That’s another decade done and out of the way….thank God. Before I begin here, I just want to say that despite the events of the previous year and particularly this past week, there is a light at the end of the tunnel. It may seem far away, but it is there. While it’s incredibly important to be on the ball especially when it comes to social and political issues, it’s also important that we allow ourselves to be distracted from time to time. Let’s face it: Reality kind of sucks right now especially for those of us who have been directly affected by this pandemic. I believe that movies are one of several examples of how to kind detach yourself from the real world, even if it is only for about 2 hours. Sometimes, it can be enough. There is real value in spending a couple of hours being immersed in another world, a world of fiction. It allows us to temporarily disarm ourselves and let our imaginations take over. That is the value of entertainment. Not just movies, but video games and books as well. In terms of film, 2021 holds a lot of promise as a lot of films that were delayed last year are scheduled to be released THIS year, whether it’s in theaters or on VOD. I’m looking forward to bringing you news and more reviews of upcoming films that seem to be promising. But for today, at least, I want to take you on a stroll down memory lane for the past 10 years. For each year, I’m going to list two movies that I think best represent that year in film. Another rule is that this going to refer to Western cinema. So, anything from China, Japan, Indonesia, Thailand aren’t going to count this time around. I’m saving those for another post. So let’s turn the clock back a little bit:
2010: 127 Hours and The Town
First up is 127 Hours. This was a phenomenal survival story based on real-life adventurer Aron Ralston who got trapped in Bluejohn Canyon in southeastern Utah. While the film is about a really serious event, it took a more light-hearted approach in terms of James Franco’s performance. While it got pretty serious, it allowed the audience to really connect with Ralston during his ordeal. It’s a great survival movie. The Town is a heist movie that not only stars Ben Affleck, but it is also directed by him. It follows a gangster in Boston who falls in love with a hostage that he took at the beginning of the movie. It then follows the group of robbers as they plan their next big heist. This is an absolutely fantastic film that sees Ben Affleck not only deliver one of his best performances as an actor but also one of the best movie he’s ever directed. 2010 was a pretty good year for movies, but these movies take the cake as far as I’m concerned.
2011: Rise of the Planet of the Apes and Warrior
The best movies always focus on characters, and that in turn helps drive the story in the film. If you don’t care about the characters, why should you care about the rest of the movie? In Rise of the Planet of the Apes, the film focus on James Franco’s character as he tries to find a cure for Alzheimer’s. Experiments on chimpanzees and apes have yielded promising results, but there is a a side affect: The apes grow more intelligent. This film focuses on the relationship between Franco’s character and Caesar, a chimp that was experimented on. We see Caesar grow in intelligence over the course of the film and we connect more with him. Andy Serkis puts in probably the best performance for a CGI character since Gollum in The Lord of the Rings. It’s fantastic. Warrior focuses on two brothers and their hectic relationship with their father. Joel Edgerton and Tom Hardy play the brothers and Nick Nolte steals the show as their father. The fights are good, but that’s not what the film is about. Like Rocky, Warrior focuses more on the strained relationship between its main characters, and it’s all the better for it. If you have a brother, you know that sometimes things can get a little tense. Warrior is the best movie of its kind since Rocky. It’s a powerful and emotionally gratifying experience that’ll make grown men cry. It’s really good.
2012: Lincoln and Zero Dark Thirty
Leave it to a British actor to portray the best and most fully realized version of the greatest United States President in American history. Daniel Day-Lewis simply disappears into one of his greatest roles as Abraham Lincoln in Steven Spielberg’s Lincoln. This film focused on Lincoln’s attempt to get the 13th Amendment to the Constitution passed by congress. The 13th Amendment of course, being the abolishment of slavery in the United States. The attention to detail including Lincoln’s voice and exasperation is extraordinary. You could tell that the filmmakers were passionate about the subject matter and did everything they could to honor Mr. Lincoln. It’s one of the best movies about an American president. Zero Dark Thirty is a political thriller about the CIA’s constant attempts to find and kill Osama bin Laden, who was the most wanted man in the world since 9/11. The intensity of the film doesn’t come from the movie’s sparse action sequences but the constant battle between Jessica Chastain’s character and her CIA handler to get the job done. The film garnered some controversy due to some of the film’s depiction of torture and other aspects, but aside from those, this is a compelling thriller about the hunt for the most dangerous man in the world at the time. It’s definitely worth checking out.
