Forever connected: a comprehensive list of the best and worst films of the decade

I am not a fan of lists, and when I decided to do a list covering the best and worst films of the last decade it became clear that I needed to do the whole thing or none at all.
With that in mind, here it is, a comprehensive list of the best and worst films of the decade. This list covers 2010 to 2019 and, starting from the top, goes from the best on down. Each section is broken up with an image of reviews that reflect my best as a writer or a film that has earned special consideration of some kind.
The exception are my picks for the two best films of the decade, tied at #1, and a brief explanation about why they are at the top. After that, I hope that you'll join me through this decade of writing and growth. I've had stumbles, to say nothing of trying to figure out my voice, and haven't been able to review much recently. But I'm hoping to change and get back on my feet again starting with this overview of the last decade in film.
Let's begin at the top.
Our always-connected age means that we are more directly in contact with one another's feelings than ever before. It's overwhelming. One minute you could be happily watching a puppy play in snow then scroll down to find live camera footage of someone being killed. Scroll further and you'll see someone trying to sell you hair grooming products then further down a friend talking about the crippling pain they live with. It's overwhelming trying to figure out what to do with yourself amidst this never ending deluge of feeling. Good, bad, elated, traumatic - if you want to live in this world there's no way of turning it off anymore.
The best two films of the decade both confront what it's like to live in our always-connected age but take vastly different approaches. Shane Carruth and Amy Seimetz's Upstream Color approaches our connection with experimentation and uncertainty. Zack and Deborah Snyder's Man of Steel mythologizes the open nerve of connection with grandeur and spirituality. Upstream Color is the angrier of the two, seeing those that would profit on our pain as aloof emotional vampires. Man of Steel is the more hopeful, watching the savior we don't deserve experience the worst of humanity while still finding the strength to go on by our ability to sacrifice for one another.
It feels impossible to discuss these two films in some kind of neutral state. In Upstream Color's case, the film has so few that have seen it and those that have struggle to find the words for the pain it so directly confronts. For Man of Steel, passions between what it did or didn't do to the legacy of Superman have become so embedded in neverending cultural and political warfare. Neither benefits from languishing in relative obscurity or being the cultural battleground for online liberals and conservatives alike.
Both have exquisite music that highlight our connection while confounding it. Upstream Color's melodies shying away from catharsis as one of Carruth's messy tracks bleeds into the next. Man of Steel never shies away from hope, finding the note to soar even in the most militant-sounding of Hans Zimmerman's compositions. One might seem sonic years away from the other, but in each I hear the same yearning to be felt and touched. To be reminded that what we feel is not what makes us alone.
The images match their conclusions. In Upstream Color, two people huddled in fear that don't understand their connection grow to accept the mystery, and one another, while they reach beyond species to comfort all living things. In Man of Steel, the scared boy who doesn't understand why his sacrifice frightens others grows to draw strength from that sacrifice as he inspires the best in his fellow humans. We are always connected and, many times, we are scared. But there is hope at the end of that painful connection.
Let their examples guide us. Do not accept the vultures that seek to profit off of your misery. Do not accept those in power who would deny the possibility of a messiah because they weren't born in your homeland. Accept that we are all that we are and, even if it doesn't feel like it, we have the capability of inspiring the best of one another in our darkest moments.
