Favorite/Best Movies of the 2010 Decade

31. Black Swan


Because it's a great piece of art-house horror that Darren Aronofsky disguised as prestige cinema.

Idk, the fact that people like my Grandma were chomping at the bit to see it suggests the film was thought of as more of a "drama" by the general public than Requiem for a Dream or mother!

30. Silence


Because it's the religious epic Scorsese has been building to all his career.

28. Once Upon a Time in Hollywood


Because this is Tarantino's most sincere work since Jackie Brown and a movie that still made me laugh my ass off while also touching me in ways I didn't expect it to.

27. Hereditary


Because it's a truly horrific experience with fascinating thematic implications.

41. The Favourite (2018)


Year: 2018
Release Date: 11/23/2018
Director: Yorgos Lanthimos
Writer(s): Deborah Davis and Tony McNamara
Starring: Olivia Colman, Emma Stone, and Rachel Weisz
Based on: N/A
Distributor: Fox Searchlight
Country of Origin: United Kingdom
Language: English
Running Time: 120 Minutes
Aspect Ratio: 1.85:1

Yorgos Lanthimos is plainly one of the most important filmmakers of the decade, but I don’t necessarily love everything he’s done. His first two English language films (The Lobster and The Killing of a Sacred Deer) were definitely interesting but they also kind of weirded me out. Something about the way that Lanthimos was handling dialogue in those movies was so isolating as to kind of keep me at arm’s length. Of course his movies are kind of supposed to keep audiences at arm’s length, they’re profoundly weird movies that are not meant to work for everyone. But then came The Favourite, a movie that somehow managed to be the perfect vehicle for Lanthimos to make something a bit more accessible without feeling like a sellout. This accessibility might partly be because Lanthimos didn’t write this one, but the way he directs the actors is still largely in keeping with his sensibilities. The movie is set in the very early 18th Century and depicts historical events that have not been depicted too often but the movie has a uniquely modern outlook and attitude in a lot of ways. The whole movie is a sort of Dangerous Liaisons riff where the characters are constantly backstabbing one another and the script is full of really biting insults and jabs. Emma Stone and Rachel Weisz are deliciously able to inhabit the roles of the suiters sniping at one another for the queen’s affection and the movie also brought the actress Olivia Coleman, who had previously really faded into the background, into focus as a major talent and won her an Oscar. There’s kind of a long tradition of these sorts of ribald costume dramas and this movie brings that tradition into the 21st century perfectly.

It took me a long time to appreciate Blue Valentine but I'm fully on board now. Devastating film in a number of ways.

I’m shocked that isn’t your #1.

I love the movie. It's stylish and awesome and more than enough to be the best movie of 2011. But best of the decade? Not quite.

And now we get into the section relative to Dracula's poll.


25. Jackie


Because it goes so far beyond a Jackie Kennedy biopic (though Portman's performance is certainly up to snuff) and becomes a far more complex meditation on grief and legacy.

Random.