The King's Speech (2010)

I feared “The King’s Speech” might be another ho-hum British drama about excessively privileged white people battling a hardship that 85 percent of the world’s population would kill to have. I was wrong. It’s damn smart, surprisingly funny, and proudly uplifting. King George VI (Colin Firth) had an untreated speech impediment mostly hidden from public. But as Nazis called for war, George had to lead not with a sword, but with a calm and commanding voice. Smartly portrayed, Firth’s king knows that when he speaks, it will result in lives lost. He wants to be worthy of his people. This is about them. Not him. Geoffrey Rush is the speech therapist who helps George find his voice. (I swear it's not corny. Square, yes. Oscar bait, yes. Corny, no.) The lessons make for solid buddy comedy and social satire as the two bicker and learn to say the “F” word. Firth has Oscar clips galore, but it’s his quiet scenes that impress, such as telling bedtime stories. This was intended as a play, and its dialogue –- witty and strong –- is as good as any stage production I’ve seen. A-

The Fighter and Animal Kingdom (2010)

I just watched two films that show the far-end extreme of warped close-knit families -- people related by blood, birth and marriage, but who mix like gasoline and matches. Yet they abide by each other. Both shock with volatile material, especially with the mothers on display. Gems? No. These are jagged, precious chunks of broken glass that cut deep. One more than the other.

Among boxing films there is “Raging Bull” and “Rocky” and everything else. “The Fighter” doesn’t reach those levels, but it stays in the ring. Few boxing flicks even try. This is a true story, where the underdog boxer hero has to overcome Job-worthy troubles to win the belt. And you know how that turns out, right?

Mark Wahlberg -– built, tough and coolly in control -– is Micky Ward, a street worker who can’t see his boxing dream amid all the empty factories of his dead New England town. Micky’s deepest battles aren’t in the boxing ring, but at home. His former-boxer brother (Christian Bale) is a crack addict, his mother (Melissa Leo) is a tyrant who can’t disapprove of Dicky and all his druggy shtick.

It’s a gripping ride. The Ward family –- including seven freakish sisters -– can be harsh to watch, but is endlessly fascinating. (This despite the fugly sisters falling into mimicry.) The boxing scenes have -- bad pun -- punch. It’s also a darkly funny. Dicky has a repeated gag where he jumps out a crack house second-story window. It’s pathetic and induces laughter. But when mom catches him, it’s heart-breaking. Truly hilarious: A scene where Micky and his girlfriend (Amy Adams) rip snobby films. Ironic as “Fighter” will win several Oscars. Bale and Leo outlast every round against a top-of-their-game cast. A-

“Animal Kingdom” is the movie “The Town” wanted to be, before it went soft with sentimentality and unearned romance. “Animal” rages and gets darker and scarier, and sadder, too, as its minutes tick by. It’s 2010’s only crime film that can be held up as near flawless.

The film opens with a Melbourne teen (James Frecheville) sitting on a couch, watching TV. The viewer only thinks mom next to him is asleep. But she’s dead. Heroin. That’s before the credit role. J –- his nickname –- then has to reintroduce himself to grandmom (Jacki Weaver), and so he goes to live with her and his gang of uncles. They are a literal gang: Bank robbers, drug dealers and killers. The most dangerous of the uncles is “Pope” (Ben Mendelsohn), a fiercely quiet man who could hug or kill with equal aplomb, depending on the mood.

Written and directed by David Michôd, “Kingdom” follows J as he deals with this lot, who to trust and who to flee from, and not at all aware of who really is the largest monster in his life. Guy Pearce (“Memento”) is a cop who tries to pull J out of the lion’s den. There always is a cat-and-mouse game.

Nothing is amped up. No fancy edits. No exploding armored truck or hot air balloon chase. It’s emotion and body language, and double-edge words. It’s topped with scenes that smacked me in the skull even as I saw where the action was going a beat or two before. As the grandmom, Weaver is crazy good, all kisses and hugs and cookies … but oh so not. The music score -– tense as hell -– makes the film. Wild fact: Similar to “Fighter,” this is based on a true story. A

Robin Hood (2010)

Ridley Scott’s “Robin Hood” is a serious, boldly filmed drama, historically accurate as far as any film with the words “Robin” and “Hood” in the title can be, which isn’t much, and stocked with some of the finest modern actors to grace recent cinema. Russell Crowe is our bow-and-arrow titular hero, and Cate Blanchett is Maid Marian, with Danny Houston as King Richard. The film is gorgeous, bursting with detail, and must have cost a fortune. It’s also an utter fucking bore.

