Favorite Films of the 2010s
“They don’t make them like they used to.”
Even only being a passionate enthusiast and admirer of cinema for a couple of years, I’ve always found that sentiment to be ignorant in its own special category, and reeking of “O.K. Boomer” scented pretension. Look, purism is any medium of art or creative expression is unwarranted. Yes, what sets the standard is the reason why the medium has collected and stacked the pantheon of work that it has. The greats (in regards to filmmaking, legends like Scorsese and Hitchcock) must be respected with their place on the throne, and every newcomer should grasp that.
But… what isn’t encouraged enough is all hands on board being supportive and aiding in a natural progression of the artform. For giants will fall to the ground that the common man walks on. The throne is vacant, and must be occupied. There must be a successor.
With Netflix leading the overwhelming streaming wave, with Amazon, Hulu, and now Disney+ at a reasonable rate of 6.99 per month (the package with Hulu and ESPN is a little tempting), the landscape of the overall entertainment industry has been flipped on its backside. Netflix is projected to spend 15 billion dollars on content this year, the funds for that budget coming from literally “raising debt”. Netflix is also trying to stifle the competition by apparently poaching employees from Fox. All’s fair in love and war, subtracting the love.
On the concept of “purism” in regards to cinema and art, the presence of a platform like Netflix has struck up a conflicting, back-and-forth debate within the industry that draws back to that. Blows have been thrown on both sides, no impasse is in sight, and Netflix just racked thirty-four nominations at the Golden Globes.
I can sympathize with Steven Spielberg when he says that he wants “the theatrical experience to remain relevant in our culture.” I’m from New York city, born and raised my entire life. There’s a pair of movie theaters on 86th Street that I would go to semi-frequently as a kid. Depending on the movie I saw with my parents, I would alternate between going to either.
I saw many of the amazing superhero movies that came out in the 2000s, like the Spider Man Films starring Tobey McGuire. I saw Madagascar there. I still to this day remember the long line that almost went into the road as individuals, friends and families waited patiently to get their tickets on an average Friday afternoon. Oh how youth coats us with innocence.
Flash-forward to today, the theater adjacent to the M86 bus stop is closed down; it hasn’t been torn down or renovated. It stands, an abandoned ghost house, a relic of its once former glory. The other theater is still open, but if you go inside today to try see a movie, you’ll notice from the get-go that the staff is minimal and the whole establishment is like a car running on borrowed gas. I’m lazy as hell and could stay in bed all day, every day watching movies. Nonetheless, the illustrious Spielberg makes a undeniable point.
For as much as Martin Scorsese can’t see a Marvel movie, and in his opinion, believes that the closest thing they resemble are “amusement parks”, Marvel is chugging ahead with Phase Three in its gargantuan cinematic universe, set to roll out in the next couple of years. Marvel movies easily gross over or just under a billion dollars in revenue worldwide now. Commercial success does not equate with artistic merit, but Marvel has certainly proven that their product resonates with audiences.
Anyways, with all the debt Netflix is “raising”, and the value of its stock being shaky, the stability of its financial future will be in question.
With that, I will share you my subjective and completely biased list of the top 75 films of the decade.
DISCLAIMER: Thousands of films were theatrically released between the years of 2010 and 2019. I did not see a decent amount of those films. I saw as many as I can. In our day and age, too many options is both a blessing and a curse.
Here you go.
