By Zach Hester | @hestzach

The 2010s weren’t just a transformative decade for the whole world, but brought about some of the best films in recent memory. Out of the almost 400 movies I saw this decade, I’ve chosen 30 to highlight as the Best Films of the Decade. This was an extremely hard list to compile, but I feel confident in each of my choices.

As always, this list is completely subjective and I’d invite anyone who happens upon it to share their own favorite films from one of the best decades in cinematic history.

30. Bridesmaids

Release Date: May 13, 2011

Director: Paul Feig

Starring: Kristen Wiig, Maya Rudolph, Melissa McCarthy

Bridesmaids is hands down one of the funniest movies of this decade. It takes a storyline that might otherwise be delegated to a basic “chick flick” and centers it on the comedic mastery of this fantastic cast. Give Kristen Wiig more roles like this immediately.

29. Manchester by the Sea

Release Date: November 18, 2016

Director: Kenneth Lonergan

Starring: Casey Affleck, Lucas Hedges, Michelle Williams

Kenneth Lonergan has crafted one of the decade’s saddest films in Manchester by the Sea; however, it has one of the best scripts of the last ten years. Casey Affleck deservingly won Best Actor for this role, but I can’t help thinking that Lucas Hedges missed out on a win for his role here too.

28. A Separation

Release Date: March 16, 2011

Director: Asghar Farhadi

Starring: Leila Hatami, Peyman Moaadi, Sareh Bayat

This one is a twisting narrative. A Separation is one of those films that doesn’t need huge set pieces or a gigantic climax to make its point. In its most dramatic moments, Farhadi’s film is strong, but never overbearing.

27. Easy A

Release Date: September 17, 2010

Director: Will Gluck

Starring: Emma Stone, Penn Badgley, Amanda Bynes

Emma Stone started this decade in this comedic retelling of Hawthorne’s The Scarlet Letter and she ends it with an Oscar. Easy A has more than a handful of iconic moments. Even ten years later, I’m still quoting this film regularly.

26. Inside Llewyn Davis

Release Date: December 6, 2013

Director: Joel & Ethan Coen

Starring: Oscar Isaac, Carey Mulligan, John Goodman

Every time Oscar Isaac sings in this film, you’ll wish Llewyn Davis was a real artist. His breakout role has moved him from a regular guy to a household name. The Coen Brothers reached a peak with this movie, but I hope they’ve got more in them.

25. Parasite

Release Date: May 30, 2019

Director: Bong Joon-Ho

Starring: Song Kang-ho, Choi Woo-shik, Park So-dam

Bong Joon-ho’s Parasite is one of those that came out of nowhere for me. It has no specific genre as it shifts from satire to thriller in a matter of minutes. It’s impossible to predict, always interesting, and completely insane by its end.

24. The Wolf of Wall Street

Release Date: December 25, 2013

Director: Martin Scorsese

Starring: Leonardo DiCaprio, Jonah Hill, Margot Robbie

I can’t think about this movie without thinking of the “Jordan Belfort” song by Wes Walker & Dyl. Despite this association, The Wolf of Wall Street is among Martin Scorsese’s best films and DiCaprio delivers his most memorable performance to date. He got an Oscar for his turn in The Revenant, but he definitely deserved one two years earlier for this.

23. God’s Own Country

Release Date: October 25, 2017

Director: Frances Lee

Starring: Josh O’Connor, Alec Secareanu

A perpetually angry sheep farmer and a Romanian migrant fall in love in God’s Own Country. Josh O’Connor most recently shined in season 3 of The Crown, but his work here is still my favorite from him. The connection between him and Alec Secareanu makes the movie worthwhile and worthy of multiple viewings.

22. Get Out

Release Date: February 24, 2017

Director: Jordan Peele

Starring: Daniel Kaluuya, Allison Williams, Bradley Whitford

Jordan Peele defined high brow horror with Get Out. It’s easy nowadays to craft a run of the mill jump scare movie, but Peele went for something extra in his feature debut. This movie tackles race in a way that other scary movies haven’t, and outside of Peele’s future work, may never do so again.

21. Arrival

Release Date: November 11, 2016

Director: Denis Villeneuve

Starring: Amy Adams, Jeremy Renner

I had mixed feelings after my first viewing of Arrival. However, the second time around, I was sure I saw something very special from director Denis Villeneuve. Amy Adams delivers one of her best performances and the film’s themes on immigration and time will be remembered for years to come.

