Saturday, 28 December 2019

The 100 best films of the 2010s



Here are my picks for the best movies of the 2010s. The list skews heavily toward the Hollywood big-hitters because that's what you predominantly get to see being an increasingly time-poor film reviewer in a country town. So if your favourite film isn't on the list, I probably haven't seen it.

Unless it's Interstellar. In which case, fuck that movie.

One more caveat: I gave up putting these films in order at some point, so if you come at me saying such-and-such a film is better than higher-placed such-and-such a film, you're probably right. Also, I lazily grouped a bunch of films together. Whatever - this was really fucking hard.

And I'm not going to make you dig to the bottom to find out what #1 is. You're welcome.

PS. Click the pics or movie titles to read full reviews where available.



1. Inception


Christopher Nolan's voyage into a dream within a dream within a dream had endlessly inventive visuals, a clever heist plot, a surprisingly heartfelt arc about love and loss, and one of the great endings of all time. It took some old pieces, mixed in some new ideas, and did things we had never seen before. At a time when intelligent blockbusters were hard to come by, Inception had brains to match its bending buildings.



2. La La Land

Every department in this film is working at its peak - cinematography, costume, choreography, script, direction, music, editing, and acting. Damien Chazelle emerged as one of the great directors of the decade, and in the willing triple-threats of Gosling and Stone he found the perfect cyphers to explore the true costs of achieving your dreams.



3. Arrival

One of the other great directors to emerge in the Teens was Denis Villeneuve, who told a sci-fi tale unlike any other in Arrival. Led by a top-of-her-game Amy Adams, it's an engrossing exploration of the power of language and communication that feels like a spiritual successor to Close Encounters Of The Third Kind.




Marvel dominated the 2010s, and this superhero-sized team-up was the moment it showed everyone how omnipotent and unstoppable it was. Joss Whedon brought the ill-fitting Avengers together into a wise-cracking unit that was the first of nine Marvel films to make a billion dollars at the worldwide box office, while still being a critical darling (91% on Rotten Tomatoes). Its mix of character and action is a template (or should be) for all superhero squad films that follow.




The thought of doing a film largely set within the head of an 11-year-old girl and where the principle characters are her emotions would send other animation studios reaching for the metaphorical paracetamol. Not Pixar, which makes pushing boundaries look effortless. The fact Pixar pulled off this hair-brained coming-of-age tale so brilliantly and beautifully is enough to make you want to stand up and applaud.




One of the greatest horror films of all time. They will be talking about this movie and what it represents for decades to come. Jordan Peele gave us a fresh perspective on what's scary and showed he is a directorial talent to be reckoned with. 



7. Spotlight

Everyone needs an occasional reminder of the good the media can do, especially those of us who work in the industry. This exceptional "journos do their job" movie is more than that though - it's a riveting look at truth and power that rivals All The President's Men. Subtly directed, adroitly edited, and starring an ensemble in fine form, this is the best of the decade's Best Picture Oscar-winners ...




8. Birdman

... with this a close second. Alejandro Iñárritu's bold faux-single take captures comeback kid Michael Keaton in career-best form as an actor in a downward spiral. Everything about this movie – the performances, the direction, the score, the themes – is stellar (except the last five seconds, but I can overlook that).





This was the perfect ending to a perfect trilogy until they made the unexpectedly perfect Toy Story 4. Its richness of ideas and themes, the strength of its characters, its inventive humour and plotting - all of these things are of the highest calibre. And no matter how many times I watch this with my three-year-old, I still bawl in the same two places every time. 



10. Scott Pilgrim Vs The World

Edgar Wright wrote his own rule book for this hyperactive piece of genius. It owes more to comic books and video games than cinema most of the time, and is one of the most enjoyable and inventive rom-coms ever made. There has been nothing like this film before or since.




11-13. The Planet Of The Apes trilogy

A reboot trilogy no one was asking for proved to be the best three-parter of the decade. Andy Serkis and the CG team behind the apes deserve truckloads of accolades for making Caesar one of the most well-rounded and fascinating characters of the past 10 years. Each film has been excellent, with its own themes and feel, combining to make an essential trilogy.




14. Joker

2019's best film was a super villain origin story that explored one of comicbookdom's best known figures in a bold new way. Joaquin Phoenix's gargantuan performance leads a creepy, propulsive story that explores the forgotten underbelly of society and what happens when someone falls through the cracks and strikes back.




15. Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri

This masterful script from director Martin McDonagh gives three all-time great actors - Frances McDormand, Woody Harrelson and Sam Rockwell - some of the best roles of their careers. At its heart it's about what death leaves behind, and the lasting impacts of violence, with every violent act in the film having interesting and unexpected repercussions. McDonagh's skill for black comedy is at the fore, softening the harshness of some of the content and packing a punch in other places.




