You've got an entire decade. When I think of the films of the 1960s or 1970s, there's such a strong feeling of a vibrant culture, a specific time that we've lived through. But what's this past decade? We're going to be getting a lot of lists like this, and I'm afraid it's going to be sad. Maybe it's because the decade had no name. It's been the what?
Soon, we'll have a named decade: We'll be living in The Twenties! But what has this last decade been? Unlike the decade before it, we didn't even try to think of a name. At least with 2000-2009, people talked about calling it the aughts or the naughts or the ohs, but we just dropped the whole idea of referring to the decade when we got to 2010-2019. It was the decade we didn't bother to think of as anything at all, and I think these decade-ending lists are going to show that something was missing.
I'm reading "The 10 Most Influential Films of the Decade (and 20 Other Favorites)/Our co-chief film critics say these were the films of the 2010s that made a difference in the world of entertainment and beyond" in The New York Times. What film mattered?!
According to the NYT, what mattered included "The Avengers." Why? "It heralded the dominance of the Marvel Cinematic Universe, where we all now live whether we like it or not." Speak for yourself, NYT film critics. I don't "live" there, and even if I did, I wouldn't care about dominance heralding. What kind of crazy fascist talk is that? I don't know. Maybe if I'd been watching those movies, I'd be into the heralding of dominance, but my uncontaminated brain considers that ridiculous bullshit, at best. At worst, it's dangerous, despicable cultural rot.
Another peak of influence in the Decade With No Name is "Frozen." Why? Because the lead character, Elsa, "announced the might of the female." It's all about heralding dominance for these critics!
Then there's "Get Out," but no, that movie didn't herald the dominance of black people. It was "a ferocious rebuke to the (white) canard that the Obama era had ushered in a post-racial United States." I note that the NYT film critics can't say that "Get Out" heralded the dominance of white people, because you don't herald the dominance of white people. You ferociously rebuke the white people for dominating.
The domination that NYT film critics celebrate movies for heralding is the dominance of "the female" and "the Marvel Cinematic Universe." See? It's depressing! Mattering in the Decade With No Name is a shallow business of seeing who's dominating.
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The truth about films in the 2010's is that they sucked and were dominated by TV and "netcast dramatic series" for lack of a better words.
The Ten Most Influential TV Series of the Decade could be more promising.
It seems that all the films you mentioned were contrived efforts to get the public to think a certain way. But the public is not so easily led.
The domination that NYT film critics celebrate movies for heralding is the dominance of of "the female"
Could the 'dominance of the female' be any better portrayed than in Kill Bill I and II" from the previous decade?
Whatever talent was left moved to television to embed leftie propaganda or stayed with film to embed the leftie propaganda.
That’s your dangerous, despicable cultural rot.
Is The Irishman on the list?
Deniro, pesci, Romano, Pacino. What a package!
Best movie I've seen this century.
John Henry
chickelit is right. We're not looking for a lecture.
It's the un-heralded dominance you have to watch out for.
10 is a good number. And 20 is twice as good as 10, unless you're referring to the number of entries in a NYeT listicle.
"American Sniper" is the only one I've seen.
When I think of the films of the 1960s or 1970s, there's such a strong feeling of a vibrant culture, a specific time that we've lived through.
OK boomer.
Ann won’t like this comment, but my “Frankenstein, Part II” will be on the NYT list for the 20’s.
My script will make marriage cool again.
Soon, we'll have a named decade: We'll be living in The Twenties!
With everyone around me greying -- myself included -- can we dub the coming decade "Hoaring Twenties"?
Those who remember the 'angry working-class man' Brit-flicks of the 1960's will note just how hollow they look today. The great movies stand the test of time, maybe for the acting or direction, the cast, the scripts or the stories from which they are adapted. Social consciousness manipulation is seldom appreciated out of its own decade.
After flirting with calling this century’s first decade the “aughts,” the “naughts,” and the “ohs,” most people seemed to settle on ... wait for it ... the “two thousands.”
"It's been the what?"
