Arts & Entertainment A weekly guide to music, theater, art, movies and more, edited by Rebecca Wallace
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ood times and tough times, champions and rogues fill this year’s crop of annual “best� and “worst� lists compiled by the Weekly’s three film critics. Do you like dark tales about Wall Street chicanery or the rivalry of the ballet world? Or would you prefer to weep over plucky little toys overcoming adversity, or perhaps root for a king conquering his stammer? There was a host of stories to choose from last year. In a selection of picks and pans, Weekly critics Peter Canavese, Tyler Hanley and Susan Tavernetti look back over 2010 in film. And, in case you need some advice on whom to cheer for or razz, Hanley lists the best cinematic heroes and villains of the year.
FROM KINGS TO COWBOYS
Clockwise from left: Jesse Eisenberg in “The Social Network,� Woody (voiced by Tom Hanks) in “Toy Story 3,� Russell Crowe in “Robin Hood,� Colin Firth in “The King’s Speech� and Michael Cera in “Scott Pilgrim vs. The World.�
TOP FILMS OF 2010 HAVE A WHOLE WORLD OF HEROES
Peter Canavese’s top films
Tyler Hanley’s top films
Susan Tavernetti’s top films
10. Lebanon Israeli filmmaker Samuel Maoz’s deeply personal account of the first day of the 1982 Lebanon War puts us inside a tank with four traumatized soldiers for 90 minutes. This powerful evocation of war as hell is not easy to endure in its “you are there� virtual reality. But if this is pure cinema at its most unnerving, it’s also at its best.
10. Hereafter Watching Clint Eastwood’s metaphysical drama is sort of like taking a road trip to the Grand Canyon. The journey is long and plodding, but the destination is breathtaking. Matt Damon’s likable protagonist leads the viewer through a wave of emotions and Eastwood presents the afterlife in a peaceful light instead of as something morbid or terrifying. But “Hereafter� requires patience and maturity.
10. Black Swan Ballerinas gone mad. How many times have we seen this story of obsession with one’s art, subservience to an authoritarian ballet impresario and rivalry with another dancer? But director Darren Aronofsky’s lurid drama has the kick of a paranoid fever dream — with one toe shoe delicately performing the role of the White Swan of “Swan Lake� and the other dancing on the grave. Natalie Portman’s
9. The Ghost Writer One of the most purely
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