Every year I produce a list of the films I most enjoyed in the previous twelve months, disregarding release dates and just writing about the movies I liked regardless of when they came out. But since everyone seems to be in “Best of the Decade” mode, I figured I’d go back and figure out which flicks from the past ten years stood out as my faves. I’m not going to declare that these are “The Best” flicks of the decade, though. Art is subjective; what moves you might not be what moves me, and that’s OK. Saying that the ten flicks you liked the most are the “Ten Best” is wildly presumptuous and willfully dismissive of everyone else’s preferences. These are simply the ten flicks that I enjoyed watching and thinking about the most over the past ten years. Ranking flicks always seems like a pointless exercise in apples-to-oranges comparisons, so as always, my list is in alphabetical order.
Django Unchained (2012) – Quentin Tarantino’s spaghetti western pastiche hit me right in the sweet spot. I’m a huge fan of Italian westerns but was skeptical that I’d like this, having found Kill Bill to be an insufferable mess despite my love of wuxia flicks. But Tarantino nailed it with Django Unchained. Not only are his visuals in line with the work of Leone and Corbucci, but he takes the standard spaghetti western theme of bloody vengeance and adds layers of nuance and meaning to it. Jamie Foxx’s Django isn’t just out for revenge on the specific evil plantation denizens who’ve taken his wife, he’s taking out his anger on the whole system of slavery and white supremacy. The over-the-top violence of the finale works precisely because the people and institutions being reduced to bloody pulp are so reprehensible and vile that no amount of carnage seems too much. Yet, despite wading into the deep waters of American racism and its ugly legacy, Django Unchained is still hugely entertaining and eminently rewatchable. Foxx delivers a career-best performance, while Leonardo DiCaprio makes a heel turn that shows he could have been playing bastards and villains his whole career if he hadn’t been such a pretty boy. Outside of Jackie Brown, this is Tarantino’s best film, in my opinion.
Dunkirk (2017) – Christopher Nolan’s masterful war movie tells the story of Dunkirk by interweaving three separate stories that take place in three distinct timelines. One story follows a soldier over the course of a week as he tries to find a way off of the doomed beach. The second takes place during the span of one day, telling the tale of one of the privately owned civilian boats that set off from England to shuttle trapped soldiers off that same beach. Finally, Tom Hardy plays an RAF pilot trying to stave off Nazi bombers in a story that only spans one hour. All three storylines eventually intersect, with the result being that the audience gets a truly multi-faceted understanding of the events. Trying to intercut three stories moving at three speeds might seem crazy, but Nolan pulls it off beautifully. He doesn’t make hard cuts from one timeline to the next, but blends them together by maintaining the same ominous score through the transitions. It really pulls the three stories together into one, and gives the film a scope it couldn’t have achieved otherwise. It’s pretty incredible the way Nolan builds each of the stories toward (and through) the same moment in time, with the momentum of each timeline working in perfect sync with the other two. Way back in Memento, Nolan pulled off one of the most audacious timeline stunts in film, telling his story backwards in order to trap viewers in the mindset of its memory-challenged protagonist. What he did with Dunkirk, though, is even more impressive. Dunkirk‘s three storylines present the real historical events from a variety of perspectives, seamlessly blending points of view into something that feels like the truth. This is without a doubt one of the best war movies I’ve ever seen.
Ex Machina (2015) – This slow-burning masterpiece from writer/director Alex Garland is a claustrophobic, riveting film that takes place almost entirely inside the isolated refuge of a secretive tech mogul played by Oscar Isaac. He’s invited an employee of his company up to his estate-cum-nature preserve, but it’s not just a vacation. He’s there to meet the mogul’s latest invention, a fully-functioning AI-controlled female robot, and evaluate how ‘human’ she is. I don’t want to give too much away, because half the fun is the way the film forces you to keep reassessing who you’re rooting for, and who the villain really is. Alicia Vikander instantly became one of my favorites with her mesmerizing performance as the robot Ava. In most scenes, just her face is visible thanks to the incredible visual effects, yet Vikander is heartbreaking as she tries to convince her tester to help her escape her situation. Isaac is also great as the loony tech mogul, projecting subtle hints of menace when not engaging in meme-worthy dance numbers with his robot inventions. Ex Machina is a fascinating film that I suspect will grow in stature over time into a deserved place as a recognized sci-fi classic.