It should have been the Decade of O, but he was a nothing. Then it became the Decade of Donald, but no prog, not even a nice liberal midwestern retiree, wants to call it that.
Movies peaked in 1999 and it's been down hill since.
"I wouldn't care about dominance heralding. What kind of crazy fascist talk is that? I don't know."
What do you mean, "I don't know"? It's the talk of prog hegemony. It's been crazy fascist since, oh, the 1920s. But really, the left has been about heralding dominance since 1789.
John henry said...Is The Irishman on the list?
This belongs to the genre which I call "Easterns." Scorcese et al. have this undying fascination with East coast historical drama. This includes all of the mob movies. I don't share this fascination. "My people" came from the old country and settled in PA before heading West. We skipped the whole "stayed in New York thing." I refuse to romanticize criminals. Imagine a future genre of movies in which hispanic audiences idolize cartel figures. I just don't get it and I don't want to be a part of that. Besides, I absolutely despise Robert DeNiro despite his formidable acting talents.
I thought "The Avengers" made a smooth transition from Honor Blackman to Diana Rigg, but the elegant presence of Patrick McNee provided continuity. Yeah, The Avengers, one of Britain's finest exports to America. It is strange to see a highly gendered TV series from the '60s featuring female liberation being so influential in the "Ze" Decade, but it is in the NYT, so take it for what it is worth. They are never wrong.
Or are they citing a different "The Avengers"?
I refuse to read the NYT.
Bullshit becoming AA all-purpose descriptor.
"After flirting with calling this century’s first decade the “aughts,” the “naughts,” and the “ohs,” most people seemed to settle on ... wait for it ... the “two thousands.”"
I've noticed that. That may be worse than nothing. I feel drawn into a fight against meaning.
"Bullshit becoming AA all-purpose descriptor."
Trump normalized it.
@Michael K., you read the list? Could you reprint for the benefit of those of us curious, but not enough to pay good money to the Times? Just need the names of the films, not the Times’s remarks.
@Althouse, do you realize how many IQ points you lose every time you read an article like that in the Times or the Post? If you keep it up in a year or two Meade will be forced to buy you coloring books for Christmas!
A very bad list. “La La Land” and “”Ford v. Ferrari” are missing.
Because I have little granddaughters, I've seen Frozen dozens of time, and maybe hundreds if you count the song bits on YouTube.
What is frozen in Elsa, the heroine, is her sexuality.
She freezes other people in her despair and rage.
Make of that what you will.
“No Country for Old Men” and “The Departed.”
The most influential films are best recognized decades after their decade. It's too early to tell what has been most influential. I agree, though, that for the past decade or perhaps more, there aren't that many good movies to go see in the theaters. I am trying to think of a movie that left me thinking and talking about it afterwards. "A Quiet Place," did but I don't think you could call it influential. "Arrival," did, too, but I don't think you could call that influential, either. Hmm, that writer had a hard task.
The money and effort and talent has moved to streaming and/or away from scripted entertainment. The young love action films and unscripted video. You are America’s dodo, lamenting change and soon you will be extinct.
We live in the Marvel Universe because of the influence the franchise has on the choices writers, directors, producers and studios have in greenlighting and making the films available for us to watch.
Forget your safe word?
One of the best movies from the 80s, "The Adventures of Baron Munchausen," didn't make a ripple in the 80s. Don't issue any opinion until at least 20 years removed from the end of the decade.
Ann finds Hollywood's output in the Decade with No Name depressing? Well, she's white. Like the White Death of this era, you could say its a an intended consequence of woke culture.
yep, a list of top10 memes of 2010s have a potential to be way more interesting
If Tom Wolfe can successfully label the 1970s the "Me Decade", there is no reason that Althouse and her readers cannot successfully label 2011 to 2020 the "Ze Decade."
If the last ten years have not been about normalizing mental illness in all its forms, I don't know what they have been about.
Stand up for nihilism!
@Althouse, do you realize how many IQ points you lose every time you read an article like that in the Times or the Post? If you keep it up in a year or two Meade will be forced to buy you coloring books for Christmas!
