Some truly iconic movies came out during the 2010s, and not just in one genre either. The 2010s saw an incredible array of science fiction, drama, period pieces, action, and horror projects.
More than one year proved to be particularly competitive in terms of determining “the best” and so we’ve taken a few factors into consideration. This isn’t just based on Rotten Tomatoes scores. We’re looking at critical reception, audience response, accolades, impact on cinema, and cultural influence over time.
10
2010: ‘Inception’
Hot off the heels of making The Dark Knight, Christopher Nolan wrote and directed Inception. Leonardo DiCaprio (Killers of the Flower Moon) stars as a professional thief leading a group that infiltrates people’s dreams while they sleep. The cast is top tier, including the talents of Joseph Gordon-Levitt (Super Pumped), Marion Cotillard (Lee), Elliot Page (Close to You), Tom Hardy (Havoc), and Ken Watanabe (The Creator) — plus Nolan’s two most frequent collaborators, Cillian Murphy (Oppenheimer) and Michael Caine (The Prestige).
Life Is but a Dream
Much like he did with The Dark Knight, Nolan opts for practical effects whenever possible, and it pays off. Inception has the added benefit of being an original story, allowing Nolan to stretch his creative legs in terms of lore and world-building. It’s complex, as all Nolan films are, but not so complex that audiences get totally lost in the logistics. The dream worlds these characters enter are dazzling, and the final frame of the movie is one that people continue to debate today. Inception received eight Academy Award nominations, winning for Sound Mixing, Sound Editing, Visual Effects, and Cinematography.
9
2011: ‘A Separation’
A Separation was everywhere in 2011, which is no small feat for a foreign-language film in the United States. The film was written and directed by Iranian filmmaker Asghar Farhadi (A Hero), who is considered by many to be one of the best world cinema directors of the 21st century. The movie stars Leila Hatami (The Killer and the Savage) and Payman Maadi (Woman and Child) as Simin and Nader, a couple in Tehran who’ve been married for 14 years. Simin wants to move away in order to provide a better life for their daughter, but Nader wants to stay in Iran and care for his ailing father. They separate and the film explores the messiness of disentangling two lives.
Best of the Best
A Separation topped multiple “best of the year” lists in 2011. It won Best Foreign Language Film of the Year at the Academy Awards and was nominated for Best Original Screenplay. It won a César, a Golden Globe, a Critics’ Choice Award, a British Independent Film Award, a FIlm Independent Spirit Award, and the Golden Berlin Bear at the Berlin International Film Festival, among other awards. Steven Spielberg called it the best movie of the year. A Separation continues to have a certified fresh 99% rating from critics on Rotten Tomatoes, giving it the highest Rotten Tomatoes score of any movie on this list.
8
2012: ‘Looper’
Looper was written and directed by Rian Johnson, best known today for Knives Out and its subsequent sequels. The film is a superb blend of science fiction and thriller. Set in 2074, the movie stars Joseph Gordon-Levitt as a hired gun named Joe. When the mob wants to make someone disappear, they send that person into the past to be killed. That’s where Joe comes in. But everything changes when they send back Joe’s future self, played by Bruce Willis (The Sixth Sense), and he gets away before Joe can kill him. The supporting cast includes Emily Blunt (A Quiet Place), Paul Dano (Prisoners), and Jeff Daniels (Godless).
One of a Kind
Smart and fast-paced, Looper is a truly original time travel movie that earned great reviews from critics and audiences. At the same time, the quality of the film seemed to be overshadowed in 2012 by hugely popular big-budget IP projects like The Dark Knight Rises, The Hunger Games, and The Avengers. Nonetheless, Looper made many top ten lists at the time. It earned four Saturn Award nominations and five Critics’ Choice Award nominations, winning the latter for Best Sci-Fi Movie. It is certified fresh with a 93% rating from critics on Rotten Tomatoes.
7
2013: ’12 Years a Slave’
Based on Solomon Northup’s 1853 memoir, 12 Years a Slave is a harrowing historical drama that is difficult but crucial viewing. Steve McQueen, who had made Shame two years before, directed the movie with a screenplay by John Ridley (Shirley). Chiwetel Ejiofor (The Man Who Fell to Earth) stars as Solomon Northup, a free African-American violinist who was abducted and sold into slavery in 1841. Lupita Nyong’o (A Quiet Place: Day One) made her feature film debut with this movie. The incredible cast also features Michael Fassbender (Shame), Benedict Cumberbatch (Doctor Strange), Paul Dano, Garret Dillahunt (Winter’s Bone), Paul Giamatti (Billions), Michael Kenneth Williams (Lovecraft Country), Adepero Oduye (Widows), Sarah Paulson (Run), Alfre Woodard (The Book of Clarence), and Brad Pitt (Once Upon a Time in Hollywood).
