55 Pretty Good Movies from 2010
Fifty-five films from 2010, listed in order of decreasing greatness. Metacritic score in parentheses.
1. Dogtooth (73)
Greek drama horror sf thriller.
Everybody liked this. Much more entertaining than it had any right to be.
The Wrestler for ballet.
Christopher Nolan may be the most consistently great action director currently working.
Political thriller by Roman Polanski. Pierce Brosnan plays Tony Blair, more or less.
Fun, depressing character study by Noah Baumbach.
Country noir.
Apparently the Coen Brothers' greatest commercial success ever.
Boxing biopic by David O. Russell.
South Korean drama thriller.
A Banksy film!
5½ hours on the life and work of Carlos the Jackal.
Absorbing French prison drama.
The least adventurous and most conventional of the year's ten Oscar nominees for Best Picture, and thus the obvious winner. But it is good.
The proper follow-up to Shaun of the Dead and Hot Fuzz (ignore Paul).
Surprisingly indie-ish (read: mopey). I liked Part II as well.
Very well-made (albeit entirely unnecessary) US remake of Let the Right One In.
The best one.
Nice-looking follow-up to The Triplets of Belleville, based on an unproduced script by Tati.
Devastating look at a relationship in crisis.
Trashy science fiction fun. Vincenzo Natali's first artistically successful movie since Cube.
Michael Sheen's third outing as Tony Blair (one, two).
Stephen Frears' likable adaptation of the Posy Simmonds comic strip.
Michael Cera is the Youth.
An Australian GoodFellas.
Minimalistic George Clooney hitman drama, similar to The Passenger.
Satanic UK thriller, somewhat reminiscent of Angel Heart (although not as good).
Based on the Grindhouse trailer. Popcorn fun with a (very blunt) political edge.
High school student thinks he's Leon Trotsky reincarnated.
Based on Aron Ralston's experiences. Begins and ends well.
Spun off from 2008's excellent Forgetting Sarah Marshall. Some great songs.
Written and directed by HBO veteran (and son of Gabriel García Márquez) Rodrigo García.
Not entirely successful. But it's Scorsese.
British Muslim suicide bombing comedy.
Disney's 50th animated movie. Pixarian in feel and tone.
Sam Rockwell (AKA Moon Rockyfeller) steals the show. Incidentally, I watched it in an entirely empty theatre.
Much better than the similar Kick-Ass.
Mumblecore with a budget.
Crime drama by/with/for Ben Affleck.
Computer-animated vikings.
A gay Catch Me If You Can.
Overhyped but alright.
Lost in Translation redux - though Stephen Dorff is no Bill Murray.
Inspired by the CIA leak scandal.
Not as good as the Morrison/Quitely graphic novel, but pretty fun anyway.
Stylish, uninvolving.
Robert Duvall is ornery sumbitch and Bill Murray is his funeral director. Doesn't quite live up to its promise.
Biopic on the autistic superstar.
Disappointingly conventional coming-of-age movie from Gervais/Merchant.
Utterly cliched teen version of The Scarlet Letter, saved by Emma Stone's charismatic performance.
Pretty faithful to the comics by Tardi.
Absurd but highly watchable torture porn with questionable morals.
Ryan Reynolds in a box.
Slightly better than the similarly themed Despicable Me. Worth it for the Brando references, probably inexplicable to the movie's target audience.
Woody Allen's latest. Critically panned, but I enjoyed it enough to include here. Just.
So. Did I miss anything?