First, some standout honorable mentions:
- Annihilation (Alex Garland)
- Eye in the Sky (Gavin Hood)
- The Big Short (Adam McKay)
- Black Mass (Scott Cooper)
- Fury (David Ayer)
- If Beale Street Could Talk (Barry Jenkins)
- Ida (Paweł Pawlikowski)
- Hereditary (Ari Aster)
- The Gift (Jason Bateman)
- Boyhood (Richard Linklater)
- Rango (Gore Verbinski)
Top 75 Films of the 2010s (listed by title, director and year):
78. Toy Story 3 (Lee Unkrich, 2010)
77. The Disaster Artist (James Franco)
76. Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri (Martin McDonagh, 2017)
75. Manchester by the Sea (Kenneth Lonergan, 2016)
74. The Conjuring (James Wan, 2012)
73. Mud (Jeff Nichols, 2012)
72. Mustang (Deniz Gamze Ergüven, 2015)
71. Zero Dark Thirty (Katherine Bigelow, 2012)
70. Drive (Nicolas Winding Refn, 2011)
69. Good Time (The Safdie Brothers, 2017)
68. The Lost City of Z (James Gray, 2017)
67. Moneyball (Bennett Miller, 2011)
66. Son of Saul (Laszlo Nemes, 2015)
65. The Last Black Man in San Francisco (Joe Talbot, 2019)
64. Prisoners (Denis Villeneuve, 2013)
63. 99 Homes (Ramin Bahrami, 2015)
62. Mudbound (Dee Rees, 2017)
61. Get Out (Jordan Peele, 2017)
60. Burning (Lee Chang-Dong, 2017)
59. Gone Girl (David Fincher, 2014)
58. Snowpiercer (
57. Room (Lenny Abrahamson, 2015)
56. The Sisters Brothers (Jacques Audiard, 2018)
55. Moonlight (Barry Jenkins, 2016)
54. Ex Machina (Alex Garland, 2014)
53. A Girl Walks Home Alone at Night (Ana Lily Amirpour, 2014)
52. American Hustle (David O. Russell, 2013)
51. A Quiet Place (John Krasinski, 2018)
50. Whiplash (Damien Chazelle, 2014)
49. The Grand Budapest Hotel (Wes Anderson, 2014)
48. Frances Ha (Noah Baumbach, 2012)
47. God’s Own Country (Francis Lee, 2017)
46. Dear White People (Justin Simien, 2014)
45. It Follows (David Robert Mitchell, 2015)
44. Nightcrawler (Dan Gilroy, 2014)
43. I, Tonya (Craig Gillespie, 2017)
42. Logan (James Mangold, 2017)
41. The Lobster (Yorgos Lanthimos, 2016)
40. Skyfall (Sam Mendes, 2012)
39. Birdman (Alejandro Gonzalez Inarritu)
38. Phantom Thread (Paul Thomas Anderson, 2017)
37. Rush (Ron Howard, 2013)
36. End of Watch (David Ayer, 2012)
35. The Handmaiden (Park Chan-Wook, 2016)
34. Gravity (Alfonso Cuaron, 2013)
33. Looper (Rian Johnson, 2012)
32. The Grey (Joe Carnahan, 2011)
31. Django Unchained (Quentin Tarantino, 2012)
30. Sicario (Denis Villeneuve, 2015)
29. A Separation (Asghar Farhadi, 2011)
28. First Man (Damien Chazelle, 2018)
27. Dunkirk (Christopher Nolan, 2017)
26. The Witch (Robert Eggers, 2015)
25. The Master (Paul Thomas Anderson, 2012)
The follow up to the dry but sizzling, scorched-in-fire and lengthy epic There Will Be Blood, arguably his masterpiece, Paul Thomas Anderson delivers another seasoned and textured masterclass in cinematic excellence with The Master. If There Will be Blood fully got PTA’s foot into the door, then The Master allowed him to buy the house in full, and raise a family of five
The imagery he and cinematographer Mihai Malaimare Jr. strikes up can be likened to a classic painting; every brushstroke adds a sumptuous new layer, with all the tame cool tones making the color pop even more.
Joaquin Phoenix as Freddie Quell gives a confident performance, leaning into the mental instability, rife disillusionment and ill psychosis that ails a man like Freddie, haunted by the horrors of war, and the life and people he abandoned back home.
Phillip Seymour Hoffman in his probably his last stellar performance truly embodies the archetype of the “Master”, through thick and thin. Conniving, slick, mild-mannered, wise beyond his years, assertive, charming, inspiring, ambitious and someone that reaches for the stars (and actually grabs them and holds on.)
