30 Rock/League of Extraordinary Gentlemen Mash-Up by Alex Ross

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Alex Ross
30 Rock
LoEG

55 Pretty Good Movies from 2010

Fifty-five films from 2010, listed in order of decreasing greatness. Metacritic score in parentheses.

1. Dogtooth (73)
Greek drama horror sf thriller.

2. The Social Network (95)
Everybody liked this. Much more entertaining than it had any right to be. 

3. Black Swan (79)
The Wrestler for ballet. 

4. Inception (74)
Christopher Nolan may be the most consistently great action director currently working. 

5. The Ghost Writer (77)
Political thriller by Roman Polanski. Pierce Brosnan plays Tony Blair, more or less. 

6. Greenberg (76)
Fun, depressing character study by Noah Baumbach. 

7. Winter’s Bone (90)
Country noir. 

8. True Grit (80)
Apparently the Coen Brothers’ greatest commercial success ever.

9. The Fighter (79)
Boxing biopic by David O. Russell. 

10. Mother (79)
South Korean drama thriller. 

11. Exit Through the Gift Shop: A Banksy Film (85)
A Banksy film! 

12. Carlos (94)
5½ hours on the life and work of Carlos the Jackal. 

13. A Prophet (90)
Absorbing French prison drama. 

14. The King’s Speech (88)
The least adventurous and most conventional of the year’s ten Oscar nominees for Best Picture, and thus the obvious winner. But it is good. 

15. Scott Pilgrim vs. the World (69)
The proper follow-up to Shaun of the Dead and Hot Fuzz (ignore Paul). 

16. Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: Part I (65)
Surprisingly indie-ish (read: mopey). I liked Part II as well.

17. Let Me In (79)
Very well-made (albeit entirely unnecessary) US remake of Let the Right One In. 

18. Toy Story 3 (92)
The best one. 

19. The Illusionist (82)
Nice-looking follow-up to The Triplets of Belleville, based on an unproduced script by Tati. 

20. Blue Valentine (81)
Devastating look at a relationship in crisis. 

21. Splice (66)
Trashy science fiction fun. Vincenzo Natali’s first artistically successful movie since Cube. 

22. The Special Relationship (67)
Michael Sheen’s third outing as Tony Blair (one, two). 

23. Tamara Drewe (64)
Stephen Frears’ likable adaptation of the Posy Simmonds comic strip.  

24. Youth in Revolt (63)
Michael Cera is the Youth. 

25. Animal Kingdom (83)
An Australian GoodFellas. 

26. The American (61)
Minimalistic George Clooney hitman drama, similar to The Passenger. 

27. Heartless (58)
Satanic UK thriller, somewhat reminiscent of Angel Heart (although not as good). 

28. Machete (60)
Based on the Grindhouse trailer. Popcorn fun with a (very blunt) political edge. 

29. The Trotsky (59)
High school student thinks he’s Leon Trotsky reincarnated. 

30. 127 Hours (82)
Based on Aron Ralston‘s experiences. Begins and ends well. 

31. Get Him to the Greek (65)
Spun off from 2008’s excellent Forgetting Sarah Marshall. Some great songs. 

32. Mother and Child (64)
Written and directed by HBO veteran (and son of Gabriel García Márquez) Rodrigo García. 

33. Shutter Island (63)
Not entirely successful. But it’s Scorsese. 

34. Four Lions (68)
British Muslim suicide bombing comedy. 

35. Tangled (71)
Disney’s 50th animated movie. Pixarian in feel and tone. 

36. Iron Man 2 (57)
Sam Rockwell (AKA Moon Rockyfeller) steals the show. Incidentally, I watched it in an entirely empty theatre.   

37. Super (50)
Much better than the similar Kick-Ass. 

38. Cyrus (74)
Mumblecore with a budget.  

39. The Town (74)
Crime drama by/with/for Ben Affleck. 

40. How to Train Your Dragon (74)
Computer-animated vikings. 

41. I Love You Phillip Morris (65)
A gay Catch Me If You Can. 

42. The Kids Are All Right (86)
Overhyped but alright. 

43. Somewhere (67)
Lost in Translation redux – though Stephen Dorff is no Bill Murray.  

44. Fair Game (69)
Inspired by the CIA leak scandal. 

45. Justice League: Crisis On Two Earths (-)
Not as good as the Morrison/Quitely graphic novel, but pretty fun anyway. 

46. The Killer Inside Me (-)
Stylish, uninvolving. 

47. Get Low (77)
Robert Duvall is ornery sumbitch and Bill Murray is his funeral director. Doesn’t quite live up to its promise. 

48. Temple Grandin (84)
Biopic on the autistic superstar.  

49. Cemetery Junction (-)
Disappointingly conventional coming-of-age movie from Gervais/Merchant.

50. Easy A (72)
Utterly cliched teen version of The Scarlet Letter, saved by Emma Stone’s charismatic performance. 

51. The Extraordinary Adventures of Adèle Blanc-Sec (-)
Pretty faithful to the comics by Tardi. 

52. Unthinkable (-)
Absurd but highly watchable torture porn with questionable morals. 

53. Buried (65)
Ryan Reynolds in a box. 

54. Megamind (63)
Slightly better than the similarly themed Despicable Me. Worth it for the Brando references, probably inexplicable to the movie’s target audience. 

55. You Will Meet a Tall Dark Stranger (51)
Woody Allen’s latest. Critically panned, but I enjoyed it enough to include here. Just.

 

So. Did I miss anything?