Painfully plotted and paced, this “Robin Hood” sucks every ounce of adventure, fun and daring out of the classic tale that pretty much created the whole idea of adventurous, fun and daring tales. This is no story of Sherwood Forrest or Merry Men, or of robbing the rich to feed the poor. No. This is a bloody war film about the evil Crusades and colonialism, fanatical religion gone nuts, and what made Robin Hood into Robin Hood, and a war-burdened superpower levying sinfully high taxes against its own people to pay the bill of sword and horse. Yeah, U.S. Bush-era politics! I can’t get enough of that. And this is a summer major box office film, too.

Crowe doesn’t resemble a starved, war-haunted rebel in the making. Dude looks glum and pissy, and a bit beefy. His Robin hit a lot of bars while killing Muslims, although he’s sure sorry for it. The killing. Not the drinking. Blanchett is at least having fun poking fingers at past Marians who became damsels in distress, yelling for “Robin!!” to save their victim ass. Wait, sorry, Robin again has to save Marian's victim ass, and during a slow-motion battle that copies “Saving Private Ryan” down to the soldiers drowning on a blood-soaked beach. Violent for a PG-13.

When did Ridley Scott become a dull film artist? Where is the guy who made “Alien” and “Blade Runner” and “Gladiator” -- films I could watch endlessly? The action here has been splintered to smithereens, and this whole ultra-serious moodiness and mud and blood, this religious devotion to detail and making 1199 look like hell on earth … it made me wonder what Michael Bay could do with a faster, louder, livelier, more vulgar screenplay. I can’t believe I just wrote that. (See, or don’t, Scott’s equally dull “Body of Lies.”)

It’s sad when I can say Kevin Costner’s “Robin Hood” is a better adaptation, but it is true. That Robin at least had a personality. Even if the ha-ha British accent in that 1991 summer flick was shit. Crowe's sourpuss is as flat as the perfectly decorated sword he welds, ceaselessly without end. His hunger from “Gladiator” is not here. Alan Rickman’s hilariously evil Sheriff of Nottingham could wipe the floor with the half-dozen villains employed in this footless reboot, especially Matthew Macfadyen’s snooze-vile Sheriff. Mark Strong is the lead villain, and William Hurt appears, but I can’t recall who he played. There’s just so little to remember anything.

Seek out Warner Bros. classic “The Adventures of Robin Hood” from 1938 –- you know the one, Errol Flynn, Basil Rathbone, Technicolor, green tights, and more fun than any movie made then or since. This new “Robin Hood” -– which ends with a shout out for a sequel -– should be outlawed. Attempted murder of a legend. D+

Mona Lisa (1986)

The crime noir film “Mona Lisa” put writer/director Neil Jordan on the map, giving him the power to make “The Crying Game.” The latter is a classic tale of an IRA terrorist who meets a woman not … well, you must see it. It’s mesmerizing, erotic, shocking, violent, bold and completely unforgettable. “Mona Lisa”? It’s all of those adjectives, but at half pace. Bob Hoskins is a Z-grade mobster just released from prison, and expecting gratitude from his boss (Michael Caine) and family. He’s wrong on both counts. George is instead stuck driving a high-class call girl (Cathy Tyson) to and from appointments. Of course he falls for her. And, of course, she has a heart of gold. Even art-house movies have rules. Hoskins kills. No other actor can do seething angry Limey as well as Hoskins. Tyson’s Lady of the Night is so kindly, I just did not buy her. So to speak. Jordan employs a great music and a gritty dark humor. I know every critic loves this film. me? Eh. B

Solitary Man (2010)

Michael Douglas is amazing. In the opening of “Solitary Man,” he provides a lesson in acting. He is Ben Kalmen, a wildly successful car salesman -- happy, dressed in a suit that shouts relaxed and confident. He’s set to golf with his pal, the family doctor. Ben is all smiles. Then doc dishes bad news. It’s your heart, something is wrong. The camera moves in and the sound goes down, and you can see Douglas play out every fiber of a man’s crashing soul -– shock, fear, desperation and panic. We jump six months. Ben has destroyed his family. He drinks. He picks up woman -- willing, desperate or just there. He would rather explode than flame out. “Man” is uneasy, funny and smart –- it offers no judgments or answers. Susan Sarandon is the painfully saint ex-wife, Jesse Eisenberg is a college naive, and Imogen Poots the 18-year-old that Ben beds. Told you it wasn't easy. The ending is perfect. B+

