The Ten Best Movies Of The 2010's, According To Me
I did this on Newsvine in 2010 (for the 2000's) so here we are again. Post your own list.
in reverse order
10. 12 YEARS A SLAVE - 2013
This harrowing account of a northern Negro businessman being kidnapped by slavers and taken down south to a life of suffering and heartbreak is a history lesson that none should miss.
9. MANCHESTER BY THE SEA - 2016
Casey Affleck won a well deserved Oscar for his stunning portrayal of a man eaten away by regret over a tragedy he caused. The moment late in the film when his ex wife tries to help him move on is one of the most heartbreaking scenes you will see.
8. OKJA 2017
This fascinating story about a Korean teenager trying to save her giant pig from slaughter at the hands of the evil meat corporation is probably like nothing you've ever seen. Great photography and editing, a whirlwind pace, constant weirdness, and a social message.
7. WOLF OF WALL STREET - 2013
Martin Scorsese's film about a Wall St. criminal 's phenomenal excesses along the way is best viewed as a black comedy. If you dont get the humor and start laughing you will likely be so infuriated you will throw things at the screen. This is a movie where the villain uses dwarf tossing to motivate his sales team to sell more bogus stocks.
6. EDGE OF TOMORROW - 2014
A space aliens war version of Groundhog Day , Edge Of Tomorrow finds earth soldier Tom Cruise being killed every day by monsters from another world. Eventually with the help of a beautiful female warrior they figure out how to win one for the humans. Fantastic action and and involving story.
5. WHIPLASH - 2014
Examination of the price of perfection and the toll it takes on those who seek it features a music teacher who is much more like a military drill instructor. None of the characters are all that likable, but it is mesmerizing while it lasts.
4. LINCOLN - 2012
Daniel Day Lewis gives an all time great performance as the 16th president, in a story that revolves around trying to get Congress to legally end slavery everywhere in the US. History buffs will probably appreciate it more than others, but Spielbergs legendary attention to period detail also helps to make it memorable.
3. BROOKLYN - 2015
Maybe the best movie ever made about the immigrant experience. A young Irish woman, despairing of ever finding success and happiness and fulfillment in her small Irish village, comes to New York during the 1950's. The movie details her profound homesickness until she gets a job and meets a guy. Then the story takes a dramatic turn and she must choose between two worlds.
2. THE SOCIAL NETWORK - 2010
Backstabbing, egomania, money, and technology all mix and merge in this fascinating account of the creation of Facebook. The "hero" ends up incredibly rich but most people think he is a jerk. Great screenplay.
1. Mad Max Fury Road - 2015
Charlize Theron stars as maybe the most compelling female action hero ever. Then there are the vehicles and the frantic chase scenes across a vast wasteland. And all the strange people. I'm not sure if there is any purpose to all this, but as pure movie magic and violent action, Fury Road has no peers.
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My honorable mention
Winters Bone, The Town, Gone Girl, Chef, La La Land, Hacksaw Ridge, Black Panther, Mission Impossible : Fallout
I have only seen one of the movies you listed. I am not a big movie person.
Same here. I saw Manchester by the sea. I am not a big movie person either. When I do watch one it is usually an indie movie or a foreign flick.
I enjoyed movies that I could watch with my boys when they were younger......Harry Potter, Lord of the Rings, etc.
I do enjoy the spaghetti westerns and the military movies. And weirdly I really like watching the Tour de France. That's not a movie but it really get's me going on the treadmill when I watch it.
- I get the best work outs watching cycling and soccer.
Mad Max (she is a FABULOUS Actress), Wolf on Wall Street, Edge of Tomorrow - also recommend Hacksaw Ridge.
I have to say, that as a decade goes, this had to be one of the worst for good movies. This is my list and I had to say, it was really hard to get 10. They are not in order:
Inception
Zero Dark Thirty
Hidden Figures
Boyhood
The Wolf of Wall Street
12 Years a Slave
Whiplash
Arrival
Annihilation
Gone Girl
I couldnt agree more Perrie. I looked at a list of just about every movie released this decade, and although there were some big ones I havent seen, I've seen most of the movies that get nominated for Oscars. I had a hard time making a list too. There just werent a lot of great movies this decade.
