Monday, January 17, 2011

Alex's Top 10 Movies of 2010

Still wrapping up the Best of 2010 lists with the F This Movie! crew. Today's submission comes from Alex, whose list is filled with fightin' words:

I'd like to submit this list with a thorough defense of 2010: The Year in MovieFilms. While I respect and revere the opinions of my fellow F'ers, I think their contention that the repeated presence of several films across several Top 10 lists is indicative of a weak year at the multiplex is a little flawed. First of all, I think this happens in most years. You would have been hard pressed to find a 2009 list that didn't contain some mixture of Up, Inglorious Basterds, The Hurt Locker and Up in the Air.

Apart from that, I think this shows us that the good films this year were really good. Even if you're of the opinion that 2010 was a down year for movies, you'd have to admit that it was a very top-heavy year, so to speak.

Finally, I think 2010 was a fine year for movies. When I took a step back to pare down the year's cinematic adventures to just 10, I found myself having to make some very tough cuts. There are more than a few movies that I hold in pretty high regard (Black Swan, Somewhere, 127 Hours, The King's Speech, Winter's Bone, Rabbit Hole, Exit Through the Gift Shop, How to Train Your Dragon, Shutter Fucking Island among them) that simply got edged out. Have a drink, 2010, You're okay in my book.

10. Blue Valentine - I never thought watching people fall out of love would be so unflinchingly compelling.

9. The Fighter - Hits all the right beats for the conventional sports movie, bolstered by game-changing performances.

8. Client 9: The Rise and Fall of Eliot Spitzer - In a good (though not great) year for docs, I thought this one had the most to say.

7. True Grit - I have some mild third act issues, but it's just really terrific.

6. Get Low - This one is not on nearly enough Top 10 lists and I do not understand why.

5. Scott Pilgrim vs. the World - Might be the most rewatchable of all these. I'll love it even more in five years.

4. Inception - I mean, I saw it six times in the theater.

3. Toy Story 3 - Whatever, you guys, it's great. Not good...GREAT.

2. The Social Network - The purest amalgam of direction, screenwriting and acting I've seen since Adaptation.

1. Never Let Me Go - Much like Get Low, I don't understand why this is absent from so many lists. I swear on the F This Movie! charter that I'm not putting this here to be "hip" or "different" or "a hipster doofus." It gets the top spot because its respect for the audience to gradually piece together what's happening on screen is so rare these days (even Inception had Ellen Page), and because Carey Mulligan made me feel feelings I didn't know were within me. I have not stopped thinking about this movie since I saw it. And to think it came from the guy who gave us One Hour Photo. 2010, everyone!

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