BEST MOVIES OF 2010 -- so far

The hot end-of-year American releases are upon us and I've recently seen

The King's Speech
Black Swan
Blue Valentine
The Company Men

Coming: Joel and Ethan Coen's True Grit, Russell's The Fighter, and more

Here's my original list entered Sept. 19:

-Ajami (Scandar Copti, Yaron Shani 2009) DVD
-Alamar (Pedro Gonzalez Rubio 2010) DVD, some theaters*
-Animal Kingdom (David Michôd 2010), in theaters Aug. 14, 21 ff.
-Anton Chekhov's The Duel (Dover Kosashvili 2009) in theaters
-Daddy Longlegs (Josh and Benny Safdie 2009) VOD
-Exit Through the Gift Shop (Banksy 2010) in theaters
-Eyes Wide Open (Haim Tabakman 2009) First Run Features reportedly will release a DVD
-Father of My Children, The (Le père de mes enfants, Mia Hansen-Løve 2009) DVD
-Fish Tank (Andrea Arnold 2009) DVD coming
-Genius Within: The Inner Life of Glenn Gould (Michèle Hozner, Peter Raymont 2010) in theaters
-Ghost Writer, The (Roman Polanski 2010) DVD release August 3, 2010
-Greenberg (Noah Baumbach 2010) DVD release July 13, 2010
-I Am Love (Luca Guadagnino 2009) finishing in theaters
-Jean-Michel Basquiat: The Radiant Child (Tamra Davis 2010) in theaters August 2010
-Life During Wartime (Todd Solondz 2010) DVD coming
-Mademoiselle Chambon (Stéphane Brizé 2009)
-Making Plans for Léna (Non, ma fille, tu n'iras pas danser, Christophe Honoré 2009)
-Prophet, A (Un prophète, Jacques Audiard 2009) DVD
-Social Network, The (David Fincher 2010) release coming Oct. 1, 2020
-Solitary Man (Brian Koppelman, David Levien 2010) DVD release September 7, 2010
-Terribly Happy (Henrik Ruben Genz 2010) DVD release July 13, 2010
-Toy Story 3 (Lee Unkrich 2010) in theaters
-Welcome (Philippe Lioret 2009) DVD release August 1, 2010
-Winter's Bone (Debra Granik 2010) in theaters

Here are some titles coming up on year-end lists that won't go in my top lists:

Black Swan (Darren Aronofsky 2010)
Inception (Christopher Nolan 2010)
Kids Are Alright, The (Lisa Cholodenko 2010)
Lourdes (Jessica Hausner 2009)
Marwencol (Jeff Malmberg 2010)
Please Give (Nicole Holofcener 2010)
Scott Pilgrim vs. the World (Edgar Wright 2010)
Shutter Island (Martin Scorsese 2010)
Wild Grass (Alain Resnais 20

I see Bruno Dumont's Hadewijch and Benjamin Heisenberg's The Robber listed. If that means they are considered 2010 US releases, I might add them because I like both.

No top tens till I've seen all I can of the 2010 US releases.

The hot end-of-year American releases are upon us and I've recently seen

The King's Speech
Black Swan
Blue Valentine
Rabbit Hole
The Company Men

Coming: Joel and Ethan Coen's True Grit, Russell's The Fighter, and more

Here's my original list entered Sept. 19:

-Ajami (Scandar Copti, Yaron Shani 2009) DVD
-Alamar (Pedro Gonzalez Rubio 2010) DVD, some theaters*
-Animal Kingdom (David Michôd 2010), in theaters Aug. 14, 21 ff.
-Anton Chekhov's The Duel (Dover Kosashvili 2009) in theaters
-Daddy Longlegs (Josh and Benny Safdie 2009) VOD
-Exit Through the Gift Shop (Banksy 2010) in theaters
-Eyes Wide Open (Haim Tabakman 2009) First Run Features reportedly will release a DVD
-Father of My Children, The (Le père de mes enfants, Mia Hansen-Løve 2009) DVD
-Fish Tank (Andrea Arnold 2009) DVD coming
-Genius Within: The Inner Life of Glenn Gould (Michèle Hozner, Peter Raymont 2010) in theaters
-Ghost Writer, The (Roman Polanski 2010) DVD release August 3, 2010
-Greenberg (Noah Baumbach 2010) DVD release July 13, 2010
-I Am Love (Luca Guadagnino 2009) finishing in theaters
-Jean-Michel Basquiat: The Radiant Child (Tamra Davis 2010) in theaters August 2010
-Life During Wartime (Todd Solondz 2010) DVD coming
-Mademoiselle Chambon (Stéphane Brizé 2009)
-Making Plans for Léna (Non, ma fille, tu n'iras pas danser, Christophe Honoré 2009)
-Prophet, A (Un prophète, Jacques Audiard 2009) DVD
-Social Network, The (David Fincher 2010) release coming Oct. 1, 2020
-Solitary Man (Brian Koppelman, David Levien 2010) DVD release September 7, 2010
-Terribly Happy (Henrik Ruben Genz 2010) DVD release July 13, 2010
-Toy Story 3 (Lee Unkrich 2010) in theaters
-Welcome (Philippe Lioret 2009) DVD release August 1, 2010
-Winter's Bone (Debra Granik 2010) in theaters

Here are some titles coming up on year-end lists that won't go in my top lists:

Black Swan (Darren Aronofsky 2010)
Inception (Christopher Nolan 2010)
Kids Are Alright, The (Lisa Cholodenko 2010)
Lourdes (Jessica Hausner 2009)
Marwencol (Jeff Malmberg 2010)
Please Give (Nicole Holofcener 2010)
Shutter Island (Martin Scorsese 2010)
Wild Grass (Alain Resnais 20

I see Bruno Dumont's Hadewijch and Benjamin Heisenberg's The Robber listed. If that means they are considered 2010 US releases, I might add them because I like both.

No top tens till I've seen all I can of the 2010 US releases.

