In my profession, there are two very important things you must do: watch movies and keep notes. I did an alright job with the first one, but admittedly fell short on the latter. While last year I was able to confidently provide what I thought were the best kills and quotes, this year I didn’t do a good job with record keeping and so I’ve omitted those categories. Next year I’ll be more meticulous and make it a point to see movie where people get destroyed while saying witty things.
However, I did see enough movies to confidently make a list of the folks I thought were the best actors, directors, and other miscellaneous greats. Hit the jump to check out my picks.
BEST ACTOR
Colin Firth as “King George VI” in The King’s Speech
Runners-Up:
George Clooney as “Jack / Edward” in The American
Jesse Eisenberg as “Mark Zuckerberg” in The Social Network
James Franco as “Aron Ralston” in 127 Hours
Tahar Rahim as “Malik El Djebena” in A Prophet
BEST ACTRESS
Natalie Portman as “Nina Sayers / The Swan Queen” in Black Swan
Runners-Up:
Annette Bening as “Nic” in The Kids Are All Right
Julianne Moore as “Jules” in The Kids Are All Right
Emma Stone as “Olive Penderghast” in Easy A
Michelle Williams as “Cindy” in Blue Valentine
BEST SUPPORTING ACTOR
Christian Bale as “Dicky Ecklund” in The Fighter
Runners-Up:
Armie Hammer as “Cameron Winklevoss / Tyler Winklevoss” in The Social Network
Ben Mendelsohn as “Andrew ‘Pope’ Cody” in Animal Kingdom
Mark Ruffalo as “Paul” in The Kids Are All Right
Geoffrey Rush as “Lionel Logue” in The King’s Speech
BEST SUPPORTING ACTRESS
Hailee Steinfeld as “Mattie Ross” in True Grit
Runners-Up:
Amy Adams as “Charlene Fleming” in The Fighter
Barbara Hershey as “Erica Sayers” in Black Swan
Melissa Leo as “Alice Ward” in The Fighter
Jackie Weaver as “Janine Cody” in Animal Kingdom
BREAKTHROUGH PERFORMANCE
Jennifer Lawrence as “Ree Dolly” in Winter’s Bone
Runners-Up:
Hailee Steinfeld as “Mattie Ross” in True Grit
Chloe Moretz as “Mindy Macready / Hit-Girl” in Kick-Ass
BEST DIRECTOR
Darren Aronofsky – Black Swan
Runners-Up:
Joel and Ethan Coen – True Grit
David Fincher – The Social Network
Christopher Nolan – Inception
Edgar Wright – Scott Pilgrim vs. The World
BEST DOCUMENTARY
Exit Through the Gift Shop
Runner-Up: Inside Job
BEST ANIMATED FILM
How to Train Your Dragon
Runner-Up: Toy Story 3
BEST SCORE
Daft Punk –TRON: Legacy
Runner-Up: Clint Mansell – Black Swan
BEST CINEMATOGRAPHY
Matthew Libatique – Black Swan
Runner-Up: Robert Richardson – Shutter Island
BEST ADAPTED SCREENPLAY
Aaron Sorkin – The Social Network
Runner-Up: Joel and Ethan Coen – True Grit
BEST ORIGINAL SCREENPLAY
David Siedler – The King’s Speech
Runner-Up: Christopher Nolan – Inception
—
Monday: Top 10 Posters of 2010
Tuesday: Top 10 Trailers of 2010
Wednesday: Best Performances, Directors, and Other Miscellany of 2010
Thursday: Worst 5 Films of 2010
Friday: Top 10 Films of 2010
IRON MAN 3 Review; Watch a Spoiler-Free Video Reaction
Gwyneth Paltrow Says There Won’t Be an IRON MAN 4; Joss Whedon Teases Quicksilver and Scarlet Witch for AVENGERS 2
Samuel L. Jackson Shares Behind-the-Scenes Stories at AFI’s Screening of PULP FICTION
Zack Snyder Will Be Asked to Direct JUSTICE LEAGUE if MAN OF STEEL Is a Success; Director Talks Backlash and 3D
J.J. Abrams Talks STAR WARS, STAR TREK, and CLOVERFIELD 2; Says He Could Possibly Direct TREK 3
hope Daft Punk take the oscar for original score!
