The Social Network tops the best films of 2010

OK, here it is! After compiling a collection of 145 movie critics top ten film lists from newspapers, magazines and web sites across the US and Canada, I finally have the best 29 films of the year in order of the most listed and highest rated.

It was in some ways a more difficult year to judge than others as there were many films that were very close to call. But the number one film of the year won by a huge margin, appearing on 109 lists out of 145 and 31 times as number one on the list. The next closest film, Black Swan, in the number two spot appeared on 66 lists and only 11 times as the number one film. The Social Network even beat out last year’s winner The Hurt Locker which appeared on 69 lists and only 17 times as number one.

David Fincher’s The Social Network is the Slumdog Millionaire of 2010 and should win most of the major awards. It has already won the Critic’s Choice award for best film of the year and now the Golden Globes have awarded it for Best Picture, Director, Screenwriter, and Score. It will probably go on to win the same at the Oscars.

Whenever I ask people if they’ve seen The Social Network their response is always the same. They say that the subject matter doesn’t interest them. Well I can assure anyone who isn’t interested in seeing the movie that the film is far better than they imagine. It is not so much about the invention of Facebook as it is about how relationships and friendships are destroyed by fame, money and ambition in the very fast moving world of the internet. It is beautifully photographed and edited, and the music score and screenplay are perfect.  It has some of the most realistic performances I’ve seen by the young cast of actors Jesse Eisenberg, Andrew Garfield, and Justin Timberlake.  As the screenwriter said at the Golden Globes in his acceptance speech “the director David Fincher makes watching a movie about people looking at computer screens so suspenseful that it’s like watching a slow motion car crash.” It is a film I could watch over and over again, and enjoy every time.

The Social Network is now available to rent or buy on DVD and Blu-ray. I highly recommend you see this excellent film ASAP. It will keep you glued to your seat.

Here then are the Critics highest rated films of 2010.  

(Find the complete 2010 Critics top 10 lists in the right margin of this blog)

Summary of 2010 Critics Top 10 Lists
1	The Social Network
2	Black Swan
3	Inception
4	Winter’s Bone
5	Toy Story 3
6	The King’s Speech
7	127 Hours
8	The Ghost Writer
9	Carlos
10	The Kids are All Right
11	Another Year
12	True Grit
13	Exit Through the Gift Shop
14	A Prophet
15	The Fighter
16	Scott Pilgrim vs. The World
17	Dogtooth
18	Blue Valentine
19	Inside Job
20	Let Me In
21	Animal Kingdom
22	I Am Love
23	Red Riding Trilogy
24	Shutter Island
25	Four Lions
26	Never Let Me Go
27	Rabbit Hole
28	Mother
29	Please Give

Here is a list of 20 Best films of 2010 compiled from Film Comment magazine’s editor’s and contributors top ten lists.

This is a more international list as there is a larger selection of foreign films due to many of the contributing critics being from different parts of the world. But notice that The Social Network still comes in at number two, very close behind the number one film, even on this more international list.

Film Comment Magazine’s Final Cut 2010 Critics Top 10 Lists
1	Carlos
2	The Social Network
3	White Material
4	The Ghost Writer
5	A Prophet
6	Winter’s Bone
7	Inside Job
8	Wild Grass
9	Everyone Else
10	Greenberg
11	Mother
12	Toy Story 3
13	Eccentricities of a Blonde-Haired Girl
14	Another Year
15	The Strange Case of Angelica
16	The Kids are All Right
17	Shutter Island
18	Around a Small Mountain
19	Our Beloved Month of August
20	Ne change rein

The British film magazine Sight & Sound: The International Film Magazine has compiled a list of top 13 films of 2010 from its 85 contributing critics and curators. Even on this list of films compiled from a very international group of critics and curators The Social Network still comes out on top. Winter’s Bone and Carlos also rank very high on all three lists. 

But notice that The King’s Speech, which is favored to win the Oscar this year, is nowhere to be found on either the Film Comment list or the Sight & Sound list and only comes in at number 6 in North America’s list.

 

Sight & Sound – The International Film Magazine’s Final Top 13 List of 2010 films compiled from 85 of it’s critics and curators
1	The Social Network
2	Uncle Boonmee who can Recall His Past Lives
3	Another Year
4	Carlos
5	The Arbor
6	Winter’s Bone
7	I Am Love
8	The Autobiography of Nicolae Ceausescu
9	Film Socialisme
10	The Illusionist
11	Nostalgia for the Light
12	Poetry
13	A Prophet

JP

A quick summary of the 2010 film year

Which films made us sit up and say ‘Wow!, that was an amazing story’ or ‘that was amazingly well done’ or ‘that was so much fun, I’ve got to see that on my 50” Plasma when it comes out on Blu-ray.