Big Mike,
AA shows us what the Left ringleaders are doing without us having to give them money.
I stopped reading after "Mad max" and the "The Force Awakens". C'mon - two inferior remakes of action/SF films. BTW, there are good movies being made, but they're mostly Chinese/Korean/Japanese. They still have national cultures.
And i like Clint eastwood, but when an 84 y/o dude is one of your best directors, you got trouble in river city.
So, Every Influential movie of this decade was a cartoon?
Big Mike said...
@Michael K., you read the list? Could you reprint for the benefit of those of us curious, but not enough to pay good money to the Times? Just need the names of the films, not the Times’s remarks.
Scrolled down the titles. Did not read the comments. I've actually seen a few movies in theaters the last year. "They Shall Not Grow Old" and Cold Blue." "Dunkirk and Ford vs..." A few more. The theater we go to in Oro Valley AZ has old classics, too.
Why does a decade have to have a name?
The Baby Boomers were a distinct group and it made sense to name them. Every generation since has been named for no better reason than we now apparently need to name the generations. That’s why the names are so hollow—X, Y, Z. Appropriately, the only other one with a group characteristic—the millennials—is the only other one with a real name.
Were the roaring twenties the first one to get a name? And suddenly the rest need names too?
And i like Clint eastwood, but when an 84 y/o dude
I think he's 89. His wife put him a vegetarian diet and that may be working. I'm looking for ward to "Jewel."
Were the roaring twenties the first one to get a name?
the gay nineties
the mauve decade
the gilded era
Some decades are So Influential, that they get SEVERAL names
Then a few years later; people forget All About Them
the 1910's didn't have a name either. Memorable decades:
The Gay 90's
The Roaring 20's
The dirty 30s
The fabulous 40s
The 60's - the Boomers "greatest decade ever".
The 40's were pretty much about WW2 and its aftermath, same with the Teens, so maybe that's why they didn't get nicknames. My award for crappiest most forgettable decade? The 70s. The "Pet rock" was the cultural highpoint.
Chickelit: already done... "Narcos" on Netflix
Another peak of influence in the Decade With No Name is "Frozen." Why? Because the lead character, Elsa, "announced the might of the female." It's all about heralding dominance for these critics!
Frozen was the movie that announced them for these critics? Not Brave (2012), Tangled (2010), Ponyo (2009), Howl's Moving Castle (2005), Mulan (1998), or Pocahontas (1995), to run through just a few other Disney movies? Two of those were even in the 2010's.
I don't know why people like Frozen so much. Tangled and Moana are better. Much better.
I’ve never heard of the gay 90’s. Was that a Paris thing?
I don’t associated the Gilded Age with a decade. It’s more like The Tech Boom, which took place in the 1990’s, but isn’t a 90’s thing per se.
"I think he's 89. His wife put him a vegetarian diet and that may be working. I'm looking for ward to "Jewel."
So am I. Its admirable that a guy in his 80s is churning out good work. But it says something about everyone UNDER 80, if he's still at the top. Its like Scorcese making another Gangster movie with old farts like De Niro, Pacino, and Pesci - where are their replacements? Imagine in the 1970's everyone was still watching Cagney, Gary Cooper, and Gable (assuming the last two were still alive) and John Ford was winning Academy Awards.
Movies peaked in 1999 and it's been down hill since.
That's what all the cucks say. Did LOTR make the list? The Dark Knight?
This post is some of your best work. It might even be your most influential post of the decade!
Culturally time seems to have stopped, compared to previous years. For example, people are still yakking about Hitler, Nazis, and WW 2 like it happened yesterday. But it was 74 years ago! NOBODY was talking about the Kaiser and WW I in 1993.
For me, 1975 looked like peak movie.
chickelit @9:21:
Yes. Good post.
We saw Frozen 2 yesterday. Normally, I wouldn't spend so much money on Disney, but we're visiting family and sometimes you just need to get out of their space for awhile.
