Sorry this is a bit late. Since the middle of December, I have seen 15 movies starting with Black Swan and ending with Blue Valentine this weekend. I haven't seen everything but here is my best shot. My picks for "best" of the year are in red:
1. Social Network probably had the most buzz of any movie coming out in 2010. It generated huge interest because, well, most of us, myself included, are part of the 500 million users of Facebook. But beyond that, while
The Social Network is a biopic of Mark Zuckerberg, one of the founders of Facebook (more on that later), it is clearly a fictionalized biography. And when you are watching the film, it is fun to try and guess what is true and what isn't.
The Social Network was written by Aaron Sorkin (The West Wing) and directed by David Fincher (Fight Club, The Curious Case of Benjamin Button) so my expectations were high going in. And I'm happy to say that the movie lives up to its hype. Somehow, Sorkin and Fincher have turned a story about geeky guys sitting at computers 24/7 into an intense spy thriller. Read my whole review
here.
2. True Grit
Joel and Ethan Coen say that they have never even seen the original movie, but that the
book by Charles Portis, on which it is based, was a favorite of theirs when they were kids. So now we have a new
True Grit just three years after the Coen Brothers made their modern western,
No Country for Old Men. The new
True Grit stars Coen-Brothers' favorite, Geoff Bridges, in the John Wayne role of Rooster Cogburn, a stereotypical tough lawman of the old west who is approached by a 14-year-old girl (Hailee Steinfeld) who wants him to catch the man (Josh Brolin) who murdered her father. The Coen brothers movies are always interesting, but they are often just a bit over the top.
True Grit is played as a straight western right down to the John Ford camera shots. It's a wonderful job. Read my whole review
here.
3. Rabbit Hole
Rabbit Hole tells the story of a couple (Nicole Kidman and Aaron Eckhart) whose young child was killed when he ran into the street and was hit by a car driven by a teenager (Miles Teller). At the start of
Rabbit Hole, the tragedy has already happened, and we find the couple trying to deal with their grief and get on with their lives. In
Rabbit Hole, Kidman gives a really affecting performance, particularly in her scenes with the boy who was responsible for the accident and is grieving as much as she is. Miles Teller does a great job in this small role. I guess the big surprise is that John Cameron Mitchell can direct such a nuanced film after doing
Hedwig and the Angry Inch and
Shortbus.
Rabbit Hole could have been a real downer of a movie, but it isn't. Read my whole review
here.
4. The King's Speech
I was born in in Canada in 1954. For my whole life, Elizabeth II has been my Queen. I loved the movie,
The Queen, and now here is another film about the Royals.
The King's Speech is the story of Elizabeth's father George VI (Colin Firth), who never thought he would be King until his brother, Edward VIII (Guy Pearce) gave up the throne because of "the woman I love." George VI was a nice guy, but he had a horror of public speaking because of a life-long stammer. After much frustration, his wife (Helena Bonham Carter) finds an Australian speech therapist (Geoffrey Rush) who claims that he can help. Everyone in this film is great, but I particularly loved Geoffrey Rush. He and Colin Firth are great together and besides I'm a sucker for an English period piece.
5. The Kids are All Right
The Kids are All Right has the look and feel of a classic Indie film except for the fact that it stars Annette Bening, Julianne Moore and Mark Ruffalo, who have 9 Oscar nominations between them including nominations for Bening and Ruffalo for
The Kids are All Right. This film tells the story of a lesbian couple (Bening and Moore) with two kids (Mia Wasikowska and Josh Hutcherson) who were both fathered by the same sperm donor (Ruffalo). This is a fun movie to watch with lots of energy from all the cast including up-and-comer Wasikowska, who was also
Alice in Wonderland this year. You can't do better than Bening and Moore, and adding Ruffalo to the mix makes their freak flags fly. Also, this is one of only two nominated films with a female director, Lisa Cholodenko, who does a great job with
The Kids are All Right.
6. 127 Hours
You gotta love Danny Boyle. He has directed
Shallow Grave,
Trainspotting,
28 Days Later,
Millions, and my pick for best movie of the year two years ago,
Slumdog Millionaire. He makes unusual movies and mostly they are very good. His new movie is
127 Hours, the real-life story of Aron Ralston. He's the hiker who was trapped when I rock fell on his arm while he was way off the grid in
Canyonlands National Park. Since he didn't tell anyone where he was going, and he was unlikely to be found, he had a choice of slow death, or to try and cut his arm off so he could get away. You all know what he did. Anyway, this may seem like a strange choice for a movie. It's definitely dramatic, but the whole story is about a guy stuck by himself for days while he cuts his own arm off. James Franco is amazing. Read my whole review
here.
7. Inception
Inception is probably the most innovative film of the year. It has a Matrix-like story that is nevertheless different and interesting. It has Christopher Nolan, who directed the amazing
Memento and
The Dark Knight, at the helm. It has a great cast including Leonardo DiCaprio, Marion Cottilard, Ellen Page, Michael Caine, and the late lamented Pete Postlethwaite. It has two former child stars, Lukas Haas (
Witness) and one of the most under-rated actors around today, Joseph Gordon-Levitt (
3rd Rock from the Sun). Put
Brick on your netflix list. Anyway,
Inception is worth seeing if you missed it the first time around. The effects and the plot twists will keep you on the edge of your seat. And it really makes you wonder if you are awake or dreaming in your "real" life.