Lancaster Dodd becomes all of this, leading his Scientology-inspired movement while trying to expand it. He’s a futurist and a revolutionary, loud and brash. But Hoffman being the master in acting himself, breaks down Dodd’s outer shell, and exposes the rotting vulture inside of him. He lets the worm squirm out. Hoffman lets the corrupt fraud of a man Dodd is come to the light with deft maturity, and a touch of madness.
Hoffman and Phoenix together offer one of the best and most entertaining clash of personalities to brace the big screen this decade, and arguably of the century.
24. The Social Network (David Fincher, 2010)
This film captured like lightning in a bottle the adrenaline-fused energy of the cultural zeitgest catalyzed about by the exciting innovations in social media and digital technology overall. Jesse Eisenberg is perfectly casted for the role of his career, as he evokes every neurotic tic and the groomed narcissism and arrogance of Mark Zuckerberg.
Backed by a solid supporting including Armie Hammer, Andrew Garfield and Justin Timberlake, The Social Network is this decade’s There Will Be Blood; a pitch-perfect allegory on the predatory nature of capitalism, as we watch the rise and fall of the “founder” of Facebook.
The robotic and industrial score by Trent Reznor and Atticus Ross crackles and electrifies. David Fincher’s direction is sharp and clinical. Everything comes into place in this modern day Shakespearian drama.
23. Interstellar (Christopher Nolan, 2014)
An appropriate spiritual sequel to 2010’s Inception (which finds a place for itself further up this list), Christopher Nolan’s Interstellar has viewers looking up to the stars, and contemplating whether they’re going to fall down on us like tainted glass or aspire the human spirit to go up towards them and look for something greater and grander.
The visual effects are expansive and a bedazzling gem to behold. Christopher Nolan can really imagine and design universes that leave scientists floored out of disbelief.
Once again exploring the idea of time paradoxes, Interstellar will have your heart sink and rise like the chaotic tide as Matthew McConnaughey (as Cooper) figures out that home is where it will always be, nevermind what galaxy you’re actually in.
22. Carol (Todd Haynes, 2015)
Todd Haynes’ grainy and decorous period drama set in the 1950s gives Cate Blanchett another marvelous role to knock out of the park, and Rooney Mara the opportunity to play an astounding second fiddle as a quiet, reserved and insecure cashier.
Like Call Me By Your Name, the romance at the core here is one that should exist and should not continue. But with Blanchett’s character in a dwindling, loveless marriage, she has no choice but to rebel against social norms and seek out a life someone in her position was never meant to ask.
Rooney Mara’s character does the same. The two together run the roulette and take the impulsive game they’re playing to its limits. The ride along the way looks beautiful, and moves with timeless poise.
21. Nocturnal Animals (Tom Ford, 2016)
Going back and forth between two universes, one based in the sterile artifice of the overly decadent art world (as courtesy of director Tom Ford’s expertise and experience in that industry) and one sun-soaked in the parched desert out west, Nocturnal Animals is the kind of “story-within-a-story” film that becomes an infectious page-turner, and a killer catch.
Amy Adams is Susan Morrow, a divorced art gallery owner, married to Armie Hammer’s character, receives a manuscript from said ex-husband, Edward Morrow, played by the dashing Jake Gyllenhaal, based upon fictitiously their marriage.
Susan becomes tortured and haunted by what horror belies in said manuscript, so she devotes time for the rest of the movie to read the manuscript in chunks and pieces.
The manuscript leads us to a road trip gone catastrophically wrong, with Gyllenhaal’s alternate personality in the manuscript being the head of the family, with his wife and two daughters.
Aaron Taylor-Johnson and company abruptly enter in as a group of reckless, savage stragglers that inflict terror and pain on Tony Hastings’ once whole family, hijacking their car and having their way with his daughter in brutal and repugnant fashion.
