The 2020s as a whole have really been a down time for movies, which is sad when compared to how things were just a decade ago. While it’s not as romanticized as past decades, the 2010s were still an incredible time for movies that don’t get enough credit. As it gave us everything from masterpieces made by Christopher Nolan to epic installments from the Marvel universe, the 2010s were as good a time as ever to pack the theaters. For as many great years that stood out, it was the year 2010 that really set the tone for what we were in for as the decade progressed. It’s about that time again as Konscious Kurt is about to break down his 10 Favorite Movies of 2010:
10. Wall Street: Money Never Sleeps
The long-awaited sequel to the 1987 classic, Wall Street: Money Never Sleeps follows Wall Street tycoon Gordon Gekko after his release from prison. Once released, he’s approached by an up-and-coming trader named Jake who’s trying to navigate the events of the 2008 economy crash. Ironically enough, Jake is also the fiancé of Gordon’s estranged daughter Carey. While Gordon does attempt to help Jake in order to get back in his daughter’s good graces, he secretly has his own greedy agenda in mind. With Michael Douglas reprising his role as Gekko and co-starring Shia LaBeouf, this sequel was more than a fitting extension of the story that touched on the aftermath of the 2008 crash.
9. The Fighter
Based on a true story, The Fighter revolves around up-and-coming boxer Micky Ward and how his career is constantly sabotaged by his crack-addicted brother Dicky. Once Micky decides to cut ties with his brother after he ends up in prison, his career begins to turn around. As his new trajectory leads to him getting a title shot, this also coincides with Dicky getting out of prison and wanting to make amends. Despite his past issues, Micky realizes deep down that he can’t win his upcoming title fight without his brother’s help. While Mark Whalberg did shine as the lead, it was Christian Bale’s performance as Dicky that stood out most as it led to him winning the Supporting Actor Oscar.
8. Love & Other Drugs
Starring Jake Gyllenhal and Anne Hathaway, Love & Other Drugs tells the story of medicine pusher and womanizer Jamie Randall. Once Jamie observes a doctor examine an attractive patient named Maggie with early stages of Parkinson’s disease, he quickly hits it off with her. Despite it starting out as only a casual relationship, things eventually grow more serious between them. While their relationship seems to be going well, things take an ugly turn after Jamie is advised by the husband of another woman with Parkinson’s to leave Maggie before her condition worsens. While the film received mixed reviews upon its release, the chemistry between Gyllenhal and Hathaway combined with the intense subject matter made it a strong fan favorite.
7. The Kids Are All Right
Starring Annette Benning and Juian Moore, The Kids Are All Right revolves around married lesbian couple Nic and Jules raising their teenage kids Laser and Joni. When Laser and Joni track down their biological father Paul, they hit it off with him as he makes it clear he wants to be part of their lives. When Jules also hits it off with Paul after inviting him over for dinner, this combined with Jules recently feeling neglected drives a huge wedge between her and Nic. Things get even more complicated as a working relationship between Jules and Paul leads to them sleeping together. One of the first mainstream movies to feature a same sex couple raising teenagers, The Kids Are All Right won several Golden Globes including Best Actress for Annette Benning’s performance and was even nominated for an Oscar for Best Picture.
6. Due Date
A modernized version of Planes, Trains, & Automobiles, Due Date follows architect Peter Highman as he attempts to fly from Atlanta to LA in time for the birth of his child. While on the plane, he comes across an aspiring actor named Ethan Tremblay that gets on his nerves to the point where their interaction leads to them both being kicked off the plane due to a bomb scare. In order to make it to LA, Peter reluctantly agrees to ride with Ethan in a rental car. To no surprise, their long road trip leads to a lot of comedic chaos, mishaps, and many broken bones along the way. Starring Robert Downey Jr. and Zach Galifianakis, their chemistry and the modernized plot made this movie one of the better comedies from that era that oddly doesn’t get mentioned enough.
