The Best Of The Decade

The Tree of Life

It's difficult to narrow down a list of movies because you'll always feel as if you're shortchanging someone. As is the case with any given decade, there were a number of films that moved me for one reason or another in the 2010s.

Although film culture itself is in the midst of some depressing trends that I won't delve too far into here, movies have managed to remain an art form due to the efforts of those who care about images on a screen being more than just entertainment.

Television has, in some respects, caught up with cinema and garners the type of deeply considered criticism that was once merely reserved for movies. In fact, one TV show - David Lynch's "Twin Peaks: The Return" would crack my top 10 of the decade if I considered it a film - some do, and there's an argument to be made for that considering its cinematic essence, but let's face it... it debuted on TV. But some of the other best shows - "Mad Men," "Breaking Bad," "Mindhunter," Todd Hayne's HBO miniseries "Mildred Pierce" and "The Americans" - would also rank with some of the best films on this list.

As I'd mentioned before, you can't squeeze in everything, so to give a little credit where it's due to some movies I really liked, but couldn't find room for in my top 100 of the 2010s, I'd also highly recommend: Richard Linklater's "Before Midnight," Abbas Kiarostami's "Certified Copy," Jordan Peele's "Get Out," Lisa Cholodenko's "The Kids Are All Right," Woody Allen's "Midnight in Paris," Aleksey German's "Hard To Be a God," George Miller's "Mad Max: Fury Road," Jia Zhangke's "Mountains May Depart," Nuri Bilge Ceylan's "Winter Sleep," Deniz Gamze Erguven's "Mustang," Noah Baumbach's "While We're Young" and "Frances Ha," Panos Cosmatos' "Mandy," Orson Welles' "The Other Side of the Wind," Pawel Pawlikowski's "Ida," Bong Joon Ho's "Snowpiercer," Guillermo del Toro's "The Shape of Water," Mike Mills' "20th Century Women," the new "Star Wars" trilogy, Ana Lily Amirpour's "A Girl Walks Home Alone at Night" and Wes Anderson's "The Grand Budapest Hotel."

It should also be noted that I haven't seen four of this year's highly acclaimed films yet: Terrence Malick's "A Hidden Life," Celine Sciamma's "Portrait of a Lady on Fire," the Safdie Brothers' "Uncut Gems" and Nadav Lapid's "Synonyms."

Below are my top 100 movies of the decade. These are not set in stone. In a year from now, I might consider my number 80 better than my number 20. Things change. For now, here's some semblance of an order:

Baby Driver

100. Baby Driver (2017, Edgar Wright)
  99. Okja (2017, Bong Joon Ho)
  98. Straight Outta Compton (2015, F. Gary Gray)
  97. Dogtooth (2010, Yorgos Lanthimos)
  96. Uncle Boonmee Who Can Recall His Past Lives (2011, Apichatpong Weerasethakul)
  95. Whiplash (2014, Damien Chazelle)
  94. American Sniper (2014, Clint Eastwood)
  93. Margaret (2011, Kenneth Lonergan)
  92. The Place Beyond the Pines (2013, Derek Cianfrance)
  91. The Artist (2011, Michel Hazanavicius)
  90. American Honey (2016, Andrea Arnold)
  89. Hugo (2011, Martin Scorsese)
  88. Shoplifters (2018, Hirokazu Koreeda)
  87. Ash is Purest White (2019, Jia Zhangke)
  86. Hail, Caesar! (2016, Joel and Ethan Coen)
  85. Dunkirk (2017, Christopher Nolan)
  84. Detroit (2017, Kathryn Bigelow)
  83. Widows (2018, Steve McQueen)
  82. Birds of Passage (2019, Ciro Guerra and Cristina Gallego)
  81. City of Life and Death (2011, Chuan Lu)