The film, within the story of the manuscript, becomes a rugged, jagged and rocky parable that invites Michael Shannon into the party as the hard backboned, cold and calculated police sheriff. Tony doesn’t get his revenge ultimately in the end, and is left stranded and physically exhausted and worn out.
But Edward certainly does…
20. The Descendants (Alexander Payne, 2011)
Briddling with compassion, and a radiant warmth, Alexander Payne’s The Descendants offers a simple yet affecting story on grief, family and loss. George Clooney is as down-to-earth, comical and relatable as ever.
This movie is the dictionary definiton of something that’s made with a human touch.
19. Black Swan (Darren Arronofsky, 2010)
Melodramatic and operatic to an entertaining tee, like the play the movie is inspired by, Darren Arronofsky’s Black Swan has a sinister edge to its nightmarish portrayal of the paranoia and stress that the elegant world of ballet creates deep down.
It moves at a heart-throbbing pace as Natalie Portman tries to prove herself as an elite dancer, with Mila Kunis being her treacherous stunt double that almost steals the show right out from under her.
A intoxicating two-hander that builds tension like a Jenga tower, the two actresseses impeccably go toe-to-toe, until we reach the emphatic ending, and everything comes crashing down (or does it?)
18. Nebraska (Alexander Payne, 2013)
Nobody can capture the rusty, breezy, antique and wistful grain that comes from the scenery offered when you go through Middle America as much as Alexander Payne.
In the spirit of films like Sideways and The Descendants, Alexander Payne paints an somber portrait of family strife conflict through exquisite black-and-white cinematography, lensed by his long-time collaborator Phedon Papamichael. All for one stupid little lottery ticket.
Bruce Dern as Woody Grant, lazy, disshelved, bitter, alcoholic and stubborn patriarch of the Grant family is fantastic. Will Forte offers a nimble contrast to Dern’s dementia-riddled regretful rage, and the rest of the cast is up to the task.
17. Foxcatcher (Bennett Miller, 2014)
Bennett Miller is in his wheelhouse, and produces another stinging sports drama that goes into the bewildering psyche of athletes everywhere.
Based upon the chilling true story of billionaire John Du Pont, heir to the du Pont family and its wealth, who being a huge wrestling enthusiast, recruited Mark and Dave Schultz (Channing Tatum and Mark Ruffalo), Olympic gold medaling wrestlers to help him a build a team of unstoppable warriors.
Steve Carrell becomes unrecognizable in his performance for the age. He talks as if there’s a deep pit at the bottom of his mouth. His stiff mannerisms, hollow stare and demeanor that emulates the evilest of dictators ever known to demand is hard not to get fixated on. Carrell makes du Pont come across as a strange alien life-force rather than a functional human being.
If anyone knows the true story, you know how this film ends, with du Pont’s protective father schtick, inflated ego and blinding psychopathy getting to his head and lashing out to petrifying results. Foxcatcher is a solid reminder that there are truly some holes that money can’t fill, nor some weaknesses it can conceal and hide up.
16. Hell or High Water (David Mackenzie, 2015)
The twangy Southwest, plastered in senescent browns, oranges and faint yellows offers the perfect setting for this tale of brothers seeking revenge and retribution.
Chris Pine and Ben are trying to save their family ranch from being foreclosed due to the debt their mom got into from a reverse mortgage. They continue to commit robberies, not just banks but also from diners.
On their tail and on the hunt are two Texas Rangers, one Native American and one white (Jeff Bridges fully enjoying the role he was born to be in.)
This cat-and-mouse thriller alternates between multiple perspectives to mine intriguing commentary on small town America, predatory capitalism, the meaning of family, the historical injustices done to Native Americans, property rights and how easily corroding morality is.
It has rhythm and empathy. And Taylor Sheridan’s spectacular script slips in moments of authentic fun just to give the story balance.
