Best of the 2010's

[LawrenceA]

Critics' Poll: ‘Mad Max: Fury Road' Named Best Movie of the 2010s

250 critics, programmers, academics, and distributors have spoken.

Sure, the decade is officially not over, but we couldn’t help but be quick on the trigger and survey the industry about the best of the past ten years.

This past fall, World of Reel conducted a poll of critics, programmers, academics, filmmakers, and others to identify the top films of the decade thus far.

01. Mad Max: Fury Road (George Miller)
02. The Tree of Life (Terrence Malick)
03. Moonlight (Barry Jenkins)
04. Boyhood (Richard Linklater)
05. The Social Network (David Fincher)
06. The Master (Paul Thomas Anderson)
07. Roma (Alfonso Cuaron)
08. Phantom Thread (Paul Thomas Anderson)
09. A Separation (Asghar Farhadi)
10. Inside Llewyn Davis (Joel Coen)
11. Get Out (Jordan Peele)
12. Under the Skin (Jonathan Glazer)
13. Carol (Todd Haynes)
14. Margaret (Kenneth Lonergan)
15. Toni Erdmann (Maren Ade)
16. Uncle Boonmee (Apichatpong Weerasethakul)
17. Twin Peaks: The Return (David Lynch)
18. Her (Spike Jonze)
19. Call Me By Your Name (Luca Guadagnino)
20. The Act of Killing (Joshua Oppenheimer)
21. Inception (Christopher Nolan)
22. Holy Motors (Leos Carax)
23. La La Land (Damien Chazelle)
24. 12 Years A Slave (Steve McQueen)
25. Certified Copy (Abbas Kiarostami)
26. The Florida Project (Sean Baker)
27. Amour (Michael Haneke)
28. Ida (Pawel Pawlikowski)

See the rest of the choices and more here:

https://www.worldofreel.com/blog/2019/4/results

[LawrenceA]

And because no one asked, here are my choices for the decade, based on 1899 titles seen:

1. 12 Years a Slave (2013)
2. Mad Max: Fury Road (2015)
3. The Cabin in the Woods (2012)
4. The Grand Budapest Hotel (2014)
5. Blade Runner 2049 (2017)
6. Her (2013)
7. Manchester By the Sea (2016)
8. The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo (2011)
9. Hereditary (2018)
10. Phantom Thread (2017)
11. Cloud Atlas (2012)
12. Inception (2010)
13. Mandy (2018)
14. The Descendants (2011)
15. Drive (2011)
16. Dunkirk (2017)
17. Under the Skin (2013)
18. The Tree of Life (2011)
19. Silence (2016)
20. The Raid 2 (2014)
21. The Babadook (2014)
22. Whiplash (2014)
23. The Martian (2015)
24. Monsters (2010)
25. The Avengers (2012)

 

[CinemaInternational]

My alphabetical picks although out of a much smaller field (about 339) for best of the decade thusfar.  Top 30.

About Time (2013)

Anna Karenina (2012)

Blade Runner 2049 (2017)

Boyhood (2014)

Brooklyn (2015)

45 Years (2015)

Gravity (2013)

The Grand Budapest Hotel (2014)

The Help (2011)

Hugo (2011)

If Beale Street Could Talk (2018)

Inside Out (2015)

Jackie (2016)

La La Land (2016)

Last Flag Flying (2017)

Lean On Pete (2017)

Les Miserables (2012)

Life Itself (2014)

Mary Poppins Returns (2018)

Nebraska (2013)

Never Let Me Go (2010)

Phantom Thread (2017)

Philomena (2013)

Their Finest (2016)

the Tree of Life (2011)

True Grit (2010)

12 Years a Slave (2013)

20th Century Women (2016)

Whiplash (2014)

Won't You Be My Neighbor (2018)

[CinemaInternational]

And i have to confess that a few titles on the critical list left me cold.

[LawrenceA]

1 hour ago, CinemaInternational said:

And i have to confess that a few titles on the critical list left me cold.

Yes, me too. 8 of them, specifically, for me, but I doubt they're the same as yours. Plus I haven't seen Uncle Boonmee or the Twin Peaks revival. On your list, I haven't seen Their Finest or Mary Poppins Returns.

[TopBilled]

6 hours ago, LawrenceA said:

And because no one asked, here are my choices for the decade, based on 1899 titles seen:

1. 12 Years a Slave (2013)
2. Mad Max: Fury Road (2015)
3. The Cabin in the Woods (2012)
4. The Grand Budapest Hotel (2014)
5. Blade Runner 2049 (2017)
6. Her (2013)
7. Manchester By the Sea (2016)
8. The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo (2011)
9. Hereditary (2018)
10. Phantom Thread (2017)
11. Cloud Atlas (2012)
12. Inception (2010)
13. Mandy (2018)
14. The Descendants (2011)
15. Drive (2011)
16. Dunkirk (2017)
17. Under the Skin (2013)
18. The Tree of Life (2011)
19. Silence (2016)
20. The Raid 2 (2014)
21. The Babadook (2014)
22. Whiplash (2014)
23. The Martian (2015)
24. Monsters (2010)
25. The Avengers (2012)

You have seen almost 1900 titles from this particular decade? Which films make up the bottom 25 of your list?

