BEST MOVIES OF THE DECADE: #50-#36

With the end of 2019, we say goodbye to the 2010's.

Looking back at the best movies in the last 10 years I noticed that my tastes are all over the place, from the crowd-pleasing blockbuster to the art-house foreign film.  I also think that as we get closer and closer to the top spot, more people will disagree with my choices.  That is fair, since there is a strong subjective nature to art.  But I will attempt to give my best rational for each movie and why it has earned its spot.


50.  Risen (2016)



I've heard this movie called a "Christian noir."  That isn't quite right.  It is an "Atheist Horror Movie."  Director Kevin Reynolds makes a movie that turns the Resurrection of Christ into a terrifying reality for those who want to believe that the world is simply violence and power.  This incredibly original take makes this film unique in its genre.

49.  Wonder Woman (2017)




Superhero origins stories are abundant in cinemas, but this one stands out.  Particularly, her iconic entrance into No Man's Land that is bolstered by the charismatic performance of Gal Gadot makes this one of the better comic book films of the decade.


48.  Little Sister (2016)

This small movie touched me in how it handled all of its characters.  Addison Timlin plays a postulant at a convent who comes home to help her brother who was disfigured in Iraq.  The movie is not only incredibly respectful to the Catholic faith, but it shows three dimension on all of the characters, including a stripper.  What's more, I love how it shows the damage that selfish, intoxicated parents can have on a family.

#47 Arrival (2016)

Not only is the story engaging and the performances excellent, this movie uses its sci-fi premise to do some very emotional things with the narrative so that I actually gasped in the third act.  From my review: What Arrival does incredibly well is that it makes this potentially world-ending crisis feel like a deep personal character study.  The amazing sci-fi story is as important to the epic interior journey of Louise.  Both the giant-scale and the personal-scale are connected intimately.  Villeneuve constantly holds the film in the indirect-subjective point of view, rarely taking you out of Louise's perspective.  The director uses the evolution of Louise's mindset as way to take you on a wonderfully strange journey.

#46 Argo (2012)

From my review: Argo is alternately fun and tense without feeling out of balance or out of place... The most notable thing about Affleck as a director is that he lets his movies get better as they unfold. It is a quality that you don't notice is lacking in many movies until you see it in one like Argo. There tends to be a lot of focus on the opening, which is good because most movie audiences decided if they like a movie or not in the first 10 minutes. But often movies either peak too soon or they plateau Affleck grips you in the beginning and he lures you deeper and deeper until the tension is almost unbearable.

#45 X-Men: Days of Future Past (2014)

Easily of the best X-titled movies.  This feels like the proper send-off to the original cast and brings elements from both the original films and the reboot into the film.  The movie has some of the best character interactions of the series and it comes back to the essential trait of the entire X-Men stories: hope is what will save the future.

#44  Creed (2015)

This felt closer in spirit to the original Rocky film than any of the other Rocky movies.  Expertly directed by Ryan Coogler, the chemistry between Michael B. Jordan and Sylvester Stallone is fantastic as you can feel the passing on of the baton without any loss of the original's importance.  This is the story not so much about fighting but about discovering your own self-worth.

#43 Edge of Tomorrow (2014)

I find that this movie is often overlooked when people look back on the sci-fi movies of the last ten years.  But Tom Cruise is at the top of his game in this smart and fun alien/action/time travel film.  From my review: Movies with repeated scenarios are not that easy to pull off.  Do it wrong and the audience will get bored and frustrated, like many were with the movie Vantage Point.  But director Doug Liman knows how to give you enough of the same visual repetition to get the feeling across without it feeling like you are just spinning your wheels.  He knows when to repeat the formula and when to change it up.

Another advantage the movie has is its visual spectacle.  I don't simply mean the special effects.  But I very much enjoyed the style and look of the movie.  It was filmed like a World War II film but with super-mech suits and aliens, like a Saving Private Ryan feel populated with Starcraft tech.  Liman was smart to make the human technology awesome and exciting but feel worn and lived in.  The aliens are devoid of any real personality, which many see as a drawback in movies like The Avengers.  But while they are not personal, they are fascinating.  I loved the ideas about why the mimics have such an easy time defeating us and how they are connected to Cage.

#42 Spider-Man: Into the Spider-verse (2018)



From my review: This is the best Spider-Man movie that has been made...

Credit must first be given to writers Phil Lord and Rodney Rothman.  First of all, they completely embrace the concept of multiple universes into the story and weave it in without dumbing it down for the audience.  They throw you into the deep and and challenge you to keep up.  Second, they have crafted a very powerful hero's journey.  All of the other Spider-men are seasoned veterans.  Miles is all new to the hero business.  He is scared and unsure, prone to mistakes and lapses in judgment.  But throughout the whole process, he has to grow and step into the role.  Nothing about this journey seems pat or easy and when Miles finally does step up it is immensely satisfying.  Finally, Lord and Rothman have crafted on of the funniest scripts all year.  I laughed out loud so many times, not only because of the punchlines thrown, but because they had gotten me to care about the tangled relationships of the characters.  Character driven jokes mean more because it draws you deeper into the lives of ones on screen.  The best gag in the entire film is when Miles, who has no technical expertise is told to hack into a computer in the enemy's lair.  Miles' ultimate solution to the problem had me laughing long after the joke had passed.