15. Call Me By Your Name (Luca Guadagnino, 2015)
Film critic Alonso Duralde was dead-on accurate when he described the cinematic and artistic prowess of this heart-shattering romance. Like he says, this film adeptly meshes all six senses that humans use to create an slow-burning ordeal that Luca Guadagnino elongates to a stirring conclusion.
Set in Northern Italy in 1983, Armie Hammer and the young attention-grabbing stud Timothee Chalamet cross paths as Hammer’s character is a research assistant to the father of Chalamet’s character, played by Michael Stuhlbarg, who’s in a fantastic scene with Chalamet towards the end.
What starts off as a normal friendships blossoms into a star-strucken dalliance, charged with more erotic flair than Fifty Shades of Grey could ever possess.
This liaison develops organically, and gives both actors equal breathing room and space to elevate a awkward and uncomfortable premise into the divine forbidden fruit that no one can resist, but either of the two main characters can’t enjoy themselves.
14. Moonrise Kingdom (Wes Anderson, 2012)
This unconventional and quirky romance on a tiny isolated island in New England is right up the alleyway for Wes Anderson’s eccentric sensibilities.
With a biblical arc woven in, the meticulous visual symmetry and polychromatic palette Anderson dabbles in translates into a evocative, dreamy narrative that’s irresistible not to watch. The dollhouse-like sets that all the characters travel through sometimes don’t feel of this world. As a viewer, you are glad and gleeful that you are being taken away to somewhere else.
An packed line-up including Edward Norton, Tilda Swinton, Bruce Willis, Frances McDormand and Bill Murray complements the offbeat cast of characters that fill this tragicomedy with life and soul.
13. 20th Century Women (Mike Mills, 2016)
The cinematography is gorgeous, and the whole rainbow is really manipulated in this indie gem.
The whole cast, especially Annette Bening shines, and this is how you do a character study right.
20th Century Women isnt exactly an “end of history movie”, but it does speculate and ponder upon the slow march of time, how we all have our place on the timeline, how we are products of the social upheaval we live in and we are constantly rebelling against something, searching for something, even when the best days are behind us or in front of us, but out of sight. The characters are right there at the epicenter , or slightly after the peak of the cultural revolution. They are one of a kind, while also being a part of a generation.
This movie examines so many metaphysical and conceptual ideas in regards to the human condition, you could host a philosophy class on it.
We all reach our destructive end, but theres a blissful beauty in that. We are who we are, and we will be who we were.
It’s deconstruction on the nature of masculinity and how society builds men is, bythought-provoking and deep.
The only thing that threw me off is Bening’s voiceover narration, which makes her sound like a robot and makes the movie feel like a infomercial trying to sell you on life itself (the movie can be segmented here and there.)
Mike Mills definitely tried to create a “Highlights of the 20th Century” compilation here, and succeeds to a huge extent.
12. A Most Violent Year (J.C. Chandor, 2014)
This film is a clever oxymoron.
With the title containing the standout word “violent”, and the style of the film on display in the trailer, you go in expecting a familiar, somewhat at least by-the-numbers gangster film, in debt to the influences of iconic directors like Sidney Lumet and Martin Scorsese, with lots of guts and machismo to spare.
You weirdly get all of that, but A Most Violent Year is decidedly anti-gangster and anti-violence in it’s message and the take it espouses on the belly of the beast that’s not exposed a lot in regards to what it takes time to actualize the American Dream.
Even when the trucks that contain the oil for his heating-oil company are getting stuck up and attacked, Abel Morales (Oscar Isaac) tries to keep his head on straight and continue down the moral and righteous path as a businessman. Even when thugs show up to his house late at night and try to do damage, Abel tries to keep his head on cool.
His wife, played by Jessica Chastain throughout the film is committed to challenging Abel’s way of doing things and taking a firm grip on matters. She is the positive thorn in his side, itching at him to let his competitors know who is boss.
J.C. Chandor channels his various fastidious influences into his own identifiable vision on the highs and lows, the costs and risks of doing business in a ruthless, cut-throat world.
