In chronological order, these were my 20 favorite movies of the 2010s:
“Machete”
2010, directors: Ethan Maniquis, Robert Rodriguez, writers: Rodriguez, Álvaro Rodríguez
The best of the spinoffs from 2007’s “Grindhouse” finally gives Danny Trejo a standout starring role among his long list of credits. In a theme that would unfortunately become even more urgent later in the decade, Rodriguez satirizes US-Mexico border policy. He also parodies the grindhouse style, purposely shooting some scenes in hilariously sloppy fashion. The deceptively smart “Machete” is filled with blood and guts, but it’s always ridiculous. As such, this violent border-war tale is arguably the most fun movie of the decade. (Full review.)
“The Social Network”
2010, d: David Fincher, w: Aaron Sorkin
Jesse Eisenberg shines as Mark Zuckerberg, the socially awkward founder of the most successful social networking site ever. (It seemed ironic at the time, but considering how Facebook has made us less traditionally social, it now fits.) Even watching the process by which the site initially known as “The Facebook” defeats MySpace and Friendster in the marketplace, I don’t totally grasp how much is genius and how much is dumb luck, but it’s nonetheless fascinating. Considering how Facebook became even more dominant in this decade — changing the way people live their lives — this might rank as the most important document of Fincher’s stellar career. (Full review.)
“Super”
2010, d-w: James Gunn
We all love the Marvel Cinematic Universe films, and no 2010s list is complete without at least one, but this satire marks Gunn at his most delightfully unhinged as he inadvertently delivers an antidote to his later “Guardians of the Galaxy” films. As homegrown superhero Crimson Bolt, Rainn Wilson proves himself as the best schlubby-looking actor working in Hollywood, Ellen Page makes a weirdly adorable psychopathic sidekick, and antagonist Kevin Bacon outlines a conflict more relatable than the genre’s usual high stakes: not Good versus Evil, but Interesting versus Boring. (Full review.)
“The Descendants”
2011, d: Alexander Payne, w: Payne, Nat Faxon and Jim Rash
George Clooney puts a hangdog spin on his leading man status and Shailene Woodley shines in her breakthrough big-screen role as his daughter. The story is about a family whose estranged wife is hospitalized after an accident, but the driving force — as with most Payne films — is the little moments. Payne doesn’t write humor, he writes about life and lets it be humorous, whether it’s an angry man running in flip-flops or a 10-year-old making “beach boobs” out of sand. (Full review.)
“Margaret”
2011, d-w: Kenneth Lonergan
The plot is about a woman killed in a bus accident whose family will only see justice if the titular teenage witness (Anna Paquin, in one of her best lead turns) speaks up. But that’s merely a foundation for a treatise on the ways people in New York City can’t — or won’t — connect even though it’s the most connected city in the world in some ways. Yet Lonergan’s lens loves the chaotic Big Apple and its flawed denizens much like “La La Land” loves Hollywood. (Full review.)
“The Perks of Being a Wallflower”
2012, d-w: Stephen Chbosky
Chbosky had me at “Nice Trapper Keeper, faggot” as he brings his own put-upon-teen novel to life with the help of Logan Lerman in the title role, Ezra Miller as the cool outcast and “Harry Potter’s” Emma Watson as the girl next door — whom Lerman’s Charlie is of course in love with. The 1980s setting is captured through the teens’ radio discoveries, and Paul Rudd pops in as a teacher who sympathizes with the Holden Caulfields in his class. But ultimately it’s a story of the friendships that linger long after you stopped caring about what’s cool. (Full review.)
“The Way Way Back”
2013, d-w: Nat Faxon, Jim Rash
This sweet-natured and sweet-soundtracked coming-of-age film is highlighted by one of Sam Rockwell’s most endearing performances. A water park worker, he’s the unlikely father figure the sensitive Duncan (Liam James) needs to contrast the overbearing Steve Carell. Throw in girl next door Anna Sophia Robb (who I thought would’ve become a huge star by now), and Duncan might enjoy a pretty cool summer vacation after all. (Full review.)
“Captain America: The Winter Soldier”
2014, d: Anthony Russo, Joe Russo, w: Christopher Markus, Stephen McFeely
The MCU’s best directing duo and best writing duo team up for the most liberty-minded comic-book movie since “V for Vendetta” (2006). It also has top-shelf action, including a car chase shoot-’em-up on par with something out of “John Wick.” While it’s surprising on the face of it that a guy who literally drapes himself in the flag (Chris Evans) would fight against the 21st century spy state, it makes perfect sense. Someone recently unfrozen from 70 years in the past would have a crystal-clear basis for comparison. (Full review.)
“Nebraska”
2014, d: Alexander Payne, w: Bob Nelson
What starts off as a painfully funny (or just painfully true) look at the absurd behaviors of Midwestern extended families adds layers as it adds miles. A son (Will Forte) drives his father (Bruce Dern) from Montana to Nebraska for a ridiculous reason — to claim a sweepstakes prize that’s probably bogus. Yet maybe it’s for the best of reasons: to remember where he came from.
“The Martian”
2015, d: Ridley Scott, w: Drew Goddard
In this decade, Scott arguably tried too hard (“Prometheus”) and not hard enough (“Alien: Covenant”) to bulk up his “Alien” mythos. But the film that will be remembered in the decades ahead is this adaptation of scientist Andy Weir’s do-it-yourself serial novel. As humans head toward Mars in the coming decades, we’ll look back at this piece of hard SF — driven by Matt Damon in the same way Tom Hanks drives “Cast Away” (2000) — and I wouldn’t be surprised if it proves prophetic. (Full review.)
