'2010: My Best and Worst Movies of the Year''

'2010: My Best and Worst Movies of the Year'

It is not a good sign when it is hard for me to come up with a top 25 list. I usually have a problem narrowing down the list of great movies to just 25. I counted up my great movies and it barely came to 25. This year I had a tough time finding ten movies that will be with me forever, that I found were the best of the best. The biggest test the movies had to pass were could I see these movies over and over and still love them? Also would these movies be just as fun and relevant 30 years from now? I only gave five movies my highest rating (4 stars). Either I am getting tougher or the movies aren't as great. The star ratings are just a guide so there were many movies I loved and I still have a list of 25. This was a strong year for documentaries and every year there are more great ones. I will list my five favorite documentaries of the year (all amazing!) and then continue with my top 20. At any point this list can change for I have to still see numerous movies I missed that didn't make my deadline. Movies like "Carlos", "Mesrine", "Dogtooth" and "Fish Tank" were on some best lists but they came out on DVD too late for me. I enjoyed many movies this past year and I am not really saying it was a bad year, just a strangely quiet year. Even with the plethora of super hero movies, including the terrible and cheesy looking "Green Lantern" and "Captain America", 2011 looks more promising. I did find two new trends in 2010, one that disturbs me and one that makes me happy.

Did we not learn from 1982 through 1983 that you can only milk the 3D phenomenon so much before it becomes old. "Spacehunter", "Metalstorm", "Comin' At Ya", are you old enough to remember those movies? They were all filmed and presented in 3D and they were all gimmick and very bad acting. Granted, today's technology is better and when a movie now is really shot in 3D it can be breathtaking. I love "Avatar" a lot and have great affection for it but I also curse it in a big way. With it's huge success now every moron wants his movie in 3D. The real shame of it is 95% of the 3D movies in 2010 were shot in 2D and then transferred to 3D. This only makes the movie harder to see and the screen dark, dirty and blurred. There are only so many times you can try to convince the people that it is sunny and 70 degrees out when it is actually snowing and 25. In other words, paying an extra surcharge for a fake 3D is only going to last until people catch on that the movie isn't real 3D. 3D is awesome and great for movies like "Avatar" but I haven't seen a 3D movie half as good as that one since. Actually the best movies to see in 3D are animated movies because the picture won't get as cloudy. I know there are new 3D television sets coming out but except for a special movie I think this 2D to 3D transfer will die out just like the 80's 3D fiasco did.

On the positive side, while I find the major Hollywood blockbusters getting lamer, the small independent film scene is getting stronger. There were a lot of great movies that used the power of words to tell their story. Usually Hollywood finds a gimmick like super hero movies, horror movies, action movies and attach stars and then write the story. This makes most of those movies horribly written and shallow. There were many strong, low budget movies and documentaries that overall were more successful then the big movies. Only ten of my top 25 are big budget movies and some of those had middling budgets. There were really only three movies on my main list that were A budget movies. In the past years there were way more action, horror movies and comedies that had huge budgets and that I also loved. The gargantuan blockbusters don't have to be that bad. I remember in 2002 when the super big budget Steven Spielberg movie "Minority Report" was my pick for best movie of that year. These movies can have brains, for example, look at "Inception" which was brilliantly written. It was a huge, big budget movie that appealed to grown ups because it actually had a story and you had to think. I love movies that are big and mindless fun but only when they actually show some care and heart. I was happy that I saw so many small, wonderful movies this year full of great writing and acting. I was always a writer type of person as opposed to a director type person. There were many wonderfully written movies that to me point to a promising future.

Now I will start with the bad movies of 2010 and get them out of the way.

Bad Movies of 2010

1.) Happy Tears

Demi Moore, Parker Posey, Rip Torn

Here is the opposite example of a low budget movie with bad writing instead of good. I forgot to mention the pretentious jack ass writer that writes crap like this and gives the independent film scene a bad name.

2.) Remember Me

Robert Pattinson, Chris Cooper

Any movie that uses the tragedy of 9/11 as your twist ending gimmick is tasteless and very stupid.

3.) Repo Men

Forrest Whitaker, Jude Law

This is an ugly, nasty, violent and unimaginative movie where the director watched too many Kubrick movies.

4.) A Nightmare on Elm Street

Jackie Earle Haley

Why remake an iconic if somewhat over rated horror original when every age in your audience saw the original? This movie is very annoying and the sound effects are like nails on a... oh never mind.

