1) The Social Network Proof that Hollywood can still put out exceptionally well-crafted and invigorating adult drama. More, please.
2) Black Swan Melodrama and menace running a very high fever.
3) Everyone Else Blue Valentine sounds tin-eared next to this German exploration of a young couple’s seesaw between kind and cruel, crazy in love, and just plain crazy.
4) Red Riding trilogy A monumental profiling of police corruption and gutter-gumming human depravity. So under-the-skin there’s just no washing it out.
5) Monsters An elegant and understated creeper about creatures from beyond and creatures from within.
6) Toy Story 3 You say you didn’t cry? I say you’re a damned dirty liar.
7) Winter’s Bone The clear-eyed contributions of Jennifer Lawrence, John Hawkes, and Dale Dickey buoyed this bleak drama from its occasional bobbles into Ozarks cornpone.
8) It’s Kind of a Funny Story Would that all films targeted at teens were as sweet and stirring as Anna Boden and Ryan Fleck’s overlooked dramedy.
9) The Exploding Girl Zoe Kazan knocked my socks off in this microindie about a young woman negotiating heartbreak and chronic disease.
10) Scott Pilgrim vs. the World It boggles the mind that audiences couldn’t be bothered with the summer’s most cacophonous comedy. Play again.
NEAR MISSES
Another Year, Four Lions, The Fighter,
I Am Love, Fish Tank
MOST OVERRATED
127 Hours, Salt, Somewhere
MOST UNDERRATED
It’s Kind of a Funny Story, Monsters, Scott Pilgrim vs. the World
ACTING KUDOS (MALE)
Jesse Eisenberg (The Social Network), Colin Firth (The King’s Speech), Geoffrey Rush (The King’s Speech), Christian Bale (The Fighter), John Hawkes (Winter’s Bone)
ACTING KUDOS (FEMALE)
Jennifer Lawrence (Winter’s Bone), Zoe Kazan (The Exploding Girl), Lesley Manville (Another Year), Tilda Swinton (I Am Love), Katie Jarvis (Fish Tank)
BEST DIRECTOR
David Fincher (The Social Network), Gareth Edwards (Monsters), Maren Ade (Everyone Else)
BEST SCREENPLAY (ORIGINAL)
Four Lions (Jesse Armstrong, Sam Bain, Chris Morris), Greenberg (Noah Baumbach), The Kids Are All Right (Stuart Blumberg, Lisa Cholodenko)
BEST SCREENPLAY (ADAPTED)
Toy Story 3 (Michael Arndt), The Social Network (Aaron Sorkin), Red Riding trilogy (Tony Grisoni)
WORST FILM
Comedy, the categorical imperative, and Steadicams all took a beating in The Virginity Hit, a cynically marketed and roundly rotten teen movie.
WILD CARD
Are You Down?: Oral sex was an equal opportunity employer – finally! – this year, with The Kids Are All Right, Blue Valentine, I Am Love, and Black Swan all exploring sexuality from the ladies’ vantage point.
This article appears in 2010.
