2010 - Did I miss some gems, or was this just a bad year for movies?

Kick-Ass kicked ass.

There may not have been a "There Will Be Blood" or even "Hurt Locker" this year, but here are a few films worth seeing (which vary from good to great).

Centurion
Shutter Island
Exit Through The Gift Shop
The Social Network
Scott Pilgrim (certainly not for everyone)

and in family films...

How to Train Your Dragon
Toy Story 3
Tangled

It was a really good year for family films actually. I think I liked more family films than any other genre in 2010. I've also heard really excellent things about these but haven't seen them yet:

The Kids Are Alright
Winter's Bone
Animal Kingdom
127 Hours

Haven't seen it yet but LET THE RIGHT ONE IN got great reviews.

Make sure you see The Fighter when it comes out.

Depending who you talk to, Black Swan is a glorious piece of filmmaking or it's total and complete crap.

Haven't seen it yet, but THE KING'S SPEECH is getting crazy positive reviews and Oscar buzz.

Definitely check out Scott Pilgrim (again, I agree though, not for everyone), The Social Network and How To Train Your Dragon

leahzero said:

Haven't seen it yet but LET THE RIGHT ONE IN got great reviews.

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That movie's actually from 2008. You might be thinking of the remake, LET ME IN, which came out year. It did well critically but didn't make much money.

I also would second TANGLED. It's my favorite non-Pixar from Disney in a long time.

The King's Speech is fntastic, and will give Rush and Firth their Oscar nominations (it's been a lean year for acting, I admit).

My pick for best pictures: Inception, The Social Network, Toy Story 3. Yeah, it's sad that I cant think of anything else. Everything else is just good, but not great. TANGLED could compete with TS3 but that's like cannibalism. How to Train Your Dragon may give them some competition. Well, not really.

Richard Jenkins should get his Oscar for Let Me In and Eat Pray Love..

Oscar buzz films:

Inception, The Social Network, Toy Story 3, The Fighter, Black Swan, The King's Speech, The Kids Are Alright, 127 Hours, True Grit...

That's only nine; plus, Black Swan is really dividing critics. So then you have other possibilities like The Town (I think there's only room for one Boston character study in the race, and The Fighter is better), Shutter Island, How to Train Your Dragon, Winter's Bone, Blue Valentine, etc.

Last year, picking ten was easy. This year it's kind of a stretch.

charlotte820 said:

That movie's actually from 2008. You might be thinking of the remake, LET ME IN, which came out year. It did well critically but didn't make much money.

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Yes, I thought LET ME IN was fantastic.

I haven't seen 127 Hours yet, but it's getting rave reviews all over. I think it will get a nom in Best Pic, Director, and one for James Franco (just as Emile Hirsch got his for Into the Wild).

Speaking of King's Speech, I found it a bit distracting that Guy Pearce, who was born in 1967, played the older brother to Colin Firth, born in 1960. That shouldn't matter, since the casting was PERFECT (Pearce looked just like Edward VIII), but still...

charlotte820 said:

I also would second TANGLED. It's my favorite non-Pixar from Disney in a long time.

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Agreed.

I also loved Despicable Me...another kid movie.

As for adult movies...eh.

My stepdaughter loved How To Tame a Dragon, though. I haven't seen it, but she owns it and loves it.

Another vote for Let Me In. I can't wait to finally get around to seeing 127 Hours.

Kick-Ass
Scott Pilgrim
Let Me In
Shutter Island

and, as the OP mentioned Inception is the movie of the year in my mind...

I saw Nowhere Boy and I really liked it. Story of pre-Beatles John Lennon and his relationship with his mother and aunt.

Alice in Wonderland was innovative, both in the slant of the story (you can do whatever you want, not just what's expected of you) and in the F/X, especially character effects (super large eyes, body parts). Acting was great, too.

I cried when I watched Toy Story 3, which is rare for me. Darn that Andy!

There are others I liked just fine, but weren't truly special.

I liked Inception, Hereafter and How to Train Your Dragon.

Clash of the Titans, Inception, Robin Hood, How to Train Your Dragon, and Harry Potter 7.1 were all films I enjoyed a lot this year.

Michael Douglas should get a nom for The Solitary Man (forget that POS Wall Street 2).

I third (or is it fourth?) Scott Pilgrim. If you like video games at all, it will entertain you. I'd say it's my favorite movie of the year, with Inception being second. Harry Potter is probably the best out of all of them so far, if you're into that. And Toy Story 3 and Tangled.

I feel like I'm one of the few who thought HP 7 part 1 was not a good film...so many unnecessary/ill defined secondary characters, pacing issues, and misplaced drama (SPOILER: Dobby given a more emphasized death scene than Dumbledore...wha?). After so many people telling me to read the books, I've sped through the first two this week, and I can see that Rowling handles the massive cast better there. Honestly, I'm not just some Harry hater, but I can't see how anyone could say that HP 7 part 1 was a truly well put together film. Just my opinion, and obviously not a popular one.

I think it's probably because you didn't read the books, Alan. Having read the books, the movies have often come across as rushed monstrosities - important bits being left out for cinematic sequences for no reason, trying to fit in too much from the books and confusing everything - so it was nice to see a movie be expanded to be more true to the book, including the secondary characters and subplots.

I can honestly say that I'm really enjoying the books, which I really wasn't sure were quite up my alley before I picked them up. I'll probably go through them all in the coming weeks. I think she's a talented writer of character. She often communicates who someone is in only a few lines of dialogue, which is no small feat.

Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows no contest

Knight and Day is so bad it's good. No, really. Cameron Diaz kept it funny.