The Kids Are All Right (2010)

Now this is my kind of comedy. “The Kids Are All Right” is not for children, nor for those scared by sex and naughty situations, or wholly un-P.C. humor. There’s a balancing drama of real-life hard-knock situations. It’s also perfectly human, real. This isn't a Hollywood product line.

The story: Annette Bening is a workaholic/alcoholic surgeon married to Julianne Moore’s wavering entrepreneur, recently settled on a landscaping career. The women have two teen children, each fumbling their way to adulthood, making mistakes and correcting course. Did you notice the marriage is between women? Yes, lesbians. That’s the kick of this film. The gay factor is no big deal, a mere shrug. It’s life, a family, in all its insane drama and glory. The teens (Mia Wasikowska and Josh Hutcherson) drop the term “Moms” as any teen would sigh about their nosey straight parents.

The action takes off when the teens make contact with their sperm donor dad (Mark Ruffalo), an earthy, lefty restaurant owner with a carefree spirit and one hell of a libido. It’s a beautiful film, wonderfully alive, and I fell it for hook, line and sinker. Not giving anything away, there’s a whole set of scenes with Moore, Ruffalo and a Hispanic gardener that is just some of the best work and writing and acting I’ve seen all year: Crazy awkward laugh-out-loud humor. Lisa Cholodenko is the director/co-writer. May she have a long career.

Bening is amazing, regal; Moore is perfectly flawed and so damn alive, and Ruffalo rules as a man in a unimagined spot. A guy who only cared about what was in front of his, umm, manhood, now suddenly a dad, in love with his children. He’s nothing short of brilliant. Ditto the teens. Hell, the cast is perfect. OK? Just like the writing. And the language, the words used throughout. One of the year’s best. Even the title is smart. A

My Son, My Son, What Have Ye Done (2010)

Indie film god Werner Herzog directed “My Son, My Son, What Have Ye Done,” a fictional take on a real San Diego man who slew his mother with a sword because God told him to, or so he thought. But David Lynch’s vibe is wholly present. He produced this low budget, quiet psychological horror film. There’s an unreal dream quality to the drama, an off-time click to the speaking roles, and yet the setting and actions strive to be realistic. When the killer (Michael Shannon of “Revolutionary Road”) apparently takes hostages, a SWAT team is called. These men are professional and calm, as they are in such cases. (As a reporter I went to a dozen or more hostage situations, I never saw Hollywood gung-ho theatrics.) More so, there is no violence. The death of the mother (Grace Zabriskie of “Twin Peaks”) is off screen. “My Son” focuses on cause and effect, and psychology, and character. Not gore. What a fine treat. Shannon again nails a man bent beyond madness, with no way to see right anymore. B+

Alice in Wonderland (2010)

Tim Burton films always have wild visuals to make any film fan stare in awe, as is the case with “Alice in Wonderland,” his take on the famous Lewis Carroll story of a girl lost in a strange world that only an opium habit could fuel. Burton + Carroll: It’s a marriage made in cinema heaven. But this take isn’t about young Alice’s trip down the rabbit hole. No. It’s about angst-filled teen Alice (Mia Wasikowska) re-falling down the rabbit hole to re-meet Rabbit, the Dweedle twins, the cat … you get the point. Johnny Depp is the Mad Hatter, whacked hair and crazy colored Elijah Wood eyes. Helena Bonham Carter is the Queen of Hearts, a head big enough to block sunlight. Anne Hathaway is the White Queen, who walks around with her hands up in the air. Um, why exactly? It’s all so much, and yet so little. There is no glistening-eye, heart-piercing wonder here, as in film gods “Beatlejuice” and “Edward Scissorhands.” Danny Elfman provides the film’s best asset, a music score to die for, and paint and draw and write and dream by. B-

Incendiary (2008)

