25 Favorite Films of the 2010s
Let’s do this!
I’ve agonized over this list for months but finally realized: my choices are correct and I don’t have to apologize for anything. This decade, to paraphrase honorable mention Tangled (2010), was when my life began. Thank goodness it turned out to be a phenomenal decade for film as well. Every movie on this list changed my life in some way, and to them I am forever grateful. The rankings past number ten are somewhat arbitrary, but the top five are set in stone.
25. The Social Network (2010)
I need you to imagine what this movie did to my brain when I was 17. I haven’t revisited it in a minute but its cinematic influence has never dissipated from our culture. It should have won Best Picture.
24. Margaret (2011)
A three hour meditation on post-9/11 New York centering on a bratty teenage girl who maybe got someone killed? Yes! Audacious, devastating, one of the best final sequences in film history.
23. Ace Attorney (2012)
In many ways this is the only great video game adaptation. Only Takashi Miike could have pulled it off, combining the absurdity of the Ace Attorney series with the sensibilities of Japanese stage comedy.
22. Inside Llewyn Davis (2013)
Sometimes people don’t get better!
21. Paddington 2 (2018)
Charming beyond belief. Hugh Grant completely understands the tone of the film and knows EXACTLY what he’s doing. Proof that the hero of a children’s movie doesn’t have to be an obnoxious asshole, and in fact can be gentle, kind, and courageous. Sally Hawkins’ best performance against a non-human creature?
20. Toy Story 3 (2010)
The older I get the more I realize that the Toy Story films are the only perfect things to come out of Pixar and everything else they’ve done can’t compare in the slightest. It sounds trite to say “actually the series about talking toys is really about aging and the inevitability of death” but… it is? The film’s gags are lacking in the middle but the Sunnyside breakout, the dump, and the finale are unmatched. Toy Story 4 is also great but 3 remains an unbelievable, unbeatable cinematic achievement.
19. Gone Girl (2014)
Rosamund Pike was robbed.
18. White Material (2010)
Diving headfirst into the filmography of Isabelle Huppert is one of the most rewarding things I’ve ever done. I saw this for the first time in March and it was like being set on fire.
17. Before Midnight (2013)
Life doesn’t stop just because we fall in love! It’s work and it’s not fair! I want to go to Greece!
16. Young Adult (2011)
As quotable as Gone Girl, to me. Impossible to know how many times I have watched it.
15. Bridesmaids (2011)
“Oh shit, that’s fresh.”
14. Scott Pilgrim vs. the World (2010)
Wallace Wells was the biggest “Ring of Keys” moment I’d ever had besides seeing Lee Pace’s shoulders on Pushing Daisies.
13. The Love Witch (2016)
Handmade with love. Completely ridiculous. Like Margaret, one of the best endings in film.
12. Phantom Thread (2017)
After we watched this I told my ex I didn’t want to poison him and he said “Obviously you want to be the one that gets poisoned” and he was right
11. Clouds of Sils Maria (2015)
I think everyone should watch this on a snowy Saturday morning after brewing a cup of coffee the week they move into their first post-college apartment.
10. Leave No Trace (2018)
“The same thing that’s wrong with you isn’t wrong with me.”
America is imploding and Debra Granik, who I MET!!!!!!!!!!, is a genius.
9. Support the Girls (2018)
“It makes such a difference when your boss really cares about you.”
Haven’t stopped thinking about this since I saw it, so!
8. Boyhood (2014)
“You don’t want the bumpers, life doesn’t give you bumpers.”
Again I must mention the interview where Ethan Hawke says he loves boring movies because they make ordinary life extraordinary.
7. Lady Bird (2017)
“Hi Mom and Dad, it’s me, Christine. It’s the name you gave me. It’s a good one.”
Sometimes I think about Laurie Metcalf in this film and I have to scream!
6. The Tale of the Princess Kaguya (2014)
This movie is like touching a hot stove. The final work of a dying genius, completely unbeatable. The running sequence gives me chills to think about.
5. Carol (2015)
“Flung out of space.”
This movie is home.
4. Weekend (2011)
“You look like you want to kiss me.”
Unfortunately this film did teach me that I am worthy of romantic love so
3. Moonlight (2016)
“You in the middle of the world.”
The fact that this won Best Picture is actually a miracle and was worth the price of Green Book winning two years later, I’ll say it!
2. Mad Max: Fury Road (2015)
“That’s my name.”
It’s sick.
1.First Reformed (2018)
“Well somebody has to do something!”
In many ways this feels like the only movie that actually understands what this decade is really about: climate change, isolation, faith, the power (or lack thereof) to change things, the tiniest scraps of hope. Ethan’s finest performance in a career of highs, not that I would know anything about that.
Here’s to the 2020s! May we live to see the end of it.