Unflinching History
12 Years a Slave was hailed as a brutal, unflinching drama that made it onto 100 “best of” lists in 2013. It received nine Academy Award nominations, winning Best Adapted Screenplay, Supporting Actress for Lupita Nyong’o, and Best Picture. It won the Saturn Award for Best Independent Film, a Golden Globe for Best Drama, and three BET Awards for Best Actor Chiwetel Ejiofor, Best Actress Lupita Nyong’o, and Best Movie. It is certified fresh on Rotten Tomatoes with a 95% rating from critics.
6
2014: ‘Boyhood’
Boyhood, as a cinematic feat and an ode to the art of filmmaking, is undeniable. 2014 was a very competitive year for great movies. This writer’s overall favorite from 2014 was Nightcrawler. But Boyhood is perhaps one of the most ambitious films ever made. This coming-of-age drama was written and directed by Richard Linklater (Dazed and Confused), and took 12 years to complete. The film begins in 2002 with six-year-old Mason Evans Jr. (Ellar Coltrane) living with his divorced mother and older sister in a small Texas town. The film traces Mason’s boyhood, following him through the years as the character and the actor both age. Patricia Arquette (Severance) and Ethan Hawke (The Black Phone) play Mason’s parents, while Linklater’s own daughter, Lorelei Linklater (Anywhere with You), plays Mason’s sister.
12 Years in the Making
The cast and crew reunited annually for over a decade to film the entire picture. Linklater wanted to examine the parent-child relationship with actors who aged with their characters. He had the plot points mapped up, but adapted the script to accommodate the natural evolution of time and shifts in culture. The effect is staggering, unlike anything else in contemporary cinema. Over 20 publications named it the best movie of 2014. Boyhood received six Academy Award nominations, with Patricia Arquette winning Best Actress in a Supporting Role. The film won Best Picture at the Boston Society of Film Critics Awards, the BAFTA Awards, the British Independent Film Awards, the Critics’ Choice Awards, and the Chicago Film Critics Association Awards. It is certified fresh with a 97% rating from critics on Rotten Tomatoes.
5
2015: ‘Mad Max: Fury Road’
Mad Max: Fury Road is one of those rare summer blockbusters that is also a cinematic masterpiece. As the fourth installment in the Mad Max franchise, the movie was directed by George Miller (Lorenzo’s Oil) with a screenplay by Miller, Brendan McCarthy, and Nico Lathouris (Furiosa: A Mad Max Saga). In a post-apocalyptic desert wasteland, Max (Tom Hardy) finds himself alongside Imperator Furiosa (Charlize Theron) as she helps Immortan Joe’s (Hugh Keays-Byrne) “wives” escape captivity in the Citadel. The cast features Nicholas Hoult (The Great), Zoë Kravitz (Kimi), Riley Keough (Daisy Jones & the Six), Rosie Huntington-Whiteley (Transformers: Dark of the Moon), Abbey Lee (Killer Heat), and Courtney Eaton (Yellowjackets) in her feature film debut.
A Jaw-Dropping Feat
Production for this movie was notoriously brutal, and that comes across in this highly stylized action movie. The practical effects are jaw-dropping, the cinematography flawless, and the performances superb. Fury Road garnered 10 Academy Award nominations, winning in six categories — including Production Design and Film Editing. Charlize Theron won a Saturn Award and a Critics’ Choice Award for her performance.
4
2016: ‘Moonlight’
Moonlight is a breathtaking coming-of-age drama written and directed by Barry Jenkins (If Beale Street Could Talk), based on the play In Moonlight Black Boys Look Blue by Tarell Alvin McCraney. The film follows Chiron, a young Black man, as he grapples with identity and sexuality at three key stages in his life. Alex Hibbert (The Chi), Ashton Sanders (Judas and the Black Messiah), and Trevante Rhodes (Bird Box) play Chiron as a child, adolescent, and adult. The phenomenal cast includes André Holland (Passing), Jharrel Jerome (Unstoppable), Janelle Monáe (Glass Onion: A Knives Out Mystery), Naomie Harris (Black Bag), and Mahershala Ali (Jurassic World Rebirth).
Beautiful and Haunting
Moonlight is an incredible exploration of black masculinity, with astounding performances and immersive cinematography. It ranked number one on over 60 “best movies of the year” lists. It earned eight nominations at the Academy Awards, winning Best Supporting Actor for Mahershala Ali, Best Adapted Screenplay, and Best Picture. It won the People’s Choice Award at the Atlantic Film Festival, Best Drama at the Golden Globes, plus Best Ensemble Cast at the Boston Society of Film Critics Awards and the Critics’ Choice Award. It also won Best International Independent Film at the British Independent Film Awards and Outstanding Film at the GLAAD Media Awards. It is certified fresh on Rotten Tomatoes with a 98% rating from critics.
