Top 10 (or thereabouts)

Alamar (Mexico)

01/22/2011 by Glenn Lovell

The best of 2010 (many of which are now available on DVD or pay-per-view):

The Ghost Writer” (Roman Polanski sees conspiracies in his sleep — lucky for us)

“Harry Brown” (a wonderfully stolid Michael Caine as a vigilante pensioner patrolling a gang-infested neighborhood — brutal, cathartic)

“Red Riding Trilogy” (northern England, at its kitchen-sink grungiest, is the setting for this challenging whodunit/expose — imported in three parts from Brit telly)

The Disappearance of Alice Creed” (a mind-twister about a kidnapping gone wrong)

“Catfish” (a sly comment on that double-edged sword we call social media)

“True Grit” (Joel and Ethan Coen on living with hard choices, this time in the Old West)

“The American” (Jean-Pierre Melville would have loved this flinty thriller, starring George Clooney as a paid assassin who has lost his taste for it)

“The Fighter” (co-star Christian Bale, as the black sheep brother, battles his way to center ring)

“Winter’s Bone” (Jennifer Lawrence as a backwoods Nancy Drew — a scary look at heartland misogyny)

How I Ended This Summer” (an escalating game of tit-for-tat at an Arctic weather station — yes, it’s a Cold War allegory from Russia)

“Mother” (South Korea’s Hye-ya Kim is brilliant as a mother who will stop at nothing, including murder, to prove her son’s innocence)

“Alamar” (a father imparts the greatest gift to his son — an abiding love of nature)

“Kick-Ass” (solely for Hit-Girl/Mindy Macready)

“Carlos” (an intricate espionage thriller-biopic — not up to “Day of the Jackal,” but it’ll do)

and …

Kevin Bacon in “Kevin Bacon’s Biggest Fan”

One Response to “Top 10 (or thereabouts)”

  1. John E. Says:

    What’s interesting about your top 10 is that a few films (True Grit, The Fighter) seems to overlap other critics’ top 10, yet you also have films like Catfish and The American that ended up in “worst of…” list. I think it’s a good balance. Did you watch Never Let Me Go? I’m wondering what you thought of it….

    Like

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