In 2010,
Conan O’Brien was fired as host of The Tonight Show;
The Burj Khalifa became the tallest man-made structure in the world;
The XXI Winter Olympics were held in Vancouver;
The eruption of Mount Eyjafjallajökull disrupted air traffic throughout Europe;
The Deepwater Horizon oil drilling platform exploded;
The New Orleans Saints defeated the Indianapolis Colts in Super Bowl XLIV;
Spain won the 19th FIFA World Cup;
WikiLeaks released a cadre of top secret US diplomatic correspondence;
Steve Harvey became the sixth host of Family Feud;
The Real Housewives of Beverly Hills and The Walking Dead premiered;
Cristiano Ronaldo Jr., Brock Butler, Paxton Booth, Brooklyn Prince, Nixon Knowles, Lily Rose Mumford, Dani Lockett, Trinity Valenzuela, and Leanna Powell were born;
While Eric Rohmer, Teddy Pendergrass, Jean Simmons, Pernell Roberts, Zelda Rubinstein, J.D. Salinger, Howard Zinn, Charlie Wilson, Alexander McQueen, Alexander Haig, Corey Haim, Merlin Olsen, Peter Graves, Robert Culp, John Forsythe, Lynn Redgrave, Lena Horne, Gary Coleman, Dennis Hopper, Manute Bol, Robert Byrd, George Steinbrenner, Patricia Neal, Ted Stevens, Eddie Fisher, Gloria Stuart, Arthur Penn, Tony Curtis, Tom Bosley, Jill Clayburgh, Dino De Laurentis, Leslie Nielsen, Irvin Kershner, Richard Holbrooke, and Blake Edwards died.
The following is a list of my ten favorite movies released in 2010:
10) Rabbit Hole
After their four-year-old son Danny is killed chasing a dog into the street, Howie Corbett (Aaron Eckhart) finds comfort in a support group, while Becca Corbett (Nicole Kidman) reaches out to Jason (Miles Teller), the teenage driver who killed her son. Through fits and starts the Corbetts begin the difficult process of healing.
Dianne Wiest is wonderful as Becca’s mother who’s still grieving after her son’s drug overdose, and Kidman and Eckhart are excellent in the central roles in this graceful film about coming back from the unthinkable.
9) Toy Story 3
College bound Andy packs his childhood toys (sans Woody) for storage, but his mother mistakenly donates the bag to Sunnyside Daycare where the beloved toys are terrorized by Lotso (Ned Beatty), an older, cynical stuffed bear.
Woody goes to rescue his friends, and, after a couple of close calls, the group returns to Andy’s house. To avoid a lonely fate, Woody forges a note and the gang are given to a new owner.
The strength of the series remains the amazing voice cast including Tom Hanks, Tim Allen, Joan Cusack, Whoopi Goldberg, Don Rickles, Wallace Shawn, John Ratzenberger, Estelle Harris, and Timothy Dalton. Spanish language Buzz is hysterical and new editions Barbie, Ken (Michael Keaton), Trixie (Kristen Schaal) and Buttercup (Jeff Garlin) are great.
The idea of talking toys taps into something primal. It’s so appealing and evergreen, these toys have spent nearly thirty years ingratiating themselves into our consciousness.
8) Tangled
Mother Gothel uses a magical flower to stay young and cheat death. When the pregnant Queen gets sick, the townspeople use this magical flower to heal her. Gothel is furious her flower is gone, but when she realizes the new baby’s hair contains the same magic, she kidnaps princess Rapunzel (Mandy Moore) and locks her in a tower.
Every year, the King and Queen release sky lanterns on Rapunzel’s birthday, hoping she’ll see them and return. From her position in the tower, Rapunzel sees the celebration, but Gothel won’t allow her to leave. After years of frustration, Rapunzel concocts a plan to explore the world outside and runs into Flynn Rider (Zachary Levi), a thief who just stole the crown from the palace.
The voice cast is incredible, especially Moore and Levi, in this imaginative retelling of the Grimm tale. Flynn Rider and Rapunzel are two of the most well-rounded characters in the Disney canon, and Mother Gothel is a classic villain in the tradition of the Evil Queen, Lady Tremaine, and Cruella de Ville. This transitional film marked the beginning of the second Disney Renaissance and a return to the big musical productions of the company’s earlier success.
7) Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: Part 1
Ascendant Voldemort kills Rufus Scrimgeour and takes control of the Ministry of Magic, while Ron, Hermione, and Harry continue the search for Voldemort’s Horcruxes.
During Harry’s final departure from Privet Drive, the Order of the Phoenix uses polyjuice potion to create decoys, but Mad-Eye Moody and Hedwig are killed during the mission.
The primary trio steal a locket from Dolores Umbridge and visit a duplicitous Xenophilius Lovegood, before they’re captured by Bellatrix Lestrange. Fortunately, Harry transmits a message to Aberforth who sends Dobby to help them escape. During the ensuing battle for their freedom, Harry disarms Draco, but Bellatrix mortally wounds the beloved elf.
The Harry Potter film series is a seminal achievement. The young people involved are, for the most part, phenomenal actors, while the adults are a who’s who of early twenty first century British cinema. Alan Rickman’s Snape is iconic; Imelda Staunton’s Umbridge is the closest thing we have to a successor to Nurse Ratched. Robbie Coltrane was born to play towering Hagrid; Helena Bonham Carter lets her freak flag fly as the deliciously unhinged Bellatrix.
