2020 brings with it the conclusion of the previous decade and the beginning of a new one. In celebration of this transition, I asked our contributors to put together lists of their respective top ten films from the previous decade (2009-2019). I left the definition of “top” to each individual in order to create more diversity in the lists; some of our writers used the term “best”, some used the term “favorite”, and some (like me) attempted to blend the two. We’ll be publishing these lists over the next two weeks and at the end of it all, Kent, Richard, and I will be releasing our own lists in podcast form. Enjoy today’s entry by Amy Carter and make sure you check out all of the lists over the coming days. -BG
This past decade spanned my mid-20s to my mid-30s. Now that I am 35, and have reached full self-actualization, my pop culture wisdom and insight is unimpeachable... But really, as I have gotten older, I have only grown to appreciate the subjective nature of art and really love hearing people explain what has spoken to them and moved them. Here are ten movies from the 2010s that spoke to me, moved me, entertained me, and that I love to rewatch.
10.) Crazy, Stupid, Love (2011)
This movie really surprised me. I watched it at home and almost turned it off, thinking it was just another trite take on the douchey male misogynist. I’m so glad I finished it. The performances from all four leads are so much better than they need to be for a rom-com to work, and Gosling and Carell are so funny together. And the audience isn’t looking for a “twist” in a movie like this, so I didn’t see it coming and it worked so well for me.
9.) Silver Linings Playbook (2012)
David O. Russell doesn’t always land for me, but he sure did with Silver Linings Playbook. Having lived in Philly for nine years, all the setting-based humor really worked for me. And to refer to the “chemistry” between the leads feels like the wrong word, but at least the dynamic that they established with each other was so fun to watch. Their extreme candor is at times unrealistic, but sometimes that’s why we go to the movies, to see things we can’t live in the everyday (and enjoy dialogue we don’t get to participate in). There are no weak performances here and I’ve revisited this one a bunch since 2012.
8.) Annihilation (2018)
I tried to leave this off my list because I am a little ashamed of it. I know this movie missed for a lot of people. But my husband saw my list and was like, where the heck is Annihilation? So here we are. I’ve watched this many times. Sometimes I watch the last 20 minutes when I want to feel something. To call this an adaptation of a novel is a bit silly given how much liberty writer/director Alex Garland took with the source material, but I am here for all the changes. The merge of genres (adventure, horror, sci-fi) I find very fun and I love showing this movie to people who missed it (which is pretty much everyone).
7.) Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri (2017)
I feel like it’s gotten less cool to love this movie since its release, but I can’t help it, I love this movie. Are there relevant talking points about Sam Rockwell’s character-arc? Yes. But the creativity of the dialogue in this screenplay, coupled with the performances bringing it to life, really make this heartbreaker of a movie immensely rewatchable for me. The best scene (objectively) comes when the feud between Frances McDormand’s character and Woody Harrelson’s character is coming to a head, and Harrelson accidentally coughs up blood on her face and her rough exterior melts into compassion for him. The theme of rivals meeting in moments of shared humanity is all over this movie, and I love it.
6.) Inside Out (2015)
Sometimes you go to a movie and really enjoy yourself and think, “those two hours were great, what’s next?” Sometimes you go to a movie and leave with a fundamentally clearer understanding of yourself. And sometimes that movie is an animated movie. Pixar (usually) takes their time with their screenplays, and they super did with Inside Out. It’s really complicated to put the human mind into visuals that kids understand, but they did, and they nailed it. So creative, so clever, so contemplative. And then, if the rock-solid premise wasn’t enough for you, they deliver a message for the ages: sadness and hardship have meaning and shape us and it’s okay. I’m glad I don’t have to parent in a world pre-Inside Out and only wish I had gotten to see it when I was a kid.
5.) Inception (2010)
There’s a sense that I am putting this in here to honor Interstellar and Dunkirk as well, but this is definitely my favorite of the three. Nolan is doing some of the most creative writing out there right now, and I only wish we could have more of him (but am willing to wait to allow his work to simmer). The risk with Inception is super heavy exposition as you teach your audience the rules of your world, but even on rewatches, it never feels forced or awkward, but rather inventive and compelling. The audience becomes so engrossed in the story that we’re quick to make the leaps he asks us to take. And, like all his movies, this is a fun one to discuss (argue about) afterward.
4.) The Way Way Back (2013)
I don’t remember how I ended up seeing this in the theater, but I am glad I did. I assume Carell was the draw for me, because, to my shame, this was my introduction to Sam Rockwell, and I instantly fell in love. Such a creatively-written character that manages to toe the line of maintaining both his cool factor and his relentless empathy—and played so brilliantly by Rockwell. We have some more of Nat Faxon’s writing/directing to look forward to with Downhill coming out this winter, so let’s hope it’s on par with the sweetness and awkward authenticity of The Way Way Back. And, FWIW, my family called this part of our station wagon “the backity back.”
3.) The Social Network (2010)
This is not a hot take, I realize, as I don’t really know anyone who doesn’t love this movie. Sure, I grew up “loving” movies, but walking out of this movie was one of the first times I remember thinking “who picked all those words that they said?” And so began a love affair with Aaron Sorkin. That this didn’t win Best Picture in 2011 is tough; The King’s Speech is totally great and I really liked it, but I have seen it appear on virtually no one’s Best of the Decade lists. And The Social Network is on pretty much everyone’s. This is immensely rewatchable, if for no other reason than the aforementioned word choices; it’s so fun to watch these people talk to each other. And the creativity of the depositions as story-telling mechanisms makes all the exposition feel organic. Can’t get enough of this movie.
2.) The Big Short (2015)
I felt like doing fist-pumps when I left the theater after seeing this. Who does fist-pumps? No one, but I was so amped up. The movie about the stock market crash? YES. I don’t care who you are, this is genius storytelling and filmmaking. For a story that is both so mundane and also so tragic to be that compelling to the audience takes the work of a champion. And our champ is Adam McKay. Talk about rewatchable, I bet I have seen this movie 15 times in four years. And each time I am a puppet in McKay’s hands, feeling precisely what he wants me to feel in each scene, especially when the audience realizes they have lost themselves in rooting for our protagonists’ inevitable profiting off the impending crash, only to be pulled back down to earth by Brad Pitt’s character when he tells us what the crash will mean for the citizens it affects (unemployment, illness, homelessness, deaths). What other movie has been so successfully informative, while maintaining a keen and nuanced self-awareness, while also so endlessly entertaining? Rhetorical. The Big Short takes the cake.
1.) Arrival (2016)
I have seen this movie four times, and each time have left the experience with an odd combination of feeling more alive and more burdened. I love sci-fi regardless, whether it’s trying to “say something” or not. So, when a sci-fi movie succeeds in “saying something” that feels so particularly crafted for my ears, it’s going to skyrocket to the top of my best of the decade list. At the end of the day, Arrival says one thing to its audience, answering the question every parent (and, for that matter, anyone who has ever loved someone) asks themselves at some point: if I lose them, will I wish I had never had them? Will the grief be too crushing? And (spoiler?) the answer is no. I remember feeling actual relief leaving the theater thinking, “Well good. Now I know.” And you obviously can’t just say that to your audience; you have to earn it. And Arrival does earn it, as it situates its message at the end of a super-compelling and thoughtful story (about aliens with seven legs). Can I watch this every day? No. Do I think about it a lot? Yep.