16. Super 8

JJ Abrams' ode to Steven Spielberg is a perfect piece of escapism that updates the kids-own adventures of the '80s. Wrapped in warm nostalgia, it builds on the technical feats of the Abrams-produced Cloverfield, but throws a team of uber-talented teens into the mix, making it a coming-of-age sci-fi with heart and spectacle.



17 & 18. Avengers: Infinity War/Avengers: Endgame

The scope and scale of Marvel's decade-ending one-two punch is unrivalled. Thanos proved to be a multi-faceted villain worthy of concluding 12 years of wonderfully interwoven superhero fare, while the script juggles its 20+ characters with ease. It's the Ben Hur of our age. 



19. The Wolf Of Wall Street

Martin Scorsese is still going strong. In fact, you could argue the 2010s saw him at the top of his game, with this tale of stock market arseholes among his best work. DiCaprio's cocaine-fuelled performance was one of eight (!) remarkable turns he gave us in the decade.



20 & 21. Paddington & Paddington 2

Pure joy - that's the best way to sum up these two flawless family films based on the adventures of Michael Bond's beloved bear. Paul King's visual flair adds a spark to match his heartfelt stories, which are taken to another level by a willing cast led by the villains of the two films - Nicole Kidman and Hugh Grant, giving the funniest turns of their careers.









27. Boy








30. Ex Machina


31. Her


32. Django Unchained






35. Life Of Pi








39. Frozen












46. The Muppets


47. Gravity


48. Four Lions


49. Hugo


51. True Grit


52. Whiplash


53. The Social Network


55. The Cabin In The Woods


57. Captain Fantastic


59. Animal Kingdom


60. Searching For Sugarman


61. Prisoners


62. Chronicle


66. Midnight In Paris


67. The Babadook


71. Carol


Thanks for getting all the way to the end. I appreciate it. Apologies to The Lego Movie, which would have #101.

Tell me in the comments what 2010s movies I need to see.
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Thursday, 19 December 2019

Star Wars: Episode IX - The Rise Of Skywalker (no spoilers)

(M) ★★

 Director: JJ Abrams.

 Cast: Daisy Ridley, Adam Driver, John Boyega, Oscar Isaac, Anthony Daniels, Joonas Suotamo, Ian McDiarmid, Domhnall Gleeson, Richard E. Grant, Carrie Fisher, Mark Hamill, Naomi Ackie, Keri Russell, Billy Dee Williams.

The heroes were stunned to see the arrival of Thanos. And Khan.
So here we are at the end (allegedly). While Disney is going to keep pumping out Star Wars movies until the banthas come home, Episode IX - The Rise Of Skywalker is purported to be the end of the Episodes - the final outing of the Skywalker clan.

If this is true, it's kind of a big deal. Forty-two years of filmmaking - of groundbreaking storytelling that changed cinema in multiple ways - ends here. The pressure on director JJ Abrams is immense, but he flourishes in these situations. He pulled off a Star Trek reboot with grace and style, and then one-upped himself by launching the Star Wars sequel trilogy with the crowd-pleasing Episode VII - The Force Awakens.

But the stakes are even higher here, and unfortunately Abrams falters. The Rise Of Skywalker is like a hyperactive three-year-old - it's filled with boundless energy and is often entertaining, but mostly it's messy, directionless and doesn't know what it's doing.

Picking up a year after the events of The Last Jedi, we find prospective Jedi Rey (Ridley) training to sharpen her ways with the Force. Meanwhile the rebuilding Resistance is reeling from the news that an old enemy has returned - Emperor Palpatine, long thought dead, is back and threatening to build a new empire.


While it has its moments, The Rise Of Skywalker is a real letdown. The Force Awakens and The Last Jedi knew what they wanted to be - the first dug deep into the nostalgia and flow of A New Hope, while the latter mimicked The Empire Strikes Back by upending what came before and carving a new path.

If we follow this pattern, The Rise Of Skywalker should be like Return Of The Jedi - fleet of foot and inspiring as it follows a clearheaded path through its spectacle and heartfelt moments. In many ways The Rise Of Skywalker strives to hit some of those same notes, but it's largely a mess of bad ideas, superfluous characters, poorly handled fan service, haphazard plotting and a lack of focus, culminating in a dull-looking finale.

The arcs of Rey and Kylo Ren (Driver) are again fascinating, building on the good work Rian Johnson did in The Last Jedi, but these are also fumbled in places. Ren's arc is rewarding but feels rushed, but he still fares better than Poe (Isaac) and Finn (Boyega) who are given no character development whatsoever.

