I was hesitant to make a top 10 movie list this year because, really, who cares what I have to say? But then I started thinking, Yeah... who cares what I have to say? Without the title of "movie critic," I can just choose whatever movies I want -- the ones that I truly enjoyed the most -- as opposed to movies that I know are technically great or that any film fan should definitely see, but may not be as emotionally pleasing to my Big 12-school-educated mind. I know that a "favorite movie list" from an Internet writer my age is supposed to include Inception and Scott Pilgrim vs. The World, it's almost blasphemy for it not to, but mine doesn't.
I enjoyed both quite a bit, and I know I'm in the minority, but I thought Inception was a fun summer action movie that was taken too seriously and Scott Pilgrim vs. The World couldn't decide who its audience was; though fun, it was a strange hybrid of characters in their early 20s mixed with references targeted at people in their late 30s. So, with that in mind, these are not, I repeat, not the greatest 10 films of 2010 -- these are just the 10 that I happened to enjoy the most.
10. The Karate Kid
Before The Karate Kid, most people knew Jaden Smith as the adorable on-screen (and real life) son of Will Smith in The Pursuit of Happyness. In contrast, I was most familiar with Jaden Smith as the little kid who tries to get Will Smith to play "Wild Wild West" on his Willennium album. Regardless, I was not looking forward to this The Karate Kid remake in the least. I certainly like the original film, but I'm not part of the Bill Simmons cult who think that the original film is some sore of Holy Grail that can never be remade, Yeah, it did seem unnecessary, and it was also unreasonably long. But: I loved every second of it. During the shadow scene with the car lights I actually had to hide my face because I was tearing up. Christ, I'm tearing up just thinking about it right now. Moving on...
9. Going the Distance
With all apologies to Michelle Orange, who, long before I started here, had one of the most enjoyable and well-behaved feuds that I've ever seen with Distance leading man Justin Long (as someone who grew up in the Midwest, it reminds me of the Cardinals-Cubs rivalry), for a silly romantic comedy, I enjoyed the hell out of this. Maybe it the was the presence of Jason Sudeikis, whom I always love, or Charlie Day, but, every time I thought GTD (as we call it in our secret Going the Distance chat rooms) was going to go one direction, it would tease that direction and quickly go another. Example: Long is flirting with a female co-worker at the bar while he's in a fight with Drew Barrymore. The next morning, of course, the co-worker is at Long's apartment, so cue the next 45 minutes where Long has to prove what an idiot he was and win Barrymore back. But she was there with Charlie Day, and thus the typical "one of the characters accidentally strays" storyline was thankfully avoided. And, again, did I mention Jason Sudeikis is in this movie? He even has a mustache!
8. Buried
Shades of Armageddon and Deep Impact, Dante's Peak and Volcano, School Ties and Bebe's Kids (those last two may or may not be related), Buried was, well, buried by the presence of 127 Hours. Yes, I enjoyed 127 Hours more than I did Buried. Then again, to be fair, the entire narrative of 127 Hours does not take place with Aron Ralston's hand stuck under a boulder: Every single second of screen time in Buried is spent with Ryan Reynolds trapped in an underground coffin; unbelievably, I was riveted the entire time. I have no idea how that's even possible. Sure, I was depressed for the next fours days, but riveted nonetheless.
7. True Grit
I go back and forth on the Coen brothers. I really like A Serious Man, Fargo, Raising Arizona and O Brother, Where Art Thou. On the other hand, I have no use for The Big Lebowski. Look, I get it: I get why it's such a cult favorite, but it just never did much for me. So I had apprehensions about their Jeff Bridges reunion here; if the Coens were looking to make an open ended, kind of weird Western, I wasn't interested. True Grit is nothing like the Coens' previous films; it's a fairly straightforward Western that just happens to be incredibly well-made. I never felt like I was watching a film that was hoping to be nominated for an Oscar.
6. The Other Guys
The funniest movie of the year. I'll give two examples (spoiler alert?): I can't remember a time I laughed harder at a scene than I did when Sam Jackson and Dwayne Johnson both thought it was a good idea to jump off the roof of a New York City building in an effort to catch a band of criminals. Their long, slow-motion plunge to their deaths had me rolling. The second: when Mark Wahlberg is repeatedly fooled into accepting bribes. He's good in The Fighter, but this is his definitive performance of 2010.
5. The Town
An executive order was signed by the President that Ben Affleck can only create and star in movies set in Boston -- hence his recent appearance also in The Company Men. Why don't other actors demand such things? Sling Blade was set in Arkansas, but at this point in his career Billy Bob Thornton doesn't make sure that he only work in projects set in Little Rock. Anyway, here's the thing about The Town: It's the film that finally disqualified Affleck's name as a punchline. It took a while, including a great performance in Hollywoodland and a terrific job directing Gone Baby Gone. The only thing left for Affleck to accomplish, his final test for his comeback, is to portray a character who is not a Red Sox fan. I'm not saying he has to be a Yankees fan, but would it be so hard for him to don a San Diego Padres hat with a poster of Marvell Wynne hanging in his apartment?
4. Black Swan
I read as little as possible about Black Swan before attending the screening. I knew it was classified as a "psychological thriller," but I certainly didn't know that it was going to turn out to be the scariest film of 2010. Now, keep in mind, when I have to see a pure horror film (which is rare), I kind of have a way of putting up a defense mechanism before I go in that shields me from truly being frightened. Black Swan took me off guard. It was the equivalent of Han Solo thinking he's going to be eating a fancy dinner on Cloud City only to find Darth Vader sitting at the end of the table. I saw the screening in an office building just off of Times Square, after, walking to the subway, I've never been more terrified that something was going to jump out at me accompanied by terrifying string music.
3. The Social Network
I haven't seen this movie since September and, for the last few weeks, I've really been itching to see it again. (Sure, an in-depth interview with the star will pique some rediscovered curiosity.) The big debate has always been if the Mark Zuckerberg portrayed in the film is a hero or villain. Of course, he's a little bit of both, but I found myself liking the guy only to become angry with him as I would with a friend who secretly spearheaded my departure from a multi-billion dollar company. His ambition is admirable, but his loyalties were maddening. But that's just him.
2. 127 Hours
You know, "The Scene" didn't bother me that much. I mean, I squirmed a couple of times, but I didn't pass out or so much as look away. Now, considering that pretty much everyone knows at least a little of what to expect from 127 Hours, it may seem weird to say that I left Danny Boyle's film in a better mood than I did for any other movie this year. James Franco, as Aron Ralston, who makes more headlines with his media presence than he does with his acting, is about as good as it gets considering that he's the only one on camera for 90 percent of this movie.
1. Toy Story 3
I remember the big Internet question around the time it was released was whether or not it was possible to watch Toy Story 3 without crying. It may or may not be possible, but, if I was trying to prove that it was possible to get through without crying, I failed miserably. No film struck me more emotionally this year than Toy Story 3; I have never seen a film tackle the acceptance of death better than this, an acceptance made all the more affecting considering these are characters we've known for 15 years. Of course, a lot of that emotion is lost on the children in the audience, which prompted one girl to ask her mother, "Why is that guy over there in the corner crying?" (Which led the mother to instruct her daughter, "Honey, don't look at him." Come on, mother of inquisitive girl, I'm only human!)