My Top Movies of 2010

Sometime around July last year, I got an email from my editor at Fervr. He’d managed to get the site added to several press lists for movie distributors. What this meant was that Fervr was now invited to special advanced screenings of movies, weeks before they are shown to the public. And I got first dibs on all the invitations. Joy! Now while I couldn’t make it to every movie I was invited to (or in one case even find the cinema it was being screened in) I did see a fair few movies last year. And because of these invitations, I was able to see some movies that ordinarily I may not have gone to.

Here are my top 5 movies for 2010. I remind you that I didn’t see everything, so there are some absences from this list that might surprise you. For instance, I haven’t seen Toy Story 3 yet. I own it on DVD but haven’t sat down to watch it yet.

5) Me and Orson Welles

This was one of the first movies I watched as a critic. It was being shown in one of those secret cinemas that only movie critics know about. Therefore I almost couldn’t find it. But when I did find the cinema, I sat down and waited for the film to start. And when it did start, I knew how much I was going to enjoy being a “proper” movie critic. So my listing of this movie might have something to do with surrounding factors, but it still is a pretty good film. There are some weaknesses in the film, particularly in the plot, but the general vibe of the movie, especially from Christian McKay who plays Orson Welles, made this an enjoyable viewing.

4) Splice

The special effects in this film were amazing. The creature looked so real, yet so alien. A great movie to explore issues of ethics in science and parenthood.

3) Easy A

Emma Stone is the next big thing. I don’t care if this is true or not, but she is to me. The fact that she’s playing Gwen Stacey in the new Spider-Man film is just icing on the cake. This is my kind of teen comedy and I could watch it over and over again.

2) The Social Network

Who thought a movie about Facebook would be so interesting? Here is a movie where everything lines up perfectly: great cast, great writing, great directing and a compelling subject. Who cares if any of it is even remotely true?

1) Scott Pilgrim vs The World

There really shouldn’t be any surprise that this was my favourite movie of 2010. An ADD fueled video game/comic book mashup by the director of Shaun of the Dead and Hot Fuzz. All my nostalgia buttons were pushed and barely a moment would pass before something would happen on the screen that would make me drool with desire. Sure, there were some weak points. But really, there’s enough great stuff to make me not care.

There’s my top 5. What movies did you enjoy in 2010? What movies would you put in your bottom 5?