“Incendiary” is the most insulting, exploitive film I’ve seen to tackle Islamic terrorism and mass death. It’s an awkward, miserable watch barely saved by Michelle Williams’ performance, which itself sinks to hysterical wailing. Williams plays a London mom, devoted to her child, but unhappily married to a bomb squad technician. At a bar one night, she meets a rich (!) investigative reporter (Ewan McGregor) who takes her home. They screw. When he comes to her place days later, they do it again. During, she watches the telly as her boy and hubby die in a stadium bombing. The silly title is partial literal as mom starts a diary – get it? – as if it were written to Bin Laden. “Incendiary” sinks into its own asshole with hubby’s boss announcing his love to the destroyed woman, McGregor stalking her with notepads, government conspiracies, and all sorts of nonsense too ridiculous to repeat. Every other minute, the film becomes more sensationalistic and sickly insipid. The most grievous sin: A happy ending that made me sneer. D

Jonah Hex (2010)

Remember when bad comic book movies were ironically enjoyable? “Jonah Hex” –- a comic book western about a once-dead Civil War veteran (Josh Brolin) with half a charred face out to kill the men who slaughtered his family, whilst saving the U.S. of A. –- is all bad. It’s 80 minutes of dirty dusty deadly dull action edited by a Guillotine blade, witless dialogue and random pacing, with at least 20 minutes of repeated scenes and pointless dream sequences colored by the editors of "Highlights." Rumor mills say four directors and several more writers worked on “Hex.” The cracks show. The film is cursed. The idea is fascinating -– “The Outlaw Josey Wales” meets “Phantom of the Opera” meets Lazarus, a Civil War Batman on a horse. The payout is DOA. Brolin's Hex is a Clint Eastwood type who talks like Karl from “Sling Blade.” Meghan Fox plays a whore with such crap acting, it insults whores. The final nail: The most awkward exchange about slavery between a white man and a black man ever put to film. An ugly, nasty disaster. F

Tangled (2010)

“Tangled” -- Disney’s take on “Rapunzel” -- is a return to the classic cartoon princess musicals that died 20 years ago, beaten into a grave by now-classic satires such as “The Princess Bride.” I mean, we have the gooey music, including the scene where the female runs into a field, throws her arms in the air and hits a note higher than Keith Richards ever knew. Mandy Moore voices Rapunzel, the lost princess, and Zachary Levi is the good-hearted thief. Beauty-obsessed nasty-witch-slash-matriarch-figure in disguise? Check. But, damn it, I'm not complaining. It worked when my mother was a child, when I was a child, and … It. Still. Works. The humor is knowingly smart, but not mean or cynical. The comedy -- a mime thug, an old man, a stubborn horse -- is pure Disney joy. CGI animation misses the inspirational quirkiness of its hand-drawn predecessors, but the visuals of “Tangled” are happy wonderful. All throw-backs should be as entertaining. B+

Scott Pilgrim vs. the World (2010)

Critics fell for this? The trailers to “Scott Pilgrim vs. the World” would lead you to believe it’s a comic book rom-com about a nerd (Michael Cera) fighting love of his life (Mary Elizabeth Winstead). Make no mistake, though: This boy loves his X-Box more. This is romance film for gameboys who think scoring a girl is literal. The plot has 22-year-old Scott dating an immature 17-year-old (Ellen Wong) but in love with an older girl (Winstead) with colorful hair. To win the latter’s heart, Scott must fight her seven evil exes. “Pilgrim” gets clever as it casts superhero veterans Chris Evans and Brand Routh as two of the exes. There are funny bits, including cracks at hero/villain insults. But I never cared about Scott’s romantic woes, because there’s no human love in this CGI-heavy, eye candy overload game of 1s and 0s. At the end, when Scott holds hands with a certain gal, I figured he might as well grasp a plastic game control, and wait for the next level. Player out. C

Cats & Dogs: The Revenge of Kitty Galore (2010)

Nearly a decade after “Cats & Dogs” hit theaters, we get a sequel: “Cats & Dogs: The Revenge of Kitty Galore.” As with the 2001 film, this is a harmless, silly story about dogs and cats playing James Bond spies and Blofeld enemies. The hero is K-9 voiced by James Marsden, and the villain a hairless cat screeched by Bette Midler. The target audience wasn’t even born for the first film, so knocking “Galore” is akin to punching a toddler. But, this is one easy target. See, it’s the details: A CD as the McGuffin (Children may ask, “What’s that?”), and spoofs on “The Silence of the Lambs,” “Men in Black,” 1989’s “Batman,” plus a 007 credit sequence featuring Pink’s (age-inappropriate) “Get the Party Started.” This smells like it was written along with the first flick, and left behind the couch to rot like an old furball. C-