Elsa is a marketing dream. My three year old summed up the movie like this: Frozen got a magic horse and two new dresses! Little girls only see the important things, mothers see Elsa wearing leggings instead of a dress and think empowerment. Nope. Just another way for Disney to take your money.
These threads always attract characters who will make snarky remarks about "old farts" who are living in the past, and movies are "Just as great as ever". Except they never back that up with EVIDENCE. Its all just snark and attitude. People wishing it was true.
Despising De NIro is easy, since he's a despicable Human being. Another foul-mouthed limousine Liberal actor in elevator shoes and surprisingly low IQ.
Let's be honest: This was a terrible decade for movies.
Film Critics that think Elsa signified the coming of strong female protagonists are film critics who haven't watched many movies. (Note: I'd still say Frozen and The Avengers are *probably* worthy of being in a list of influential movies of the decade because, culturally, they *are* significant.)
"Could the 'dominance of the female' be any better portrayed than in Kill Bill I and II" from the previous decade?"
-- Just a little film called Alien.
Influence is a broad word. Broadly speaking, movies that lots of people go to see are indeed influential, even if they suck. Even more, movies that lots of people overseas went to see, likely represent our most influential exports--our most potent propaganda. I don't think the effect of making movies to sell in China has been entirely felicitous, but that has had a singular influence on films of the last decade. Influence is a neutral word. Are we discussing artistic influence, on fellow artists or on sophisticated culture, or influence on the masses? Not to get Frankfurt School on you, but influence on the masses is worth noting, and those with noses in the air miss the point. Victor Davis Hanson, after 140 or so very depressing pages in Mexifornia, actually ends on an optimistic note. Contemporary popular culture, in his case popular hip hop music mostly, although I think a film like the Avengers probably fits his bill, is the only thing holding together the frayed fabric of our society, at east at the edges. It's called the least common denominator, and it's common indeed.
The previous decade was much, much better:
No Country for Old Men
The Hurt Locker
The Lives of Others
Training Day
to name a few.
There are now 100s of channels and a growing number of streaming platforms showing innumerable television series to ever narrower audiences. Popular music besides hip-hop is also increasingly narrow-casted, with oldies bands being the rare case of something that lots of different kinds of people of different ages can enjoy together. The movie, especially the tent-pole picture, that can bring in an audience of old and young, male and female, rich and poor, and, yes, sophisticate and simpleton, is worth noting. You may decry the qualities of most of these movies, and you may also be an old man chasing kids off his lawn, or just an old fashioned cultural snob. Popular entertainment is influential, and there are ever fewer examples of broadly popular things. To be broadly popular now is to be globally popular. It's made movies elemental, because you can't be too particular with your cultural references in something you want Indonesian men, Brazilian women and heartland couples on dates to pay to see. That shit is influential, though.
Wait -- American Sniper made the list? Huh. I'd completely forgotten about it. I'd also say The Avengers isn't important because of the MCU, but because it *changed the way movies are made* looking for those cinematic universes and tie-ins. Think of how the DCU, the Classic Monsters Universe and even Ghostbusters tried starting a cinematic universe. It isn't because it jump-started a dying brand; it changed how the rest of the cinematic world worked. That's influential and deserves a slot.
Blackfish is a movie I never heard about; it is hard to say it was influential or not since they say it changed perceptions, but that doesn't matter. Did it lead to legislation? Did Seaworld suffer real consequences? It feels like a dud to include.
Bridesmaids I'd say was influential, even if the sort of Hang Over/Bridesmaid comedy isn't my thing, Bridesmaid was still worthy of inclusion on the list. Overall, I think a few of the choices are questionable, and their explanations are lame, but eh. Not The Worst Ever.
At three hours and 29 minutes, The Irishman moves as slowly as its elderly cast. If I were a film school prof, I would invite my students to lop off 90 minutes to make a better film.
DeNiro is today's Bogart. He plays the same character over and over. Pacino chews scenery, and Pesci's age has stolen his menace. And what's up with Harvey Keitel—did he even have a line in the movie?
