Top Movies of 2010
by MrMacGuffin | created - 06 Apr 2011 | updated - 09 Dec 2012 | Public- Instant Watch Options
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1. Inception (2010)
PG-13 | 148 min | Action, Adventure, Sci-Fi
A thief who steals corporate secrets through the use of dream-sharing technology is given the inverse task of planting an idea into the mind of a C.E.O., but his tragic past may doom the project and his team to disaster.
Director: Christopher Nolan | Stars: Leonardo DiCaprio, Joseph Gordon-Levitt, Elliot Page, Ken Watanabe
Votes: 2,552,073 | Gross: $292.58M
This picture combines almost everything I want to see when I enter the theater. It is an original, awe-inspiring, daring, entertaining, genre-bending masterpiece. Hans Zimmer's music is one of the best film scores ever created. The last half hour is most riveting final moments you will see all year at the movies. Take a bow, Christopher Nolan.
2. The Social Network (2010)
PG-13 | 120 min | Biography, Drama
As Harvard student Mark Zuckerberg creates the social networking site that would become known as Facebook, he is sued by the twins who claimed he stole their idea and by the co-founder who was later squeezed out of the business.
Director: David Fincher | Stars: Jesse Eisenberg, Andrew Garfield, Justin Timberlake, Rooney Mara
Votes: 759,045 | Gross: $96.96M
If my idiosyncrasies did not come in the way, this film would have topped this list. Clint Eastwood once said "Direct every scene like it's the most important scene in the film". In very few movies, it shows. Rarely do all departments of film come together so coherently to tell the story in the only and the best way possible. This miracle happens here.
3. Black Swan (2010)
R | 108 min | Drama, Thriller
Nina is a talented but unstable ballerina on the verge of stardom. Pushed to the breaking point by her artistic director and a seductive rival, Nina's grip on reality slips, plunging her into a waking nightmare.
Director: Darren Aronofsky | Stars: Natalie Portman, Mila Kunis, Vincent Cassel, Winona Ryder
Votes: 825,158 | Gross: $106.95M
I love the fact that the camera literally follows Nina Sayers (Natalie Portman). We don't leave her even when she is performing on stage. We are never the audience, we never watch the ballet from afar. We are always with her, in her mind. Aronofsky creates an experience which is visceral, cerebral, psychological and even physical. I could feel my gut knotted up by the end of the movie.
4. Biutiful (2010)
R | 148 min | Drama, Romance
A man dying of cancer tries his best to leave the world on his own terms.
Director: Alejandro G. Iñárritu | Stars: Javier Bardem, Maricel Álvarez, Hanaa Bouchaib, Guillermo Estrella
Votes: 94,631 | Gross: $5.10M
My favorite moment in the film is when the father and daughter hug and you can hear two heartbeats. Biutiful simply broke my heart into two pieces. A tender, poignant masterpiece.
5. True Grit (2010)
PG-13 | 110 min | Drama, Western
A stubborn teenager enlists the help of a tough U.S. Marshal to track down her father's murderer.
Directors: Ethan Coen, Joel Coen | Stars: Jeff Bridges, Matt Damon, Hailee Steinfeld, Josh Brolin
Votes: 357,623 | Gross: $171.24M
It takes something to remake a movie which is considered an iconic Western and boasts the only Oscar-winning John Wayne performance. Not just remake it, but make it better. That something is called talent. The Coen brothers definitely have a truckload of that.
6. Shutter Island (2010)
R | 138 min | Drama, Mystery, Thriller
Teddy Daniels and Chuck Aule, two US marshals, are sent to an asylum on a remote island in order to investigate the disappearance of a patient, where Teddy uncovers a shocking truth about the place.
Director: Martin Scorsese | Stars: Leonardo DiCaprio, Emily Mortimer, Mark Ruffalo, Ben Kingsley
Votes: 1,457,606 | Gross: $128.01M
I'm sure you've heard of "unreliable narrator" device before, in literature, even in movies. (The Usual Suspects comes to mind). But Scorsese invents the "Unreliable camera". Forget the protagonist, even the camera is showing us things which was probably false. Simply put, the master is still at the top of his game.
7. Toy Story 3 (2010)
G | 103 min | Animation, Adventure, Comedy
The toys are mistakenly delivered to a day-care center instead of the attic right before Andy leaves for college, and it's up to Woody to convince the other toys that they weren't abandoned and to return home.
Director: Lee Unkrich | Stars: Tom Hanks, Tim Allen, Joan Cusack, Ned Beatty
Votes: 892,816 | Gross: $415.00M
There is a moment near the end of the film. The time has come for Andy to hand over his toys to a new owner. He takes out Woody and for a split second... for that tiny little second, he retreats. That one moment where Andy doesn't want to give his toy away made me bawl like a 2 year old baby.
