine performance as the grieving brother who can’t let go of his loss. I assume they both play the role after the death, but I’m not sure. IMDB has them both listed as playing the role so I have to assume they split the duty and did an excellent job.

2 other outstanding performances come from Bryce Dallas Howard as a woman who Lonegan meets in a cooking class. Her performance wasn’t necessary in this film, but I found it to be very good (as usual). And also the little boys’ mother, played by Lyndsay Marshall, who plays a drug addicted alcoholic. She doesn’t get too much screen time, but when she does she is as honest a portrayal of a woman torn between loss and her addictions as any I have ever seen.

“Hereafter” is not a film that is a fun night out. It asks a lot of questions and most of them are never answered. It’s basically the lives of 3 different people and how they are dealing with various levels of grief. Death is an underlying current but all 3 main characters are grieving in different ways. It’s not until the end that we learn how each will handle how they feel and it’s in that last 15 minutes where all the loose ends tie together and the film magically works. Too bad it takes so long in the middle to get where it wants to go. It doesn’t take away from the movie itself, but there are several places that probably could have been cut (the entire Howard role, several scenes of Damon sitting around in his empty apartment). I know the purpose of those scenes (to show Lonegan’s loneliness), but it doesn’t take so many of them for me to understand his plight.

Never the less…this IS a very good movie. It’s opening scene is one of the best opening scenes of any movie I’ve seen in recent memory and all performances are top notch. It’s also a very well-written movie and that should get it a lot of statue opportunities later next year.

Rating: Opening hour: A+
Middle hour: B
End of Film: A+

Overall Rating: A