Inside Out

  80. Inside Out (2015, Pete Docter)
  79. The Immigrant (2014, James Gray)
  78. Shutter Island (2010, Martin Scorsese)
  77. Holy Motors! (2012, Leos Carax)
  76. Lincoln (2012, Steven Spielberg)
  75. True Grit (2010, Joel and Ethan Coen)
  74. Transit (2019, Christian Petzold)
  73. First Reformed (2018, Paul Schrader)
  72. Mr. Turner (2014, Mike Leigh)
  71. Silence (2016, Martin Scorsese)
  70. Parasite (2019, Bong Joon Ho)
  69. Cold War (2018, Pawel Pawlikowski)
  68. Mother! (2017, Darren Aronofsky)
  67. Blue is the Warmest Color (2013, Abdellatif Kechiche)
  66. Prisoners (2013, Denis Villeneuve)
  65. The Revenant (2015, Alejandro Gonzalez Inarritu)
  64. Everybody Wants Some!!! (2016, Richard Linklater)
  63. Blindspotting (2018, Carlos Lopez Estrada)
  62. Gravity (2013, Alfonso Cuaron)
  61. The Hateful Eight (2015, Quentin Tarantino)

If Beale Street Could Talk

  60. If Beale Street Could Talk (2018, Barry Jenkins)
  59. Brooklyn (2015, John Crowley)
  58. Clouds of Sils Maria (2015, Olivier Assayas)
  57. Long Day's Journey Into Night (2019, Bi Gan)
  56. It Follows (2015, David Robert Mitchell)
  55. Once Upon a Time in Anatolia (2012, Nuri Bilge Ceylan)
  54. The Perks of Being a Wallflower (2012, Stephen Chbosky)
  53. Personal Shopper (2017, Olivier Assayas)
  52. Another Year (2010, Mike Leigh)
  51. Greenberg (2010, Noah Baumbach)
  50. A Separation (2011, Asghar Farhadi)
  49. The Descendants (2011, Alexander Payne)
  48. Paterson (2016, Jim Jarmusch)
  47. La La Land (2016, Damien Chazelle)
  46. Sing Street (2016, John Carney)
  45. The Ballad of Buster Scruggs (2018, Joel and Ethan Coen)
  44. Marriage Story (2019, Noah Baumbach)
  43. Le Havre (2011, Aki Kaurismaki)
  42. Pain and Glory (2019, Pedro Almodovar)
  41. The Wolf of Wall Street (2013, Martin Scorsese)

Django Unchained

  40. Django Unchained (2012, Quentin Tarantino)
  39. Under the Skin (2014, Jonathan Glazer)
  38. Her (2013, Spike Jonze)
  37. Selma (2014, Ava DuVernay)
  36. Foxcatcher (2014, Bennett Miller)
  35. American Hustle (2013, David O. Russell)
  34. A Dangerous Method (2011, David Cronenberg)
  33. Inherent Vice (2014, Paul Thomas Anderson)
  32. Amour (2012, Michael Haneke)
  31. Take Shelter (2011, Jeff Nichols)
  30. Phantom Thread (2017, Paul Thomas Anderson)
  29. Son of Saul (2015, Laszlo Nemes)
  28. Manchester by the Sea (2016, Kenneth Lonergan)
  27. Beasts of the Southern Wild (2012, Benh Zeitlin)
  26. Call Me By Your Name (2017, Luca Guadagnino)
  25. O.J.: Made in America (2016, Ezra Edelman)
  24. Burning (2018, Lee Chang Dong)
  23. Birdman (2014, Alejandro Gonzalez Inarritu)
  22. Lady Bird (2017, Greta Gerwig)
  21. Carol (2015, Todd Haynes)

Toni Erdmann

  20. Toni Erdmann (2016, Maren Ade)
  19. Roma (2018, Alfonso Cuaron)
  18. Once Upon a Time in Hollywood (2019, Quentin Tarantino)
  17. Carlos (2010, Olivier Assayas)
  16. Black Swan (2010, Darren Aronofsky)
  15. Winter's Bone (2010, Debra Granik)
  14. Spotlight (2015, Thomas McCarthy)
  13. The Florida Project (2017, Sean Baker)
  12. BlackKklansman (2018, Spike Lee)

  11. Inside Llewyn Davis (2013, Joel and Ethan Coen)
  10. The Irishman (2019, Martin Scorsese)
    9. Melancholia (2011, Lars Von Trier)
    8. Drive (2011, Nicolas Winding Refn)
    7. Zero Dark Thirty (2012, Kathryn Bigelow)
    6. The Social Network (2010, David Fincher)
    5. Moonlight (2016, Barry Jenkins)
    4. 12 Years a Slave (2013, Steve McQueen)
    3. The Master (2012, Paul Thomas Anderson)
    2. Boyhood (2014, Richard Linklater)
    1. The Tree of Life (2011, Terrence Malick)