Best of 2010

It's Oscar Night, so I figured this was as good as time as any to publish something about the year that was 2010. What follows is a list, from best to worst, of what I saw in 2010. I decided to include the various TV shows I watch (note: I haven't yet seen season four of Mad Men) because simply some of what I saw on the smallish screen was better than what I saw on the biggish screen. Plus, we're in the midst of a new Golden Age of television, with the cable networks really putting out some of the best stuff to have ever not been shown in theaters. There are also a smattering of online videos in here that are only present because I simply deemed them worthy of some discussion. It's my list and my rules. They don't have to make sense to you.

Another note: I've failed to see The King's Speech, despite Harvey Weinstein's unstoppable campaign to ensure it wins everything in sight. I may once it wins Best Picture so I can fulfill my movie geek obligation, but to be honest, it looks stuffy and smells of Oscar bait. Also on my missing Oscar list: True Grit, which is truly unforgivable in my book; The Fighter because I just haven't been really enthused to do so; and The Kids are All Right because my girlfriend really wants to see it and we haven't been able to get around to watching it together. So if I were to watch it without her and not like it (not that I think I will), I'd be loath to watch it again.

And away we go!


1. Breaking Bad, Season 3 - What started as a curious series about a deathly ill high school chemistry teacher cooking meth to leave his family something has revealed itself to be the journey of a destructively prideful man. The writers, who admitted to making this all up as they went along, never shied away from forcing their characters into making morally dubious decisions. As we watched Jesse Pinkman in the final scene descend into what will surely be an inescapable darkness for him, we understand that the most heart-breaking aspect of it all is that it was Walter, an almost father figure for him, who ultimately put him in the lose-lose situation.

2. The Social Network - The movie which revealed that, yes, even computer nerds are assholes. In all seriousness, there's nary a misstep from start to finish. Fincher finds himself in a groove, creating the rhythms of an action movie out of depositions and dorm rooms. The score by Trent Reznor and Atticus Ross is also one of the best in recent memory.

3. Exit Through the Gift Shop - The themes of what separates art and commerce, what exactly constitutes art and how the prejudices of consumers/critic towards certain artists effect their opinion isn't anything new, but this nifty documentary by Banksy explores these in always clever and entertaining ways. Early on Banksy presents us a scene of subject Thierry Guetta commenting on how he simply tells customers that mistakes in the stitching of the clothes he sells makes them unique and worth $400.00. Few Hollywood directors would have the deft touch to subtly use what on first viewing seems like a throwaway scene like this to establish a theme.

4. Archer, Season 1 - Why is this my favorite new show? It's a fantastic mix of gross-out humor, obscure cultural references, office comedy, spy-movie cliches and (refreshingly) character driven jokes with some gorgeous animation.

5. Toy Story 3 - Dealing with rejection and the accompanying feelings of worthlessness is tough, and it must be doubly so if you're an inanimate object. Whether it was me or the movie, something at the start was putting me off. It started to feel a little phoned in. I don't know what happened, though, because by the end I found my house suddenly a little dusty.

6. Words - It's three minutes of visual punning. I think that was meant as a pun. I don't know. But here's the video, presented by Radiolab and NPR.

7. Winter's Bone - I didn't see Iron Man 2, but I don't think Tony Stark's adventures could measure up to the bravery on display by Ree, played by Jennifer Lawrence in what I thought was the best performance I saw this year. John Hawkes as Teardrop is the very essence of menace.

8. Shutter Island - The best movie Hollywood released this year with Leonardo DiCaprio questioning the reality around him.

9. Black Swan - I can't remember where I read this, but someone described the movie as "Roman Polanski's Showgirls" and meant that as a bad thing. Sorry, this movie is so fantastically batshit crazy I couldn't resist it. All the attention has been paid to Natalie Portman, who does give her all in an emotionally and physically demanding role, but this movie belongs to Darren Aronofsky.

