My top ten films for each year of the 2010s. These are always up for revision as I watch more films, revisit ones I’ve seen before, and think about them over time. I don’t really believe in top “ten” lists, despite using the common nomenclature for the title of this page, nor do I hold fast to the order, though it’s generally from films I liked better to films I liked less well. This is going to be my top several films of each year, down to whatever point I feel is right. Might be eight one year, might be twenty-three another.
2019
- Parasite
- Knives Out
- Captain Marvel
- Once Upon a Time in Hollywood
2018
- The Ballad of Buster Scruggs
- Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse
- Incredibles 2
- The Spy Who Dumped Me
TOP FIVE YET TO SEE
Black Panther
Hearts Beat Loud
Annihilation
Mission: Impossible – Fallout
The Favourite
2017
- Wonder Woman
- Star Wars: The Last Jedi
- Lady Bird
- Baby Driver
- Get Out
- Coco
- Atomic Blonde
- Cars 3
- Valerian and the City of a Thousand Planets
- Thor: Ragnarok
TOP FIVE YET TO SEE
The Beguiled
A Ghost Story
The Florida Project
Dunkirk
Paddington 2
2016
- Your Name.
- La La Land
- Kubo and the Two Strings
- Moana
- Certain Women
- Silence
- Arrival
- Sing Street
- Hail, Caesar!
- The Nice Guys
- Zootopia
TOP FIVE YET TO SEE
Love and Friendship
Midnight Special
Hunt for the Wilderpeople
20th Century Women
Personal Shopper
2015
- Inside Out
- Brooklyn
- Far From the Madding Crowd
- Star Wars: The Force Awakens
- The Martian
- Mad Max: Fury Road
- Room
- What Happened, Miss Simone?
- Jupiter Ascending
- Spotlight
TOP FIVE YET TO SEE
Mistress America
Carol
Mission Impossible Rogue Nation
The Man from U.N.C.L.E.
Knight of Cups
2014
- Whiplash
- The Grand Budapest Hotel
- Paddington
- Winter Sleep
- Interstellar
- Guardians of the Galaxy
- Captain America: The Winter Soldier
- Edge of Tomorrow
- Big Hero 6
- Song of the Sea
- The LEGO Movie
- Into the Woods
TOP FIVE YET TO SEE
Selma
Life Itself
Two Days, One Night
Mommy
God Help the Girl
2013
- Before Midnight
- The Tale of Princess Kaguya
- Frances Ha
- Her
- The World’s End
- Frozen
- About Time
- Inside Llewyn Davis
- The Dance of Reality
- Gravity
TOP FIVE YET TO SEE
Only Lovers Left Alive
Blue Jasmine
Stoker
Short Term 12
The Immigrant
2012
- Cloud Atlas
- The Master
- Blancanieves
- Much Ado About Nothing
- The Avengers
- Moonrise Kingdom
- Anna Karenina
- Wolf Children
- Life of Pi
- The History of Future Folk
- Cabin in the Woods
- Wreck-It Ralph
- The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey
- Argo
- Django Unchained
- Wrong
- Haywire
- Safety Not Guaranteed
- Looper
- Premium Rush
- Prometheus
- Les Miserables
- Frankenweenie
- In Another Country
TOP FIVE YET TO SEE
Stories We Tell
Rust and Bone
To the Wonder
Zero Dark Thirty
Laurence Anyways
2011
- The Tree of Life
- We Need to Talk About Kevin
- Drive
- The Turin Horse
- The Story of Film: An Odyssey
- Melancholia
- Winnie the Pooh
- War Horse
- Headhunters
- The Innkeepers
- This is Not a Film
- Hanna
- Rango
- Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part 2
- Attack the Block
- Café de Flore
- The Dynamiter
- The Artist
- The Raid
- The Adventures of Tintin
- The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo
- Midnight in Paris
- The Guard
- Mission Impossible Ghost Protocol
- Captain America: The First Avenger
- A Separation
- Contagion
- The Future
- Jane Eyre
- Extraterrestrial
- Once Upon a Time in Anatolia
TOP FIVE YET TO SEE
Martha Marcy May Marlene
Fast Five
Damsels in Distress
Crazy Stupid Love
The Mill and the Cross
2010
- The New Year
- Scott Pilgrim vs. the World
- The Social Network
- Certified Copy
- Inception
- Black Swan
- Blue Valentine
- Incendies
- True Grit
- Never Let Me Go
- Attenberg
- The Myth of the American Sleepover
- Meek’s Cutoff
- Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part 1
- Shutter Island
- The American
- Tangled
- Julia’s Eyes
- Toy Story 3
- Hahaha
- 13 Assassins
- Rubber
- Tucker and Dale vs Evil
- Monsters
- Parade
- Easy A
- Somewhere
- How to Train Your Dragon
- Animal Kingdom
- The Extraordinary Adventures of Adele leBlanc
- Hearbeats
- The Illusionist
- Guy and Madeline on a Park Bench
TOP FIVE YET TO SEE
Uncle Boonmee Who Can Recall His Past Lives
Poetry
Tabloid
Detective Dee and the Mystery of the Phantom Flame
Salt