The Popcorn Diet’s Top Movies of the Decade

We look back at 10 years of cinema and dish out our favorites!

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It’s been an incredible year of growth for not only films themselves, but for myself as a film goer. Audiences have become smarter, for better or for worse, and films have to adjust and become smarter with them. Sure there’s the occasional misfire, the occasional disaster, and the films that just fail to find an audience. But the 2010s provided us with more voices telling more stories than ever before.

It’s those emerging voices that have me so excited for the future of film, those incredible talents that have just gotten started. It’s so exciting to recognize greatness early with the understanding that we’re going to get to watch filmmaking talents grow and evolve. Storytellers like Damien Chazelle, Taika Waititi, Greta Gerwig, Ryan Coogler, and Jordan Peele announced themselves with huge fanfair, while longtime pillars of filmmaking like Quentin Tarantino, Martin Scorsese, George Miller, and Christopher Nolan continued to build on their already impressive careers.

Below you’ll find my favorite films of the last decade. Films that, while I may not rewatch them as some as others, resonate with me and stay with me in ways that go beyond explanation. It was an incredible decade for filmmaking and storytelling, and I cannot wait for more.

10 — How to Train Your Dragon (2010)

directed by: Chris Sanders & Dean DeBlois
written by: Will Davies, DeBlois, & Sanders

While the 2010s may not have reached the soaring highs of the decade previous, it was still nonetheless a great time for animated films. Big studio sequels like Toy Story 3 (2010) & 4 (2019) managed to surprise and impress, concepts and genres in the medium were pushed in new directions with Inside Out (2015) and Rango (2011), and even the medium itself went through some stirring new experiments, like the beautiful animation of Spider-Man: Into the SpiderVerse (2018). For my money, though, How to Train Your Dragon (2010) set off one of the most fulfilling trilogies in not only animation, but in film. A familiar tale of a boy and his dog, or in the case, dragon, HTTYD proved that Pixar wasn’t the only studio that could animate heartfelt whimsy. from an incredibly stacked voice cast, thrilling action, adorable character design, and an all-timer score from John Powell, HTTYD and its sequels have all the heart, excitement, and mythological world-building that you expect from great fantasy stories.

9 — Whiplash (2014)

written & directed by: Damien Chazelle

I think I had more visceral experiences in theaters over the last decade than I can remember, especially over the course of previous years. Films like Gravity (2013) made me sweat with the fear of the great nothingness of space, while Sicario (2015) and Dunkirk (2017) used tension during times of battle to jack my heart rate. Most recently, Parasite (2019) managed to pull the rug out from under me several times with sequences of such simple tension that they became nearly unbearable.While all of these are great, none of them induced the stress that Whiplash (2014) did. An incredible story about greatness and the validity of its costs, Whiplash served as an incredible coming out party for Damien Chazelle, one of our most interesting young directors. JK Simmons and Miles Teller participate in such an intense cat-and-mouse game of greatness, power, talent, and abuse that it becomes nearly unbearable. It’s just phenomenal, and continues the trend of movies that make me sweat that only have one word in the title.

8 — Popstar: Never Stop Never Stopping (2016)

directed by: Akiva Schaffer & Jorma Taccone
written by: Andy Samberg, Schaffer & Taccone

While it seems that comedy declined during the 2010’s, I would argue that some of the funniest movies belong to the last decade. Sure, the box office certainly hasn’t been what it used to be for comedic films, but there were still some massive hits like 21 Jump Street (2012) and its sequel (2014), as well as the critical and financial monster that was Bridesmaids (2011). Some of the lesser known films, however, were also some of the funniest. What We Do in the Shadows (2014) served as the launch point for Taika Waititi, and MacGruber (2010), directed by The Loney Island member Jorma Taccone, still remains one of the funniest cult comedies that deserves to be seen by as many people as possible. It’s Taccone’s second feature film (along with co-director and Lonley Island partner Akiva Schaffer), Popstar: Never Stop Never Stopping (2016) that maintains another cult status but demands to be seen even more. This generations version of This is Spinal Tap, Popstar is a laugh-out-loud mockumentary of pop musicians and the culture that surrounds them. Not only do The Lonely Island (Taccone, Andy Samberg, and Schaffer) get their hilarious time in the spotlight, but the film features a slew of celebrity cameos all poking fun at fame, music, and the entertainment industry in general. If you haven’t already, seek it Popstar as soon as you can.

