A William Shakespeare classic romance gets the animated treatment with GNOMEO AND JULIET.
With several different versions of Romeo and Juliet being displayed on the big screen, it was bound to be animated. 
Ben Stiller shows he’s more than just a funny guy in the comedy-drama GREENBERG. Stiller sacrifices his lovable nature and slips into the skin of Roger Greenberg, a complete jerk. Although Stiller’s humor still shines through, the talented actor delivers several layers to a flawed and tormented individual. Greta Gerwig is also terrific as Greenberg’s love interest, creating an apprehensive, masochistic and yet likable presence as Florence.
A traumatic experience provides the basis for the melancholy, oddly funny and moving documentary MARWENCOL. Mark Hogancamp was beat into a coma when five men jumped him outside of a bar one night. After therapy doesn’t work, Mark finds solace by creating a post-World War Two town where dolls inhabit his imaginative world. Through the interaction with the characters and situations he creates, Mark provides his own therapeutic experience, revealing a lot about his feelings, inhibitions and desires. MARWENCOL is an emotional wallop.
HEREAFTER is a moving and contemplative exploration of what lies ahead when our souls move on. Director Clint Eastwood taps into the synchronicity of Peter Morgan’s script and provides a haunting and emotional trek into the psyche of three fractured individuals. A terrific cast headlined by Matt Damon conveys various levels of grief in reflective and humanistic ways.
THE SOCIAL NETWORK examines our current state of societal affairs and an intriguing rise-to-the-top story of Facebook creator Mark Zuckerburg. Director David Fincher works a clever script by screenwriter Aaron Sorkin into an excellent morality tale, and benefits from a familiar, but no less effective performance from Jesse Eisenberg. The bookends to this drama are as wonderful and biting as any film last year.
As suspenseful as it is thrilling, THE GHOST WRITER is an original, edge-of-your-seat, overseas thriller. Following the death of the original writer, Ewan McGregor is called in as a ghost writer to pen the memoirs of former British Prime Minister Adam Lang, played by Pierce Brosnan. The mystery that ensues is a throwback to yesteryear, building thrills and intensity from a myriad of characters and a plot that weaves its way in and out of hot-button political terrain. 
Darren Aronofsky’s BLACK SWAN is a rare find, a horror film with substance. This psychological horror film benefits from a shockingly good performance from Natalie Portman. Portman stars as Nina, a ballet dancer cast as the leads in BLACK SWAN, as both the white and black swan. Nina’s gradual unravelling from prim and proper princess into a darker more disturbing individual is haunting thanks to Portman’s performance, and Aronofsky’s handling of the material.
Director Danny Boyle and star James Franco deliver a gut-wrenching, self-discovery drama with 127 HOURS. This true tale of outdoorsman Aarron Smith’s tragic fall and trappings in the cavernous rock formations in Utah is a harrowing, but inspirational awakening of one man’s soul. Boyle’s manic directorial eye is more subdued in 127 HOURS, but the talented director still leaves his mark. Franco delivers a performance that is straightforward and yet nonetheless effective, conveying anguish, despair and redemption with minimal dialogue.
The most thrilling movie of 2010 came from overseas with the Hitchcockian Korean film MOTHER. A desperate mother pulls out all the stops to prevent her son from spending a lifetime in prison in director Joon-ho Bong’s latest. THE HOST director has improved upon his already impressive early work, delivering a truly suspenseful mystery wrapped around one woman’s personal conundrum. Hye-ja Kim is mother, the anchor of this odd, funny, slightly disturbing and thrilling tale. Kim’s performance runs the gamut of emotions: anger, sadness, vengeance and elation, all conveyed with deep sincerity. The only thing rarer than Kim’s fine performance, is a genuinely shocking finish. MOTHER delivers both, and is as enriching as it is entertaining.
Ryan Gosling and Michelle Williams deliver a lifetime’s worth of emotions in the modern love story, BLUE VALENTINE, my runner-up as the best film of 2010. Gosling and Williams, as Dean and Cindy, along with co-writer and director Derek Cianfrance purely capture the thrill of falling in love and the heartbreak in seeing it end. Cianfrance wisely juxtapositions Derek and Cindy’s initial encounters and romance with their later marital struggles, lending a bittersweet touch to the flashbacks, and tear-jerking moments to the couples’ strained ending. BLUE VALENTINE wonderfully and painfully examines the honeymoon and when it is over. 