FILM COMMENT ANNOUNCES ITS BEST LISTS FOR 2010

Here come the Film Comment lists from the Film Society of Lincoln Center where I report on the NYFF, the Rendez-Vous, and New Directors/New Films. They were announced today (Dec. 17, 2010). It's a compilation of votes from the magazine's staff and contributors and various others adding up to a total of 100, of whom only a dozen or so were named. Most of the unreleased films are NYFF selections this year and the top released choices had Film Comment articles and features. In other words, no surprises, though I find many of the rankings very surprising. Not the top ones, though I still do not think White Material is Claire Denis' best work, though I love her films, in general. Given the source, I've seen most of the films listed, for once. There are only half a dozen I have not seen, not counting a couple new or coming releases I'm about to see (True Grit, I Love You Philip Morris), and these titles bring back a lot of good 2010 movie-viewing memories.

This list announcement on the FSLC website is here.

I notice a movie listed in the top ten by some, Edgar Wright's Scott Pilgrim vs. the World, isn't mentioned. I might comment more on these lists later when I make my lists or see other lists.

THE COMPLETE FILM COMMENT 2010 BEST-OF FILMS LISTS

RELEASED 2010 [in the US]

1. Carlos Director: Olivier Assayas
2. The Social Network Director: David Fincher
3. White Material Director: Claire Denis
4. The Ghost Writer Director: Roman Polanski
5. A Prophet Director: Jacques Audiard
6. Winter's Bone Director: Debra Granik
7. Inside Job Director: Charles Ferguson
8. Wild Grass Director: Alain Resnais
9. Everyone Else Director: Maren Ade
10. Greenberg Director: Noah Baumbach

Rankings #11 - #20
11. Mother Director: Bong Joon-ho
12. Toy Story 3 Director: Lee Unkrich
13. Eccentricities of a Blonde-haired Girl Director: Manoel de Oliveira
14. Another Year Director: Mike Leigh
15. The Strange Case of Angelica Director: Manoel de Oliveira
16. The Kids Are All Right Director: Lisa Cholodenko
17. Shutter Island Director: Martin Scorsese
18. Around a Small Mountain Director: Jacques Rivette
19. Our Beloved Month of August Director: Miguel Gomes
20. Ne change rien Director: Pedro Costa

Rankings #21 - #30
21. Dogtooth Director: Yorgos Lanthimos
22. I Am Love Director: Luca Guadagnino
23. Sweetgrass Director: Lucien Castaing-Taylor & Ilisa Barbash
24. Black Swan Director: Darren Aronofsky
25. The Father of My Children Director: Mia Hansen-Løve
26. Boxing Gym Director: Frederick Wiseman
27. Secret Sunshine Director: Lee Chang-dong
28. Bluebeard Director: Catherine Breillat
29. Enter the Void Director: Gaspar Noé
30. Inception Director: Christopher Nolan

Rankings #31 - #40
31. Alamar Director: Pedro González-Rubio
32. The Oath Director: Laura Poitras
33. Exit Through the Gift Shop Director: Banksy
34. World on a Wire Director: Rainer Werner Fassbinder
35. Animal Kingdom Director: David Michôd
36. Vincere Director: Marco Bellocchio
37. Daddy Longlegs Directors: Ben & Joshua Safdie
38. Lourdes Director: Jessica Hausner
39. Life During Wartime Director: Todd Solondz
40. Fish Tank Director: Andrea Arnold

Rankings #41 - #50
41. Please Give Director: Nicole Holofcener
42. True Grit Directors: Joel & Ethan Coen
43. Lebanon Director: Samuel Maoz
44. The King's Speech Director: Tom Hooper
45. I Love You Phillip Morris Directors: Glenn Ficarra & John Requa
46. Last Train Home Director: Lixin Fan
47. Blue Valentine Director: Derek Cianfrance
48. Hadewijch Director: Bruno Dumont
49. The Anchorage Directors: Anders Edström & C.W. Winter
50. Henri-Georges Clouzot's Inferno Directors: Serge Bromberg & Ruxandra Medrea


UNRELEASED 2010

1. Uncle Boonmee Who Can Recall His Past Lives Director: Apichatpong Weerasethakul
2. Film Socialisme Director:Jean-Luc Godard
3. Poetry Director:Lee Chang-dong
4. Meek's Cutoff Director:Kelly Reichardt
5. Aurora Director:Cristi Puiu
6. Mysteries of Lisbon Director: Raúl Ruiz
7. The Autobiography of Nicolae Ceausescu Director: Andrei Ujica
8. The Four Times Director: Michelangelo Frammartino
9. Certified Copy Director: Abbas Kiarostami
10. Tuesday, After Christmas Director: Radu Muntean
11. Oki's Movie Director: Hong Sang-soo
12. Ruhr Director: James Benning
13. I Wish I Knew Director: Jia Zhangke
14. My Joy Director: Sergei Loznitsa
15. Nostalgia for the Light Director: Patricio Guzmán,
16. Robinson in Ruins Director: Patrick Keiller
17. Black Venus Director: Abdellatif Kechiche
18. Of Gods and Men Director: Xavier Beauvois
19. Tabloid Director: Errol Morris
20. The Robber Director: Benjamin Heisenberg

DECEMBER 2010 U.S. MOVIE RELEASES:

As always, some of the best of the year here. Ones I've already reviewed are starred, ones I think I probably must see are in red.