5.) Harry Brown

Michael Caine, Emily Mortimer

Michael Caine ripping off Charles Bronson's "Death Wish"? Really? Really?! This is another nasty and violent turkey.

6.) MacGruber

Will Forte, Ryan Phillipe

Did anyone from SNL get the memo that almost all movie adaptations from the show suck except for a select few? You know you are in trouble when a pro wrestler gives the best performance.

7.) The A Team

Liam Neeson, Bradley Cooper

More like "The F Team".

8.) The Killer Inside Me

Casey Affleck

Hey, another nasty and vioelent movie about a serial killer. This movie is torture to sit through and I swear it seemed like the movie was 5 hours long.

9.) Jonah Hex

Josh Brolin, Megan Fox

The screen is dingy, dark and dirty, the performances are terrible and I couldn't understand what anyone was saying. When I say performances I actually mean that Megan Fox sucked.

10.) Twilight: Eclipse

Kristen Stewart, Robert Pattinson, Taylor Lautner

Brood, sigh, gasp, scream, brood some more, pine, swoon and then brood again. There, now you don't have to see these movies. If you ever have insomnia pop in a DVD of any Twlight movie and fall fast asleep.

11.) Little Fockers

Robert Deniro, Ben Stiller

Can someone please tell Deniro to start really acting again and stop mugging? So you take your wife, two kids ages 6 and 8 to see this movie on family night and sit through penis jokes. Yay!

12.) Country Song

Gwyneth Paltrow, Tim McGraw

Have you heard that country song where the man lost his truck, his dog and his wife and then saw the movie "Country Strong and actually felt worse?

The Ten Worst Movies of 2010

10.) Eat, Pray, Love
Director: Ryan Murphy Julia Roberts

I wouldn't mind following this narcissistic and vain woman on her journey no one really cares about if the writing wasn't so bad and shallow.

9.) The Tourist

Director: Florian Henckel von Donnersmarck

This is such a lazy movie and Johnny Depp looks lost and bored. The film makers threw in a beautiful Angelina Jolie (who is actually good here) and breathtaking locations and forgot a story that made sense or even holds your attention for 5 minutes.

8.) Robin Hood

Director: Ridley Scott Russell Crowe

This is Scott's worst movie and one of the dullest, darkest and most pretentious Robin Hood movies I could imagine. There is not one moment where I had fun or was interested.

7.) Clash of the Titans

Director: Louis Leterrier

With this and "Troy" why doesn't anyone know how to transfer the magic and wonder of Greek Mythology to the big screen? Here is one of those 3D transfers that is dark, dull and pretentious. I am not joking when I tell you that at times I couldn't see anything on screen.

6.) Burlesque

Director: Steve Antin Christina Aguilerra, Cher

This makes "Showgirls" look like "Gone With the Wind", enough said.

5.) Cop Out

Director: Kevin Smith Bruce Willis, Tracy Morgan

What was Kevin Smith thinking? Was he trying to make a cop movie spoof (not funny) or was he trying to do a "Lethal Weapon" homage (embarrassing). Not many actors have wanted me to walk out of a theatre like Morgan made me feel like doing.

4.) Sex and the City 2

Director: Michael Patrick King

I actually liked the first movie even though I wasn't a fan of the show but I can't defend this one. I have never spent 2 plus excruciating hours with such vain and arrogant bores in my life.

3.) The Killers

Director: Robert Luketic Katherine Heigl, Ashton Kutcher

Kutcher comes off like Laurence Olivier compared to Heigl here in this insipid, lazy, laugh free, crude action comedy. Everything looks like it was filmed on a sound stage.

2.) The Bounty Hunter

Director: Andy Tennant Gerard Butler, Jennifer Aniston

This is an obnoxious, clumsy, stupid and laugh free exercise in vanity. Butler is terrible here and Aniston again looks bored, mad and uninterested. Did Aniston kill her agent's dog or something? The man gives her such desperate crap to be in.

1. The Last Airbender

Director: M Night Shymalan Dev Patel

Ugh!! This is the bottom of the barrel for the director, 3D, writing, action, adventure, fantasy. This is like "Howard the Duck" bad, I mean this is 1984 "Dune" bad. This is an incomprehensible, crude, bleak, blurry mess that has no charm, bad acting, bad music and the ugliest cinematography in history. This is easily one of the worst movies I have ever seen in my lifetime.