I think that movies are supposed to stir the spirit. I didn't get much of that. Oddly enough the movie that stirred me the most, was "Arrival". The novel was called "Story of Your Life" and really, it was far more about human nature, than a sci-fi movie.
I need to add to that list these few new contenders:
Richard Jewel and Dark Waters
I was thinking about putting The Irishman on my list but couldnt quite get there. I thought it was good, but a little bit of a disappointment after all the hype.
I thought the Irishmen was badly casted. DeNiro was not right for the part
I agree with you a lot about movies. I agree about DeNiro. The character didnt seem right for him.
I thought the de-aging of DeNiro was shaky too. They tried to make him about 35 years younger than he really is and until the character gets older I just thought it looked weird.
Pacino and Pesci looked ok when they were de-aged because their characters were older and the filmmakers didnt have to go back as far in the characters age.
Interstellar , Skyfall , Moana , Kubo and the Two Strings and The Conjuring 2013
I know this is super unpopular, but I think Fury Road is vastly overrated. I very much like both Tom Hardy and Charlize Theron, but they could not save this movie for me. I'm not saying it's bad exactly, but I didn't like it and I have zero interest in sitting through it again.
Ever since it came out, I have been hearing about how brilliant it is. And it's just not. It's a long chain of over-the-top, absurd traveling fights underpinned by a really thin plot and populated by a full complement of post-apocalyptic movie clichés. Sorry, but I'm not sorry.
But hey, if you like it, God bless! Enjoy the movie.
With most movies, it either gets you or it doesnt. Once in a while a second viewing helps.
I was not a fan of any of the previous Mad Max movies, and only watched Fury Road because it was getting such great reviews. As soon as it started I could tell that, for me, this one was on a whole different level than the other Mad Max movies. The budget was bigger,the stunts were better, the pace is non stop. I probably wouldnt want to watch a Mad max every month or anything like that, but I thought it was great.
I have to agree with you Tacos. I felt the same way.
I wish I could comment on more of these movies, but I just don't get to see this many grown-up movies. I've seen four of the ten listed. Of the ones I've seen, my favorite was Edge of Tomorrow. I've probably watched that thing 20 times.
It's a shame it wasn't marketed better. It reminds me of Terminator in that more people saw at it home - and ended up loving it - than ever saw it in the theater.
Edge Of Tomorrow was both exciting and clever. Real good combination.
Train To Busan
Was pretty good. Not the biggest fan of zombie flicks but I liked that one. A Korean movie. It won't be in a best film category yet I enjoyed it.
For Min Brors Skyld (For My Brother)
From Denmark. A very sad and disturbing movie. Was hard to watch yet the trauma stuck with me.
Made me sad for days.
This is the USA Today's list of the best movies of the 2010's
10. (tie) 'Inside Llewyn Davis' (2013)/'Lady Bird' (2017)
Let's start with a couple of period tales featuring characters facing issues regarding their futures: Llewyn Davis (Oscar Isaac) is a 1960s folk singer struggling to make it as a solo act and making a ton of bad decisions that aren't helping, while Lady Bird (Saoirse Ronan) is a quirky Catholic school senior circa 2002 who can't get out of Sacramento, California, and off to college in New York fast enough. Both movies offer directors at the top of their games – the Coen brothers for "Llewyn Davis," Greta Gerwig for "Lady Bird" – and artfully funny looks at two people needing major changes.
9. 'A Ghost Story' (2017)
So much on the surface seems sort of goofy, from Casey Affleck wearing a sheet over himself for most of the 92-minute runtime to the camera watching intently as Rooney Mara scarfs down a chocolate pudding pie. What David Lowery's elegiac and moving drama does, though, runs much deeper, exploring aspects of love and life (and afterlife) through the story of a man who tragically dies and is forced to watch his wife and everything else move on around him while he remains as a silent phantom. Haunting and innovative, you'll never see anything else like it.
