1: Black Swan
Surprise surprise! Yes, as I predicted in my 'Best Films of 2010' list, 'Black Swan' was my favourite film of this year, by quite a distance. I am, by my own admission, a little gay for Darren Aronofsky - 'The Fountain' and 'Requiem For A Dream' are both in my all-time Top 5, for a start - but even I was caught off-guard by just how amazing Black Swan actually is. Natalie Portman is the best she's ever been as Nina Sayers, the quiet ballet dancer who is perfect for the role of the White Swan, but must delve into her dark side to become the Black Swan. It turns out she's got quite a dark side. It's an over-the-top, grand-guignol horror, and I'm sure if you stopped and took it all seriously you might find it a bit silly, but if you let yourself go along for the ride it's a fucking beast of one. It's a film that just gets better through repeat viewings too - you notice more and more each time. Reflections, paintings, face-swapping... It's all there to mess with your head. I love this film.
2: 127 Hours
I have to admit, I was very sceptical about this film. I'm not the biggest Danny Boyle fan anyway - I still don't understand all the raving about Slumdog Millionnaire - and the book was feckin' boring (honestly, if that dude mentioned Phish one more time, I was going to drop a bloody rock on him). The idea of watching some guy trapped in one place for an entire movie is a risky one that can easily go wrong ( I'm looking at you, Buried). But in 127 Hours, everything went right. It's an astonishing journey of a film, and one where you're right there with everything the character goes through - so much so that, when it comes to the arm-cutting climax, rather than the revulsion most people are expecting, you're actually cheering on with pure elation because you want this guy to get free and survive. It's an ode to the power of the human spirit. A wonderful movie.
3: Tyrannosaur
And from a wonderful movie, to an absolutely horrifying one. Paddy Considine's directorial debut is a relentless parade of misery that begins with a dog being kicked to death and only gets worse from there. The movie is dominated by three people - Olivia Colman as happy Christian charity shop worker whose cracks are immediately visible, Eddie Marsan as her husband, and Peter Mullan as the psychotic fuck-up who comes crashing into their lives. All three of them are utterly stunning. It's grim in a way that only Britain can do. It's not an easy watch by any stretch of the imagination, but one that is more than worth it.
4: Confessions
I used to be a big fan of Japanese cinema; the glory days that coincided with Tartan bringing World Cinema to DVD, introducing the West to stunners like Ringu, Battle Royale and Audition. Unfortunately, outside of the world of anime, there's been very little that's really grabbed my attention in recent years, most film-makers content to churn out either me-too-look-at-the-dead-girl-with-long-hair crap, or enjoyable nonsense called something like 'Alien Ninja Zombie Tits Girl'. Confessions bucks that trend. It's a twisting, turning thriller that had me on the edge of my seat for the entire running length. It begins with a teacher stood in a class of brats who are just dying to be sent to an island full of weapons. She declares that she knows someone in the class is responsible for the death of her daughter. The film then handles each protagonist's story seperately, their 'Confession' slowly revealing more and more of the shocking true story. An absolute marvel.
5: Cell 211
It's hard trying to describe this film to people without making it sound really hokey - young fella on his first day as a prison guard, riot kicks off, he has to pretend to be a prisoner to survive while trying to help the cops on the outside bring it to an end. But there's just something about it which elevates it far above the ordinary, turning it into an riveting watch. One of those things is an absolutely towering performance by Luis Tosar as Malamadre, the ringleader of the prison riot. He's obviously a very bad man, but he brings a complexity to the character that makes you empathise with what he's doing and what he wants to achieve, and his ever-developing relationship with the undercover guard Juan is excellently done.
6: Drive
I love the idea that 'Fast & Furious' loving mongs went to see this movie expecting similar levels of nonsense. Of course, if they were familiar at all with Nicolas Winding Refn's previous work, they would have known better than to expect pounding car chases and lots of explosions - this is a dark, pulsing, atmospheric piece, conjuring up the tech-noir 80s with neon, darkness and violence. I have to admit, it took me a while to get behind Ryan Gosling, who seemed the be playing the driver as a borderline retard, but once I was on board I loved it. Although the movie gets negative marks for starring Christina Hendricks, dressing her up like that, and then only using her for ten minutes. What the fuck, Refn?!
