Friday, February 14, 2020

The Top 100 Movies of the 2010's (in my opinion)


The 2010’s was a decade of constant change. Politics changed. Mass communication changed. Barriers were broken down. Technology and new mediums that were once the stuff of science fiction became mainstream. Filmmaking as an art form has always been in a state of flux, but in the past ten years it has evolved and mutated faster and more aggressively than ever before. Despite outcries of creative drought, there was no shortage of original, interesting, evocative and mind-blowing films out there, with a plethora of fascinating experimentation happening both in the mainstream and the underground. And as the decade comes to a close, I’d like to take a look back at some of the best films the 2010’s had to offer. This list is a mixture of examples that reflect what I see as emblematic of the best the medium had to offer and laid the groundwork for where cinema is going, as well as personal favorites that meant a lot to me personally. What movie belongs in which category I’m leaving to interpretation. And since this list is 100 films long, I will be listing them alphabetically to avoid favoritism. They are as follows:

10 Cloverfield Lane 
(2016, directed by Dan Trachtenberg)
Mary Elizabeth Winstead in 10 Cloverfield Lane (2016)

12 Years A Slave 
(2013, directed by Steve McQueen)
Chiwetel Ejiofor in 12 Years a Slave (2013)


1917 
(2019, directed by Sam Mendes)
George MacKay and Jamie Parker in 1917 (2019)

Annihilation 
(2018, directed by Alex Garland)
Natalie Portman in Annihilation (2018)

Anomalisa 
(2015, directed by Charlie Kaufman)
David Thewlis in Anomalisa (2015)

Arrival 
(2016, directed by Denis Villeneuve)
Arrival (2016)


The Avengers 
(2012, directed by Joss Whedon)
Robert Downey Jr., Chris Evans, Scarlett Johansson, Jeremy Renner, Mark Ruffalo, and Chris Hemsworth in The Avengers (2012)

The Babadook 
(2014, directed by Jennifer Kent)
The Babadook (2014)

Baby Driver 
(2017, directed by Edgar Wright)
Kevin Spacey, Jon Hamm, Jon Bernthal, Eiza González, and Ansel Elgort in Baby Driver (2017)

Birdman 
(2014, directed by Alejandro Gonzalez Iñárritu)
Michael Keaton in Birdman or (The Unexpected Virtue of Ignorance) (2014)

Black Panther 
(2018, directed by Ryan Coogler)
Chadwick Boseman in Black Panther (2018)

Black Swan 
(2010, directed by Darren Aronofsky)
Natalie Portman in Black Swan (2010)

Blindspotting 
(2018, directed by Carlos Lopez Estrada)
Rafael Casal, Daveed Diggs, and Jasmine Cephas Jones in Blindspotting (2018)

Booksmart 
(2019, directed by Olivia Wilde)
Beanie Feldstein and Kaitlyn Dever in Booksmart (2019)

The Cabin in the Woods 
(2011, directed by Drew Godard)
The Cabin in the Woods (2011)

Carol 
(2015, directed by Todd Haynes)
Cate Blanchett and Rooney Mara in Carol (2015)

Cloud Atlas 
(2012, directed by Lilly and Lana Wachowski and Tom Tykwer)
CLOUD ATLAS

Coco 
(2017, directed by Lee Unkrich and Adrian Molina)
Anthony Gonzalez in Coco (2017)

Deadpool 
(2016, directed by Tim Miller)
Ryan Reynolds, Stefan Kapicic, and Brianna Hildebrand in Deadpool (2016)

Django Unchained 
(2012, directed by Quentin Tarantino)
Jamie Foxx in Django Unchained (2012)

Drive 
(2011, directed by Nicolas Winding Refn)
Ryan Gosling and Carey Mulligan in Drive (2011)

Dunkirk 
(2017, directed by Christopher Nolan)
Tom Hardy in Dunkirk (2017)

The Edge of Seventeen 
(2016, directed by Kelly Fremon Craig)
Hailee Steinfeld in The Edge of Seventeen (2016)

Eighth Grade 
(2018, directed by Bo Burnham)
Elsie Fisher in Eighth Grade (2018)

Ex Machina 
(2015, directed by Alex Garland)
Alicia Vikander and Sonoya Mizuno in Ex Machina (2014)

Fateful Findings 
(2013, directed by Neil Breen)
Neil Breen in Fateful Findings (2013)

The Favourite 
(2018, directed by Yorgos Lanthimos)
Emma Stone and Olivia Colman in The Favourite (2018)

Fences 
(2016, directed by Denzel Washington)
Viola Davis, Russell Hornsby, Mykelti Williamson, Saniyya Sidney, and Jovan Adepo in Fences (2016)

Four Lions 
(2010, directed by Christopher Morris)
Four Lions (2010)