8. 'Inception' (2010)
Christopher Nolan gave us one last Batman film, a cosmic journey and a World War II epic in the 2010s, though it's the super-twisty, mind-flippy, reality-bendy all-star action thriller that stands out as the most important. Leonardo DiCaprio gets to be a thief who steals from people's dreams in a flick that weaves a mystery around the film noir, heist and sci-fi genres to create a project that's trippy, visceral and astoundingly original. In an age where blockbusters tend toward the rote, you can count on Nolan for something smart.
7. 'How to Train Your Dragon' (2010)
Sorry to Pixar and Disney, and thanks for trying "The Hobbit" movies. This tale of a boy and his dragon laps its fellow animated and fantasy fare by combining a bunch of mythological swagger with a heartwarming, undying friendship between ride-or-die buds. With young Viking teen Hiccup (voiced by Jay Baruchel) and Toothless - who gives Baby Yoda competition in the cuteness department - the fantastic original sparked an entertaining trilogy about tolerance, empowerment and embracing your own destiny.
6. 'BlacKkKlansman' (2018)
Spike Lee's equally audacious and angry with the stranger-than-fiction true story of a black Colorado police officer (played by John David Washington) who infiltrated the Ku Klux Klan in the 1970s. Washington and Adam Driver prove their mettle as top thespians of their generation, and Lee finds plenty of humor and modern relevance here with a narrative of cops crusading against white supremacists. This celebration of brotherhood – and not one of hate – mirrors our own contemporary struggles with civil rights and reminds that the fight for equality is an ongoing and righteous one.
5. 'Captain America: The Winter Soldier' (2014)
The Marvel movie universe may have officially started in the previous decade but the 2010s is when the Avengers and pals conquered the box office and became a cinematic powerhouse with its interconnected superhero narrative. The best of the best belongs on this list and that's "Winter Soldier," an exquisitely crafted political thriller that just so happens to have Chris Evans slinging around a star-spangled shield. And before Thanos came calling, the "Captain America" sequel was the first Marvel film to be a standalone effort as well as blow up its grander world with a gut-punch plot twist.
4. 'Get Out' (2017)
Jordan Peele 's phenomenal directorial debut turned a spotlight on scary moves' socially conscious side and introduced Peele as a modern-day Hitchcock. Starring Daniel Kaluuya as a young man who finds out the truly sinister intentions of his white girlfriend's family during a weekend getaway, "Get Out" balanced frights and humor in a satirical thriller that took on racism and made everyone, no matter the color of their skin, afraid of the Sunken Place.
3. 'Sing Street' (2016)
A throwback to when people huddled around the TV screen to watch Duran Duran, John Carney's tune-filled 1980s triumph is a tribute to youthful romance, DIY creativity and finding your tribe. In this case, it's a teenage rock band formed by an Irish lad (Ferdia Walsh-Peelo) simply to impress a girl (Lucy Boynton). The coming-of-age comedy-drama features catchy tunes that boost the narrative, a love story that doubles as music-group therapy.
2. 'Arrival' (2016)
The past decade catapulted Denis Villeneuve into sci-fi godhood, as he did the impossible and made an excellent "Blade Runner" sequel and lined up a new take on "Dune." But "Arrival" is his best work yet: While the absorbing drama features aliens and spaceships and invasion – plus an amazing Amy Adams – it's less an extra-terrestrial extravaganza and more of a gorgeously realized treatise on how humans struggle to communicate with each other. The mysterious creatures from outer space just give an ancient problem bold nuance.
1. 'Mad Max: Fury Road' (2015)
To quote the great Tina Turner, who once entered Thunderdome: It's simply the best, better than all the rest. Director George Miller's "Fury Road" is the perfect action film, an explosive and propulsive two-hour symphony of destruction whose real influence probably won't be truly seen until well into the next decade. But as much as the post-apocalyptic "Mad Max" leans into motion, it's also fueled by emotion - with reluctant hero Max (Tom Hardy) getting the title treatment but taking a backseat to the determined Furiosa (Charlize Theron) and her mission to save a group of women from a seriously bad dude. For film fans, it will ride eternal, shiny and chrome.
My choices are mostly quite different and can be found as an article in the Everyone Loves Movies - Classic to Current group.