The Best
- Amour
- Annihilation
- The Babadook
- Blue is the Warmest Color
- Django Unchained
- It's Such A Beautiful Day
- The Midnight Swim
- Samsara
- Step Up 3D
- This is Not a Film
- Beyond the Lights
- Buster's Mal Heart
- Calvary
- The Central Park Five
- Drive
- Fury
- Get Out
- Mad Max: Fury Road
- Pariah
- Rogue One: A Star Wars Story
- A Separation
- Stories We Tell
- Batman v. Superman: Dawn of Justice
- Before Midnight
- Citizenfour
- The Congress
- Creed
- Green Room
- The Illusionist
- Inside Out
- Life Itself
- The Neon Demon
- The Social Network
- Whiplash
- World of Tomorrow
- Young Adult
- Argo
- Bernie
- Blue Ruin
- Captain Phillips
- The Fault in Our Stars
- Fruitvale Station
- The Immigrant
- The Imposter
- Interstellar
- It
- John Wick: Chapter 2
- The Lords of Salem
- Nocturnal Animals
- Prometheus
- The Shape of Water
- Swiss Army Man
- Terri
- Under the Skin
- Win Win
- The World's End
- Alan Partridge: Alpha Papa
- Billy Lynn's Long Halftime Walk
- The Butler
- Cold Weather
- Frank
- The Grey
- Isle of Dogs
- Only Lovers Left Alive
- Paterson
- Personal Shopper
- Phantom Thread
- Prisoners
- Rampart
- Room
- Song to Song
- The Turin Horse
- Winter's Bone
Great
- Aziz Ansari: Live At Madison Square Garden
- Berberian Sound Studio
- The Book of Eli
- Elite Squad: The Enemy Within
- End of Watch
- The Grand Budapest Hotel
- Hanna
- Hardcore Henry
- Holy Motors
- The Impossible
- John Wick: Chapter 3 - Parabellum
- Kurt Cobain: Montage of Heck
- Leaving Neverland
- Obvious Child
- Pride
- The Red Turtle
- Short Term 12
- Sicario
- Silver Linings Playbook
- Take This Waltz
- Warrior
- What Happened, Miss Simone?
- Wild
- You're Next
- 50/50
- 99 Homes
- Another Earth
- Blade Runner 2049
- Brooklyn
- Chloe
- Compliance
- The Dust Bowl
- Enemy
- A Girl Walks Home Alone at Night
- Godzilla
- The Handmaiden
- How to Train Your Dragon
- Jackie
- John Wick
- Kong: Skull Island
- Lady Bird
- The Lone Ranger
- Looper
- Mudbound
- ParaNorman
- Pass Over
- Rango
- Roma
- Room 237
- Saving Mr. Banks
- Silence
- Step Up All In
- Straight Outta Compton
- Train to Busan
- The Twilight Saga: Breaking Dawn - Part 2
- Animal Kingdom
- Blackfish
- Call Me by Your Name
- Day & Night
- Don't Breathe
- Exit Through the Gift Shop
- Frozen
- Grand Piano
- Hacksaw Ridge
- The Hunt
- Insidious
- Into the Abyss
- Joe
- Let Me In
- Mission: Impossible - Ghost Protocol
- The Nightmare
- Nymphomaniac
- The Perks of Being a Wallflower
- The Pervert's Guide To Ideology
- RoboCop
- Rust & Bone
- Selma
- Skyfall
- Spotlight
- Star Trek Beyond
- Tabloid
- These Amazing Shadows
- This Is the End
- The Tribe
- Unfriended
- The Wailing
- While We're Young
- The Witch
- X-Men: Days of Future Past
- 20,000 Days on Earth
- The Edge of Seventeen
- The End of the Tour
- Girls Trip
- Inside Job
- The Invisible War
- The Lobster
- The Lighthouse
- Logan
- The Martian
- Mr. Turner
- Much Ado About Nothing
- Source Code
- Spy
- 7 Days in Hell
- Arrival
- Battle of the Sexes
- Clouds of Sils Maria
- The Gift
- The Guest
- Hell or High Water
- It Comes at Night
- Jane Eyre
- Melancholia
- Penguins of Madagascar
- Rare Exports: A Christmas Tale
- Stranger by the Lake
- The Trip To Italy
- What We Do in the Shadows
- Wiener-Dog
- Beats Rhymes and Life
- The Big Year
- BlacKkKlansman
- The Boxtrolls
- Easy A
- Fast Five
- Going Clear: Scientology and the Prison of Belief
- Hannah Gadsby: Nanette
- I Am Love
- Inherent Vice
- Into the Storm
- Knight of Cups
- Mitt
- The Peanuts Movie
- Rabbit Hole
- Shaun the Sheep Movie
- Split
- Spring Breakers
- Sucker Punch
- We Are the Best!
