Timmmaaaaay's Top 10 of 2010

We're into the beginning of the New Year and there is a bit of a lull until the next wave of movies that I'm looking forward to seeing in theaters hit so there's not a much better time to drop my Top 10 list for the past year on you. Just a couple things to keep in mind as you take a look at the countdown:
  1. As always, the list is an opinion and includes movies that I actually saw in the theater upon their release. There's a good chance you won't agree with some of the films, or their placement, but with a little luck, there may be something on here that sparks your interest.
  2. These are the films that I enjoyed the most when I saw them in the theater not necessarily the best from an award winning potential standpoint.
  3. Most of these films I had reviewed earlier in the year. If you have more interest than the bullet point I've listed here, click the movie title and follow the link to my previously posted review.
Movies from 2010 that I wanted to see, but didn't get to in the theater (I either did not have the chance, or they had not yet been released locally): Monsters, 127 Hours, The King's Speech, and Secretariat. From what I hear, these may have made the list in some capacity had I gotten them in.

Honorable Mention (in alphabetical order): The Book of Eli, Despicable Me, The Expendables, Harry Brown, How to Train Your DragonKick-AssLet Me In, Predators, Shutter Island.


10) Black Swan - A Darren Aronofsky directed psycho-drama, a great role from Natalie Portman, awards worthy, and taken in via The Grandin experience (the local artsy theatre), this film about a ballerina surprised me despite all of the hype it had received.










9) The Fighter - The best sports film of 2010 (that I saw), it's a real life Rocky-like story with very good to down right excellent performances by Mark Wahlberg, Christian Bale, Amy Adams, and Melissa Leo.











8) Toy Story 3 - This beats out How to Train Your Dragon as the best animated film of the year. It may even be my favorite of the trilogy. The 'moving off to college and leaving things behind' plot was one that I could relate to and hit close to home.










7) Winter's Bone - I had only heard of Winter's Bone because a friend was talking about trying to see it while he was in town (good looking out Wieder). Who would have thought that a movie built around Meth-lords in the Ozarks would be so captivating. Jennifer Lawrence should grab an Oscar nomination for her performance.









6) The Social Network - Probably an awards season front runner, The Social Network was the vehicle used by Jesse Eisenberg to break out of his typecasting funk of always playing the socially challenged nerd by portraying...wait for it...a socially challenged computer nerd who gave the world facebook.









5) The Town - Ben Affleck proved that his turn behind the camera with Gone Baby Gone wasn't a fluke. He also jumped back in front of the camera in this Boston (Charlestown) based heist flick in which he and Jeremy Renner knock off Fenway Park. Yeah, there was pretty much no way I wasn't going to enjoy this one.









4) Scott Pilgrim vs. The World - This definitely isn't a film for everyone, but if you have even the slightest bit of comic book/video game nerd in you and/or you grew up in the 8 bit game generation you will quickly realize why this is so high on my list.










3) The Millennium Trilogy: The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo, The Girl Who Played With Fire, The Girl Who Kicked the Hornet's Nest - You've heard of the books by the late Swedish author Stieg Larsson. These are the Swedish film adaptations from 2009 that were released here stateside in 2010. All 3 are quite good. I'm cheating and rolling them into one spot here on my list. Dragon Tattoo had the greatest impact and staying power in my mind, although that was the one film that I saw before reading the book (I finished reading the trilogy before the other two films were released so I already had an idea about was was coming). Noomi Rapace was unbelievable as the story's heroine Lisbeth Salander. Due to the timing of the releases (earilier in the year than most awards contenders), she may not snag an Oscar nomination, but she definitely deserves one. Be sure to check these out before the American adaptations coming from David Fincher in the not too distant future.


2) True Grit - Let's see...it's a western, by the Coen Brothers, starring Jeff Bridges and Matt Damon getting bossed around by a newcomer (Hailee Steinfeld), and is often times quite humorous. What's not to like?










1) Inception - Each year, there are usually a couple movies that I go out of my way to tell just about anyone who will listen that they need to go see. Usually they are smaller films or foreign films that are quite good and just deserve to be seen (this year those were the Millennium films and Winter's Bone). But this year the film that I found myself telling people to see over and over again was Inception. It didn't matter that it was a big budget film and everyone had at least heard of it. It's absolutely just worth a watch (or two). The story, the actors/actresses, the way it was shot, Christopher Nolan's dream scape film is a masterpiece. And a pretty good debate starter thanks to that top.




So there it is. Which films did you most enjoy this past year?

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