#41 Justice League (2017)

From my review: And a huge factor in that entertainment are the performances.  Affleck and Gadot are the center of this show and they hold everything together with their power and charisma.  Momoa comes off with effortless cool and manly-recklessness that his machismo comes off as charming rather than cringy.  When he shouts "My man!" during an epic fight, it feels oddly natural and awesome.  Fisher could have played Cyborg as one-note angry.  But he layers his performance as a man trying to reason his way out his unreasonable situation. The actor I was most worried about was Miller as the Flash.  His take on Barry Allen is nothing like the comic book version.  And even though I am a huge comic book nerd, I was okay with this diversion.  Miller functions as the fanboy; he is the stand in for all of us geeks who imagine what it might be like fight along side these heroes.  His beta-male point-of-view offers a wonderful foil to the more courageous members of the League.  And he serves as the jester of the group, cracking wise as he runs to and away from danger.  He probably has the best lines of the whole movie.

Also returning are Amy Adams as Lois Lane, Diane Lane as Martha Kent, and Jeremy Irons as Alfred Pennyworth.  Adams role is smaller than in previous DCEU films, but she provides the emotional tether to the loss of Superman (Henry Cavill).  And Irons is once again perfect as the dry-witted butler.

One of the best things about movies like this is that it showcases the essential truths about heroism: courage and self-sacrifice.  The heroes have to face their fears and make choices that put the needs of others before themselves.  These very Christological ideals are continually explored as well the ideas of friendship and trust.

#40 Gravity (2013)

From my review: Cuarón throws you right into the cold depths of outer space with no set up or introduction.  I usually enjoy films that build up more to the grand setting, films that start by getting to know the characters before the real action begins.  But that would not work with Cuarón s movie.  He is a wizard casting a spell.  When the movie begins, you enter into his universe and are trapped, for good or for ill, inside....And he creates an actual sense of danger.  For many movies, I have to pretend that I don't know the heroes will make it out alive.  But there is no way to tell from Cuarón s movie if Stone and Kowalski will make it.  This added tension, mixed up with the thrilling visuals, makes for an amazingly powerful and exhilarating, edge-of-your-seat experience.  And all of it is compacted into a tight 90-minutes.  Not a moment of the movie feels wasted...

But what I was not prepared for was the spiritual aspect of the film.  Gravity confronts the viewers with the reality of death and their own mortality.  In isolation, trapped in the void, who else can be called on but God? And yet Bullock's character we find out, is an atheist.  She then says one of the most heartbreaking lines, not only of the movie, but of nearly any movie I've seen (MILD SPOILER AHEAD.  SKIP PARAGRAPH IF YOU DO NOT WANT TO READ THE LINE).  She asks if anyone will pray for her soul.  Then she says, "I've never prayed before.  No one ever taught me how."  

#39 Murder on the Orient Express (2017)

From my review: I have been a fan of Branagh since I first discovered him.  He is able to get great performances out of his actors, but he is also incredibly skilled with the camera.  The train compartments are very tight and tend towards claustrophobia.  But Branagh not only sets out the geography and boundaries of the train beautifully, but he constantly comes up with new and creative ways to film this small space.  This is no easy feat, but he turns the train cars into their own little world.  I found myself completely immersed in the mystery and the environment.  My eyes were glued to the screen as I tried to pick up every nuance and every hint.

The script by Michael Green does a good job of showing off Poirot's deductive prowess at the beginning of the film in a fun little mystery.  This is of critical importance as we proceed on with the story and watch Poirot untie the knots surrounding the murder of Ratchett.  Branagh is able to efficiently establish this large cast of characters and set them each into a unique space.

# 38 Toy Story 3 (2010)

It is quite incredible how seriously this studio treated a story about toys.  They attach themselves to children, but those children grow up and no longer need them.  And all the while, the bonds they make with each other are strong and solid that they are like iron in the soul.  That scene when they are all holding hands, facing down the inevitable together is one of the most harrowing I have seen in animation.  Without a word it captures complete love and total despair in a way I have never seen before and I don't know that I will again.

#37 Room (2015)

Not only are the performances great, but we also have wonderful direction in such a confined space.  In a story that could be filmed in a completely exploitative way, instead, it is viewed through the eyes of an innocent.  On top of that, I don't know that I have been more tense in a movie than in the scene where Jacob Tremblay hops out of the back of the truck.  I think I was literally yelling at the screen with a gigantic knot in my stomach.  

#36 Avengers: Endgame (2019)

I was shocked that this film was only this high on my list.  I love this movie and I have watched it several times.  But I must admit that I skip around especially in that first act.  Unlike Infinity War, which had such tight pacing and plotting, the first act meanders a bit too much.  However, the final act pulls everything together in one of the most cathartic conclusions to any franchise.

From my review: Once again, we see laid out in a super hero film what Pope John Paul II called the war between the Culture of Death and the Culture of Life.  Thanos (Josh Brolin) is the perfect embodiment of the Culture of Death.  The lives of others are weighed only in proportion to their value to "society" and can be extinguished for the sake of convenience.  And when the perfect result does not occur, the solution is more death.  The Culture of Life values persons and does not look at anyone else as disposable.  In this Culture of Life, death is an accepted reality.  But instead of something to be taken from others for my gain, life is something given away for others their gain.  This very Catholic idea of Christological giving has been present throughout the superhero genre and we find it again here in Endgame.  This is both emotional and inspiring.