Friday, December 3
The Warrior's Way 1,622 theaters
* All Good Things ( Andrew Jarecki) Limited
*Black Swan (Darren Arronofsky) 18 theaters
*I Love You Phillip Morris 6 theaters
*Night Catches Us (Tanya Hamilton)
Rare Exports: A Christmas Tale Limited
The Assistants 1 theater

Friday, December 10
The Chronicles of Narnia: The Voyage of the Dawn Treader 3,555 theaters
* The Tourist (von Donnersmarck) 2,756 theaters
And Everything Is Going Fine (Steven Soderbergh) 1 theater --now seen
Hemingway's Garden of Eden 14 theaters
*The Fighter (David O. Russell) 4 theaters
*The Tempest 5 theaters

Friday, December 17
And Soon the Darkness Limited
*Casino Jack (George Hickenlooper) NY/LA
How Do You Know 2,483 theaters
Tron: Legacy (Joseph Kosinski) 3,451 theaters --now seen
Yogi Bear 3,515 theaters
*Rabbit Hole (John Cameron Mitchell) 5 theaters

Wednesday, December 22
Little Fockers 3,450 theaters
True Grit (Coen brothers) 3,000 theaters -- now seen and reviewed
Country Strong 2 theaters
Somewhere (Sofia Coppola) 7 theaters -- now seen and reviewed
Tees Maar Khan Limited

Friday, December 24
*Hadewijch (Bruno Dument)
* Secret Sunshine (Lee Chang-dong)

Saturday, December 25
Gulliver's Travels 2,400 theaters
The Illusionist (Sylvain Chomet) Limited -- now seen and reviewed
The Rebound Limited
*The Company Men (John Wells)

Wednesday, December 29
*Another Year (Mike Leigh) Limited
Biutiful (Gonzales Iñáritu) Limited (LA/NY) -- now seen and reviewed

Saturday, December 31
Blue Valentine (Derek Cianfrance) -- seen, holding review for release date (now released)

Some of the foreign ones I reviewed quite a while ago as part of a festival. And Everything Is Going Fine is a documentary about the late monologist Spaulding Gray. I didn't know about it till I came back to NYC. The Illusionist by the animation maker of The Triplets of Belleville, I also didn't know about. It concerns Jacques Tati. Javier Bardem's performance in Iñáritu's Biutiful has been described as the best of the year by anyone. My review of Blue Valentine is written but I'm holding it for opening day. I'm not happy with the film, but the performances by Michelle Williams and Ryan Gosling are amazing. Why see Tron? To see what millions of people are sitting through at the movies right now. These are all I'm aware of. There are probably some more I don't know about yet. And some of these dates may be wrong. The Company Men was originally listed for January 2011. I hope people get to watch Hadewijch, Secret Sunshine, and Another Year. They're great.

I've updated the recommended list for DVD availability and added a couple titles.

-Ajami (Scandar Copti, Yaron Shani 2009) DVD
-Alamar (Pedro Gonzalez Rubio 2010) DVD
-American, The (Anton Corbijn 2010) DVD
-Animal Kingdom (David Michôd 2010) DVD
-Anton Chekhov's The Duel (Dover Kosashvili 2009) No DVD yet
-Daddy Longlegs (Josh and Benny Safdie 2009) DVD 2011?
-Exit Through the Gift Shop (Banksy 2010) DVD
-Eyes Wide Open (Haim Tabakman 2009) DVD
-Father of My Children, The (Le père de mes enfants, Mia Hansen-Løve 2009) DVD
-Fighter, The (David O. Russell 2010) in theaters Dec. 2010
-Genius Within: The Inner Life of Glenn Gould (Michèle Hozner, Peter Raymont 2010) DVD in 2011
-Ghost Writer, The (Roman Polanski 2010) DVD
-Greenberg (Noah Baumbach 2010) DVD
-Mademoiselle Chambon (Stéphane Brizé 2009) DVD
-Making Plans for Léna (Non, ma fille, tu n'iras pas danser, Christophe Honoré 2009) no DVD yet
-Prophet, A (Un prophète, Jacques Audiard 2009) DVD
-Social Network, The (David Fincher 2020) DVD
-Solitary Man (Brian Koppelman, David Levien 2010) DVD
-Somewhere (Sofia Coppola 2010) in theaters Dec. 2010
-Terribly Happy (Henrik Ruben Genz 2010) DVD
-Toy Story 3 (Lee Unkrich 2010) DVD
-Welcome (Philippe Lioret 2009) DVD
-Winter's Bone (Debra Granik 2010) DVD

The NY Times's three film main film critics published their 2010 Best Lists today, Jan. 2, 2011.

Ten Best Movies, in order:

A.O. Scott
• 127 Hours
• Black Swan
• Carlos
• The Fighter
• Greenberg
• The Kids Are All Right
• Somewhere
• Toy Story 3
• Vincere
• Winter's Bone

Manohla Dargis
• Black Swan
• Boxing Gym
• Carlos
• The Ghost Writer
• Inception
• A Prophet
• The Social Network
• Sweetgrass
• True Grit
• Wild Grass

Stephen Holden
• Another Year
• Carlos
• Inception
• Inside Job
• The Kids Are All Right
• The King's Speech
• My Dog Tulip
• The Social Network
• Toy Story 3
• Winter's Bone

I don't know why Scott went ape over 127 HOURS, but I like Boyle and Franco so I'm fine with it. I don't go along with the enthusiasm for BOXING GYM; Wiseman has his passionate advocates. MY DOG TULIP is a bit out of left field; maybe Holden's a canine fanatic, and loves hand-drawn animation. Otherwise these are very mainstream lists, though they include some items that the mainstream US audience has no chance to see, such as VINCERE, SWEERT GRASS, and CARLOS, which were all in the New York Film Festival in 2009 (the first two) and 2010 (CARLOS), as was ANOTHER YEAR. Mike Leigh's film has had a last-minute US theatrical release in NY and several Calif. locations. It will be rolling out to other parts of the country in Jan. and Feb. 2011. Mike Leigh is at the top of his game; I understand his inclusion here with this warm, humane, specific film. But I've explained my reservations about a certain patness in the construction of his films, particularly this one. CARLOS is the only movie all three critics list. Dargis was quite critical of it earlier but seem to have come around. A bit odd, calling a French TV miniseries a "best movie," but it will be something good to watch on your TV monitor when its US DVD edition comes out. IFC's theatrical releases in 3 and 5 1/2 hour forms has been limited. You can still see it in NYC.

For actors, the three gave their lists of five they think should be the Oscar nominees.