Have any movies been as influential as Mad Men, Breaking Bad, or Game of Thrones?
Despising De NIro is easy,
Especially if you switch a couple of letters to spell "Bob Diner-o".
I think I am going to find one of those places Hilary was talking about that has no internet service, build a cabin in the woods, fill it with books written in the 20th century or earlier, and just check out. Seriously. Maybe take a reconditioned IBM Selectric and a few reams of paper.
BTW, Kill the Irishman, on Netflix, is pretty good. Though the very end is somewhat contrived, it doesn’t ruin the movie.
“This belongs to the genre which I call "Easterns." Scorcese et al. have this undying fascination with East coast historical drama. This includes all of the mob movies. I don't share this fascination. "My people" came from the old country and settled in PA before heading West. We skipped the whole "stayed in New York thing." I refuse to romanticize criminals. Imagine a future genre of movies in which hispanic audiences idolize cartel figures. I just don't get it and I don't want to be a part of that. Besides, I absolutely despise Robert DeNiro despite his formidable acting talents”
As far as I can tell, I have had zero ancestors immigrate here through NYC. Closest I can come to any big city ancestry wasmy mother who grew up in Chicago, the immigrants grated to CO to stay warm in the winter. Her father moved down there for a job, and then moved back up to upper LP MI where he grew up for retirement. My father did grow up in Denver, when the metro area was, essentially, Denver itself, and businessmen still wore boots and Stetsons with their suits.
Which is why I find it ridiculous that so many TV shows and movies are set in NYC, with maybe 2.5% of the country’s population. The only NYC based show that I have enjoyed for decades is Blue Bloods. And that is because it is well written, and pushes fundamental values, in the sea of degeneracy that is modern day NYC, that the Reagan family there dutifully tries to police.
Saw an article a year or so ago on the cost of apartments in NYC, as compared with the income that the characters invTV shows could have expected to have been earning. Worst were probably “Fiends” and “Sluts In The City”. I keep wondering why anyone in their right mind would want to live in shitholes like NYC, which has horrible weather to boot. Of course, I consider pretty much everywhere east of the Mississippi to have horrible weather, having spent all but 5 years in DC in the sunny west.
Battery dying (2%), so ending my rant.
I haven't seen the article, but this seems to be the list?
American Sniper — Clint Eastwood
The Avengers — Joss Whedon
Blackfish — Gabriela Cowperthwaite
Bridesmaids — Paul Feig
Frozen — Chris Buck & Jennifer Lee
Get Out — Jordan Peele
The Hunger Games: Catching Fire — Francis Lawrence
Moonlight — Barry Jenkins
Okja — Bong Joon-ho
Star Wars: The Force Awakens — JJ Abrams
I came pretty close to 0-for-the-decade. One holiday, some family member thought Bridesmaids was ideal family fare.
The problem with Game of Thrones having a lasting influence is that the original themes and character types have been around as long as literature. Talking fire breathing dragons go back to Gilgamesh, the earliest known written story. Just take MacBeth, multiply it exponentially, and mix in stuff from thousands of years of Western literature. It’s a revival, “Now with porn!"
It was "a ferocious rebuke to the (white) canard that the Obama era had ushered in a post-racial United States."
Lolololol
Of the movies I have seen, Get Out was pretty good. Right up there with The Sixth Sense.
Why not label the list properly, "the most wokest movies of the decade.” Why wasn’t Lady Ghostbusters on the list?
When I think of the films of the 1960s or 1970s, there's such a strong feeling of a vibrant culture, a specific time that we've lived through.
I read that and “Soylent Green” popped into my head. Not exactly a “vibrant culture” movie to me.
Down With Love was better than most of these movies.
"Why wasn’t Lady Ghostbusters on the list?"
-- Even the people who pushed that movie accept it failed; I never saw it (like I've seen very few of these movies, because I don't watch movies), but I think that they tried to make their point in their write up about the Star Wars movie and lashing out by fandoms.