7 — Once Upon a Time in Hollywood (2019)

written & directed by: Quentin Tarantino

As seen with some of the entries above and below, Hollywood LOVES telling stories about itself. It seems that films made about artistic endeavors had a big impact on my last 10 years, as many of them show up on this list. Whether they focus on the art of food like Chef (2014), the power of music like Sing Street (2016) and La La Land (2016), or even the power of films to save lives like Argo (2012), art is clearly important to artists. It’s Once Upon a Time in Hollywood (2019), however, that not only celebrates art and the artists who made them, but uses the power of filmmaking to rewrite history. This is Quentin Tarantino’s most heartfelt film, which is odd considering it features a character getting agonizingly flamethrower-ed to death. Tarantino not only gives us a love letter to the shows of yesteryear and the actors who made them, but uses the transformative power of film to re-write history to be happier, to be better. In Tarantino’s magic trick of a world, aging actors like Rick Dalton get their second chances, psychopaths like the Manson Family get their comeuppance, and real-life innocent victims like Sharon Tate get to enjoy long, fulfilling lives and careers that they never got in real life. Cinema, and the arts, are magic, and Tarantino has given us maybe his best magic trick yet.

6 — Get Out (2017)

written & directed by: Jordan Peele

If the 2010s signified a decline in comedy, they equally signified a rise in horror and thrillers. Whether motivated by the increasingly worrisome climate in our everyday lives, or kickstarted by young filmmakers who grew up on horror, the genre has certainly had a upswing in both critical and financial success. Audiences were happy to be terrified by sound-seeking monster aliens in A Quiet Place (2018), sociopathic unhappy spouses in Gone Girl (2014), genre-bending monsters a plenty in The Cabin in the Woods (2012), or even the deranged faces of our doppelgangers in Us (2019). Get Out (2017), Jordan Peele’s directorial debut, however, is what stands as the gold standard of smart, socially relevant horror. The best horror films have ALWAYS been fueled by social relevance, and Peele uses the growing political and racial tensions to serve as a smart, scary, and rewarding tale of terror. The little touches, like the way Rose eats cereal, add a layer of creep that is still fueled by incredibly sly symbolism that makes repeated views so great.

5 — The Wolf of Wall Street (2013)

directed by: Martin Scorsese
written by: Terrence Winter

Many a true story has been told in the past decade, and many of the most impactful ones have dealt with the idea of greed as a disease that grows within us all. Still, there have been others told about the determination of individuals against seemingly insurmountable odds. For every Moneyball (2011), there’s The Big Short (2015). For every First Man (2018), there’s The Social Network (2010). The one that does it the best, however, goes to Scorsese’s The Wolf of Wall Street (2013). The story about Jordan Belfort, a guy who started small and grew to became one of the most immoral, indulgent, and insufferable personalities on Wall Street, is told with a energy that storytellers half the age of Scorsese would dream of matching. Not only is it one of the most effective cautionary tales on greed, but it does so while being absolutely hilarious and infectious, which may say more about us as an audience than it does about Belfort and his cohorts.

4 — Avengers: Endgame (2019)

directed by: Anthony & Joe Russo
written by: Christopher Markus & Stephen McFeely

Even though the comic book movie revolution started in 2008, it really took over the 2010s in a way that I don’t think anyone saw possible. We saw some pretty terrible comic book movies throughout the decade, but we also got films like the underrated flick The Losers (2010), as well as a capper to one of the best comic book movie trilogies of all time in The Dark Knight Rises (2012). We also saw game changer after game changer, with films like Captain Amerca: The Winter Soldier (2014), Guardians of the Galaxy (2014), Black Panther (2018) and of course, the original “are they gonna pull this off?” team-up film The Avengers (2012). I’m putting Avengers: Endgame (2019) at the top of the sub-list, however. Endgame proved that long form storytelling through film could actually work, and that closing the door on an essentially decade-long story in a satisfying way WAS possible, when many franchises fell short in their finales. Endgame managed to put a satisfying bow on everything, make difficult choices, provide an incredible level of fan services, all while staying emotionally impactful. Who knows what’s in store for Kevin Feige or the MCU at large as we move past Endgame, but it serves as an important and incredible benchmark of how characters can grow over time and how the audience can be rewarded for spending that time with them.

