Joshua's Top 5 Favorite Movies of 2010

   Well, New Years Eve is upon us once again and I guess now is a s good a time as any to look back on all the movies that came out this year. With as many good movies as there have been in 2010, it is not easy for me to choose my favorites. While there have been quite a few bad ones, the movies that were good really did stand out this year. I did manage to narrow down my top five favorite, but only after careful consideration. Now these are not movies I consider to be the best movies of 2010, only the ones that are my favorite. Before I start, I would like to mention that I did not see everything I wanted to this year, so some movies may not get any attention simply because I haven’t seen them yet.

#5. Toy Story 3

   Well, I’ll admit this is a movie that made me cry a little. The original Toy Story was one of the first movies I ever saw and remains to this day to be my favorite movie from Pixar. This movie truly has a heart to it. In the previous two installments, Andy, the boy who owns the toys is a kid. In this movie, he has graduated from high school and is going off to college. This coincidentally came out during the summer right after I graduated high school and right before I started college, so it was really special to me. In the film, Andy has to decide what to do with all his old toys that he never uses anymore. He has to decide what to take with him and what to leave behind. In some ways, the movie is about being able to move on, while at the same time remembering that the family and friends that we have grown to love along the way are still the same people and are still just as important to us, even if we don’t know it. This movie feels like a coming of age movie for me, it was emotional and Pixar manages to produce a great film with this story, mixing in humor with emotion throughout the movie. All the main characters that we have grown to love are there, and the film does not fail to maintain the personalities that have been developed for each character. This film truly does have a heart to it, and is able to be both mature and child friendly at the same time. I am proud to have this in the number five spot in my top 5 favorite movies of 2010.

#4. The Social Network

   This is a movie that surprised me with how much I liked it. I thought it looked okay when I saw the trailers, but it did not seem like the kind of movie I would enjoy. When I first heard of it I thought, come on, a movie about the creation of facebook, seriously, how interesting could this be? I thought it would end up being some boring movie, but I am proud to admit I was wrong about it. Not only was it interesting, it proved to be one of the best movies of the year. I ended up seeing one day with a group of friends and I was impressed not only with how good it was, but by how much I enjoyed it. The way it was set up, the way it was presented was done perfectly. The story is mainly about how the network Facebook was created, but it is much more than that. It is about relationships, how they change, and about how greed and jealousy can poison a friendship. The entire cast does a good job, especially Jesse Eisenburg who really shows his talent in this movie. The film has a nice mix of drama, and humor keeping the story from dragging on. This is a movie where there is always something that keeps my attention, whether it is funny, or tragic. The way David Fincher presents the characters and the way he tells the story is excellent. He shows us all the steps it took the create Facebook, and the way embarking on such an enterprise can change someone. He showed how much effect one random conversation can have, how something seemingly insignificant can spark an idea. I’m not a huge fan of dramas, but this is one managed to keep my interest for the entire time I was watching it. Personally, I think this is one of the best movies to come out this year as well as one of the most entertaining.

#3. Scott Pilgrim vs. The World

   This is a film that to me, is nothing but pure fun. It is an adaptation of the Scott Pilgrim comics. What makes this movie so entertaining is that it is basically one great big tribute to geek culture. Imagine a movie that tries to take everything that a geek finds epic and cram it all into one movie. That is this movie and despite the fact that it there are so many ways this could have gone wrong, Director Edgar Wright pulls through and makes it work. There are tons of references to comics, anime, video games, movies, and music. The fight scenes themselves are intense and involve the combatants using everything from teleportation, to psychic powers, to super speed, and samurai swords. The effects only make the movie more captivating, giving the film a very unique style. The movie is meant to be a comedy about geek culture, focusing on the . The story is not the best, but then again it’s not supposed to be. The movie knows what it is and it knows exactly what demographic it is trying to reach out to, and it simply tries to give that demographic the best time that it can. The result is a hilarious movie with highflying action sequences, intense visuals, and references that are fun and nostalgic. Not only does this movie present us with an enjoyable experience, it shows that there is still untapped potential for comic book movies, that there can be more to them than the traditional superhero movie.

#2. The Town

   This was a movie that surprised me with how much I liked it. I had seen trailers for it a couple times, and thought it would be a decent movie, but it was still much better than I expected. This the second movie directed by Ben Affleck, the first movie being Gone Baby Gone which I have not seen, though I have heard some good thing about it. This movie has a fine balance between scenes that are humorous and scenes that are pure violence. Ben Affleck’s directing works well, and his acting in this movie, while not Oscar worthy is decent. The story is adapted from the book Prince of Thieves by Chuck Hogan. What I liked about the movie was how it focuses on the bonds the thieves have and how it managed to mix in some humor with the building tension allowing giving the movie a kind of unique feel to it. I really felt myself caring about the characters in the story and I felt the suspense rise as the film moved towards its climax. The movie gave you the feeling that it could go either way, that it could end with a happy ending or end in a tragedy. I won’t say what happened at the end or whether or not it ended happily, you’ll have to see it for yourself. This is definitely one of the best to come out this year, and it really shows Ben Affleck’s strengths as a director. I really hope he will direct more movies in the future because this seems to be were his strength lies in film.

#1. Inception

   You might be wondering why I would put this movie in my number one spot, especially when I have movies like The Social Network, The Town, and even Toy Story 3 on my list. While there is probably not a high chance of this movie receiving any awards this year, it was definitely one of the best and my personal favorite. This is a movie that truly amazed me. It’s so complex, yet its core idea is so simple and understandable that it’s just astounding that the final product that we see onscreen is just awesome. It’s one of those films that really make you think when you watch it. The story line is given such a depth that there’s never a moment were you feel bored watching it. The basic storyline is about a group of people who enter people’s minds to steal their secrets. I won’t give too much away; but the storyline is much more complex than it sounds. Christopher Nolan worked hard on this project and the effort really shows. In the movie, we see the main characters enter peoples’ minds several times and each time we do, it feels as though tension is building, as things become more and more interesting. The group of people is hired to enter the mind of the heir of a huge business empire, but not to take something out, but to put something in. Nothing is ever obvious in this movie, which is something I personally appreciate. While it may not be the best that has come out this year, it is definitely the most fascinating movie to me and the one that I enjoyed most.

   Well that's it for my top 5 favorite movies of 2010, but before I go, I want to point out that I still haven't seen quite a few movies that came out this year, such as Shutter Island, Black Swan, or even True Grit. I do intend to see these movies eventually, but for various reasons, I still haven't, which is part of the reason they aren't on my list. I would also like to make a few honorable mentions: Easy A, Megamind, Machete, The Losers, and TRON: Legacy. These were all great movies, and I would highly recommend them. I won't go into detail why they didn't make it onto my top 5 list, but they are each enjoyable in their own right, so do not think that just because they aren't on my list means they aren't good. Looks like this is the end fo 2010, lets hope 2011 is a good as or even better than this year.