ROB RAGE: The Best Movies Of 2010

Once again I present my favorite films of the year. As usual it's important to remember that this isn't the BEST films of the year, rather the movies that I've found the most entertaining; not necessarily the best crafted, most awards worthy, or most powerful dramatically, as a professional film critic might see them.

Personally I'm looking for a re-watchablity factor in all these films (do I want to purchase it on DVD for future multiple viewings?) There's a longevity factor to consider as well; I might love the film now but will I still love it in a year from now, or ten years time? Finally there's that highly subjective personal factor that means a film might have a look, or theme, or a story, or characters that talk to my tastes as an individual, more than it might to others who have viewed these films. What I'm trying to say is, this is my list. If you don't like it, go and compile your own!

As a year in movies, 2010 was disappointing. That's not to say the 20 movies listed here are poor; they're not. Primarily I wanted to see better quality blockbusters. There were so many let-downs from the studio tentpole movies; Knight & Day, The A-Team, Alice In Wonderland, Clash Of The Titans, Robin Hood, Prince Of Persia, Sorcerers Apprentice, Jonah Hex, The Last Airbender and Iron Man 2...mega-budget blockbusters all, and every one falling far short of their potential. These are the kind of movies I truly love, and wish to see succeed, and these are the ones that let me down. And there were so many that were merely "pretty good" but not great; Predators, The Wolfman, Green Zone, Expendables, Harry Potter 7, Salt, Cop Out, Piranha and From Paris With Love. All solid entertainment but nothing to get too excited over.

So, moan over, here we go:-

20/ Splice
A modern twist on The Fly and Frankenstein, Splice is a first class monster movie. Less a horror film, and more of a science fiction drama, it explores the family dynamic of 'mummy' (Sarah Polley), 'daddy' (Adrian Brodey) and 'child' (Delphine Chanéac). Great effects, lovingly designed and intelligently told.

19/ Whip It
The Drew Barrimore directed sports movie starring Ellen Page failed to convince me in it's opening scenes, only to become one of the most enjoyable dramedy ensembles of the year. Touching, exciting and very funny, Whip It breaks the sports genre mold and confirms it's director as a rising talent to keep an eye on.

18/ Jackass 3D
If you've seen the other Jackass movies you'll know what to expect with the second sequel as it's practically critic-proof. With the added bonus of 3D photography and ultra-slow motion, the gags are as disgusting, bone-crunching and gut-bustingly funny as you can get in a comedy movie.

17/ The Last Exorcism
Yet another entry in to the hand-held camera genre of horror films, but a unique, intelligent and gripping one never the less. Shot from the perspective of a priest trying to debunk the Catholic exorcism myth, Last Exorcism keeps you guessing as to whether the events are supernatural or not. Great turns from Patrick Fabian and Ashley Bell make this both amusing and freaky too.

16/ The Social Network
There are probably few directors that could have turned a story about social networking site Facebook into one of the years most enjoyable films, but auteur David Fincher did. Combined with a spot on cast, a great Trent Reznor score and Aaron Sorkin's multi-layered and amusing script, there simply is no bad here.

15/ Fantastic Mr Fox
A 2009 release I caught this year, indie film maker Wes Anderson turns Roahld Dahl's beloved children's book into a off-beat, too-good-for-kids animal adventure movie. The young ones will love the manic situations and adults will adore the quirky, well timed humour and subtly casual dialogue. The old-skool hand animated puppet-style makes this unique to look at too. There's nothing out there like it.

14/ The Town
It turns out that frequently derided movie star Ben Affleck is a great leading man given the right material and the right director; in this case himself. Who'd have thought that Affleck would be making crime thrillers approaching the level of Mann and Scorsese. He's not there yet, but if The Town is anything to go by he's a master craftsman in the making.

13/ Never Let Me Go
This delicate science fiction drama is perhaps the saddest films of the year. Once the relationships are established between the three exceptional leads (Carey Mulligan, Keira Knightly, Andrew Garfield) and the plot twist exposed it explores life love and death to full heartbreaking effect. It's a crime this is being ignored this awards season.

12/ The Lovely Bones
Peter Jackson was heavily criticised for the heavy fantasy elements in his afterlife murder thriller, not to mention the way he soft-peddles the more disturbing aspects of the book on which it's based. A very theatrical movie, it's less real-life and more of an uplifting bedtime story. There's some standout sequences including one of the year's best when Lindsey breaks into Mr Harvey's house (a creepy Stanley Tucci) to solve her sister's murder. Under-rated.

11/ Buried
A one man movie. Well, pretty much. Take one Ryan Reynolds, bury him in a coffin with a pencil, a gas lighter and a mobile phone for 90 minutes and see if he escapes. Reynolds proves his movie star status in one of the years most tense thrillers which explores its intimate location to the maximum while the suspense unrelentingly snowballs.