Best Actor: The three pundits choose 5 names, but all include Jesse Eisenberg Edgar Ramirez and James Franco.

Who the heck is Edgar Ramirez? Well, you'll have to see CARLOS and they you'll know, and you'll know why he's on the short list.

Best Actress? Natalie Portman, 3 mentions. Two mentions: Annette Benning & Isabelle Huppert.

Best Supporting Actor: Christian Bale, 3 mentions. Two mentions: Matt Damon and John Hawkes.

Best Supporting Actress: No consensus. Two mentions of Greta Gerwig (of GREENBERG), no other names repeated.

http://img708.imageshack.us/img708/2...sl500aa300.jpg

NOTE:

Some recent NYC releases (Dec. 2010-Jan. 2011):

Minoru Hoseda's Summer Wars (Sâma wôzu 2010)
Lee Chang-dong's Secret Sunshine (2007; NYFF 2007)
Manoel de Oliveira's The Strange Case of Angelica (2010; NYFF 2010)
Mike Leigh's Another Year (2010; NYFF 2010)
Claire Denis' White Material (2009; NYFF 2010)

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by oscar jubis

*I haven't seen any of the four movies you listed, Chris. There are so many movies being released on a very limited basis. It's impossible to watch everything that seems worth watching. I hope to eventually watch Inception, Despicable Me, Toy Story 3, The Kids are Alright and a few others. It's expensive also. I cannot always afford to go. I have seen some pretty good movies that I don't think you have seen. It's only natural under this distribution system. Jeunet's Micmacs, for instance, is quite charming and richly imagined. Cell 211, which won 8 Spanish Academy awards, is about as good as prison flicks get. Sometimes I miss out on the wide release films because I don't want to miss films like these which stay in theaters very briefly.

*Stray Dog is very good. You are right to take note of the cinematography.

*Print critics, especially youngish ones who write for daily newspapers, often don't have passion for cinema or knowledge of the history of the art form.They may have more of an interest in the stars than the actual movies. They are hired based on writing skills rather than expertise (which the ones doing the hiring don't know how to assess) or passion. On-line critics are enthusiastic film buffs who often have mediocre writing skills.Of course I am generalizing.

---

I finally did see MICMACS but don't find it memorable. I'm not a Jeunet fan; that kind of elaborate mise-en-scène puts me off. I will grant you that it's richly imagined. I haven't seen CELL 211, and as you suggested a number of the limited-release films you got to see in Florida I was unable to see.

Well, it's near impossible to see everything that gets released. And I wonder how many of these critics try to see as many films as you do. I think it is also important to keep in mind that the nature of a film's release (how, when, where and how frequently it is shown) depends on estimated profit potential not perceived artistic value. And that the nature of a film's release affects its ranking in best-of-the-year polls or lists. The main value of polls to me is simply as a guide to which films I should seek out.

What about films that don't get released (in other words, films deemed by the powers that be to have minimal profit potential)? In 2009, I decided not to make a best-of list that excludes them or lists them separately. To do so strikes me as acquiescing to an artificial division based purely on capitalist interests.

Keeping that in mind, I find it interesting to ponder what these polls might say about what the participants value in film. It seems to me, for instance, that the extremely high regard for The Social Network is largely based on the belief that the film reflects "the mood of the age", that it has something profound to say about our culture or society. Otherwise, is it really a better picture than Film Comment #44 The King's Speech? If in fact voters consider a film's contemporaneous social relevance as a variable to consider when assessing a film's artistic value, then I am encouraged by its coronation by polls conducted by Film Comment and IndieWire. However, my experience was that other films, such as Exit Through the Gift Shop, had more to say to me about the current historical moment in our culture than Fincher's fine film.

I think the big film reviewers almost certainly see more of the regular release films than I do because they get invited to more screenings but I don't know -- yet. If I get to talk to one of the big NY film critics, which could happen at Lincoln Center screenings, I'll ask him or her. As for the issues of releases and distribution you bring up, which have been often discussed by Rosenbaum, they are certainly valid. "Best" lists are I agree useful as checklists of what people will want to try to watch later. A critic who doesn't go to festivals may see fewer of the other films. But a number of the big critics do go to festivals, if not all. Of course in NYC all the big critics see all the NYFF films.

I do not agree that THE KING'S SPEECH is just as good as THE SOCIAL NETWORK. I think the latter has a definite edge because in my view THE SOCIAL NETWORK is more original, THE KING'S SPEECH a grand, beautifully done film, but of a more old-fashioned style. Of course the relevance to today is important; a king's speech defect is hardly a burning issue. But both have universarl relevance -- the scramble to make it big; overcoming personal obstacles -- in both cases or they wouldn't be worth watching. We could argue with the rankings in the FILM COMMENT list. THE KING'S SPEECH might deserve to be higher than #44.

Why do you think EXIT THROUGH THE GIFT SHOP is more relevant to today than THE SOCIAL NETWORK?

I'll post my 2010 MOVIE BEST LISTS shortly.

I have to take some time yet to write a general comment as a preface.

Exit through the Gift Shop gave me a lot to think about. Your question deserves an essay-long answer. For now, I'll just say that two statements made at the beginning resonate throughout the rest of the film.
1) Bansky's proclaiming that Guetta is a more interesting documentary-subject than he is, even though Bansky correctly thinks (but doesn't say until later) that he himself is clearly more talented as both street artist and filmmaker. It is important to think of the reasons why in this culture , at this time, the less-talented Guetta is indeed a more important documentary subject than Bansky.
2) Shepard Fairey's comment about the nature of power and how a person acquires it in our culture. How the illusion of power, or a "perceived power" can be turned into a real thing by manipulating the sources of mass communication.
There are other significant issues in the film, including material about the concept of art and what it's good for and how it relates to other aspects of the culture, and how things acquire value in society, the authorship of cultural products,etc.

