Very Aware’s Top Ten Movies of 2010

2010 was, for all intents and purposes, a pretty great year as far as movies go. In a year that we got films from David Fincher, Christopher Nolan, Darren Aronofsky, Danny Boyle and more superhero movies than any year to date, we put our heads together and came up with our top movies of 2011.

10. MONSTERS

Remember when you needed a budget of $100 million to make a great sci-fi film? Not anymore. Gareth Edwards made MONSTERS for under $500,000 and did almost everything in the film himself. I love the fact that people are out there making incredible films like this for so little money, in terms of film making. If we continue seeing budgets this small maybe we can also see cheaper movie ticket prices. -Scott

09. EXIT THROUGH THE GIFT SHOP

If you haven’t heart of Banksy, you probably aren’t alone but he is the worlds most famous graffiti artists and decided to turn a project that he was involved with back on itself and expose the world to the world he has owned for so long. I know that might not make very much sense, but EXIT THROUGH THE GIFT SHOP is a stunning documentary about a secret world no one ever gets to see. It premiered at Sundance and took the world by storm. – Scott

08. THE FIGHTER

Christian Bale is back into his method acting by losing a considerable amount of weight to portray the real life brother of boxer Dicky Eklund, played by Mark Wahlberg. Directed by David O. Russell, THE FIGHTER was, in my opinion, better than ROCKY. When Russell and Wahlberg get together they create magic and this movie is no different. -Scott

07. THE KIDS ARE ALRIGHT

This independent film from Director Lisa Cholodenko is about two teens, conceived by artificial insemination, who seek out their birth father to introduce him to their family life.  Hilarity ensues.  This is a fun little gem of a film.  The writing by Cholodenko and Stuart Blumberg is spectacular and should secure an Oscar nod.  Also fantastic are the performances by the cast.  Both Annette Bening and Julianne Moore are wonderful in their roles as the teen’s lesbian parents.  For me, there wasn’t a false note.  The film is so brilliant at showing modern family life in Los Angeles – as illustrated by the quotable scene about the heirloom tomato. At the heart of the picture is a theme of forgiveness and the family ties that bind.  I dare say it’s a film even my conservative parents would enjoy. – Courtney

06. TOY STORY 3

Woody, Buzz and the gang are back in (perhaps) their final adventure.  Andy has grown up and is going away to college.  The gang gets accidentally donated to a local day care with many children to love and play with them. Their life looks rosy until the evil regime of Lotso Huggin’ Bear is exposed.  The film is both brilliantly funny and moving.  One of the funniest sequences in the film is the jailbreak with the monkey.  As with all Pixar films, this isn’t just for kids, but also for adults.  It’s amazing to find yourself crying (twice!) over toys!

It’s been months now and I still think of the scene where the gang faces their inevitable demise.  How that sequence is scored and animated is what’s so vivid about it.  Even after repeat viewings it brings tears to my eyes.  Also poignant is Andy’s farewell to his toys at the end.  Writer Michael Arndt and Director Lee Unkrich have done a fantastic job hitting the pitch perfect notes in that scene that cause you to instantly tear up and wish you could go home to play with your own childhood toys. – Courtney

05. INCEPTION

After The Dark Knight audiences were waiting in anticipation for Christopher Nolan’s next film, Inception and once again he did not let them down. Inception was by far the most brilliant blockbuster of 2010 and proves that a blockbuster can have more substance than explosions. The film takes the audience into a world where even your deepest thoughts aren’t safe anymore. It follows Leonardo DiCaprio as Cobb, an expert at extracting information through dreams, who accepts his final job, Inception. Nolan’s film is fantastically well crafted to the very end and will be
remembered for years to come. – Liz

04. 127 HOURS

This film is about one man’s struggle for survival but 127 HOURS is all about two men: James Franco and Danny Boyle. Franco’s performance is superb, his best yet and worthy of all the accolades. As for Boyle, he’s in fine form, delivering a movie with a real heartbeat without compromising his identity as a unique and unmistakable visionary. The movie is a character study in every way. We see the desperation, the anxiety and the fear play out flawlessly on Franco’s face as he grapples with a horrible reality. It’s sometimes almost too much to bare. We are stuck with Franco and Boyle doesn’t let us look away. Like we’d want to.

Some worried 127 HOURS wouldn’t feel like vintage Danny Boyle, as if his Oscar win would somehow alter him. 127 HOURS confirms that he definitely hasn’t changed. Thank God for that. Hollywood needs more directors like Danny Boyle. – Brandon

03. SCOTT PILGRIM VS. THE WORLD

In a weird, selfish way, I’m kind of glad SCOTT PILGRIM VS. THE WORLD wasn’t a runaway success. Its lackluster box office returns means that many, many people missed out on Edgar Wright’s brilliant film. That means we as fans can introduce it to friends and family and see the joy as they experience it for the first time.

Wright’s movie (and Bryan Lee O’Malley’s source material) are an ode to love, adolescence and video games. Wright honors the comic books but alters his storyline too. Still, it all works – from the marvelous fight scenes to the witty humor to the countless references, SCOTT PILGRIM is a fully realized film. So what if it didn’t set the box office on fire? This movie is bound to be a cult classic and for good reason too: it’s terrific. – Brandon

02. BLACK SWAN

One of Natalie Portman’s defining roles.  She plays Nina, an up and coming ballet dancer out for the torturous dual role of the swan queen – a part that might eat her alive before the show even opens.  This is a taut psychological drama/ horror/ ballet film (you know, *that* tired old genre).  Both Portman and Mila Kunis – who plays her rival – turn in wonderful performances.  Director Darren Aronofsky steps up to the barre (pun intended) for this riveting film. It’s so much more than a backstage look at ballet dancing.

While they do show the minutiae (costume fittings, endless practices, etc), the film is about Nina’s drive for perfection and how everything factors into her world, both real and imaginary.  She deals with egos in the ballet crew, bulimia, and a controlling mother (where does the mother’s life end and the daughter’s life begin?)  One of the best scenes is when Nina deconstructs her toe shoes while her mother tries to emotionally deconstruct her.  The film isn’t for everyone, but for us cinephiles, it’s a diamond to treasure that will haunt you for weeks afterward. – Courtney

01. THE SOCIAL NETWORK

When it comes to movies about technology and the web, we are relatively empty, but David Fincher is helping put a major dent in it. THE SOCIAL NETWORK is the (mostly) true story of how the worlds most popular website, Facebook, came to exist. Based on Ben Mezrich’s 2009 nonfiction book The Accidental Billionaires, THE SOCIAL NETWORK exists to show you just how cut throat the world of dot com can be. -Scott

Honorable mentions: BLUE VALENTINE, BURIED, GOING THE DISTANCE, NEVER LET ME GO

So there you have it folks, the movies we all think are the best of 2010, we hope that you enjoyed the coverage we brought over the past few months and look forward to bringing you even better coverage in 2011!