[LawrenceA]

26 minutes ago, TopBilled said:

You have seen almost 1900 titles from this particular decade? Which films make up the bottom 25 of your list?

Actually, as of this evening, I've seen 1900.

As for my least favorite, most of the bottom of the list are direct-to-video, made-for-TV, or micro-budget indie horror stuff. Here they are, with #1 as the worst.

1. Saving Christmas (2014)
2. Almighty Thor (2011)
3. 2012: Ice Age (2011)
4. A Talking Cat!?! (2013)
5. Shark Week (2012)
6. Sharknado 3: Oh Hell No! (2015)
7. Battle of Los Angeles (2011)
8. Super Cyclone (2012)
9. The Last Vampire on Earth (2010)
10. Birdemic: Shock and Terror (2010)
11. GR30k (2010)
12. Blood Red Moon (2010)
13. Vampegeddon (2010)
14. Dead Enders (2010)
15. The Long December (2010)
16. Birth of Separation (2010) 
17. Pop Punk Zombies (2011)
18. BloodRayne: The Third Reich (2011)
19. Camel Spiders (2011)
20. Monsters in the Woods (2012)
21. Cold Creepy Feeling (2010)
22. Super Shark (2011)
23. Predatory Instinct
24. Mega Shark vs. Crocosaurus (2010)
25. Lady of the Dark: Genesis of the Serpent Vampire (2011)

If I only look at major theatrical releases, then my ten worst would be:

1. Pan (2015)
2. Unfriended (2014)
3. Resident Evil: Afterlife (2010)
4. Movie 43 (2013)
5. Spy Kids 4-D: All the Time in the World (2011)
6. Max Steel (2016)
7. Wild Horses (2015)
8. Fantastic Four (2015)
9. The Mummy (2017)
10. Jonah Hex (2010)

[laffite]

5 hours ago, CinemaInternational said:

My alphabetical picks although out of a much smaller field (about 339) for best of the decade thusfar.  Top 30.

Glad to see 45 years there. That one really shook me up and I think it's a great film.

[Det Jim McLeod]

My ten favorites so far:

Black Swan (2010)

Martha Marcy May Marlene (2011) Elizabeth Olsen plays a young woman rescued from a Manson-like cult, she tries to readjust to normal life

Zero Charisma (2013) a barely released indie about an obnoxious 30ish game master of a role playing game.

Her (2013)

Salinger (2013) excellent documentary about reclusive author J D Salinger

Gone Girl (2014)

Boyhood (2014)

Listen To Me Marlon (2015)- Marlon Brando's life in mostly his own words, best documentary I have ever seen on an actor

The Gift (2015)

LaLa Land (2016)

 

[Sukhov]

My top 10-

1. Twin Peaks: the Return, David Lynch, US (2017)

2. The Pervert's Guide to Ideology, Sophie Fiennes, UK (2012)

3. The Artist, Michel Hazanavicius, US (2011)

4. Lessons of a Dream, Sebastian Grobler, Germany (2012)

5. Liberation Day, Ugis Olte, Morten Traavik, Slovenia (2016)

6. The Ballad of Buster Scruggs, Ethan Coen, Joel Coen, US (2018)

7. Trotsky, Alexander Kott, Konstantin Statsky, Russia (2017)

8. Jackie, Pablo Larraín, US (2016)

9. The Young Karl Marx, Raoul Peck, Germany (2016)

10. Melancholia, Lars Von Trier, US (2011)

[cigarjoe]

Well being a AficioNoirdo these:

The Killer Inside Me (2010)

The Iceman (2012)

Sin City: A Dame To Kill For (2014)

Cop Car (2015)

Too Late (2015)

The American Side (2016) 

Hell or High Water (2016)

Nocturnal Animals (2016)

Frank & Lola (2016)

 

The rest:

Twin Peaks: The Return (David Lynch) 

The Ballad of Buster Scruggs, Ethan Coen, Joel Coen, US (2018)

Blade Runner 2049 (2017)

Inside Llewyn Davis (Joel Coen)

12 Years A Slave (Steve McQueen)

Nebraska (2013)

Roma (Alfonso Cuaron)