11. Tinker Tailor Solider Spy (Tomas Alfredson, 2011)
A chilly, icy and appropriately rigid and dour spy thriller set in the Cold War Era, Tinker Tailor Solider Spy manages to generate tension, anxiety and paranoia all in one jittery bottle in slick efficacy, keeping viewers constantly wondering and guessing.
Assertively directed by Tomas Alfredson, Tinker Tailor tracks George Smiley (Gary Oldman, who’s used to getting mind-altering facials at this point), an agent forced into retirement from his post high-up in British intelligence after the fallout of an ugly international incident in Budapest, which resulted in the death of Jim Prideaux at the hands of Russian agents. The fallout also leaves his marriage in ruins, as he finds out his wife had an affair.
Smiley is quickly brought back into the fold by Cabinet member Oliver Lacon (Simon McBurney) to investigate a claim that there is a mole within “Control”.
It doesn’t take long to realize that there’s a bigger conspiracy afoot, and a lot of double-crossing, clue-chasing and backstabbing ensues. What a tightly-paced puzzle of a film to watch, take in and try to solve yourself.
10. 12 Years A Slave (Steve McQueen, 2013)
Arguably the best Best Picture winner this decade (Moonlight gives it a run for its money), 12 Years A Slave is a biting whirlwind of an indictment on the institution of slavery in antebellum, pre-Civil War America. It’s an bold indictment on slavery within any context.
It doesn’t throw out a defeatist sentiment, and reduces Solomon Northup’s struggle in servitude to artsy torture porn. It lays out the well-known treatment of black slaves, transported by the Trans-Atlantic slave trade from the coast of Africa to American shores, by the dominant white majority on their slave-holding plantations.
Solomon Northup (Chiwetel Ejiofor) is a free man, living in New York with his family, as a landowner and a skilled violinist. In the blink of an eye, he’s given offer he can’t resist. Just like that, he is led astray, and is turned into another victim.
Although the conditions he’s subjugated in are unbearable and inhumane, Northup maintains a persistent spirit of unwavering belief and resilience. Figures like William Ford (Benedict Cumberbatch) and Samuel Bass (Brad Pitt, who’s been racking up those golden trophies) throw out tokens of kindness that go a long way in continuing Northup’s journey.
Steve McQueen doesn’t neglect to leave any essential nuance out, and by some crafty camerawork, emphasize the despotic nature of the system that justified the abuse that unfolded over several centuries to millions of innocent souls
Everyone in the cast, from Lupita Nyongo chewing meaty scenery as the traumatized damsel in distress in her breakout, award-winning role to Michael Fassbender as the Devil himself in the flesh, to Sarah Paulson, his two-faced, cold-hearted wife demonstrates a masterclass in acting.
I would show this film in any U.S. History class for younger kids if I wanted to explain slavery in the quickest form possible. It’s educational, heart-churning, kind of hard to stomach at times (especially the nauseating whipping scene) and necessary. Unquestionably necessary it is.
9. The Revenant (Alejandro G. Inarritu, 2015)
Violent, grueling and grizzly like the bear that attacks Hugh Glass, a weathered and fearless outdoorsmen in the middle of the forest, The Revenant took a lot out of the whole cast and crew in the production. The greasy sweat, blood and agonizing tears shows on screen.
Leonardo Dicaprio won a long-awaited and rightfully earned Oscar for Best Actor for his inhumane transformation in this film. Provoked by the death of his half-Indian son at the hands of a spiteful colleague (played by Tom Hardy), Hugh Glass become half-man, half-animal, unhinged and with nothing to lose.
What hits the hardest out of everything is the spiritual rollercoaster The Revenant takes viewer, which tops on some tasteful nuance to a seemingly basic revenge story.