20. The Perks of Being a Wallflower

Release Date: September 21, 2012

Director: Stephen Chbosky

Starring: Logan Lerman, Emma Watson, Ezra Miller

It’s very rare for an author to direct the film based on their book, but that’s what Stephen Chbosky did. The Perks of Being a Wallflower is adolescence set to a spectacular soundtrack with a splendid cast to boot. Do your best not to fall in love with Emma Watson as Sam.

19. Star Wars: The Force Awakens

Release Date: December 18, 2015

Director: J.J. Abrams

Starring: Harrison Ford, Adam Driver, Daisy Ridley

Star Wars is my favorite franchise of all time, and The Force Awakens is the best of the new trilogy. It set the bar high for the final three films in the Skywalker saga, and fortunate for us, introduced us to Adam Driver as Kylo Ren. It’s a shame that The Last Jedi and The Rise of Skywalker couldn’t keep up with this one.

18. The LEGO Movie

Release Date: February 7, 2014

Director: Phil Lord & Christopher Miller

Starring: Chris Pratt, Will Ferrell, Elizabeth Banks

The LEGO Movie is the best-animated movie of the decade. It’s endlessly funny and the animation is like nothing we’d ever seen before at the time of the movie’s premiere. The voice work is phenomenal and the film’s unexpected twist provides something completely different from other animated films.

17. Marriage Story

Release Date: December 6, 2019

Director: Noah Baumbach

Starring: Scarlett Johansson, Adam Driver

A lot of people will compare Marriage Story to Kramer vs Kramer, but they’re very different. The performances by Scarlett Johansson and Adam Driver are some of the best in recent memory. Alongside them, Baumbach’s direction/script mixed with a subtle score by Randy Newman, make for a captivating story about love and loss.

16. Nightcrawler

Release Date: October 31, 2014

Director: Dan Gilroy

Starring: Jake Gyllenhaal, Rene Russo, Riz Ahmed

The fact that Jake Gyllenhaal was overlooked by the Oscars for his role in Nightcrawler cements his status as one of the most underrated actors working today. His role goes from charismatic to chaotic from scene to scene, and Riz Ahmed’s supporting turn here made him a face we’ll recognize for years to come.

15. Life of Pi

Release Date: November 21, 2012

Director: Ang Lee

Starring: Sure Sharma, Irrfan Khan

I’ll go on record as saying that Life of Pi is the most beautiful film of the decade. The cinematography by Claudio Miranda becomes a character itself in the movie. The journey of the boy and the tiger is the actual narrative of the film, but Life of Pi proves that sometimes, the technical achievement is just as strong as a powerful story.

14. Blade Runner 2049

Release Date: October 6, 2017

Director: Denis Villeneuve

Starring: Ryan Gosling, Harrison Ford, Ana de Armas

Denis Villeneuve and Roger Deakins came together in 2017 to create a movie that you don’t just see and hear, but also feel. Blade Runner 2049 is one of the most sensory experiences in a movie theater I’ve ever had. The story is a great one that builds on the original film and sets up even more Blade Runner for the future.

13. The Hobbit: The Desolation of Smaug

Release Date: December 13, 2013

Director: Peter Jackson

Starring: Ian McKellan, Martin Freeman, Benedict Cumberbatch

Peter Jackson’s Hobbit trilogy isn’t nearly as good as his Lord of the Rings films, but there’s something special about my favorite film of 2013, The Desolation of Smaug. Out of the new trilogy, it’s the one that captures the most magic that the Lord of the Rings had. The fact that it included a giant gold-hoarding dragon voiced by Benedict Cumberbatch doesn’t hurt either.

12. Carol

Release Date: November 20, 2015

Director: Todd Haynes

Starring: Cate Blanchett, Rooney Mara

I don’t think anyone delivered a more charming performance than Cate Blanchett as a New York socialite in 2015’s Carol. Based on the novel The Price of Salt by Patricia Highsmith, Carol focuses on a whirlwind romance amidst a personal crisis in the early 1950s.

Director Todd Haynes crafts a beautiful movie around Highsmith’s story and makes for a film that looks so elegant, I almost believed it was filmed during the time in which it’s set.