7: The Skin I Live In
This is actually the first Almodóvar film I've watched - I've always had some weird mental block against him. I'll be rectifying that after watching this, a disturbing tale of obsession that gets weirder and weirder by the minute. Antonio Banderas plays a plastic surgeon who is at the top of his game, making leaps and bounds into new realms of medicine. However, we soon learn that the reason he's so far ahead of the game is because he has a suicidal woman locked up in his house who he operates and experiments upon. Who is she? Why is she there? How complicit is she in what's going on? As each of these questions is answered your jaw will get nearer and nearer to the floor.
8: Arrietty
It's been a worry that Studio Ghibli will suffer when the 72-year old genius Hayao Miyazaki decides to pack it in. Arrietty helps to alleviate those fears. Hiromasa Yonebayashi hasn't produced anything that matches up to the likes of Laputa, Spirited Away or Princess Mononoke, but Arrietty is still an absolutely gorgeous film, bristling with the glee and magic that makes Studio Ghibli so beloved the world over. It's a take on the story of The Borrowers - tiny people living in the nooks and crannies of an old house in the Japanese countryside, surviving on any odds, ends and crumbs they can scavenge for the normal-size humans who occupy the house. It's a story that's perfectly suited for Ghibli's trademark charm.
9: The Guard
John Michael McDonagh directed this film, while his brother Martin directed In Bruges. You could believe they're both part of the same universe; with their very-similar pitch-black humour and superb characters. Brendan Gleeson plays a Guard (that's a Irish copper, English friends) on the West coast of Ireland, one who quite plainly couldn't give a flying fuck what anyone thinks of him. His days of drinking and whoring are interrupted when the FBI arrive in town, in search of drug smugglers looking to use the remote Irish coast as a drop-off point. What makes it work so well is that he's not just an offensive prick; while he spouts frequently hilarious bile, he's given a lot of depth too - the scenes with his ill mother are fantastic. Combined with the soundtrack, the whole 'lone cowboy' vibe Gleeson creates gives the whole film a Western feel. It also scores plus points for being filmed where I live. Although how I missed Don Cheadle running around Salthill with a gun, I'll never know.
10: Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy
I have to admit, I went in to this totally blind, having never watched the original series, or read the book. Hell, I hadn't even seen a trailer for it. I've heard some people complain that they couldn't understand what was going on without knowing those two sources. Don't let that put you off. Sure, it's dense, dialogue-heavy and doesn't pander to the idle viewer, but it's all there should you be paying the proper attention. It's kind of the anti-Bond; a world of spies made up not of cocktails, glamourous women and explosions, but one of world-weary middle-aged men playing dangerous games. It looks absolutely gorgeous, evoking a 70's London, but one that is mostly conducted by men under migraine-inducing yellow lights, wearing ill-fitting suits. It's an absolute masterclass in acting too, which is only to be expected when your cast includes Gary Oldman, John Hurt, Benedict Cumberbatch, Tom Hardy, Mark Strong, Kathy Burke and Colin Firth.
11: Troll Hunter
If you were just to see Troll Hunter in your local hmv (hint: go buy something), you may well idly confuse it with some syfy horror trash. Sure why would you buy this over Sharktopus? Well, mainly because this is an excellent film that takes some tired genre ideas and does something new with them. It takes the 'found footage' approach, which has been slightly done to death, but actually suits and works really well here. For the first part of the film you assume that the handheld camera might just be there to cover up the lack of budget and effects; fleeting, swept glimpses of trolls here and there, you figure that's all they could afford. This is not the case. Suddenly we see the trolls in all their glory, and they are stunning. They're proper living, breathing creatures. You can almost smell their stench. Just everything about this movie is awesome; especially the way the ubiquitous Troll Hunter is portrayed as just another ov-worked, under-appreciated civil servant.
Although you should also buy Sharktopus, because it's amazing.
12: We Need To Talk About Kevin
First off, a word of warning: Do Not watch this film when you're expecting your first child. It makes it at least doubly horrifying. It's the tale, told from the Mother's perspective, of a child who commits one of those school-murder atrocities we are all too familiar with these days. It's masterfully done; we join the Mother (an astonishing Tilda Swinton) well after the incident, as she lives in a guilt-ridden alcohol-fuelled haze. The story is then told in flashback, mixing up the pariah state she lives in now with the raising she had of the titular Kevin. It's a film that raises uncomfortable questions: Are some people just born evil? Could she have done anything differently stop her child becoming a monster? It's a disturbing but gripping watch.