From that list, The Hunger Games series is the film series of our times, though. Broadly popular with a milieu sufficiently different from any one society to avoid the censors, yet representing a cogent critique of our global civilization. And it stars a spunky chick.
I prefer to call the first decade of the century The Naughties.
I am of the opinion of Dan in Philly- you won't really know what were the best/most influential films of 2010-2019 until about 2030. You really do need to wait and see what actually had cultural staying power.
Having written that, though, I can't think of a single film from 2010-today that I would want to see again. However, I also don't watch a lot of movies any longer- not even on television.
You'll know that they've created something "influential" when people (start) applauding at the end of the movie.
Ok, of the movies on that list, I have seen exactly one of them- "The Avengers".
My favorite movies from this decade are probably Inception followed by Interstellar. The funny thing is, I had to actually go and confirm for myself just now that both were directed by the same person, which led me to this- at least three of my personal top ten from 2000-2009 were also Chris Nolan films- Memento, Insomnia, and The Dark Knight.
Interstellar is so good. It wasn't as influential as other Nolan films, but it's probably my favorite.
Influential means influencing other filmmakers. The movies listed were, for the most part, fun to watch, but I don't think they influenced my views or opinions in any meaningful way. I suppose I was more tolerant of people with superpowers after watching The Avengers.....Maybe, like the music you hear at a certain age, the movies you watch when young are the ones you bond with.....I thought Bergman was to cinema what Shakespeare or, anyway, Ibsen was to drama, but he's fallen off the map.
Here is my 2010s movie list:
Zero Dark Thirty
Ex Machina
Captain Fantastic
The Grand Budapest Hotel
The Master
Steve Jobs
Temple Grandin
Z for Zachariah
Searching for Sugar Man
The End of the Tour
This has been the Marvel movie decade. I would score the opening sequence to Guardians of the Galaxy vol. 2 as one of the best scenes ever out on film. This has also been the decade of binge watching streaming TV shows.
Re: The Irishman. Great movie but the age of the protagonists really showed. They were playing much younger versions of themselves. You could CGI the wrinkles, but their movements and posture were those of old men. The movie was partially a mediation on aging so their stiff movements to some extent played into the subtext of the movie.
but their movements and posture were those of old men
"Age is just an illusion. How you show up for the world, that’s what’s real."
- GoDaddy
A tale, a scheme, a sociopolitical construct, of the Twilight faith.
“The truth about films in the 2010's is that they sucked and were dominated by TV and "netcast dramatic series"”
Oh, yeah. The NYT’s list is composed almost entirely of disposable trash. All the intelligent, challenging stuff is on the idiot box. Hell or High Water is the only thing I’ve seen in the theater in the last decade that didn’t seem like a contrived rip-off.
Female chauvinists... perhaps it's their turn. Diversity and exclusion... notably while kneeling. And, of course, the super hero ethos set in a virtual world, or a universe unto themselves (Twilight faith). Fascism reimagined.
The Jar Jar Abrams Star War reboot influential? Ah, Because Female Protagonist, I guess. Other than that it was a complete remake, almost to a scene, of the original Star Wars.
The only one on the list I've seen is American Sniper. Good but not as good as The Hurt Locker from 2008.
contrived efforts to get the public to think a certain way. But the public is not so easily led
Most people are normal and do not submit to cultural forcings, which is why enjoy life in a semi-stable environment and have managed to mitigate the progress of catastrophic anthropogenic climate (e.g. political, social) change.
The Cancel Decade
For those who don't want to subscribe to the NYT, there is a workaround to read article.
GetPocket.com is an extension for Firefox, Dragon, Brave, Dissenter (probably Chrome, for the benighted) and other Windows browsers. I assume Apple as well.
Open the Times article, click the Pocket icon in your browser and the full article is downloaded to your Pocket account and you can view it any time. Or, just right click on the link in Ann's Post then left click the "Save link to Pocket" option.
There's an app for Android phones and tablets too. In addition to saving the article to your pocket account, it downloads it, in most cases, to your phone/tablet so you can read offline.
It works with the Times, WaPo and other newspapers though not the WSJ. It works with most, though not all, magazines.