11. The Favourite

Release Date: November 23, 2018

Director: Yorgos Lanthimos

Starring: Olivia Colman, Emma Stone, Rachel Weisz

It would be easy to dismiss The Favourite as your run of the mill period piece, but it’s so much more than that. Greek director Yorgos Lanthimos crafted a satire around the premise of two women seeking Queen’s Anne favor.

All three leads deliver incredible performances, and Colman’s even catapulted her to a win for Best Actress. The chemistry between them all would be the highlight of the whole movie if it wasn’t for the powerful wit of the script by Deborah Davis and Tony McNamara.

10. Lady Bird

Release Date: November 3, 2017

Director: Greta Gerwig

Starring: Saoirse Ronan, Laurie Metcalf

Lady Bird is Greta Gerwig’s great debut. There hasn’t been a better first feature from any director this decade, in my very subjective opinion. Gerwig is able to sell her own story here with Saoirse Ronan in a memorable lead role and plenty of moments that will stick with anyone going through their own coming-of-age story.

Saoirse Ronan has now been the lead in two Gerwig films, and has been nominated for an Academy Award three times with no win. 2017 was a cutthroat year for Best Actress, but Ronan’s turn here definitely should’ve taken the Oscar that year.

9. The Social Network

Release Date: October 1, 2010

Director: David Fincher

Starring: Jesse Eisenberg, Andrew Garfield, Justin Timberlake

At the time The Social Network debuted in 2010, many dismissed it as “the Facebook movie.” It’s still known as that by many, but the story of Mark Zuckerberg’s ascent from Harvard dropout to one of the most influential people in the world demands The Social Network be held in high regard.

In the best film of 2010, Jesse Eisenberg can capture Zuckerberg’s analytical nature as well as sell that he is intelligent enough to create the social media site himself.

8. Drive

Release Date: September 16, 2011

Director: Nicolas Winding Refn

Starring: Ryan Gosling, Carey Mulligan, Bryan Cranston

Drive gave life to the once thought dead sub-genre of high brow action.

With a showy soundtrack and plenty of jarring edits, Drive creates an escape from the traditional things we’ve come to expect from action flicks. Ryan Gosling’s almost silent performance is both impressive and scary as he moves from quiet nuance to a driven killer.

Drive is my favorite movie of 2011, which had the weakest year in film of this decade, in my opinion. If all its films had been this good, perhaps there’d be more 2011 movies on this list.

7. The Shape of Water

Release Date: December 1, 2017

Director: Guillermo del Toro

Starring: Sally Hawkins, Michael Shannon, Richard Jenkins

2017 was the year for non-traditional romances, but none were more untraditional than the one between Elisa and the Asset.

You could say the strangest part of this movie is the relationship between the mute woman and the amphibian man, but the far more interesting aspect of their love is the fact that they fall for one another without uttering a single word. Neither one is capable of speech.

The Shape of Water might not have been my personal pick for Best Picture in 2017, but as far as films that had the clout to win, I’m glad it did.

6. Isle of Dogs

Release Date: March 23, 2018

Director: Wes Anderson

Starring: Bryan Cranston, Koyu Rankin, Bill Murray

Isle of Dogs is my favorite film of 2018, and my favorite film from one of my favorite directors, Wes Anderson. There’s a lot of “favorites” going on in that sentence.

Isle of Dogs sees Anderson go back to the stop-motion animation roots that brought us 2009’s Fantastic Mr. Fox. The voice cast led by Bryan Cranston as Chief and Koyu Rankin as The Little Pilot makes for an immersive story that gets you hooked into this fictional world.

In addition to all of this, the gripping and sometimes playful score by favorite composer Alexandre Desplat (another favorite) set the mood better than any other movie in 2018. This is a must-see for fans of animation, and especially fans of Wes Anderson.

5. Mad Max: Fury Road

Release Date: May 15, 2015

Director: George Miller

Starring: Tom Hardy, Charlize Theron, Nicholas Hoult

There’s no dying that after 30 years in this franchise, George Miller has still got it. Behold the greatest action film of the decade and my favorite film of 2015, Mad Max: Fury Road.

Fury Road creates a space where you wouldn’t want to live yourself, but somewhere you desperately want to know more about. The huge set pieces inside this thing are impossible to resist and the chase, which makes up most of the story, will have you on the edge of your seat.

