Hollywood calls it a marketplace “correction,” explaining the relatively low number of movies released in 2010 as a pullback from the irrational exuberance of the mid-’00s. What’s left unsaid is the mediocrity of most movies in 2010.
Still, good new films circulated last year, originating in Hollywood and its outskirts, from foreign cinema and from indie filmmakers with limited capital but active imaginations. Condensing the year’s best into short lists is always arbitrary, especially the numerical ranking. If I returned to this list two years from now, I might shuffle the order or even replace a few of the entries with obscure movies that never made it to Milwaukee in 2010 or with films whose appeal grew with time. Consider these lists a first-draft reflection of the year just ended.
Top Feature Films
1. Black Swan
2. Micmacs
3. True Grit
4. The American
5. Winter’s Bone
6. Howl
7. The Social Network
8. You Will Meet a Tall Dark Stranger
9. Splice
10. The Fighter
Top Documentaries
1. Inside Job
2. Stones in Exile
3. Catfish