3
2017: ‘Get Out’
Comedian Jordan Peele (Us), who also wrote the screenplay, made his directorial debut with this film and in doing so became one of the biggest names in horror. Daniel Kaluuya (Judas and the Black Messiah) gives a riveting performance as Chris Washington, a young Black photographer who travels to upstate New York to meet his white girlfriend’s family. Once he arrives, however, he begins to notice eerie and odd behavior from the family’s black staff. The supporting cast features Allison Williams (Fellow Travelers), Bradley Whitford (Tick, Tick… Boom!), Catherine Keener (Sicario: Day of the Soldado), LaKeith Stanfield (Sorry to Bother You), Caleb Landry Jones (The Florida Project), Stephen Root (Barry), and Lil Rel Howery (Reunion).
Changing the Horror Landscape
It is incredibly difficult for a horror movie to get mainstream acclaim. Only six horror movies have ever been nominated for Best Picture at the Academy Awards, and Get Out is one of them. The only horror movie to ever win Best Picture was The Silence of the Lambs in 1991. Get Out garnered critical acclaim in horror circles as well as in the mainstream media. The film was nominated for four Academy Awards. Jordan Peele won for Best Original Screenplay, becoming the first African American writer to win in this category. Get Out won Best Horror Film at the Saturn Awards, Best Screenplay at the Bram Stoker Awards, Best International Independent Film at the British Independent Film Awards, and Best Horror Movie at the Critics’ Choice Awards. Jordan Peele won two NAACP awards for writing and directing the movie. Get Out is certified Fresh on Rotten Tomatoes with a 98% rating from critics.
2
2018: ‘Black Panther’
Black Panther isn’t just a superhero movie, it is a stunning tribute to Black culture and liberation. Based on the Stan Lee comic, Black Panther was directed by the critically acclaimed Ryan Coogler (Sinners) with a screenplay by Coogler and Joe Robert Cole (All Day and a Night). Chadwick Boseman (Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom) stars as T’Challa, the superhero known as Black Panther and the king of the African nation of Wakanda. The dazzling cast includes Lupita Nyong’o, Danai Gurira (The Walking Dead), Daniel Kaluuya, Letitia Wright (The Silent Twins), Winston Duke (Us), Sterling K. Brown (American Fiction), Forest Whitaker (Andor), Angela Bassett (Damsel), and Coogler’s most frequent collaborator, Michael B. Jordan (Sinners).
‘Wakanda Forever’
One of the highest-grossing Marvel movies of all time, Black Panther changed lives by bringing Wakanda to the screen, especially for young Black viewers. Black Panther is ranked with The Dark Knight as one of the best superhero movies ever made. It received seven Academy Award nominations, including Best Picture. It won in the Production Design, Costume Design, and Original Score categories. It won Best Comic-to-Film Motion Picture and Best Director at the Saturn Awards. Chadwick Boseman and Michael B. Jordan both won Best Actor at the BET Awards. It won eight NAACP Image Awards and a Grammy.
1
2019: ‘Little Women’
Little Women is based on the classic 1868 novel by Louisa May Alcott. It’s been adapted for the screen several times, all to great success, but what writer and director Greta Gerwig (Barbie) does with this 2019 film transcends those that came before it. The movie is not only a wonderful adaptation of the book, it speaks to the beating heart of Alcott herself and the experience of girlhood into adulthood. Saoirse Ronan (Brooklyn), one of the best actors of her generation, stars as Jo March — a young writer growing up alongside her sisters in 1860s Massachusetts. The cast includes Emma Watson (Beauty and the Beast), Florence Pugh (Thunderbolts*), Eliza Scanlen (Sharp Objects), Laura Dern (Wild), Timothée Chalamet (Dune), Bob Odenkirk (Better Call Saul), Chris Cooper (The Town), and Meryl Streep (The Post).
A Timeless Tale of Girlhood
Gerwig keenly understands Alcott as a woman and a writer, which shines through in this film. The writing is exquisite, and the performances speak to the heart of the novel. Little Women was nominated for six Academy Awards, including Best Picture, and won for Costume Design. Gerwig’s omission in the directing category was criticized by critics and audiences — especially given the quality of the film and the Academy’s tendency to overlook women filmmakers. Little Women won Best Film and Best Actress for Saoirse Ronan at the Boston Society of Film Critics Awards and AFI’s Movie of the Year Award. The film is certified fresh with a 95% rating from critics on Rotten Tomatoes.
This story originally appeared on Movieweb
