FYI: There will be no spoilers here! And its not so much a review of each movie, just the list and a short comment.
This was a difficult list to come up with as there were so many good films during the last decade. To be fair there was also a fair amount of shit – Aladdin, Robocop, Movie 43, R.I.P.D. – I could go on!
I’ve purposely avoided all Marvel, DC, Star Trek and Star Wars films as they’d pretty much film the top ten. Not because they’re necessarily great films (apart from all Star Wars, Black Panther, Thor: Ragnarok and Wonder Woman) but because I enjoyed most of them a lot and my bias would want them in the list. Instead I’ve gone for films I enjoyed and/or I considered well made and well acted.
There’s many films I could have included but wanted, with a struggle, to limit it to ten. Those who didn’t make the cut get an honourable mention at the end.
So here, from ten to one, is my top ten movie of the decade. Bring on your disagreements or love.
If something is chasing you… split up.
10. The Cabin in the Woods
Five friends go for a break at a remote cabin, where they get more than they bargained for, discovering the truth behind the cabin in the woods.
Director: Drew Goddard
Producers: Joss Whedon
Writers: Joss Whedon, Drew Goddard
Starring: Kristen Connolly, Chris Hemsworth, Anna Hutchison, Fran Kranz, Jesse Williams
Year: 2011
IMDb: https://www.imdb.com/title/tt1259521/?ref_=fn_al_tt_1
My Rating: 8
IMDb Rating: 7
This is the marmite of films. I’ve seen so many people say they hated it and an equal amount say they love it. Personally I thought it was fun. There were some bits that annoyed me and it was insanely predictable with MASSIVE gives away as to what was coming – the eagle for s start! It would have been nice to see it turned into a series.
For the locals on Erin Island, it’s the final round
9. Grabbers
When an island off the coast of Ireland is invaded by bloodsucking aliens, the heroes discover that getting drunk is the only way to survive.
Directed by Jon Wright
Produced by Tracy Brimm, Kate Myers, Martina Niland
Written by Kevin Lehane
Starring: Richard Coyle, Ruth Bradley, Russell Tovey, Lalor Roddy, David Pearse
Year: 2012
IMDb: https://www.imdb.com/title/tt1525366/?ref_=tt_urv
My Rating: 8
IMDb Rating: 6.3
This film is silly but it’s good silly. It’s old fashioned B-movie silly and it made me instantly love it. Everything about it works – the script, acting, setting. The plot, the romance, the stereotypes – it all works and it makes for an enjoyable modern classic.
When darkness falls, the Guardians will rise.
8. Rise of the Guardians
When the evil spirit Pitch launches an assault on Earth, the Immortal Guardians team up to protect the innocence of children all around the world.
Director: Peter Ramsey
Producers: Christina Steinberg, Nancy Bernstein
Screenplay: David Lindsay-Abaire
Based on: The Guardians of Childhood by William Joyce
Starring: Chris Pine, Alec Baldwin. Hugh Jackman, Isla Fisher, Jude Law
Year: 2012
IMDb: https://www.imdb.com/title/tt1446192/?ref_=nv_sr_srsg_0
My Rating: 8
IMDb Rating: 7.3
I. LOVED. THIS. FILM. Since watching it I’ve been meaning to read the books but kept forgetting. The film is sweet, funny and made me think of my childhood. Growing up my nan would tell me of these characters and where the lived an d how they all got on and worked together. I don’t remember her mentioned Jack Frost or the Easter Bunny but Sandman, Santa Claus and more were all there in her stories and it filled my dreams. Watching this reminds me of those days.
Who’s in control?
7. Money Monster
Financial TV host Lee Gates and his producer Patty are put in an extreme situation when an irate investor takes them and their crew as hostage.
