Top 10 of 2010

Well, after several unsuccessful attempts to complete a video Best Of... like I did last year, I decided to just write my Top 10 of 2010 list. Since we're 6 months into 2011, I've had plenty of time to catch up on 2010 releases I missed. I've also included my Bottom 5 of the year as well. Here we go:

Top 10:

Honorable mentions: 127 Hours, The Ghost Writer, The Other Guys

10. Exit Through the Gift Shop - What a cool-ass movie. The may-or-may-not-be directed by Banksy movie takes you through the eyes of an aspiring street artist who subsequently proves how easy it could be to become one.

9. Toy Story 3 - It's Pixar. Whatever movie they put out is almost guaranteed to make top ten lists. What I liked about this was the somewhat dark tone it takes about halfway through. Not many kids cartoons have the huevos to do that.

8. Scott Pilgrim vs. the World - This is a basically a video game put on screen. I'm not talking about a video game movie like Mortal Kombat, I'm saying this could literally be a kick-ass video game if put out.

7. Buried - As awesome as 127 Hours was, this movie felt more intense and much more harrowing. Ryan Reynolds played scared to perfection.

6. The Town - Remember when Ben Affleck was just an act-when-he-wanted-to actor? Thanks to this, I'm starting to forget that and think of him as a great director. He knows how to turn a simple story into complex tale of family and trust.

5. True Grit - See, you make remakes of films that weren't terrific the first time around and make them great. The Coen brothers usually do no wrong and True Grit is their best outing in years. Also, how good was Hailee Steinfeld in her FIRST MOVIE ROLE?

4. The Social Network - I think this made practically all Top Ten lists that I've seen, and rightfully so. The fact that a movie about a website could keep me intrigued is amazing. Bonus points because it's Aaron Sorkin.

3. Animal Kingdom - I hadn't even heard of this movie until some of the acting started to get Oscar buzz and, boy, am I glad I watched it. The characters and the story were both so deep and rich.

2. Inception - How long is too long to stay in awe of that hallway fight scene? The graphics, the cinematography and the directing were just phenomenal. Also, the story didn't get nearly enough credit come awards season.

1. Black Swan - Simply put, Darren Aronofsky knows how to direct a film. He takes this movie about ballet and makes it such a deep and twisting thriller that kept me on the edge of my seat the whole time. And Vincent Cassel deserved an Oscar nod over Mark Ruffalo.

Bottom 5:

Dishonorable mentions: Love & Other Drugs, The Expendables, From Paris With Love

5. The Kids Are All Right - There are worse movies that came out last year, but this made the list because of all the unnecessary hype it got. The acting was OK, but none of the characters stood out or were even likable.

4. Salt - The plot of this movie somehow managed to be both completely predictable and utterly incomprehensible. Salt tries so hard to be Jason Bourne that it's just sad at points.

3. Get Him to the Greek - What a disappointment. I think Russell Brand is hilarious and Jonah Hill is funny enough, but neither did anything. Also, it's weird that Hill played a different character from Forgetting Sarah Marshall, while Brand played the same one.

2. 44 Inch Chest - One guy's wife has an affair and he gets a group of friends together to beat up the male mistress. That's it. It's a 25 minutes movie dragged on for more than an hour and a half. Just plain boring.

1. Cop Out - The biggest problem with this movie is that Kevin Smith directed a flick that he didn't write. Also, the plot sucked...big time.

There you go. Here's to 2011 being a better all-around year for movies. Cheers.