It’s safe to say that 2010 was one of the worst years in recent cinematic history. There was a stretch, during the middle of the year, when there was nothing that I wanted to see. And not just for a couple of weeks—a couple of months. In case you’ve forgotten, here are some of the masterpieces that Hollywood forced on us this past year:
When in Rome
From Paris With Love
Cop Out
The Crazies
The Bounty Hunter
Clash of the Titans
Why Did I Get Married Too?
The Back-up Plan
Furry Vengeance
Just Wright
Letters to Juliet
MacGruber
Killers
The A-Team
Jonah Hex
Grown Ups
The Last Airbender
Predators
The Sorcerer’s Apprentice
Cats & Dogs: The Revenge of Kitty Galore
Step Up 3D
The Expendables
You Again
Life As We Know It
Unstoppable
Burlesque
Faster
The Tourist
Yogi Bear
And I could go on.
To be fair, I never actually saw any of these, so maybe they were really good.
Yeah, ok. Maybe not.
Despite the fact that 2010 was one of the weakest years I can remember, thankfully there were a few bright spots in an otherwise forgettable year. So, in the spirit of accentuating the positive, here are the things that made the year worthwhile:
My Favorite Films of the Year:
The King’s Speech
Toy Story 3
The Social Network
True Grit
Inception
Never Let Me Go
The Town
Waiting for “Superman”
My Favorite performances of the year:
Christian Bale—The Fighter
Helena Bonham Carter—Alice in Wonderland, Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows, part 1, The King’s Speech
Marion Cotillard–Inception
Andrew Garfield–Never Let Me Go
Noomi Rapace–The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo
Blake Lively–The Town
Colin Firth—The King’s Speech
My Favorite scores of the year:
The Social Network—Trent Reznor and Atticus Ross
Inception—Hans Zimmer
Tron: Legacy—Daft Punk
Surprise of the year:
Hot Tub Time Machine
Biggest Disappointments of the year:
Black Swan
The Kids are All Right
Tron: Legacy
Iron Man 2
Sex and the City 2
Robin Hood
Salt