It’s that time of the year again. The post I look forward to and dread in equal parts.

Bear in mind that this is a list of movies I’ve seen at the cinemas in Australia [with the exception of two that I saw in The States] this year, so quite a few that are ’09 releases to some of you, are in fact 2010 releases in this lagging country of ours. I can already see the same thing happening next year, with True Grit, Black Swan and The Fighter getting releases mid-January here.

Once again, this has taken 3+ hours to do. With the notable exception of Inception being best of the year by a clear margin for me, I think in future years, I’m going to have to create this list in some other way [maybe grouped by star ratings], because frankly, this is excruciatingly difficult, and probably not a completely fair way to rank movies either.

Anyway, here they are, ranked best to worst.

EDIT:

I’d omitted Scott Pilgrim vs the World and Knight and Day, so I’ve updated the list to include those two, and got to 100 in the process!

1. Inception


A year’s worth of hype EXCEEDED. This will NEVER happen again. You just blew my mind, Christopher Nolan

Ok, so, Christopher Nolan’s Inception filled the gaping pop-culture obsession void that was left after LOST ended. I’ve seen it five times now, and I love every single thing about it. I have read countless articles, viewed numerous parodies, seen every theory known to man, and played Hans Zimmer’s score to death. I’ve always said that a sure sign of a movie’s greatness to me is how long after I spend after I’ve walked out of the theatre thinking about said movie, and in the case of Inception, it’s been months now. A clear winner.

2. The White Ribbon (Das weisse Band) 
   
3. A Prophet (Un prophète)

4. Catfish

5. Let Me In

6. The King’s Speech

7. The Hurt Locker

8. Kick-Ass

9. Enter the Void

10. I’m Still Here

11. The Kids Are All Right
12. Animal Kingdom
13. Monsters
14. The American
15. A Single Man
16. Up in the Air
17. In the Loop
18. The Road
19. Exit Through the Gift Shop
20. Blue Valentine
21. The Killer Inside Me
22. Fish Tank
23. The Loved Ones 
24. The Town
25. The Disappearance of Alice Creed
26. Fair Game
27. The Social Network
28. Scott Pilgrim vs. the World
29. Fantastic Mr. Fox
30. Please Give 
31. Shutter Island
32. The Secret in Their Eyes
33. Precious: Based on the Novel Push by Sapphire
34. The Blind Side
35. Toy Story 3
36. Welcome
37. Caterpillar
38. Tron: Legacy
39. Wall Street: Money Never Sleeps 
40. Dinner for Schmucks 
41. Red Hill
42. Machete
43. The Game of Death
44. The Expendables
45. How to Train Your Dragon
46. Cell 211
47. Megamind
48. Harry Brown
49. Food, Inc.
50. The Lovely Bones
51. Four Lions
52. Green Zone
53. The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo (Män som hatar kvinnor)
54. Chloe
55. Confessions (Kokuhaku)
56. Brothers
57. Boy
58. Edge of Darkness
59. Invictus
60. Micmacs
61. Iron Man 2
62. Despicable Me
63. Piranha
64. Robin Hood
65. The A-Team 
66. The Girl Who Played with Fire (Flickan som lekte med elden)
67. Resident Evil: Afterlife
68. Date Night
69. The Concert (Le concert)
70. Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: Part I
71. The Chronicles of Narnia: The Voyage of the Dawn Treader
72. Hot Tub Time Machine
73. About Her Brother (Otôto)
74. Due Date 
75. Winter’s Bone
76. The Father of My Children (Le pere de mes enfants)
77. The Other Guys
78. A Lone Scalpel (Kokô no mesu) 
79. Get him to the Greek
80. Knight and Day
81. Easy A
82. Crazy Heart 
83. Tomorrow, When the War Began
84. Legend of the Guardians: The Owls of Ga’Hoole
85. Nine
86. My One and Only
87. Red 
88. Ip Man 2: Legend of the Grandmaster
89. Alice in Wonderland
90. Buried 
91. Prince of Persia: The Sands of Time
92. Chicks (La Vie au Ranch)
93. Clash of the Titans
94. The Book of Eli
95. It’s Complicated
96. The Wolfman
97. Daybreakers
98. Uncle Boonmee Who Can Recall His Past Lives 
99. Skyline 
100. The Last Airbender

…mind-bendingly bad. Worst plot, acting and dialogue of the year by a clear margin. M. Night Failamalan

It was really close between The Last Airbender and Skyline. I said similar things about both, but, well, I don’t know, it was like I was mourning Shyamalan’s career at the same time, and it feels like it really deserves worst movie of the year. Skyline was a complete joke, but The Last Airbender invoked a lot more hate from me.