“Spotlight”
2015, d: Tom McCarthy, w: Josh Singer and McCarthy
By the nature of its subject and the fact that I work in newspapers, this story of the Boston Globe’s turn-of-the-century uncovering of the Catholic Church sex abuse scandal strikes me as a love letter to investigative journalism. Even as the art form dies out (at least in its traditional form), this film shows us how crucial deep-level reporting is for holding institutions accountable. Perhaps the best way to describe “Spotlight’s” greatness is to say that I never regretted that I was watching the story of the telling of the story, rather than a movie focused directly on the scandal. (Full review.)
“La La Land”
2016, d-w: Damien Chazelle
With apologies to 2011’s “Crazy, Stupid, Love” (which barely missed this list), this musical is the decade’s standout Ryan Gosling-Emma Stone team-up. It’s directed by Chazelle with such visual beauty — Los Angeles if the way it looked matched its promises — that the relationship drama is almost beside the point. And then it catches you off guard with the fact that this isn’t necessarily the happily-ever-after romance the film’s sunnier showtunes might suggest.
“Manchester By the Sea”
2016, d-w: Kenneth Lonergan
At the film’s center is perhaps most devastating thing that could happen to people, an event so traumatizing that it changes Lee (Casey Affleck) into a morose loner. Yet the answer to the mystery of Lee’s past doesn’t kill the momentum, because life goes on. In much less screen time than you remember, Michelle Williams (the best actor to come out of “Dawson’s Creek”) steals scenes, and Lucas Hedges emerges as one of the decade’s most reliable indie-film troubled teens. (Full review.)
“The Nice Guys”
2016, d: Shane Black, w: Black, Anthony Bagarozzi
In a spiritual sequel to 2005’s “Kiss Kiss Bang Bang,” Black again shows his knack for blending a twisty action thriller with consistent laughs as Russell Crowe and Ryan Gosling melt right into the 1970s setting. Among my favorites: A gun tossed from one partner to the other flies out the window because they’re not on the same page. And in a snort-worthy undercutting of a screenwriting cliche, Gosling’s detective puts together a series of clues in a brilliant — but completely wrong — way. (Full review.)
“The Witch”
2016, d-w: Robert Eggers
The decade’s best horror movie is also a more harrowingly detailed history of Colonial settlers than what you were taught in public school. Eggers based this story on historical documents, and the actors (including Anya Taylor-Joy in her breakthrough role as the daughter) speak in the style of the time. We get a sense of the real-life terror of subsistence living in a time when the crops aren’t growing and you won’t get any help from the nearby villagers who have cast you out. Throw in some foreboding string music and rare but well-placed witch-related scares, and this is history brought to frightening life. (Full review.)
“I, Tonya”
2017, d: Craig Gillespie, w: Steven Rogers
The so-crazy-it-must-be-true story of Tonya Harding (a dressed-down Margot Robbie) is alternately told with clever style (the coach turns to the camera and says “This really happened”) and blunt humor (Tonya cakes on the garish makeup we remember from TV). The film makes us love the controversial Harding, providing a strong argument that “Fargo”-esque goon Shawn Eckhardt (a hilarious Paul Walter Hauser) was behind the Nancy Kerrigan attack while Tonya was focused on sewing her own costumes. Harding may have been nuts, but you can’t help but feel the injustice when the love of her life (skating) is taken away. (Full review.)
“Eighth Grade”
2018, d-w: Bo Burnham
As much as I like those films, the heroes of “The Perks of Being a Wallflower” and “The Way Way Back” are merely “movie uncool.” But pimple-faced Kayla (Elsie Fisher) – the surrogate that came out as the other gender via Burnham’s pen – really is uncool. And we can’t help but love her for it as we watch her grumble around her well-meaning single dad and flounder around the boy she’s crushing on. “Eighth Grade” is one of the most universal and timeless coming-of-age stories put to film. (Full review.)
“mid90s”
2018, d-w: Jonah Hill
This movie, on the other hand, is of a specific time, as Hill completes his transformation from fat funny sidekick to top-shelf auteur. The history books can tell us that kids didn’t have cellphones or the internet in the mid-’90s and that parents wouldn’t worry if you were gone all day. But Hill goes a step further with his ear for the way kids talked while trying to increase their coolness quotient, and how they worked toward finding a group of friends (skateboarders in the case of Sunny Suljic’s Stevie) with the same vigor as an adult pursuing a dream job. (Full review.)
“A Star Is Born”
2018, d: Bradley Cooper, w: Eric Roth, Cooper and Will Fetters
The 2010s had more remakes and adaptations than is strictly healthy, but this one gets a pass. It updates the classic tale of love and stardom last told in 1976 with Cooper and Lady Gaga’s chemistry coming to a head on the original song “Shallow.” Despite existing in the YouTube era, Cooper’s take on the material remains stealthily old-fashioned, as he makes the tragedy of alcoholism into a revelation rather than a worn-out excuse for cinematic conflict. (Full review.)
“Midsommar”
2019, d-w: Ari Aster
Some, maybe even most, will prefer 2018’s “Hereditary” among Aster’s first two films. But given that we couldn’t be caught off guard by his trademark brand of intimate horror, it’s remarkable how “Midsommar” gets under a viewer’s skin. A shaky college romance becomes the biggest deal in the world when Aster’s direction combines with the acting of future superstar Florence Pugh. When the couple retreats to a backwoods Swedish village, the film becomes a slow-burning string of “What the hell is going on?” followed by a payoff creepy enough to keep your brain spinning. (Full review.)
What were your top 20 films of the 2010s? Share your lists in the comment thread below.