Best films of 2010

[masterofsparks]

I loved Scott Pilgrim. I was (and remain) completely unfamiliar with the comics, but I had a blast watching the movie.

I liked Shutter Island a lot also. I'd already read the book so I wasn't so hung up on the story, and I hadn't seen a Scorsese movie since Casino, so I didn't really know what to expect visually. I certainly wasn't expecting the berserk, pulpy explosion of color and fevered visuals that I got. I don't how seriously I was supposed to take any of it (not very, I hope), but I had fun watching what happens when a master throws a bunch of overheated colorful crap at the wall.

[fletcher munson]

Omar, yesno, MOS, rent Easy A, you'll like.

[roubaix]

My faves were L'enfer d'Henri-Georges Clouzot (mainly due to the amazing source material), The Runaways, and Best Worst Movie.

Admittedly I spent most of 2010 exploring films made before I was born, but the end-of-year lists have provided some interesting prospects.

[Pidgeon]

I've heard that Easy E has a lot of dumb political content in it.

[Hugman 3.0]

A really great film that it would behoove you all to seek out from this year is Ben Wheatley's Down Terrace. I saw it three times this year.
Regarding Scott Pilgrim: How long was that thing, about 6 hours?

[Christina]

I made it to maybe the 20 minute mark on Scott Pilgrim - I was looking at the baby faced man-child what stars in that thing, and I realized that I was not the target market for this movie. Not saying it was a bad movie - it was just not for me.

[hardweek]

Spent the last few days of the break playing with apple tv (ty Santa!) & watching recent releases.

True Grit looks beautiful, but if there's more to it than straight up tribute & homage, I'm not getting it.

Fubar II is extremely depressing when the humour cuts too close to the truth, and exteremly "meh" when they go for Trailer Park Boys humour. Disappointing.

Having had zero positive expectations for Robin Hood, I actually quite enjoyed it. But I'm a sucker for raining arrows.

Watched Catfish last night, not sure what to make of it, and not sure how much time I want to invest researching it online. If it is phony baloney, then it is awesome. If it is legit, then those dudes are straight up mean and exploitive, no matter how soft their manner or how much she might profit from the publicity.

BTW Dave: according to IMDB, "That Leo Dicaprio Narrated iMax Thing", by Charlie Kaufman is in pre-production, slated for release early (Apollo) '13.

[Martin]

I'm expecting the Swedish crime thriller Snabba Cash (aka Easy Money) to be on a few people's top ten list of 2011. It came out last year in Sweden, and I'm pretty sure it's been picked up for a limited US release. And there's already a US remake on the way (obviously). Starring... Zac Effron. So get on the original now so you can be snobbish about it when the remake comes out. It's pretty slick. The book it is based on shamefully rips off the style of James Ellroy, but applies it to the current day Stockholm underworld, to pretty good effect.

[Hugman 3.0]

A really great film that it would behoove you all to seek out from this year is Ben Wheatley's Down Terrace. I saw it three times this year.
Regarding Scott Pilgrim: How long was that thing, about 6 hours?

Jeez. I assumed the Down Terrace trailer I'd posted was the one I'd seen, but I just actually watched it and it's a new one with about ten spoilers in it. So I removed it.

[crumbum]

I loved Winter's Bone, Greenberg, Monsters, A Prophet, and Splice . It's strange and troubling that I can't think of a single comedy this year that I truly loved (discounting the dark comedy of Greenberg and the sometimes-campy Splice) . I still need to see McGruber and Easy A but something tells me they're not likely top ten material.

By far my most satisfying and memorable movie-watching experience of the year was at the Toronto Film Festival with the upcoming Meek's Cutoff by Kelly Reichart. I had problems with her earlier works but this one absolutely knocked it out of the park for me.

[Martin]

For the high-brow elitists among us:

FILM COMMENT’S END-OF-YEAR CRITICS’ POLL
BEST FILMS OF 2010
(Released theatrically in the U.S.)

