As Christopher Nolans Tenet is reportedly planning to open overseas on Aug. 26 while postponing a wide American release, American filmgoing remains in upheaval. While COVID-19 cases spike around the country and recent high quality releases like Netflixs The Old Guard, Amazons The Vast of Night and Hulus Palm Springs and The Assistant continue to premiere, the theatrical experience in the U.S. hovers at a standstill, with no likely ending in sight.

The box office for the 10 best picture Oscar-nominated movies.

With this in mind, its interesting to reflect on a year like 2010 and see how Americans relationship with the movies has changed. While only 10 years ago, the films of 2010 feel both bizarrely prescient and like remnants of a distant past. Here are the top 10 films of 2010:

From director Noah Baumbach, Greenberg is a beautiful, semi-autobiographical exploration of neurosis, anxiety and companionship, which brings together Baumbachs acidic approach to screenwriting and star Greta Gerwigs empathetic idealism. Starring Ben Stiller as an antisocial former musician who begins dating his brothers assistant (Gerwig) while struggling through a midlife crisis, Greenberg marks a turning point in Baumbachs career as an auteur, as Gerwig adds a youthful, lighthearted energy that had been missing from Baumbachs work since his directorial debut, 1995s Kicking and Screaming.

A conscious homage to Michael Manns 1995 film Heat, The Town marks Ben Afflecks arrival as a highly important director in modern Hollywood. Exploring the seedy criminal underground of Afflecks hometown, Boston, The Town succeeds behind a collection of scene-stealing supporting performances from Jeremy Renner, Jon Hamm and Blake Lively. A big-budget blockbuster geared toward adult audiences, The Town is a wonderful relic of a different era in commercial filmmaking.

One of the best animated films of the 2010s, Toy Story 3 serves as a perfect encapsulation of Pixars attempts to embed childrens movies with deeply meaningful and resonant morals. Following Buzz Lightyear, Woody and the rest of the gang of troublemaking toys, Toy Story 3 also acts as a meditation on the inevitable passage of time and impermanence of relationships. While most modern childrens movies feed off nostalgia, Toy Story 3 actively interrogates it, making it both a crowd-pleasing animated feature and a critique of the system that allows the movie to succeed.

A modern update of John Waynes Oscar-winning western, True Grit tells the story of teenager Mattie Ross (Hailee Steinfeld), who enlists the help of an aging U.S. Marshal (Jeff Bridges) to avenge the death of her father. From directors Joel and Ethan Coen, True Grit may be the Coen brothers most underrated film, serving as a romantic, old west counterpart to the outright nihilism of No Country For Old Men. While keeping with the filmmakers sense of removal and cynical tendencies, True Grit shows their capacity to tell a different kind of story about morality.

Easily one of the most important movies of the last decade, Inception continues to this day to captivate fans with its potent mixture of big-top action sequences and dream-logic mythology. While the films dream pseudoscience may not always hold together, Inception thrives on spectacle, giving each scene a sense of remarkable grandeur and finite precision. While Nolan is once again in the news because of Tenet, Inception remains a brilliant advertisement for both his talent as a filmmaker and the added value of the theatrical experience.

As director Darren Aronofskys story of obsession and art, Black Swan is far from the most pleasurable movie of 2010, but its certainly one of the most rewarding. Featuring an incredible lead performance from Natalie Portman, Black Swan is Aronofskys best effort yet to explore the ideas of an addictive personality, which hed been making films about since his directorial debut, Pi. At times off-putting, Black Swan'' relentlessly seeks to innovate and surprise, making it one of the best films of Aronofskys career.

A box office failure in its time, Scott Pilgrim vs. The World has emerged as easily one of the most beloved objects of cult movie obsession in the past decade. Featuring a jaw-dropping collection of stars whod dominate Hollywood in the years to come, Scott Pilgrim vs. The World may prove to be director Edgar Wrights crowning achievement. A veteran cinematic genius, Wright uses every element of pop culture iconography at his disposal, creating a profound text for fans of comic books, rock music, superheroes, martial arts movies and video games. While misunderstood in its time, Scott Pilgrim vs. The World will likely remain unparalleled in its audacity and adventurousness for years to come.

From director Kelly Reichardt, Meeks Cutoff is a masterful deconstruction of American Western mythology, throwing traditional iconography to the side in order to concentrate on elements of process and hardship. Using Reichardts technical mastery, Meeks Cutoff follows a group of settlers on the Oregon trail in 1845 who begin to believe that their eccentric guide may not know where they are. Taking an active look at the brutal realities of the old west and meditating on womens role in the settling of America, Meeks Cutoff is a brilliant work of stillness, subtlety and detail.

One of the most underrated movies in Martin Scorseses filmography, Shutter Island is a brilliant homage to the 1950s B-movies like Samuel Fullers Shock Corridor, which served as a basis for Scorseses film obsession. Starring Leonardo DiCaprio, Shutter Island unsettles a viewer with a sense of psychological unease, cinematic excess and convoluted, well-earned empathy that grants the film a feeling of invincibility. Much like DiCaprios other 2010 film, Inception, Shutter Island is a worthwhile exploration of dreams, nightmares and the lies characters tell themselves, making the movie a masterpiece of paranoia.

The best movie of the 2010s, The Social Network maintains its unassailable status as a thrilling exploration of greed, social acceptance and success. Charting Facebooks rise to a Silicon Valley behemoth, The Social Network continues to awe viewers with its shocking sense of prescience and innovation. As divisions abound through modern American society and social media envelopes the cultural landscape, The Social Network remains a reminder of the idealism, narcissism and inevitable moral corruption surrounding what people consume, making it one of the most important pop cultural artifacts of its time.

What stands out the most in reflecting on the 2010s is how much the industry has changed over the course of a decade. Superhero films, while existent, hadn't come to dominate the box office the way they would after the release of Avengers in 2012. Netflix and other streaming services were up and running, but Netflixs stranglehold of pop culture wouldnt begin until House of Cards and Orange Is The New Black were added in 2013.

While 2010 remains an exemplary year for movies, it is both a time prior to blockbuster over-saturation and the independent boom fueled by production companies A24, Neon and Blumhouse. The result is a year filled with extraordinarily successful highs, but a lack of diverse thought and art on the whole, making 2010 a relic of film history for better and worse.

Contact Chris Carr at carrtc@dukes.jmu.edu. For more on the culture, arts and lifestyle of the JMU and Harrisonburg communities, follow the culture desk on Instagram and Twitter @Breeze_Culture.

See the original post here:

Remembering the 10 best movies of 2010 | Culture | breezejmu.org - The Breeze