The 2010s was an exciting decade for cinema. It might be too recent to have created any stone-cold classics (yet- in many years’ time there will be hundreds from this great time period), but the advancements in technology and CGI combined with the incredibly excellent pool of acting and directing talent the industry currently has to choose from is astonishing.
We’ve taken a deep dive into the decade and figured out what the best film released in each year of the 2010s was. There have been some very tough decisions made, and a few of the choices below might be surprising, but these are the best movies of the decade.
2010: Black Swan
While the 2000s was lacking in quality horror films for the most part, the 2010s were the start of the resurgence of true genius in horror cinema. Huge blockbusters like Inception and Shutter Island upped the game, but ultimately Black Swan is one of the best horror films ever made.
From an incredibly humble budget, the Natalie Portman-starring ballet-centric film was a huge box office and critical success, and rightly so.
2011: Harry Potter And The Deathly Hallows Part 2
The Harry Potter franchise might not be known for being filled with the ‘best’ films ever made, but the impact the franchise has had on billions around the world can't be ignored.
The final film in the series was a truly emotional journey, and David Yates’ final installment delivered what was basically a two-hour-long action sequence full of tear-jerking moments and life-changing twists, and it was brilliant.
2012: Django Unchained
Another incredible release from Quentin Tarantino in a list of almost exclusively incredible films was his Jamie Foxx-starring Western, Django Unchained.
The film deals with the difficult and complex subject of slavery, but employs Tarantino’s typically revisionist approach to history and features astonishingly good performances from the likes of Christoph Waltz (who, like he did in Inglourious Basterds three years earlier, won the Academy Award for Best Actor).
2013: The Wolf Of Wall Street
A year after starring in Django Unchained, Leo followed up with another incredible, box office smashing collaboration with one of the greatest living directors. The Wolf Of Wall Street was his first to put comedy at the forefront, while still retaining the grandeur and epic scale of his typical style.
The film was a smash hit and, despite running for three hours, was able to keep the attention of its viewers for every single second.
2014: Gone Girl
The big-screen adaptation of one of the best books released in the modern era was a big task for any director to take on. Giving it to David Fincher, known for two of the greatest thrillers of all time (Fight Club and Seven), seemed like the only way to make it work.
And he certainly did make it work. Casting Ben Affleck might not have been the best decision in the world, but everything else about the film worked perfectly, and led to the creation of one of the finest modern thrillers.
2015: Inside Out
Pixar seems to alternate between dropping average films that no one seems to particularly care about, huge sequels that tend to disappoint slightly, and genre-bending works of art that capture the imaginations of adults and children alike.
Thankfully, Inside Out was the latter. A beautiful piece of art with an incredibly poignant story, blessed with enough simplicity for a child to understand but a deepness that can genuinely get an adult thinking. On top of that, brilliant humor and voice acting performances are present the whole time.
2016: Rogue One: A Star Wars Story
Rogue One might be the only Star Wars film since the original trilogy that didn’t really divide the audience. Everyone sort of agreed that the film was the perfect way to lead into the original films without ruining their impact or changing the course of history, while still fixing up a few questions that the audience actually wanted answering.
We all knew how the film had to end, but we didn’t expect Disney to follow through. They did and they gave us what might be the best Darth Vader scene in all of Star Wars.
2017: Get Out
Taking a break from brilliant comedy released alongside his comedy partner Keegan-Michael Key, Jordan Peele put together the incredibly well-received Get Out in 2017.
It was able to balance an impactful and intriguing story with well-placed humor and no over-reliance on annoying horror tropes.
2018: Avengers: Infinity War
It might not be for everyone, but the impact of the superhero genre in cinema at the moment is astounding.
ensemble casts of all time and was given an astonishing budget. It managed to deal with everything surprisingly well, and the critical and box office responses speak for themselves.
2019: Parasite
If someone said that 2019 was going to be home to one of the greatest films ever made, and that film won’t have a single word of English spoken throughout, not many people would believe you.
Parasite turned Hollywood on its head, giving Bong Joon-Ho Best Director, Best Picture, Best Original Screenplay and Best International Feature Film. The reason? It is absolutely incredible.