Frozen 
(2013, directed by Chris Buck and Jennifer Lee)
Idina Menzel in Frozen (2013)

Fruitvale Station 
(2013, directed by Ryan Coogler)
Kevin Durand and Michael B. Jordan in Fruitvale Station (2013)


Get Out 
(2017, directed by Jordan Peele)
Daniel Kaluuya in Get Out (2017)

Gone Girl 
(2014, directed by David Fincher)
Rosamund Pike in Gone Girl (2014)

The Grand Budapest Hotel 
(2014, directed by Wes Anderson)
Ralph Fiennes, Tony Revolori, and Paul Schlase in The Grand Budapest Hotel (2014)

Gravity 
(2013, directed by Alfonso Cuaron)
Sandra Bullock in Gravity (2013)

Guardians of the Galaxy 
(2014, directed by James Gunn)
Vin Diesel, Bradley Cooper, Chris Pratt, Zoe Saldana, and Dave Bautista in Guardians of the Galaxy (2014)

Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2 
(2017, directed by James Gunn)
Vin Diesel, Bradley Cooper, Chris Pratt, Michael Rooker, Zoe Saldana, Dave Bautista, Karen Gillan, and Pom Klementieff in Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2 (2017)

The Handmaiden 
(2016, directed by Park Chan-Wook)
Min-hee Kim and Tae-ri Kim in Ah-ga-ssi (2016)

Hell or High Water 
(2016, directed by David Mackenzie)
Jeff Bridges and Chris Pine in Hell or High Water (2016)

Her 
(2013, directed by Spike Jonze)
Joaquin Phoenix in Her (2013)

Hereditary 
(2018, directed by Ari Aster)
Hereditary (2018)

Holy Motors 
(2012, directed by Leos Carax)

How to Train Your Dragon 
(2010, directed by Dean DeBlois and Chris Sanders)

Hugo 
(2011, directed by Martin Scorsese)
Chloë Grace Moretz and Asa Butterfield in Hugo (2011)

If Beale Street Could Talk 
(2018, directed by Barry Jenkins)
Stephan James and KiKi Layne in If Beale Street Could Talk (2018)

Inception 
(2010, directed by Christopher Nolan)
Leonardo DiCaprio and Ellen Page in Inception (2010)

Inside Llewyn Davis 
(2013, directed by Joel and Ethan Coen)
Oscar Isaac in Inside Llewyn Davis (2013)

Inside Out 
(2015, directed by Pete Docter and Ronnie Del Carmen)
Amy Poehler and Phyllis Smith in Inside Out (2015)

It Follows 
(2015, directed by David Robert Mitchell)
Jake Weary and Maika Monroe in It Follows (2014)

Jojo Rabbit 
(2019, directed by Taika Waititi)
Sam Rockwell, Taika Waititi, and Roman Griffin Davis in Jojo Rabbit (2019)

Kubo and the Two Strings 
(2016, directed by Travis Knight)
Charlize Theron and Art Parkinson in Kubo and the Two Strings (2016)

La La Land 
(2016, directed by Damien Chazelle)
Ryan Gosling, Valarie Rae Miller, Emma Stone, and John Hindman in La La Land (2016)

The Lego Movie 
(2014, directed by Phil Lord and Chris Miller)
Morgan Freeman, Will Ferrell, Will Arnett, Elizabeth Banks, Charlie Day, Nick Offerman, Chris Pratt, and Alison Brie in The Lego Movie (2014)

The Lighthouse 
(2019, directed by Robert Eggers)
Willem Dafoe and Robert Pattinson in The Lighthouse (2019)

Little Women 
(2019, directed by Greta Gerwig)
Emma Watson, Saoirse Ronan, Florence Pugh, and Eliza Scanlen in Little Women (2019)

The Lobster 
(2016, directed by Yorgos Lanthimos)
Colin Farrell in The Lobster (2015)

Logan 
(2017, directed by James Mangold)
Image result for logan grave scene

Mad Max: Fury Road 
(2015, directed by George Miller)
Mad Max: Fury Road (2015)

Manchester by the Sea 
(2016, directed by Kenneth Lonergan)
Casey Affleck in Manchester by the Sea (2016)

The Martian 
(2015, directed by Ridley Scott)
Matt Damon in The Martian (2015)

The Master 
(2012, directed by Paul Thomas Anderson)
Philip Seymour Hoffman in The Master (2012)

Moonlight 
(2016, directed by Barry Jenkins)

Image


Moonrise Kingdom 
(2012, directed by Wes Anderson)
Kara Hayward in Moonrise Kingdom (2012)

Nightcrawler 
(2014, directed by Dan Gilroy)
Jake Gyllenhaal in Nightcrawler (2014)

The Nightingale 
(2019, directed by Jennifer Kent)
Aisling Franciosi in The Nightingale (2018)