- Alien: Covenant
- Attack the Block
- Black Swan
- Catfish
- Chi-Raq
- Death at a Funeral
- The Duke of Burgundy
- Edge of Darkness
- Frances Ha
- From Paris with Love
- Hereafter
- The Kings of Summer
- Kubo and the Two Strings
- Logan Lucky
- 13 Assassins
- Cinderella
- Enter the Void
- Howl
- It Follows
- Locke
- Mistress America
- Oldboy
- Uncle Boonmee Who Can Recall His Past Lives
- We Steal Secrets: The Story of Wikileaks
- Wonder Woman
- Birdman
- Cyrus
- Europa Report
- Fast & Furious 6
- Faster
- The Ghost Writer
- Goon
- Life in a Day
- Mud
- Nebraska
- Snowpiercer
- St. Vincent
- Submarine
- Suicide Squad
- Super
- This Must Be the Place
- Winning Time: Reggie Miller vs. The New York Knicks
- xXx: Return of Xander Cage
- Zero Dark Thirty
Good
- Ant-Man
- The Boss Baby
- Buried
- The Cabin in the Woods
- Cave of Forgotten Dreams
- Greenberg
- Hope Springs
- How To Train Your Dragon 2
- Midnight Special
- Morning Glory
- Never Let Me Go
- Phineas and Ferb The Movie: Across the Second Dimension
- Please Give
- Redemption
- Ruby Sparks
- Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles
- Tucker & Dale vs Evil
- Us
- Valhalla Rising
- 21 Jump Street
- Apollo 18
- Bad 25
- Beautiful Creatures
- Boyhood
- Chappie
- Cheap Thrills
- Colossal
- Edge of Tomorrow
- The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo
- Macbeth
- Mission: Impossible - Rogue Nation
- The One I Love
- Pete's Dragon
- Star Trek Into Darkness
- The Trip
- 127 Hours
- Epic
- Four Lions
- Gravity
- Jiro Dreams of Sushi
- Keanu
- The Lincoln Lawyer
- The Skeleton Twins
- Sleeping Beauty
- Somewhere
- Unstoppable
- The Wolfpack
- 12 Years a Slave
- 2 Days in New York
- The Bling Ring
- Blue Like Jazz
- Captain America: The First Avenger
- The Conjuring
- Footloose
- The Girl Who Kicked the Hornet's Nest
- Incendies
- Kung Fu Panda 2
- Monsters
- Muppets Most Wanted
- The Other Guys
- The Paperboy
- Sorry to Bother You
- Stoker
- The Thing
- The Tillman Story
- The Twilight Saga: Breaking Dawn - Part 1
- The Two Escobars
- White House Down
- Captain America: The Winter Soldier
- Coco
- Dear White People
- Knight and Day
- Lucy
- Maleficent
- Maps to the Stars
- Marwencol
- Red State
- The Act of Killing
- Arthur
- Bright
- El Camino: A Breaking Bad Movie
- The East
- Frankenweenie
- Hail, Caesar!
- Her
- Hyde Park on Hudson
- The Karate Kid
- The Killer Inside Me
- Olympus Has Fallen
- Only God Forgives
- Pacific Rim
- Side Effects
- The Tall Man
- Temple Grandin
- Turbo
- Before I Fall
- The Black Power Mixtape 1967-1975
- Conan O'Brien Can't Stop
- Cymbeline
- Good Deeds
- Gulliver's Travels
- Maggie
- The Muppets
- Pitch Perfect
- Transformers: Age of Extinction
- The Visit
- 4:44 Last Day on Earth
- American Hustle
- American Sniper
- Baby Driver
- Blackhat
- Lion
- Margin Call
- Nazis at the Center of the Earth
- Project Almanac
- Raw
- Skyline
- Splice
- The Twilight Saga: Eclipse
- The Vow
- Big Hero 6
- Bridge of Spies
- The Captive
- Cosmopolis
- A Cure for Wellness
- The Expendables 2
- I Saw the Devil
- Jonah Hex
- Limitless
- Megamind
- Mirror Mirror
- Moana
- Premium Rush
- A Quiet Place
- Scott Pilgrim vs. the World
- The Sitter
- TiMER
- Trespass
- Winnie the Pooh
- 22 Jump Street
- 47 Ronin
- Area 51
- The Cloverfield Paradox
- Crazy, Stupid, Love
- Fifty Shades Darker
- Friends with Benefits
- Hidden Figures
- Inception
- The Kids Are All Right
- The Last Exorcism
- Passion
- The Purge: Anarchy
- Secretariat
- Silent House
- True Grit
- Zoolander 2
- All Is Lost
- Darkest Hour
- Elysium
- For Colored Girls
- Love and Other Drugs
- The Magnificent Seven
- Mike Tyson: Undisputed Truth
- Prohibition
- Red Hook Summer
- Red Tails
- Rio
- Trance
- Warm Bodies
- Won't You Be My Neighbor?
