10 Great Movies of 2010 That Will Not Be Recognized by the Academy
As this week's influx of critics group awards and Golden Globe nominations can confirm, there are really only a handful of films that will be up for Academy Awards in February. (See: The King's Speech, The Social Network, The Fighter, The Kids Are All Right and Black Swan.) Every year, though, the Academy not only overlooks great performances, but also a number of great films as well; some are too small, some are too broad, and in the case of documentaries, some just didn't make the first shortlist. With that in mind, let's step outside the fog of Oscar buzz for a second and take a look at 10 deserving films of 2010.
10. Videocracy
This exploration of mass media in Italy was one of he most damning and relevant documentaries that nobody saw this year. Sure, it's mostly an exposè of Italy's media -- where the government owns something like 90% of all news and entertainment outlets -- but let's go through a checklist of problems with U.S. media. Objectification and exploitation of sex for profit? Italy's got that. Vicious paparazzi? Italy's got that. A huge celebrity-obsessed culture? Italy's got that, too! Media outlets that serve either corporate or government interests over the people? You'd better believe Italy's got that. Also, the documentary is very well-made and often hilarious. It works as well as entertainment as it does as a cautionary tale.
9. The American
Not many explosions or huge shoot-outs here, but enough understated brooding, erotic sex and moral ambiguity to make you remember the '70s, if only for a second. Also, the photography in Anton Corbijn's arthouse thriller is beautiful and George Clooney's restrained performance is his most impressive in some time.
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Great choices. Loved _The Ghost Writer_. _Enter the Void_ was a total trip. Most of all, much love for _Dogtooth_. I could not get that movie out of my head and wound up seeing it three times. My favorite movie of the year, probably.
And the Best Supporting Actress category will no doubt cruelly snub The Chick Who Played "the Middle" in The Human Centipede. Come on, hasn't she been through enough??
Thanks for this - I've seen six of them (and it's great to see Dogtooth getting praise) and, although I didn't love them all, there's enough here for me to hunt down Lourdes and Videocracy. FWIW I would have put Carancho on this list.
I still can't believe people ate Shutter Island seriously and respect it. It was probably the worst film I've seen in a couple years. I do agree about Ghost Writer though. Probably going to try and queue up as many movies from this list as I can on Netflix.
I thought Please Give was pretty great. Same with Greenberg. Easy A was a surprisingly good comedy.
GREAT list -- the shout out for Enter the Void is wonderful -- it's my #1 film of the year by a country mile. It's a piece of work that's truly interested in pushing visual storytelling to a new level.
The American is a masterpiece, and one of the most underseen-by-audiences movies of the year. Critics seemed to be down with it for the most part but I'm baffled as to why Clooney isn't being talked about for Best Actor. The cinematography, editing, and score were all fantastic, and the distince Antoinioni/70's-vibe was glorious. And who doesn't love sensously lit/shot sex scenes with beautiful people?
http://actionman-nickspix.blogspot.com/2010/09/alone-in-italy.html
I really can't wait to see Dogtooth -- it sounds brilliant.
Also, it's a shame that Carlos isn't eligible for Best Picture because other than Enter the Void, nothing else has been as good.
I'm all about Shutter Island as well...a terrific "movie-movie" with some great performances and truly outstanding art direction and cinematography.
Valhalla Rising was also criminally underrated, as well as The Square and Leaves of Grass.
Thanks! Sadly, Carancho is still on my to-watch list, but I'll bump it to the top.
Totally agree, and great additional picks. I was very close to including Valhalla Rising or Leaves of Grass. I need to see The Square!
First two were indeed quite good, and I'm surprised Please Give hasn't gotten more year-end attention. I liked Greenberg more in hindsight, especially the ending. Still, there's something about these wealthy-people-trying-to-find-themselves comedies that kind of leaves me feeling indifferent, even if I enjoyed the movie. Didn't see Easy A, but I will soon. I've heard good things from others too.
All I gotta say is...
Fuck George Clooney...and...
'Shutter Island' SUCKED! ...knocked me out 3 times and the ending was completely OBVIOUS.
Can we please stop regurgitating the SAME actors as well as the SAME directors just because they've done
better shit before, I mean...c'mon.....
Dogtooth was my second favorite movie of the year (The first being I am love)! So I was pleased to see it mentioned here.
I thought Shutter Island was pretty obvious and the only chance at awards should be the Teen Choice Awards or the Mtv Movie Awards. Ha!
Also agree with someone who mentioned Please Give in the comments above. That movie was funny, original, sensitive, and Catherine Keener's performance was top-notch!
The American??? A "great movie" of 2010?????????????????????? Mr. Clark, I am shocked that anyone could possibly find this pretentious piece of faux-auterish trash one of the best films of the year!!
The American is a grotesque view of possibly the dullest and most disappointing film of the year. George Clooney has never been more miscast - he makes a better Batman than he does a brooding assassin - and his performance in Stalker is more charismatic than it is in The American. I don't recall reading any positive reviews of the film and the critics I read universally dismissed the film as did audiences who stayed away despite fairly heavy promotion and the presence of George.
Even Clooney chose to do only ONE press conference to promote the film because he hated the final cut and didn't want to be put in the position of defending a film he would have preferred to disavow any knowledge of his actions relating to his appearance in The American.
Typo on my previous post: faux-auteurish
the american was the worst movie ive seen in the last 5 years..
Great list. I'm glad you included Dogtooth (though I didn't care for The American). Some films that I loved that will get completely ignored include Easy A, Buried, Summer Wars, Youth in Revolt and Life During Wartime.
Out of the 100+ movies I saw last year, the only movies I hated more than Enter the Void were Cop Out and Trash Humpers.