Thanks. I see what you mean. EXIT THROUGH THE GIFT shop does give one a lot to think about. And it plays clever tricks on the viewer. Too bad we didn't discuss it at the time when the thread on it was opened here way back when it was in theaters.

I'll start a new thread with this too so people can put their best lists on a new clean thread.

CHRIS KNIPP'S 2010 BEST MOVIE LISTS

I prefer not to make pronouncements about the general cinematic quality of the year compared to other years. What difference does it make anyway if it was a lousy year if there was one great film? There are still some I need to catch up on, but I think I saw more new movies this year than ever before and yet I don't think it was an outstanding year for releases. Might this be due to economic factors limiting what can get released or even made? I don't know. There are always a few very fine films and a few terrible ones and the majority of them are of average quality, neither very good nor very bad. That's why an evaluation of the year as a whole is such an arbitrary thing. Yet there were still some excellent movies especially in the US Oscar-bait system of year-end releases. And some fine ones early in the year we have to be careful not to forget. My system is to group my favorites in categories, best in English, best foreign, best documentaries, shorhtlisted, etc. but list the films alphabetically without ranking them against each other within the groups. If you make it into the club, you're in and that's enough. But I'll tell you a secret: The Social Network was the selection of the New York Film Festival I was most excited to see, and it's still my favorite more or less mainstream 2010 US release.

In addition to these lists Blue Valentine (Derek Cianfrance 2010) is worth mention, despite faulty structure, for awesome performances by Michelle Williams and Ryan Gosling -- clearly among the edgiest, most convincing work by any film actors this year. It's only because I am rating movies and not individual facets of them that Blue Valentine isn't in these lists. The Company Men is a good serious movie about downsizing and shows John Wells' potential as a writer and director of feature films. There are many other films worth seeing that there's no room for, such as Gaspar Noé's Enter the Void. Of the best films in English, The Ghost Writer, (surprising no doubt to some) Life During Wartime, and above all The Social Network are a real pleasure to watch. The others mostly are not, especially when they depict events as disturbing as a forced amputation, an imploding criminal family, sex with minors, drug addiction, or terminal boredom, but harsh or indigestible experiences make good films. I don't very much like Toy story 3, because the Pixar style and its sentimentality are not to my taste, but I recognize the skill and the humanity that went into this accomplished animated film. There are other good documentaries this year besides those on my list, some I didn't see such as The Tillman Story, The Two Escobars, and Marwencol. I chose ones whose subjects are significant to me. I'd say this was not quite a stellar year for foreign films in the US but then, if a year or so late, there was Audiard's masterful A Prophet. Though I listed Denis' White Material merely as a runner-up, that's only because she's so good I expect more of her. I wish I didn't look so much like a Francophile. Latin America produces a lot of exciting films, but unfortunately not enough of them are released in North America.

(Not ranked.)

FILMS IN ENGLISH
127 Hours (Danny Boyle 2010)
Animal Kingdom (David Michôd 2010)
Fighter, The (David O. Russell 2010)
Fish Tank (Andrea Arnold 2009)
Ghost Writer, The (Roman Polanski 2010)
Greenberg (Noah Baumbach 2010)
Life During Wartime (Todd Solodnz 2010)
Social Network, The (David Fincher 2020)
Somewhere (Sofia Coppola 2010)
Toy Story 3 (Lee Unkrich 2010)
Winter's Bone (Debra Granik 2010)

BEST FOREIGN
Carlos (Olivier Assayas 2010)
Eyes Wide Open (Haim Tabakman 2009)
The Father of My Children (Le père de mes enfants, Mia Hansen-Løve 2009)
Hadewijch (Bruno Dumont 2009)
Mademoiselle Chambon (Stéphane Brizé 2009)
Making Plans for Léne (Non, ma fille, tu n'iras pas danser, Christophe Honoré 2009)
Mother (Bong Joon-ho 2009)
Prophet, A (Un prophète, Jacques Audiard 2009)
Vincere (Marco Bellocchio 2009)
Welcome (Philippe Lioret 2009)

SHORTLISTED
Ajami (Scandar Copti, Yaron Shani 2009)
American, The (Anton Corbijn 2010)
Anton Chekhov's The Duel (Dover Kosashvili 2009)
Daddy Longlegs (Josh and Benny Safdie 2009)
Hereafter (Clint Eastwood 2010)
King's Speech, The (Tom Hooper 2010)
Rabbit Hole (John Cameron Mitchell 2010)
Solitary Man (Brian Koppelman, David Levien 2010)
Terribly Happy (Henrik Ruben Genz 2010)
White Material (Claire Denis 2009)

BEST DOCUMENTARIES:
Alamar ((Pedro Gonzalez Rubio 2010)
Art of the Steal, The (Don Argott 2010)
Exit Through the Gift Shop (Banksy 2010)
Genius Within: The Inner Life of Glenn Gould (Michèle Hozner, Peter Raymont 2010)
Inside Job (Charles Ferguson 2010)
Ne Change Rien (Pedro Costa 2010)
Nénette (Nicolas Philibert 2010)
Thorn in the Heart, The (L'Épine dans le coeur, Michel Gondry 2009)
Waiting for Superman (David Guggenheim 2010)
William Kunstler: Disturbing the Universe (Emily and Sarah Kunstler 2010)

BEST UNRELEASED IN US
Double Hour, The (La doppia ora, Giuseppe Capotondi 2009)
In the Beginning (À l'origine, Xavier Giannoli 2009)
Of Gods and Men (Des hommes et des dieux, Xavier Beauvois 2010)
Poetry (Lee Chang-dong 2010)
Post Mortem (Pablo Larraín 2010)
Rapt (Lucas Belvaux 2009)
Robber, The (Der Räuber, Benjamin Heisenberg 2010)
Strange Case of Angelica, The (O Estranho Caso de Angélica, Manoel de Oliveira 2010)
We Are What We Are (Somos lo que hay, Jorge Michel Grau 2010)
You Think You're the Prettiest, But You're the Sluttiest (Te creís la más linda, pero erís la más puta, Che Sandoval 2008)