10. - South Park, Season 14 - When I came to finding a spot for this season from Trey and Matt, I initially had it lower, mostly because of the second half of the season. "Creme Fraiche" and "Insheeption" were kind of forgettable, as were the first two parts of the Coon/Mysterion Trilogy. Then I remember the first half of the season had the wonderful Facebook sendup in "You Have 0 Friends", the absurdly hilarious scene of men bouncing on their testicles in "Medicinal Fried Chicken", a shark raping a handicapped child in "Crippled Summer" and an episode titled "The Tale of Scrotie McBoogerballs" and I realize that while South Park may be past its prime, the boys still know how to deliver some deliciously twisted laughs.

11. Lost, Season 6 - The debate amongst fanboys will rage for eternity as to what questions were answered or not but Lost will always be, for me, one of my favorite TV addictions. Each episode was an expertly constructed chapter of a serial, always seeming to leave us with a cliff hanger as the title card splashed across the screen. The final episode was a perfect capper for the series, a roller coaster ride of action and emotion, blended with some quasi-brainy sci-fi/mysticism. It will be and is missed.

12. The American - George Clooney gives the best performance of his career in this hit man thriller that owes more to Antonioni or Melville's Le Samourai than a Jason Bourne actioner. It may stumble on its way to the finish in the last few moments, but it was coldly confident on its way there.

13. The Ghost Writer - Obligatory Roman Polanski movie disclaimer: He is a disgusting rapist. Personal opinion of the man's crime aside, the movie is an efficient, if not silly, thriller and it's all because of Polanski. He deftly handles the tone, moods and pacing to create an unsettling feeling of paranoia that eventually permeates throughout.

14. The Killer Inside Me - Casey Affleck continues to amaze as an actor in this noir that is about as brutal, cold and dark as a noir can get.

15. Hot Tub Time Machine - Everyone of the characters are irredeemably selfish and self-centered and by the time the movie's over, they pretty much get everything they want through cheating. It's morally bankrupt in every way, but damned if I didn't laugh a lot.

16. Kick-Ass - The best movie where an eleven-year-old vigilante kills a bunch of criminals you'll ever see. What? Would it be better if I said it's an outrageous and mostly fun deconstruction of the superhero genre? 'Cause it's that, too.

17. AM 1200 - It's a showcase for director David Prior, bordering on being an out and out audition reel. But what an audition. Clever and scary, this horror short is a reminder that the scariest thing isn't what's on screen. It's just what's outside of view, carrying that flashlight. I saw this at the Acadian Film Festival. It may be available to watch online somewhere.

18. Inception - Christopher Nolan's follow up to The Dark Knight suffers from not being a movie about Batman or starring Heath Ledger. And it suffers from not being as clever or as original as it thinks it is. The climax, though, is pretty awesome, if I'm being completely honest.

19. The Town - Ben Affleck's follow up to Gone Baby Gone almost falls into complete melodrama but he somehow keeps it from being laughable. It's a mostly forgettable Heat imitator, though Jeremy Renner was fantastic.

20. Dexter, Season 5 - As the years have gone on, it's become obvious that the writers of Dexter really refuse to have Dexter do something bad to save his own skin. It's incredibly frustrating to watch them paint him in corner after corner only to have them grant him a cheap and easy escape. Also, Dexter's narration sometimes seems to undermine Michael C. Hall's performance by underlining emotions and thoughts that we've already gleaned through the actor's mannerisms. Yes, I enjoyed Julia Stiles' presence this season and some of the year's early goings with Dexter dealing with Rita's death, but by the time it all wrapped up the whole thing felt of little consequence to the series going forward.

21. I'm Still Here - I had the benefit of seeing this knowing it was all a sham by Phoenix and Affleck, but watching it I still sometimes wondered how people could think it was all real considering some of the things on display here. The final scene is a brilliant and sort of hilarious send up of self-indulgence.

