I didn’t like too many movies that came out last year, so this is gonna have to be a Top 6 instead of a Top 10:
1. Transcendent Man
Apparently this came out in 2009, but I don’t think it was officially released until last year. Anyway, this is a great documentary, one of the best I’ve seen in a long while. Ray Kurzweil is fascinating and this is a perfect introduction to him, his work, his theories.
2. Midnight in Paris
It’s no secret that I’m a huge Woody Allen fan, and hell, apologist. I’ll defend Curse of the Jade Scorpion, September, et al., to the grave. Midnight in Paris isn’t one I’ll need to stick up for. If you’ve ever enjoyed a film of his, you’ll like this one. I’d say it’s one of his very best.
3. Moneyball
This is the only Oscar film this year that I enjoyed, and in a perfect world, it would’ve swept. But this is not a perfect world. This is a terrible world where solely awful things occur. But I digress. This is a great film. And I don’t even care about baseball.
4. Le Havre
It’s a travesty this was not even nominated for Best Foreign Film. For fucks sake, it’s got a 98% on Rotten Tomatoes! Shameful. Anyway, watch it. You’ll probably like it more if you’ve already seen a bunch of Aki Kaurismaki films, because he has a very particular sense of humor, and to the uninitiated, it might seem like there are no jokes at all.
5. Red State
Never thought I’d ever be putting a Kevin Smith film on a Top 10 let alone a Top 6, but here I am doing just that. Man, was I blown away by this one. I did not think he had it in him. I don’t think he thought he had it in him, either. But he does. And I hope he does more films like this. Not necessarily horror, but serious and well-shot and well-acted and all that. This is by a wide margin the best thing he’s ever done.
6. Cedar Rapids
This is a really cute movie. I went to see this in theaters not knowing what to expect, and I loved every minute of it. Cute, cute, cute. That’s really the best way to describe it. You love all the characters and you love the time you spend with them and the pace is really pleasant. I’ve seen it a few times since and it very much holds up.