The Tourist (2010)

How can a romantic crime caper set in Venice and starring superstars Johnny Depp and Angelina Jolie as would-be lovers go wrong? That’s the real mystery of “The Tourist.” Because there’s not much in the subpar-Hitchcock plot, credited to the three brilliant guys who gave us, respectively, “The Usual Suspects,” “Gosford Park” and “The Lives of Others.” There’s an obligatory helping of Last-Minute Climax Reveal, but it’s more latter-day M. Night Shyamalan than anything in, say, “Charade.”

Look, I’m an absolute movie snob, but when I read the reviews to “Tourist,” I thought, “Guys, have some fun.” I wanted to like this. Jolie. Depp. Paris. Italy. This movie had instant classic written all over. But, damn, it never takes off, not even a bump, even after arriving in Venice for boat chases down canals, raging grandpa gangsters (Steve Berkoff), and more dumb cops than 42 “Keystone Kops” shorts.

“Tourist” gives us the genre basics -- an exotic woman and the common man go on the run from killers and police alike in a beautiful locale, falling in love in the process -– and fumbles fast. Aside from the ending I saw off the bat, the problem here is in the actual casting, and how the characters play out. Boring.

Jolie is stiff and strangely dull as a wealthy English aristocrat, lathered in more makeup than Tim Curry wore in “Rocky Horror Picture Show.” Depp, in a surprise move, under-hands his performance as an American math teacher who’d rather stick his nose in a book than watch the Italian countryside glide by. He’s a wallflower. This must be some kind of joke, on the part of Depp, but only he is laughing.

Now, in these films, the couple is always supposed to meet cute and exchange banter that works on three levels –- mysterious, comedic and sexy. But, here, it’s flat month-old soda. The gut-ripping dump in “The Social Network” had more wit, and that was a heart crusher. See Frank Sinatra and Janet Leigh rip the world open in the classic “The Manchurian Candidate.” That’s a train meet-up. The talk here is cheap.

Now for that last-minute plot twist: 1) It pissed me off because I guessed it, and 2) It requires Jolie to be stupid. She may be many things on film: Kick ass, mean, tragic, and occasionally overly hysterical as in “The Changeling.” But stupid? Never. The script is insulting to her and us. One of the co-writers and director of this faux farce is Florian Henckel von Donnersmarck, who made “The Lives of Others.” That film -- shocking, dark and beautiful -- is one of the best films of this past decade. But if this signals his Hollywood career, then back to Europe he must go.

This isn’t a total dud. It’s a great-looking film. The costumes and art direction are some of the best of the year, and Venice, a great city to photograph, is splendid in big-screen glory. It also has Timothy Dalton doing his classic piss-ant Brit act, whcih always is a treat. But, if you’ve ever been to Venice, you know the water in those canals stinks. And at 5, it gets high. People tip-toe around and jump over puddles and carry children to avoid the fetid mess. That’s the best advice I can give here. Run. Hide. Avoid. C+

King Kong (2005)

Fresh from the “Lord of the Rings” trilogy, Peter Jackson remade “King Kong.” What a tall order. The 1933 Big Ape in the Big Apple classic is still a great joy despite its painfully awkward racism. (Let’s forget the 1970s remake ever existed.) This has the best attributes of the original -- spectacular visuals, a dame, a guy and strange creatures galore -– with creepier tones and nice a bit of satire.

The plot is the same: American peeps on a boat land on an island forgotten by time, encounter ancient natives and creatures galore, meet King Kong -- the ape the size of a cathedral -– and decide to bring him back to NYC. Those creatures, by the way, are dinosaurs that would kick the evolution out of the dino’s in “Jurassic Park.” A fight between Kong and three T-Rexes remains a powerhouse CGI show. (Nothing will ever top that awkward, creepy, fuzzy movement of the 1933 Kong in physical model form. I dig stop-motion more than any other animated format.)