The film moves at a good pace, bouncing through some nice set pieces early, but it finds its story bogged down in a lousy 'hunt for the McGuffin' arc that chews up a lot of time and proves frustratingly redundant. This idea was used to good effect in The Last Jedi's "casino" sideplot, but that helped develop the plot and characters - here it's a main plot point and it does little of either.

Elsewhere characters are either added for no real reason or given not enough to do - Ackie's Jannah, Nyong'o's Maz Kanata, the returning Lando Calrissian (Williams) and Rose Tico (Kelly Marie Tran) are all shortchanged or irrelevant. The new character that works best is Russell's Zorri, who almost gives layers to Poe while stealing the few scenes she's in. More of her in the future Star Wars spin-offs would not be a bad thing.

It's hard to dissect The Rise Of Skywalker or fully explain what a bizarre mess its plot is without spoilers. But if not for the energy, pace, humour and heart bubbling through everything and giving every scene a kind of electricity, this film would be an even bigger let down. As it is, it's supremely underwhelming despite Abrams and his cast's enthusiasm for the material.

But it's really difficult to overlook that fact that the grand finale - the big finish of the whole damned nine-film saga - is largely grey and visually uninspiring. It's a shame, but we've been incredibly lucky with this franchise. The bad films are few and far between, and even those, like The Rise Of Skywalker, have their moments. For its resolution and sense of completeness, it is unmissable for Star Wars fans, but it's not the finale such a saga deserves.
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Monday, 2 December 2019

Knives Out

(M) ★★★½

 Director: Rian Johnson.

 Cast: Daniel Craig, Ana de Armas, Chris Evans, Jamie Lee Curtis, Michael Shannon, Don Johnson, Toni Collette, Lakeith Stanfield, Katherine Langford, Jaeden Martell, Christopher Plummer, Noah Segan, Edi Patterson, Riki Lindhome, K Callan, Frank Oz. 


If I made a few tweaks and deleted all the references to moustaches, I could probably get away with re-running my review for Kenneth Branagh's Murder On The Orient Express here. A sumptuous-looking and neatly told murder-mystery with a killer cast, delivered by a top-notch director recently returned from a mega-franchise? Yep, that's it. Print it.

Of course, that's all superficial stuff because these are two very different films despite being cut from very similar cloth. Knives Out nods its head to Agatha Christie and the classic supersleuths, but this is a thoroughly present-day version of that particular idiom.

But Knives Out isn't revolutionary and falls well short of being a post-modern Poirot, Murder, She Tweeted, or maybe a millennial Miss Marple. It's not re-writing or even really re-examining the genre, which does feel like a missed opportunity in Johnson's hands. But it is a solid, fun, occasionally bonkers, and very enjoyable twist on an old tale,

The death at the centre of this murder-mystery is that of murder-mystery writer Harlan Thrombey (Plummer), who is believed to have suicided following his 85th birthday party. With his entire family in the house for the occasion, and with most of them on the receiving end of some tough love from the patriarch, it's anyone's guess as to what really happened, and who may have been responsible.

Enter Benoit Blanc (Craig) - a private detective of some acclaim who has been invited to the Thrombey residence by a mysterious employer to unravel the foul play that is afoot.


With strong characters played by an excellent cast, and a neatly tied mystery, Knives Out does most things pretty well. If you're a fan of the genre, which is mostly relegated to TV these days, this is a great excuse to head to a cinema.

It does feel a little underdone though. There is so much potential in the Thrombey rogues' gallery, all of whom have motives, but we don't get a good look at their opportunities to be killers. In fact, the film basically tells us what happened about halfway through, leaving the remainder of the story to deal with cover-ups and a twist that is satisfying yet somehow still underwhelming.

Still, it all flies by with good humour and fine pacing. The cast is picture perfect, led by de Armas as Harlan's nurse Marta. She's the rose among the Thrombey thorns, and a wonderfully naive yet determined character. Her presence allows for some pointed political commentary, but de Armas ensures Marta no mere cypher or plot point. It's another great turn from this star on the rise, who has shone in bit-parts in War Dogs and Blade Runner 2049.

Also worth mentioning are a deliciously smooth Evans and a jocular Craig. Both relish their well-written roles and steal every scene they're in. A supremely (and deliberately) annoying performance from Collette, a well used Curtis, and some fine work by the under-rated Johnson are flavouring on top.

Rian Johnson is obviously a fan of the genre, and this is a loving but not slavish homage to the great whodunnits. Stylishly filmed and wonderfully over-the-top in its production design, this is slightly hammy fun in the hands of a stellar cast.
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