Top 30 movies of the decade, as ranked by Leigh Paatsch
The past 10 years have brought us a long, tumultuous and fascinating decade of cinema. And there have been plenty of game-changers — these are the 30 best movies of the 2010s.
Leigh Paatsch
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Well, here we are, standing at the finish line of a long, tumultuous and fascinating decade of cinema.
So much has changed in the past 10 years.
In 2009, the movie business was yet to be taken over completely by superheroes, sequels, remakes, reboots and strategically branded franchises. People still bought DVDs by the bucketload. Home streaming? Netflix? Didn’t exist.
Australian movies had a bright future. Broad comedies and star-studded dramas ruled the box-office roost.
All of this disruption and more positions the last decade as the most significant in motion picture history since the advent of sound.
But what were the movies themselves like over the last decade? Pretty darn good once you pause, take a deep breath and then a deep dive into the archives … so here are the 30 best releases of the period in my considered opinion.
And remember: there’s a title or two here you may have missed along the journey, it’s never been easier to backtrack and catch-up this summer via home streaming.
30. THE LEGO MOVIE (2014)
Stars: Voice of Chris Pratt
Stream: Rent via Google, iTunes, YouTube, Stan
The anything-goes creative ethos that is the spirit of Lego was applied to all levels of this stunning animated production. The movie’s conceptual agility never ceased to dazzle, the all-Lego visuals both innovated and resonated at heights only previously scaled by Pixar.
29. MONEYBALL (2011)
Stars: Brad Pitt, Jonah Hill
Stream: Rent via Google, iTunes, YouTube, Stan
The perfect film for old-school sports lovers who, deep, deep down, loathe the brash new world of commercialised competition. Another killer script from the great Aaron Sorkin (The Social Network) and another soulfully nuanced performance from the underrated Brad Pitt.
28. 12 YEARS A SLAVE (2014)
Stars: Chiwetel Ejiofor, Lupita Nyong’o
Stream: Foxtel
This powerhouse drama tackled subject matter Hollywood has conspicuously avoided exploring for far too long. A film as compelling and confronting as this not only reignited a familiar sense of outrage about a shameful past. It also promoted a fresh understanding of a terrible era in US history.
27. FAR FROM THE MADDING CROWD (2015)
Stars: Carey Mulligan, Matthias Schoenaerts
Stream: Foxtel
This torrid, yet tenderly astute adaptation of the classic 1874 Thomas Hardy novel was as alive and rippling with feeling as anything released this decade. The reason why was Mulligan’s flawless portrayal of the tale’s can-do, can’t-catch-a-break heroine Bathsheba Everdene.
26. HUNT FOR THE WILDERPEOPLE (2016)
Stars: Julian Dennison, Sam Neill
Stream: Foxtel
This deceptively quaint feel-good comedy-adventure from New Zealand played audiences all over the world like a piano. Tubby teenage tearaway Ricky Baker (Dennison) and grizzly grey Hec (Neill) are one of the most unlikely and truly great screen duos of the decade.
25. ISLE OF DOGS (2018)
Stars: The voices of Bryan Cranston, Edward Norton
Stream: Foxtel
An incredible feat of both stop-motion animation and refined screen aesthetics from the great Wes Anderson (Grand Budapest Hotel). A dream combo of adventurous storytelling, accessible humour and some of the finest vocal performances ever recorded for an animated production.
24. WHIPLASH (2014)
Stars: Miles Teller, J.K. Simmons
Stream: Foxtel
Not once the typical underdog-triumphs-against-all-odds everyone expected it to be. This gripping double character study of an aspiring student drummer and his oppressive instructor followed its own powerful beat to a frenzied conclusion.
23. MOONLIGHT (2017)
Stars: Mahershala Ali, Janelle Monae
Stream: Rent via iTunes
A sophisticated, yet straightforwardly moving reminder there are no clean getaways from the messiness of life itself. The bravery of an unconventional structure, the haunting humanity of the performances and sheer cinematic grace resulted in a landmark Best Picture Oscar win.
22. HELL OR HIGH WATER (2016)
Stars: Chris Pine, Jeff Bridges
Stream: SBS On Demand
Scratch the surface, and it looks like just another game of cops’n’robbers on the West Texas badlands. Go deeper into this dust bowl of dashed hopes and dirty back roads, and something deeply authentic, yet absolutely gripping engulfs you. One of the decade’s hidden treasures.
