I don’t care to figure out how much money I spent watching movies during the 2010s. It began junior year of high school with Shutter Island and Hot Tub Time Machine, stretching into that summer with Toy Story 3 and Inception. As fervent Buzz, Woody, Rex and Mr. Potato Head fanatics, my friends and I attended the midnight premiere when midnight premieres were at midnight. In fact, days in advance, we bought tickets as a confused cashier acknowledged we had been the first to buy them.
My commitment to movies grew deeper as the decade progressed. During summer and winter breaks my friends and I found ourselves at the movie theatre at random to watch the biggest blockbusters, or the painstakingly pathetic features. It crept into the school year, specifically junior year, where my friends would search for movies to watch. One particular night, a Saturday in the heart of winter, we left a party to see a documentary described as the saddest, most emotionally draining viewing experience. Dear Zachary lived up to the hype and then some. It became a bit of a challenge for us to find disturbing titles, like Requiem for a Dream or re-watch comedic classics like Napoleon Dynamite. We joined the Hunger Games train later than usual. But we more than made up for it by watching the first feature length film three times one weekend. So, when Philip Seymour Hoffman died on Super Bowl Sunday in 2014, some of us took selfies with three fingers raised high in his memory, populating social media like a bunch of attention-seeking hooligans. Incidentally, junior year Mike Arena found an illegal stream of The Wolf of Wallstreet. Without the nudity! The nerve.
I’ve always enjoyed the movies, which isn’t some big deal or anything. So many people enjoy movies. However, there are too many movies, far too many classics I’m way to embarrass to admit I have not watched. For goodness sake, I only just watched The Lord of Rings trilogy mere months ago. More and more, I’ve had to play catch up on the movies I’ve missed over the years while keeping up with current cinema. I’ve seen roughly 400 movies from the 2010s. But even as that list grows longer, I’m comfortable sharing 100 movies I think everybody who loves and appreciates movies should see. There are Oscar-winning and nominated movies I haven’t watched from the 2010s. There are indie darlings and tremendously impactful films that I have yet to unearth. So, this isn’t some definite cemented-forever list. But it’s what I have now.
I’ve included the trailers to some movies I liked best, but the overall list is in alphabetical order because I honestly can’t pick the difference between American Honey and High Life. Or Book Smart and Manchester by the Sea. These movies are special and glorious and beautiful in their own ways.
10 Cloverfield Lane
21 Jump Street
50/50
After Everything
A Ghost Story
American Honey
Annihilation
A Quiet Place
Arrival
Avengers Infinity War
Baby Driver
Big Hero 6
BlacKkKlansman
Black Panther
Blue Valentine
Book Smart
Boyhood
Bridesmaids
Christopher Robin
Coco
Columbus
Crazy Stupid Love
Creed
The Dark Knight Rises
The Death of Stalin
Django Unchained
Don’t Breathe
Eighth Grade
The End of the Tour
Everybody Wants Some!!
The Farewell
First Man
First Reformed
The Florida Project
Frances Ha
Fruitvale Station
Get Out
Gone Girl
Good Time
Green Room
Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows – Part 1
Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows – Part 2
Hell or High Water
Her
Hereditary
High Life
Honey Boy
The Hunger Games: Catching Fire
Hush
Inception
Inside Out
It Follows
John Wick
Lady Bird
La La Land
The Last Black Man in San Francisco
Lean on Pete
Leave No Trace
The Lighthouse
The Lobster
Mad Max: Fury Road
Manchester by the Sea
Marriage Story
Me and Earl and the Dying Girl
Moonlight
Nightcrawler
Once Upon A Time In Hollywood
Parasite
Paterson
The Peanut Butter Falcon
The Perks of Being a Wallflower
Pitch Perfect
Prisoners
Rabbit Hole
The Rider
Room
Searching
Short Term 12
Shutter Island
Sing Street
The Social Network
Sorry to Bother You
The Spectacular Now
Spider Man: Into the Spider-Verse
Spotlight
Straight Outta Compton
Super 8
Tangerine
Thor: Ragnarok
Thoroughbreds
Thunder Road
Us
We Bought a Zoo
Whiplash
Wild
Wind River
Winter’s Bone
Win Win
The Wolf of Wall Street
You Were Never Really Here
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