10. Lady Bird (2017)
Greta Gerwig made quite the impression with her solo writing-directing debut. Saoirse Ronan is incredible as a realistically difficult teen, Laurie Metcalf missed out on a deserved Best Supporting Actress statue, and the ensemble cast is stacked with rising stars like Timothee Chalamet, Lucas Hedges and Beanie Feldstein. Just a terrific coming-of-age story, with small – yet important – stakes.
9. Inside Llewyn Davis (2013)
Joel and Ethan Coen have been a mainstay of most critics’ “best of the decade” lists since the 1980s, and they continued their streak with this cynical, melancholy tale of a folk singer (Oscar Isaac, in perhaps his greatest role to date) who misses out on his big break just before the genre hits its peak in the 1960s. The Coens’ usual flair for dialogue is here, as is their knack for telling a deceptively simple story that keeps sneaking up on you for weeks after you finish the movie.
8. Short Term 12 (2013) Most moviegoers have only recently discovered phenomenal actors like Brie Larson, Rami Malek, Lakeith Stanfield and Kaitlyn Dever, but a lot of critics have known their potential for greatness since this beautiful, little-seen indie about a group of young adults who work in a group home for at-risk teens. Writer-director Destin Daniel Cretton tackles dark material, but he balances the film’s tone perfectly. He avoids descending into misery porn by focusing on the characters’ humor that gets them through tough times.
7. Ex Machina (2015)
This sci-fi thriller is Frankenstein for a post-Google world, full of complex questions about technology, humanity and toxic masculinity, but it’s never overly ponderous or didactic. It’s disturbing while also maintaining a dark sense of humor. Writer-director Alex Garland’s small budget film looks like a blockbuster thanks to his incredible crew. It helps that his greatest special effect is the outstanding performances from his three leads: Domhnall Gleeson, Alicia Vikander and Oscar Isaac. They all bounce off one another in oppressive, chaotic ways until the inevitably violent finale.
6. The Social Network (2010) This dark drama, once derisively referred to as “that Facebook movie,” has aged remarkably well over the last decade – and not in a good way. Because of social media’s increasingly tight grip on our lives, the origin story of Mark Zuckerberg’s global disruption seems scarily prophetic in hindsight. Many of the problems currently plaguing our society, including “fake news”-spouting politicians, online bullying, rampant misogyny and the dangerous reemergence of fringe hate groups, can be traced back to this cursed website that was originally created for the superficial goal of rating women’s looks. Director David Fincher and screenwriter Aaron Sorkin warned us, but we didn’t want to listen.
5. Inception (2010) Christopher Nolan was desperate to prove he was more than just “the Batman guy” with this epic sci-fi spectacle and it paid off big time. Taking perhaps the most tired cliché in movie history – “it was all a dream!” – and transforming it into a thrilling, brain-melting puzzle of an experience was one of the decade’s most inspiring magic tricks – which makes sense coming from the guy who also gave us The Prestige. Leonardo DiCaprio is phenomenal, but it’s the supporting cast who steals the show, including Joseph Gordon-Levitt (that hallway fight!), Tom Hardy, Ellen Page, Marion Cotillard and Michael Caine. That ending – the screen cutting to black before we see what happens to the spinning top – evoked one of the best audience reactions I’ve ever heard in a theater.
4. Boyhood (2014) This ambitious experiment from Richard Linklater, one of my favorite filmmakers, continues to impress me five years later. By utilizing the same cast and shooting for a few days each year between 2001 and 2013, viewers get to see young Mason (Ellar Coltrane) and Samantha (Lorelei Linklater, the director’s real-life daughter) grow up before our eyes. Episodic vignettes take them (and their parents, played by Ethan Hawke and Patricia Arquette) through both major and ordinary moments of childhood, leading to a poignant conclusion that sneaks up on you. I still get choked up thinking about the family posing for Mason’s graduation photo.
3. Moonlight (2016) Thematically similar to Boyhood, Barry Jenkins’ masterpiece shows how two different filmmakers can approach the same idea and get dramatically different results. Chronicling three periods in the life of a man named Chiron (played by Alex R. Hibbert, Ashton Sanders and Trevante Rhodes), the story overflows with emotion and radiates compassion for its characters – even those who at first seem unworthy of it. It earned Mahershala Ali a well-deserved Oscar for Best Supporting Actor and arguably became the most famous Best Picture winner in Academy Award history after someone gave Warren Beatty and Faye Dunaway the wrong envelope.
2. Mad Max: Fury Road (2015) Perhaps the greatest action movie ever made, George Miller avoided lazy nostalgia and name recognition by staging a two-hour postapocalyptic car chase that reminded CGI-fatigued viewers about the joys of practical stunts and effects. Tom Hardy proves a worthy successor to Mel Gibson, but the real star of the movie is Charlize Theron. Her buzz-cut, hook-handed Imperator Furiosa immediately became an iconic sci-fi character on the level of Ellen Ripley and Princess Leia.
1. Get Out (2017) Yes, I know Jordan Peele’s “social thriller” is only two years old and that other films from this decade are more “important.” But looking back, I don’t know if there’s a more structurally perfect movie on this list. Literally every piece of dialogue is important, there’s not an extraneous scene and each viewing reveals more clues, references and other pieces of brilliance. It hit pop culture like a bomb, making a ton of money and simultaneously dazzling mainstream audiences, cynical critics and traditionally genre-hating Oscar voters (earning nominations for Best Picture, Best Actor, Best Director and Best Original Screenplay, the latter of which it won).
Honorable Mentions (in alphabetical order): Bridesmaids (2011)
Django Unchained (2012)
Inside Out (2015)
Leave No Trace (2018)
Lincoln (2012)
Popstar: Never Stop Never Stopping (2016)
Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse (2018)
The Tree of Life (2011)
Whiplash (2014)
The Wolf of Wall Street (2013)
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