8. The Favourite (Yorgos Lanthimos, 2018)
This three-hander, with the delightful addition of Nicholas Hoult, doused in lesbian overtones, has the quickly ascending Greek auteur Yorgos Lanthimos going into the “Christopher Nolan” phase of his career, almost at his artistic peak.
Films like The Lobster and The Killing of a Sacred Deer solidified Lanthimo’s knack for dry, dry humor, sarcastic characters that revel in their robotic personalities and unlikability, and a nihilistic outlook on humanity.
Every directorial effort of his oozes with brilliance from how he commands the camera, to how he brings the fire and an apex energy out of his leading stars.
The Favourite takes place in early 18th century England, where the motherland is waging war against it’s neighbor France. Queen Anne is ill, and should be trying to do her best to serve her duty to the fullest extent possible.
However, throughout this dark and steamy affair (no pun intended), her right-hand lady (courtier) Sarah, Duchess of Marlborough, played by Rachel Weisz has to compete her affection and attention with her newly imported cousin, right from the slums, Abigail (Emma Stone).
All three ladies get to be ill-mannered, impudent, conniving and soul-sucking witches. All three ladies rise to the occasion.
Let’s not forget about the rabbits. Those goddamn rabbits, gazing into the vast abyss.
7. Beasts of No Nation (Cary Joji Fukanaga, 2015)
Forget the jaw-droppingly ravishing cinematography by the director of the dark, sinister and hypnotic first season of True Detective, Cary Fukanaga. Forget Abraham Attah’s self-assured, nimble and purely great debut on the big screen (or whatever screen the average consumer binge watches Netflix on.)
Forget the authentic and raw depiction of the strenuous toll that war takes on the most innocent, the young and the most underserved, resource-depleted and vulnerable populations in this adaptation of the 2005 novel by Uzodinma Iweala.
Forget all the blood drawn, gunshots exchanged, machetes waved, heads chopped off, families destroyed and children pulled into the grinder of man-made destruction.
Idris Elba was absolutely snubbed for an Oscar, and if there can be any case brought forth as evidence to confirm the Oscars’ illegitimacy as an authority on cinema, let it be right here.
6. Roma (Alfonso Cuaron, 2018)
Alfonso Cuaron has had a diverse career in the subject matter of the films he chosen to make, from a post-apocalyptic dystopian thriller to a disastrous one-woman show in space (with George Clooney in for a brief cameo) to a Harry Potter film. Now he’s raised the intimacy thermometer to 100, and lazered in on a slice of his childhood to really allow filmgoers get the full picture of who Alfonso Cuaron is as an artist and a human being.
Roma has the emotional verve and immaculate detail to combine a compact but perspicacious history lesson of Mexico in the late 20th century with the simple story of a brown indigenous woman domestic worker, Cleo, played by the stunning newcomer Yalitza Aparicio who works inside the home of a upper middle-class, and noticeably white family.
The racial friction on the surface is not exaggerated or hyperbolized to stir wrought feelings of indignation. It’s addressed, and subtly elaborated on, while Cleo claws and gets by, struggling to find her place in the world and Mexican society as a woman and a everyday civilian.
The plot augments into unexpected directions, adding a enriching layer of mystique to the events unfolding, from a violent and shocking battle scene in the streets of Mexico City to a large group of men practicing karate out in the barren desert.
Roma will plant its flag dead-center in the middle of your heart. It’s life-affirming with sweeping earnestness that cannot be ignored. It’s a story of redemption and triumph through the everyday hardships that impact the best of us.
5. Spotlight (Thomas McCarthy, 2015)
Brilliant, superb, meditated and engrossing. This timely tale based on the Boston Globe’s real-life takedown of the corruption occuring within the Catholic Church is led by one of the best all-star casts in recent years not to come from a Marvel movie (Michael Keaton, Mark Ruffalo, Rachel McAdams, John Slattery, Liev Schriber.) The dialogue is on-point and sizzles with purpose, sincerity and energy in every single scene. Also, the pacing is lean and mean; rarely one second wasted.