The Fairly Good Movies for a Rainy Day

1.) From Paris With Love
John Travolta, Jonathan Rhys Meyers

2.) Percy Jackson and The Olympians: The Lightening Thief

3.) The Greatest

Carey Mulligan, Susan Sarandon

4.) The Joneses

Demi Moore, David Duchovny, Amber Heard

5.) The Losers

Jeffrey Dean Morgan, Zoe Saldana, Jason Patric

6.) Grown Ups

Adam Sandler, Chris Rock, Kevin James

7.) Get Low

Robert Duvall, Bill Murray, Sissy Spacek, Lucas Black

8.) Takers

Matt Dillon, Idris Elba

9.) The Switch

Jason Bateman, Jennifer Aniston

10.) I'm Still There

Joaquin Phoenix

11.) Jack Goes Boating

Patrick Seymour Hoffman, Amy Ryan

12.) Stone

Robert Deniro, Edward Norton, Milla Jovovich

13.) The Girl Who Kicked the Hornet's Nest

Noomi Rapace. The weakest one in the series

14.) Faster

Dwayne Johnson, Billy Bob Thornton

15.) Love and Other Drugs

Director:Edward Zwick
Anne Hathaway, Jake Gyllenhaal

16.) Biutiful

Javier Bardem


The Good Movies of 2010

1.) Youth in Revolt

Director: Miguel Arteta
Michael Cera, Ray Liotta

2.) The Book of Eli

Directors: Allan and Albert Hughes
Denzel Washington, Mila Kunis, Gary Oldman

3.) Frozen An unique and fun horror thriller.

4.) Shutter Island

Director: Martin Scorcese
Leonardo DiCaprio, Mark Ruffalo

5.) Alice in Wonderland

Director: Tim Burton
Mia Warsikowska, Johnny Depp, Helena Bonham Carter

6.) Green Zone

Director: Paul Greengrass
Matt Damon, Greg Kinnear

7.) Diary of a Wimpy Kid

8.) City Island

Andy Garcia, Juliana Margulies

9.) Chloe

Director: Atom Egoyan
Amanda Seyfried, Julianne Moore

10.) Eclipse

Ciaran Hinds

11.) Hot Tub Time Machine

John Cusack

12.) Date Night

Steve Carell, Tina Fey. Carell and Fey have great chemistry!

13.) When You're Strange (Documentary)

Jim Morrison

14.) Kick-Ass

Chloe Grace Moretz, Nicolas Cage, Aaron Johnson

15.) Iron Man 2

Director: Jon Favreau
Robert Downey Jr., Mickey Rourke

16.) Please Give

Director: Nicole Holofcener
Catherine Keener, Oliver Platt

17.) Letters To Juliet

Amanda Seyfried, Vanessa Redgrave

18.) Holly Rollers

Jesse Eisenberg, Justin Bartha

19.) Get Him to the Greek

Russell Brand, Jonah Hill

20.) Ondine

Colin Farrell

21.) The Karate Kid

Jackie Chan, Jaden Smith, Taraji P. Henson

22.) Toy Story 3

23.) I Am Love

Tilda Swinton

24.) Knight and Day

Tom Cruise, Cameron Diaz

25.) The Girl Who Played With Fire

Noomi Rapace

26.) Despicable Me

27.) Salt

Angelina Jolie

28.) Countdown to Zero (Documentary)

29.) Dinner For Schmucks

Steve Carrell, Paul Rudd

30.) The Other Guys

Will Ferrell, Mark Wahlberg, Michael Keaton

31.) Cairo Time

Patricia Clarkson, Alexander Siddig

32.) Lebanon

33.) The Expendables

Director: Sylvester Stallone

34.) The Last Exorcism

35.) The American

George Clooney

36.) Machete

Danny Trejo, Steven Seagal, Michelle Rodriguez

37.) Going the Distance

Drew Barrymore, Justin Long, Charlie Day

38.) Never Let Me Go

Carey Mulligan, Keira Knightley, Andrew Garfield

39.) The Town

Director: Ben Affleck
Rebecca Hall, Jeremy Renner

40.) Catfish

41.) Let Me In

Chloe Grace Moretz, Codi Smit-McPhee, Richard Jenkins

42.) The Legends of the Guardian: The Owls of Ga'Hoole (Animated)