John Wick (2014) – Don’t call it a comeback! Seriously, don’t, because the word “comeback” implies that Keanu Reeves had ever made a flick as good as John Wick. He hadn’t. This slick action vehicle stands as the high-water mark in his career, as well as introducing an iconic anti-hero for the ages. It’s a riveting shoot-em-up that ranks as the best of the decade-long run of “middle-aged actor becomes violent action hero” flicks that started with Liam Neeson in Taken. Reeves plays a widowed former hitman whose only affections are saved for the puppy that his late wife left him. A chance encounter with a bunch of dimwitted Russian mobsters leads to an unfortunate fate for the dog. That, in turn, leads to unfortunate fates for a lot of Russian mobsters. Okay, so the plot’s not exactly award-winning stuff, but it’s the execution that makes the film. Scene after scene of propulsive action keep John Wick careening forward to an explosive and satisfying conclusion. Director Chad Stahelski understands how to shoot action scenes like few others in the business, backing his camera up and using long takes that allow the intricate fight choreography to shine. An extremely good revenge flick with a surprising amount of heart, John Wick proved once and for all that Keanu Reeves should just focus on action movies and leave stuff like The Lake House to the Bradley Coopers of the world. The two sequels are pretty awesome, too.
Haywire (2011) – I had never even heard of this tasty little Steven Soderbergh flick until I happened to see its name in an article about movie fight scenes. The fact that Haywire was mentioned in the same breath as John Wick was more than enough of a recommendation for me. Make no mistake, this is no John Wick, but rather a taut, fast-paced thriller with a couple of kick-ass fight scenes. Former MMA fighter Gina Carano stars as a special ops assassion who’s run afoul of her employers and turns in a shockingly good performance opposite some real heavy hitters (Michael Fassbender, Ewan McGregor, Michael Douglas, etc.). Soderbergh makes great use of Carano’s talents, featuring her in a handful of really tough, believable fight scenes. Her opening dust-up with Channing Tatum in a roadside diner kicks the film into high gear from the start, while her hotel room tussle with Fassbender ranks among the best fight scenes of the decade. I’m not sure why this flick came and went before anyone really saw it, but it deserves a following now that it’s popped up on just about every streaming service. It certainly turned me into a Gina Carano fan, and now that she’s starring in The Mandalorian, I’m hoping more people will finally catch up to it.
Mad Max: Fury Road (2015) – When it was announced that director George Miller was going to bring his iconic post-apocalyptic hero back to the screen after 30 years, I had my doubts. After all, Beyond Thunderdome sure sucked, and that still stood as everyone’s last glimpse into Miller’s dusty future world. But not only did Miller pull off a flick that wasn’t an embarrassment, he actually created the best film of the series—and one of the greatest action films ever made.
Mad Max: Fury Road is the ultimate expression of frenetic, frenzied action cinema. It’s one thing to make a film that’s basically one long action sequence, but it’s quite another to make audiences actually care about anything that’s going on (I’m looking at you, The Raid: Redemption!). But Charlize Theron and Tom Hardy command the screen and your attention as the clearly damaged characters in the midst of all the chaos. Their understated, often wordless performances give a real gravity to all the mayhem. And what mayhem! People will be catching up with the action scenes in Fury Road for some time, but what really makes them sing is Miller’s reliance on physical stuntwork and practical effects rather than CGI. Here’s hoping that other Hollywood action filmmakers took notes.
Fury Road is a masterpiece of visual storytelling. The opening sequences of the film lay out the world and the plot in a matter of minutes, with an absolute minimum of dialogue. Everything you need to know about this world is shown in these first few minutes, from Immortan Joe’s scary authority to the room where he kept his breeders. Fury Road can play in any country, in any language, and everyone will get what’s going on. And when what’s going on is glorious, non-stop action like this, you’ve got a true classic on your hands.
