The 2010's have seen a lot of change in the history of cinema. The decade began with the invasion of 3D, then Marvel made it's impact with it's cinematic universe. Streaming services like Netflix and Amazon began making original entertainment changing the way we watch films and television. This decade also saw new talent emerge from indie cinema with directors such as Ben Wheatley, Jordan Peele and Damien Chazelle as well as more female directors than ever before such as Greta Gerwig, Marielle Heller and Jennifer Kent making their impact.
With such a large span of time it has been extremely difficult to make a list of my favorites, many fantastic films did not make the cut here. While it would of been easier just to take my number one films from each year and put them into all into a list, I felt that that did not represent how I feel about these film now, as time has gone on my opinion has changed, films that were not even in top 5 end of the year picks have made onto here by how well they have aged and how they have grown on me over time.
Here is the list.
20: The Grand Budapest Hotel
Wes Anderson's 2014 film was arguably his best. Filled with off beat humor, amazing comedic performances, bizarre action sequences and beautiful production design. Grand Budapest Hotel is like a "Best of Anderson" in one film.
19: Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri
Martin McDonagh is one of the finest film writer/directors to emerge in the last 15 years, with the likes of In Bruges and Seven Psychopaths already in his filmography, he manages to make a strike of victory with his third film.
18: Coco
I never expected this film to have the impact it did on me, but I am sure glad it did. One of the most beautiful, inspiring and rewarding films I seen this decade. Coco is a must for the young and old alike.
17: Joker
If anyone thinks this film is too unsettling then they need to have a good look at the world around them. Joker is a film which takes risks and has a lot of heart in the midst of a cynical backdrop. The only unsettling part of Joker is how much we can see ourselves in the titular character.
16: Dunkirk
It's no secret that time is one of Nolan's main themes and he wastes none of it here! Like in battle, each second in Dunkirk counts, it's a cinematic experience that truly puts you in the center of a war zone.
15: Nightcrawler
Jake Gyllenhaal's unforgettable leering performance takes center stage in this cold, thought-provoking thriller. The greed and crass natured world of the media feels more relevant every year since the film was released in 2014.
14: Foxcatcher
While it didn't admittedly blow me away, Foxcatcher is the slow burner which stuck with me this decade because of it's strong and powerful themes of isolation, pride and power.
13: Whiplash
Damien Chazelle was as passionate about making Whiplash as the main character Andrew Neiman is about jazz drumming. You can feel that each shot, each moment from the film took the same amount of passion to the last. A beautiful love letter to work ethic that goes into creating inspiring art.
12: Killer Joe
I love a film which has the ability to drive such diverse opinions, some believe it's art, while others believe it is truly disgusting. Killer Joe is a filthy, cold hearted, nasty, brutal, blood soaked piece of southern gothic and I love it.
11: Blue Valentine
Derek Cianfrance's breakthrough film is almost an anti-romance film, while they're many breakup films, none of them feel as personal, realistic or as consequential as Blue Valentine.
10: The Place Beyond The Pines
'The Place Beyond the Pines' is an dramatic tale which is split into three parts, each one building on top of the other creating a epic story out of the small world that Cianfrance creates. With themes of family and relationship breakdowns, this film is not light in tone but it does leave you with a sense of hope.
9: The Big Short
Adam McKay takes a subject which is seemingly boring and turns it into one of the most entertaining films of the decade. Stripping away the detailed terminology of wall street trading, Mckay's film gets straight to the point by using comedy as it's political ammo.
8: Django Unchained
Tarantino's 7th feature film takes a spin of the Spaghetti Westerns of the 60s and turns it into a living graphic novel of revenge from the eyes of a slave. This film is Tarantino back on his "A-Game" with it's sharp dialog, blood soaked action set pieces and it's widely inspired references throughout cinema.
