Top 25 of the Decade

This was quite the endeavor. End of year lists are tough enough and I almost always end up regretting one inclusion or omission within days of finalizing a list like that. But a decade? That’s a lot of movies. I started working on my list in November. I went through my end of year lists from each year in the decade and grouped any movie I really liked into genres; action, superhero, romcom, sports, etc. I ranked within those genres, came up with top 15-20 lists in each genre, and started cutting and sorting from there. This process kept me up at night, y’all. There are a lot of movies I love that couldn’t even be in consideration for a spot in my top 100 because of the plethora of choices I had at my disposal. But I persevered and I came up with a final top 50 and then agonized over how to rank those 50 films.

Next week, we will be dropping our 600th episode. For the occasion, we each picked our ten favorite films of the decade. In preparation for that, here’s the list of beloved movies that fell just short of that top ten status for me. Listen to our next episode to hear my top ten as well as Kent and Richard’s lists.

A note: The key term here is “favorite.” Not “best” and not “top” but “favorite.” I value rewatchability and fun and the movies I revisit the most in my non-podcast movie watching typically lean more toward action and comedy than anything else.

25. 21 Jump Street (2012)
In every single way, this should not have worked. 21 Jump Street should have been one of those cautionary tale-type movies that everyone points to for years afterward and says, “This is a bad idea. Remember 21 Jump Street?” And instead, it is one of the funniest movies of the decade and immensely rewatchable. It also recast Channing Tatum in my eyes, and I think paved the way for his much-rangier-than-expected decade. The sequel has the funniest moment of either of these movies (when Jenko connects the dots in Captain Dickson’s office) but as a whole, this movie is the best of the two.

24. How to Train Your Dragon Trilogy (2010, 2014, 2019)
Animated movies have prominent places in my top ten, but this will have to serve as the only representative of the medium in this section of my list. I loved the first film, with its unique animation and heartfelt moral center, before I had a child and his love for the series as it’s gone on has only furthered my own appreciation. The series has several Pixar-level emotional pulls and the conclusion of the series is spot on. Gerard Butler’s voice work in the first two movies makes up for four, maybe five of his terrible movies this decade so he’s only, like, eight or nine movies in the hole right now. (Please stop, Gerard. 

23. Little Women (2019)
Here I go on my Little Women soapbox once again. I’ve talked about this movie ad nauseum both in print and on the air over the last month but I’m still swooning over Greta’s perfect work here. The entire cast is magnificent and the re-structure of the story to add a bit of modernity to the timeless nature of the story is a stroke of genius. Gonna go ahead and change my Twitter handle to @LittleWomenBrian at this point, I guess.  

22. Ford v Ferrari (2019)
Just a notch ahead of Little Women on my “favorites” list despite their ranks being flipflopped on my top ten of 2019 list, rewatchability is the big key here. I walked out of Ford v Ferrari, a movie that is immensely better than it needed to be and which features some of the best direction of the decade in addition to the cast, and my first thought was, “I am going to watch that sooooooo many times in the future.” So shall it be written, so shall it be done.  

21. The Grand Budapest Hotel (2014)
I love Wes Anderson. Whoa, I know, hot take alert! We only three movies from Anderson this decade (after four last decade, stop slacking, Mr. Anderson!!!) and they were all bangers but this, for me, is his masterpiece (at least so far). It has all the elements I want and expect from an Anderson movie but with Ralph Fiennes at the helm. Watching Fiennes, one of the greatest dramatic actors of his generation, delivering Anderson’s quirky, weird dialogue PERFECTLY is one of the most satisfying experiences in film history for me. On paper, he seems like such an odd fit but in execution, it’s delightful. Saoirse Ronan is also a great fit in the Andersonverse and I hope she is a part of the troupe forevermore.  

20. Knives Out (2019)
My favorite movie (again, not necessarily BEST, but favorite) from a packed year in cinema, Knives Out is the kind of movie we don’t get nearly enough: mid-budget movies made for adults that are FUN. I love blockbusters and I love awards-y dramas that make me cry but sometimes I just want to have a good time at the movies without explosions and Iron Men suits and aliens and stuff. The cast is great, and the pairing of Daniel Craig Having Fun with Ana de Armas is excellent. I’m a big fan of Rian Johnson and I think he has even better movies ahead of him but if at the end of his career, Knives Out is his best work, that will be quite an achievement.

19. Inside Llewyn Davis (2013)
For as much as I love the Coen Brothers (Fargo is a masterpiece and I think No Country for Old Men is the best movie of the previous decade), I don’t rewatch a lot of their work. It takes a certain mood for me to appropriately appreciate a Coen movie and I’m not often in that place after the first viewing. But I LOVE Inside Llewyn Davis. It feels like it was written specifically for me and that observation might bear weight given that I was literally the only one laughing in my theater during my first viewing. Oscar Isaac is so at home in this world; he jives seamlessly with the Coen tone and aesthetic. And the music... Oh, that music. This is by far my favorite soundtrack of the decade and the record makes frequent appearances on my turntable.