43.) It's Kind of a Funny Story

Directors: Ryan Fleck and Anna Boden
Zach Galfiniakis

44.) Hereafter

Director: Clint Eastwood
Matt Damon

45.) Conviction

Hilary Swank, Sam Rockwell, Melissa Leo, Minnie Driver

46.) Paranormal Activity 2

47.) Monsters

48.) 127 Hours

Director: Danny Boyle
James Franco

49.) For Colored Girls

Director: Tyler Perry
Kerry Washington, Taraji P. Henson

50.) Fair Game

Naomi Watts, Sean Penn

51.) Unstoppable

Director: Tony Scott
Denzel Washington, Chris Pine, Rosario Dawson

52.) Tangled (Animated)

53.) Rare Exports: A Christmas Tale

54.) Night Catches Us

Kerry Washington, Anthony Mackie

55.) Tron: Legacy

Jeff Bridges, Olivia Wilde, Michael Sheen

56.) Casino Jack

Kevin Spacey, Barry Pepper


Great Movies of 2010

1.) True Grit

Directors: Ethan and Joel Coen
Hailee Steinfeld, Jeff Bridges, Matt Damon

Steinfeld makes this movie great with her central, gritty and mature performance that could win an Oscar. The Coens have made a solid and very well made Western which is also not their best. On a scale between 1 and 10 on the Coen's list of great movies this is a 5.

2.) Morning Glory

Director: Roger Michell
Rachel McAdams, Harrison Ford, Diane Keaton

This movie nails the phoniness of television morning talk shows wonderfully. Rachel McAdams is a life force in the lead role and gives a charming, energetic performance.

3.) Harry Potter and the Deathly Hollows Part 1

Director: David Yates

I can't wait to see the conclusion to Part 1 of a two part finale of the Harry Potter series. This is one of my favorite movies in the series and I can't wait till it gets really dark and scary.

4.) Nowhere Boy

Director: Sam Taylor Wood
Aaron Johnson, Kristin Scott Thomas, Anne Marie Duff

This is a fun and fascinating portrait of a young John Lennon. Aaron Johnson does a great job not falling in the impersonation trap and Anne Marie Duff is great as his birth mother.

5.) Ghost Writer

Director: Roman Polanski
Ewan McGregor, Pierce Brosnan, Olivia Williams

This unfolds like a great crime novel and mystery and no one can make a novel like movie as can Polanski. This is a really well written and quietly effective thriller with great performances and meticulous direction.

6.) Solitary Man

Directors: Brian Koppelman and David Levien
Michael Douglas, Jesse Eisenberg, Susan Sarandon

A great character study with Michael Douglas's best performances in ages. He has the best role in a lifetime for him to chew on some scenery and he is fun to watch here.

7.) Animal Kingdom

Director: David Michod
Jackie Weaver, Guy Pearce, Joe Edgerton

This unique and engrossing Australian crime picture has a lot of character and charisma. The characters and their situations are small but all the characters are vicious and violent criminals. Though no one is as scary, twisted or as effective as Jackie Weaver playing the matriarch of this family. She reminds me of the Wicked Witch.

8.) Scott Pilgrim vs. the World

Director: Edgar Wright
Michael Cera, Mary Elizabeth Winstead

This comic book adaptation is one of the most refreshing and original movies I have seen in many summer movie seasons. I love the energy of this movie and I laughed a lot, this is creative film making at it's best.

9.) Easy A

Director: Will Gluck
Emma Stone, Penn Badgely, Amanda Bynes

This is in the great tradition of the old John Hughes classics. Emma Stone is completely wonderful and funny in the lead role and she proves she can carry any movie. This is different for a high school movie because it is smart and actually knows it's subject. This is actually a better movie than "Mean Girls".

10.) Waking Sleeping Beauty

Director: Don Hahn

This fascinating and fun documentary on how Walt Disney turned a dark moment in their animation department and turned it into magic. If you love the resurgence of the great Disney animated movies of the late 80's, early 90's you will love this. The movie is really great when going over all the back stabbing moments that went on behind the scenes.

My Top 25 Plus One

Here is my list of my 25 favorite movies of 2010. I am also adding to my list a HBO movie that if released in theatres could be anywhere on my top ten list:

Temple Grandin

Director: Mick Jackson
Claire Danes, David Strathairn

This is a fascinating real life story of Dr. Temple Grandin, an autistic woman who is now one of the top scientists in the Animal Husbandry field. Claire Danes gives a spellbinding performance that is equal to Portman or Bening.