Popstar: Never Stop Never Stopping (2016) – The funniest movie I saw in the 2010s, Popstar is the best mockumentary since the heyday of Christopher Guest. Andy Samberg stars as Conner4Real, a Justin Beiber-type pop icon who’s about to drop his latest album. Of course, nothing about the release or the subsequent tour goes according to plan, resulting in some truly hilarious scenes. His half-baked plan to stream the new album through refrigerators and other kitchen appliances is just the start of the madness. Samberg and his Lonely Island cohorts sparkle as Conner and his original band The Style Boyz, cranking out one memorably insane song after another. My personal favorite is the brief bit of “Turn Up The Beef” we get to hear, although “Humble” and “Finest Girl (Bin Laden Song)” are close on its heels. The flick is jam-packed with hilarious A-list cameos, from Questlove and Nas to Mariah Carey and Usher, and Samberg’s supported by a great cast including Sarah Silverman in a spot-on turn as Conner4Real’s publicist. It’s also got some of the most hilarious uses of male frontal nudity you’ll ever witness, so that’s something.
Rogue One (2016) – A decade after the prequel trilogy bummed everyone out, Force Awakens helped people remember that Star Wars movies could actually be pretty fun. The next year, Rogue One helped them realize that you could make an even better Star Wars flick by not hitting the exact same story beats as A New Hope. The story of Jyn Erso’s suicidal mission to steal the Death Star plans is a tightly-wound, action-packed adventure that isn’t afraid to deal with the implications of its tale. There’s nothing “Disney-fied” about the ending of Rogue One, which is a welcome relief from the typical blockbuster flick, where no potential sequel can ever be closed off. In a decade that somehow saw five movies and a trio of TV shows set in that far-off galaxy, Rogue One stood out as the most unique and entertaining entry in the canon. Finally, a Star Wars story that didn’t focus on Jedis or Skywalkers! For my money, Rogue One ranks as the best film in the series since Empire, a supremely satisfying one-off with the most bad-ass female lead of any SW flick (sorry, Rey, but it’s true). Plus, Donnie Yen! Donnie Yen, people!
Snowpiercer (2013) – A pointed class struggle allegory in the guise of a slam-bang dystopian action flick set entirely inside a futuristic train. What’s not to love? The film basically follows a structure similar to The Raid: Redemption or Dredd, except that instead of fighting their way up a building, a group of justice-seeking rebels fight their way from the back of the train to the front. This stunningly original film from Korean auteur Boog Joon-ho packs so much into its two hours that it’s hard to decide what to praise first. The cast is uniformly superb, with Chris Evans turning in his best work yet as the reluctant leader of the rebellion. Tilda Swinton shines in a flashy role as a buck-toothed train overlord, combining schoolmarm-ish disapproval with violent menace. The production design and cinematography is fantastic, creating distinct worlds in each new train car that the rebellion enters. From the surreal elementary school to the drug-hazed rave car, each new section seems to have its own visual vocabulary. There are tons of memorable moments, from the axe-wielding ninjas dipping their weapons into a freshly-butchered fish to the final redemptive glimpses of life outside the train. Original, wildly entertaining, and with a serious point behind all the shenanigans, Snowpiercer is an incredible achievement in pretty much every way.
What We Do In The Shadows (2015) – This hilarious faux-documentary from New Zealand didn’t just stand out as one of the most hilarious flicks I’ve seen in ages, it also inspired one of my new favorite TV shows. In the style of a TV reality show, the film follows the exploits of a group of mismatched vampires who live together in a large mansion. Despite being born centuries apart, the quartet of vampires has reached a nice understanding as to how to co-exist. They’ve even got a chore board! Things get complicated when one of their ranks turns a young local into a vampire. While it’s good that he can get them into cooler nightclubs, it’s not so good that he goes around telling everyone he’s a vampire. Jemaine Clement of Flight of the Conchords (who also co-wrote and co-directed the flick with the equally genius Taika Waititi) is fantastic as the suave vampire Vladislav, bravely trying to keep his dignity intact in the midst of all the wackiness. What We Do In The Shadows takes a couple of familiar concepts and combines them in a way that nobody had thought of before. In this day and age, if you can think of something original to do with a vampire story, you deserve all the praise you get. Watch this movie today!
Other Favorites from the 2010s:
All is Lost (2013)
Attack the Block (2011)
Baby Driver (2017)
Bad Grandpa (2013)
Coherence (2013)
Dawson City: Frozen Time (2016)
Deadpool (2016)
Dredd (2012)
Exit Through the Gift Shop (2010)
Fast Five (2011)
Hardcore Henry (2015)
Inception (2010)
Logan (2017)
Mission Impossible: Fallout (2018)
Scott Pilgrim vs. The World (2010)
Spring Breakers (2012)
The Three Musketeers (2011)
Under the Skin (2013)
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