Catching Up: 2010, a Best-of List

In our run-up to our list of the best films of 2019, we go back and consider the entire decade as well. So, while we're working on a list of the best films of the 2010s, we first fill a gap in our 21st century accounting. To make the decade complete, we start at the beginning and list our favorite movies of 2010:

The Top 12 of 2010

  1. A Prophet - A masterwork of the crime genre from Jacques Audiard ("Dheepan," "Rust and Bone") in the grand tradition of "The Godfather."

  2. Fish Tank - A harrowing, suffocating tale of teen angst from Andrea Arnold.

  3. I Am Love - Luca Guadagnino ("A Bigger Splash") kicks off the decade with Tilda Swinton by his side.

  4. Tiny Furniture  - Lena Dunham (HBO's "Girls") emerged from the Mumblecore scene with this finely crafted character study of a stunted young adult (who might eventually go on to be a voice of a generation).

  5. Greenberg - Noah Baumbach nails the annoying cadence of the 40-something loser, as embodied by Ben Stiller.

  6. Winter’s Bone  - Jennifer Lawrence arrived on the scene to carry this rural epic on her shoulders, under the direction of Debra Granik ("Leave No Trace," "Stray Dog")

  7. Somewhere - Another plodding adult male. Sofia Coppola's minor-key gem was tucked in between her showier "Marie Antoinette" and "The Bling Ring."

  8. Blue Valentine - Michelle Williams shows Ryan Gosling how relationship films are executed in this tale of passion and emotional violence.

  9. Scott Pilgrim vs. the World  - It's hard to have more fun at a movie theater than this head trip, unless you went to a subsequent Edgar Wright film, such as "The World's End" or "Baby Driver."

10. Dogtooth - Yorgos Lanthimos splashes on the scene with this disturbing avant-garde study of a dysfunctional family.

11. Please Give  - Nicole Holofcener ("Enough Said") is totally in her zone, teaming with Catherine Keener to chronicle the near-breakdown of a privileged woman.

12. Exit Through the Gift Shop - Street-artist provocateur Banksy gives us the ultimate head-fake psych-out.

Honorable Mention

• Spike Lee directs Denzel Washington in "Inside Man"
• Claire Denis directs Isabelle Huppert in "White Material"
• The French mini-series "Carlos"
• Gabourey Sidibe splashes in "Precious"
• The Coen brothers put their twang on "True Grit"
• The Duplass brothers go mainstream with "Cyrus"
• Todd Solondz gets back on his game with "Life During Wartime"
• From Australia, "Animal Kingdom"
• Julianne Moore and Annette Bening shine in "The Kids Are All Right"
• David O. Russell peaks with "The Fighter"
• Nicole Kidman and Aaron Eckhart scald in "Rabbit Hole"
• Philip Seymour Hoffman and Amy Ryan click in "Jack Goes Boating"
• Anne Hathaway is a star in "Love & Other Drugs"
• A charming tale of incompetent British terrorists, "Four Lions"
• A period piece about the Brits' labor movement, "Made in Dagenham"
• Robert Duvall is classically creepy in "Get Low"

Other Top Docs

• Boxing Gym
• Joan Rivers: A Piece of Work
• Catfish
• Winnebago Man

Guilty Pleasures

• Get Him to the Greek
• Easy A
• Nowhere Boy
• The Runaways
• Hot Tub Time Machine
• It's Kind of a Funny Story
• Enter the Void