Review by Spencer Gordon
Photos provided by respective film

After seeing a respectable forty films this year, I have devised my own top ten of the year.
First off, we have the honorable mentions: Winter’s Bone, Youth In Revolt, Waiting For Superman, You Will Meet A Tall Dark Stranger, Harry Potter and the Deathly Hollows – Part 1, True Grit, and Get Him To The Greek.
10. The Town
After a trailer that I felt revealed way too much of the story about a group of hard-nosed Boston bank robbers, I felt that this film was going to be just another Oscar bait drama with clichés galore. Luckily that wasn’t the case with Ben Affleck’s second directing effort after Gone Baby Gone. He directs his large cast expertly, especially with Jeremy Renner as a psychotic best friend, through a story that truly surprised me with how engaging it was. Who knew Affleck could direct an exciting car chase?
9. The Kids Are Alright
This indie gem is my favorite comedy of the year. Annette Benning (American Beauty) and Julianne Moore (Boogie Nights) play a couple of lesbian parents raising two kids in a very beautiful part of Los Angeles. The original script from Lisa Cholodenko and Stuart Blumberg is smart, sexy, and very funny as it explores a gay relationship and how it is just as hard as a straight one. Memorable lines are littered everywhere and I don’t just mean funny ones, but powerful messages about love and family as well.
8. Shutter Island
Martin Scorsese brings us a dark and psychological thriller starring the always great Leonardo DiCaprio. Following this private investigator as he explores the dark and eerie Shutter Island mental asylum create scary as well as intense scenes that make you sit on the edge of your chair. With a great twist and superb plot turns on the way, Shutter Island feels as if you are on a scary roller coaster ride, and the only way to finish it is to travel with DiCaprio as he explores dark corners and insane convicts to unravel the mystery surrounding the asylum.
7. Black Swan
I wish Barbara Hershey clicked with me or else this film would be higher, but despite her performance, I must say that Black Swan is overall the most intense film of the year and you can credit that to Natalie Portman’s acting. She carries this film on her shoulders as she begins to lose it mentally. Great directing and cinematography also back this thriller that follows the surprisingly dark world of ballet. All I can say is bravo!
6. Toy Story 3
Besides Lord of the Rings – Return of the King, there really hasn’t been a superb conclusion to a trilogy. Sure they are entertaining, and we can sit through them, but none of them has as much heart as Toy Story 3. Arguably the best of the series, the humor here is top notch, but it’s the storytelling and the memorable characters that truly make this film amazing. A great new villain this time in Lotso, the film has almost as great of a prison escape as The Great Escape. And a great finale scene that grabs a hold of your heart truly makes PIXAR the most celebrated film studio of our time.
5. Kick-Ass
Based on the graphic novel featured to the left, this film, to me anyways, is arguably one of the best superhero films ever made, just behind The Dark Knight. If TDK was about the darkness and realism that can encompass a comic book universe, Kick Ass literally takes the genre into overdrive and delivers a highly implausible story that is the most entertaining film I have seen in recent memory. When a Director knows what he has and embraces the film’s identity, that usually means success, and Kick-Ass is no exception. Director Matthew Vaughn knew that he had a film that was pure entertainment, but at the same time, a great underdog superhero film. Seriously if you aren’t smiling throughout this entire film I will be very surprised.
4. The King’s Speech
Receiving a lot of Oscar buzz, The King’s Speech deserves it all. I love dramas that make the climax of the film something that wouldn’t seem so extraordinary if it wasn’t for the magic of the movies. In The King’s Speech, the climax of the film is just a speech, but what makes it extraordinary is the story surrounding that speech. Colin Firth’s portrayal of King George VI is one of the best performances of the year as a man with speech impediment who unfortunately has the task to inspire his entire country on the eve of World War Two with a speech. Geoffrey Rush in my opinion deserves the Best Supporting Actor Oscar over Christian Bale’s in The Fighter. The film with the most important story of the year is also one of the best films of the year, a definite must see.
3. 127 Hours
Now Black Swan is overall the most intense film of the year, but 127 Hours has individual scenes that blow Black Swan out of the water. The true story of Aron Ralston is extraordinary, gripping, and most of all, must see cinema. Filmmakers who decide to explore a true story have an extraordinary task on their hands, as they must somehow bring us a story that re-creates the feelings that the real story created. I felt that Danny Boyle succeeded with 127 Hours. I couldn’t look away at all during this film, it is so engrossing and you feel every emotion with James Franco’s Oscar worthy performance.
2. Inception
How just blown away was everyone the first time they saw The Matrix? The pure imagination that went into that trilogy of films is something to behold. What makes The Matrix so great was also the fact that it was a story that was meant for the screen instead of the page. The same ingredients went into Chris Nolans’ Inception. It took the man ten years to concoct the script, and thank God it did, because this film is one of the most ingenious plots ever. Almost everyone absolutely adores this film, and it truly is an American filmmaking achievement that helps the age old argument that a summer blockbuster can be just as smart and amazing as an Oscar contender in December, but in reality this film will be nominated for Best Picture anyway.
1. The Social Network
The film that is front-runner for Best Picture is the film that truly defines the past decade. Although there are some facts that have been elaborated, and some things that according to Facebook’s co-founder Mark Zuckerberg never happened, but nonetheless, this film is amazing. Every actor delivers their performance of their career’s, Fincher directs better than Fight Club and Se7en, and the script by Aaron Sorkin is one of best adapted scripts in recent memory. I absolutely loved this film and have scene it numerous times. It’s such an intelligent film and it is about people like us, college kids, and how we have the ability to make a difference. But the film also does a great job in explaining how the problems that surround the real world still trouble us. This film is the film that was made for our generation, and thankfully, it was made into such an amazing piece. The best of the year, one of the best of the decade.

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Top Ten from 2010