3 — Mad Max Fury Road (2015)

directed by: George Miller
written by: Miller, Grendan McCarthy, and Nico Lathouris

Action movies have long since been treated with disdain by the Hollywood awards community, and sequels are so typically inferior that this of great ones is pitifully short. Fortunately the last decade has not only brought us some fo the best action ever committed to film, but many of those films turned out to be sequels! From Fast Five (2011) elevating that franchise to literal new heights, to X-Men: First Class (2011) serving as a smart and exciting continuation of mutant kind, action sequels took on a new life. Skyfall (2012) is in the conversation as one of the best Bond films ever, and Mission: Impossible continually raised the stakes with Ghost Protocol (2011), Rogue Nation (2015), and the absolutely breathtaking Fallout (2018). But it was George Miller returning to the Mad Max wasteland with Fury Road (2015), a film that was adored by critics, audiences, and awards communities alike! Mad Max Fury Road proved what you can do with a lean, efficient story punctuated by incredible practical stunts helped along by nearly invisible VFX. It is a heart-pounding thrill ride that succeeds narratively in ever single way. You can watch it on mute, in black and white, or with the soundtrack by Junkie XL blaring, and it’s still extremely effective.

2 — Inception (2010)

written & directed by: Christopher Nolan

The last decade has been some of the best years for genre films that we’ve ever had. As mentioned above, action, horror, comedy, and animation have all taken huge strides to not only become more relevant, but also more ambitious. Science Fiction followed suit, giving us some incredible original stories like Looper (2012) as well as reinvented franchises with The Planet of the Apes trilogy (2011–2017). We got incredible original scifi that explore the cosmos and our emotions like Interstellar (2014), and one of the most unique and rewarding franchise entries in recent memory with Star Wars: The Last Jedi (2017). Despite the fact that Christopher Nolan’s best film of the decade may be the previously mentioned Dunkirk, it was Inception (2010) that started this decade off with a big, original concept that played with both science and fiction in an incredible way. Nolan’s mastery of time in his films has always been something that baffles some, thrills many others, but is always uniquely crafted to tell his particular stories. His stacking of time based on deeper layers of dreams is awe-inspiring to this day, and it’s a travesty this wasn’t even nominated for a Best Editing Oscar. Inception set the standard for the next ten years with its style, story, aspirations, and cast.

1 — Creed (2015)

directed by: Ryan Coogler
written by: Coogler and Aaron Covington

I have always been a sucker for films that provide it’s heroes with a physical manifestation of their problems to fight through. It’s one of the most satisfying things about any combat film, and there have been a number of genuinely smart movies that dared to reach a little bit deeper than the punches thrown or the rising body count. Particularly, Warrior (2011) stands as one of my favorite movies ever, and Edge of Tomorrow (2014) might be one of the most underappreciated action films, maybe ever. Likewise, the incredible one-two combo of both of The Raid films (2012, 2014) packed tension and insane action into a story of physical and mental survival. You also can’t go without mentioning the John Wick trilogy (2014–2019) for changing the way action movies look, think, and work.

However, my favorite movie of the decade, the movie that my heart belongs to, is Ryan Coogler’s superb and unexpected Rocky continuation: Creed (2015). Coogler, star Michael B. Jordan, and Sylvester Stallone together crafted a resonant, emotional film that hearkens back to the original Rocky in multiple ways. The film, of course, has plenty of punching, but it’s punching that stands for something. Each fight in the film is expertly crafted, and furthers the journey of Adonis Creed as his desire to live up to the legend that was his father. It’s a film about where you came from, how much that can weigh on you, and how much it can carry you. It hits me in the guy emotionally ever single time that I watch it. Fueled be fantastic performances, expert direction, and a score by future Oscar winner Ludwig Goransson, Creed is my champion of the last decade.