2013: 12 Years a Slave and Prisoners
12 Years a Slave is an eye-opening look into one of the darkest periods in American history. The film focuses on Solomon Northup, a free African American man who was kidnapped and sold into slavery before the Civil War broke out. This is not an easy film to sit through, but I feel it is a necessary one. Again, the focus on the characters makes the story that more compelling and heartfelt. Chiwetel Ejiofor plays Northup with a quiet desperation and determination and he’s bolstered by incredible performances by Benedict Cumberbatch, Michael Fassbender, and Lupita N’Yongo. It’s incredibly powerful. Denis Villeneuve’s Prisoners is a deliberate slow-burn thriller about two fathers whose daughters disappeared while playing outside. Patience is required for this one, but the payoff is worth it. Hugh Jackman delivers probably his best on-screen performance. This is a guy who is getting desperate and his mental state is deteriorating as a result. Jake Gyllenhall is equally impressive as a detective who gets frustrated not just at trying to find the girls, but having to deal with a father who is increasingly becoming unhinged. This dynamic between the two characters is really something to see, and as a result, it’s one of the best movies of 2013.
2014: Gone Girl and The Salvation
David Fincher has really made himself one of the best directors in the world. Believe it or not, I actually liked Alien 3, but it was movies like Se7en that really put Fincher on the map. Gone Girl is probably one of his best movies ever. The movie focuses on Ben Affleck’s character as he is suspected in the disappearance of his wife, played by Rosamund Pike. It feels like a typical thriller, but the twists and turns will keep you guessing until the very end. It keeps you hooked. The Salavation is one of the first Westerns I’ve seen that wasn’t made by an American crew, and yet, The Salvation is one of the best Westerns to come out in the past decade. It stars Mads Mikkelson as a former Dutch soldier who has immigrated to the United States with his wife and child. They’re subsequently attacked and only Mikkelson’s character is left alive. With nothing left to lose, Mikkelson’s character sets out to kill the people responsible. The revenge motif is pretty standard fare in Westerns, and this film is no different. Yet, like all great movies, the focus is on the characters. As good as Mads is, Eva Green kind of steals the shows as the mute prostitute. Eva has to act using her facial expressions and her eyes, which is not an easy thing to do in film, but she’s marvelous. Jeffrey Dean Morgan is the main villain and he’s suitably slimy and evil. Yeah, it feels like a standard Western, but The Salvation does it so damn well, that it’s hard to find any fault with it.
2015: Maggie and Inside Out
I know it seems totally bizarre to put two tonally different kinds of movies together here, but hear me out: Maggie isn’t a typical zombie movie because, again, the characters are what’s important here, and the relationship between Arnold Schwarzenegger’s character and Abigail Breslin’s character is extraordinary. In fact, Arnold puts in one of his best performances as a farmer who is trying to protect his daughter. Unfortunately, his daughter gets infected, but it’s not instant like other movies. It’s a slow decay, which makes the situation even more tragic. This is NOT a typical Schwarzenegger movie, and that’s a good thing. He gets to flex the muscles that aren’t physical, and he delivers an incredibly emotional performance. Abigail is just as fantastic. Inside Out is ABOUT emotions. On the surface, it’s a colorful film that can entertain families, but the further in the movie, the deeper it actually gets. It shows the audience how important emotions really are, especially when you’re growing up and how confusing they can be. The movie also has the audacity to “kill” certain characters and not bring them back. This is a film that not only tells kids that not only is it okay to have these emotions, but it’s important to have them. For adults, it’s a reminder that we were once kids and that even as grown-ups we’re not immune from having bad days. It’s a great animated film with unique characters and designs. It’s incredibly funny, but it also tugs at the heartstrings when it needs to. Score another one for Pixar.
2016: The Witch and Rogue One: A Star Wars Story
2016 was a HUGE year for movies both indie and mainstream. The Witch is one of the most unsettling horror movies I’ve seen in years. It follows a family too extreme for the other Puritan colonists, so they were exiled to the middle of nowhere. At one point, the infant disappears while under the watch of Anya Taylor-Joy’s character. There’s a supernatural element that is very subtle and the film is a slow-burn. As a result, it gets under your skin when things start happening. Pay attention to the black goat when it shows up. It’s a beautifully shot film but the isolation and the eerie idea that the woods are hiding something horrible adds to the tension. Anybody who knows me knows that I love Star Wars. Yet, Rogue One is the only Star Wars film I’m putting on this list. Why? For one, it’s the best of the Disney era of Star Wars. Secondly, this film takes place just before the events of the original film when the Rebels found the plans to the Empire’s ultimate weapon, the Death Star. Rogue One explores this particular part of the original trilogy and actually puts the war in Star Wars. It’s a gritty war/heist movie that shows us a not-so-nice side of the Rebel Alliance. The look and feel of the film is incredibly consistent with the original film.
