Hey y’all. We survived a decade! Congratulations us! I know there have been quite a few moments when we felt like one tweet about Joe Buck embracing the heat death of the universe (“yes. oh god yes.”) but, at the very least, we got a ton of amazing films out of it. I was going to make a top 20 but wound up cracking and expanding that to a top 25, and that was after cutting out at least a couple dozen films that I truly and sincerely love. Even after a decade, I’m still kicking myself for not seeing a number of celebrated favorites, particularly when it comes to foreign films. Hell, I only got around to catching up with Uncle Boonmee Who Can Recall His Past Lives two days ago (didn’t make my list, but I recommend it). But I think this is a list that I can be proud of, the decade can be proud of, and Taika Waititi can be proud of. No seriously, Taika Waititi is the most represented filmmaker on my list. See, the 2010s did have some pleasant surprises.
25. It Follows (2014)
There were artier horror movies this decade, but maybe none that made me shiver with terror as much as It Follows. Still makes me paranoid about people walking toward me in a straight line.
24. Senna (2010)
One of the best documentaries ever made about the pursuit of greatness and the angry symbiosis that exists when two people compete at the highest level.
23. Paddington 2 (2017)
“I will kill and kill again for the small bear who is my friend.” - Natalie Walker
22. Snowpiercer (2013)
Not the Bong Joon-ho class war movie you were expecting? Well deal with it, because it’s the better one. Bong is better at his most feverish and also at his most Tilda Swinton-est.
21. Gravity (2013)
Might be higher if I had seen it in IMAX again recently. But that sheer intensity of my original theater experience still lingers in my head, and the story holds up surprisingly well on a small screen.
20. What We Do In the Shadows (2014)
The single movie I have freshly introduced to the most people this decade, and one of the few movies that has a 100% successful recommendation rate.
19. Looper (2012)
Rian Johnson discourse is a thing now that I do not wish to be a part of but still stupidly participate in. But one thing that shouldn’t be up for debate is his sheer knack for creating intricately plotted thrilling crescendos, of which Looper is his masterwork.
18. 12 Years a Slave (2013)
Universally praised upon release and I loved it as well, but still managed to underrate it at the time. Features my choice for best scene of the decade when Chiwetel Ejiofor’s Solomon Northup has his eventful reunion with Mr. Parker.
17. John Wick (2014)
The single most rewatchawable movie of the decade? Definitely. But quietly also the best cast movie of the decade as well.
16. Leave No Trace (2018)
A movie that is almost entirely mumbled and built up in the silences between the syllables spoken between its two main characters, leaving its half-unspoken conclusion all the more devastating.
15. Green Room (2016)
Nazis are relevant again! Well. Shit.
14. Boyhood (2014)
I had been following the development of this movie for literally a decade before it came out, and it somehow didn’t disappoint. Every bit as valuable as a portrait of an entire family evolving over the years, not just its eponymous boy.
13. Once Upon a Time in Hollywood (2019)
Nostalgia used for good. “Nostalgia” might be the wrong term, given the wistfulness here seems keenly self-aware and cognizant of the need to move forward while admiring the past.
12. The Florida Project (2017)
Would be great to have more filmmakers like Sean Baker who dive into films about traditionally unobserved subcultures with true sensitivity and grace.
11. Inside Llewyn Davis (2013)
Every other Top Movies of the Decade list can tell you why Llewyn Davis is great, all I can say is this is maybe the single movie I have thought about the most this decade.
10. Thor: Ragnarok (2017)
Commerce at is best, a perfect mixture of filmmaker and star, and featuring far more subversive themes than you’d ever expect to see in a Marvel movie.
9. Stories We Tell (2012)
An incredibly unique use of the documentary form, featuring stunning insight and openness from Sarah Polley.
8. Eighth Grade (2018)
Imperfection or inartfulness is hard to depict on film, which makes the inarticulate lead character such a wonder in Eighth Grade.
7. Amour (2012)
Can’t type anything about this without getting sad.
6. Beasts of the Southern Wild (2012)
This movie shouldn’t work. I don’t know if “twee” is the correct term, but it should be too fantastical/precocious/touristy to work. But the visual and emotional impact hits and it hits hard.
5. Popstar: Never Stop Never Stopping (2016)
4. Marriage Story (2019)
Recency bias my be getting me on this one, but the level of empathy on display allows Baumbach to mine fraying emotions for all of the insight they can produce.
3. Get Out (2017)
A brilliant Trojan horse of a film, impeccably acted and visualized, that takes to task the very audience that may have embraced it the most.
2. The Grand Budapest Hotel (2014)
Another entry like Green Room that has an unfortunately high level of resonance. The best embodiment of melancholy that the decade produced.
1. Mad Max: Fury Road (2015)
WITNESS IT.
