2010 is gone and with it an incredible year of cinema. In what has been called the “Year of the Drama”, 2010 displayed some of the best films in recent memory. Four of them saw wide release within the last month and a half, in what is shaping up to be a very competitive Oscar season. See the reviews below.

The King’s Speech

“The King’s Speech” has become the favorite of the Oscar race, garnering the most nominations and sweeping many of the awards shows. The movie is British cinematography at its finest, boasting one of the most heavily talented casts in history. Set in the tumultuous period of prewar Britain, the film manages to tell an intimate story spanning major events in history.

During the course of the film, we actually see the history of three kings of England and three prime ministers. Surprisingly “The King’s Speech” avoids becoming too epic, but instead adheres closely to the speech-impaired protagonist Bertie (Colin Firth), more commonly known as King George VI. The film actually focuses more closely on the unlikely friendship between the king and his Australian speech therapist, Lionel Logue (Geoffrey Rush). Helena Bonham Carter fills the roll of Bertie’s loving wife and future Queen Mother.

True Grit

“True Grit” is Joel and Ethan Coen’s retelling of the classic western, starring John Wayne — but don’t count on calling it a remake. The Coens insist that the film was inspired by the original novel, not the film. Regardless, “True Grit” is a precocious romp into the Old West, with the ornery eye-patched marshal Rooster Cogburn, played by cult Coen collaborator Jeff “The Dude” Bridges. This is the roll that “The Duke” originally won an Oscar for. As in every Coen film, “True Grit” revels dialogue, providing what sounds more like saloon Shakespeare than backwoods hokum. Outshining the drunken tirades of the one-eyed Cogburn, 14-year-old Hallie Steinfeld plays the delightfully competent Mattie Ross — well enough to receive an acting nomination along with Bridges. Making over 100 million dollars through the holiday season, “True Grit” is perhaps the most conventional, crowd-pleasing movie the Coens have ever made. That said, it’s also one of the most original Westerns you will ever see.

Black Swan

“Black Swan” is a tense thriller that truly defies genre. Contrastingly, Darren Aronofsky’s dark film can be labeled as all of the following: art house, horror, blockbuster and melodrama. It’s difficult to think of a theater full of senior citizens sitting next to high school students watching a terrifying movie about ballerinas, but this unlikely scenario did play out, much to “Black Swan’s” credit and success. The film’s unsettling mood is established right away, as struggling ballet dancer Nina (Natalie Portman) awakes from a spine-chilling nightmare. The rest of the story unwinds with the continuous use of disorienting special effect sequences that leave you wondering what is real or imagined. “Black Swan,” full of disturbing acts of violence and sexuality mixed with dramatically staged choreography, has a hard R-rating for good reason. Nevertheless, it’s a worthy rollercoaster of a movie, if you can stomach it.

The Fighter

“The Fighter” is a classic underdog tale, based on the true-life struggles of 90’s boxer Micky Ward (Mark Wahlberg), and his occasionally dysfunctional Irish American family. Boasting three Oscar nominations for its strong supporting cast, the meat of the story focuses on the turmoil of Ward’s daily life, as he tries to pursue his career while dealing with the distractions of his Massachusetts home. Christian Bale knocks it out of the park as the coke-addict, has-been, half brother Dicky Ekland Amy Adams convincingly plays against type as the tough, but supportive girlfriend; and Melissa Leo rounds out the cast as the boys’ overbearing, chain-smoking mother. The characters may border on over-the-top cliché, but the acting-of-a-lifetime performances make “The Fighter” a real masterpiece. It’s practically the roll Wahlberg’s been waiting to play his whole life. Entertaining the whole way through, “The Fighter” is the unlikely feel-good story of the year, and undoubtedly the best boxing movie in a long time.