MOST OVERRATED
Black Swan (Darren Aronofsky 2010)
Boxing Gym (Fred Wiseman 2010)
Inception (Christopher Nolan 2010)
Kids Are All Right, The (Lisa Cholodenko. 2010)
Restrepo (Sebastian Junger, Tim Hetherington 2010)

_________________
©Chris Knipp 2011

Quote:

---

Lists
I will add my list eventually but I think I would rather wait until the end of the month because, unlike you, I haven't seen everything from 2010 that I want to.
When I do publish my list, they will be ranked in order from 1-20. They will also be my choice of my favorites not divided into any categories.
I do understand your desire to do this, however, because you have seen so many more films than I have and it would seem daunting to have to limit it to 20. On the other hand, however, one does not get a clear sense of which films you liked the most when your list consists of 40+ films.. -- HOWARD SCHUMANN

---

It's unusual for me too to be done so early, but I don't think there are any serous contenders that I haven't seen. I say definitely that my favorite American film of the year is THE SOCIAL NETWORK. I'd definitely say my favorite foreign one is A PROPHET. Beyond that, as I said, if they get into the list, that should be enough, and it's a finicky game to try to rank 10- or 20 or 40 films in order of merit. Would you like to do that with books? With friends? I don't think so. I did see upwards of 250 new movies this year and a lot of them were good, more than I can put in the list. A few stand out, and they are at the top of my lists. But I don't think it's a matter of how many movies one's seen. It's just been a principle of mine for years that I preferred to list groups alphabetically rather than rank every single film into a strict pecking order, which seems to be too arbitrary. There are lots of different approaches to the end of year selection process, many equally valid. Of course my method of having lists for English language, foreign, documentary, and shortlisted allows me to list more movies, but I also did that before I was seeing as many as I am now.

I fully understand your thinking on this.

My thinking has been that way for years. However, I might try to make a shorter list and pick my top favorites besides THE SOCIAL NETWORK and A PROPHET.

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by Chris Knipp

My thinking has been that way for years. However, I might try to make a shorter list and pick my top favorites besides THE SOCIAL NETWORK and A PROPHET.

---

A Prophet was on my list for best films of 2009 as was Mother. I didn't say what I did to try to get you to change anything. I don't. However, from my point of view only, we all make choices in life, either consciously or unconsciously. While we don't rate our friends, we do say "He/she is my best friend" or "He/she is one of my best friends." This means that we have in mind those people we consider close friends ans those we consider "mere acquaintances".

Likewise, I think if anyone asked you what are your favorite fiction and non-fiction books, some titles would immediately come to mind. When I went to New York, I wanted to find out what was considered the best Pizza and the best Hot Pastrami sandwich and I wanted to know others that were considered as perhaps not the very best but worthy of being in a top ten. For me anyway, that's how my mind works. That is why I rate movies from A to D primarily as a way of making a choice about it. I know there are good things and not so good things about a certain film, but having to rate it allows me to sort out in my own mind where I stand and to clarify my own thinking on the film. Also ranking films at the end of the year forces me to make choices of what films really reached me and which did not.

Let me say again. This is my point of view and I am not looking for agreement. I respect the fact that you feel differently.

you're quite right. It's just that I don't like exactly ranking films in the top ten or twenty. But of course one does have favorite friends and favorite books, and a small handful that matter most.

I am thinking of reformatting or rewording my choices not to please you but for other sites, and because redoing them makes me think.

The Golden Globes were announced on Sunday, January 15, 2011.


GOLDEN GLOBES 2011, WINNERS AND NOMINEES:

Best Motion Picture - Drama
WINNER
The Social Network (2010)
Other Nominees:
Black Swan (2010)
The Fighter (2010)
Inception (2010)
The King's Speech (2010)

Best Motion Picture - Musical or Comedy
WINNER
The Kids Are All Right (2010)
Other Nominees:
Alice in Wonderland (2010)
Burlesque (2010/I)
Red (2010/I)
The Tourist (2010)

Best Performance by an Actor in a Motion Picture - Drama
WINNER
Colin Firth for The King's Speech (2010)
Other Nominees:
Jesse Eisenberg for The Social Network (2010)
James Franco for 127 Hours (2010)
Ryan Gosling for Blue Valentine (2010)
Mark Wahlberg for The Fighter (2010)

Best Performance by an Actress in a Motion Picture - Drama
WINNER
Natalie Portman for Black Swan (2010)
Other Nominees:
Halle Berry for Frankie and Alice (2010)
Nicole Kidman for Rabbit Hole (2010)
Jennifer Lawrence for Winter's Bone (2010)
Michelle Williams for Blue Valentine (2010)

Best Performance by an Actor in a Motion Picture - Musical or Comedy
WINNER
Paul Giamatti for Barney's Version (2010)
Other Nominees:
Johnny Depp for The Tourist (2010)
Johnny Depp for Alice in Wonderland (2010)
Jake Gyllenhaal for Love and Other Drugs (2010)
Kevin Spacey for Casino Jack (2010)

Best Performance by an Actress in a Motion Picture - Musical or Comedy
WINNER
Annette Bening for The Kids Are All Right (2010)
Other Nominees:
Anne Hathaway for Love and Other Drugs (2010)
Angelina Jolie for The Tourist (2010)
Julianne Moore for The Kids Are All Right (2010)
Emma Stone for Easy A (2010)

Best Performance by an Actor in a Supporting Role in a Motion Picture
WINNER
Christian Bale for The Fighter (2010)
Other Nominees:
Michael Douglas for Wall Street: Money Never Sleeps (2010)
Andrew Garfield for The Social Network (2010)
Jeremy Renner for The Town (2010)
Geoffrey Rush for The King's Speech (2010)

Best Performance by an Actress in a Supporting Role in a Motion Picture
WINNER
Melissa Leo for The Fighter (2010)
Other Nominees:
Amy Adams for The Fighter (2010)
Helena Bonham Carter for The King's Speech (2010)
Mila Kunis for Black Swan (2010)
Jacki Weaver for Animal Kingdom (2010)

