Thom’s Top 10 Films of 2010

The Road

It’s just so bleak. Gobsmackingly so. I felt pinned by it for the duration. There’s so much space for every detail to leak out that you can’t help but be absorbed in his horrible world, and feel so strongly the bond between the man and his son. The almost constant downward trajectory makes the final lift such an emotional one. Beautiful.

Inception

I was quite blown away by this when I first saw it. Went back a few days later with a friend and was very jealous at him for watching it for the first time. Brilliant thriller.

Iron Man 2

I’m not ashamed to say that I love Iron Man. The first one was excellent. The second one went off on an egomaniacal tangent in order to bring Stark back in line. This means he’s a cock for most of the film, but worth it I think.

Winter’s Bone

Another bleak film, but this one in present day reality. The way various relationships are gradually unfolded is set slowly against the harsh, barren land. Just let it all sink in. Slowly.

Up in the Air

Hm, yes, I’m a fan of George Clooney as well as Robert Downey Jr. Really liked Fantasic Mr Fox and Michael Clayton, and looking forward to watching The American. Anyhow, Up In The Air, I’m just a bit of a sucker for this type of film. Slightly quirky, sarcastic, but with a warm heart at the centre. That gets a bit shit on.

Shutter Island

Some people have rubbished this saying it’s obvious from the trailer what’s going to happen, so why watch it. Well, having watched it, I still can’t say for sure what happened, which I quite like. Watch it.

Four Lions

I laughed out loud for the first two thirds of this. Just so bloody funny. Then it all gets a bit serious and bomby.

The Lovely Bones

Really liked this, particularly the way the story was told. It had an interesting interlacing of elements that worked out quite well and gave a nice twist on the standard who-dunnit.

Salt

This was a weird one I felt. It was like the whole film was the first act of something bigger. Bloody good first act, but I was left feeling like things had just got started and was more than ready to get launched into something more.

The Town

I’m not a fan of Ben Affleck’s acting. However, Gone Baby Gone, directed by him and starring his younger brother, was just superb. And so, it turns out, The Town is also pretty good, despite his presence in front of the camera. It’s also got Pete Postlethwaite in it. Score.

Also recommended:

I also enjoyed these films this year, for various reasons:

The Book of Eli
The Wolfman
Green Zone
How to Train Your Dragon
Toy Story 3
The Social Network