Tom Hardy takes over the titular “Mad Max” role from Mel Gibson without seams. There’s the possibility of future installments with this franchise and I hope they pursue them. I would get behind a Furiosa movie led by Charlize Theron’s hero.

4. Little Women

Release Date: December 25, 2019

Director: Greta Gerwig

Starring: Saoirse Ronan, Meryl Streep, Timothee Chalamet

Imagine that, two out of two Greta Gerwig films make the top 10 on my Best of the Decade list. Little Women is no doubt, the best movie of 2019. It might be a tiny bit of recency bias kicking in, but I also think it’s among the best of the 2010s.

Set against the backdrop of Civil War Massachusetts, Little Women is a carefully crafted, compelling story that both honors its time and updates it for the modern era. With two timelines seven years apart, some may find this story hard to follow, but Gerwig’s use of bright, golden colors to represent the happier past and a duller, grey palette for the future makes it easier.

In an age where female filmmakers are underappreciated, Gerwig shines. Her script has realistic dialogue and the entire cast, which includes young powerhouses like Saoirse Ronan, Timothee Chalamet and Florence Pugh, is excellent. Little Women is still in theaters as this list is being written. Don’t miss your chance to see it on the big screen.

3. Whiplash

Release Date: October 10, 2014

Director: Damien Chazelle

Starring: Miles Teller, J.K. Simmons

It would be hard to think of any music director who could be more intimidating than J.K.Simmons in this movie. I would hate to be a part of his band, no matter its prestige in the story.

Whiplash isn’t a hugely complex story, but as a former member of a jazz band, it’s something I can relate to. It’s my favorite film of 2014, but not the last Damien Chazelle movie on my list. This may not be his actual feature debut, but Chazelle was still green when the film was made. Based on the direction, I would’ve guessed it was his tenth movie.

Chazelle’s natural talent behind the camera is the catalyst to elicit the exciting motions that Whiplash has to offer.

2. La La Land

Release Date: December 9, 2016

Director: Damien Chazelle

Starring: Ryan Gosling, Emma Stone

If ever a perfect homage to the golden age of cinema existed, it is Chazelle’s La La Land. If you’ve watched it even one time, you’ll recognize tropes and hidden shards of some of the best classic musicals. It isn’t often that we get a good, original musical for the big screen, but La La Land proves that it can work.

Emma Stone and Ryan Gosling are electric in their best collaboration yet. Both deliver praiseworthy performances that cement them as superstars and earned Stone her first of what I hope are many Academy Awards.

Everything from the production design to the instantly catchy score is what makes this movie great. It’s the best film of 2016 and one that made me excited about writing stories again. La La Land has something for everyone, but it’s a truly special treat for those who love film, the craft of making movies, and those who long to make it in Hollywood.

1. Call Me By Your Name

Release Date: November 24, 2017

Director: Luca Guadagnino

Starring: Timothee Chalamet, Armie Hammer, Michael Stuhlbarg

There’s an atmosphere of realism and romance in every frame of Call Me By Your Name. From spellbinding Sufjan Stevens songs to the beautiful northern Italian countryside, this movie has the power to elicit tears from even the most stone-cold person.

The chemistry between Timothee Chalamet and Armie Hammer is unbeatable. Chalamet serves as the film’s emotional center and narrator, and despite seeming arrogant and detached at the beginning, Hammer’s Oliver possesses plenty of sincerity.

The setting and score go hand in hand. This is some of the most beautiful cinematography I have ever seen as we cascade over the landscape of northern Italy. Director Luca Guadagnino isn’t afraid to hold a shot when the place he’s filming is this gorgeous. There are scenes where Elio and Oliver ride their bikes to the edge of the frame and he keeps the shot still with just the groundswell of sound that nature creates. It’s disgustingly perfect. I was unsure about the staccato piano score, but after seeing how the detached music correctly portrays the initially detached relationship between our two leading men, it fits. The music eventually becomes more fluid and precise as the film and their relationship move forward. Every piece of music seems to be chosen with care.

Call Me By Your Name has an instant classic quality that makes the movie feel like something that I’ve been appreciating for my entire lifetime.

More than anything else, this film is about self-discovery, first love, and the nature of heartbreak. It’s the best film of the 2010s and now ranks among my top films of all time.