This year was an outstanding year for film. What really stood out in this year's offerings was just how unique, thought-provoking and intellectual they were -- with typical Hollywood entertainment fare thrown in the middle, of course. This exciting time for deep thinkers excites us here at the Justice and has formed the basis for our picks of the top 10 movies of 2010.10. Please Give
Nicole Holofcener's New York-based drama was released at the Sundance Film Festival in January and had a quiet release in April, falling somewhat through the cracks despite an 89-percent approval rating on
RottenTomatoes.com. Starring Catherine Keener as an upper-middle-class furniture storeowner, this is a brilliantly written, sophisticated comedy about real people and real problems.

9. Waiting for Superman
Academy Award-winning director Davis Guggenheim (An Inconvenient Truth) may be getting his second Oscar soon. His passionate and important documentary intensely debates the future of American public education, examining our current system's failures through an in-depth look at several teachers and students. Waiting for Superman raises issues that may lead to the first step toward education reform.

8. Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: Part 1
David Yates' third entry in the Potter series is the most compelling one yet. Dark, moody and absolutely Hogwarts-free, the film takes our favorite trio on the ultimate quest to defeat Lord Voldemort. What really sets this film apart from the others is that it manages to stay completely faithful to the book, yet it also stands alone as a film. Splitting the novel into two movies just might be the smartest decision the Potter producers ever made.

7. How to Train Your Dragon
This is arguably DreamWorks Animation's best animated film and the strongest 3-D film this year. A heartwarming and visually breathtaking tale about a gangly teenager who struggles to fit in with all of the other dragon-slaying Vikings, How to Train Your Dragon is the perfect film to watch with your family over winter break.

6. Shutter Island
Before Inception, Leonardo DiCaprio starred in another suspenseful tale involving the human psyche, which unfortunately has not received the acclaim that it should. Martin Scorcese's picture about a remote island filled with the criminally insane is absolutely riveting. While not truly a horror film, it manages to deliver plenty of frights and pulls viewers into the psychology of the island's inhabitants in a manner so disturbingly realistic that the audience members just might leave the film thinking they've gone crazy--in a good way.

5. The Social Network
This year was the year for Facebook films. Director David Fincher (Seven, Fight Club) and screenwriter Aaron Sorkin's (A Few Good Men) adaption of Ben Mezrich's book, The Accidental Billionaires, presents a stunning portrayal of Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg. If you haven't seen it yet, then go and find out why this film has Oscar written all over it.

4. 127 Hours
This story about a mountain climber, Aron Ralston (a phenomenal James Franco), who after an unfortunate accident finds himself trapped in the crevice of a mountain, is a visually stunning film. Director Danny Boyle weaves together a tapestry of visual elements that transports the viewer in and out of Aron's fascinating thought process. It's a fairly straightforward story that transforms into a cinematic force.

3. Toy Story 3
Pixar has done it again. The final adventure of Woody, Buzz and the rest of Andy's toys is a marvelous and heart-wrenching adventure that pits the toys against their worst nightmare: Andy growing up. This sets the stage for an absolutely beautiful story that will surely leave audiences crying by the film's conclusion. If Toy Story 3 becomes the first-ever animated film to win the award for best picture at the Oscars, justice will have been served.

2. Catfish
I know what you're thinking: what the heck is Catfish and why is it the number-two film this year? Don't bring your torches and pitchforks yet, though, until you've seem this gem of a documentary directed by Henry Joost and starring Ariel Schulman about the ramifications of living in an Internet-driven world. In a jaw-dropping and unbelievable story of a New York photographer who meets and falls in love with a mysterious woman on Facebook, this film will leave you both touched and shocked.

1. Inception
Did you really expect anything else? Christopher Nolan's mind-shattering masterpiece about invading the realm of dreams is not only his best film, but one of the most original and superbly crafted films ever made. What Nolan does is take a simple idea like dreaming, turn it completely on its head, and use it to create a complete world that is fantastic, yet at the same time completely believable. Although the story may appear a bit convuluted to the untrained eye, the true deep thinkers we love so much will find much to hypothesize about. (Seeing the film five or six times, like we did, also helps.) The film excels in every production area, including the beautfiul cinematography by Wally Pfister and the pulse-pounding score by Hans Zimmer. The acting is spectacular all around, with even the smallest role by Michael Caine played to perfection. Leonardo DiCaprio made some excellent career choices this year-here's hoping the Oscars do, too. The Academy certainly owes Nolan fans after snubbing his other masterpiece, The Dark Knight, 2 years ago. Hopefully the voters will have a change of heart.