1. Carlos Olivier Assayas, France/Germany 854
2. The Social Network David Fincher, U.S. 843
3. White Material Claire Denis, France 630
4. The Ghost Writer Roman Polanski, France/Germany/U.K. 450
5. A Prophet Jacques Audiard, France/Italy 405
6. Winter’s Bone Debra Granik, U.S. 393
7. Inside Job Charles Ferguson, U.S. 391
8. Wild Grass Alain Resnais, France/Italy 80
9. Everyone Else Maren Ade, Germany 365
10. Greenberg Noah Baumbach, U.S. 350
11. Mother Bong Joon-ho, South Korea 349
12. Toy Story 3 Lee Unkrich, U.S. 340
13. Eccentricities of a Blonde-Haired Girl Manoel de Oliveira, Portugal/France/Spain 318
14. Another Year Mike Leigh, U.K. 315
15. The Strange Case of Angelica Manoel de Oliveira, Portugal/Spain/France/Brazil 303
16. The Kids Are All Right Lisa Cholodenko, U.S. 299
17. Shutter Island Martin Scorsese, U.S. 281
18. Around a Small Mountain Jacques Rivette, France/Italy 279
19. Our Beloved Month of August Miguel Gomes, Portugal 277
20. Ne change rien Pedro Costa, Portugal/France 272
21. Dogtooth Yorgos Lanthimos, Greece 268
22. I Am Love Luca Guadagnino, Italy 266
23. Sweetgrass Lucien Castaing-Taylor & Ilisa Barbash, U.S. 257
24. Black Swan Darren Aronofsky, U.S. 239
25. The Father of My Children Mia Hansen-Løve, France 232
26. Boxing Gym Frederick Wiseman, U.S. 212
27. Secret Sunshine Lee Chang-dong, South Korea 198
28. Bluebeard Catherine Breillat, France 196
29. Enter the Void Gaspar Noé, France 194
30. Inception Christopher Nolan, U.S./U.K. 188
31. Alamar Pedro González-Rubio, Mexico 185
32. The Oath Laura Poitras, U.S. 181
33. Exit Through the Gift Shop Banksy, U.K. 180
34. World on a Wire Rainer Werner Fassbinder, Germany 179
35. Animal Kingdom David Michôd, Australia 173
36. Vincere Marco Bellocchio, Italy/France 162
37. Daddy Longlegs Josh & Benny Safdie, U.S./France 154
38. Lourdes Jessica Hausner, Austria/Germany/France 152
39. Life During Wartime Todd Solondz, U.S. 146
40. Fish Tank Andrea Arnold, U.K. 143
41. Please Give Nicole Holofcener, U.S. 137
42. True Grit Joel & Ethan Coen, U.S. 132
43. Lebanon Samuel Maoz, Israel/France/Germany 127
44. The King’s Speech Tom Hooper, U.K. 126
45. I Love You Phillip Morris Glenn Ficarra & John Requa, U.S. 123
46. Last Train Home Fan Lixin, Canada/China 122
47. Blue Valentine Derek Cianfrance, U.S. 107
48. Hadewijch Bruno Dumont, France 106
49. The Anchorage Anders Edström & C.W. Winter, USA/Sweden 105
50. Henri-Georges Clouzot’s Inferno Serge Bromberg & Ruxandra Medrea, France 104

Glad to see spring chickens Oliveira, Rivette and Resnais make the list, surely directing from beyond the grave at this point. And good to see the Euro auteurs / New Wave opression still holding the American cinephile critics in a firm grip.

Re: #34. I hate this kind of shit that some critic circles engage in. Look, I know you're super-NY/LA centric and only care about what's on the big screens in those cities, but Fassbinder made that goddamn movie in 1973. I don't care that it didn't have a theatrical US release* until 2010 - it doesn't belong on a best of 2010 list. It just looks ridiculous.

Re: #49. The inclusion of a title like that makes this a more interesting list than most year-end lists, but it still makes me a bit... suspicious, maybe. If that's the right word. Or at least it makes me curious to know how many people vote in this poll or if it's just the Film Comment editors. Or maybe it's just because I have never heard of this Swedish film, made by two Swedish dudes I've also never heard of (this is their first IMDB credit), that apparently was screened only once in Sweden (at the Göteborg FF) and for about a week in New York, plus at a few festivals. I guess that was enough to make an impact. Hopefully it's an undiscovered gem. I'm just saying that if a Swedish film makes any kind of splash internationally, and in the US especially, you read all about it in the papers here. It's a small country, and even a smaller film industry.

* an antiquated way of judging film releases anyway

[Chris L]

Have you seen Wild Grass, Martin? I'm still not sure whether to take a chance on it.

[Omar]

48. Hadewijch Bruno Dumont, France

Any thoughts on this/Dumont in general? (I like this film and Dumont in general.)

[Martin]

Haven't seen Wild Grass but I'd see it if I had the opportunity.

Haven't seen Hadewijch either. Hear some good things. I know Dumont is a polarizing director but I don't mind him.

[Matt]

I've seen WILD GRASS. It's entertaining but pretty slight. I'm kind of shocked it performed so well in this poll. Same goes for THE GHOST WRITER. I don't see why everybody is falling over themselves to praise this movie. I thought it was serviceable, and that's it.

I haven't seen THE FIGHTER mentioned in this thread. It's probably not worthy of a spot on a year-end list, but it was a lot more interesting than I suspected going in. Before the underdog boxer angle takes over near the end, it's a wonderfully acted family drama, with some weird stylistic flourishes mixed in. In particular, the portrayal of the family's white-trashness seemed at times to be straight out of a Lynch film. I'd recommend it.

WHITE MATERIAL just opened here in Little Rock today. I'll definitely go check it out.