13: True Grit
Finally, after hopping around it all their careers, the Coen Brothers do a Western. And not a modern-day Western like No Country For Old Men; this is a proper old-school homage to a genre they've obviously always loved. Haillee Steinfeld plays Mattie Ross, a ridiculously intelligent and self-possessed 14-year old who hires the old, washed-up, drunken mess that is Rooster Cogburn, in order to catch her Father's killer. Rooster is excellently portrayed by Jeff Bridges, who, like most roles in his life these days, appears to be playing a variation on The Dude - this version being pissed-up, pissed-off cowboy Dude. He's absolutely stunning, if nigh-on unintelligible at points, as he, Mattie, and a superb Matt Damon pursue the outlaws and aim to settle scores.
14: Kill List
This is a film I don't want to say too much about, as it's a film I'd love to have seen completely blind. The story concerns a hitman whose last job in Kiev appeared to go drastically wrong (a detail that is dangled, tantalisingly, over the entire film, but is never explained). The money is running out, his marriage is falling apart, and his partner is trying to drag him out of his self-imposed exile in order to service a client who has a list of people he wants killed. So far, so standard-hitman thriller. But as it keeps going on, it veers further and further from the template, until we're in entirely uncharted territory. It's absolutely brutal at parts, and unexpectedly funny in others. The real revelation is Michael Smiley as Gal, the hitman partner. Anyone who spent the turn of the century watching Spaced will be astonished that Tyres is such a good actor.
15: Contagion
Contagion is the terrifyingly plausible story of a new infection that breaks out and wipes out a huge portion of the human population. It's told from several different points of view; from the origin case, to an average family, to CDC workers, to the military and politicians trying to deal with the outbreak. The best part about it is that it takes the 'Thin Red Line' approach to film mortality; everybody in it is a recognisable star, most of them genuine A-Listers. Kate Winslet, Gwyneth Paltrow, Matt Damon, Laurence Fishburne, Bryan Cranston, Marion Cotillaird, Jude Law... and, seeing as how it kills one of those stars within the first five minutes, you know nobody is safe. There's a just criticism in that, with so many storylines going on, it's hard to care about some of these characters; but for me, the real star of the show was the virus. It's a stunning and horrifyingly real account of how quickly our species could be decimated.
16: Submarine
Richard Ayoade (yes, Moss fom The IT Crowd) makes his directorial debut with this, a strange and sweet tale of first love. Oliver Tate is a confused 15-year old living in Wales; trapped between childhood and adulthood, his world turned upside down by two new people: First, the devilish beauty in his class, Jordanna; and secondly, the arrival of his Mother's ex-boyfriend, Graham Purvis, a glamourous (and hilariously ridiculous) psychic. Oliver will be immediately familiar to anyone who had awkward, angst-ridden teenage years; he's a precocious prat, as I'm absolutely certain I was too. It's exceptionally well shot for a debut film too; Ayoade's work on some cracking music videos lending the film a wonderful visual flair. Alex Turner's soundtrack is perfectly suited, and there are fantastic performances all round. This is a remarkably assured debut and marks Ayoade out as a real future talent.
17: Rise of the Planet of the Apes
How was this good? How? I'm still utterly perplexed. I watched it expecting nothing more than enjoyable tripe - I'm not fussy, I'll watch monkeys smashing shit for hours - but it is actually a genuinely good film. James Franco and John Lithgow have a touching Father / Son relationship, especially with Lithgow playing a man ravaged by Alzheimers. But the real star here is Caesar, the enhanced super-chimp who is raised by the two of them after they rescue him from the lab in which Franco's Scientist works. It's a testament to the stunning achievement of WETA and Andy Serkis that the effects are that good, I didn't even think of them as effects until discussing the film days after watching it. The apes are just so well done, so believable that you aren't sat there thinking "Wow, this CGI is amazing"; you're thinking "These apes are awesome!". The inevitable big action climax may stretch credibility to breaking point, but it's still an astonishing set-piece. In a summer of tired and disappointing blockbusters, Rise of the Planet of the Planet of the Rise of the Planet of the of the Apes was a furry head and shoulders above the competition.