7: Silver Linings Playbook
Perhaps the greatest romantic comedy I have ever seen? Maybe the fact that it isn't like a romantic comedy at all is what makes this film so great. This film is what really put both Bradley Cooper and Jennifer Lawrence at the forefront of the academy voters minds and for good reason, their performances as well as the writing and directing does a brilliant job of presenting bi-polar disorder in a realistic and detailed way.
6: We Need To Talk About Kevin
Lynee Ramsay doesn't make films often, but when she does they are always interesting. From the perspective of a mother who cannot love her own son, this film is a presentation of our darkest nightmares, but Ramesy also manages to somehow make it sensitive and respectful so the end result isn't exploitative.
5: The Social Network
'How did they ever make a movie about Facebook?' was part of the 'Lolita' (1962) inspired marketing for this film and is was a question on many people's minds when this film was announced. When you have the dream combination of director David Fincher and writer Aaron Sorkin it starts to all make sense how. The Social Network is a Shakespearean drama for our modern age and despite how our world is always changing, betrayal, greed, friendship and pride will forever remain the same.
4: Moonlight
As I said in my original review, I see "Moonlight" as a story about guilt, the dark voice inside that tells us to be ashamed of ourselves for who we are, it is only when we can change that voice, we can be who we want to be. Barry Jenkins is masterful when visually presenting these themes to film, making 'Moonlight' a great example of the power of expression in filmmaking.
3: The Wolf of Wall Street
The Wolf of Wall Street is a film from a master director who is still in his prime, impressive considering how long Martin Scorsese has been in the business. This film is the Goodfellas of the 2010's, it's main theme of excess represents this decade in a nutshell. I am sure that this film will inspire many filmmakers for years to come and it's is also one of funniest films I have seen during this decade.
2: Gone Girl
No film got under my skin this decade more than David Fincher's 2014 film 'Gone Girl'. Simular to 'The Wolf of Wall Street' I see this film as a good representative of what the 2010's were culturally. While some might say the representation of the media boarders on parody in this film, since the coverage of Donald Trump's campaign/election and Brexit, the representation of the media feels even more accurate than it did back in 2014.
1: Drive
Drive is one of the first films that seriously got me into filmmaking. This film is beautifully made in every way from it's directing, cinematography, writing and music, it's the reason why I go to the cinema, in the hopes I will get the pleasure of seeing a film on this level in the future. While all of the films listed here are brilliant in their own way, 'Drive' is my personal favorite of this decade and is one of my favorite films of all time.
With such a large span of time it has been extremely difficult to make a list of my favorites, many fantastic films did not make the cut here. While it would of been easier just to take my number one films from each year and put them into all into a list, I felt that that did not represent how I feel about these film now, as time has gone on my opinion has changed, films that were not even in top 5 end of the year picks have made onto here by how well they have aged and how they have grown on me over time.
Here is the list.
The List
20: The Grand Budapest Hotel
Wes Anderson's 2014 film was arguably his best. Filled with off beat humor, amazing comedic performances, bizarre action sequences and beautiful production design. Grand Budapest Hotel is like a "Best of Anderson" in one film.
Martin McDonagh is one of the finest film writer/directors to emerge in the last 15 years, with the likes of In Bruges and Seven Psychopaths already in his filmography, he manages to make a strike of victory with his third film.
I never expected this film to have the impact it did on me, but I am sure glad it did. One of the most beautiful, inspiring and rewarding films I seen this decade. Coco is a must for the young and old alike.
If anyone thinks this film is too unsettling then they need to have a good look at the world around them. Joker is a film which takes risks and has a lot of heart in the midst of a cynical backdrop. The only unsettling part of Joker is how much we can see ourselves in the titular character.
It's no secret that time is one of Nolan's main themes and he wastes none of it here! Like in battle, each second in Dunkirk counts, it's a cinematic experience that truly puts you in the center of a war zone.
Jake Gyllenhaal's unforgettable leering performance takes center stage in this cold, thought-provoking thriller. The greed and crass natured world of the media feels more relevant every year since the film was released in 2014.