Best of all, it strips out ads and other crap and gives you just the article, nicely formatted, usually retaining pictures and captions.
I've been using it for 5-6 years now and probably download 10 articles a day. When I see a link that looks like it might be interesting but don't want to read right now, I pocket it to read at leasure.
www.getpocket.com
John Henry
Re the list, having downloaded it and read it in Pocket, on my phone: meh.
I think there were 3 movies I'd even heard of: Mad Max, Sniper and Frozen. I've seen none of the. Might look at Sniper and Mad Max if they come up on Prime. May watch Frozen with my granddaughter at some point. She is a HUGE fan.
None of the others hold the least appeal to me based on the descriptions.
But then I am an old fart who watches movies mainly for entertainment. "If you want to send a message, use Western Union" Sam Goldwyn.
John Henry
Interstellar would definitely be on my top ten of the decade. It's a beautiful film. I like Inception quite a bit too, but I think I prefer Matthew McConaughey to DiCaprio.
Is anyone going to be talking about Moonlight in twenty years? I really don't think so.
Also is Gravity on the list?
It should be.
Re the Irishman and length, I thought it was too short. I could have watched another 3-4 hours of it.
Perhaps as a mini-series, though.
DeNiro is an asshole, I agree. Most actors are, he is just louder than most. But he is one hell of an actor and I can separate the asshole from his acting.
Gonna go rewatch Rum Punch again. One of his best movies and one of the best Elmore Leonard adaptations. I saw an awful lot of the Robert DeNiro from that movie in the Irishman.
One of the best movie lines ever, though not his:
Jackson:Girl, smoking all that dope is going to ruin your ambition.
Fonda: "Not if your ambition is to smoke dope and watch TV"
John Henry
‘American Sniper’ (2014)
‘The Avengers’ (2012)
‘Blackfish’ (2013)
‘Bridesmaids’ (2011)
‘Frozen’ (2013)
‘Get Out’ (2017)
‘The Hunger Games: Catching Fire’ (2013)
‘Moonlight’ (2016)
‘Okja’ (2017)
‘Star Wars: The Force Awakens’ (2015)
I've seen precisely none of these.
The Slimes loves libtard movies. Shocker
Was the silence that followed the screening of MOONLIGHT, really the "sound" of perceptions being altered? I mean, REALLY?
I'd give most of these movies a solid 3 stars out of 4. Distinctly above average, but not anything you'd go out of your way to see again.
American Sniper -- an interesting entry in Eastwood's late career deconstruction/reconstruction of the hero. A fair choice, but I liked "Sully" better. "Letters from Iwo Jima" is another interesting entry from the series, but it's from 2006.
Despite liking Sully better, I like the choice. It's a one off film from a notable director with a unique point of view.
The Avengers -- Marvel made a lot of money this decade, but this is not a notable movie. I don't even think Marvel wants to make notable movies. Their formula seems to be blandly competent installments featuring heroes people already like.
Bridesmaids -- funny and enjoyable. But funny and enjoyable puts you in the top ten for a decade now? Maybe. It was a weak decade for comedies.
The Hunger Games: Catching Fire -- Now you're just playing with me. What distinguishes this series from any other mildly postapocalyptic teen oriented series?
Star Wars: The Force Awakens -- who could forget the lead in to the immortal "The Last Jedi"?
A few movies I'd prefer:
Mad Max: Fury Road -- I know, a reboot. But you could easily hold this up as the best in the series.
Inception / Interstellar -- I like both, but I'd rather limit myself to one Christopher Nolan film. Take your pick.
The Social Network -- Good movie about the rise of social media, which was a dominant force in the decade.
The Grand Budapest Hotel -- One of Wes Anderson's best.
La La Land -- Clearly the best musical of the decade. Robbed at the Oscars.
Ex Machina -- This one will have a very long afterlife as people try and figure out how we felt about technology in this decade. A great script and a killer cast, too.
Spider Man: Into the Spider-Verse -- If I've got to have a comic book movie, I'll choose one that's original and fun. Very good animation, too.