18: X-Men: First Class
After the disappointments that were X-Men 3 and X-Men Origins, I knew that First Class would get the series back on track as soon as the writer and director were announced. Jane Goldman and Matthew Vaughn did such a sterling job on last year's Kick Ass, so I had no fear that they'd do a good job with Professor X and Magneto's backstory. Any remaining worries were wiped out when James McAvoy and Michael Fassbender were respectively cast in those roles. They both do a superb job, bringing their own angles in to characters already set in stone by Patrick Stewart and Ian McKellen. Fassbender in particular is fantastic, veering from cold, hard anger to raging, relentless fury in his quest for vengeance after the Holocaust. Set in the Sixties, it sometimes swings dangerously close to a parody, but somehow always manages to stay on the right side of Austin Powers. Hopefully the Goldman - Vaughn team will continue to work wonders with the X-Men universe, given the crushing news that Aronofsky's 'The Wolverine' isn't going to happen.
19: In Time
Y'know, I still find it hard to accept that Justin Timberlake is a good actor. He was on my Top 20 last year in the excellent The Social Network, and here he is again as a genuine action lead. In Time is without doubt flawed, but I think I really loved it because of the concept. It's set in a future where aging has been defeated - on everyone's 25th birthday, the aging process is halted, and everyone stays young and lovely forever (hence the gorgeous Olivia Wilde playing JT's 50-year old Mother). However, as we can't have the planet becoming ever more populated if people never die, Time has now replaced Money as the worldwide currency. Everyone has clocks on their arms, and the entire economy works on seconds and minutes, workers are paid with them, goods are bought with them. There's a huge discrepancy between rich and poor, the upper-classes swanning about in luxury, the lower classes literally running their lives against the clock. Timberlake plays Will Salas, a guy who is 'working to live' in a very real sense, getting paid 24 hours at a time - until he meets Henry Hamilton, one of the upper class, who has been alive for centuries and is distinctly bored with everything. He's decided to end it all, but decides to donate his hundreds of years to Will before he goes. Unfortunately, the authorities aren't having this, accusing Will of murder, and sending a team of 'Timekeepers' after him (led by a trenchcoat-clad Cillian Murphy, superb as always). What initially begins as his attempt to prove his innocence soon develops into a one-man class war. In a year of protest, uprising and unrest, I thought In Time struck a very relevant chord. Plus, the class warfare aspect got my Yorkshire blood boiling...
20: The Extraordinary Adventures of Adéle Blanc-Sec
The blurb on the box describes this as"Indiana Jones meets Amelie" and frankly it's harder to boil it down any better than that - it's absolutely spot on, combining the old-school tomb-raiding adventure of the former with the glorious Gallic charm of the latter. Louise Bourgoin plays the titular adventurer in a story packed with Mummies, Dinosaurs, and a comically disfigured nemesis, all running rampage around a gorgeously realised 1911 Paris. It's really old-school fun, the kind of thing that could justifiably be described as a 'romp' if I was of the inclination. Plus, it says something wonderful about the French that, in what is their equivalent of a PG-rated adventure movie, the lead actress still gets her baps out...
Special Mention: Sucker Punch
I can't, in all good conscience, put Sucker Punch on a list of good films. For a start, I'm not even sure it's a film; it's more of a video-game-slash-ridiculous-teenage-fantasy masturbatory aid that doesn't make a lick of sense. Why does it get a special mention then? Because, due to years of games and heavy metal, this is exactly what the inside of my head looks like. Guns, explosions, dragons, ludicrously hot women in fetish gear, steampunk Nazis, enormous clockwork samurais, giant stompy mechs, huge armies of Orcs, more guns, and more explosions, all battering along on a stompy, huge, subtle-as-a-sledgehammer soundtrack. Mr Snyder, I'm not sure how you managed to film my brain, but I salute you.
Honourable mentions:
Captain America and Thor, for somehow not sucking - Another Earth - Super - The Fighter - The King's Speech - Attack The Block - Hobo With a Shotgun - Super 8 - Bridesmaids - The Adjustment Bureau
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