Love the Emma Stone and Armie Hammer nods but really The King’s Speech for Original Screenplay instead of Inception
There’s no way Hailee Steinfeld was the supporting actress. She was more of a lead than any other actor in the movie. Also, shame on you for not having Roger Deakins show up in the cinematography section.
Dead on, Jacob S.
When will people look past Hailee Steinfeld’s age
and realize her character is the lead performance
in the movie?
Sorry to say, Matt, but you missed the boat on this.
Good choices, Matt.
One thing I’m stunned about (but by now I guess
I shouldn’t be) is why I have not read one word…
and I mean it, not one word, about the single most
compelling performance I’ve seen in the past several
years, not just in 2010. I’m guessing it’s such a
mind-blowing portrayal that it gets past people.
There was not a more searing performance last year
than Noomi Rapace in The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo.
Outstanding choices all around. The choices that diverge from the mainstream are almost identical to the ones I would have chosen.
*I would have picked Tamar Rahim as Best Actor over Firth, but you can’t go wrong with any of those five. I love the additions of Clooney and Rahim.
*I love that someone else recognized Armie Hammer’s performance over the likes of Garfield and Timberlake.
*I also like your choice of Barbara Hershey over Mila Kinus.
*Aronofsky is my choice for Best Director. I would not have picked Edgar Wright for the Top Five, instead going with Jacques Audiard for A Prophet.
*I haven’t seen Tron, so I can’t comment on the score. Clint Mansell’s work in Black Swan and Reznor’s work in The Social Network would be my two choices.
*Perfect selections for cinematography in Black Swan and Shutter Island. Richardson is the best cinematographer alive (yes, even over Deakins.) When Shutter Island came out, I didn’t think anyone could top what Richardson achieved, but Black Swan’s cinematography is equally impressive in an entirely different way.
How to Train Your Dragon? Really? Sure you can go against the predictable and choose that over Toy Story 3, bu the fact of the matter is… Toy Story 3 is better.
Definitely with Matt on this one. How to Train Your Dragon was witty, sweet, beautiful and original. Every time I watch it I notice something new. Blu-Ray trivia track helps, of course. Favorite of the year for my niece (3) and goddaughter (7), too. Yes, the under-10 crowd’s opinions do count!
Good to see support for Ben Mendelsohn’s pretty amazing performance in “Animal Kingdom.” That character is such a chilling, repellent figure in the film but – like Jacki Weaver’s performance – you also get to understand something of his vulnerability, as well, notably in the “All Out of Love” sequence.
I really liked your choices! Couldn’t agree more with your pick of Colin Firth
Would have picked Fincher over Aronofsky, but Black Swan was indeed amazing.
I think Christian Bale should win best actor. That’s the best performance of the year. Period.
Would have picked Toy Story 3 over HTTYD (honestly don’t know why everyone’s shitting themselves over that movie… yeah it was pretty great… but come on… TOY STORY 3!!!!) Also if Daft Punk gets the Oscar for best score… I can’t even imagine how awesome their their acceptance speech would be. Oh and Franco over Firth. Both great… but Franco was amazing in 127… which was better than Slumdog. Hands down.
Toy Story rocked, no doubt.
But if you look at both movies with the mindset that moviemaking is an art, it would be HTTYD.
Both movie’s had incredibly heartfelt stories, no doubt. But if you compare aspects like cinematography, musical score, dialogue, character design (Toothless, anyone?), again, HTTYD would triumph.
And agreed. James Franco deserves multiple accolades for his performance.
OK, I can definitely see your pick for TRON: Legacy for Best Score. But I’m addicted to Hans Zimmer’s Inception score. The orchestration had six bass trombones, six tenor trombones, four tubas and four french horns! And that lovely, haunting guitar by Johnny Marr. As Zimmer himself said, it adds “another layer to a multi-layered film.” (scorenotes.com interview)
I also couldn’t figure out why I kept having episodes of wet, snotty, bawling during Harry Potter except that Alexandre Desplat’s scores always slay me. His gorgeous Twilight: New Moon score was overlooked last year by the critics, too.
Barbara Hershey as “Erica Sayers” in Black Swan
Melissa Leo as “Alice Ward” in The Fighter
Jackie Weaver as “Janine Cody” in Animal Kingdom
was there any nice maternal characters this year…
I love the Daft Punk soundtrack for Tron, but I am absolutely positive that How To Train Your Dragon will win the Academy Award for it’s stunning soundtrack.