8. Hereafter (2010)
PG-13 | 129 min | Drama, Fantasy, Romance
An American construction worker, a French journalist and a London school boy set out on a spiritual journey after death touches their lives in different ways.
Director: Clint Eastwood | Stars: Matt Damon, Cécile de France, Bryce Dallas Howard, Thierry Neuvic
Votes: 95,496 | Gross: $32.75M
A quiet contemplative film. Another milestone in The Clint's cannon. The performances by the twin boys (Frankie McLaren and George McLaren) are wonderful!
9. Blue Valentine (2010)
R | 112 min | Drama, Romance
The relationship of a contemporary married couple, charting their evolution over a span of years by cross-cutting between time periods.
Director: Derek Cianfrance | Stars: Ryan Gosling, Michelle Williams, John Doman, Faith Wladyka
Votes: 211,416 | Gross: $9.74M
Ryan Gosling is probably the greatest actor of our generation. Apart from this actor turning in another great performance (Seriously, no Oscar nomination!? Seriously?), the film is a heartbreaker.
10. Certified Copy (2010)
Not Rated | 106 min | Drama, Romance
In Tuscany to promote his latest book, a middle-aged British writer meets a French woman who leads him to the village of Lucignano. While there, a chance question reveals something deeper.
Director: Abbas Kiarostami | Stars: Juliette Binoche, William Shimell, Jean-Claude Carrière, Agathe Natanson
Votes: 26,914 | Gross: $1.34M
Kiarostami makes Richard Linklater's Before Sunrise/ Before Sunset look like candy floss.
11. Somewhere (2010)
R | 97 min | Comedy, Drama, Romance
After withdrawing to the Chateau Marmont, a passionless Hollywood actor reexamines his life when his eleven-year-old daughter surprises him with a visit.
Director: Sofia Coppola | Stars: Stephen Dorff, Elle Fanning, Chris Pontius, Erin Wasson
Votes: 46,710 | Gross: $1.77M
Sofia Coppola gallantly returning from the battle of a big budget film finds home ground again. This is similar territory, the Sofia Coppola we loved in Lost in Translation. The hotel, the actor, the loneliness, the ennui, the failure to communicate, the pole dancers, the press conferences, it's all here!
12. Another Year (2010)
PG-13 | 129 min | Comedy, Drama
A look at four seasons in the lives of a happily married couple and their relationships with their family and friends.
Director: Mike Leigh | Stars: Jim Broadbent, Ruth Sheen, Lesley Manville, Oliver Maltman
Votes: 30,889 | Gross: $3.21M
(Spoiler alert) At the end, I felt so awfully sad for Mary that I wanted to know how her next year went. Will it be another year that just went by and she didn't find love? She didn't find happiness? Mike Leigh's tale is about people like her who confuse the two.
13. Exit Through the Gift Shop (2010)
R | 87 min | Documentary, Comedy, Crime
Following the style of some of the world's most prolific street artists, an amateur filmmaker makes a foray into the art world.
Director: Banksy | Stars: Banksy, Mr. Brainwash, Space Invader, Debora Guetta
Votes: 68,833 | Gross: $3.29M
The filmmaker becomes the street artist and the street artist becomes the filmmaker. Banksy raises some important questions about our collective perception of art.
14. The Illusionist (2010)
PG | 80 min | Animation, Drama, Fantasy
A French illusionist finds himself out of work and travels to Scotland, where he meets a young woman. Their ensuing adventure changes both their lives forever.
Director: Sylvain Chomet | Stars: Jean-Claude Donda, Eilidh Rankin, Duncan MacNeil, Raymond Mearns
Votes: 36,519 | Gross: $2.23M
This almost entirely silent animated gem is based on one of Jacques Tati's un-produced scripts about the death of the art of magic and the advent of cinema and other visual arts. The relationship between the two leads is touching.
15. The Ghost Writer (2010)
PG-13 | 128 min | Crime, Drama, Mystery
A ghost writer, hired to complete the memoirs of a former British Prime Minister, uncovers secrets that put his own life in jeopardy.
Director: Roman Polanski | Stars: Ewan McGregor, Pierce Brosnan, Olivia Williams, Jon Bernthal
Votes: 170,845 | Gross: $15.54M
The Chinatown-ish ending and the Hitchcockian suspense Polanski creates is enough to watch this film. Another master showing everyone how it's done.
16. Let Me In (I) (2010)
R | 116 min | Drama, Fantasy, Horror
A bullied young boy befriends a young female vampire who lives in secrecy with her guardian.