25.) Restrepo

Directors: Sebastian Junger and Tim Hetherington

This gritty and powerful documentary follows a platoon in one of the deadliest locations in Afghanistan. The movie just keeps growing in suspense and finally explodes.

24.) Waiting For Superman

Director: Davis Guggenheim

This sobering and powerful documentary is similiar to "Restrepo" and is a must see and important movie about the failure of our city's school system.

23.) Joan Rivers: A Piece of Work

Directors Ricki Stern and Anne Sundberg

I found a new respect for Rivers here with this funny and great time at the movies. Joan Rivers is more fascinating than most characters in fiction films. The movie actually had me on the edge of my seat glued to the screen.

22.) Exit Through the Gift Shop

Director: Banksy

This documentary which actually might be a fake, thus being a mocumentary, is a lot of fun. The artist Banksy, if he is real, is an elusive figure who might be the biggest scam artist in the World. This should win Best Documentary at the Oscars because my next pick wasn't even nominated!

21.) The Pat Tillman Story

Director: Amir Bar-Lev

This is a powerful documentary that made me angry, at my Country, my Government and our war machine. This is a very engrossing movie that centers on the Tillman family especially Richard, his brother. Richard is also a fascinating person and his family's reaction to the travesty that happened to his brother is powerful. What is really sad is how engaging, sweet, classy and wonderful a person Pat was.

20.) Greenberg

Director: Noah Baumbach
Ben Stiller, Greta Gerwig

A very smart, funny and perceptive screenplay makes this movie a pleasure to listen to. It also has Ben Stiller's best performance in a movie and a star making performance by Great Gerwig. The movie is funny and surprisingly contains moments of poignancy and great drama.

19.) How To Train Your Dragon

Directors: Dean Deblois and Chris Sanders

When I mentioned before how animated movies looked so much better in 3D this wonderful movie and the "Legends of the Guardian" were what I was talking about. The flying sequences here, as they were to a lesser degree in Owls, rival that of "Avatar".

18.) A Prophet

Director: Jacques Audiard
Tahar Rahim, Niels Arestrup

This movie is true to it's hype as "The Godfather" of prison movies. The journey and transformation of lead character Malik from scared prisoner to wise, hardened criminal is like that of Michael Corleone. This is an engrossing movie that is well written, tense and multi layered.

17.) Cyrus

Directors: Jay Duplass and Mark Duplass
John C. Reilly, Jonah Hill, Marisa Tomei

This is my kind of comedy, twisted, black and hilarious. John C. Reilly gives a wonderful performance from the first moment till the end. He is one of our greatest comic actors and this is coming from an actor more well known for his dramas. I love this warped movie for it is highly original and very smart.

16.) Another Year
Director: Mike Leigh

Lesley Manville, Jim Broadbent, Ruth Sheen

This is another wonderful slice of life drama from Mike Leigh whose free, improvisational style makes his movies realistic. Lesley Manville gives an Oscar caliber performance in a go for broke style. I love how the movie unfolds like life with no major plot developments but just with real, memorable people and real emotions.

15.) Buried

Director: Rodrigo Cortes
Ryan Reynolds

This is a fast, intense and fun joy ride with Ryan Reynolds best performance of his career. This movie is just Reynolds buried alive underground in a coffin with only a cell phone that is dying and a lighter. This is not for people who are claustrophobic like me. This is a white knuckle thriller that is also funny and over before you know it. This is how fun a thriller should be!

14.) The Illusionist

Director: Sylvain Chomet

This is clearly the best animated movie of 2010 and it is a total charmer. I finally checked out my first Tati film last week and this is definitely a love letter to Tati. This is not a noisy, obnoxious animated film like most, it is quiet, touching and funny with a breathtaking score. This reminds me of a very great, Chaplinesque silent film.

13.) Rabbit Hole

Director: John Cameron Mitchell
Nicole Kidman, Aaron Eckhart, Diane Wiest

This heartbreaking movie has two wonderful performances by Kidman and Eckhart as grieving parents who have just lost a child. There are scenes of quiet power leavened with great humor and finally the movie is somehow uplifting. There are no false moments in any of the performances and there is great supporting turns by Wiest and newcomer Miles Teller.

