 |
| Sarah
Stelle and Catherine Keener in Please Give. |
The
Year in Review 2010
Best
of 2010
Critic:
Shawn Stone
1.
The Social Network
According
to this Facebook creation myth from David Fincher and Aaron
Sorkin, you can lead the whole world to your virtual doorstep
but you can’t make anyone friend you.
2.
Please Give
Nicole
Holofcener’s wicked comedy about money, family and aging has
many pleasures, most notably a fine performance by Catherine
Keener as a sharklike merchant increasingly crippled by guilt.
3.
Scott Pilgrim vs. the World
The
title is misleading. It’s really Scott Pilgrim (Michael Cera)
vs. himself in a Toronto that’s part hipster paradise and
part video-game fantasy world. It’s as funny and, yes, touching,
as it is smart. This is Edgar Wright’s best yet.
4.
Black Swan
A
psychological breakdown set to the romantic delerium of Tchaikovsky’s
Swan Lake. Think The Red Shoes meets American
Psycho.
5.
Tangled 3D
Disney’s
“Rapunzel” redo is CG animation that captures the luminous
qualities of the hand-drawn tradition. Strong characters and
an absence of groan-inducing topical humor help, too.
6.
I Am Love
Tilda
Swinton, acting in Russian-accented Italian, is the beating
heart of this romantic drama about family and money—and the
terrible ways that family and money can thrive without love.
7.
Winter’s Bone
The
year’s breakout indie film is a dark look into “meth America,”
a world of drugs, rural poverty and despair. It’s set in the
Ozarks, but it might as well be upstate New York.
8.
Inception
Proof
that a $160-million-plus budget and a clever idea can lead
to dazzling entertainment.
9.
Agora
Rachel
Weisz shines in this drama of ideas set in Roman Egypt at
the dawn of Christianity. The parallels are clear: The smug,
rich pagans stand in for the liberal West; the intolerant
Christians are radical fundamentalists a la the Taliban. And,
no, it doesn’t end well.
10.
Let Me In
Matt
Reeves’ haunting reimagining of the Swedish cult vampire film
Let the Right One In was too slow for genre fans, but
cast a grim spell. With a fine performance by Chloe Moretz
as the child vampire.
Worst
of 2010
1.
The Kids Are All Right
Here’s
a fun exercise for those who love this film: Imagine that
the gender of the Annette Bening character is male.
2.
Never Let Me Go
Limp,
unconvincing fantasy about noble-spirited human clones raised
for body parts.
3.
Skyline
You
know it’s a horrible movie if you find yourself actively rooting
for the aliens to kill the humans not out of spite, but because
you want the movie to end.
4.
The Expendables
Sylvester
Stallone combined the worst of ’80s shoot-’em-ups with the
worst of contemporary game-influenced kill-’em-alls.
5.
Hereafter
This
made the list for being wishy-washy about the title subject.
It’s a fault so crippling that it negated Matt Damon’s fine
performance and director Clint Eastwood’s assured storytelling.
 |
| Leonardo
DiCaprio in Inception. |
Best
of 2010
Critic:
John Brodeur
1.
The Secret in Their Eyes
This
slow and suspenseful Argentine crime drama doubled as the
year’s best love story. See it in this lifetime.
2.
The Ghost Writer
Roman
Polanski had a rough start to his year personally, but his
political thriller was pitch-perfect. It also had the year’s
best cast, with terrific performances from Ewan McGregor,
Pierce Brosnan, and Olivia Williams at the top of the heap.
3.
Inception
A
dazzling vision from filmmaker Christopher Nolan, the one
guy in Hollywood who knows what to do with a $160-million
budget.
4.
Exit Through the Gift Shop
What
happens when the filmmaker becomes the subject? Anonymous
street-art hero Banksy hijacks Thierry Guetta’s “documentary”
and turns it into one of the year’s funniest and most visually
exciting pictures.
 |
| Jennifer
Lawrence in Winter’s Bone. |
5.
