Movie Talk: Best Films Of 2010

As always, "Best" means my personal favorites and not some absolute purely objective judgment based on a perfect standard of what is and is not good. And seeing as how I see so many movies second run, I'm sure there are some great movies not on this list that might belong here, simply because I won't get around to seeing them until a month or two from now... but who's interesting in putting together (or reading) a best of the year list months into the year? That's the nice thing about Hubpages, of course... I can always edit and modify this list later if I see a film from 2010 that really deserves it. But for now, this is what moved me the most in movie theatres during the year 2010. Alphabetically, as usual, because selecting ten titles that were "better" than all others... ranking them was just too much.

BLACK SWAN. Director Darren Aronofsky has made one of the strangest, eeriest and most fascinating movies of the year in this dark, brooding story set in the competitive world of ballet. You might not completely understand what you just saw when this movie ends, but if you're like me you won't mind that at all.

CASINO JACK AND THE UNITED STATES OF MONEY. An absorbing documentary about lobbyist Jack Abramoff and the way he was able to swindle so many people and twist the organizations of government to his benefit. But it's about much more than just Abramoff himself: how does someone like him get into a position of power in this country, how does he escape the justice he deserves for so long... and is there any way that we the ordinary citizens can help to prevent more of his kind getting power in the future? A great at the ways power can corrupt, and the ways the law often favors the corrupt.

FAIR GAME. Another terrific film about government and power and the responsibility of the citizen to keep aware and vigilant... except that this, while still a true story, is not a documentary. Sean Penn and Naomi Watts star as Joseph Wilson and his wife Valerie, who became victims of the administration's attempt at revenge when former diplomat Wilson undertook a mission to verify Iraq's purchase of uranium from Niger and didn't bring back the results they wanted... then found Valerie's CIA cover blown due to a White House leak. In many ways, scarier than most horror movies, but important to see.

INCEPTION. Leonardo Decaprio leads a team of "Dream Thieves" who enter the dreams of a business rival of their client to plant information there that the man will think is his own idea (a procedure known as Inception). Over half the movie is a dream, and the rest of it MIGHT be... this is a movie that often takes place on three different levels at the same time, so you have to be paying attention... but you WILL be rewarded. And like "Black Swan", you'll be debating the meaning of the ending for a long time. Christopher Nolan is one of the real geniuses of contemporary directors.

THE KING'S SPEECH. A film about a British prince (later  King) with a speech impediment and his friendship with his speech therapist one of the best of the year? Incredibly, yes. This one keeps getting better the more I look back at it. Colin Firth and Geoffrey Rush, in sure-fire Oscar nominated performances, make this story one of the most warm, human and authentic of the year. If you think you don't care about the doings of British royalty you will be very, very surprised. 

THE SOCIAL NETWORK. I would never in my wildest dreams have thought that a movie about the founding of Facebook would be one of the most gripping films of the year. But with director David Fincher, screenwriter Aaron Sorkin and a brilliant cast led by Jesse Eisenberg as Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg, what we wind up with is a riveting and witty story about the dangers of ambition, the need to connect, the need for friendship, and American Business. It has the same dark, suspenseful feel of Fincher's earlier films and that seems totally appropriate.

THE TILLMAN STORY. The second documentary on this list, this is the story of Pat Tillman, an Arizona Cardinals football star who quite his extremely profitable gig in the NFL after 9/11 to go the war in Afghanistan, and wound up being killed by "friendly fire"... following which, the government decided to keep quiet on the real cause of death, promote his death as the result of the courageous heroics of a true American, and promote the war that Tillman himself didn't really believe in (Iraq) through this misinformation. Luckily, his family insisted on the truth. Tillman was a very complex man, but this film finally does him... and what he believed in... justice.

TOY STORY 3. Yes, one of the most moving films of the year is about a bunch of talking, sentient toys. What the studio is claiming will be the final "Toy Story" movie (and I kind of hope it is, it's the perfect conclusion) tells what happens when the toys have to deal with their owner Andy finally going off to college, having outgrown them. What is their purpose in life if they no longer have a child to play with and love them? I'd be surprised if there were very man dry eyes in audiences across the country at the conclusion of this movie... and I'm not ashamed to admit that mine were a bit teary as well.

TRUE GRIT. Okay, it isn't the best of the Coen Brothers movies, but it may well be the best remake ever... if you consider it to be a remake. Actually, the Coens were attempting a more faithful movie version of Charles Portis' original novel, and have achieved that, while still staying true to their own style and delivering some of the best performances of the year. Dark, ominous and still often funny, the Coens do their version of a novel they didn't write and still manage to be whole original. And Hailee Steinfeld is definitely going places!

WINTER'S BONE. A young woman takes on the search for her missing, no-good, drug-dealing father when his disappearance threatens the family's being able to remain in their Ozark mountain home. A brooding suspense thriller that also is an unflinching look at poverty and family connections, and containing the only other performance of the year that gives Hailee Steinfeld a run for her money in the fierce determined heroine category: Jennifer Lawrence WILL get at least an Oscar nomination. As will Jason Hawkes as her uncle... and the movie itself, and the script, and the director... it's that good.