4. Inception (Christopher Nolan, 2010)
Paradigm-shifting visual effects is just the tip of the iceberg with the throttling blockbuster Inception, bolstered by a huge all-star cast only Spotlight can compete with.
Groomed to have meaty Oscar appeal and be the high-octane action movie laid-back moviegoers in the summer can enjoy, Christopher Nolan’s arguable masterpiece takes us within a dream, within a dream, within a dream and deeper and deeper.
Both the mind and the soul are penetrated here, and both are bended and inverted to cosmic extremes. Leonardo Dicaprio as Dom Cobb leads a pantheon of talent as a man seeking to get back to the reality that contains his wife, family and everything he wants.
3. Embrace of the Serpent (Ciro Guerra, 2016)
Told through two separate narratives that move on two different timelines but still chronicle the same experience, Embrace of the Serpent is probably the most poignant allegory on colonialism and the infamous conception of the white man’s guilt this century.
Embrace of the Serpent is filmed through the maze of leaves, soil-trenched aura and glacial rivers of the Amazon in an identical manner to the Coppola classic Apocalypse Now. The film does set its own distinct rough course, setting the jungle, and people’s expectations on generational trauma ablaze.
Attitudes and blame and responsibility are delineated in a somewhat black-and-white fashion, but there’s a bigger force haunting the native peoples that hasn’t been fully investigated. A spiritual lack or a misunderstanding. At least that’s what the gnarly ending implies.
2. Mad Max: Fury Road (George Miller, 2015)
Who asked for Fast and Furious meets Death Race in an post-apocalyptic Australian wasteland, with no law and no order?
Reviving the long-standing franchise back into existence with dynamite ferocity, George Miller shuts down any critics lamenting and wailing about the lack of originality, creativity and technical finesse in modern action films.
Part neo-western, part non-stop street race and part feminist anthem, Fury Road reaches highs that most films could only strive to reach and re-create in a laboratory.
Tom Hardy as the titular character says very little, but lets his disshelved face and civilized barbarism do all the talking.
Charlize Theron’s Furiousa steals the spotlight, as a shining symbol of female bravery in a patriarchial world where male aggression and male power is the unabashed standard accepted.
She is Immortan Joe’s prized possession, along with the rest of his young wives. Joe sets his large army of henchmen on the hunt for them, and Max, Furiousa, Nux (Nicholas Hoult) outlast, outwit and outbattle them from the bumpy comforts of the gigantic War Rig.
- Her (Spike Jonze, 2013)
Production Design: The Movie
Every time I watch this movie, my insides just melt. I tear up, and the waterfalls just about erupt. This movie is like Mr. Right; it’s dashing, charismatic, passionate, in tune with his emotions in a positive way, dynamic and swipes you off your feet while doing very little at all.
Her is set in the near future, but feels so rooted in the here and now. It’s a tragic and depressing romance, but the sensual pinks that pop on the screen leave you with a sense that the pain of putting your heart into the world, only to have it crushed and be disappointed might be worth it in the end.
Theodore Twombly, played by the effortlessly talented Joaquin Phoenix is emblematic of the modern man; directionless without any sense of purpose. He is isolated and limited on options for social mobility upward.
He is yearning for companionship and connection. He is yearning to be understood. He is yearning to have his own happy ending to write in the same love letters he types up to make a living. There’s a little bit of Theodore Twombly in all of us.
Scarlett Johanson’s voiceover work as the AI Samantha is loaded with a superlative range, that barks with anguish when Samantha has had enough of not feeling human enough, and then bounces back to the tender and caring virtual mom and best friend Theodore has always need.
Amy Adams, playing the female version of Theodore with a little bit of spunk comes in as the shining light of sanity and a pillowy shoulder to lean on when Theodore needs it.
Love, loneliness, alienation, the transhumanist agenda and the entire creepening influence of technology on the human condition are explored with incisive depth that is absolutely rarely executed so flawlessly.
Amen to Her. Amen.