Director: Matt Reeves | Stars: Kodi Smit-McPhee, Chloë Grace Moretz, Richard Jenkins, Cara Buono
Votes: 127,350 | Gross: $12.13M
Growing up is not all fun and games. Vampires freeze in time and don't age at all. Seems like the mythology of vampires is the perfect milieu for a coming of age story. Move over, Peter Pan. (As good as its Swedish original)
17. Monsters (2010)
R | 94 min | Adventure, Drama, Romance
Six years after Earth has suffered an alien invasion, a cynical journalist agrees to escort a shaken American tourist through an infected zone in Mexico to the safety of the U.S. border.
Director: Gareth Edwards | Stars: Scoot McNairy, Whitney Able, Mario Zuniga Benavides, Annalee Jefferies
Votes: 97,656 | Gross: $0.24M
It's finally here. The low budget alien invasion movie is finally here. The closing shot of the movie made me gasp.
18. Mother (2009)
R | 129 min | Crime, Drama, Mystery
A mother desperately searches for the killer who framed her son for a girl's horrific murder.
Director: Bong Joon Ho | Stars: Kim Hye-ja, Won Bin, Jin Goo, Yun Je-mun
Votes: 71,673 | Gross: $0.55M
After a stunning monster film in The Host (2006), Bong Joon-ho, makes a mother and son story like no other. Kim Hye-Ja's performance is epic to say the least.
19. Inside Job (2010)
PG-13 | 109 min | Documentary, Crime
Takes a closer look at what brought about the 2008 financial meltdown.
Director: Charles Ferguson | Stars: Matt Damon, Gylfi Zoega, Andri Snær Magnason, Sigridur Benediktsdottir
Votes: 78,992 | Gross: $4.31M
A very important documentary. Should be seen by every person on this planet. If I was a more responsible film-watcher I would have put this way above.
20. Enter the Void (2009)
Not Rated | 161 min | Drama, Fantasy
An American drug dealer living in Tokyo is betrayed by his best friend and killed in a drug deal. His soul, observing the repercussions of his death, seeks resurrection.
Director: Gaspar Noé | Stars: Nathaniel Brown, Paz de la Huerta, Cyril Roy, Olly Alexander
Votes: 88,077 | Gross: $0.34M
It features the best opening credits sequence of the year. The first 30 minutes of this film is sheer genius.
If I was a stoner, I would have most definitely said: This is the *beep* man. That's some trippy *beep* man.
21. The Town (2010)
R | 125 min | Crime, Drama, Thriller
A proficient group of thieves rob a bank and hold an assistant manager hostage. Things begin to get complicated when one of the crew members falls in love with her.
Director: Ben Affleck | Stars: Ben Affleck, Rebecca Hall, Jon Hamm, Jeremy Renner
Votes: 415,919 | Gross: $92.19M
Not the greatest most original heist film ever but has a surprising amount of repeat value. Ben Affleck handles his sophomore directorial outing with competence.
22. Flipped (I) (2010)
PG | 90 min | Comedy, Drama, Romance
Two eighth-graders start to have feelings for each other despite being total opposites.
Director: Rob Reiner | Stars: Madeline Carroll, Callan McAuliffe, Rebecca De Mornay, Anthony Edwards
Votes: 97,503 | Gross: $1.75M
It almost seemed like the innocence from love stories had vanished. Madeline Carroll performance is too good to go unnoticed.
23. Le Quattro Volte (2010)
Not Rated | 88 min | Drama
An old shepherd lives his last days in a quiet medieval village perched high on the hills of Calabria, at the southernmost tip of Italy. He herds goats under skies that most villagers have ... See full summary »
Director: Michelangelo Frammartino | Stars: Giuseppe Fuda, Bruno Timpano, Nazareno Timpano, Artemio Vallone
Votes: 4,274 | Gross: $0.15M
24. Uncle Boonmee Who Can Recall His Past Lives (2010)
Not Rated | 114 min | Drama, Fantasy
Dying of kidney disease, a man spends his last, somber days with family, including the ghost of his wife and a forest spirit who used to be his son, on a rural northern Thailand farm.
Director: Apichatpong Weerasethakul | Stars: Thanapat Saisaymar, Jenjira Pongpas, Sakda Kaewbuadee, Natthakarn Aphaiwonk
Votes: 17,399 | Gross: $0.18M
25. 127 Hours (2010)
R | 94 min | Biography, Drama
A mountain climber becomes trapped under a boulder while canyoneering alone near Moab, Utah and resorts to desperate measures in order to survive.
Director: Danny Boyle | Stars: James Franco, Amber Tamblyn, Kate Mara, Sean Bott
Votes: 401,527 | Gross: $18.34M
The final moments of this film is pure movie magic.
26. Alice in Wonderland (I) (2010)
PG | 108 min | Adventure, Family, Fantasy
Nineteen-year-old Alice returns to the magical world from her childhood adventure, where she reunites with her old friends and learns of her true destiny: to end the Red Queen's reign of terror.