21. HEREDITARY (2018)
Stars: Toni Collette, Gabriel Byrne
Stream: Foxtel, Netflix
A modern horror classic slowly and sinisterly built a tower of cower from which there was no coming down. Luring us all the way up to intimidating heights was an incredible, career-best performance from Collette, riskily reaching for notes clearly beyond most actors.
20. THE TREE OF LIFE (2011)
Stars: Brad Pitt, Jessica Chastain
Stream: SBS On Demand
This ambitious attempt to explain the unexplainable nature of life itself was one of the most unique films of the decade. People who experienced its dreamy, trippy meditations on how our memories shape us either loved it or hated it with a passion. There was no in-between.
19. MANCHESTER BY THE SEA (2017)
Stars: Casey Affleck, Michelle Williams
Stream: Rent via Google, iTunes, YouTube
Hollywood does not do the grieving process well, and it could be a long time before it ever does it this powerfully and personally again. An inspired, funny and emotionally authentic experience welded itself to your memory via an incredible lead performance from Casey Affleck.
18. BRIDESMAIDS (2011)
Stars: Kristen Wiig, Rose Byrne
Stream: Foxtel
One of the sadder trends of the decade has been the total collapse of comedies as viable, reliable box-office draws. This laugh riot par excellence got in before the shutters came down, dialling up the female-raunch factor to a level that made both genders blush … and laugh uncontrollably.
17. SICARIO (2015)
Stars: Emily Blunt, Benicio Del Toro
Stream: Netflix, Stan
A spellbinding report from the front lines of one of the major struggles of our time: the war on drugs. Emily Blunt, Benicio Del Toro carefully entered a terrifying battle zone on the Tex-Mex border, where the movements of the feds and the crooks looked equally suspicious.
16. CALL ME BY YOUR NAME (2017)
Stars: Timothee Chalamet, Armie Hammer
Stream: Rent via iTunes
A timeless, magical romance vividly conjured across a 1980s summer in Italy. Anyone who can remember what it was like to fall in love for the first time — that moment where the here and now were all that mattered, and the how and why could wait forever — will recognise the aching accuracy here.
15. ANIMAL KINGDOM (2010)
Stars: Ben Mendelsohn, Jacki Weaver
Stream: Rent via Google, iTunes, YouTube, Stan
This confronting crime drama was the anti-Underbelly of its time, in no way a seedy or exploitative affair. Instead, intensely focused direction, writing and acting penetrated the criminal psyche of its characters in great depth, and with eerie authenticity. The best-cast Australian movie of all time? Close to it.
14. LA LA LAND (2016)
Stars: Emma Stone, Ryan Gosling
Stream: Netflix
One of the finest Hollywood musicals ever made, with sublime song-and-dance sequences working in tandem with everything else to secure greatness status. Emma Stone and Ryan Gosling shared a precious screen chemistry that is unforced, yet unrelenting. Still dividing audiences to this day, and long may it do so.
13. ONCE UPON A TIME IN HOLLYWOOD (2019)
Stars: Leonardo DiCaprio, Brad Pitt
Stream: iTunes
In journeying back to Hollywood as it was 50 years ago — and never would be again — maverick master Quentin Tarantino vividly evoked a time, place and mood that put viewers under a transfixing spell. A unique combo of heartfelt nostalgia, remixed history and crazily catchy conversations.
12. JOKER (2019)
Stars: Joaquin Phoenix, Zazie Beetz
Watch: In cinemas now
An unapologetically confronting work some may find hard to forgive, but no one will ever forget. An astonishing, artfully calibrated performance from Joaquin Phoenix results in a final burst of fury as shocking and sobering as anything seen in a cinema in the past decade.
11. INSIDE OUT (2015)
Stars: The voice of Amy Poehler
Stream: Disney+
Just when we were all starting to think Pixar had run out of movie miracles for good, along came this subversively sophisticated stunner. Set entirely inside the mind of an 11-year-old girl, the moving, witty and telling ways in which her emotions are characterised spoke to adventurous thinkers of all ages.