12.) Somewhere

Director: Sofia Coppola
Stephen Dorff, Elle Fanning

I don't know how to explain this movie but it had a haunting effect on me. Maybe because I can identify with the lead character and his feelings of loss and direction. This is a spare, touching and quiet movie and it's look at a father and daughter relationship is real. Words can't explain how this movie made me feel. I just know I couldn't shake it off for a few days. Please don't get angry at me if you see this and don't get it, it is not for everybody and not as great as "Lost in Translation". I also think that Sofia Coppola is the real deal and all her movies are alive and real.

10 A.) The King's Speech

Director: Tom Hooper
Colin Firth, Geoffrey Rush, Helena Bonham Carter

This was a tough choice between this movie and my next choice so this makes my top ten also. "The King's Speech" hit home to me and probably to anyone who has a hard time speaking in public. I am not a huge costume drama person so my placing of this movie is a huge accomplishment. Colin Firth is of course amazing but Rush is every bit his equal. The conclusion of this movie choked me up and touched me, inspired me. I just wish the back stage politics material dealing with the monarchy and war weren't so stiff and dull. The movie soars more when it deals with the King and his battle with his speech impediment.

10.) Red Riding Trilogy

1974 Director: Julian Jarrold
1980 Director: James Marsh
1983 Director: Anand Tucker

1974: Andrew Garfield, David Morrisey
1980: Paddy Considine, James Fox
1983: David Morrisey, Mark Addy

This film trilogy is a great way to spend six hours as you drink a bottle of wine and eat your favorite dinner and you soak it all in. This is a major achievement and if you like mysteries and crime sagas you will absolutely love this. This is a serial killer movie and there are devastating moments but this is not trash and it is certainly powerful and entertaining. It is very much played out like a mini series but this is the best set of crime movies of the year and it puts movies like "The Town" to shame. This kind of gave me the same thrill as watching all "Godfather" movies. But this is more complete because all three films are mini masterpieces and the third one is better than "Godfather III". There is never a lull or dull moment throughout all three movies.

9.) The Crazies

Director: Breck Eisner
Timothy Olyphant, Radha Mitchell

This is the best horror movie I have seen in quite a long time. It is also possibly one of the best remakes of a bad movie ever made. This is how you do it, remake weak movies and not great or classic ones. The original Romero Crazies was dull, laughable and had such bad acting and no thrills. This remake has a perfect, creepy tone, two bravura, classic set pieces that made me jump and great acting. This is a thrill ride that never stops and like all horror classics it glides by and scares the crap out of you.

8.) The Fighter

Director: David O'Russell
Mark Wahlberg, Christian Bale, Melissa Leo, Amy Adams

At first I found this movie to be a good time but didn't really see greatness. The second time I even enjoyed it more and found it to be grand, old fashioned entertainment that is a lot of fun. I could see this movie again and again and that makes it worthy for my top ten, it passed my top ten test. The performances are fun and larger than life and the characters are colorful and captivating. Mark Wahlberg gives a great, understated performance surrounded by high energy performances. Bale is perfect and Leo and Adams dissapear into their roles. The boxing scenes are realistic and the fun is infectious and those sisters are priceless.

7.) The Kids Are All Right

Director: Lisa Chodolenko
Annette Bening, Julianne Moore, Mark Ruffalo

This is an extremely well written movie with one of the most believable families I have seen depicted on screen. This movie was even better the second time and I love the humor and realism. Annette Bening is truly wonderful as the tough, wine drinking but loving head of the family. I think Julianne Moore is even better giving a funny, sexy and totally charming performance. Her scenes with Mark Ruffalo are hilarious and my favorite moments. This movie is highly entertaining, funny and finally touching. This is a perfect blend of great writing mixed with great performances.

6.) Winter's Bone

Director: Debra Granik
Jennifer Lawrence, John Hawkes

I didn't get the full power and outstanding film making talent until I watched this movie a second time at home. There I could soak in the perfect atmosphere of a real and lived in setting. Jennifer Lawrence gives one of the best debut, star making performances I have seen in ages. She is matched by a powerfully scary and intense performance by John Hawkes. I swear if you didn't tell me this movie was real I would have thought it was a documentary. This is like a great book you can't put down, it is a movie that feels like it is about to explode. I actually think if I saw this movie many more times it could shoot up to number 1 on this list.

