2010. What a year!

For better or for worse, there’s been a dizzying array of movies this year, be them good, bad, or otherwise. Although the majority of the fare was ‘meh’ or barely above, the gems this year surpass most in recent memory. So without further ado, here’s my picks for the best ten of the year. You know. The good stuff.

#10: ENTER THE VOID (Gaspar Noe)
I admit, I liked some movies this year more than this one, that didn’t make the cut. But I didn’t admire them as much as I did “Enter the Void”. What other movie dared take the risks that this one did? The whole movie is told either from the first-person perspective of a drug-dealer, or, when he’s shot dead, his spirit hovering above the streets of Tokyo. Suffice to say, this movie is absolutely insane. The director Gaspar Noe does things here that I literally haven’t ever seen before in a movie, ever. It’s daring, adventurous, and even a little exhausting. It’s also genius.

#9: THE FIGHTER (David O. Russell)
Underdog athlete overcomes obstacles to win glory and fame. It’s been told before, maybe even better. But none as emotionally involving and compelling as the stuff on display in “The Fighter”. Everyone, yes, EVERYONE in this film does the finest work of their career, be it Amy Adams’ performance as a bartender, Mark Wahlberg’s transformation into a professional boxer, or Christian Bale’s devastating work as Wahlberg’s crack addict of a brother. All these performances bring the fairly average material up to the level of greatness, and director David Russell injects it with his trademark energy and heart. All in all, “The Fighter” is a knockout. (Pun intended. Hee-hee.)

#8: MOTHER (Bong-Joon Ho)
One of the most original filmmakers around, the South Korean native Bong-Joon Ho does yet another crafty spin on genre in “Mother”, flipping the murder mystery on its ear this time around. Kim Hye-ja plays a woman who will do whatever it takes to prove her young son is innocent of a murder, regardless of whether or not he actually is. In the last third, Joon-Ho does so many back-flips and tricks with the narrative. But they wouldn’t mean anything were I not emotionally invested; and it’s in the odd connection we forge with these characters that “Mother” reveals its bizarre genius. Don’t let the fact that you have to read it scare you away from this one.

#7: EXIT THROUGH THE GIFT SHOP (Banksy)
Follow me here: A documentary about a failed documentary that was going to be about the person who made the documentary’s involvement in street art. You follow me? If not, don’t be worried, because one of the many miracles of “Exit Through the Gift Shop” is how effortlessly it holds your hand and takes you down a rabbit-hole of twists and turns.
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#6: INCEPTION (Christopher Nolan)
I fell out of love with this one for a bit. Looking back on it, I have no idea why. Because yes, the movie is mostly setting up rules (and the other part breaking those rules) and yes, it’s a bit emotionally hollow. One could nitpick about this one for hours, and believe me, I have. But to do that is to deny just what a kinetic, exciting film this is. In “Inception”, anything is possible, nothing is quite like what you’ve seen before, and everything is just…freaking awesome. Not the best of the year, but almost certainly the coolest.

#5: TRUE GRIT (Joel & Ethan Coen)
It was always going to be interesting, seeing some of the quirkiest directors around tackle a straight genre picture, the classic American Western. But with “True Grit”, the Coens are in full entertainment mode, firing on all cylinders to deliver a crowd-pleasing yet typically witty and straight-up awesome movie. It coaxed great work out of veterans like Jeff Bridges and Matt Damon, and a star-making performance out of 13-year-old Hailee Steinfeld. My #2 pick aside, no movie has benefitted more from repeat viewings this year.

#4: BLUE VALENTINE (Derek Cienfrance)
Switching back-and-forth between the passionate origins of a marriage and the furious destruction several years later, “Blue Valentine” is absolutely devastating. But also, thanks to the brilliant work from leads Ryan Gosling & Michelle Williams, it’s fantastic. It’s the cinematic equivalent of A cautionary tale for those who take passion for granted.

#3: TOY STORY 3 (Lee Unkrich)
How does one top two of the greatest animated films ever made? I have no idea, but Pixar accomplished precisely that with the sequel to those films, “Toy Story 3″. It’s just a magical feeling watching so many great elements click together in one movie; be it a thrilling prison break-out sequence, gorgeous animation, snappy banter between the unforgettable characters, or the final fifteen minutes, which absolutely wreck me every damned time. It’s the crowning jewel to cinema’s greatest trilogy (apologies to Rossellini and Frodo).

#2: THE SOCIAL NETWORK (David Fincher)
A uniquely modern movie whose themes are as old as any fable: Friendship, betrayal and deception, just set against a back-drop of college, parties and hacking. It’s the story of Mark Zuckerberg’s creation of the phenomenon that is Facebook; told in a breathless, motormouth style that only gets more involving and exciting as it goes on. Hey, man. Five viewings in the theater does not lie.

#1: BLACK SWAN (Darren Aronofsky)
Accept no substitutes. Darren Aronofsky’s “Black Swan” is the artistic pinnacle of the year. The story of one ballerina’s pursuit of perfection and subsequent descent into absolute madness, combined with Natalie Portman’s amazing realization of precisely that, is some of the most riveting, jaw-droppingly gorgeous, and haunting stuff I’ve ever seen.