Winter’s Bone
Deliberate
and deeply creepy, anchored by a knockout performance from
Jennifer Lawrence. Expect to hear her name come Oscar time.
6.
The Kids Are All Right
Two
more names you’ll likely hear at Oscar time: Annette Bening
and Julianne Moore. Their believability as a middle-aged lesbian
couple is what makes this rather predictable film sing.
7.
Shutter Island
Scorsese
makes a solid noir thriller.
8.
Kick-Ass
A
fucking lot of fucking fun.
9.
Black Swan
Nothing
about this film feels good, but there’s no denying its quality.
Natalie Portman is outstanding.
Worst
of 2010
1.
Jonah Hex
Filmmaking
at its most tone-deaf.
2.
Shrek Forever After
At
least it’s the last one.
3.
A Nightmare on Elm Street
How
dare they take the fun out of Freddy!
4.
Clash of the Titans
The
kind of film that makes you wish CGI never happened.
5.
The Runaways
Decent
performances, awful storytelling.
Best
of 2010
Critic:
Laura Leon
1.
Winter’s Bone
Gritty,
utterly without pretense slice of Americana with a healthy
dose of suspense thrown in for good measure.
2.
True Grit
The
Coen brothers have resurrected the spirit of the source novel
with amazing resonance. Like Winter’s Bone, it’s dark
and remorseful, yet exhilarating all the same.
3.
Please Give
I
wrestled with this one, kind of hating it at the same time
as appreciating it, not just because Nicole Holofcener and
Catherine Keener are such an amazing artist-muse team. But
the more I’ve thought about it, this movie really says volumes—quite
eloquently—about families and about class guilt.
4.
The Ghost Writer
I
hated that I knew how this one was going to end, but maybe
that just says I watch too many movies, read too many mysteries.
Roman Polanski is back in fine form with this moody thriller.
5.
Toy Story 3
I
laughed, but mostly I cried. It’s a hilarious yet achingly
poignant portrayal of growing up. In a cartoon, no less.
 |
| Michael
Cera and Mary Elizabeth Winstead in Scott Pilgrim vs.
the World. |
6.
Scott Pilgrim vs. the World
Held
off on this one out of unfounded prejudice, and then rented
it on “on demand.” Hilarious and stylish at the same time,
and for once Michael Cera’s nerd-in-love shtick fails to annoy.
7.
Night Catches Us
Excellent
and gritty tale of former Black Panthers, but really more
about how the past catches up to us.
8.
Tangled
Beautifully
drawn, wittily scripted rewriting of the Rapunzel tale.
9.
The Town
OK,
so I didn’t really buy that someone recently involved in a
hostage situation would fall for a guy at the Laundromat .
. . but still. Loved the character development and the build
up of suspense in this, from director-costar Ben Affleck.
10.
How to Train Your Dragon
No,
just because I have kids is not the reason that I have three
animated films on this list. This charmer barely hit the radar,
which is too bad, as it was a superb retelling of “Androcles
and the Lion.”
Worst
of 2010
1.
Iron Man 2
I
love me my Robert Downey Jr, but in addition to being one
of the worst sequels, this was a downright bad movie. The
plot was stupid, the effects lame, and really, how exciting
is a fight between two metal behemoths?
2.
Sex in the City 2
Please,
please, please, leave us in peace with our DVDs of the complete
television series. No more movies!
3.
The Bounty Hunter
Even
the cute accent can’t save Gerald Butler from a terrible script
and a complete lack of chemistry with Jennifer Aniston.
4.
The A Team
I
so wanted to enjoy this, even if only on a Saturday-matinee
level. But it was not to be. A completely inane reworking
of a TV show that wasn’t even all that great.
5.
Due Date
I
love me my Robert Downey Jr., but seriously, he’s a complete
ass in this movie. Zack Galifianakis plays a minor reworking
of his Hangover role. And, by the way, the script sucks.