5. The Town
Starring Ben Affleck (who also wrote and directed), The Town centers around bank robber Doug and his three lifelong friends in the Charlestown area of Boston. After he and his friends rob a bank and even take the bank manager Claire hostage, they later find out that she lives in the same neighborhood as them. Doug attempts to get to know her after ignoring the advice of his friends to kill her and as Claire doesn’t realize he’s the same man who robbed her bank, she agrees to go out with him. As they quickly fall for each other to the point where Doug wants to leave town with her and relocate to Florida, he’s forced into taking on one final heist of Fenway Park with his friends before he can start his new life (with the FBI breathing down their necks). While barring some similarities to 2006’s The Departed, The Town was unique enough in its own way to be well received by audiences and is considered one of Affleck’s better efforts.
4. Toy Story 3
What was viewed as the final film of the series at the time, Toy Story 3 sees a grown-up Andy preparing to leave for college. With him being too old at this point to play with his toys, he decides to only take Woody with him and have the rest of his toys stored in the attic. However, the rest of the toys accidentally get donated to a day care center as Woody attempts to go rescue them. Once they reach the day care center known as Sunnyside, they see that it’s run by a teddy bear named Lotso. While he seems warm at first, the toys soon find out Lotso isn’t who he seems to be as he turns them all into prisoners when they try to escape. Despite the later sequels also garnering high praise, the quality of Toy Story 3 and its conclusion has made many fans argue that this is where the franchise should have ended.
3. Shutter Island
Another strong collaboration between director Martin Scorsese and Leonardo Dicaprio, Shutter Island centers around U.S. Marshal Edward “Teddy” Daniels. Along with his partner Chuck, Teddy travels to the Ashecliffe Hospital for the insane based on Shutter Island to investigate the disappearance of a patient. Once he finds the patient, she reveals that she was a former psychiatrist who was committed to the facility after discovering clandestine experiments on mind control as an attempt to silence her. She then warns him that the other psychiatrists will use his war trauma to feign a psychotic break in order to have him committed also. A contrast from many of his other films, Shutter Island was something out of Scorsese’s comfort zone as it was psychological, mind blowing, and very unpredictable.
2. Inception
His follow up to the 2008 classic The Dark Knight, Inception is arguably considered the best in director Christopher Nolan’s impressive catalog. Starring Leonardo Dicaprio, the film tells the story of a professional thief named Dom Cobb who pulls off his acts by infiltrating the subconscious of his targets. Impressed by this, his latest target offers to erase his criminal history if he’s able to perform an inception on his business rival’s son. However, this leads to a crazy chain of events once it’s revealed that when someone dies in their dreams, it sends them into Limbo (infinite subconsciousness). To no one’s surprise, the story, direction, and visual effects of Inception made it one of the real standout movies of that era as it won several Oscars for Visual Effects and Cinematography.
1. The Social Network
Based on a true story about the early days of Facebook, The Social Network begins with college sophomore Mark Zuckerberg writing an insulting post about a bad date on his live journal blog and then creating a site rating the attractiveness of female students called Facemash. The buzz the site generates grabs the attention of the Winklevoss twins and while working with them on a Harvard exclusive dating site, Zuckerberg approaches friend Eduardo Severin about launching an Ivy League exclusive site called TheFacebook. As it grows in popularity and even attracts Napster co-founder Sean Parker to join as an investor, it creates a rift between Zuckerberg and Severin to the point where Severin is eventually kicked out. As he screwed over Severin and Winklevoss twins by taking their idea, all of them sue Zuckerberg. With a cast featuring Jesse Eisenberg, Andrew Garfield, and Justin Timberlake, The Social Network was arguably the most well received movie of 2010 as it won the Golden Globe for Best Drama Picture and earned several Oscars nods including Best Picture, Actor, and Director.
Honorable Mentions:
• Kick Ass
• The Book of Eli
• Easy A
• Death at a Funeral
• Get Him to the Greek
Konscious Kurt's Top 10 Movie Lists 