Director: Tim Burton | Stars: Mia Wasikowska, Johnny Depp, Helena Bonham Carter, Anne Hathaway
Votes: 441,198 | Gross: $334.19M
I'm a huge Tim Burton fan. I don't mind even if he pukes on screen. That is this maybe.
27. How to Train Your Dragon (2010)
PG | 98 min | Animation, Action, Adventure
A hapless young Viking who aspires to hunt dragons becomes the unlikely friend of a young dragon himself, and learns there may be more to the creatures than he assumed.
Directors: Dean DeBlois, Chris Sanders | Stars: Jay Baruchel, Gerard Butler, Christopher Mintz-Plasse, Craig Ferguson
Votes: 800,972 | Gross: $217.58M
28. Kick-Ass (2010)
R | 117 min | Action, Comedy, Crime
Dave Lizewski is an unnoticed high school student and comic book fan who one day decides to become a superhero, even though he has no powers, training or meaningful reason to do so.
Director: Matthew Vaughn | Stars: Aaron Taylor-Johnson, Nicolas Cage, Chloë Grace Moretz, Garrett M. Brown
Votes: 593,564 | Gross: $48.07M
This is one superhero movie that should have been made by now. Chloe Moretz is impressing me by each and every movie.
29. Scott Pilgrim vs. the World (2010)
PG-13 | 112 min | Action, Comedy, Fantasy
In a magically realistic version of Toronto, a young man must defeat his new girlfriend's seven evil exes one by one in order to win her heart.
Director: Edgar Wright | Stars: Michael Cera, Mary Elizabeth Winstead, Kieran Culkin, Anna Kendrick
Votes: 465,517 | Gross: $31.49M
A movie about a guy who has to defeat his girlfriend's seven evil ex-boyfriends? Is that cool or is that cool?
30. Poetry (2010)
TV-PG | 139 min | Drama
A sixty-something woman, faced with the discovery of a heinous family crime and in the early stages of Alzheimer's disease, finds strength and purpose when she enrolls in a poetry class.
Director: Lee Chang-dong | Stars: Yun Jeong-hie, Lee Da-wit, Kim Hee-ra, Ahn Nae-sang
Votes: 13,544 | Gross: $0.36M
31. Never Let Me Go (2010)
R | 103 min | Drama, Romance, Sci-Fi
The lives of three friends, from their early school days into young adulthood, when the reality of the world they live in comes knocking.
Director: Mark Romanek | Stars: Keira Knightley, Carey Mulligan, Andrew Garfield, Izzy Meikle-Small
Votes: 153,320 | Gross: $2.43M
Delicate, sublime and romantic. Totally overlooked. Great performances by Andrew Garfield and Carey Mulligan.
32. I Am Love (2009)
R | 120 min | Drama, Romance
Emma left Russia to live with her husband in Italy. Now a member of a powerful industrial family, she is the respected mother of three, but feels unfulfilled. One day, Antonio, a talented chef and her son's friend, makes her senses kindle.
Director: Luca Guadagnino | Stars: Tilda Swinton, Flavio Parenti, Edoardo Gabbriellini, Alba Rohrwacher
Votes: 23,996 | Gross: $5.01M
If you want to know how to shoot a love-making scene, watch this now!
33. Dogtooth (2009)
Not Rated | 97 min | Drama, Thriller
A controlling, manipulative father locks his three adult offsprings in a state of perpetual childhood by keeping them prisoner within the sprawling family compound.
Director: Yorgos Lanthimos | Stars: Christos Stergioglou, Michele Valley, Angeliki Papoulia, Christos Passalis
Votes: 110,519 | Gross: $0.11M
34. Cell 211 (2009)
113 min | Action, Crime, Drama
The story of two men on different sides of a prison riot -- the inmate leading the rebellion and the young guard trapped in the revolt, who poses as a prisoner in a desperate attempt to survive the ordeal.
Director: Daniel Monzón | Stars: Luis Tosar, Alberto Ammann, Antonio Resines, Manuel Morón
Votes: 70,787
The way it makes you feel for the characters (good and bad) is ingenious! A gripping prison film.
35. In a Better World (2010)
R | 118 min | Drama, Romance
The lives of two Danish families cross each other, and an extraordinary but risky friendship comes into bud. But loneliness, frailty and sorrow lie in wait.
Director: Susanne Bier | Stars: Mikael Persbrandt, Trine Dyrholm, Markus Rygaard, Wil Johnson
Votes: 41,694 | Gross: $1.01M
Susanne Bier is wonderful at drama. Her previous films, Brothers and After the Wedding, and this one make a great trifecta for drama film aficionados.
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