Writer-director Christopher Nolan’s science-fiction masterpiece is said to have been in the works for ten years, and it was worth every minute of it. This imaginative and explorative trip into the psyche of dreams and one man’s burdensome past is a feast for both the eyes and mind. Nolan enlists Leonardo Dicaprio to navigate us through the structure of one’s subconscious in spite of being oblivious of his own. Dicaprio is surrounded by a talented cast including Ellen Page, Michael Caine, Joseph Gordon-Levitt and Ken Wantanabee, but Nolan is the real star. The director’s visionary work is a complex experience built on philosophical, emotional and thematic pillars. INCEPTION is complicated, but Nolan’s skill in delivering this mind-blowing dramatic thriller is the ease at which his story is told through its narrative and visuals. INCEPTION is the cinematic event of the year, and my top film of 2010.
THE TOWN sounds a lot like an old-western and this modern day thriller feels just like one. Ben Affleck, just like Clint Eastwood, may find his best cinematic years behind, not in front of, the camera. Just like his directorial debut, GONE BABY GONE, Affleck captures the essence of his Beantown roots, creating authentic characters and intense confrontations from a plot that could have gone in the wrong direction. THE TOWN isn’t your average action film, one with brains and heart.SHUTTER ISLAND 
Although SHUTTER ISLAND doesn’t break any new ground, it does feel frighteningly authentic thanks to director Martin Scorsese and actor Leonardo DiCaprio. This psychological horror film centers around a police investigation at a remote insane asylum and is terrifically creepy thanks to the aura Scorsese creates and the determined character that Dicaprio encompasses.
FROZEN 
FROZEN is a well-orchestrated thriller that shrewdly adapts its surroundings into its participants perils. Three friends are marooned at the top of a ski-lift during sub-freezing temperatures for the weekend, and writer-director Adam Green finds plenty of obstacles outside of the weather to give FROZEN all of the chills it needs.
EDGE OF DARKNESS
EDGE OF DARKNESS is another thriller that benefits from the forceful presence of Mel Gibson as a father seeking revenge for his daughter’s death, and a screenplay that doesn’t let anyone off-the-hook. This personal and political pot-boiler has more brawn than brains, but there’s enough intellect in the subtext to keep it from masquerading as standard action fare.
SALT
SALT, on the other hand, is extremely well orchestrated standard action fare. Angelina Jolie is a spy, or an agent, or a double-agent in this crazy, exhilarating and utterly entertaining romp from director Phillip Noyce. Noyce, who’s most recent works have been more serious, cuts loose with this fun and completely ridiculous mystery.
Photos courtesy of Paramount Pictures, Columbia Pictures, Anchor Bay Films and Warner Bros. Pictures
Director David O’ Russell crafts the real-life tale of an underdog boxer into a best picture nominee with THE FIGHTER. Mark Wahlberg boxes his way towards a championship as prize fighter Micky Ward. Although his route to the title is tough, Micky’s bigger bout is with his antagonistic, but well-meaning family. O’Russell’s dissected family dynamics before, but not nearly as well in this realistic and emotional family drama. Melissa Leo and Christian Bale lose themselves in self-destructive, but hopeful characters. 
HOW TO TRAIN YOUR DRAGON is Dreamworks finest from 2010. A friendship between former foes in a Viking and a dragon is reminiscent of another foreign friendship between an extraterrestrial and a boy named Elliott. Although not as exquisite as E.T., DRAGON still soars with terrific aerial shots and coliseum encounters, and even benefits from the 3D technology that many pictures still struggle to get right. 
It’s not often that films cut to the core of basic human necessities, but WINTER’S BONE serves up a drama that is equally thrilling and moving. Jennifer Lawrence, at only 19, conveys a deep determination, tough attitude and wisdom beyond her years as the heroine of this gutsy tale of a teenager who must find her estranged dad to save her family and home. WINTER’S BONE is a riveting look into a slice of life that screenwriters typically avoid.