10. A STAR IS BORN (2018)
Stars: Bradley Cooper, Lady Gaga
Stream: Foxtel, Netflix
It might have been the fourth time Hollywood visited this familiar tale of triumph, tragedy and trusting in love when all else fails. Nevertheless, the innate filmmaking nous of Bradley Cooper and the instinctive acting of Lady Gaga found plenty that was fresh, relevant and moving.
9. THE IRISHMAN (2019)
Stars: Robert De Niro, Al Pacino
Stream: Netflix
An epic feat of cinematic storytelling from director Martin Scorsese, a master filmmaker whose talents are still evolving in his seventies. With the aid of landmark de-ageing screen effects, the narrative spanned almost
50 years, dragging us into a netherworld of crime, corruption and compromised ethics like never before.
8. SENNA (2011)
Stars: Ayrton Senna
Stream: Rent via Google, iTunes, YouTube
The best docos not only draw their subjects in fine detail. They also draw our fascination and respect, even if we have little interest in the subject. Who’d have thought a no-frills profile of the late Formula One ace Ayrton Senna would become one of the most moving and unforgettable films of the decade?
7. SWEET COUNTRY (2018)
Stars: Hamilton Morris, Bryan Brown
Stream: Rent via Google, iTunes, YouTube
Never have the wide open expanses of the Australian outback felt so claustrophobically menacing. Here there is plenty of room to move, but nowhere for a wrongly wanted man like tracker Sam Kelly to hide. Not a frame, sound, or gesture is out of place in this brutal, beautiful and bitterly insightful experience.
6. GET OUT (2017)
Stars: Daniel Kaluuya, Allison Williams
Stream: Rent via Google, iTunes, YouTube
Not a cheap shock to be found in this subversively superb American horror film. First-time filmmaker Jordan Peele cleverly released the movie’s chills as camouflage for a subversive social commentary on race, sex and class. Well made, very well thought out, and very, very entertaining.
5. GRAVITY (2013)
Stars: Sandra Bullock, George Clooney
Stream: Foxtel
Every second of Gravity was a sublime combination of the you-are-there and the how-did-they-do-that?, completely immersing us in both the wonder of space, and the wonder of cinema. Not just a stunning work of science fiction, but a truly heartfelt work of human drama. Hey Hollywood, got any more of these? We’d all love to see ‘em.
4. THE SOCIAL NETWORK (2010)
Stars: Jessie Eisenberg, Andrew Garfield
Stream: Rent via Google, iTunes, YouTube
A masterful, contentious and gripping biopic downloaded us deep inside the control-alt-delete mind of Facebook creator Mark Zuckerberg, and then threw away the escape key.
The script of a lifetime from Aaron Sorkin (TV’s The West Wing) took us to the very point where dysfunction and genius are one. So much of why we live the way we do right now as virtual slaves to the internet can be found here.
3. THE DARK KNIGHT RISES (2012)
Stars: Christian Bale, Tom Hardy.
Stream: Rent via Google, iTunes, YouTube
Christopher Nolan ended his consistently brilliant, forever game-changing Batman trilogy on sustained notes of elation, exhaustion and deep contemplation. If every blockbuster event picture was a third as good as this, our faith in mainstream filmmaking in the 2020s would be unshakeable.
2. DUNKIRK (2017)
Stars: Fionn Whitehead, Kenneth Branagh
Stream: Rent via Google, iTunes, YouTube
One of the greatest war movies of all-time, period. With game-changing storytelling (three distinct time frames moving gracefully in unison), the modest power of the performances, mesmerising cinematography, and a miraculously lean 95-minute run time, it was clear to all we were in masterpiece territory here.
1. MAD MAX: FURY ROAD (2015)
Stars: Tom Hardy, Charlize Theron
Stream: Rent via Google, iTunes, YouTube, Stan
This challenging, aggressively captivating production went straight ahead and rewrote the textbook for action filmmaking. Its trailblazing, renegade influence is guaranteed to come to the fore in the decade ahead. Veteran Australian filmmaker George Miller might have delivered one protracted, adrenaline-guzzling chase sequence, but it never once left us behind.
From the mind-boggling camera placements to the breathtaking stunt choreography, this stands triumphantly as proof positive that the uncompromising can still be accessible, if inspiration strikes in the right place.
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