Naomi Watts and Adrien Brody play the dame and guy; she a novice actress, he a left-wing playwright who’s having a career crisis. Both are clearly enjoying the uncommented upon wink-wink casting. See, Kyle Chandler plays a limp, narcissistic square-jawed WASP against Brody’s cool-under-pressure Jewish New Yorker. Seventy years ago, those roles would be reversed and offensively so. As a zany, greedy film director, Jack Black is himself, all ironic tics and eye-rolls. As well, Jackson can’t resist the tired cliché of having the only black character of significance sacrifice himself for his pals. Sigh.

Also, Jackson thinks longer is better, and pushes his “Kong” to a long three hours – nearly twice the length of the irreplaceable original. It’s monster big. This length includes trite discussions on “Heart of Darkness” and Great Depression economic commentary, all serious Debbie Downers. An hour could be deleted easily. That said, as with many a James Cameron film, this is damn fine cinematic eye and ear candy. B+

Into the Wild (2007)

Actor Sean Penn has written and directed a superb film version of John Krakauer’s award-winning nonfiction book "Into the Wild" -– one of my favorite reads -- the true story of Christopher McCandless. If you know the book, you know the movie. If you don’t know the book, get a copy. Read it. Then see the film. Now that we have that settled, Chris was a college graduate who in the early 1990s, ditched his job prospects, family and any career prospects to head West, way west to Alaska, to live off the land as if he were a Jack London hero. It killed him.

Played by the superb Emile Hirsch, McCandless is idealistic, full of the brimstone fire one gets in their post-college years (and quickly ditches when the rent is due and Waffle House sounds mmm-mmm good after a night of drinking). Sorry. I digress. Chris despises materialism, capitalism and the "hypocrisy" of his well-to-do parents. He gives away his savings, killing his chances of law school, burns his money and destroys his identification in the form of driver’s license and credit cards. He, or so he thinks, "frees" himself in the process. A hiker finds his body inside an old bus.

I loved the book’s soulful genius. Krakauer lost a child and knew the parents’ pain. He wrote about it. Penn’s movie digs deep into the worry and pain of the parents (William Hurt and Marcia Gay Harden) and sister (Jena Malone) felt after Chris left, but never treats them as saints. The parents are humans with wrongs, as does any other person. That Chris was too young to see that his parents could never be perfect, nor could he. Shit happens. It is one of the tragedies that Penn focuses on.

The cast is both superb and … less so. A heart-breaking Hal Halbrook plays an elderly "perfect" father figure that Chris never felt he had. Hirsch is unforgettable. I never cared for him before, but here he shines. His acting of Chris' slow, painful demise is as cruel here as in the searing book, something I couldn’t imagine while reading the book back in 1996. The heart of the book and film is McCandless’ relationship with the Holbrook character, especially for anyone who saw their grandfather more as a father figure than their own father. Holbrook walks away with the film. Other actors don’t fare so well. Vince Vaughn plays a farmer, but he’s nothing more than Vince Vaughn sucking up the scenery.

Beautiful camera work, inspired casting of locals and a respect for people who are religious, gypsies, flakes and loners, all drive the film. It celebrates individualism, but marks against being alone and committed to one’s own self. Eddie Vedder contributes to the way-cool soundtrack. A-

I’m Still Here (2010)

We all saw the Letterman appearance of Joaquin Phoenix looking like the Gieco Caveman as played by Zach Galifianakis channeling John Belushi at his drugged-out worst. It made headlines and ruled TV airwaves. Phoenix wanted a rap career. Debate raged: Is it real? Duh, it was a joke. Now here’s the documentary, sorry, mockumentary. “I’m Still Here” reports to be about a sensationalistic media and a gullible public addicted to stories of self-indulgent celebrities. But as directed by brother-in-law and co-conspirator Casey Affleck –- a fine actor himself -- “Here” is a self-indulgent collection of crappy YouTube home movies mixed with shots of dogs fucking, random trees, and heaps of male junk. There’s a scene where an alleged friend takes a dump on Phonenix as the latter sleeps. It’s an embarrassing college-boy stab at art film. There are some great scenes -- Letterman, a chat with Mos Def and poker-faced reactions by Sean Combs. Phoenix certainly is method –- he fooled Ebert. But Casey and Joaquin really ought to just get a room. Shut the door. And, please, no cameras. D+

