(This article is part of our Best of the Decade series.)
God damn were there a lot of good movies this past decade. Picking some of my favorites/the best ones is gonna be really tough. But here I am doing just that. I’m sure the others here have picked multiple movies from a certain year and that is all fine and dandy. But I’m gonna just pick my singular favorite movie from each year of the last ten years. You ready? Because here we go.
10. Inception (2010)
Hands down one of Christoper Nolan‘s best films and all ’round great thriller with an all-star cast. A mind bending movie that still has you talking about the ending almost a decade later.
Runners up: True Grit, The Social Network, Toy Story 3, The Town
09. Warrior (2011)
What looked like it could be just a dumb movie about MMA Fighting, is really a wonderfully told heartfelt story of two brothers and their troubled relationship with their dad. Gavin O’Conner made a modern day Rocky story without feeling like a total rip-off.
Runners up: Drive, Take Shelter, X-Men: First Class, Moneyball
08. Skyfall (2012)
James Bond’s 23rd outing was such a great look into his past and his strained relationship with M. Topped off with a great, villainous performance by Javier Bardem you really hoped the series would ride that wave into the next film.
Runners up: Argo, The Avengers, The Cabin in the Woods, Dredd
07. Prisoners (2013)
Denis Villeneuve’s intense story of abduction and how far a father will go to find his daughter. Jake Gyllenahall and Hugh Jackman deliver such great performances all the way to to the film’s cliffhanger ending.
Runners up: Lone Survivor, The Secret Life of Walter Mitty, Captain Phillips, Her
06. Captain America: The Winter Soldier (2014)
This movie is by far one of the best Marvel movies out there. A great spy thriller and a great way to show Cap adjusting to the future. Between this and it’s follow up Civil War, Marvel took and ok first film and managed to make this one of their best trilogies for a character.
Runners up: Chef, X-Men: Days of Future Past, Nightcrawler, John Wick
05. Mad Max: Fury Road (2015)
This movie deserves all the hype. I think the originals are good, but nothing overly mind blowing. But this film is a a visual masterpiece and I really wish we got to see George Miller‘s version of Justice League because of it.
Runners up: Mission: Impossible – Rogue Nation, Straight Outta Compton, The Martian, Creed
04. Hell or High Water (2016)
This neo-western heist film follows two brothers who run a series of bank robberies save their family ranch. All why being hunted by the Texas Rangers (not the baseball team). This cat and mouse story is gripping a tale that keeps you on the edge of your seat.
Runners up: Arrival, 10 Cloverfield Lane, Deadpool, Captain America: Civil War
03. Blade Runner 2049 (2017)
A sequel to a movie I never thought needed one. Set 30 years after the events of the original, replicants are still around and being used as slaves. The LAPD uses K (a replicant) as “blade runner” to hunt and kill rogue replicants. Along the way he uncovers a mystery of a dead child that could lead to a war between humans and replicants.
Runners up: Logan, Thor: Ragnarok, Dunkirk, Jumanji: Welcome to the Jungle
02. Avengers: Infinity War (2018)
I’ll probably get shit for this, but whatever. Infinity War was just the first half of a two part finale of a 20 movie arc. Something no one had ever thought was possible. But damn was it a well done and fun (yet emotional) movie. Endgame may have delivered it’s real ending a year later, but damn did this one just punch you in the gut at the end.
Runners up: A Quiet Place, Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse, Bohemian Rhapsody, BlacKkKlansman
01. Once Upon a Time in Hollywood (2019)
A fairy tale of epic proportions. Intertwining real life events and a fictional story to build a world that only Quentin Tarantino could come up with. This may have been my favorite film of his since Pulp Fiction. DiCaprio and Pitt are stellar in this brilliantly told ‘what if’.
Runners up: Joker, Doctor Sleep, Avengers: Endgame, Knives Out
What do you think of my favorite films from the last decade? Anything you think I missed?