Best Director - Motion Picture
WINNER
David Fincher for The Social Network (2010)
Other Nominees:
Darren Aronofsky for Black Swan (2010)
Tom Hooper for The King's Speech (2010)
Christopher Nolan for Inception (2010)
David O. Russell for The Fighter (2010)

Best Screenplay - Motion Picture
WINNER
The Social Network (2010): Aaron Sorkin
Other Nominees:
127 Hours (2010): Danny Boyle, Simon Beaufoy
Inception (2010): Christopher Nolan
The Kids Are All Right (2010): Stuart Blumberg, Lisa Cholodenko
The King's Speech (2010): David Seidler

Best Original Song - Motion Picture
WINNER
Burlesque (2010/I): Diane Warren("You Haven't Seen The Last of Me")
Other Nominees:
Burlesque (2010/I): Samuel Dixon, Christina Aguilera, Sia Furler("Bound to You")
Country Strong (2010): Bob DiPiero, Tom Douglas, Hillary Lindsey, Troy Verges("Coming Home")
The Chronicles of Narnia: The Voyage of the Dawn Treader (2010): Carrie Underwood, David Hodges, Hillary Lindsey("There's A Place For Us")
Tangled (2010): Alan Menken, Glenn Slater("I See the Light")

Best Original Score - Motion Picture
WINNER
The Social Network (2010): Trent Reznor, Atticus Ross
Other Nominees:
127 Hours (2010): A.R. Rahman
Alice in Wonderland (2010): Danny Elfman
Inception (2010): Hans Zimmer
The King's Speech (2010): Alexandre Desplat

Best Animated Film
WINNER
Toy Story 3 (2010)
Other Nominees:
Despicable Me (2010)
How to Train Your Dragon (2010)
The Illusionist (2010)
Tangled (2010)

Best Foreign Language Film
WINNER
In a Better World (2010)(Denmark)
Other Nominees:
Biutiful (2010)(Mexico/Spain)
The Concert (2009)(France)
The Edge (2010)(Russia)
I Am Love (2009)(Italy)

I have a Top 10 overall list. The same 3 undistributed and 7 distributed films I have listed since the summer. Nothing released since then impressed me enough to make the list. Busy year for me. Just received a commission to write three pieces for a book on French Cinema. It will keep me occupied for the next couple of months. I am reluctant to post list because I missed some films by some of my favorite directors, including Sofia Coppola, Mike Leigh, and Jacques Rivette. However, I watched all the films nominated except 127 Hours.

Best Films of 2010 (in rough preferential order, asterisk denotes undistributed films)

Grandmother (Brillante Mendoza/Phillipines)*
Greenberg (Noah Baumbach/USA)
Shirin (Abbas Kiarostami/Iran)
Sweet Grass (USA)
Guy and Madeline on a Park Bench (Damien Chazelle/USA)
Wild Grass (Alain Resnais/France)
The Milk of Sorrow (Claudia Llosa/Peru)
Eccentricities of a Blonde Girl (Manoel de Oliveira/Portugal)
Moloch Tropical (Raoul Peck/Haiti)*
The Illusionist (Sylvain Chomet/France)
The Last Summer of Boyita (Julia Solomonoff/Argentina)*
No One Knows about Persian Cats (Bahman Ghobadi/Iran)

Runner-Ups

FISH TANK (UK)
BOXING GYM (USA)
TOY STORY 3 (USA)
THE FIGHTER (USA)
ANOTHER YEAR (UK)
BLUE VALENTINE (USA)
AROUND A SMALL MOUNTAIN (France)
SOMEWHERE (USA)\
ALAMAR (Mexico)
CRAB TRAP (Colombia)*


Highly Recommended
Carlos (uncut version)
Hideaway (France)
Dogtooth (Greece)
City of Life and Death (China)*
Bluebeard (France)
The Wind Journeys (Colombia)
Medal of Honor (Romania)*
The Ghost Writer
Exit through the Gift Shop (USA/UK)
Winter's Bone (USA)
Chloe (Canada/USA)
The King's Speech (UK)
The Social Network (USA)
Everyone Else (Germany)
Secret Sunshine (South Korea)
Women without Men (Iran/Germany)
Mademoiselle Chambon (France)

Not Seen Yet: Inside Job, 127 Hours, Enter the Void, Rabbit Hole,Chekhov's The Duel, Eyes Wide Open.

A look back: The best films of 2009

GOODBYE SOLO (Ramin Bahrani) USA
THE HEADLESS WOMAN (Lucrecia Martel) ARGENTINA
************
LIVERPOOL (Lisandro Alonso) ARGENTINA
PARQUE VIA (Enrique Rivero) MEXICO
THE WHITE RIBBON (Michael Haneke) AUSTRIA/GERMANY
*************
24 CITY (Jia Zhang ke) CHINA
35 SHOTS OF RUM (Claire Denis) FRANCE/GERMANY
HUNGER (Steve McQueen) UK/IRELAND
MUNYURANGABO (Lee Isaac Chang) USA/RWANDA
OF TIME AND THE CITY (Terence Davies) UK

Since I posted my list 3 months ago, I have watched 3 movies released in 2010 which merit inclusion. These include two "miniatures": Sofia Coppola's almost perfect Somewhere, and Rivette's charming and free Around a Small Mountain. The movie that belongs among the very best of the year in my experience is
GUY AND MADELINE ON A PARK BENCH, young American Damien Chazelle's delightful child of Shadows and The Umbrellas of Cherbourg.

Glad to see another vote for Somewhere, which as you know has had some very negative reviews as well as positive ones; the Metacritic rating of 67 shows the opposite pulls at work. I had a hard time with Around a Small Mountain but managed to decode it to a considerable extent with a lot of help from a French critic, as you'll see in my Nyff 2009 report. You are a Rivette fan; I find I am not, though he has tended to grow on me more of late.

