The Social Network (2010)
David Fincher and Aaron Sorkin turn the founding of Facebook into a courtroom-and-dorm-room drama that critics adore. The craft is immaculate and I came away admiring it more than enjoying it. 6/10.
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The Town (2010)
Ben Affleck follows his directing debut with a Boston heist thriller that knows its genre cold and plays it with real control. The plot beats are familiar, the execution is not, and the result is one of the most assured crime films in years. 8.5/10.
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Buried (2010)
A man, a coffin, a phone and ninety-five minutes. Rodrigo Cortes builds a real thriller out of almost nothing, and Ryan Reynolds carries the whole thing on his face. 8/10.
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Salt (2010)
Angelina Jolie gets the spy thriller she has been circling for years, and Phillip Noyce keeps it moving too fast to argue with. Judge it on momentum, not plausibility, and it delivers. 8/10.
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Inception (2010)
Christopher Nolan smuggles a puzzle-box about dreams into the middle of blockbuster season and makes it move like a heist thriller. Clever, gorgeous, and built to be watched again. 9.5/10.
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Predators (2010)
Robert Rodriguez finally gets his Predator sequel made, and it does the sensible thing by going back to the jungle. Not a reinvention, but a confident, well-cast return to the hunt. 7.5/10.
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Iron Man 2 (2010)
Two years on, Tony Stark comes back richer, drunker and busier, in a sequel that crams a revenge plot, a corporate rival and a whole shared universe into one suit. Overstuffed, but the central act still sells the ticket. 8/10.
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The Ghost Writer (2010)
Polanski adapts Robert Harris into a cold, grey, slow-burning paranoia thriller, and an unnamed McGregor walks straight into it. Old-fashioned suspense, beautifully built. 8/10.
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Green Zone (2010)
Paul Greengrass and Matt Damon take the Bourne method into occupied Baghdad and go looking for the weapons that were never there. Familiar politics, first-rate craft, and a chase you cannot look away from. 8/10.
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Shutter Island (2010)
Scorsese trades the streets for a fog-bound asylum and builds a gorgeous, paranoid Gothic puzzle. The mystery leans hard on its twist, but the atmosphere and DiCaprio carry it a long way. 8/10.
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