2017: Logan and Wind River
Like 2016, 2017 was massive when it came to movies. There were a lot of huge movies being released, but you also had a lot of strong indie movies as well. The first here is Logan. I love this movie because it doesn’t really fit the stereotypical superhero movie. It follows an aging Wolverine whose healing abilities are failing him in a world where mutants are nearly extinct. He eventually runs into a young mutant girl who happens to have the same kind of healing abilities that he does, but she’s also got claws of her own. This film is essentially a Western/road trip film trying to keep the girl out of the hands of an evil corporation(but of course). Over the course of the film the bond between Wolverine and the girl grows stronger. Yeah, it’s an action movie and extremely bloody one at that. It earns its R-rating, but the focus on the relationship between Wolverine, the girl and Charles Xavier makes the movie that much better. Wind River is a gritty thriller following two people who are investigating the death of a Native American girl. It’s a slow-burn, but it’s really intense when it picks up. Jeremy Renner and Elizabeth Olsen deliver really good performances here, and the film deals with an ongoing tragedy that still isn’t being dealt with by the government. It’s kind of an important movie in that regard. It’s a pretty heavy film that packs a huge punch.
2018: A Quiet Place and The Hate U Give
A Quiet Place is what I would definitely call an exercise in tension. It’s a post-apocalyptic film where the earth has been invaded by monsters that hunt by sound. As a result the survivors had to learn to use sign language to communicate and use sand to silence their footsteps. It’s nerve-wracking from beginning to end. But it’s incredibly tense with outstanding performances from John Krasinski and his real-life wife Emily Blunt. One of the kids is actually played by a deaf actress and she’s pretty good. If you want a nail-biter of a movie, A Quiet Place is it. I’m still waiting for the sequel, though. Come on, 2021! The Hate U Give, while based on a book, is a very relevant film due to its subject. It follows a young African American girl when her friend is shot and killed by a white police officer. As in real life the consequence of that action lead to some pretty intense moments between the black community and the police. Dealing with racism is not a new subject matter, but the way its handled here is really good, especially the silent “polite” racism that you see everywhere. It’s a good story with an amazing performance from Amandla Stenberg. It’s worth seeing at least once.
2019: The Lighthouse and 1917
What are the odds that both of one director’s movies ended up on the same list? Not very high, I can tell you that, but it happened. Not only did Robert Egger’s The Witch end up on this list, but The Lighthouse did too. The Lighthouse is a bizarre movie. It has a very Lovecraftian vibe to the whole thing. It’s about two men who guard a lighthouse in the middle of the sea with no way off during a massive storm. The film is about the two men trying to co-exist with each other. One is an old sea-dog, and the other is a much younger guy who volunteered for the outpost. I’m surprised at how well this worked. Willem Dafoe and Robert Pattinson are outstanding. The whole movie is in black-and-white and framed like some of those old black-and-white films from the early 50s. To say anymore would be to spoil it. 1917 is on here for technical reasons, strangely enough. The acting is fine and the story is pretty standard. It’s about two soldiers who are sent behind enemy lines to warn their allies of an impending ambush. What makes 1917 unique is the way it was made. It looks like the whole movie was done in one continuous take, despite the fact that it really wasn’t. There are a number of hidden cuts here that you probably won’t notice. That makes the film an intense ride from beginning end while following the two soldiers every step of the way. While the story isn’t anything groundbreaking, the film was brilliantly made by Sam Mendes, and is worth checking out.
2020: Antebellum and The Beach House
How fitting that I end this list with TWO horror movies. 2020 was absolute horror movie of a year for nearly everybody. Antebellum is a horror movie that deals with two different kinds of characters, both played by Janelle Monae. The first two-thirds of the film are pretty intense while the third act kind of goes off the rails, but it still a pretty decent flick. It does hit you over the head with the idea of racism, but for some people it’s an unfortunate reality. It’s definitely worth watching. The final of the movie of this list couldn’t be more appropriate. The Beach House follows a young couple on vacation to a beach house only to find that it’s also occupied by an older couple. They do get along, but over the course of the film, things really start changing when they witness strange things happening in the air at night. They wake up the next morning only to find out that things are even stranger, especially on the beach. If there was ever a more appropriate horror movie to describe the pandemic, this would be it. I don’t think it was the filmmakers’ intention, but that’s just how it ended up. It’s a pretty decent analogy for last year.
With the exception of 2020, the last decade was pretty damned good for movies. There were definitely a lot of bad movies, but that’s another list in and of itself. However, I think there were more stronger movies than bad. Believe it or not, as somebody who loves comic book movies and Star Wars, I was surprised to find that I only wanted one of each in this list. That’s how vast the last decade was for cinema. Hopefully, 2021 will get things started once the vaccine starts getting around. Maybe we can get back to some sort of normalcy by the end of summer. Who knows? But I think that the movies coming out this year(hopefully)are going to be fantastic. God knows we’ve waited long enough. Here’s hoping we don’t have to wait much longer.