Runners-Up to the 10 Favorites: Exit Through the Gift Shop, Fair Game, Get Him to the Greek, The Ghost Writer, I Am Love, Inception, The Other Guys, Restrepo, Scott Pilgrim Vs. the World, Waiting for "Superman."
Runners-Up to Those Runners-Up: Babies, Brooklyn's Finest, Despicable Me, Going the Distance, Hot Tub Time Machine, The Karate Kid, The King's Speech, Megamind, Please Give, The Town.
And Since it Was Such a Good Year ... : Cyrus, Easy A, For Colored Girls, Iron Man 2, It's Kind of a Funny Story, Ramona & Beezus, Salt, Tangled, Unstoppable, Youth in Revolt.
Enjoyable Movies That Weren't as Good As They Should've Been: Buried, Conviction, Eat Pray Love, The Fighter, Get Low, Greenberg, Hereafter, How to Train Your Dragon, Oceans, Splice.
Enjoyable Movies That Were Better Than They Should've Been: Diary of a Wimpy Kid, Jackass 3D, Jonah Hex, Knight & Day, The Last Exorcism, Legion, The Losers, My Soul to Take, The Next Three Days, The Switch.
Movies I'm Embarrassed to Have Enjoyed as Much as I Did: The Book of Eli, The Chronicles of Narnia: The Voyage of the Dawn Treader, Daybreakers, Dear John, Death at a Funeral, Edge of Darkness, Letters to Juliet, Morning Glory, Remember Me, She's Out of My League.
Not Bad, Hoped for Better: The Crazies, Date Night, Legend of the Guardians: The Owls of Ga'Hoole, Repo Men, Wall Street: Money Never Sleeps.
Not Bad, Expected Worse: Devil, 16 to Life, Letters to God, Nanny McPhee Returns, Takers.
Pretty Bad, Expected Better: The American, Dinner for Schmucks, Due Date, Green Zone, Solitary Man.
Pretty Bad, Expected as Much: Burlesque, From Paris with Love, I'm Still Here, Machete, A Nightmare on Elm Street.
Well, There's a Crapload of Money Not Going to Disease Research or Public Education ... : Alice in Wonderland, Clash of the Titans, Harry Potter & the Deathly Hallows: Part I, Kick-Ass, Percy Jackson & the Olympians: The Lightning Thief, Prince of Persia: The Sands of Time, RED, The Sorcerer's Apprentice, The Tourist, The Twilight Saga: Eclipse.
Romantic Comedies and Dramas Not Quite Insipid Enough for Worst-of-the-Year Consideration: The Back-Up Plan, Charlie St. Cloud, How Do You Know, Just Wright, The Last Song, Leap Year, Life as We Know It, Love & Other Drugs, The Virginity Hit, Why Did I Get Married Too?
Sequels, Reboots, and TV Offshoots Not Quite Heinous Enough for Worst-of-the-Year Consideration: The A-Team, MacGruber, Paranormal Activity 2, Piranha 3D, Resident Evil: Afterlife, Robin Hood, Saw 3D, Shrek Forever After, Step Up 3D, Tron: Legacy.
Movies That, in Another Year, Could Easily Have Placed Amongst the Worst of the Year: Case 39, The Expendables, Extraordinary Measures, Faster, Grown Ups, Tooth Fairy, Vampires Suck, The Warrior's Way, The Wolfman, You Again.
The 20 Worst Movies of 2010, in a Convenient "Top"-10 List:
10) The Bounty Hunter, Killers, Valentine's Day, When in Rome - How many of you wound up seeing one of these "date movies" while on a date? How many of you immediately broke up with the person whose idea it was?
9) Predators, Skyline - Watch the skies. Watch paint dry. Watch anything else.
8) Flipped, Secretariat - Big-screen nostalgia for people who say, "They don't make 'em like they used to," and forget that they also made fraudulent pieces of crap back when they used to.
7) Gulliver's Travels, Little Fockers - Ho ho no.
6) Alpha & Omega, Marmaduke, The Spy Next Door, Yogi Bear - As babysitters go, these kiddie flicks only cost you about four dollars an hour. You still got robbed.
5) Chain Letter - Forward to whomever you hate most.
4) Sex & the City 2 - Regarding the once-great franchise that spawned this grotesquely garish outing, co-star Chris Noth is quoted as saying, "The press killed it." Happy to help, Mr. Noth.
3) Furry Vengeance, Our Family Wedding - Live-action movies that found animals driving motor vehicles, intentionally unplugging treadmills, and, after humping Forest Whitaker's leg, saying, "Call me." And those were the believable scenes.
2) Cop Out - Worse than Jersey Girl. Worse than Bonfire of the Vanities. Worse, probably, than Tracy Jordan's Fat Bitch and Jefferson movies.
1) The Last Airbender - Please God let this be true.
For Mike Schulz's 10 favorites of the Year, see "The Flicks Are All Right."
