Best Films of the Decade - 2010s - Second Part

As always, a giant list. The first 10 can be pretty much interchangeable depending on my mood.

21. John Wick (2014)- Directed by Chad Stalehski. Written by Derek Kolstad.

 Keanu Reeves already had experience as the face of an action franchise but it's possible in the future that we remember more for John Wick than as Neo. A film that came out of almost nowhere and managed to simultaneously be a homage and a way forward for action movies. Building off of an extensive source of knowledge of the films of John Woo, Jean Pierre Melville, anime and spaghetti westerns, it's the closest anyone has come to replicating the Gun-Fu Hong Kong classics. The well crafted world of John Wick keeps expanding too, with even more additions to the series in the works. Long may it continue.

22. Blade Runner 2049 (2017)- Directed by Denis Villeneuve. Written by Michael Green and Hampton Fancher.

 A sequel to one of the most beloved and acclaimed sci-film films of all time, more than two decades after the original, was always likely to annoy more people than it enthused. But the sequel manages the perfect balance of paying homage to the original while carving out its own space as well. Building off of the original narrative of complex and puzzling storytelling set inside a visually compelling world, it's entirely possible there might be future stories coming out of the world where replicants exist.

23. The Handmaiden (2016)- Directed by Park Chan-Wook. Written by Park Chan -
Wook and Chung Seo-Kyung. 

I'm not sure when the actual Korean film boom started but I first heard about it via Oldboy by the same director, who's continued to produce quality cinema in Korean since then (Stoker was the misstep in Hollywood). With period pieces the focus can go onto the costumes and sets, and while those are understandably excellent, the characters and the plot are the main drivers of this erotic suspense film. Full of manipulative characters and a plot full of twists, the attention is rarely fully drawn away from the storyline despite it being a film full of excellent and breath-taking erotic set pieces.

24. The Hunt for the Wilderpeople (2016)- Directed and written by Taika Waititi. 

There are very few directors doing regular comedy films of high quality and Waititi might be the best of them all. I first discovered his work with Boy (during a period where New Zealand seemed like an interesting place for migration) and since then he's only gotten better. This film is probably the best example of a comedy-drama in execution. Sam Neill and Julian Dennison are perfect with the odd duo stuck together going through adventures in the gorgeously shot New Zealand landscape (New Zealand as a location remains the star of most movies that are shot there. Even in spectacles such as Lord of the Rings). While these adventures become even more absurd, the chemistry deepens even more. The right touch of pathos is injected but never allowed to linger enough to colour the film into a depressive nature that could easily happen (primary topics are death and foster care, after all). In the end, a perfectly balanced and often hilarious escapade.

25.Whiplash (2014) -Directed and written by Damien Chazelle. 

Very much an actor's film, with amazing performances by J.K. Simmons and Miles Teller. The word most used to describe the film is intense and for a film about an aspiring jazz drummer at a conservatory, it's a measure of that intensity that the closest parallel seemed to be the first half of Full Metal Jacket. While it probably misrepresents the idea that being a successful musician is about practising to exhaustion and eliminating all else, it definitely captures the feel of a world where it can feel like just that

26.Parasite (2019)- Directed by Bong Joon-Ho. Written by Bong Joon-Ho and Han Jing-Won.

 Might be the best film the director has done, and that's saying something (he's done Memories of a Murder & The Host) . A comedy that has more tragic undertones than many dramas, concerned with the tragedy of the class system and the attempts to transcend one's place in life and the possibility it may all be futile to even attempt this. Song Kang-Ho might be one of the most underappreciated actors in the world together (outside of Korea anyway) and he's perfect again as the slightly bumbling, slightly inspired patriarch who guides his family to and around the giant house (the director built the set himself) where the action takes place. This is one of those films that seems both immediately relevant and yet timeless. It'll stick with you after you're done.

27. Won't You be My Neighbour (2018)- Directed by Morgan Neville.

I didn't watch a lot of Mr. Rogers growing up. PBS didn't really come around till I was too old to appreciate the show. This allowed me to discover not just this film but the entire world of Fred Rogers that I knew about only tangentially. Full of archival footage as well as interviews with people close to him, it is one of the most genuinely uplifting things I've seen in a long time, it's really no mystery to understand why the man was beloved and gave hope to so many. Underlying the whole thing is the philosophy of how children should be educated but entertained and although the word iconic tends to be used about anyone of earlier generations, the film really does seem to solidify the importance of one of the most beloved entertainers of a generation.

28.Scott Pilgrim vs. The World (2010) - Directed by Edgar Wright. Written by Edgar Wright and Michael Bacall. 

Directing both Baby Driver and Three Flavours Cornetto trilogy, Edgar Wright would have already been a personal favourite. But adapting one of my favourite comics just added extra points. The film is largely perfectly populated, with Michael Cera and Mary Elizabeth Winstead perfect as Scott and Ramona. The comic book as a movie often works but the film and the comic often have little in common. In this case, the comic book and the movie work perfectly with all the special effects and dialogue perfectly in sync with how they'd been used in the comic. Capturing all of the high energy, youthful strangeness of Scott Pilgrim isn't easy, but they managed to do it. Extra points for keeping the Toronto location. It's not often I see my hometown in films and not as a stand-in for some other city.

29. The Wolf of Wall Street (2013) - Directed by Martin Scorsese. Written by Terence Winter.

While movies about the financial system are usually for a specific audience and can be more technical than fun, the films about the people that work on Wall Street are almost always uproarious celebrations of excess. While the director and the star have said the film doesn't celebrate Jordan Belfort, it certainly doesn't criticize him. What it does do is show the often hilarious lifestyles of some of people in the financial industry at that time, in a world dominated by drugs, sex and the need for more money to fuel the lifestyle. Leonardo DiCaprio's performance is perfect and hits the right notes of intensity bordering on manic with high ambition and arrogance. Although he would eventually win his Oscar, I'd still say this was one missed out on.

30. Drive (2011)- Directed by Nicolas Winding Refn. Written by Hossein Amini.

If someone told you Daft Punk was involved in creating the film, you'd believe it. With a soundtrack and visuals that seem to be right out of a music video, there's rarely been a film more stylish. The film is pretty dark and filled with graphic violence, with most of the characters unable or unwilling to suppress violent urges and unable to find a way out of the existentialism of their lives. A well-written and well-shot film that manages to find the perfect note for every single scene, capturing the disparate notes of the crime story and the love story and developing them into a consistent symphony.