Favorite/Best Movies of the 2010 Decade

23. 12 Years a Slave


Because beyond likely being the definitive cinematic portrait of American slavery, this is simply masterful filmmaking with phenomenal performances and a great deal of restraint from director Steve McQueen.

Coward.

#10 - MAD MAX: FURY ROAD (2015)



The Matrix for the 2010's generation.


#9 - SILVER LININGS PLAYBOOK (2013)



A career highlight for virtually everyone involved. A defining romantic-comedy for the 2010's.


#8 - GONE GIRL (2014)



You could have tackled this subject matter in the 1990's and 2000's, but Fincher adapted it brilliantly for the 2010's. A defining social commentary for the decade.


#7 - SICARIO (2015)



The decade's defining movie for French-Canada's Christopher Nolan.


#6 - THIS IS THE END (2013)



The children of Apatow make a name for themselves in the 2010's.


#5 - KICK-ASS (2010)

Because it... kicked... ass




#4 - X-MEN: FIRST CLASS (2011)

Because in a decade dominated by the MCU, Matthew Vaughn survived a 12-round boxing match. To quote Robert De Niro in Raging Bull, "you never knocked me out."




#3 - GET OUT (2017)



Blumhouse's greatest achievement. A new voice in horror. Something the A24 crowd can appreciate too. Win-win.


#2 - AVENGERS: INFINITY WAR (2018)



The defining blockbuster of the decade (no - not you Black Panther) earns its spot alongside the Jaws and Star Wars of the pop culture hemisphere.


#1 - INCEPTION (2010)



Christopher Nolan was trash in the 2010's. Dark Knight Rises is garbage. Interstellar is garbage. Dunkirk is garbage. But Inception, on the heels of his 2000's heyday, might go down as his crowning achievement. An original blockbuster in the age of IP's that knocked out everyone in its path like Mike Tyson at his prime. Bravo.

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*edit*

Yay to Kick Ass and Booksmart.

Boo to The Favourite.

I was inspired by PG Cooper

Another great movie I couldn't quite find space for.

38. The Irishman (2019)


Year: 2019
Release Date: 11/1/2019
Director: Martin Scorsese
Writer(s): Steve Zaillian
Starring: Robert De Niro, Al Pacino, Joe Pesci, Ray Romano, Bobby Cannavale, Anna Paquin, Stephen Graham, Jesse Plemons, Sebastian Maniscalco, and Harvey Keitel
Based on: The book "I Heard You Paint Houses" by Charles Brandt
Distributor: Netflix
Country of Origin: United States
Language: English
Running Time: 209 Minutes
Aspect Ratio: 1.85:1

While it was in production The Irishman kind of felt like a project that was too good to be true. Scorsese making another gangster movie? And with De Niro, Pacino, and Pesci starring? There was no way that would turn out to be as good as it promised, but low and behold the movie did come out right at the end of the decade and it turned out to be quite the impressive achievement. The film is based on a biography/memoir/confession of a guy who claimed to have been a hitman for the Wilkes-Scranton mafia during the 50s, 60s, and 70s who asserted that he was the one who killed Jimmy Hoffa. There are some pretty good reasons to think that this claim is not very credible, but that’s not really the point of the film. The real goal here is for Scorsese to take a hard final look at the mafia genre that he had a hand in creating in its modern form and to make a final statement about it, and that statement it there to make it clear that the people in this world are truly damned. Where some of Scorsese’s other crime movies sort of reveled in the spoils of a life of crime before showing the damage caused by those lives, this one gets more to the point and really focuses in on how broken and miserable these people are left after making the life decisions they did. It’s more like the late portions of The Godfather Part II than the early parts of Goodfellas, but its consistently compelling in how it brings this story to the screen and remains riveting through its entire 209 minute runtime. It won’t be Scorsese’s last film, at least not unless there’s an unforeseen tragedy, but it easily could have been and it would have seemed more than fitting.

21. Dunkirk


Because what seemed like a more safe prestige picture from Christopher Nolan turned out to be far more creative and inspired than most of us expected while also being just a riveting piece of cinema.

20. The Irishman


Because I don't know if I've ever left a theater so shaken.