There was a boat that sailed at the beginning of the year that I missed. Every year, I write a pair of articles on the best and worst of the previous year. With a number of issues and distractions, I never got around to writing that article. So, it’s now time to rectify that. Although it won’t be as bountiful as it has in previous years, and will combine both film, trailer and poster reviews, it should still give you an eye of what I did/saw in 2010.

In addition, for the first time, I’ll be highlighting the ten best films I saw from the prior year that weren’t released in it. Thanks to the Feed the Queue feature, I have seen a number of films that wouldn’t normally fit in an article like this. That changes now.

Each title also features a link to my review (if possible).

Ten Best Films of 2010

1. Black Swan (****) – A brilliant ensemble leads this intriguing film about the crippling pursuit of perfection. Natalie Portman has never been better.
2. Scott Pilgrim vs. The World (****) – Not a film for everyone, this highly-stylized video game-knowledgeable flick is a visual an aural pleasure.
3. Inception (****) – The power of dreams launched ecstatically onto the big screen. How do you find yourself when all you’ve known has been created in your own mind?
4. The Social Network (****) – The vicious tale of the founding of Facebook and how Mark Zuckerberg made more enemies than he made friends. It shows us how megalomania can destroy relationships and money can sour the creative process.
5. Never Let Me Go (****) – A melancholic tale of three children raised to donate their organs to save others. There’s a palpable sense of humanity in every frame.
6. Buried (****) – If Alfred Hitchcock had made horror films, this could very well have been one of his. This inventive tale is made all the more stunning by Ryan Reynolds’ incredible performance.
7. 127 Hours (****) – A visceral thrill ride surrounding an astounding performance by James Franco. To have one’s life flash before their eyes has never been more magnificently realized.
8. Easy A (****) – A hilarious comedy about a Scarlet Letter-reading smart ass who turns a little white lie into a campus-wide gossip party, all while trying to understand herself and have those around her appreciate her for who she is. Emma Stone is magnificent.
9. Shutter Island (****) – A mind-bending mystery surrounding a police detective seeking out the truth of a missing woman on the grounds of a creepy sanitarium.
10. Rabbit Hole (****) – The tragedy of loss presented with unflinching pain by leads Nicole Kidman and Aaron Eckhart. Coping is not a universal or explainable task.

Honorable Mentions

The Kids Are All Right (****), The American (*** ½), The Fighter (*** ½), Four Lions (*** ½), Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows, Part 1 (*** ½), How to Train Your Dragon (*** ½), The King’s Speech (*** ½), Tangled (*** ½), The Town (*** ½), Toy Story 3 (*** ½), True Grit (*** ½), Winter’s Bone (*** ½)

My Oscar Ballot

My winner is marked in blue.

• Best Picture: See Top Ten Above
• Best Animated Feature: How to Train Your Dragon, Tangled, Toy Story 3
• Best Director: Darren Aronofsky (Black Swan), Danny Boyle (127 Hours), David Fincher (Social Network), Christopher Nolan (Inception), Edgar Wright (Scott Pilgrim)
• Best Actor: Aaron Eckhart (Rabbit Hole), Jesse Eisenberg (Social Network), Colin Firth (King’s Speech), James Franco (127 Hours), Ryan Reynolds (Buried)
• Best Actress: Nicole Kidman (Rabbit Hole), Jennifer Lawrence (Winter’s Bone), Natalie Portman (Black Swan), Hailee Steinfeld (True Grit), Emma Stone (Easy A)
• Best Supporting Actor: Christian Bale (The Fighter), Andrew Garfield (Social Network), Joseph Gordon Levitt (Inception),
• Mark Ruffalo (Kids Are All Right), Geoffrey Rush (King’s Speech)
• Best Supporting Actress: Elle Fanning (Somewhere), Barbara Hershey (Black Swan), Melissa Leo (Fighter), Julianne Moore (Kids Are All Right), Carey Mulligan (Never Let Me Go)
• Best Original Screenplay: Black Swan, Buried, Easy A, Inception, Winter’s Bone
• Best Adapted Screenplay: 127 Hours, Never Let Me Go, Rabbit Hole, Scott Pilgrim vs. The World, The Social Network
• Best Original Score: 127 Hours, Inception, Never Let Me Go, The Social Network, TRON Legacy
• Best Original Song: “If I Rise” (127 Hours) (special award)
• Best Editing: 127 Hours, Black Swan, Inception, Scott Pilgrim vs. The World, The Social Network
• Best Cinematography: 127 Hours, Black Swan, Buried, Inception, Never Let Me Go
• Best Art Direction: Black Swan, Inception, Never Let Me Go, Scott Pilgrim vs. The World, Shutter Island
• Best Costume Design: Black Swan, Harry Potter 7 Part 1, The King’s Speech, Scott Pilgrim vs. The World, Shutter Island
• Best Makeup: 127 Hours, Alice in Wonderland, Black Swan
• Best Sound Mixing: 127 Hours, Inception, Toy Story 3, TRON Leagcy, True Grit
• Best Sound Editing: Inception, Scott Pilgrim vs. The World, Shutter Island, Toy Story 3, TRON Legacy
• Best Visual Effects: Inception, Harry Potter 7 Part 1, Scott Pilgrim vs. The World, Shutter Island, TRON Legacy