10/ The Human Centipede - First Sequence
It wouldn't be an end of year movie list without a stomach churning European horror film included. Human Centipede takes the usual genre conventions of the strangers who have broken down and then knock on the local nutters house for assistance. Add one barking mad scientist and one of the most disturbing images of the year and you have a twisted classic. Remember kids, never go ass to mouth.

9/ Centurion
The top 20 is a largely worthy affair, but my enjoyment of certain 'low-brow' genres compels me to include some of the best examples of 'pure' entertainment. Centurion is Neil (The Descent) Marshall's forth film, considerably improving on 2008's Doomsday. A beautifully shot, stripped down to basics, action packed, raw chase movie with brilliant movie star performances from Dominic West and Michael Fassbender

8/ Let Me In
The Americanised remake of 2008's Let The Right One In was for me an improvement of the brilliant, but emotionally distant original. 15-20% less subtle, less real-life, less realistic and 15-20% more stylised, more overtly emotional and more polished than it's counterpart, Let Me In took a great story and made it 'more'. Atmospheric, moving and compelling, this reboot was more in tune with my tastes.

7/ The Losers
Tango & Cash, Passenger 57, Commando. If you didn't think they made them like that anymore then think again. Creative direction, a witty script and a charismatic cast (Chris Evans steals the show), complete with over-the-top sarcastic villain, made this the mercenary movie of choice in 2010 over The A-Team, The Expendables and Red. Utter, utter bullshit...which it thankfully revels in, The Losers is the most shameless guilty pleasure of the year.

6/ Black Swan
Take a simple tale of an ambitious, but emotionally naive, ballerina who wishes to have the lead role in a new, reinterpreted production of Swan Lake...and then add the dark, twisted imagination of Darren Aronofsky. A psychological thriller that uses an ambiguous art house style to tell it's tale, Black Swan may confound some, while others will revel in it, just as I have. If there's any justice in the world Natalie Portman should walk away with the best acting honours during this awards season.

5/ Toy Story 3
Put simply, nobody does it better than Pixar. Their forth straight mega-classic in a row after Ratatouille, Wall-E and Up, Toy Story 3 completes the trilogy of child Andy and his toy collection. The darkest of the three movies, and all the better for it, it's an emotional rollercoaster of stupid humour (Barbie's Ken / Spanish Buzz), tender moments (the climactic tear-burster) and white knuckle action (the incinerator). Classical storytelling for all, of the highest order possible.

4/ Scott Pilgrim vs. The World
A love it or hate it film from Hot Fuzz's Edgar Wright, Scott Pilgrim shows young love through the eyes of the manga/game console generation. What's astounding is that it manages to balance the whirlwind manic-ness of the direction with the grounded, flawed, realistic relationships of the characters. The editing is beyond exceptional, the humour-filled fight sequences unlike anything else and the dialogue fizzy and vibrant. Edgar Wright is officially A-List.

3/ Kick Ass
There's so many different takes on the superhero genre at this time that Matthew Vaughan's Kick Ass comes as a brutal breath of fresh air. A more realistic, darkly comic look at what it would really be like to dress up as a costumed vigilante, Kick Ass's masterstroke is that it has a extremely strong, well told story to tell. The violence is sometimes shocking, but Vaughan always pulls you back into comic strip territory; this is the coolest film of 2010.

2/ Tron Legacy
Many will be surprised to see the belated Tron sequel on my top 20 list, let alone at number 2, but this is a very personal film for me that encompasses everything I love about movies...even more so than the critically praised Avatar. I love hard-sci-fi more than nature based adventures, I love the electronic score pushed high into the sound mix, the way the story echoes the original film, the multi-layered themes of the film about mythology, responsibility, identity and parenting, the restrained Fincher-esque direction, the anti-authoritarian vibe and the reimagined lightcycles. This is pure catnip to a self confessed 80's sci fi geek and I make no apologies.

1/ Inception
Nothing came close to the enjoyment I got out of Christopher Nolan's Inception in 2010. Not only is it film making of the highest order possible, from every single level of it's production, but it pushes all the right buttons for me personally too. Take a classically filmed heist drama, add an original science fiction twist, make it a complex character study and add layers upon layers of meaning, subtext and thematic material. Not only does it demand multiple views to clarify the perfectly structured plot but it even suggests alternative stories that exist outside of the movie's narrative. Challenging, emotionally engaging, exciting (the action exists on five levels of dream space simultaneously!) and very moving (the final shot is powerful whilst being the most debated single take of the year) there isn't a film around that could touch Inception. And it made over $800 million at the box office to....let that be a lesson to Studios who still peddle vacuous blockbuster turds. Roll on 2011.