Luke's Top 5 Films of 2010.

by Luke Jones.

2010 was certainly a varied year for film, starting as it did with the biggest film of all time and ending with Ben Stiller and Robert DeNiro trying to convince audiences that ‘Focker’ was still a funny word. In between there were disappointments, like The Losers and Alice in Wonderland, and a number of ‘meh’ films that were forgotten as soon as the credits rolled. Iron Man 2 failed to develop the potential of the original, while Prince of Persia: The Sands of Time was like watching someone else play a dull video game. Yet there was the occasional gem to make it all worthwhile, and although UK audiences are still waiting for Oscar contenders like Black Swan and True Grit to arrive there are still more than enough films to fill a Top 5 list. So, without further ado...

1. Scott Pilgrim vs. the World

Until 2010, Edgar Wright had made a career out of finely crafted, albeit lightweight, geek-friendly comedies, moving from TV series Spaced through to Hollywood homages Shaun of the Dead and Hot Fuzz. With Scott Pilgrim (as perfect a match of material to director as there has ever been) Wright finally showed he could handle smarts along with snark, as slacker hero Scott battles his way through the seven evil ex-boyfriends of his new flame Ramona Flowers. You can find my original review here, and time has done little to diminish what still stands as the year's most entertaining hour and a half.

Coming pre-packaged as a cult classic, Pilgrim failed to set the box office alight when it was released in August, but future respect is sure to come through home viewings (already there are stories of cinemas being forced to hold special screenings through Facebook campaigns). It may be a film that leaves some viewers cold, but it’s a defining film for a generation of pop-culture savvy nerds, and I loved it.

2. Inception

Christopher Nolan has a plan. For Jonathan Nolan’s excellent article on his brother's work ethic look here, but whatever the plan is it seems to be working. Two years after delivering the finest comic book movie of all time he returned to deliver a big budget epic of staggering intention; a summer blockbuster that actually trusted audiences to think in between the explosions, filled with memorable moments. The Paris city-scape folding in on itself. The zero-gravity fight sequence. The bath-tub ‘kick’. The final spinning top shot. Tom Hardy. It all added up to make one of the longest films of the summer feel like the quickest.

In addition, it showed that the future of cinema lies in the pristine presentation of IMAX rather than the current trend for 3-D. Jaw-dropping on a huge screen, it leaves you hoping that Warner Bros. don’t persuade him to shoot next film (a little project called The Dark Knight Rises) in stereoscopic vision.

3. Toy Story 3

It's official, the Toy Story films now stand as the greatest film trilogy of all time. Sure there are arguments to be made (Lord of the Rings, Star Wars etc), but no other series of films has maintained such a consistently high standard, working with original material, over such a prolonged period of time. Technically, creatively, tonally perfect, it’s a classic for the whole family and is sure to be beloved for years to come.

4. The Social Network

David Fincher’s career took another unusual turn when he announced that he would be directing a movie that would examine the social networking site Facebook. Yet even from the start there were promising hints at what was to come. The script would be written by West Wing veteran Aaron Sorkin. The cast included up-and-comers like Jesse Eisenberg, Andrew Garfield and girl-who-would-soon-be-getting-a-dragon-tattoo, Rooney Mara. Then there was that teaser trailer, perfectly edited to a haunting choral version of Radiohead’s Creep.

Even with all this it was still a surprise when the final product was released. The Social Network wasn’t just good, it was a high-class product. Since it’s release there has been talk about unfair portrayals of certain characters, not least Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg, but as a piece of drama it ranks amongst the best of the year.

5. Monsters

Gareth Edwards’ little monster movie that could may not have made much money at the box office, but when the budget is approximately 10p that doesn’t really matter too much. Some critics complained that there weren’t enough monsters, but really the film is a simple love story played out brilliantly by real life couple Scoot McNairy and Whitney Able. For best results watch as a double bill with Cloverfield, and feel smug that a Brit was able to produce the superior movie.