5.) The Runaways

Director: Floria Sigismondi
Kristen Stewart, Dakota Fanning, Michael Shannon

Do you ever feel that a movie was meant just for you and that no one else got it? I think that "The Runaways" is one of the best movies about a musical group or singer. I might be in the minority here but this movie to me is completely flawless. It has great music, a perfect recreation of the 70's (one of the best I have seen) and one of my favorite perfromances by an actress. Dakota Fanning is the real star here, this is not about Joan Jett or really about The Runaways but about Cherie Curie. Fanning is amazing and gives a performance that might be my favorite next to Natalie Portman. Also great is Michael Shannon as the band's manager. I am a huge Cherie Curie fan ( she is my facebook friend!) and I love this movie. I probably love this movie more than anybody but I do know Dakota Fanning gives a performance just as great as anyone in 2010 so why was she snubbed?

4.) Inception

Director: Christopher Nolan
Leonardo DiCaprio, Tom Hardy, Ellen Page, Michael Caine

This is that rare thinking man's action movie that is brain candy and it was like opening presents on Christmas day. This is a movie you could watch over and over again and get new meaning every time. This reminds me of one of my favorite brain twisters "12 Monkeys". The movie is brilliant and I was always fascinated by dreams and what they all mean, how they come about. This movie is spellbinding, fun, entertaining and full of wonder with some breathtaking cinematography and special effects. This is one of the most beautiful movies to look at and one of the smartest movies I have seen come out in the summer months.

3.) Blue Valentine

Director: Derek Cianfrance
Michelle Williams, Ryan Gosling

This is the best movie I have seen about marriage with great performances and realistic power. Michelle Williams is one of our top five actresses today and her performance is magic here. I could watch her performance here multiple times and it would always move me. Ryan Gosling, who is also one of our top 5 actors today is equally great here. This feels like we are eavesdropping on a real marriage dealing with real people. The movie is dark, bleak at times but it is a powerful experience I will never forget.

2.) Black Swan

Director: Darren Aronofsky
Natalie Portman, Mila Kunis, Barbara Hershey

This is a fever dream of a movie that builds and builds with suspense until it finally explodes in a perfect ending. This is a movie that could have gone so wrong in so many ways. This could have come off as laughable and dumb but it becomes one of the most solid thrillers in years. Natalie Portman's performance is pure hard work, dedication and magic. In the wrong hands this could have been a weak performance. This movie plays mind games with you but it always plays fair and never makes a wrong move. This is a flawless thriller and Aronofsky takes his time, notches up the intensity little by little and finally delivers a masterpiece. This is breathtaking and haunting film making.

1.) The Social Network

Director: David Fincher
Jesse Eisenberg, Andrew Garfield, Armie Hammer
Justin Timberlake

When we look back thirty years from now and want to pick movies that defined our current culture, this is the movie of 2010 that will make the most impact. This is a movie with one of the best written and smartest screenplays of any decade. David Fincher and Aaron Sorkin have done a rare thing, make a thrilling movie out of words instead of action. This is a movie full of rapid fire dialogue and the story is fascinating. I have heard complaints that this movie was cold and cynical but I think facebook can sometimes be cruel and cold. So what you have here is a movie that knows it's subject and delves deeply into it with truth and power. Jesse Eisneberg gives an amazing performance, clearly his best, going against type. David Fincher is my favorite director right now and he knows how to shoot a movie with no wasted moments. I didn't find any flaws in this movie and I was totally enthralled from the first moment to the last. I have seen the movie three times and I can't wait to see it again! This belongs with "All the President's Men", "Do The Right Thing" and Fincher's own "Zodiac" as movies that define their decade.

Thins to leave you with:

Best score: The Social Network
Best Editing: The Social Network
Best Trailer: The Social Network and right behind it Blue Valentine
Best on screen couple: Steve Carell and Tina Fey on comedy side, Michelle Williams and Ryan Gosling on drama side.
Best lesbian make out scene? I guess I have to go with Black Swan over Kids Are All Right, it was really close though!

And finally Dakota Fanning, Jennifer Lawrence, Michelle Williams, Natalie Portman.
This is the best crop of actresses I have seen in any time in Hollywood history. So that is 2010 and I will now continue my search for the next great movie of 2011 and so far not so good but I know I will have a great top 25 list at this time next year.