Top 10 films of the year

LOS ANGELES: Film critics by definition are contrarians, so naturally, if you gather seven in a room, there will be few points of agreement.

This is the same for the Top 10 Films of 2010 which has been drawn up by seven film critics for The Hollywood Reporter, six US-based and one overseas reviewer who keeps up with domestic releases.

The same films did not make anyone’s list and there was only limited agreement over the No 1 film. Three fingered Christopher Nolan’s strikingly original Inception while two others picked David Fincher’s Facebook tale, The Social Network.

The remaining votes were divided between Olivier Assayas’ Carlos, about the infamous terrorist known by that moniker, and Tom Hooper’s The King’s Speech, a film many pundits see as an Oscar frontrunner.

The closest area of agreement came with The Social Network. It made six out of seven Best 10 lists.

Inception and Jacques Audiard’s prison picture A Prophet from France wound up on four lists. Carlos and Lisa Cholodenko’s The Kids are All Right, a rare comedy, made three lists. So did Danny Boyle’s 127 Hours and Roman Polanski’s The Ghost Writer.

Animation and documentaries are making real in-roads into Best 10 lists compared to, say, 10 years ago. But, once again, agreement eludes the critics. Lee Unkrich’s Toy Story 3, which Disney is billing in its Oscar campaign as the best reviewed film of the year, hit only three lists while Sylvain Chomet’s The Illusionist and Dean DeBlois and Chris Sanders’ How to Train Your Dragon from DreamWorks appeared on two lists as well.

No less than five documentaries were honoured, but in each case, only a single list. Ilisa Barbash and Lucien Castaing-Taylor’s Sweetgrass, Charles Ferguson’s Inside Job, Frederick Wiseman’s Boxing Gym, Serge Bromberg and Ruxandra Medrea Annonier’s Henri-Georges Clouzot’s Inferno and Banksy’s genre-bending Exit Through the Gift Shop.

What did the experts choose

There are several titles that appear on only a single list. But if film choices are rapidly stacking up on your must-see list, and you don’t know where to begin, these choices below do contain a few hints.

1) Todd McCarthy: Carlos, The Social Network, Wild Grass, A Prophet, Sweetgrass, Inside Job, Toy Story 3, Animal Kingdom, The Kids Are All Right and Unstoppable.

2) Kirk Honeycutt: Inception, The Social Network, The King’s Speech, 127 Hours, True Grit, Carlos, A Prophet, The Kids Are All Right, Winter’s Bone and The Way Back.

3) Stephen Farber: The King’s Speech, 127 Hours, The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo, Get Low, Rabbit Hole, Another Year, The Kids Are All Right, The Social Network, The Secret in Their Eyes and The Fighter.

4) Michael Rechtshaffen: The Social Network, The King’s Speech, The Ghost Writer, Black Swan, Toy Story 3, How to Train Your Dragon, Inception, The Town, Winter’s Bone and Let Me In.

5) Sheri Linden: The Social Network, Boxing Gym, Father of My Children, The Illusionist, Mother, Henri-Georges Clouzot’s Inferno, Please Give, The Ghost Writer, Toy Story 3 and A Prophet.

6) Justin Lowe: Inception, Exit Through the Gift Shop, The Town, Greenberg, The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo, Uncle Boonmee Who Can Recall His Past Lives, Let Me In, 127 Hours, The Social Network and Tiny Furniture.

7) Ray Bennett: Inception, The Secret In Their Eyes, A Prophet, Carlos, The Ghost Writer, Black Swan, Shutter Island, True Grit, Get Low and Blue Valentine.

Published in The Express Tribune, December 27^th, 2010.