Film critics shouldn’t expect to fill out their “best movie lists” mid-year.
The summer movie lineup is meant to overwhelm the senses, nothing more. But by September it looked like assembling such a list for 2010 would be “Mission: Inconceivable.”
Luckily, the heavily hyped Oscar movie season delivered – even if the late season entry “How Do You Know” proved a staggering disappointment.
- “The Social Network” - A movie about the dawn of Facebook sounds as thrilling as an expose into the minds behind “Super Mario Bros.” But this tart, terrific drama serves up the best dialogue heard in any theater this year along with characters as flawed as they are fascinating. Add a moody soundtrack co-crafted by Trent Reznor and you’ve got the year’s biggest entertainment.
- “The Town” – This is what mainstream movie making ought to be – smart, captivating and overstuffed with great performances. Ben Affleck remains a limited actor, but his potential behind the camera bodes well for him – and us. And has any actor grabbed us by the scruff of the neck as bracingly as Jeremy Renner has in back-to-back films (“The Town,” “The Hurt Locker”)?
- “The Kids Are All Right” – This Summer sleeper managed to make money while delivering the best of both the mainstream and indie worlds. Bravo! But the film’s pleasures extend to fine performances and a story that embraces unconventional families without stepping so much as a toe on a soapbox.
- “The Fighter” - Pound for pound, it’s nearly as exhilarating as “The Social Network,” and it could earn Best Supporting Actor trophies for Christian Bale and Melissa Leo.
- “Toy Story 3″ – Not all sequels, or threequels to be exact, are created equal. The final “Story” tugs at our hearts, makes it smile and tells a complicated story even a child could understand. What more could you want?
- “Rabbit Hole” -Great art doesn’t depress, even when its subject matter burrows straight into our nightmares. Aaron Eckhart and Nicole Kidman excel as wounded parents struggling with the loss of their young son. Eckhart deserves an Oscar nomination for his work here, as does director John Cameron Mitchell for treating the material with the lightest of touches.
- “Best Worst Movie” -The year’s best documentary isn’t a polemic, nor does it want to save the world. It just celebrates the greatness of lousy movie making. Oh, and it’s consistently hilarious, a must for genre film fans and offers up the funniest character on screen this year – the director of the abysmal “Troll 2,” Claudio Fragasso.
- “Waiting for ‘Superman’” -The newest documentary from Davis Guggenheim leaves out some inconvenient truths about charter school’s overall success rate, but you won’t find a better crafted, more persuasive argument that the educational status quo must end.
- “127 Hours” – Danny Boyle takes a story set in the crack of a Utah canyon and crafts another bravura slice of filmmaking from it. Star James Franco proves he’s an elite actor, one of the few who can carry a film without making us pine for supporting players.
- “Kick-Ass”/”Let Me In” – Consider this a tip of the blogger’s cap to young actress Chloe Moretz. Neither film is perfect – the former’s wanton violence disturbed even this jaded critic, and the latter didn’t so much as remake the source material as replicate it for better effect. But both transfixed their target audiences in a way all films should. And, frankly, the jolts in “Kick-Ass’” final battle sequences are why I love movies as much today as I ever did.
(Photo: Jeremy Renner stars as a Boston thug in “The Town,” one of the year’s most thrilling films. Warner Bros.)
Related posts:
on 
on 
{ 3 comments… read them below or add one }
Thanks for the list and your insight on the year’s films. Sad to say, I’ve only seen two of the movies on this list, mainly because family obligations have kept me out of the theater for the last few months. Looking forward to catching up on all of them on DVD, though (except Rabbit Hole, which sounds like a film for emotional masochists).
I walked into “Rabbit Hole” with a similar sense of dread, but the film (like “Precious” before it) is uplifting on a certain level. Still, it’s tough to settle in for a movie on a Saturday night and say, hey, let’s watch a couple deal with the loss of their four-year-old.
So happy you mentioned ‘Let Me In’ AND ‘Kick Ass’! Both were complete surprises for me, even if they were, as you put it, imperfect in a few ways.
I hope Ms. Moretz has a great career ahead!