22. The Expendables - Scenes of fun banter that ooze machismo and testosterone are intermixed with indecipherable action sequences. Stallone has now succumbed to shaky cam and ADD editing that show no attempt at creating coherence. Laaaaaaaame.

23. 127 Hours - James Franco saves this from being a complete waste of time. For some reason, director Danny Boyle thinks the inner workings of a video camera are important to this story but that is pretty much his m.o. as filmmaker: anything and everything on the screen for the sake of freneticism.

24. The Stieg Larsson Trilogy - The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo was by far the best. Introducing us to the ass-kicking hacker Lisbeth Salander and do-gooder journalist Mikael Blomkvist as they team up to solve the mysterious disappearance of a member of a wealthy family. With the next two movies, The Girl Who Played with Fire and The Girl Who Kicked the Hornet's Nest, we are thrust into a massive conspiracy surrounding Lisbeth. It's all sporadically fun but not ever as engrossing as the first movie.

25. Splice - Reflecting on this one, you'd think I'd like it more, especially considering how off the rails things go in the climax. It's a movie that wholly embraces it's concept and is willing to take it places unexpected. For some reason, though, it just never fully grabbed me.

26. The Last Exorcism - The ending of the movie makes no sense. I don't want to give anything away, but it undermines the whole "documentary" thing the filmmakers were going for. The movie would actually work better, I think, if simply told as a straight narrative, minus the documentary gimmick.

27. Walking Dead, Season 1 - The pilot was the right blend of creepy, tense and intriguing, presumably setting up what should have been the best new show on TV. Too bad the remaining five episodes were frustratingly uneven. How can a show be so good one moment, as in the pilot, and be so bad in every facet in another episode, as in the scene with the two sisters fishing. Here's to hoping that Season 2 finds its footing with a new batch of writers.

28. Treme - All of my fellow New Orleanians can now hate me. Sorry, but it seems in their effort to treat New Orleans respectfully they forgot to create characters that weren't dull or uninteresting and to write storylines that actually went somewhere. Admittedly, I gave up after eight episodes so maybe something finally happened in the final two episodes but if I really don't give a damn about the characters 80% of the way through a story arc, well... The biggest disappointment of the year, by far, considering my undying love for The Wire and the city in which I live.

29. The Book of Eli - I honestly don't remember much, other than the book ended up being the Holy Bible and I think Eli was blind. I also remember enjoying it more than the items remaining on the list, so there's that.

30. Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows, Part 1 - The animated sequence detailing the history of the Hallows was borderline brilliant. The rest of the movie was insular, lifeless and dull. "But if you're not a Potter fan, why did you see it?!?!" Yeah, yeah, yeah. I took a buddy who was new to town at the time and he didn't have anyone else to join him. I'm also trying to be comprehensive here, dammit.

31. Runaway - Kanye West's 30+ minute video for his brilliant My Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy has moments of inspiration and I certainly admired the bravado on display. Too bad Kanye's about 1/10th of a director as he is record producer. Just listen to the record. It really is as fantastic as they say.

32. Paranormal Activity 2 - Just answer me this *one* thing: Why didn't the pool cleaning machine ball thing kill anyone? Seriously, I waited a damned hour and a half for a payoff that never came. If that ball had jumped out of the pool and strangled or vacuumed (or whatever it does) someone to death, I might have actually thought the movie was worth full ticket price. Of course, I'm the kind of guy who enjoys over-the-top depravity like the Shannon Elizabeth/Snowman rape scene in Jack Frost so your mileage will vary.

33. Easy A - Emma Stone is all sorts of charming and has serious comedy chops. The scene where she starts singing along to "Pocketful of Sunshine" would actually rank near the top of all movie moments from this year for me. Too bad the rest of this movie was too full of itself and high on it's supposed cleverness for me to make it past the first 30 minutes.

EDIT - Updated to include I'm Still Here which I inexplicably forgot.

EDIT II - Updated to include The Killer Inside Me. Maybe I've got some unconscious grudge against Casey Affleck.