We are closing in on the end of the 2010s. That’s right, 1980 may still feel like it was 20 years ago to many of us, but that doesn’t change the fact that we’re almost in the roaring ‘20s. This has been amazing decade of movies, with tentpoles and blockbusters really coming into their own in a huge way. But now that we’ve indulged in all that the 2010s have had to offer…what movies came out on top for us here at LRM Online?

Before you even jump into this list, keep in mind the source here. Yes, we watch tons of arthouse movies, but many of us would be lying if we said they were among the more enjoyable ones. Call us children, but many of our picks tend to involve lots of action and explosions because that’s genuinely what we love. That being said, we’re also open to conversations about the more character-driven films that tend to populate the end of the year — so tell us about some of your favorites in the comments!

Without further ado, let’s jump into staff-favorite films of this past decade!

Star Wars: The Last Jedi

James Burns aka @Indy_Filmmaker: This is such a hard question. I don’t think about favorite film per decade as much as I do per year, or whatever. I have to go with Star Wars: The Last Jedi. I was going to pick La La Land, but if I’m being honest, Star Wars has brought me more joy over the last decade than anything, and The Last Jedi is the best of what Disney has done so far. (I have not seen The Rise Of Skywalker yet.)

Cam Clark (News Staff): Did you just put this here to wind me up James? Only joking 

Joseph Jammer Medina (Editor-in-Chief): You know, I was contemplating this one. Not only do I love the movie, but there is no doubt that the movie has made its impact on pop culture. And not just that, but fandom as a whole. We’re going to be talking about this one for decades to come, and I think it really showed what the Star Wars fandom is willing to expect in terms of surprising storytelling. While I don’t think I’d peg this as the best film of the decade, it’s certainly at least in the conversation for having one of the biggest impacts on fandom.

Stephon White (Contributor): Star Wars? I’ll say the Last Jedi was my favorite of the recent Star Wars films. Not counting Rise of Skywalker, as I haven’t seen it.  

The Avengers

Cam: if we are talking impact and leaving the movie business a different beast, then I can look no farther than Avengers from way back in 2012. Is it my favourite movie of the decade, nope, it’s not even my favourite Avengers movie any longer. However, I have to imagine the cynic I was back in 2011 who assumed this would be a disaster, it would be Spider-Man 3 levels of over bloated nonsense and I was not alone. Fans were predicting a flop critically and maybe even financially. When I saw it with my son, I was completely blown away by how it exceeded my expectations. And it was the first time I saw my son (then only 5) sitting on the edge of his seat at the theater. 

The effect this had on cinema, that fans bought in and loved it was profound. And the success bolstered Marvel, they felt 

confident and thought bigger. Infinity War and Endgame are both better Avengers movies for me, but that doesn’t happen without Avengers being the hit it was. It remains also, my favourite depiction of Hulk in any movie so far. 

Anthony Esteves (News Staff): It was easily one of the biggest gambles in film history. Iron Man was the beginning, but every chapter in Phase 1 led to this film and it needed to be a success or else there wouldn’t be a Marvel Cinematic Universe. Thankfully, this film was beyond epic and changed the game not only for blockbusters, but for future comic book adaptations.

Mad Max: Fury Road

Stephon White (Contributor) Joseph has posed a tough question here. With so many enjoyable movies and films geared towards my inner geek, it’s hard to decide. Marvel gave me goosebumps with their depiction of Wakanda, but had me rolling my eyes when Thanos forces seemingly destroyed it. But then it all came back together in the end like humpty-dumpty. Despite all the heroic action on display during the standoff between Marvel and DC, there is only one film that to me deserves the best of the decade. That film is Mad Max Fury Road. That film is one helluva visceral movie going experience. To this day, the film is rewatchable and is a testament to the conviction of Director George Miller. 

Jammer: So, I’m gonna be real. Yes, it’s a great movie full of amazing stunts and tech feats that bring a realism back to filmmaking (realism in the stunt sense, not realistic, per se), and yes, overall, it works, but there is one thing that bothers me. It’s story is literally about characters heading all the way in one direction…and then all the way back when they realize something. It’s kind of annoying, even if it makes sense in the story, and it hurts my OCD.

Can’t deny its overall impact and importance though, and the fact that it was nominated for Best Pictures is pretty sweet.

Interstellar

Anthony Esteves (News Staff): I could go into detail about my admiration for director Christopher Nolan and his entire filmography. I could nerd-out over the film’s well-balanced delivery of sci-fi adventure with gravitational and astrophysical theories. I could glorify the outstanding performances from a superb cast that includes Matthew McConaughey, Anne Hathaway, Jessica Chastain, David Gyasi, Michael Caine, John Lithgow, and so many more. Yet, there is one very important element in this film that pierced deep in my chest and grabbed a hold of every emotion inside me: the love between a parent and their child.

While I am a father of only boys, the bond between McConaughey’s Cooper and his daughter Murph immediately struck a chord. Cooper’s drive to do everything in his power to find a way to save humanity—therefore saving his family—is the heart of this very film. A father’s undying love for his children, and the heartbreak he suffers when over two hours spent on a distant planet equates to missing out on two decades on Earth, is a piece of this film I was not expecting upon my first viewing. Yet it is that element of the story that made such an impact on me, both as a film lover as well as a father.

Interstellar is an emotionally-driven, science-fueled, rollercoaster epic. It appeals to my wonder of space and time, my admiration for cinema, and my duty as a parent. And that is what makes this my favorite film of the past decade.