Of the original list didn't like

01. Mad Max: Fury Road (George Miller)
03. Moonlight (Barry Jenkins)
04. Boyhood (Richard Linklater)
05. The Social Network (David Fincher)
18. Her (Spike Jonze)
21. Inception (Christopher Nolan)
23. La La Land (Damien Chazelle)
 

Haven't seen

06. The Master (Paul Thomas Anderson)
08. Phantom Thread (Paul Thomas Anderson)
09. A Separation (Asghar Farhadi)
11. Get Out (Jordan Peele)
12. Under the Skin (Jonathan Glazer)
13. Carol (Todd Haynes)
14. Margaret (Kenneth Lonergan)
15. Toni Erdmann (Maren Ade)
16. Uncle Boonmee (Apichatpong Weerasethakul)
19. Call Me By Your Name (Luca Guadagnino)
20. The Act of Killing (Joshua Oppenheimer)
25. Certified Copy (Abbas Kiarostami)
26. The Florida Project (Sean Baker)
27. Amour (Michael Haneke)
28. Ida (Pawel Pawlikowski)

 

 

 

[LawrenceA]

1 hour ago, cigarjoe said:

Of the original list didn't like

01. Mad Max: Fury Road (George Miller)
03. Moonlight (Barry Jenkins)
04. Boyhood (Richard Linklater)
05. The Social Network (David Fincher)
18. Her (Spike Jonze)
21. Inception (Christopher Nolan)
23. La La Land (Damien Chazelle)
 

Of the original list, I wasn't fond of:

• Moonlight
• Boyhood
• Roma
• Carol
• Toni Erdmann
• Holy Motors
• Certified Copy
• The Florida Project

[skimpole]

Logically, a year from now would be a better time for this poll.  Forty years ago, Manhattan had been out literally for a week, Apocalypse Now's premiere was eight days in the future, and Stalker was only being seen in Russia.  I will add that of the 75 movies they list (74? Whiplash appears twice) I've seen all but three.

[LawrenceA]

5 minutes ago, skimpole said:

Logically, a year from now would be a better time for this poll.  Forty years ago, Manhattan had been out literally for a week, Apocalypse Now's premiere was eight days in the future, and Stalker was only being seen in Russia.

That was addressed in the original post. And I'm sure the internet will be inundated with such lists by the end of the year. I posted this because I thought some may be interested. But I expected the complainers, too.

[CinemaInternational]

On 5/2/2019 at 12:53 PM, LawrenceA said:

Of the original list, I wasn't fond of:

• Moonlight
• Boyhood
• Roma
• Carol
• Toni Erdmann
• Holy Motors
• Certified Copy
• The Florida Project

Yeah, three there I wasn't overly fond of either. Was impressed by two of those. 3 I haven't seen.

[CinemaInternational]

On 5/2/2019 at 1:02 AM, laffite said:

Glad to see 45 years there. That one really shook me up and I think it's a great film.

Indeed. If I had indeed ranked them, it would probably be in the top 10 for me. A truly astonishing film, and Charlotte Rampling has never been better. Tom Courtenay was in great form as well.

[laffite]

11 minutes ago, CinemaInternational said:

Indeed. If I had indeed ranked them, it would probably be in the top 10 for me. A truly astonishing film, and Charlotte Rampling has never been better. Tom Courtenay was in great form as well.

Tom Courtenay's portrayal was essential. There was a lingering unawareness of what was really going on that makes him impossible to blame and Charlotte's character knows that. That's part of the her tragedy, there is no one to blame, not even herself. Her discovery of the pregnancy of the other and his inadequacy in the marriage bed (and our, the viewer's, realization that it didn't just happen once but always) lead to her untenable realizations. Absolutely devastating.

[EricJ]

Around the same time, there was an "Best movies of the 21st Century (so far)" by the same, or similar snootypantses, that had "Mulholland Drive" as Best Movie of the 2000's, with Tree of Life only second.  But Mad Max still got in the top 10.

😓

This is one of the problems we also have with the Oscars:  The National Board of Review is still in the mode of being paranoid of commercial releases, and goes out of its way to spotlight the "Independent filmmaker" and the arthouse release.  Oh, but they happened to like "Mad Max: Fury Road", because Rip Van Miller, who'd been trying to make the movie since 1987, still directed in the style he had during the mainstream commercial 80's-90's, and reminded us what "old-fashioned" entertainment still looked like.  (Pretty much the same reason critics gushed over "Mary Poppins Returns" trying to be a 1964 movie.)  And that's the critics who didn't simply gush over the truck-grill-guitar guy, period.

It's not that Terence Malick or David Lynch are "world-class auteurs"--It's the poseur showing off of "I don't got to cineplexes, with all those superhero and 3-D!", trying to organize itself into something pretending at credibility.  Basically, any list that puts Tree of Life, Boyhood, Get Out or anything by Paul Thomas Anderson near the top of the list is a list you've read before.

