Best films of 2010

[Pidgeon]

Did The Fighter have any on-set drama like Russell's other films?

[David]

I couldn't imagine any drama occurring with cool-headed folks like David O. Russell and Christian Bale on the set.

[fonpr]

Orange You Glad I Didn't Say Exsanguination

[Matt]

WHITE MATERIAL was fantastic. Highly recommended. It would make a great double-bill with TRUE GRIT.

I won't attempt a Top 10 list, what with all the movies I've yet to see - THE ILLUSIONIST, CARLOS, FOUR LIONS, ENTER THE VOID, DOGTOOTH, etc. I can make some declarative statements, however:
*The best movie I saw last year was EXIT THROUGH THE GIFT SHOP.
*SCOTT PILGRIM VS. THE WORLD was the most fun.
*WHITE MATERIAL, MOTHER and A PROPHET are up there.
*I think SHUTTER ISLAND, LET ME IN and MACGRUBER were underrated.
*I found TRUE GRIT underwhelming, but it's still the Coens doing Portis, so it gets a spot in the Top 10 on principle.
*Walked out on WINTER'S BONE and NEVER LET ME GO. No tolerance for snoozes!
*Worst movies I saw last year were HARRY BROWN and KICK-ASS.
*I have absolutely no interest in seeing GREENBERG, THE KIDS ARE ALL RIGHT or SOMEWHERE.

[kevin_]

Four Lions was top notch.

[buffcoat]

I think I only saw The Ghost Writer and the Harry Potter movie in the theater in 2010.  I want to see True Grit, I thought about seeing the Tron movie but that looks like an absolute mess.

I mostly just record the great looking stuff off TCM and a few off the Encore channels - that really is enough good movies for me.  I could skim the HBO and Showtime offerings but it starts to get to be overkill.

[Christina]

See Tron! it was awesome!

[Gilly]

I've been pretty underwhelmed by everything film related in 2010 until I watched Winter's Bone tonight. That is the best movie I've seen in at least 3 or 4 years.

[Paul DeLouisiana]

I've been pretty underwhelmed by everything film related in 2010 until I watched Winter's Bone tonight. That is the best movie I've seen in at least 3 or 4 years.

I am confused by the response to Winter's Bone I've been hearing. I thought it was laughably bad and even apologized to the person I took. I would be interested to hear why you liked it so much.
I thought 127 Hours, I'm Still Here, Never Let Me Go, Catfish, Winnebago Man and True Grit were all good.
I didn't even know about this MacGruber movie, will have to check it out.
My lows include Enter the Void, Black Swan, and though I only saw it last week, Somewhere was awful.

[dave from knoxville]

I thought Winter's Bone was pretty amazing too. A young person stuck in horrifying circumstances manages to get by and retain some personal dignity, while caring for her family and taking care of difficult business. The performances were solid (reminded me of some of my relatives, sincerely, the ones I have been running away from in my head since I was about 13.) It seemed very true to life to me.

[Paul DeLouisiana]

I thought Winter's Bone was pretty amazing too. A young person stuck in horrifying circumstances manages to get by and retain some personal dignity, while caring for her family and taking care of difficult business. The performances were solid (reminded me of some of my relatives, sincerely, the ones I have been running away from in my head since I was about 13.) It seemed very true to life to me.

I really don't have huge gripes with the story other than feeling like it was very slow moving and I didn't care for the acting. But not caring for the acting is probably what made it go by so slowly.

[Big Plastic Head]

I thought Winter's Bone was pretty amazing too. A young person stuck in horrifying circumstances manages to get by and retain some personal dignity, while caring for her family and taking care of difficult business. The performances were solid (reminded me of some of my relatives, sincerely, the ones I have been running away from in my head since I was about 13.) It seemed very true to life to me.

My feelings exactly, even about the similar relatives. John Hawkes' first scene was terrifying and real to me.

[masterofsparks]

I thought Winter's Bone was pretty amazing too. A young person stuck in horrifying circumstances manages to get by and retain some personal dignity, while caring for her family and taking care of difficult business. The performances were solid (reminded me of some of my relatives, sincerely, the ones I have been running away from in my head since I was about 13.) It seemed very true to life to me.

My feelings exactly, even about the similar relatives. John Hawkes' first scene was terrifying and real to me.

Jennifer Lawrence is getting a lot of (deserved) attention for her performance, but I thought John Hawkes gave the most memorable performance in the movie.

I will echo the above praise and also mention that I am a big fan of the source novel and its author Daniel Woodrell and I think the filmmakers did a really good job of adapting the novel to film.

[wood and iron]

What I liked about Winter's Bone is that it welded together slow moving indie character pieces about someone living an uncomfortable blue collar (or no collar) existence and crime films.

[Gilly]

I loved the characters. You have this somewhat normal girl trying to find her way in her world of creeps. It almost felt like a David Lynch movie, but instead of exploring the dark side of the suburbs or Hollywood we are disturbed by the underbelly of the Ozarks. Of course it was a little more straight forward than a Lynch movie.