My top 10 films from 2010-19
Top 10 movies of the last decade
In reverse order:
10, Arrival (2016) - maybe this should be higher. It’s so heartfelt, a meditation on language and communication, family and time. Sci fi at its best,
9, Inside Out (2015) - big ideas about personality and the mindscape visually and wittily translated. Pixar at the top of its game again.
8, The Artist (2012) - clever, sophisticated (all the technical aspects!) but joyous withal.
7, Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy (2011) - I need to rewatch this to see if it stands up, if I’m honest, but I remember it as intelligent, multi-layered and gripping
6, 12 Years a Slave (2014) - I really responded to this in the cinema. It’s another one I need to rewatch to see if it stands up.
5, Monsters (2010) - I still remember my transported state on leaving the cinema after seeing this love story/road movie against a backdrop of alien invasion.
4, Gravity (2013) - one of those films that have to be seen on the big screen. It was so immersive and wonderful about the human spirit. And that that was represented by a woman still makes me so chuffed.
3, La La Land (2017) - I love this modern musical, it’s so cinematic, colourful but bittersweet. There’s dazzling technique, and yes, there are all kinds of references, but I think the use of location grounds it.
2, The Brothers Bloom (2010) - this film speaks to me from the rhyming prologue onwards, and so far Rian Johnson has done nothing else that’s hooked me as much. Unlike the Japanese judge, I’m not harsh.
1, The Florida Project (2017) - it’s about a mother and her daughter, it’s about a summer from a child’s POV, it’s about poverty and living on the edge but painted in beautiful colours. I thought it was overlooked in terms of awards in the year it was eligible, though maybe I
will or won’t rate it as highly in, say, five years’ time after rewatching it. But like a lot of the films on this list, it earns my respect for its technique and it got to me emotionally.
This list is weighted a little by how my views have changed since seeing these films, because apparently I responded really well to X-Men: First Class when I first saw it, perhaps because it rebooted the franchise so stylishly or featured Michael Fassbender speaking German. I own about half of these on DVD, while there are some I haven’t seen since the cinema, but I’ve also tried to be mindful of why that is: genre, subject matter etc.
Looking back and working out my top 10 was a good exercise for me, because I expected Inception, which has featured in many of the top 10 films of the decade lists I’ve come across - understandably so - would have been there, but apparently I didn’t rate it as highly after first seeing it in the cinema as I have since. Although, if I’m honest, it loses me in that section in the snowy fortress. I keep meaning to start watching it in the morning, and then I think of all the other films that can hold my attention all the way through whenever I start watching them!
Here’s the list based on initial reaction.
1. 12 Years a Slave (2014)
2, The Florida Project (2017)
3. The Brothers Bloom (2010)
4. X-Men: First Class (2011)
5. La La Land (2017)
6. Gravity (2013)
7. Monsters (2010)
8. The Lego Batman Movie (2017)
8. The Incredibles 2 (2018)
9. Up in the Air (2010)
9. The King’s Speech (2011)
9. Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy (2011)
9. The Artist (2012)
9. Phantom Thread (2018)
10. Ondine (2010)
10. The Lego Movie (2014)
10. Inside Out (2015)
10. Arrival (2016)
This entry was originally posted at https://shallowness.dreamwidth.org/414039.html.
In reverse order:
10, Arrival (2016) - maybe this should be higher. It’s so heartfelt, a meditation on language and communication, family and time. Sci fi at its best,
9, Inside Out (2015) - big ideas about personality and the mindscape visually and wittily translated. Pixar at the top of its game again.
8, The Artist (2012) - clever, sophisticated (all the technical aspects!) but joyous withal.
7, Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy (2011) - I need to rewatch this to see if it stands up, if I’m honest, but I remember it as intelligent, multi-layered and gripping
6, 12 Years a Slave (2014) - I really responded to this in the cinema. It’s another one I need to rewatch to see if it stands up.
5, Monsters (2010) - I still remember my transported state on leaving the cinema after seeing this love story/road movie against a backdrop of alien invasion.
4, Gravity (2013) - one of those films that have to be seen on the big screen. It was so immersive and wonderful about the human spirit. And that that was represented by a woman still makes me so chuffed.
3, La La Land (2017) - I love this modern musical, it’s so cinematic, colourful but bittersweet. There’s dazzling technique, and yes, there are all kinds of references, but I think the use of location grounds it.
2, The Brothers Bloom (2010) - this film speaks to me from the rhyming prologue onwards, and so far Rian Johnson has done nothing else that’s hooked me as much. Unlike the Japanese judge, I’m not harsh.
1, The Florida Project (2017) - it’s about a mother and her daughter, it’s about a summer from a child’s POV, it’s about poverty and living on the edge but painted in beautiful colours. I thought it was overlooked in terms of awards in the year it was eligible, though maybe I
will or won’t rate it as highly in, say, five years’ time after rewatching it. But like a lot of the films on this list, it earns my respect for its technique and it got to me emotionally.
This list is weighted a little by how my views have changed since seeing these films, because apparently I responded really well to X-Men: First Class when I first saw it, perhaps because it rebooted the franchise so stylishly or featured Michael Fassbender speaking German. I own about half of these on DVD, while there are some I haven’t seen since the cinema, but I’ve also tried to be mindful of why that is: genre, subject matter etc.
Looking back and working out my top 10 was a good exercise for me, because I expected Inception, which has featured in many of the top 10 films of the decade lists I’ve come across - understandably so - would have been there, but apparently I didn’t rate it as highly after first seeing it in the cinema as I have since. Although, if I’m honest, it loses me in that section in the snowy fortress. I keep meaning to start watching it in the morning, and then I think of all the other films that can hold my attention all the way through whenever I start watching them!
Here’s the list based on initial reaction.
1. 12 Years a Slave (2014)
2, The Florida Project (2017)
3. The Brothers Bloom (2010)
4. X-Men: First Class (2011)
5. La La Land (2017)
6. Gravity (2013)
7. Monsters (2010)
8. The Lego Batman Movie (2017)
8. The Incredibles 2 (2018)
9. Up in the Air (2010)
9. The King’s Speech (2011)
9. Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy (2011)
9. The Artist (2012)
9. Phantom Thread (2018)
10. Ondine (2010)
10. The Lego Movie (2014)
10. Inside Out (2015)
10. Arrival (2016)
This entry was originally posted at https://shallowness.dreamwidth.org/414039.html.