Top 100 of the 2010s

Well, everyone, I did it. After a lot of movies to catch up on, and even more I didn’t make it to yet, I finally said okay I can’t see everything and just made my top 100. It’s the first of my decade lists that I actually finished in my quest to find the Top 100 Movies of All-Time.

This decade was an incredible time for movies. While there will always be duds to sort through, the gems that came out of the years of 2010-2019 were absolutely worth it. It’s a decade where diversity took hold: we saw the rise of recognition for non-English language films, more stories being told by and about women and people of color and the LGBT communities, movies recognizing class and income inequality and taking it on headfirst, and so many films with a healthy dose of skepticism towards our power structures and who runs them. An entirely new generation of stand-out talents put forward multiple top-notch pieces of work—filmmakers like Yargos Lanthimos, Greta Gerwig, Barry Jenkins, Denis Villeneuve, and Robert Eggers—and new acting talents like Adam Driver, Saorise Ronan, and Lakeith Stanfield (among so many others) emerged to give us so much to look forward to in the 2020s. We also saw the first two non-English speaking filmmakers to win Best Director (Alfonso Cuaron and Bong Joon Ho) and the first non-English film win Best Picture (Parasite). And those are just the major accolades—the festival circuit boasted an even richer flow of varied talent.

With all of that in mind, I browsed through the titles of the 2010s and found themes and ideas and trends that these movies had that connected them. Something that I have noticed while doing these different decade lists is how each set of 10 years seems to carry similar themes that connect the attitudes of the filmmakers and reflect how they see the world (for example, the 1970s was fueled by conspiracy and disillusion of the system and it’s clear that movies like Chinatown to Serpico to Taxi Driver reflect that) From my observations, the best of the 2010s, on a global scale, heavily evaluate social constructs, class, regret, revenge, remorse, reconciliation, and emotional trauma. Not every movie on this list is about those things, and certainly not every movie is explicit in their message, but they are common enough to notice. I highly recommend almost all the below films.

A few quick notes: Honestly, the ranking of these films (outside of the top 10 and last five) are minute to minute subjective for me. I did not consider the star rankings when I ordered them and weighed more on gut feelings/memories of watching them as well a social and cultural relevance (which is why even though I didn’t go crazy for Inception, The Social Network, or Mad Max: Fury Road they are included. Yeah, enough other people liked the Aaron Sorkin Facebook movie that I felt obligated to include it.) than I did on strictly my own personal preference. I could literally switch numbers 26 and 86 in like an hour. Still, though, this is where I am now.

100. Inception

99. The Social Network

98. Marriage Story

97. The Avengers

96. Shutter Island

95. La La Land

94. The Shape of Water

93. Skyfall

92. Get Out

91. All the Light in the Sky

90. The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo

89. Perfect Sense

88. Logan

87. Mad Max: Fury Road

86. A Girl Walks Home Alone At Night

85. The Florida Project

84. The Master

83. Monos

82. We Need to Talk About Kevin

81. The Wind Rises

80. Only Lovers Left Alive

79. Sing Street

78. The Rider

77. Nebraska

76. Under the Skin

75. The Old Man & the Gun

74. Gone Girl

73. Melancholia

72. Blackkklansman

71. Columbus

70. Spiderman: Into the Spiderverse

69. Sidewalls

68. On the Beach at Night Alone

67. The Tree of Life

66. Sicario

65. The Wolf of Wall Street

64. You Were Never Really Here

63. Vigilante Vigilante

62. Haidmaiden

61. Margaret

60. Searching For Sugarman

59. Hereditary

58. Carol

57. The Black Power Mixtape

56. Never Let Me Go

55. Inside Llewyn Davis

54. Blue Valentine

53. Winter’s Bone

52. True Grit

51. Lady Bird

50. Alps

49. Mud

48. Boyhood

47. The Diary of a Teenage Girl

46. Love & Mercy

45. Birdman

44. This is the End

43. Spotlight

42. Whiplash

41. The Big Short

40. No

39. Uncut Gems

38. mid90s

37. In Bloom

36. The Babadook

35. Under the Silver Lake

34. The Lobster

33. Seven Psychopaths

32. The Farewell

31. The Lighthouse

30. Tangerine

29. Her

28. Sorry to Bother You

27. Blade Runner 2049

26. Cabin in the Woods

25. What We Do in the Shadows

24. Biutiful

23. Ex Machina

22. John Wick

21. Minding the Gap

20. Before Midnight

19. The Favourite

18. Tangerines

17. A Ghost Story

16. Manchester By the Sea

15. Taxi

14. Moonlight

13. The Irishman

12. Prisoners

11. The Last Black Man in San Francisco

10. Uncle Boonmee Who Can Recall His Past Lives

9. If Beale Street Could Talk

8. A Separation

7. The VVitch

6. The Look of Silence

5. The Killing of a Sacred Deer

4. Inherent Vice

3. Portrait of a Lady on Fire

2. Little Woods

1. Parasite

And that is the 2010s as I see it now. If you’d like to look at this list in a more reader-friendly fashion/listed with all the beautiful movie posters you can find it on my Letterboxd account here.