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