MONSTERS is an awkward love story with a monster movie as its backdrop, failing to ignite much passion or sparks between its leads. The impromptu screenplay hangs the romantic leads out to dry, while the monster moments are effective, but cut short by writer-director Gareth Edwards. The monsters are frightening, but they had nothing on the interaction between Whitney Able and Scoot McNairy.
THE RUNAWAYS is a bio-picture about controversial girl rockers, featuring Kristen Stewart and Dakota Fanning. The film may have seemed edgier, had it not been so boring. The on-stage performances by these young stars are convincing, but the backstage theatrics and melodrama make this Joan Jett coming-of-age production a real yawner.
Robert Deniro and Ben Stiller reunite for more odd encounters in LITTLE FOCKERS. Although Deniro and Stiller walk away unscathed, Jack and Greg did not, with a collection of screenwriters and director Paul Weitz forcing the characters into ludicrous and humorless situations. LITTLE FOCKERS plot involving Greg’s kids is just another excuse to drag out another series through Hollywood’s comedy remanufacturing plant.
COUNTRY STRONG is neither strong, or very country. A weak narrative scattered amongst three country pop stars and their manager is completely hollow. The performances deliver second-rate tunes well enough, but it’s the other moments when their mouths are open that make this made-for-TV melodrama grating. Gwyneth Paltrow’s diva Kelly Canter is a new low for the actress. Despite the less than stellar screenplay, Paltrow draws no empathy for this miserable alcoholic.
Gordon Gecko returned from the dead, or at least from behind bars in the not-so-thrilling sequel, WALL STREET: MONEY NEVER SLEEPS. Michael Douglas reprises his role as Gecko, and Oliver Stone returns, but the controversial and talented director leaves his significant scripting and directing skills in the 80’s. Although money never sleeps, I nearly did gazing at the dollar signs wasted on this tedious retread.
Tragedy and comedy collide in the romantic comedy mess LIFE AS WE KNOW IT. Katherine Heigel and Josh Duhamel are de facto surrogate parents after mutual friends die in an auto accident, leaving their young son in the hands of these singles. Even if you buy into the far-fetched set-up, there’s little to accept from these sometimes selfish and often foolish characters.
4) VALENTINE'S DAY
There’s nothing sweet that comes from VALENTINE’S DAY. This bloated, syrupy and ridiculous romantic comedy, mixes several story line and stars, each of which is less compelling then the next. Some things could only happen in the movies, and others could only happen in a Garry Marshall movie. This one is the latter.
3) COP OUT
COP OUT busts in minus any thrills or laughs. Writer-director Kevin Smith hits rock bottom with this so-called, buddy-cop comedy starring Bruce Willis, Tracy Morgan and Sean William Scott. Each star is type cast in a role that is equally unfunny and annoying. The only thing less effective than Smith’s by-the-book script, is the half-hearted action sequences pasted in between the ineffective humor. COP OUT lives up to its title.
An Oscar pedigree encompasses the at-times, laugh-out loud, bad thriller and horror film THE WOLFMAN. Past Oscar nominees Anthony Hopkins and Benico Del Toro should have foreseen the unintended laughs in the film’s mono-y-mono finale as fighting wolves. What isn’t unintentionally funny, is extremely crude, following the standard werewolf set-up and payoff. Emily Blunt attempts to bring some levity to this nonsense, but is trumped by horrific and grotesque killings. Seriously, beware of THE WOLFMAN.
Nicole Kidman and Aaron Eckhart grieve over the loss of their four-year old son in the drama RABBIT HOLE.
Tackling the subject of grief, particularly the loss of a child, is a daunting task. RABBIT HOLE takes a mannered approach to the subject, and in spite of its best intentions, feels contrived and shallow. 
An assassin trains his mentor’s son at his own sadistic trade in the action remake THE MECHANIC.
In standard action movies, there are good guys and bad guys. In THE MECHANIC, there are bad guys and worse ones. This proves to be the Achilles Heel of the film, a film which demands a rooting interest.