I didn't know about Guy and Medeline; it apparently came and went in NYC during one of the times when I was not there, between a NYFF time and a Christmas stay. It was shown at Cinema Village, the small NYTimes review shows, so if I'd been there then I'd probably have seen it.

I really appreciate your being fair to Around a Small Mountain especially because you are not a fan of Jacques Rivette. Grossly underexposed in America to say the least, Rivette is. This was even more true last century than this one! It is also strange that perhaps his most enjoyable, representative work, Celine and Julie Go Boating (1974) is not one out of a dozen Rivette films released on DVD. It's the best rated among IMdb voters.

Films like Guy and Madeline on a Park Bench give me hope about the future of cinema and the future of America.

I respect the Film Society of Lincoln Center and make every effort to understand and appreciate all their or the NYFF jury's choices each year. I'm more neutral about Rivette than in any way opposed. I can enjoy a leisurely meander through his films from time to time. I enjoyed La Belle Noiseuse, Va Savoir. The big French favorite of yours I really have a harder time with is Alain Renais, except for his two early masterpieces, which I love. Guy and Madeleine can be watched on Instant Play on Netfilx right now, you know. I plan on giving it a look.

I'm writing in this "best of 2010" thread because:
I rewatched one of the 39 movies I listed back then: Polanski's political thriller THE GHOST WRITER and
the documentary I listed at #4 overall: SWEET GRASS, about taking sheep to pasture like the protagonists of "Brokeback Mountain", a visually arresting film, is finally going to be released on BluRay (October 2020). A major reason I love this film is that it's spectacular, in the direct meaning of the term. It's compelling in several ways, but primarily visually. So, the sharpness of the Bluray format makes it easier to appreciate in almost all its splendor (you'd have to watch it in a theater to get the full, immersive effect of going up a mountain among the herd). "The Ghost Writer" like Chris Knipp stated, is perfect and classic. I listed it as "highly recommended" but it's one of two films that would be listed higher if I made the list today. The other one is WINTER'S BONE.

SWEET GRASS was in the 2009 NYFF and reviewed here then. That's amusing that you link it to BROKEBACK MOUNTAIN. But more important it's an early example of the Harvard ethnographers and anthropologists Ilisa Barbash and Lucien Castaing-Taylor. It was unusual partly for how different it was from a movie like BROKEBACK MOUNTAIN and for its authentic atmosphere that you refer to, with no dialogue and no narration, only the ambient sound, and the bells of the sheep.I have a lot of time, though it's an acquired taste, for this kind of film. It's not a kind of film that's likely to wind up at the cinemplex when it reopens. THE GHOST WRITER - thanks for citing me - I did say it's perfect and masterful but I didn't say it's a classic. That's partly because as I explained people don't pay attention to a well-made film without flashy special effects anymore. As for WINTER'S BONE, I think it has left a mark and may have had an influence. It seems a long time ago now, since when I saw it at the SFIFF then, Jennifer Lawrence was a beautiful unknown, with mainly TV in her CV at that point.

"An old master at work, a classic-style thriller without special effects but fully supplied with excitement, suspense, and memorable scenes."(C.K.)
Not a classic but "classic-style".

I forgot I'd said "classic-style." I may be wrong, but I was arguing that THE GHOST WRITER won't be acknowledged to be as good as it is, so it won't become - to give the no. 1 meaning I get for "classic" on Google: "judged over a period of time to be of the highest quality and outstanding of its kind." Because it'll be forgotten.

This feeling that a movie I love may be forgotten is what compels me to post, at least some of the time. I also like to keep in touch with you because you do such a good job and because I am quite aware of how time consuming it is to write well. This is especially true as I get older; I must tell you how much I admire your energy; I'm only 59 and I can tell you definitely that writing is slower and requires more effort for me than when we started writing here back in 2002. I agree that THE GHOST WRITER is less famous/popular than many others, even many others in the same genre, and this is a relative matter. Compare the degree to which this film has been forgotten to the case of "Losing Ground", the film directed by a black woman in 1982 which you wrote about today. In my TOP 10 of 2010 , there are a couple of films I consider masterpieces, or nearly so, that may be even more obscure for many reason including their origin. The best film I watched in 2010 is Brilliant Mendoza's "GRANDMOTHER" aka Lola, a film from the Phillipines about two grandmothers finding a way to resolve the violent confrontation between their grandsons when the justice system fails to serve them. There's also THE LAST SUMMER OF LA BOYITA, a coming-of-age from Argentina that deals with issues of gender and identity about as deeply as any film I've seen.

It was definitely easier to write when I was very young, 20-30, or earlier. However, we're wiser now, aren't we? Writing about films can contribute in some small way to preserving the memory of the films in question, I would also agree. Hopefully one has a fresh angle on some of them too, on occasion.

I reviewed a Brillante Mendoza film in the 2008 NYFF. I think that's all, but I cited a Mike D'Angelo tweet from Cannes 2016:

Quote:

---

Mike D'Angelo ‏@gemko
Ma' Rosa (Mendoza): 43. Resisted the effort to push my empathy in one direction. Also, somebody please buy Mendoza a decent camera.

---

Didn't quite get how you're relating Kathleen Collins to Roman Polanski.

I appreciate your presence and wish other members would check in.

Just saying that there's different degrees of "forgotten", one that may apply to Polanski's film and another that applies to a film directed by Ms. Collins which a lot less people have seen over the years and that you just happen to write about, and bring into my awareness. Thanks.

You're welcome, my pleasure.

Different types of forgotten, yes. LOSING GROUND is a lot more forgotten than THE GHOST WRITER. The latter is available on six different platforms, and you can watch it right now for free on YouTube. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-16vKFCmylc
LOSING GROUND is only available on the Criterion Channel, and you have to join up, if only temporarily, to watch it.

Maybe THE GHOST WRITER isn't forgotten at all. It even got back its production cost, apparently. It's just not in the list of great films. Nobody saw LOSING GROUND. Very large difference.