A Decade in Review
Reading about the best films of the last decade and listening to too many podcasts on the topic got me reflecting on my experience watching and writing about movies for the past ten years or so. In 2010 I was getting married, trying to finish college and entering my first full year living in Seattle. I wasn’t thinking about movies the way I do now. I wasn’t thinking critically about their impact on the culture or how they’ve evolved from decades past. It wasn’t until midway through the decade that I really honed in on my passion for films and writing about them.
That said, my best of the decade list isn’t very robust at the start of the decade. It was in 2015 that I started caring about who was directing the films I was watching and why Citizen Kane might be the best film of all time. This decade was my first as an adult, really, and the films that defined these past ten years defined my life in some way too.
So instead of an exhaustive, ranked list of my favorite films of the decade, (don’t worry that list still exists and you can find it here) I’m going to share the films I wrote about (or in the case of podcasts, talked about). These pieces mark moments in my life when films evolved into something more to me. I set aside a lot of time to watch, reflect on, and write about them.
I wrote for my blog, I wrote for and recorded podcasts for Reel World Theology and I wrote for and recorded podcasts for Next Best Picture and one of the best things about being a freelance writer is you chose to write about what you want. Here’s my decade in review (and stunning artwork from Alternative Movie Posters).
Arrival
For a movie that on the surface seems like a story about aliens, Arrival, Denis Villeneuve’s Sci-Fi drama is actually an overwhelmingly insightful story about the importance of communication and empathy. It deals with loss, time travel, and yes, otherworldly beings. But, the twisty plot and phenomenal performance from Amy Adams elevates the film so that it’s hard to deny it’s one of the best of the decade and a career-best for Adams who gives one of my favorite performances of the decade.
The Big Sick
Based on the real life romance of Kumail Nanjiani (Silicon Valley) and Emily V. Gordon (the couple also penned the screenplay) The Big Sick is a heart-warming and genre-defying rom-com that helped push Nanjiani beyond his comedic beginnings. It’s a refreshing love story about a couple at the beginning of their relationship who are faced with the cultural pressures of a Pakistani family and a scary illness that puts their relationship to the test. The movie smartly puts Ray Romano’s dramatic chops on display and features the lovable Holly Hunter.
Logan
Logan is the refreshing and poignant interruption the superhero genre needed. Following the now-graying Wolverine character in the X-Men universe, Logan makes its characters reckon with a world that’s no longer friendly to superheroes as Logan and his now-senile mentor, Professor X (in a performance from Patrick Stewart that should’ve earned him a Best Supporting Actor nom), flee for their lives, meet some unexpected allies along the way, and come to terms with the choices they’ve made.
The Florida Project
The Florida Project is not judgmental about its characters or their choices. It’s simply a humanistic examination of the lives of people who are living on the margins. Sean Baker portrays a community that doesn’t normally get to be in the spotlight- something of a signature artistic choice for him. In one of my favorite performances of the decade, Willem Dafoe plays a motel manager who executes on Baker’s vision by dealing compassionately with the undesirables. First-time feature debut performances from Brooklynn Prince and Bria Vinaite round out the cast for a story about a young mom and her rambunctious daughter living on the outskirts of Disney World in a seedy motel. It’s cringe-worthy at first, but eventually, through Baker’s excellent storytelling, we are moved to compassion.
A Ghost Story
A super weird, unconventional, existential exploration of the meaning of life and the passing of time. That’s A Ghost Story in a nutshell. It’s not flashy or showy but it has a quiet brilliance. The story follows a married couple who have just moved into a new home and the spooky opening scenes lead you to believe it might be haunted. What follows is spoiler territory but is essentially told from the perspective of a ghost and ironically, not spooky at all.
Lady Bird (featured on reel world theology)
Greta Gerwig established herself as a filmmaker to watch with her first feature, Lady Bird. The film became a hit with critics and audiences and I had the pleasure of being one of the first to see it at the Austin Film Festival premier. Hearing from Gerwig at the Q&A was a treat and she’s slowly becoming one of my favorite filmmakers, while Saoirse Ronan gives a powerhouse performance - one of my favorites of the decade. The movie is a superior coming of age story about a girl from Sacramento who wants to be anywhere else, until she gets there.
Lady Bird podcast (featured on reel world theology)
As the only lady talking about Lady Bird on the podcast, I had a blast talking to a bunch of guys about what it was like to be a 17 year old girl. Seriously hilarious.
I, Tonya podcast (featured on Reel world theology)
I, Tonya was humorous and yet deadly serious about its portrayal of Tonya Harding. Craig Gillespie toed the line in his biopic and drew out a career-best performance from Margot Robbie that will have you cringing and laughing in the same breath. It was a kick discussing the film with the guys at Reel World Theology.
Shoplifters (Featured on Reel world theology)
A Japanese film about an impoverished family in Tokyo was a welcome surprise when it came on the scene in 2018. Shoplifters won the prestigious Palm d’ Or and put the film and director Hirokazu Koreeda on American moviegoers’ radar, and I’m so glad for it. Sakura Andô topped my list of favorite performances of the decade as the mother who tries desperately to provide the kind of life she knows her kids need. Shoplifters reminds us of the things we share as human beings rather than the things that make us different.
Roma (Featured on Reel World Theology)
Solidifying a stellar decade for Mexican storytellers , Roma, a semi-autobiographical film from Alfonso Cuaron, was all together a nostalgic trip for me and an undeniable artistic marvel. Roma is a story about a domestic worker: Cleo. Cleo is steady, a hard worker, and a fiercely loyal presence in the life of a wealthy Mexican family. I’m glad someone told a story like hers. We need more of them.
13th
One of the most powerful and unsettling documentaries of the decade, Ava Duvernay’s examination of the injustices that African Americans face in the confines of our justice system is important and enlightening - establishing Duvernay as an emerging and essential storyteller from the decade.
Coco podcast (featured on reel world theology)
Coco actually broke my heart a little bit. Growing up as a girl straddling a line between Mexican and American cultures, it was incredibly impactful to see Mexico’s rich cultural heritage on screen. Pixar did an expert job choosing Adrian Molina and Lee Unkrich to tell Miguel’s story and in turn, shed light on one of Mexico’s most important traditions.
Manchester by the Sea
Kenneth Lonergan’s beautifully insightful film about grief is deeply personal for me. Its release came on the heels of the death of my own father and the the way the film deals with grief was cathartic. The movie tells the story of a depressed handyman who is yanked out of his life when he gets the call that his brother has died. What follows is him wrestling with a past that’s marked by tragedy when he returns to his hometown and sees to his brothers wishes including becoming the guardian for his nephew who’s been left in his care. The movie won Casey Affleck his first Oscar for best actor and was one of my favorite performances of the decade. The film also took the Best Original Screenplay award that year.
Mad Max: Fury Road Podcast (featured on next best picture)
It took a while for Mad Max: Fury Road to grow on me. The dystopian genre isn’t my favorite, but subsequent watches of the film lead me to realize it was the feminist anthem of the decade, maybe even since Ripley tore things up in Aliens. Besides Charlize Theron’s show-stopping performance as Furiosa (topping my list for the decade), the story is compelling - encouraging viewers to consider what it means to truly live, not just survive. Killer editing from director George Miller’s wife, Margaret Sixel, and stunning cinematography puts this movie over the top as one of the most culturally impactful and important of the decade.