The List of My Favorite 10 Movies of the 2010’s

1. Creed (2015)
2. Inception (2010)
3. Mad Max Fury Road (2015)
4. Avengers: Endgame (2019)
5. The Wolf of Wall Street (2013)
6. Get Out (2017)
7. Once Upon a Time in Hollywood (2019)
8. Popstar: Never Stop Never Stopping (2016)
9. Whiplash (2014)
10. How to Train Your Dragon (2010)

The Long List (ordered by Year)

· Inception (2010)
· MacGruber (2010)
·The Social Network (2010)
· How to Train Your Dragon (2010)
· Toy Story 3 (2010)
· The Town (2010)
· Scott Pilgrim vs. The World (2010)
· The Losers (2010)
· Piranha 3D (2010)
· Warrior (2011)
· The Raid: Redemption (2011)
· Moneyball (2011)
· Fast Five (2011)
· Drive (2011)
· Rango (2011)
· Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows — Part 2 (2011)
· Hugo (2011)
· The Muppets (2011)
· Mission: Impossible — Ghost Protocol (2011)
· X-Men: First Class (2011)
· Planet of the Apes trilogy (2011–2017)
· Bridesmaids (2011)
· The Avengers (2012)
· 21 Jump Street (2012)
· Skyfall (2012)
· Cloud Atlas (2012)
· Looper (2012)
· Argo (2012)
· The Cabin in the Woods (2012)
· Django Unchained (2012)
· The Dark Knight Rises (2012)
· Beasts of the Southern Wild (2012)
· The Wolf of Wall Street (2013)
· Gravity (2013)
· her (2013)
· Inside Llewyn Davis (2013)
· Pacific Rim (2013)
· Rush (2013)
· You’re Next (2013)
· The Lone Ranger (2013)
· Prisoners (2013)
· Interstellar (2014)
· The Raid 2 (2014)
· Whiplash (2014)
· Chef (2014)
· Gone Girl (2014)
· John Wick Trilogy (2014–2019)
· Captain America: The Winter Soldier (2014)
· What We Do In The Shadows (2014)
· Guardians of the Galaxy (2014)
· Snowpiercer (2014)
· Edge of Tomorrow (2014)
· The Lego Movie (2014)
· Creed (2015)
· Mad Max Fury Road (2015)
· The Big Short (2015)
· Steve Jobs (2015)
· Sicario (2015)
· Inside Out (2015)
· Jurassic World (2015)
· Mission: Impossible — Rogue Nation (2015)
· Straight Outta Compton (2015)
· The Hateful Eight (2015)
· Bridge of Spies (2015)
· Star Wars: The Force Awakens (2015)
· LaLa Land (2016)
· Arrival (2016)
· Hell or High Water (2016)
· Popstar: Never Stop Never Stopping (2016)
· Sing Street (2016)
· Green Room (2016)
· The Hunt for the Wilderpeople (2016)
· 10 Cloverfield Lane (2016)
· The Nice Guys (2016)
· Dunkirk (2017)
· Get Out (2017)
· Wind River (2017)
· The Shape of Water (2017)
· Star Wars: The Last Jedi (2017)
· Logan (2017)
· Paddington 2 (2017)
· Blade Runner 2049 (2017)
· Mission: Impossible — Fallout (2018)
· Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse (2018)
· Black Panther (2018)
· A Quiet Place (2018)
· First Man (2018)
· Game Night (2018)
· Thunder Road (2018)
· Avengers: Infinity War (2018)
· Blackkklansman (2018)
· Ready Player One (2018)
· Once Upon a Time in Hollywood (2019)
· Avengers: Endgame (2019)
· The Irishman (2019)
· Knives Out (2019)
· Jojo Rabbit (2019)
· Ad Astra (2019)
· Ford v Ferrari (2019)
· Us (2019)
· 6 Underground (2019)
· Parasite (2019)
· Uncut Gems (2019)
· Dolemite is my Name (2019)