The 83rd Annual Academy Awards

As you've probably heard by now, The King's Speech was a big winner. This British production took home awards for best original screenplay, best actor, best director, and best picture. Although The King's Speech was a good film, I chose The Social Network as best picture. Natalie Portman won a well deserved oscar for her performance in Black Swan. Inception managed to score honors in sound mixing, sound editing, special effects, and cinematography. The biggest upset of the night came for me when The King's Speech director Tom Hooper beat The Social Network's David Fincher for best director. The most well deserved award of the night in my opinion, was Aaron Sorkin's win for best adapted screenplay for his work on The Social Network. In his speech, Sorkin mentioned the honor in receiving an Academy Award just like Paddy Chayefsky did in 1976 for his film, Network. Melissa Leo won best supporting actress, however the real show was not her acceptance speech, but rather the humor of the award's presenter, 94 year old screen icon, Kirk Douglas. That wraps up another year in film history. Hopefully 2011 will bare films as good as some of the ones in 2010.

The Top Ten Films of 2010

With 2010 over, and the Academy Awards at the end of the month, I decided to post my top ten films of 2010.

1. Animal Kingdom
2. Black Swan
3. The Social Network
4. Winter's Bone
5. The Fighter
6. True Grit
7. Inception
8. The King's Speech
9. The Kids Are All Right
10. Toy Story 3

Don't Tread Past Me! Frequently Overlooked Classics

I recently saw the new film Animal Kingdom. Despite being a fantastic film, it received very little attention here in the United States. This film got me thinking about other films that have been passed by despite being excellent. Here's a list of films you probably didn't see, but are definitely worth checking out.

1. Animal Kingdom (2010) (Australia)
2. Onibaba (1964) (Japan)
3. Blood Simple (1984) (USA)
4. Choke (2008) (USA)
5. Death at a Funeral (2007) (Britain)
6. The Ice Stom (1997) (USA)
7. American Buffalo (1996) (USA)
8. Barry Lyndon (1975) (USA)
9. Following (1998) (Britain)
10. Miller's Crossing (1990) (USA)