Ten Worst Films of 2010

1. The Last Airbender (½ *)
2. A Nightmare on Elm Street (*)
3. Daybreakers (*)
4. Saw VII (*)
5. The A-Team (* ½)
6. Clash of the Titans (* ½)
7. The Chronicles of Narnia: The Voyage of the Dawn Treader (* ½)
8. Alice in Wonderland (**)
9. Prince of Persia: The Sands of Time (**)
10. Iron Man 2 (**)

Twenty Best Non-Current Films

1. Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf? (****)
2. The Lion in Winter (****)
3. Rosemary’s Baby (****)
4. The Diary of Anne Frank (****)
5. Holiday (****)
6. Stalag 17 (****)
7. A Patch of Blue (****)
8. The Piano (****)
9. Reds (****)
10. The Night of the Hunter (****)
11. Paths of Glory (****)
12. Midnight Express (****)
13. Stagecoach (****)
14. The Miracle Worker (****)
15. They Shoot Horses, Don’t They? (****)
16. The Grapes of Wrath (*** ½)
17. Advise and Consent (*** ½)
18. Bullets over Broadway (*** ½)
19. Seven Beauties (*** ½)
20. The Killing (*** ½)

Honorable Mentions

Airport (*** ½), Foreign Correspondent (*** ½), Ghost (*** ½), In Old Chicago (*** ½), Julia (*** ½), Key Largo (*** ½), The Killing (*** ½), Long Day’s Journey Into Night (*** ½), McCabe & Mrs. Miller (*** ½), Meet John Doe (*** ½), Monsieur Verdoux (*** ½), Moonstruck (*** ½), National Velvet (*** ½), Out of the Past (*** ½), Paper Moon (*** ½), Prizzi’s Honor (*** ½), Sayonara (*** ½), The Year of Living Dangerously (*** ½)

Ten Best Trailers of 2010

1. Black Swan (A)
2. Enemies of the People (A)
3. Easy A (A-)
4. Shutter Island (A-)
5. The Art of the Steal (A-)
6. Waking Sleeping Beauty (A-)
7. Cropsey (A-)
8. Devil (B+)
9. Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows, Part I (Trailer 2) (B+)
10. Tamara Drewe (B+)

Ten Worst Trailers of 2010

1. Carnies (F)
2. House of Numbers (F)
3. Bitch Slap (F)
4. Expendables (Trailer 2) (F)
5. Despicable Me (Trailer 3) (F)
6. Cats & Dogs: The Revenge of Kitty Galore (Trailer 2) (D-)
7. Alpha and Omega (D-)
8. Hot Tub Time Machine – (Trailers 1 & 2) (D)
9. Yogi Bear (Trailers 1 & 2) (D)
10. MacGruber (Trailer 2) (D)

Ten Best Posters of 2010

1. Black Swan (Art Deco Set) (A)
2. Rabbit Hole (Poster 2) (A)
3. Metropolis (A)
4. The Next Three Days (Poster 1) (A-)
5. Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows, Part 1 (Poster 1) (A-)
6. Skyline (Poster 1) (A-)
7. The Law (A-)
8. Buried (Poster 1) (B+)
9. For Colored Girls (Individual Girls Set) (B+)
10. 180º South (Poster 2) (B+)

Ten Worst Posters of 2010

1. Tooth Fairy (F)
2. Hot Tub Time Machine (F)
3. House of Numbers (D-)
4. Twilight Saga: Eclipse (D-)
5. Daybreakers (Poster 1) (D-)
6. Just Wright (D)
7. Knight and Day (D)
8. Lottery Ticket (D)
9. When in Rome (D)
10. Piranha 3D (Poster 1) (D)