- Abduction
- As Above, So Below
- Being Flynn
- A Cat in Paris
- Devil
- Dunkirk
- Get Him to the Greek
- The Great Wall
- Ida
- Jack the Giant Slayer
- Lincoln
- The Lorax
- Meeting Evil
- Mission: Impossible - Fallout
- The Nice Guys
- Power Rangers
- Puss in Boots
- The Queen of Versailles
- Restless
- Snow White and the Huntsman
- Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri
- The Voices
- Woman in Gold
- World War Z
Zone of Indifference
- Amy
- Aziz Ansari: Dangerously Delicious
- Blue Valentine
- Brave
- Da Sweet Blood of Jesus
- Dom Hemingway
- Fair Game
- Hard To Be A God
- Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: Part 2
- Indie Game: The Movie
- Jupiter Ascending
- Neighbors
- Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy
- The Unknown Known
- 13th
- All-Star Superman
- Anchorman 2: The Legend Continues
- Begin Again
- The Best Exotic Marigold Hotel
- Crimson Peak
- The Equalizer
- The Fighter
- Goodnight Mommy
- The Heat
- Hereditary
- Hot Tub Time Machine
- Killer Joe
- The Killing of a Sacred Deer
- Moonlight
- Star Wars: Episode VII - The Force Awakens
- The Town
- We Need to Talk About Kevin
- The Campaign
- A Most Wanted Man
- Predestination
- The Runaways
- The Secret Life of Walter Mitty
- The Sorcerer's Apprentice
- Youth in Revolt
- Zookeeper
- Zootopia
- American Ultra
- Carnage
- Country Strong
- Fantastic Four
- Heaven Is for Real
- The Hunger Games: Mockingjay - Part 1
- Jack Reacher
- Magic Mike
- A Most Violent Year
- Night Moves
- Prince Avalanche
- Trumbo
- White God
- X-Men: Apocalypse
- Everything Must Go
- The Grandmaster
- Just Wright
- Legion
- The Mechanic
- Shame
- The Way, Way Back
- When in Rome
- Clash of the Titans
- Dallas Buyers Club
- Fences
- Fifty Shades of Grey
- The Imitation Game
- Iron Man 3
- Jersey Boys
- The Pretty One
- Real Steel
- Steve Jobs
- Stone
- Bullet to the Head
- Creep
- It's Kind of a Funny Story
- The King's Speech
- Knuckleball!
- Kung Fu Panda 3
- Larry Crowne
- Martha Marcy May Marlene
- The Master
- No Strings Attached
- Noah
- The Salesman
- The Smurfs
- Step Up Revolution
- Wind River
- The Wolf of Wall Street
- X-Men: First Class
- You Will Meet a Tall Dark Stranger
- Beasts of No Nation
- Everybody Wants Some!