Director: Jodie Foster
Producers: Lara Alameddine, George Clooney, Daniel Dubiecki, Grant Heslov
Screenplay: Alan Di Fiore, Jim Kouf, Jamie Linden
Story: Alan Di Fiore, Jim Kouf
Starring: George Clooney, Julia Roberts, Jack O’Connell, Dominic West, Caitriona Balfe
Year: 2016
IMDb: https://www.imdb.com/title/tt2241351/?ref_=fn_al_tt_1
My Rating: 9
IMDb Rating: 6.5
I thought this was so well done. Jack O’Connell plays a great role and I really ended up feeling for him. Jodie Foster did a great job with the direction. I’m not much of a Julia Roberts fan, she has her moments, but in this she was fantastic, as was George Clooney.
In 2004, a devastating tsunami hit southeast Asia. This is one family’s true story of survival.
6. The Impossible
The story of a tourist family in Thailand caught in the destruction and chaotic aftermath of the 2004 Indian Ocean tsunami.
Director: J. A. Bayona
Producers: Álvaro Augustin, Belen Atienza, Enrique López Lavigne
Screenplay: Sergio G. Sánchez
Story: María Belón
Starring: Naomi Watts, Ewan McGregor, Tom Holland
Year: 2012
IMDb: https://www.imdb.com/title/tt1649419/?ref_=fn_al_tt_1
My Rating: 9
IMDb Rating: 7.6
So Brad and I sat down and watched this with two friends. As the closing credits came up all four of us sniffed, secretly wiped away tears and in our bestest manly voices said “yeah, so that was really good.” And it was. Scenery was spectacular and Tom Holland gave a great performance.
Don’t Let Go
5. Gravity
Two astronauts work together to survive after an accident leaves them stranded in space.
Director: Alfonso Cuarón
Producer: Alfonso Cuarón, David Heyman
Writers: Alfonso Cuarón, Jonás Cuarón
Starring: Sandra Bullock, George Clooney
Year: 2013
IMDb: https://www.imdb.com/title/tt1454468/?ref_=fn_al_tt_1
My Rating: 10
IMDb Rating: 7.7
For different reasons I ended up seeing this about six times at the cinema and it was top of my list when the DVD came out. If only for the first ten minutes! I cannot stick Sandra Bullock. Her range is small and limits her to two characters styles yet more often not the sticks to just the one – even when she should be using the other. In this we’re introduced to a third Sandra and it’s by far the best.
Just because you’re invited, doesn’t mean you’re welcome
4. Get Out
A young African-American visits his white girlfriend’s parents for the weekend, where his simmering uneasiness about their reception of him eventually reaches a boiling point.
Director: Jordan Peele
Producers: Sean McKittrick, Jason Blum, Edward H. Hamm Jr., Jordan Peele
Writer: Jordan Peele
Starring: Daniel Kaluuya, Allison Williams, Bradley Whitford, Caleb Landry Jones, Stephen Root
Year: 2017
IMDb: https://www.imdb.com/title/tt5052448/?ref_=fn_al_tt_1
My Rating: 9
IMDb Rating: 7.7
I don’t know how I feel about Jordan Peele as a director yet but that’s irrelevant as this film was brilliant. It got a nine because the writing and acting was excellent, the direction not so much. There were a lot of errors in this that bugged me but it still deserved it’s nine regardless.
The Most Dangerous Place On Earth
3. Everest
The story of New Zealand’s Robert “Rob” Edwin Hall, who on May 10, 1996, together with Scott Fischer, teamed up on a joint expedition to ascend Mount Everest.
Director:: Baltasar Kormákur
Producers: Baltasar Kormákur, Tim Bevan, Eric Fellner, Nicky Kentish Barnes, Tyler Thompson, Brian Oliver
Writers: William Nicholson, Simon Beaufoy
Starring: Jason Clarke, Josh Brolin, John Hawkes, Robin Wright, Emily Watson
Year: 2015
IMDb: https://www.imdb.com/title/tt2719848/?ref_=fn_al_tt_2
My Rating: 10
IMDb Rating: 7.1
Over the years Jason Clarke and Josh Brolin have give us some incredible performances and this is up there with the greatest. I remember hearing about this tragedy as it unfolded and had a friend who was planning his Everest climb. He delayed it for a few years after this but finally did it in 2001. When he got home he told about his experience but until watching this movie I never really appreciated what he’d gone through. This film is a must watch in my opinion.