3D was everywhere and for the first time it’s no longer a novelty but the norm, especially with computer animated films. There were more 3D films last year than any other year before, thanks to new 3D technology, and there is no sign of letting up for next year. Even TVs are now made for 3D.

It was not a great year for Sci-fi films. There was nothing as ground-breaking as Avatar, but there were some beautiful fantasy stories that made excellent use of digital technology. The ones I enjoyed most were Alice in Wonderland, Clash of the Titans, Iron Man 2 and Prince of Persia: The Sands of Time. Although many people loved Chris Nolan’s Inception and it was highly praised by critics, I was not a fan of this film about people with the ability to walk around in other people’s dreams while sleeping in order to steal their secrets. It seemed like it was cashing in on the popularity of the Matrix films. Instead of using an alternate computer manufactured reality, they used the subconscious mind to move around in. The visuals were also similar to the recent Matrix films. It is an interesting concept but ultimately too derivative and definitely not for everyone. At this time I have not yet watched Tron Legacy and Splice but I've heard good things about both films and will definitely watch them soon.

This was a very good year for Action Adventure/thriller however. There were a number of films like Polanski’s The Ghost Writer, Ridley Scott’s Robin Hood, James Mangold’s Knight and Day, Phillip Noyce's Salt, Anton Corbijn's The American, Ben Affleck’s The Town, Tony Scott’s Unstoppable, Wilson Yip's Ip Man and The Disappearance of Alice Creed that were surprisingly good films. But the real big surprise was Kick-Ass. Kick-Ass kicked ass as a mix of teen-angst comedy and action super-hero movie in equal parts. Filmed in Toronto it was like watching a Quentin Tarantino Kill Bill movie and a Spider-man movie rolled into one but better than both. Films which I have not yet seen but which I can't wait to see because they’re on so many top 10 lists this year are The Fighter, A Prophet and Mother.

It was also an excellent year for Dramas and Documentaries. The most notable and best dramas I’ve seen include films like The Social Network, Hereafter, The Secret in their Eyes, The Kids are All Right, I Am Love, Winter’s Bone, Carlos, Black Swan, The King’s Speech and True Grit. Dramas which I have not yet watched but are getting a lot of good press are Rabbit Hole, Animal Kingdom, Another Year and White Material.

Documentaries were many and excellent. Some of the best ones that I saw were Marwencol, Babies, Restrepo and Oceans. Some of the ones I did not see yet but will eventually, because they got excellent reviews and made it to many top 10 lists are Exit Through the Gift Shop, Inside Job, The Tillman Story, Last Train Home, Waiting for ‘Superman’, Boxing Gym and Joan Rivers: A Piece of Work.

War movies were very few this year but Paul Greengrass’s Green Zone is a definite stand out in any year. See more about Green Zone in my prior blogs below.

There were some good comedies this year. The ones I really enjoyed include Jean-Pierre Jeunet's MicMacs, Fatih Akin's Soul Kitchen, Scott Pilgrim vs. the World, Easy A, It's Kind of a Funny Story and Due Date. 

Animation this year was mostly excellent and had the extra benefit of 3D to boost it. Now I know that 3D will not make a bad movie better but it is more fun to watch a film in 3D and some films benefit more than others from the 3D effect.

The best animated films this year at the top of my list are Toy Story 3 and How to Train Your Dragon. Toy Story 3 is actually better to watch in 2D as it did not benefit much from many dramatic 3D effects and the animation looked better in 2D, but the story was great. How to Train Your Dragon however really looked amazing and wowed in 3D as the film had much more dramatic 3D sequences that popped out. For pure visual excitement How to Train Your Dragon wins hands down, plus it had the added benefit of having one of the best cinematographers in Hollywood, Roger Deakins, as a visual consultant. He also worked on Wall-E for Pixar and True Grit for the Coen Brothers.

Other excellent animated films this year, in 2D or 3D, included Tangled, Despicable Me, Megamind, Shrek for Ever After, and Legend of the Guardians: the Owls of Ga’Hoole from the Australian company who brought us Happy Feet.

For a full list of animated films released this year and rated by Rottentomatoes.com see my Animation Rated link in the margin lower down on the right of my movie blog.

JP