While it didn't admittedly blow me away, Foxcatcher is the slow burner which stuck with me this decade because of it's strong and powerful themes of isolation, pride and power.
Damien Chazelle was as passionate about making Whiplash as the main character Andrew Neiman is about jazz drumming. You can feel that each shot, each moment from the film took the same amount of passion to the last. A beautiful love letter to work ethic that goes into creating inspiring art.
I love a film which has the ability to drive such diverse opinions, some believe it's art, while others believe it is truly disgusting. Killer Joe is a filthy, cold hearted, nasty, brutal, blood soaked piece of southern gothic and I love it.
Derek Cianfrance's breakthrough film is almost an anti-romance film, while they're many breakup films, none of them feel as personal, realistic or as consequential as Blue Valentine.
'The Place Beyond the Pines' is an dramatic tale which is split into three parts, each one building on top of the other creating a epic story out of the small world that Cianfrance creates. With themes of family and relationship breakdowns, this film is not light in tone but it does leave you with a sense of hope.
Adam McKay takes a subject which is seemingly boring and turns it into one of the most entertaining films of the decade. Stripping away the detailed terminology of wall street trading, Mckay's film gets straight to the point by using comedy as it's political ammo.
8: Django Unchained
Tarantino's 7th feature film takes a spin of the Spaghetti Westerns of the 60s and turns it into a living graphic novel of revenge from the eyes of a slave. This film is Tarantino back on his "A-Game" with it's sharp dialog, blood soaked action set pieces and it's widely inspired references throughout cinema.
Perhaps the greatest romantic comedy I have ever seen? Maybe the fact that it isn't like a romantic comedy at all is what makes this film so great. This film is what really put both Bradley Cooper and Jennifer Lawrence at the forefront of the academy voters minds and for good reason, their performances as well as the writing and directing does a brilliant job of presenting bi-polar disorder in a realistic and detailed way.
Lynee Ramsay doesn't make films often, but when she does they are always interesting. From the perspective of a mother who cannot love her own son, this film is a presentation of our darkest nightmares, but Ramesy also manages to somehow make it sensitive and respectful so the end result isn't exploitative.
'How did they ever make a movie about Facebook?' was part of the 'Lolita' (1962) inspired marketing for this film and is was a question on many people's minds when this film was announced. When you have the dream combination of director David Fincher and writer Aaron Sorkin it starts to all make sense how. The Social Network is a Shakespearean drama for our modern age and despite how our world is always changing, betrayal, greed, friendship and pride will forever remain the same.
As I said in my original review, I see "Moonlight" as a story about guilt, the dark voice inside that tells us to be ashamed of ourselves for who we are, it is only when we can change that voice, we can be who we want to be. Barry Jenkins is masterful when visually presenting these themes to film, making 'Moonlight' a great example of the power of expression in filmmaking.
The Wolf of Wall Street is a film from a master director who is still in his prime, impressive considering how long Martin Scorsese has been in the business. This film is the Goodfellas of the 2010's, it's main theme of excess represents this decade in a nutshell. I am sure that this film will inspire many filmmakers for years to come and it's is also one of funniest films I have seen during this decade.
No film got under my skin this decade more than David Fincher's 2014 film 'Gone Girl'. Simular to 'The Wolf of Wall Street' I see this film as a good representative of what the 2010's were culturally. While some might say the representation of the media boarders on parody in this film, since the coverage of Donald Trump's campaign/election and Brexit, the representation of the media feels even more accurate than it did back in 2014.
Drive is one of the first films that seriously got me into filmmaking. This film is beautifully made in every way from it's directing, cinematography, writing and music, it's the reason why I go to the cinema, in the hopes I will get the pleasure of seeing a film on this level in the future. While all of the films listed here are brilliant in their own way, 'Drive' is my personal favorite of this decade and is one of my favorite films of all time.
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