Pacific Rim 
(2013, directed by Guillermo Del Toro)
Pacific Rim (2013)

ParaNorman 
(2012, directed by Chris Butler and Sam Fell)
Kodi Smit-McPhee in ParaNorman (2012)

Parasite 
(2019, directed by Bong Joon-Ho)
Woo-sik Choi and So-dam Park in Gisaengchung (2019)

Prisoners 
(2013, directed by Denis Villeneuve)

Raw 
(2017, directed by Julia Ducournau)
Rabah Nait Oufella and Garance Marillier in Grave (2016)

The Revenant 
(2015, directed by Alejandro Gonzalez Iñárritu)
Leonardo DiCaprio in The Revenant (2015)

Rise of the Planet of the Apes 
(2011, directed by Rupert Wyatt)
Karin Konoval, Richard Ridings, Andy Serkis, Terry Notary, and Christopher Gordon in Rise of the Planet of the Apes (2011)

Rocketman 
(2019, directed by Dexter Fletcher)
Taron Egerton in Rocketman (2019)

Room 
(2015, directed by Lenny Abrahamson)
Brie Larson and Jacob Tremblay in Room (2015)

Scott Pilgrim Vs The World 
(2010, directed by Edgar Wright)
Michael Cera and Mary Elizabeth Winstead in Scott Pilgrim vs. the World (2010)

Seven Psychopaths 
(2012, directed by Martin McDonagh)
Christopher Walken, Sam Rockwell, and Colin Farrell in Seven Psychopaths (2012)

Shazam! 
(2019, directed by David F. Sandberg)
Asher Angel in Shazam! (2019)

Sicario 
(2015, directed by Denis Villeneuve)
Sicario (2015)

A Silent Voice 
(2018, directed by Naoko Yamada)
Koe no katachi (2016)

Sing Street 
(2016, directed by John Carney)
Lucy Boynton, Ian Kenny, Ferdia Walsh-Peelo, Mark McKenna, Ben Carolan, and Percy Chamburuka in Sing Street (2016)

The Shape of Water 
(2017, directed by Guillermo Del Toro)
Doug Jones and Sally Hawkins in The Shape of Water (2017)

Snowpiercer 
(2014, directed by Bong Joon-Ho)
Snowpiercer (2013)

The Social Network 
(2010, directed by David Fincher)
Jesse Eisenberg, John Getz, and Rashida Jones in The Social Network (2010)

Sorry to Bother You 
(2018, directed by Boots Riley)
LaKeith Stanfield in Sorry to Bother You (2018)

Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse 
(2018, directed by Bob Persichetti, Peter Ramsey and Rodney Rotham)
Shameik Moore in Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse (2018)

Support the Girls 
(2018, directed by Andrew Bujalski)
AJ Michalka and Haley Lu Richardson in Support the Girls (2018)

Swiss Army Man 
(2016, directed by Daniel Schienert and Daniel Kwan)
Daniel Radcliffe in Swiss Army Man (2016)

This Is Not A Film 
(2011, directed by Jafar Panahi)
Jafar Panahi in In film nist (2011)

Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri 
(2017, directed by Martin McDonagh)
Frances McDormand in Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri (2017)

The Tree of Life 
(2011, directed by Terrence Malick)
Jessica Chastain in The Tree of Life (2011)

True Grit 
(2010, directed by Joel and Ethan Coen)
True Grit (2010)

Toy Story 3 
(2010, directed by Lee Unkrich)
Tom Hanks, Joan Cusack, Tim Allen, John Ratzenberger, Wallace Shawn, Blake Clark, Estelle Harris, and Don Rickles in Toy Story 3 (2010)

Under the Skin 
(2014, directed by Jonathan Glazer)
Scarlett Johansson in Under the Skin (2013)

We Need to Talk About Kevin 
(2011, directed by Lynne Ramsey)
John C. Reilly and Tilda Swinton in We Need to Talk About Kevin (2011)

The Witch 
(2016, directed by Robert Eggers)
Image result for black phillip

Whiplash 
(2014, directed by Damien Chazelle)
J.K. Simmons and Miles Teller in Whiplash (2014)

Wolf Children 
(2013, directed by Mamoru Hasoda)
Aoi Miyazaki, Momoka Ôno, and Amon Kabe in Ookami kodomo no Ame to Yuki (2012)

The Wolf of Wall Street 
(2013, directed by Martin Scorsese)
Leonardo DiCaprio in The Wolf of Wall Street (2013)

Your Name. 
(2017, directed by Makoto Shinkai)
Kimi no na wa. (2016)

Zootopia 
(2016, directed by Byron Howard, Rich Moore and Jared Bush)
Jason Bateman and Ginnifer Goodwin in Zootopia (2016)

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