Jammer: I couldn’t agree with you more there. This was a movie that definitely made the shortlist for me as far as favorites of the decade. It gave me a mild existential crisis and was Nolan actually getting emotional for once. Perhaps my favorite of his movies so far.

Cam: I’d probably have to say Interstellar is the BEST movie this decade. Just not my personal favorite or the most important, but probably yeah, it’s the best. 

Jammer: It’s interesting because it wasn’t praised unanimously at the time, but I remember absolutely adoring it. So, since I can’t pick that one as my favorite, I have to move on to yet another film…

Arrival

Jammer: Basically, along those same lines, we have Arrival. Like Interstellar, it’s an emotional, time-bending narrative that has no issue taking its time. Based on the short story “The Story of Your Life,” it chronicles a unique alien “invasion.” And by invasion, what really happened is that many pod-like spaceships hovered over the Earth for months, leaving our planet to either work together or succumb to its collective paranoia.

In addition to being a real thought piece on mankind’s tendency to fall apart when VIRTUALLY NOTHING ELSE IS ACTUALLY THREATENING US, it also serves as an amazingly personal story about a woman’s loss, acceptance, and surreal ability to perceive time in an unconventional way. It sounds like it should be a mess, but between Eric Heisserer’s script and Denis Villeneuve’s direction, it fires on all cylinders.

Your Name

Jammer: Makoto Shinkai is an interesting filmmaker. He got his start making hand-crafted animated films with lofty, ambitious premises. There was that one film where two characters were in love but separated by space and time, another one where two characters were in love and separated by space and time, and then, of course, one of the more recent ones where two characters were in love and separated by space and time.

Clearly, this is a theme he’s been massaging over the course of several films, to varying success — and in my mind, he was mostly unsuccessful. Like a young filmmaker, he tended to focus too much on the premise, and not enough on the characters. He wanted the payoff of a high concept without putting in the groundwork. In essence, he wanted his “Avengers” before having standalone films, if we’re to speak in fan talk here.

However, with Your Name, he finally managed to put in the legwork to make a meaningful story and impactful payoff. I won’t get into the specifics here, but the result is an effective tale that’s drawn plenty of tears from my cold, dead eyes. And if you like beautiful animation, I doubt you’ll be disappointed.

It may have taken Shinkai 20 years, but he’s finally put out something I can wholeheartedly recommend, and with it going on to be one of the most successful anime films of all-time, I think it warrants a place on this list.

Avengers: Endgame

Jammer: Yeah, this one is kind of a gimme for many of us, if not predictable. While Avengers: Infinity War was great in terms of spectacle, it left me a bit underwhelmed, when all said and done. It was heavy on story, light on character, and that’s okay. However, with it’s final entry in a franchise that had spanned 22 films, this last movie needed to be emotional, and boy did they succeed.

As if addressing my biggest issues, the filmmakers made this obsessively character-focused movie. Yes, it had all the fun and spectacle of an Avengers movie, but it wasn’t afraid to be serious, funny, slow, meditative, or heartfelt. It answered many of our questions satisfactorily and made a film that will forever go down in history as perhaps the single most successful culmination of any final chapter in a saga ever.

Spring Breakers

Daniel (Interviewer): Picking a best or favorite film of the decade is an incredibly daunting task. I pored over the years on Box Office Mojo, coming up with about 20 films to start. It was hard whiddling that list down to 5, but when it came down to picking a favorite from those, it was incredibly easy. My 4 runner ups are Drive, La La Land, Grand Budapest Hotel and The Favourite. But my hands down, no question favorite film of the decade, which I guess makes it the best to me, is the one and only Spring Breakers.

None of those other films have James Franco and his “Look at my sh**!”speech. Nor do they have Britney song interludes that shouldn’t work but do, bikini and ski mask clad babes toting guns or, most importantly of all, a dramatic turn by Gucci Mane. Think about it. What film wouldn’t be improved by the addition of Gucci Mane to the cast? I’m looking at you, The Favourite.

So, if you have somehow not seen it yet, remedy that ASAP, even if it means cancelling Christmas. Because, let’s face it, that’s what Santa would want. Spring break forever!

Jammer: I have to say, I’m pretty shocked on two fronts. When I first saw the trailer for this one, I actually didn’t expect it to be a good movie worth any real artistic merit. I’m shocked to say that this is an incredibly effective movie that is actually a lot more serious than I gave it credit for initially. Do I think it’s best-movie-of-the-decade material? Not at all. But it’s an interesting choice I won’t poo-poo.

Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse

Jammer: This film couldn’t NOT make the list. I remember when it was first announced that Sony would be making an animated Spider-Man movie. My interest was nil. We were getting live-action movies, so why would I even bother seeing an animated one on the big-screen — especially since Sony hadn’t really proven themselves as creative juggernauts in the medium. Well, I’m happy to admit, I was wrong.

What came to us was an obsessively creative film with visual style, lovable characters, and an ambitious, yet manageable storyline. It drew from the decades of pages from Spider-Man’s history and pays homage to it all in style. It takes full advantage of the animation medium, the roster of characters at their disposal, and yet somehow opens the door for more interpretations down the line.

I still don’t know how it did it, but it managed an ensemble cast effectively without even having to rely on origin films for them. It managed to do what Justice League failed…and it was all the more impressive for it.

What were some of your favorite films of the decade? Let us know in the comments down below!

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