Features

The Top 10 Films of 2010

Outsiders were in on screen in 2010

By PETER KEOUGH | December 21, 2010

PLEASE GIVE: Catherine Keener and Oliver Platt are brilliant in this film from one of America’s best directors, Nicole Holofcener.

So many outstanding films came out this year that not only did I have a hard time narrowing my best list to 10, I started to worry that next year might totally tank to compensate. Maybe the quality has improved because filmmakers have expanded their field of focus to include subjects out of the mainstream. Almost all the movies I chose explore the margins of society and experience, from the loneliness of a monomaniacal billionaire to the outsider art of the damaged victim of a hate crime, from a childlike dancer pushed to the limits of solipsistic obsession to a young girl who's been 12 years old for a long time.

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The worst and best of Boston sports in 2010
The Patriots are 12-2, the Red Sox won Hot Stove season, the Bruins are skating off skeins of wins thanks in part to the pickup of an 18-year-old Wunderkind who may be the second coming of Jesus on ice skates, and the Celtics have twice dunked the Heat.
2010 in Updates to the AP Stylebook
As any grizzled newspaper copy editor will tell you, shit ain't real until the AP Stylebook says so.
2010 in Boston restaurants
It's not hard to name the restaurant trend of the year, which is gastro-pubs. Or rather, it is hard to name it, because that is such an unappetizing name for what has been a very revitalizing short-menu format.
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The worst and best of Boston sports in 2010
The Patriots are 12-2, the Red Sox won Hot Stove season, the Bruins are skating off skeins of wins thanks in part to the pickup of an 18-year-old Wunderkind who may be the second coming of Jesus on ice skates, and the Celtics have twice dunked the Heat.
2010 in Updates to the AP Stylebook
As any grizzled newspaper copy editor will tell you, shit ain't real until the AP Stylebook says so.
2010 in Boston restaurants
It's not hard to name the restaurant trend of the year, which is gastro-pubs. Or rather, it is hard to name it, because that is such an unappetizing name for what has been a very revitalizing short-menu format.
2010: The year in Nic Cage
Around two minutes into Carter Burwell's arrangement of the banjo standard "Way Out There" (known to most of us as the theme from Raising Arizona ), the melody, heretofore whistled and yodeled over wild and rambling little arpeggios, gives way to some familiar chords
Double-Secret Probation: 2010's biggest Boston political scandal
In a year that started with a former House Speaker under indictment, an open US Senate seat, and a governor seemingly headed to electoral defeat, the biggest political story of 2010 turned out to be the Beacon Hill probation patronage scandal. And, if past is prologue, that ongoing saga promises to continue in 2011.
2010: The year in cheap eats
The endless recession may be crimping our dining-out habits, but 2010 continued to showcase Boston as a great place for frugal fressers.
2010: The year in Boston Phoenix articles
If ever there was an indulgent time of year, late December would be it — and not just in the washing-down-fistfuls-of-sugar-cookies-with-flagons-of-eggnog sense, either.
Boston rock's 2010 in review
In a year where the only party anthem we could all agree on was Auto-Tune the News' "Bed Intruder" remix , it's no wonder Boston turned inward to reconnect with its native rock scene.
Top 5 Dutch Rap Singles of 2010
2010 in Dutch rap
The Four Loko Club: Stuff That Was Banned in 2010
In early November, Sarah Palin passed out 200 sugar cookies at a school fundraiser in Bucks County, Pennsylvania.
4 New Obscure Music Subgenres of 2010
Artists may not like to admit it, but genres are and always will be invaluable for discussing music.
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