You don’t know what you’ve got ’til it’s…
2. Gone Girl
With his wife’s disappearance having become the focus of an intense media circus, a man sees the spotlight turned on him when it’s suspected that he may not be innocent.
Director: David Fincher
Producers: Arnon Milchan, Joshua Donen, Reese Witherspoon, Ceán Chaffin
Screenplay: Gillian Flynn
Based on: Gone Girl by Gillian Flynn
Starring: Ben Affleck, Rosamund Pike, Neil Patrick Harris, Tyler Perry, Kim Dickens
Year: 2015
IMDb: https://www.imdb.com/title/tt2267998/?ref_=fn_al_tt_1
My Rating: 10
IMDb Rating: 8.1
I read the book of this… actually no I didn’t… I read the first few chapters. Brad had already told me there was a twist and within the first chapters I’d guessed it. Because I knew the twist I wasn’t interested in the book. If I’ve worked it out that quickly I’m not going to enjoy. The film was incredible! Rosamund Pike was insanely brilliant, as is Affleck and Kim Dickens. Actually, Kim Dickens was incredibly. This could very easily have got to the number one spot.
The movie was fake. The mission was real.
1. Argo
Acting under the cover of a Hollywood producer scouting a location for a science fiction film, a CIA agent launches a dangerous operation to rescue six Americans in Tehran during the U.S. hostage crisis in Iran in 1979.
Director: Ben Affleck
Producer: Ben Affleck, George Clooney, Grant Heslov
Screenplay: Chris Terrio
Based on: The Master of Disguise by Antonio J. Mendez and The Great Escape by Joshuah Bearman
Starring: Ben Affleck, Bryan Cranston, Alan Arkin, John Goodman
Year: 2015
IMDb: https://www.imdb.com/title/tt2719848/?ref_=fn_al_tt_2
My Rating: 10
IMDb Rating: 7.1
Okay so ignore all the historical inaccuracies as there are many. The film is insanely biased towards the American’s. As usual they’re casting themselves as the heroes and the rest of the world as the villains.
This was by far, in my opinion, the best film of the last decade. Please remember we’re not including Marvel, DC or Star Wars! Affleck triple jobs as director, producer and actor and does a fantastic job. He gets a lot of attacks for being a bad actor in a lot of stuff but I think much of it is that he takes on bad roles. From an interview I read with him though he doesn’t take on roles to challenge, but the roles he wants to do. I imagine Ryan Reynolds is the same as surely after reading the script for the Green Lantern and R.I.P.D. he’d have laughed and said “no way!”
I’ve digressed. This is a brilliant film. Watch it!
So there you have it. My top ten.
What I could have included but they only just missed out: Behind the Candelabra, Black Swan, The Greatest Showman, Looper, The Kings Speech, The Eagle, I Give It A Year and Buried
What I left out as they’re so far from being good it’s embarrassing for all involved: Robocop, Movie 43, Aladdin, R.I.P.D., Sanctum, Titanic II, The Host, The Amazing Spider-Man, The Incredible Burt Wonderstone, Man of Steel, Cowboys & Aliens, The Three Stooges ,22 Jump Street, Project X, Oz the Great & Powerful, The Expendables, The Muppets, Takers, The Hobbit, Midsommar, Godzilla, The Wolfman, Dark Phoenix, Southbound, Pan, A Million Ways to Die in the West, The Hunger Games and Pacific Rim.
Come on then, tell me I’m wrong, this, as with Die Hard not being a Christmas movie, is the hill I will die on!