Best
of 2010
Critic:
John Rodat
1.
Jack Goes Boating
Phillip
Seymour Hoffman’s direction of playwright Robert Glaudini’s
Jack Goes Boating benefitted greatly from Hoffman’s
experience as a theatrical director, as well as from his years
as one of America’s best and most versatile actors. Hoffman
gave his leads—including himself—enough room to develop complex
characters while avoiding big, distracting “actor-y” moments.
2.
Animal Kingdom
This
noirish Australian drama convincingly captured the sickening
tension and anxiety of the criminal life between the crimes.
3.
Cyrus
Excellent
performances by John C. Reilly, Marisa Tomei and Jonah Hill,
and career-best work of the mumblecore-auteurs the Duplass
Brothers, who shared writing and directing, elevate this flick
out of the rom-com ghetto.
4.
A Prophet
The
lack of overt—or, really, even implied—moralizing in this
French prison drama gives A Prophet an almost anthropological
feel; though there’s more than enough action to hook fans
of American gangster flicks.
5.
The Fighter
Christian
Bale is getting the attention for this one—not undeservedly
(though Wahlberg, too, does good work with an understated
performance that goes a long way in setting up Bale). But
the real star of The Fighter is director David O. Russell,
who cunningly tells a story about the wracking attempt to
preserve individual dignity in a crushing flux of desperation
and opportunity—disguised as a boxing movie.
6.
Exit Through the Gift Shop
Every
generation gets the This Is Spinal Tap it deserves
. . .
7.
Joan Rivers: A Piece of Work
If
Joan Rivers had worse doctors, we could call this a warts-and-all
look at a pioneering comic: one whose personal idiosyncrasies
and insecurities keep her in equal parts fascinating, pitiable
and, still, sharp and funny as hell.
8.
Please Give
Catherine
Keener’s and Oliver Platt’s portrayals of a moderately upscale
urban couple are warm and realistically, morally ambiguous
and conflicted. Writer-director Nicole Holofcener presents
a gently dark—darkly gentle?—confirmation that, yeah, try
as we might, we’re all fucking it up.
9.
Tangled
A
smart, well-directed, action-oriented kids’ movie that avoids
lowest-common-denominator gags and still entertains.
10.
The Extra Man; Operation: Endgame; Scott
Pilgrim vs. the World
There
were very few, almost no, straight-up comedies that enticed
me into the theater this year. But these few provided some
fitful entertainment. The Extra Man could be termed
a mildly homoerotic Harold & Maude, Operation:
Endgame is a mostly idiotic spy parody with great performances
from Rob Corrdry as an alcoholic agent and Zach Galifianakis
as a demented but sensitive assassin, and Scott Pilgrim
is a formally impressive—if slightly precious—mash-up of movie
and video game.
Worst
of 2010
1.
The Ghost Writer
If
director Roman Polanski talks in his sleep, it’s guaranteed
to be more thrilling than this overpoweringly dull movie.
2.
The Joneses
I
can only imagine that the studio exec who green-lit this one
(“Duchovny and Demi?! It’s sure fire!”) is exactly the same
age as me. Stick to The X-Files and St. Elmo’s Fire
and whatever sexual fantasy works best for you.
3.
Sex and the City 2
Yes,
still, it had to be said.
4.
Alice in Wonderland
You
know that scene in Zoolander where Will Farrell yells,
“They’re the same face! Doesn’t anybody notice this? I feel
like I’m taking crazy pills!” Yeah. Misters Burton and Depp,
please knock it off.
5.
Greenberg
I
so wanted to like this. And I did—when it was the 2008 Joe
Swanberg (!) movie Nights and Weekends. It had its
moments (how I wish Rhys Ifans and Ben Stiller had switched
roles), but still felt ripped off. Most frustrating movie
of the year.
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