- How It Ends
- John Dies at the End
- Killing Them Softly
- Paddington
- Parkland
- Robin Hood
- The Tree of Life
- Warcraft
- 300: Rise of an Empire
- All Good Things
- All Things Fall Apart
- ATM
- Automata
- Chernobyl Diaries
- Dirty Weekend
- The Double
- Get on Up
- I Am Not Your Negro
- The Incredible Burt Wonderstone
- The Innkeepers
- The Lego Movie
- Margaret
- Paperman
- Roman J Israel, Esq
- Seven Psychopaths
- The Smurfs 2
- Snitch
- Suspiria
- Tooth Fairy
- Atomic Blonde
- Child of God
- The Dilemma
- Legend of the Guardians: The Owls of Ga'Hoole
- One Day
- The Revenant
- Rings
- 42
- The Beaver
- Bel Ami
- The Big Short
- Chimpanzee
- The Company Men
- G.I. Joe: Retaliation
- The Hunger Games
- La La Land
- The Losers
- Me and Earl and the Dying Girl
- The Music Never Stopped
- The Secret World of Arrietty
- Shrek Forever After
- The Whistleblower
- Beginners
- Philomena
- Scary Movie 5
- Toy Story 3
- Albert Nobbs
- Happy Feet Two
- The Host
- Iron Man 2
- Still Alice
- Thin Ice
- The Book of Life
- Dylan Dog: Dead of Night
- Killers
- Popstar: Never Stop Never Stopping
- The Skin I Live In
- The Wind Rises
- Get the Gringo
- Justice League: Doom
- Lovelace
- Machete
- Mortdecai
- Scream 4
- Superman/Batman: Apocalypse
- The Tourist
- Elvis & Nixon
- Now You See Me
- Paranormal Activity 2
- The A-Team
- The People vs. George Lucas
Bad
- Big Mommas: Like Father, Like Son
- The Company You Keep
- The Conspirator
- Don Jon
- Dredd
- Foxcatcher
- The Green Hornet
- The Guard
- House at the End of the Street
- Letters to Juliet
- Mr. Peabody & Sherman
- The Stanford Prison Experiment
- Trouble with the Curve
- The Debt
- The Expendables 3
- The Flowers of War
- The Perfect Host
- Planes
- Savages
- Tim and Eric's Billion Dollar Movie
- Tower Heist
- The Crazies
- The Frozen Ground
- The Girl Who Played with Fire
- Into the Woods
- Jean-Michel Basquiat: The Radiant Child
- Like Crazy
- Lola Versus
- Playing for Keeps
- She's Out of My League
- Atlas Shrugged: Part 1
- Chef
- Drinking Buddies
- High-Rise
- Journey 2: The Mysterious Island
- Justice League
- Mandela: Long Walk to Freedom
- Passion Play
- Gerald's Game
- Guardians of the Galaxy
- The Ledge
- Red Dawn
- Ghost in the Shell
- Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: Part 1
- The Greatest Movie Ever Sold
- I Am Number Four
- Immortals
- Neighbors 2: Sorority Rising
- Paranormal Activity 3
- Sharknado
- Thor
- Accidental Love
- Colombiana
- The Fate of the Furious
- Gnomeo and Juliet
- God's Pocket
- The Great Gatsby
- Paranormal Activity: The Marked Ones
- People Like Us
- Thor: The Dark World
- V/H/S/2
- 21 and Over
- The Disaster Artist
- Dumb and Dumber To
- Gone Girl
- The Hateful Eight
- The Human Centipede (First Sequence)
- Identity Thief
- The Internship
- The Last Stand
- Mute
- Paranormal Activity 4
- Trespass Against Us
- Wreck-It Ralph
Wretched
- Black Mirror: Bandersnatch
- A Dangerous Method
- The Giver
- Hobo with a Shotgun
- The Interview
- Season of the Witch
- Tusk
- The Artist
- Beauty and the Beast
- Broken City
- Devil's Knot
- The Expendables
- Green Zone
- Hall Pass
- Hoodwinked Too! Hood vs. Evil
- The Hunger Games: Catching Fire
- The Iron Lady
- Machine Gun Preacher
- I Origins
- Pirates of the Caribbean: On Stranger Tides
- Rapture-Palooza
- Think Like a Man
- The Trollhunter
- Welcome to the Punch
- Kung Fury
- Mr. Popper's Penguins
- Pain & Gain
- Alice in Wonderland
- Alpha and Omega
- Sex and the City 2
- The Avengers
- Black Panther
- The Chronicles of Narnia: The Voyage of the Dawn Treader
- The Cobbler
- Dark Skies
- The Lifeguard
- Marmaduke
- Prince of Persia: The Sands of Time
- Star Wars: Episode VIII - The Last Jedi
- V/H/S
- We Are Your Friends
- Aloha
- Hick
- Jurassic World
- Knights of Badassdom
- New Year's Eve
- The Roommate
- Avengers: Age of Ultron
- Kingsman: The Secret Service
- Mansome
- Piranha 3DD
- The Post
- The Theory of Everything
- Video Games: The Movie
- Birdemic: Shock and Terror
- Detroit
- The Dictator
- Hansel and Gretel: Witch Hunters
- Project X
- Repo Men
- The Undefeated