While some initially criticized the producers for making two films out of one book, this excellent movie more than justifies the decision and ending the installment with Dobby’s death gives his sacrifice the attention it deserves.
To retake the spotlight from newcomer Vector, bumbling supervillain Gru (Steve Carrell) plans to capture the moon. He needs a loan from the Bank of Evil to fund his scheme, but the manager of the bank, Mr. Perkins, is Vector’s dad. Desperate, Gru uses three orphan girls selling cookies to fund his plans, but finds himself enjoying parenthood.
Carrell’s Gru is a fantastic character. Legendary Julie Andrews is magnificent in a small role as his overbearing mother, and the supporting cast (featuring Will Arnett, Kristen Wiig, Jack McBrayer, Mindy Kaling, Danny McBride) is splendid.
However, the clear stars are the diminutive yellow Minions who aid Gru in his nefarious pursuits. Mostly unintelligible, but “voiced” by Jemaine Clement and director Chris Menaud, they’re pure id and one of the most wonderful animated creations of the past decade. Their hilarious (mostly silent) antics have powered the franchise to two sequels and their own spinoff.
It’s a fun, silly, film with enough laughs to keep adults happy, enough bright colors to satisfy children, and enough sweet minion action to leave everyone with a smile on their face.
5) Restrepo
Sebastian Junger’s film is a first-hand account of the May 2007 American military action in Afghanistan’s Korengal Valley. Eschewing a traditional narrative, it recreates the harrowing experience and illuminates the struggles men in combat face with on a regular basis. The American mission in the region is as much about finding allies as destroying the Taliban.
This well-crafted film is, hopefully, as close as most of us will get to the horrors of war.
4) The Arbor
I have never heard of British playwright Andrea Dunbar. She made a minor impression in the 1980s with her largely autobiographical plays about her life in a slum area on England. Despite her literary talent, her messy personals life (including three children bu three different fathers before she was twenty), and her alcohol dependency led to her death of a brain hemorrhage at the age of 29.
Her eldest daughter, Lorraine, the product of a biracial relationship, had a similarly rough upbringing and developed a heroin addiction. Lorraine’s child died when he overdosed on methadone which she was taking to combat her heroin addiction.
The story is sensational, but the devices Clio Barnard used to tell the story make it really special. The actors in the film are lip syncing to audio recording of the people involved, including Dunbar herself, her children, and her family.
And a few times, she stages scenes from Dunbar’s work in an impromptu stage in a real neighborhood similar to the one Dunbar lived. The characters would be sitting on sofas in the courtyard and going through a scene, such as when Dunbar announces her relationship with a Pakistani to her family.
It’s a haunting story about the prison of poverty and culture and how difficult it can be to escape or choose a different life. Many people are not born with choices and survival is the only option available to them. Even immense talent can only get you so far. Dunbar had talent, but by choosing to write about the only thing she knew, life in the slums, she alienated herself and her family.
This was a powerful and moving film.
In 1996, seven Trappist monks were kidnapped and murdered during the Algerian Civil War. For years these monks lived in peace in a region not known for it. Ministering to Christian and Muslim alike, they worked tirelessly to bridge the gap between the two communities.
Their leader Christian (Lambert Wilson) studied the Quran and spoke Arabic. When war broke out, he negotiated a peace with the leader of the Islamic separatists, but when the leader was killed, the truce couldn’t hold. As their situation grows precarious, the monks debate fleeing, but decide to stay faithful to their mission and face their imminent death with steely courage and clear-eyed sacrifice. This is a beautiful rumination on the sacrifice faith demands and the ability of grace to conquer fear.
After her meth dealer father disappears, seventeen-year-old Ree Dolly (Jennifer Lawrence) cares for her two younger siblings and mentally ill mother. The sheriff informs Ree if her father doesn’t show up for his court date, his bond will be revoked and the bank will foreclose on their home. Ree enlists her uncle, Teardrop (John Hawkes), to help find her dad. Her brutal journey prefigures Jason Batman’s treacherous trip into the underbelly of the Ozarks by almost a decade.
John Hawkes is excellent, but his performance pales compared to the shining luminescence of Jennifer Lawrence. Her Ree Dolly is a star making performance, transforming the actress from unknown to A-lister overnight. Despite the subsequent accolades, she’s never reached higher heights than she did in her jaw dropping debut.
1) Incendies
When Nawal Marwan dies, she leaves instructions for her twin children, Jeanne and Simon, to find their presumed dead father and previously unknown half-brother. Retracing their mother’s steps, they discover their elder half-brother was born out-of-wedlock to their Christian mother and a Muslim. To minimize the family’s shame, the child was hidden in a local orphanage, but Nawal and her grandmother branded the child’s heel to identify him. A casualty of the region’s constant religious wars, the orphanage was attacked and the child taken by a radical Muslim sect.
Years later, Nawal went to the refugee camp where her son was allegedly held. Finding it destroyed, she shot a nationalist leader she deemed responsible. As punishment, she was imprisoned and raped. Her anonymous torturer is the father of Jeanne and Simon.
Eventually, Nawal escaped to Canada with her children, and, over time, repressed much of her misery, until she saw a familiar brand on the heel of a swimmer at the pool. Elated to find her presumed dead son, she ran towards him, but her joy transformed to horror as she recognized the face of her torturer. Part Oedipus Rex, part commentary on the futility of religious wars, Denis Villeneuve’s film is a powerful film about loyalty, family, and identity.