18. Crazy Stupid Love (2011)
The thing that I love the most about Crazy Stupid Love is how imperfect it is. The plot is sloppy in places, the dialogue isn’t always spot on, a few scenes run a little too long, etc. But because the story itself revolves around a bunch of imperfect humans trying their best to figure things out, I think those imperfections work. I think this movie would be a guilty pleasure-type, though, if it weren’t for the cast. Steve Carell, Ryan Gosling, Julianne Moore, Emma Stone, Marisa Tomei, and Kevin Bacon all bring their A-game to the movie and their roles. Carell and The Gos make up perhaps my favorite on-screen pair of the decade which is not a thing I would’ve thought possible going into this movie. Gosling taking off his ring to punch Bacon in the face is a perfect cap on an imperfect movie.

17. The Martian (2015)
This was one of my favorite books of the decade and the adaptation was vintage Ridley Scott. (By vintage, I mean he was actually awake on set.) The Martian is one of the better blends of comedy and intensity you will see in film and the cuts back and forth between Mark Watney on Mars, the crew of the Ares III, and NASA at him are really smooth and build out the story exquisitely. Also, I don’t know if you know this or not, but Matt Damon is a movie star and it is very fun to watch him do interesting things on screen.

16. The Way Way Back (2013)
I love blockbusters (see above and below) but there comes a point every summer at which I am crying out in the desert of explosions for something different, something smaller, something more human. 2013 provided that and more with The Way Way Back, a delightful little movie featuring an all-star cast and a feel-good premise that is much more actual feel-good and less emotional manipulation. I love the “father/mother figure takes misunderstood or neglected child under his/her wing” trope and this one nails it with Sam Rockwell delivering one of his very best performances. It’s funny and touching and much better written than it had any need to be and I love that combination.

15. Guardians of the Galaxy (2014)
There’s plenty of fun to be had in the previous Marvel movies but Guardians is, for me, the movie in which the MCU truly embraced the fun. It’s outlandish and galactic and makes less sense on paper than the more standard MCU movies but this is one of those movies that you remember seeing for the first time. It pops off the screen, with its colors and weird characters and perfect music cues. Sure, the villain is lacking (as per usual) but the strengths of the cast more than makes up for this shortcoming and prior to 2014, I did not have Rocket Raccoon in my life and now I do so I am eternally grateful.

14. Skyfall (2012)
I’m hit or miss on Bond (or perhaps Bond is hit or miss on me) but I thought Casino Royale was likely to be as good as Bond could possibly get. Then Skyfall vaulted Bond to all new heights. As I mentioned in Knives Out, when Daniel Craig is invested, he’s a sight to behold and here, he is supremely invested. Javier Bardem’s Silva is interesting, calculating, and creepy which makes him an actual adversary for Bond not just a goon to be pummeled between martinis. And then there’s Roger Deakins’ superlative-inducing cinematography. Skyfall is a GORGEOUS movie from start to finish and Deakins adds so much sophistication to the World of Bond that the movie ultimately transcends Bond.

13. Mission: Impossible – Fallout (2018)
Whereas Bond has always been hit or miss, the M:I series has always been a favorite (excepting that weird turn in 2000 that no one needs to talk about or remember). Just like Bond, though, I thought the series had reached its peak with Ghost Protocol and then had my expectations blown away here. My affinity for Cruise, the hardest working movie star of all-time, is well-known but even by my incredibly high standards, he topped himself here. And who knew the addition of Henry Cavill would be so awesome?! The dude literally powered up his shirt cuffs! What a MOVE! The action sequences in Fallout are all-timers and I left the theater pumped up for whatever foolishness this series is going to bring to the table next time around.

12. Logan (2017)
I would peg Logan as the best superhero movie of the decade, a decade that was, after all, dominated by superhero movies. Wolverine is so interesting on screen but rarely built around properly and Logan felt like a final chance. In fact, I think I was worried going in that this would feel a bit desperate. Instead, the movie truly unlocked Wolverine for the first time, made him human, and allowed him to be who he was meant to be. Much was made of the R-rating and that’s certainly paved the way for one genre of superhero movies moving forward but it’s not the violence and language that made Logan great, it’s the mature story and the willingness to go dark in search of finding something hopeful. I love X-Men in pretty much every form but Logan is the only X-Men property that packed a true emotional punch.

11. Baby Driver (2017)
I love when a movie can be technically brilliant, supremely well-crafted, and compelling but also fun. Edgar Wright made that combination sing (sorry, sorry) in Baby Driver. The action is intense, the story adds unique elements to some well-worn tropes, and the cast is fun (minus Kevin Spacey who I am contractually obligated to mention as very not fun in every movie ever), particularly Jon Hamm who is so good at being sleazy that I’m a little concerned for his friends and family. It’s an explosive movie with a great soundtrack and poetic dialogue that flows beautifully as the story unfolds. Baby Driver could so easily fall victim to its own ambition and become a gimmicky but Wright steers (again, sorry) clear of all pitfalls and delivers an outrageously fun film.

The rest of my top 50:

26. Avengers Infinity War/Endgame 39. X-Men: Days of Future Past
27. Mud 40. Lady Bird
28. Black Panther 41. Coco
29. Get Him to the Greek 42. Warrior
30. Zero Dark Thirty 43. Moonrise Kingdom
31. The LEGO Movie 44. Looper
32. About Time 45. Captain America: The Winter Soldier
33. The Social Network 46. Dunkirk
34. Easy A 47. Super 8
35. Hell or High Water 48. La La Land
36. The Muppets 49. Deadpool
37. Mission: Impossible – Ghost Protocol 50. Edge of Tomorrow
38. Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse