The 10 Best, No, the 100 Best Films of 2010

By Kam Williams    

Kam's Annual Assessment of the Cream of the Cinematic Crop

I always feel a little silly ranking the year's best movies, since so many are excellent and the different genres simply don't lend themselves to comparison with one another. Nonetheless, since this task is part of my job description, far be it from this critic to shrink from this annual responsibility. However, in prefatory remarks, let me remind you that I am taking into consideration all the films released over the course of 2010, not simply those released since Thanksgiving which are being hyped as Oscar-worthy by the studios.

Also, rather than limit my list to just the 10 Best offerings, I've expanded it, as usual, to 100, and included documentaries, independents and foreign flicks, along with the obligatory Hollywood blockbusters. After all, while everybody is well aware of the films which benefited from a big advertising budget, part of my purpose here is to encourage everyone to check out some of those lesser-known, cinematic delights which might not have made a blip on your radar.

10 Best Big Budget Films of 2010

1. The Social Network

2. Kick-Ass

3. Piranha 3-D

4. The Kids Are All Right

5. The Town

6. Black Swan

7. Easy A

8. The Fighter

9. Date Night

10. Scott Pilgrim vs. the World

Big Budgets Honorable Mention

11. The Next Three Days

12. Just Wright

13. The Other Guys

14. Knight and Day

15. Get Him to the Greek

16. Karate Kid

17. Why Did I Get Married Too

18. The Expendables

19. Toy Story 3

20. Rabbit Hole

21. Lottery Ticket

22. Mother and Child

23. Cyrus

24. For Colored Girls

25. Iron Man 2

Best Foreign Films

1. Sophie's Revenge (China)

2. A Film Unfinished (Poland)

3. Heartbreaker (France)

4. Africa United (Rwanda)

5. Jaffa (Israel)

6. The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo (Sweden)

7. Alamar (Mexico)

8. Soul Kitchen (Germany)

9. Hot Summer Days (Hong Kong)

10. Soul Boy (Kenya)

Foreign Films Honorable Mention

11. White Wedding (South Africa)

12. When We Leave (Turkey)

13. Everyone Else (Italy)

14. Amer (Belgium)

15. Bouncing Cats (Uganda)

16. Mademoiselle Chambon (France)

17. The Anchorage (Sweden)

18. Aftershock (China)

19. Leaving (France)

20. Cow (China)

21. Inspector Bellamy (France)

22. Mother (Korea)

23. For My Father (Israel)

24. Mesrine: Public Enemy #1 (France)

25. Girl on the Train (France)

10 Best Independent Films

1. Tiny Furniture

2. Fish Tank

3. Prince of Broadway

4. Modern Love Is Automatic

5. The People I've Slept With

6. Greenberg

7. Toe to Toe

8. Cairo Time

9. Kisses

10. Monsters

Independent Films Honorable Mention

11. Double Take

12. Nothing Personal

13. Hiding Divya

14. Life During Wartime

15. Lbs.

16. Women's Prison

17. Like Dandelion Dust

18. Get Low

19. The Eclipse

20. Life's Passing Me By

21. Wah Do Dem

22. Mercy

23. Paper Man

24. Trash Humpers

25. Friction

10 Best Documentaries

1. Gasland

2. Off and Running

3. Race to Nowhere

4. We Need to Talk

5. Dirty Hands

6. Biracial, Not Black, Dammit!

7. Restrepo

8. Neshoba

9. Videocracy

10. Wasteland

Documentaries Honorable Mention

11. I'm Still Here

12. The Other City

13. Fresh

14. Two in the Wave

15. Exit Through the Gift Shop

16. The Cartel

17. American Radical

18. Waiting for Superman

19. Behind the Burly Q

20. Hugh Hefner

21. The Art of the Steal

22. Tales from the Script

23. Saint Misbehavin'

24. Jean-Michel Basquait

25. Joan Rivers

Kam Williams is a syndicated film and book critic who writes for 100+ publications. He is a member of the New York Film Critics Online, the African-American Film Critics Association, and the NAACP Image Awards Nominating Committee. Contact him through NewsBlaze.