8. How to Train Your Dragon
How to Train your Dragon tells the story of a Viking village with a difference. These Vikings hunt and are hunted by a veritable zoo of dragons. A young Viking who is useless at hunting the dragons secretly befriends one of the most fearsome ones. I was a bit confused by the fact that all the Vikings had Scottish accents. The fact that Gerard Butler and Craig Ferguson were among the celebrity voices may have affected this. In order to get an idea of how good
How to Train your Dragon is, I brought along a couple of experts aged 4 and 5 as well as their very tired mother to see the movie. Anyway, both Ellie and Chiara gave
How to Train your Dragon a big thumbs up. And I did too.
9. Winter's Bone
Winter's Bone is a great little film that surfaced at Sundance, where it won the Grand jury Prize, and is still around at the finish line. It is nominated for Best Picture, Best Actress (Jennifer Lawrence), Best Supporting Actor (John Hawkes) and Best Screenplay at the Oscars. The last nomination is a testament to this film about very rural Missouri, where the most popular cash crop is Meth, and the characters speak in sentences often consisting of one word. Jennifer Lawrence is the breakout star of the year, and John Hawkes (
Perfect Storm,
Deadwood) is so buried in his character that he is almost unrecognizable.
Winter's Bone isn't a happy movie but it is very watchable and you won't guess the ending. This is the other film with a female director (
Debra Granik).
10. Scott Pilgrim vs the World
Every year there are great movies that tank at the box office.
Scott Pilgrim vs the World is one of them. This is a great movie, but for some reason no one wanted to see it.
Scott Pilgrim vs the World tells the story of a slacker rock-band member (Michael Cera), who meets the girl of his dreams (Mary Elizabeth Winstead), only to find out that if he wants to date her, he has to defeat her seven evil exes in a fight to the death. He begins to live a video game where he finds he has superpowers that enable him to fight the evil super-exes. I found
Scott Pilgrim vs the World to be very refreshing and very fun. Michael Cera (
Juno,
Superbad) has been accused of playing the same weak, geek character in every movie, but here he gets to break out. And Mary Elizabeth Winstead, who played a chip off the old block in
Live Free or Die Hard, makes you believe she is worth fighting a few evil exes to the death.
also worth seeing: Get Low, The Runaways, Nowhere Boy, The Fighter, Never Let Me Go, Another Year, Somewhere, Toy Story 3, Blue Valentine.
Best Actor:
1. James Franco (127 Hours)
2. Geoff Bridges (True Grit)
3. Jesse Eisenberg (Social Network)
4. Colin Firth (The King's Speech)
5. Robert Duvall (Get Low)
also: Jake Gyllenhaal (Love and Other Drugs), Jim Broadbent (Another Year), Stephen Dorff (Somewhere), Ryan Gosling (Blue Valentine)
Best Actress:
1. Nicole Kidman (Rabbit Hole)
2. Jennifer Lawrence (Winter's Bone)
3. Noomi Rapace (The Girl who Played With Fire)
4. Annette Bening (The Kids are All Right)
5. Carey Mulligan (Never Let Me Go)
also: Julianne Moore (The Kids are All Right), Mary Elizabeth Winstead (Scott Pilgrim vs the World), Anne Hathaway (Love & Other Drugs), Ruth Sheen (Another Year), Michelle Williams (Blue Valentine)
Best Supporting Actor:
1. Christian Bale (The Fighter)
2. Andrew Garfield (Social Network, Never let Me Go)
3. Matt Damon (True Grit)
4. Geoffrey Rush (The King's Speech)
5. John Hawkes (Winter's Bone)
also: Justin Timberlake (Social Network), Mark Ruffalo (The Kids are All Right), Michael Nyquist (The Girl who Played With Fire), Bill Murray (Get Low)
Best Supporting Actress:
1. Hailee Steinfeld (True Grit)
2. Amy Adams (The Fighter)
3. Lesley Manville (Another Year)
4. Ellen Page (Inception)
5. Mila Kunis (Black Swan)
also: Dakota Fanning (The Runaways), Kristin Scott Thomas (Nowhere Boy), Mia Wasikowska (The Kids are All Right), Diane Wiest (Rabbit Hole), Helena Boham Carter (The King's Speech), Elle Fanning (Somewhere), Olivia Williams (Ghost Writer), Cate Blanchett (Robin Hood)
Best Director:
1. David Fincher (Social Network)
2. The Coen Brothers (True Grit)
3. John Cameron Mitchell (Rabbit Hole)
4. Tom Hooper (The King's Speech)
5. Lisa Cholodenko (The Kids are All Right)
Also, Christopher Nolan (Inception), Debra Granik (Winter's Bone), Danny Boyle (127 Hours), John Cameron Mitchell (Rabbit Hole)
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