10. The Karate Kid
A crane kick to the head to all the Jaden Smith doubters. The remake of the ultimate '80s teen underdog story proved that Jaden can act, and more importantly, that he's born with his dad's treasured finishing move: natural charisma. The Hong Kong setting gave the film great set pieces for amazing chase scenes which were only topped by even more amazing fight scenes. The tween actors made each kick and karate chop wince-inducing. Plus, Jackie Chan's kung fu was strong.
9. Piranha 3-D
A rare crowd-pleasing horror flick that did better with critics than with fans. But this trashy B movie had everything: A fumbling scientist, a grumpy sheriff, horny coeds and a ravenous prehistoric man-eating fish. The gore factor and dead teenager tally was so high that we don't know how they'll top it in the sequel—but we're gnawing at the bit to find out.
8. Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: Part 1
The Boy Who Lived's time is almost up, and the Deathly Hallows might be the best in the already impressive series. Even better, the long stretches with Harry, Ron, and Hermione in the woods (snoozefest in the book) are amazingly cinematic. Our heroes are free from Hogwarts and the world London is filled with muggles in danger! As Harry and Co. learn about the Deathly Hallows—whose origin is a superb example of animated storytelling—we realize that, at times, Part 1 does something truly magical: it becomes a film that surpasses the book.
7. 127 Hours
James Franco stars as real life adventurer Aron Ralston—a young man who found himself down a deep canyon with his right arm stuck between a rock and a hard place. The plot could easily be mistaken for Saw XIII, but director Danny Boyle is more interested in letting us see just how awe-inspiring—and harrowing—a trek through Utah can be. Franco is our one man show—funny, scared (and really ticked off) but always a guy that you would love to hang out with. A long as there's a Swiss Army knife within arm's reach.
6. Scott Pilgrim vs. The World
This ultimate hipster flick—music by Beck, based on cool graphic novel, starring Michael Cera and Jason Schwartzman—is almost too cool for us. As Pilgrim falls in love with a gal with mood-ring hair styles, the movie swept us away with hyper real action and every in-joke on the 8-bit gaming era. We'd happily take on 100 Evil Exes to snog with Ramona Flowers. The "vs" players like Chris Evans and Brandon Routh were hilarious.
5. How to Train Your Dragon
Dreamworks' animated tale of Vikings and pet dragons swooped in and seized our collective imaginations and hearts. The high-flying tale of a young Viking (and his dad, and his dragon) not only looked amazing, but proved that Pixar doesn't have an exclusive on emotional highs in movies like this. And in 3-D, no other film made us soar (not even Avatar) so high.
4. The Kids Are All Right
Annette Bening and Julianne Moore play a couple whose teenage kids decide to seek out their biological father. Director Lisa Cholodenko avoids easy sitcom exchanges in favor of moments that are grounded in a world that's totally relatable. This tale may seem to be about a lesbian couple, a hippie dude and two confident, independent children, but it's really about how family, no matter what form it takes, matters.
3. Inception
Leonardo DiCaprio plays a man who may never stop dreaming in two films this year (oh, hi, Shutter Island), but only Christopher Nolan's super smart, way cool follow-up to The Dark Knight matters. By grounding some high-wire concepts in the real world, Nolan let the plot get dream-within-a-dream complex—without losing the audience. And when things did get trippy (Joseph Gordon-Levitt's zero-G hallway chase), Inception went far beyond Neo's Matrix. In Nolan's universe, it's all about living in a permanent state of now. So, did that top ever stop spinning?
2. Black Swan
In this straight-up horror story, Natalie Portman gives the performance of her career as a dancer who fears the disapproval of others as much as drives herself (through gruesomely physical torture) to perfection. This could easily be seen as a cautionary tale for young Hollywood, but it's so much more. What lingers most about writer/director Darren Aronofsky's tour de force of competitive ballet is its timeless feeling (there's like one smart phone on-screen). Today's starlets will grow old—but Nina's descent into becoming the Black Swan will stick with us forever.
1. The Social Network
The Citizen Kane of the digital age, thanks to David Fincher's flawless direction, Aaron Sorkin's catchy script and a once-in-a-generation collision of technology, pop culture and high finance. The film about how billionaire Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg pretty much took over the world appears to have a lot of smart guys locked in a constant war of words. But look closer. What's behind this is a structure not unlike Facebook itself, fractured yet meaningful, and much different than how information flowed when Orson Welles pic about the newspaper biz was the big man on campus.
Next gallery: Top 10 Feuds of 2010