Underwhelming is how I would summarize this decade. There are some good movies, but the overuse of CGI and the overabundance of mediocre superhero movies overtakes just about everything else. There’s also the beginning infusion of woke, which has successfully destroyed Hollywood (see: 2020s). Personally, this decade also saw me going from seeing nearly every Best Picture nominee (in grad school) to barely seeing any (in seminary). The overall quality of the Top 10 is not incredibly high, but it is very close between them.
Before my list (remember this is “best,” not necessarily “favorite”), a few notable movies not mentioned, because I have not seen them: The Kids Are All Right, The Descendants, The Help, Midnight in Paris, The Tree of Life, Amour, Beasts of the Southern Wild, 12 Years a Slave, Dallas Buyers Club, Nebraska, Philomena, The Wolf of Wall Street, Boyhood, Selma, Whiplash, Brooklyn, The Revenant, Room, Moonlight, Fences, Lion, Manchester by the Sea, The Shape of Water, Call Me by Your Name, Phantom Thread, Three Billboards Outside Ebbing Missouri, Green Book, BlackKkKlansman, Bohemian Rhapsody, The Favourite, Roma, A Star is Born, Vice, Parasite, The Irishman, Little Women, Marriage Story. There’s plenty of overrated movies: Inception, Birdman, Get Out, La La Land, everything Marvel, The Social Network, etc.
Honorable Mentions: Mad Max: Fury Road, Mission:Impossible – Rogue Nation, Split, Hacksaw Ridge, Hidden Figures, Les Miserables, Source Code, Argo, All Is Lost, Edge of Tomorrow, We Bought a Zoo, The Town, The Fighter, There Be Dragons, Soul Surfer, Moneyball, Hugo, The Adventures of Tintin, War Horse, For Greater Glory, Lincoln, Wreck-It Ralph, Oblivion, Gravity, Saving Mr. Banks, Calvary, The Lego Movie, Chef, Godzilla, Sicario, Spotlight, The Martian, Creed, 10 Cloverfield Lane, Patriots Day, Rogue One, Coco, Jumanji: Welcome to the Jungle, Christopher Robin, Knives Out
A Quiet Place (2018)
This list was one of the more
difficult ones to decide on, and there’s a few in the Honorable Mentions that
could have made the Top 10. I will also
say that in the Top 10, almost any of them could have been the top movie. I start with one of the great Pro-Life movies
ever made, which people cannot believe because it is sci-fi/horror. But you have a family, sticking together, and
(spoiler alert) a mother choosing to give birth when it could mean her death
while a father sacrifices himself to save his children. It’s a great message and a great movie.
Paddington (2014)
This is legitimately one of the
funniest movies made in recent years, and it also has so much heart. It is great to see that you can still make
successful, good family movies. I love
Paddington.
The King’s
Speech (2010)
This movie is ranked so high largely
due to its amazing cast. Colin Firth and
Geoffrey Rush are amazing together. It’s
one of those movies that, if I’m sick and can’t keep my eyes open, I can just
listen to it and be at peace.
True Grit (2010)
Hardcore John Wayne fans will never
agree with this movie being so high, but you have to understand that the Coen
Brothers went back to the original source material and not Wayne’s movie. It’s
gritty but heartfelt. The cast (outside
of Rooster Cogburn) is miles better than Wayne’s movie. It’s perhaps the best Western of the 21st
century (depending on how you judge what a “Western” is).
Ford v Ferrari (2019)
Ok, Matt Damon. I’m not that into cars, but I got sucked into
this story. It stands out as a great
“guys” movie in an era where that is looked down upon. And the cinematography, particularly during
the race and the sunset scene, is beautiful.
Wind River
(2017)
If it wasn’t for some nudity, this
movie might be #1, and certainly it would be higher. It’s a truly powerful look into the wilds of
America (some consider it a Western).
The shootout is one of the most devastating that I have seen. And it’s also a captivating mystery, and a
great story of a “fish out of water.”
13 Hours: The
Secret Soldiers of Benghazi (2016)
This is ranked so high because few
movies have left me as emotional as leaving the theater after seeing this. It is not quite as good as, say Black Hawk
Down, but it pulls the audience in and makes you feel like you’re there. And I can’t see how anyone could watch this
and be okay with a certain previous administration.
Of Gods and Men (2010)
This little-known French film tells
the true story of 9 Cistercian monks living in a monastery in Algeria until 7
of them are kidnapped and martyred during the Algerian Civil War in 1996. It is beautifully moving, and it is a shame
that more people do not know about it.
Yes, Christians and Muslims can live in peace together. Yes, Christians are still martyred. Yes, living your life for Christ is worth it.
Toy Story 3 (2010)
Toy Story 3 was the perfect ending
for the most consistently great trilogy in history, and is basically a perfect
movie. It hits everything you want in a
movie (funny, exciting, etc.). It
expertly weaves in a few new characters without discarding your favorites from
the first two. And it is one of the few
times that an animated movie can legitimately make you emotional in the end
(twice actually, first when they are nearly destroyed, and then the perfect
send-off at the end).
1917 (2019)
After recently rewatching this movie
for Veterans Day, I moved it up a spot to take #1 of the decade. This movie is more than just the
“single-shot” gimmick. It is perfectly
directed, you can tell that Sam Mendes put his heart into it in honor of his
grandfather. It is tense. You can feel the mud and grit of the
trenches. Thomas Newman’s score is (as
always) beautiful (how did he lose to the noise of Joker?!?!?). It is a nearly perfect movie.
Extra fun: the
best movie scores of the decade (there’s not a lot to love this decade, because
movie scores started to become more like “atmosphere” and “wall of sound,”
thanks in large part to Christopher Nolan and Hans Zimmer, and don’t even get
me started on how terrible Trent Reznor and Atticus Ross are)
Passengers
(Thomas Newman; also 1917)
How To Train
Your Dragon (John Powell)
Mission:
Impossible: Rogue Nation (Joe Kraemer)
Mad Max: Fury
Road (Junkie XL)
Mission:
Impossible: Ghost Protocol (Michael Giacchino; also Jurassic World, Rogue One,
Coco)
True Grit
(Carter Burwell)
Planes (Mark
Mancina)
The Adventures
of Tintin (John Williams; also War Horse, Lincoln, Star Wars trilogy)
Tron: Legacy
(Daft Punk)
The Wolfman
(Danny Elfman)
X-Men: First
Class (Henry Jackman; also Wreck-It Ralph, Jumanji: Welcome to the Jungle)
Predators (John
Debney)
Toy Story 3
(Randy Newman)
Hugo (Howard
Shore)
After Earth
(James Newton Howard)
Oblivion (M83)
Edge of
Tomorrow (Christophe Beck)
Other music from the decade: pass
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