Top Ten Movies of 2010

This is my seventh annual Top Ten list. As before, this list only accounts for movies that were officially released in 2010. I saw 70 new releases in all this year - a personal record! (I give full credit to my hot wife, who accompanied me to many of them.) I only considered the movies that I actually saw but there are still 37 movies on my future wish list...

[10] Gunless (Link)
My list begins with a modestly amusing Western. I have liked Westerns ever since my dad introduced my siblings and I to The Man With No Name, and since Westerns show up in theatres so infrequently I try to catch 'em when I can. I also like to support mainstream made-in-Canada films (as opposed to weird art-house stuff) and I rightly assumed that this film would be in a limited number of theatres for a couple of weeks at best, so I went out of my way to see this one. This film stars the quintessential Canadian actor Paul Gross as an American that gets stuck in Canada accidentally, and thus hijinks ensue. A nice, pleasant flick.

[9] Kick-Ass (Link)
I struggled a bit with putting this one into my list because I'm not a fan of excessive gore, and there's plenty of visceral violence to be had here. However, I am a major comic geek and at least one comic movie was sure to make this list. I liked this one better than Iron Man 2 (since I was disappointed with the entire action climax) and Scott Pilgrim (which geeky but piled on the weirdness). So Kick-Ass makes the grade because it aimed high and for all intents and purposes, it hit the mark.

[8] Toy Story 3 (Link)
It was fun to see familiar characters together again, and the darker tone was very welcome. I wasn't a fan of the silly misunderstandings ("Oh, Andy's throwing us away!") but the brand new world of the day care was a lot of fun to explore with old friends.

[7] True Grit (Link)
Wow, two cowboy movies made my list this year! This one has the awards-season cred of the Coen brothers teaming up with Jeff Bridges. Even though it's based on the original book, it still has to follow in the footsteps of John Wayne, and Bridges was completely up to the task. I threw this movie on while my wife was doing other things, and she got sucked into the movie by the whip-smart 14-year old character that tries to hire a gunslinger to get revenge for her father's death. There were a lot of memorable moments and iconic images, but it was the acting of the girl and the grump that earned this position.

[6] The Expendables (Link)
I absolutely love Stallone's comeback in recent years, and I was anticipating this movie ever since I first heard about it. Just straight-up action with plenty of explosions and cool weapons and a reason to use them.

[5] How To Train Your Dragon (Link)
This was a superb animated movie, by far the best in a year with many options. I saw this in IMAX 3D and it was perfect for that format - even if Cam and I were two of the few that were standing in line without children. The sheer imagination and variety of dragons lent a real sense of discovery, to go along with the main theme of the movie.

[4] The Fighter (Link)
This was a very late entry into my Top Ten list, given how late it was released this year. This film argued with my brain and kept clawing it's way up this list entirely on the strength of the superb acting, and Christian Bale completely inhabits the role that keeps coming to my mind. To be frank, I thought that Mark Wahlberg's character felt a little flat but that makes perfect sense within the content of his nutso family, too. Since it's a sports movie based on a true story with lots of Oscar buzz, let's just call it this year's version of The Blind Side and leave it at that.

[3] The Karate Kid (Link)
Presumably, this movie isn't nearly as high in esteem in everyone else's lists but I completely fell for this one. Jaden Smith nails it as a tweenie fish-out-of-water in China, and China itself plays a starring role here. However, the big draw for me was Jackie Chan. This was an ideal role for him just because of the kung fu fun but when he breaks down and cries at one pivotal part in the movie, that just sucked the air right out of me.

[2] Inception (Link)
As a sci-fi geek, the genre had to have one movie represented on this list, and what a movie it was! I love to discuss movies after leaving the theatre to analyze the plot and everyone's opinions, and this gave plenty of food for thought. It was a mind-bending trip with a lot of unique concepts and a well-orchestrated playground of rules within this make-believe world.

[1] The Social Network (Link)
Much to my own surprise, look what made #1 on my list this year! I'm not surprised that I liked this movie, I'm just surprised that I liked it so much, even more than the usual action-oriented blockbusters. Granted, I'm a web developer by trade so this was right up my alley. The bullet-spray staccato of conversation and the he-said-she-said aspects of the lawsuits were fascinating. I researched some of the claims of the movie afterwards but the facts aren't quite as interesting, so I'll prefer to stick with the movie version of events.

Worst Ending Award
Wall Street: Money Never Sleeps had an annoying ending that was completely unearned. I got a big kick out of the cameo from the first movie, though.

Non-Twisty Twist Award
This award goes to Salt. The whole movie pivots on whether the protagonist is good or bad but, honestly, a lot of tension was completely missing since some of it was so obvious.

Top Movies on Wish List:
Exit Through the Gift Shop
Joan Rivers: A Piece of Work
Get Low
Babies

My Previous Top 10 Lists:
2004, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2008 & 2009

References:
Film Release Dates for 2010
Top Grossing Movies of 2010