[CinemaInternational]

Outside of the top 25 (er...28), these were the others mentioned on the critical list.... Haven't seen some of them.... of the others, there are some I loved, a few I liked, and then a smattering of what I call Peggy Lee films. You know as in "Is That All There Is?", which I usually ended up thinking to myself after seeing them.

29. Melancholia (8 votes)
30. Once Upon A Time In Anatolia (7 votes)
30. No Home Movie (7 votes)
30. Dunkirk (7 votes)
30. Zama (7 votes)
30. The Wolf of Wall Street (7 votes)
30. Phoenix (7 votes) 
36. Inherent Vice (6 votes)   
36. Inside Out (6 votes) 
36.  Blue is the Warmest Color (6 votes)
36. Timbuktu (6 votes)
36. Silence (6 votes)
36. The Assassin (6 votes)
36. Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy (6 votes)
36. The Turin Horse (6 votes) 
36. Drive (6 votes) 
36. Only Lovers Left Alive (6 votes)
36. The Grand Budapest Hotel (6 votes)
47. Manchester by the Sea (5 votes)
47.  It’s Such A Beautiful Day (5 votes)
47.  Son of Saul (5 votes)
47. Leviathan (5 votes)
47. First Reformed (5 votes)
47. Toy Story 3 (5 votes)
47. Faces Places (5 votes)
47. The Rider (5 votes) 
47. Sorry to Bother You (5 votes)
47. The Clouds of Sils Maria (5 votes)
47. You Were Never Really Here (5 votes)
47. The Great Beauty (5 votes)
47. Mysteries of Lisbon (5 votes)
47. Burning (5 votes)
47. Goodbye to Language (5 votes)
47. The Lobster (5 votes)
47. Upstream Color (5 votes)
64. Elle (4 votes)
64. Certain Woman (4 votes)
64. A Ghost Story (4 votes)
64. Bridesmaids (4 votes)
64. The Immigrant (4 votes)
64. Gravity (4 votes)
64. Stories We Tell (4 votes)
64. Beasts of the Southern Wild (4 votes)
64. Whiplash (4 votes) 
64. The Other Side of the Wind (4 votes)
64. The Revenant (4 votes)
64. Foxtrot (4 votes)
64. Blue Valentine (4 votes)
64. Birdman (4 votes)
64. Arrival (4 votes)
64. Ex-Machina (4 votes)
64. If Beale Street Could Talk (4 votes)
64. Like Someone In Love (4 votes)
64. Whiplash (4 votes)

[LawrenceA]

There's a lot there that I haven't seen, and a few I haven't even heard of. I have not seen:

• No Home Movie
• Zama
• Inside Out
• Timbuktu
• The Turin Horse
• It's Such a Beautiful Day
• Faces Places
• The Rider
• Mysteries of Lisbon
• Burning
• Goodbye to Language
• Upstream Color
• Stories We Tell
• Foxtrot
• Like Someone in Love

Of the others, I wasn't fond of, or was disappointed with:

• Once Upon a Time in Anatolia
• The Assassin
• Son of Saul
• The Great Beauty
• Elle
• Gravity
• Beasts of the Southern Wild
• The Other Side of the Wind
• Birdman

[CinemaInternational]

Of the ones I've seen from the whole list, I would note these on my own personal feelings about them.....

I loved....

If Beale Street Could Talk

Whiplash

Gravity

The Grand Budapest Hotel

Manchester by the Sea 

Silence

Inside Out

12 Years A Slave

La La Land

 Inception

Phantom Thread

Roma

Boyhood

The Tree of Life

 

I Liked...

Ex Machina

Beasts of the Southern Wild

The Immigrant

The Wolf of Wall Street

 Her

Get Out

Mad Max: Fury Road

Dunkirk

 

I was left indifferent by....

Arrival

Toy Story 3 (though the ending worked)

Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy

Ida

A Separation

The Master (strong performances though)

The Social Network

Moonlight

Carol

 

I disliked...

Inside Llewyn Davis

 

I hated....

Birdman

The Revenant

Elle

The Florida Project (Interestingly, all four of these films have some good performances though)

 

And then Amour is in a case all its own. Very well acted and a strong film, but so brutally uncompromisng and severe with no release  that its hard to really warm to.

[cigarjoe]

Seen liked

The Wolf of Wall Street

The Great Beauty

The Other Side of the Wind

seen 

Manchester by the Sea
Gravity 
Beasts of the Southern Wild
The Revenant
Birdman 

Haven't seen the rest

[laffite]

8 hours ago, CinemaInternational said:

And then Amour is in a case all its own. Very well acted and a strong film, but so brutally uncompromisng and severe with no release  that its hard to really warm to.

I wouldn't call Haneke a warm and fuzzy movie maker either.