The Best of the Decade: 2010s

Eric’s Best of the Decade: The 2010’s

Franchise of the Decade:              The MCU–  23 movies, all successful and for the most part all good culminating in the biggest and most profitable movie of all time, at least for the time being. This is still a very healthy franchise which is now shifting in a new direction, but for the past decade the MCU just delivered and delivered top notch entertaining films. 

honorable mentions:  Fast & the Furious, Star Wars

Action film of the Decade:            John Wick– This is also a comeback of sorts for Keanu Reeves. The first of 3 very well-made action films with some of the best choreographed fighting and action sequences you’ll ever see.

honorable mentions: Mad Max Fury Road, Kingsman: The Secret Service

Musical of the Decade:                  Les Miserables– It seems that every musical has been made into a movie and many work and some don’t. I’m singling Les Mis out because the movie captured the iconic Broadway show in scale and in quality more than any other adaptation in the 2010s.

honorable mentions: La La Land, Sing Street

Animated Film of the Decade:    The LEGO Movie– I’ll never get over the Oscar snub, so I’m going to honor it as the best animated film of the decade. It was original, funny and everything was just awesome about it. It also launched the beginning of a new franchise of animated LEGO films, good or bad.

honorable mentions: Wreck-it-Ralph, Spider-Man: Into the Spider-verse, Zootopia

The Comedy of the Decade:        Bridesmaids– Now I happen to think that Melissa McCarthy’s follow-up movie, The Heat was funnier, but you can’t deny the impact that Bridesmaids had on future female driven comedy projects.

honorable mentions: The Other Guys, Horrible Bosses, Spy

The Horror film of the Decade:   Get Out– Originality is key here. It’s more of a hybrid than anything that plays like a Twilight Zone episode. It took everybody by surprise and was a financial & critical success.

honorable mentions: The Conjuring, It Follows, Halloween

Reboot of the Decade:                   Mad Max Fury Road/Jurassic World (TIE)- Did anybody expect a Mad Max reboot or one that was going to be this good? An incredibly entertaining and mind-blowing time at the show which introduced Charlize Theron’s Furiosa to the screen. I also don’t think anybody was looking for Universal’s Hail Mary attempt at bringing back dinosaurs after a tepid Jurassic Park 3 more than a decade ago to be as successful as it was. Jurassic World delivered and then some.

Musical Bio Pic of the Decade:    Love and Mercy– The made some good ones, but this one I thought was the best capturing 2 very different stages of Brian Wilson played by 2 separate actors (Eric Dano, John Cusack) . I especially enjoyed the relationship with Wilson and Melissa Ledbetter (Elizabeth Banks.

honorable mentions: Straight Outa Compton, Rocketman & only the LIVE AID scene from Bohemian Rhapsody

Sci- Fi Film of the Decade:            Inception– I chose this title because it’s a mind blower. With all its layers, creative storytelling and imagery & a terrific cast this is a movie to watch over and over again just so you can keep learning from it because there is so much there. It’s a very complicated film, but if you stay with it, it’s quite a ride.

honorable mentions: Snowpiercer, Interstallar

Drama of the Decade:                    Boyhood– A controversial choice because you either loved it or hated it. I thought it was brilliantly made and extremely well written. I enjoyed getting to know this family over the course of a decade despite having to watch Patricia Arquette’s character make the same mistakes over and over. The kids are great, but I especially liked Ethan Hawke’s role as the dad who’s choices were as suspect as the mom’s but they were always there for the kids.

honorable mentions:      The Social Network, The Big Short

Crime/heist film of the decade: Drive– The movie is driven by Ryan Gosling’s quiet confident role as the driver who gets involved too deep. You also get a very menacing performance by Albert Brooks, of all people. It’s really a quiet film but with some very loud tense moments.

honorable mentions: Hell or High Water, End of Watch, The Town.

Sports film of the Decade:            Moneyball– There weren’t a whole lot of great sports movies this past decade. I remember a ton of great ones in the 90s and 2000s, but only a few stand out to me from the past 10 years. I chose Moneyball because I’ve probably seen it the most because I’m a big baseball fan and I like the subject matter. I still think the whole concept is BS when you have a killer pitching staff like the A’s did, but they executed it well and I loved Brad Pitt’s portrayal of Billy Beane.

honorable mentions:  Draft Day, 42, Creed

War film of the Decade:                1917– Maybe because I just saw this a couple days ago, but this movie really is the “goods”. It’s filled with incredibly tense moments and tells a harrowing war story that isn’t gory or excessively violent. It breezes by and you’ll be exhausted afterwards. Not many movies have been made during WWI and this is a good one. honorable mentions:      Hacksaw Ridge, Dunkirk

Documentary of the Decade:      OJ: Made in America– Not that I want to praise anything regarding OJ Simpson, but this multi-part documentary is extraordinary. You pretty much thought you knew everything about this case, but the film goes into incredible detail which is exactly what I want in a documentary. I was completely engrossed in this over the 8 hours this was on.

honorable mentions: Thou Shall Not Grow Old, Life Itself, Minding the Gap, Searching for Sugarman

Finally, my favorite movies from this past decade. These are the ones that resonated the most with me:

The Wolf of Wall Street
Once Upon a Time in Hollywood
Argo
The Avengers: Endgame
Hugo
Begin Again
The Big Sick
Grand Budapest Hotel
TRON: Legacy
Pacific Rim
BlackKklansmen
Spotlight
Dolemite is My Name
Nightcrawler
Brittany Runs a Marathon
Molly’s Game
The World’s End
Super 8
Baby Driver
Searching