2010: Best and Worst

The Best*
1. The Social Network. It’s not just about who made Facebook. It’s a brilliant satire worthy of Paddy Chayefsky about young billionaires who don’t want money, they want to be “liked.”
2. Black Swan. A psychological horror movie about a ballerina in full meltdown. The most daring, damn-the-rules film of 2010.
3. Inception. How good is Christopher Nolan’s dream heist thriller? Even the haters can’t stop discussing its spectacular vision.
4. Toy Story 3. This animated Pixar/Disney film made me cry in front of my wife. Brilliant from start to finish.
5. Un Prophéte. A European crime drama that recalls the greatness and brutality of “The Godfather.” In prison.
6. Winter's Bone. A bleak family drama about a teen girl fighting for her family. So good and realistic, it could pass for a documentary.
5. Restrepo. A gut-punching journalistic documentary of U.S. troops in Afghanistan facing death, peril, boredom. Unshakable.
6. The Kids Are All Right. The year's best and smartest comedy, full of adult humor and packing a progressive message.
9. Animal Kingdom. An Australian crime drama that goes hard in every way “The Town” went soft. Scariest grandmom ever.
10. (Tie) Exit Through the Gift Shop & Art of the Steal. One’s about what it means to make art and the other about who owns it. Both are must-watch nonfiction stories. Well, one is anyway.

The Worst*
6. Hereafter. Never had a 6 before. I had to include this because of the scene where Matt Damon holds hands with a boy. In a hotel room.
5. Robin Hood Russell Crowe and Ridley Scott suck all the fun and adventure out of the legend that invented fun and adventure.
4. (Tie) Jonah Hex and The Warrior's Way. Two comic book westerns without a single brain cell to share. Hang ’em high. Bury them deep.
3. Killers. Ashton Kutcher and Katherine Heigl kill brain cells and insult women in this skull-cracking inept rom-com-spy flick.
2. The Last Airbender. M. Night Shyamalan’s live-action cartoon will make you hate children. Long held as the year’s worst until I saw...
1. Sex and the City 2. When Sarah Jessica Parker says, “Somewhere over Africa, I began to wonder about relationships,” an era of feminism died.

*Always subject to change. “Black Swan” easily could be No. 1 because it is that damn good.

The Last Airbender (2010)

M. Night Shyamalan’s $150 million live-action cartoon “The Last Airbender” is so embarrassingly bent, its uncomfortable to watch. Plot? Let’s go to Netflix’s summary: “In a world ravaged by the Fire nation’s aggression toward the peaceful Air, Water and Earth nations, reluctant youth Aang (Noah Ringer) learns that he’s an Avatar…” I have no idea what Avatar means here, but this isn't "Avatar." This is a Zzz-grade Tolkein/Asian mixer. It all might be silly fun, except that Ringer is the worst child actor I have ever seen, and his young cast mates work hard to out-bore him. I hate to belittle children, but this cast is truly awful. Dev Patel of "Slumdog Millionaire" provides no heat as the whiny villain. The heroes, by the way, are all white. The villains ... not. Except for some nifty scenes of floating water, nothing works. The fights seem staged by fifth graders, and the climax deadly dull and colorless. The dialogue? Try to say this aloud and not wince: “We have to show them that we believe in our beliefs as much as they believe in theirs.” The worst film in Shyamalan's increasingly shitty career. F

Black Swan (2010)

Few other film directors can make a trip to hell as mesmerizing, soul-shattering and yet beautiful as Darren Aronofsky. He creates the most visceral portraits of one’s darkest addictions –- drugs, sport, love -– and then burns it all down on screen. You leave his films shocked and awed. “Black Swan” pulverizes. It follows NYC ballerina Nina (Natalie Portman) who yearns to the perfect ballerina, and gets her chance with the lead in “Swan Lake.” Will she win against all odds: The elaborate dance moves, a mysterious rival (Mila Kunis), a sMother (Barbara Hershey) and a fast-crumbling psyche? No. This is “Requiem for a Dream” territory. “Swan” jumps its tracks along with Nina, but the crash and burn is "There Will be Blood" brilliant. Also brilliant: Portman, on screen nearly every minute, acting with every ounce of her frail, tortured body, and eyes that dig into your skull. Winona Ryder blazes crazy circles as an older dancer, Vincent Cassel is wonderfully low-key as the seedy pig director, and Clint Mansell’s music score (riffs on "Swan Lake") is a throbbing wicked character all its own. A searing erotic psychological horror movie about art that is itself art. This movie damns the rules, beautifully. I love Aronofsky. A