Arrival -- probably my favorite of the decade. A new take on first contact, plus and interesting take on fate.
Gone Girl -- Rosamund Pike is a great villain.
Before Midnight -- A worthy end to the Before trilogy. I don't like choosing movies from a series for a top movies list unless they're the best entry in the series. I think you'd have to say Before Sunrise is the classic, but all three entries re-characterize the same relationship at different stages in life. If they can keep the quality up, I'd be happy to keep watching new entries every seven years.
By total coincidence, that came out to ten entries. With the possible exception of American Sniper, I'd take any movie on my list over any movie on the NYT list.
Zach: Thank you for reminding me of Letters from Iwo Jima. Truly an outstanding film [from the better decade, of course].
Yep Zach, Into the Spiderverse is one of the best superhero movies made. Probably not better than Ironman, but close.
And the genius if it for me is that it's woke, but not at the same time.
of the more visceral reactions, you have to count hacksaw ridge, another was andy garcias' passion project about the cristeros, for the glory, yes I saw force awakens and the avengers, but in the real cinema department,
I looked at the list. Not only haven't I seen a single one, I didn't even recognize half of them.
Hollywood can rot.
yes I also saw American sniper, one knew there was an audie murphy story for this expeditionary force, probably more than one,
in a curious sense, kingsman was significant, because it painted an environmental activist, with homicidal intentions and capacity, who would be abetted by powerful forces, it was not safe for work in many respects, and carried that English disdain for evangelicalism, but still,
"Age is just an illusion. How you show up for the world, that’s what’s real."
- GoDaddy
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As Billy Crystal put it: "It's not how you feel, it's how you look."
This includes all of the mob movies. I don't share this fascination.
I admit to having watched "The Sopranos", but somewhere along the line I thought "These people are all big-time assholes. I hope they die."
While I consider The Godfather to be one of the best American movies ever made and is a classic, I admit it romanticizes the crime family. In general, I'm not fond of gangster flicks. Super-villains often make a movie [see No Country for Old Men] but shouldn't be portrayed as heroes.
well chigun (sic) is a predatory creature, like the joker, a distillation of what late 70s drug culture really devolves into, the counselor, dwelled in that same demimonde, but with the fake veneer of ambiance,
Call the decade the tweens
The Marvel Universe is for 12 year olds, after all.
I can't remember a single movie from that decade but there were some pretty good cable TV shows, like GOT and Altered Carbon.
Hell or High Water, FTW. Also saw the Irishman... I'm a gen x 90s guy, so it was nostolgic to see The. Same. F'ing. Guys. doing the same thing (again), but it only highlights how shite films are now that a movie I've already seen 32x is better than the new stuff
Film critics are only useful as negative indicators. If they love it, avoid it; if they execrate it, rush to see it.
Have any movies been as influential as Mad Men, Breaking Bad, or Game of Thrones?
Swap GoT for Deadwood and you have the best of the decade. And "TV" has far outstripped movies both in quality of story and acting.
We live in the Marvel Universe because making a Hollywood movie with big-name stars and high production values has become absurdly expensive. And therefore the smart money bets on a sure thing and minimizes risk.
What's missing is: few movies seem able to tell a story. Even aside from the boringly predictable, carefully crafted PC-propaganda, there's rarely any significant character development or narrative. For after you've cast your female lead as "too badass to fail," she can't fail and where's the dramatic tension?
A character who's triumph is never in doubt has no reason to grow and therefore no reason to do so. The superheroes in this universe are like Superman without Kryptonite: since you know they can't lose, why bother watching to see what happens?
Writers have always been at the bottom of the status heap in Hollywood, but lately it seems they're not even that. How many movie plots consist of "this happened, and then that, and then something and then The End" and no reason why this and then that, nothing in particular drives the plot forward so it just meanders until time's up?
How could a movie be considered "significant" if it has nothing to say that couldn't be fully captured on a bumper sticker?
Fury Road, for sure. Inspired production design.
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