I’m Baaaaaack….and Here’s My Top 50 of the Decade

Hello all! It’s been nigh on four years since I last dropped some knowledge on you here at Reel News Daily. I went off and got a Master’s degree, new job and all that, but have still been rocking films from all over the world. I’m happy to be back in the fold here at Reel News Daily and look forward to contributing more this year. Don’t you feel lucky?

So, I figured my phoenix rising from the ashes post should be something that might start a little conversation – my Top 50 films of the last decade. There were so many great films to choose from, which made this list very difficult. After two days of whittling it down and moving films around, I feel confident with what I decided on. I’m sure I missed a few of your favorites, but this is my list so you’ll just have to deal with it.

Here we go:

50) Shoplifters (2018) dir. by Hirokazu Koreeda
49) Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse (2018) dir. by Bob Perischetti, Peter Ramsey & Rodney Rothman
48) Gone Girl (2014) dir. by David Fincher
47) A Hidden Life (2019) dir. by Terrence Malick
46) Annihilation (2018) dir. by Alex Garland
45) Under the Skin (2013) dir. by Jonathan Glazer
44) Her (2013) dir. by Spike Jonze
43) The Favourite (2018) dir. by Yorgos Lanthimos
42) Take Shelter (2011) dir. by Jeff Nichols
41) Leviathan (2012) dir. by Lucien Castaing-Taylor & Verena Paravel
40) Upstream Color (2013) dir. by Shane Carruth
39) Death of Stalin (2017) dir. by Armando Iannucci
38) Columbus (2017) dir. Kogonada
37) Holy Motors (2012) dir. by Leos Carax
36) Shame (2011) dir. by Steve McQueen
35) Scott Pilgrim Vs. the World (2010) dir. by Edgar Wright
34) Midnight in Paris (2011) dir. by Woody Allen
33) Stories We Tell (2012) dir. by Sarah Polley
32) Cold War (2018) dir. by Pawel Pawlikowski
31) Mad Max: Fury Road (2015) dir. by George Miller
30) Inside Llewyn Davis (2013) dir. by Ethan & Joel Coen
29) The Look of Silence (2015) dir. by Joshua Oppenheimer
28) We Need to Talk About Kevin (2011) dir. by Lynne Ramsay
27) BlacKkKlansman (2018) dir. by Spike Lee
26) First Reformed (2017) dir. by Paul Schrader
25) Carol (2015) dir. by Todd Haynes
24) Winter’s Bone (2010) dir. by Debra Granik
23) Citizenfour (2014) dir. by Laura Poitras
22) Animal Kingdom (2010) dir. by David Michôd
21) A Separation (2011) dir. by Asgar Farhadi
20) Meek’s Cutoff (2010) dir. by Kelly Reichardt
19) La La Land (2016) dir. by Damien Chazelle
18) Phantom Thread (2018) dir. by Paul Thomas Anderson
17) The Lobster (2015) dir. by Yorgos Lanthimos
16) Calvary (2014) dir. by John Michael McDonagh
15) Best of Enemies: Buckley Vs. Vidal (2015) dir. by Robert Morgan & Morgan Neville
14) Looper (2012) dir. by Rian Johnson
13) Frances Ha (2013) dir. by Noah Baumbach
12) Beasts of the Southern Wild (2012) dir. by Benh Zeitlin
11) Lady Bird (2018) dir. by Greta Gerwig
10) A Girl Walks Home Alone at Night (2014) dir. by Ana Lily Amirpour
9) Moonlight (2016) dir. by Barry Jenkins
8) Only Lovers Left Alive (2013) dir. by Jim Jarmusch
7) Zero Dark Thirty (2012) dir. by Kathryn Bigelow
6) The Tree of Life (2014) dir. by Terrence Malick
5) You Were Never Really Here (2017) dir. by Lynne Ramsay
4) Ex Machina (2014) dir. by Alex Garland
3) Melancholia (2011) dir. by Lars Von Trier
2) The Act of Killing (2012) dir. by Joshua Oppenheimer

1) The Master (2012) dir. by Paul Thomas Anderson

So there you have it. It was a tough job, but I was happy to do it. Here are a few that nearly made the list: Everybody Wants Some!! (underrated Richard Linklater that more people should watch), Tomas Alfredson’s slow burn spy thriller Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy and Paul Thomas Anderson’s hippie noir adaptation of Thomas Pynchon’s Inherent Vice. Admittedly, it was hard to weave many of the films from 2019 into the list as they’ll need to sit me a longer. I will say that Bong Joon Ho’s Parasite and Noah Baumbach’s Marriage Story nearly edged their way on.

Here’s to hoping that the next ten years brings as many great films as the last ten have.

Netflix News: ‘Okja’ trailer is everything you want it to be

Netflix reveals the official trailer for the upcoming film Okja,
which includes the first full look at the massive animal at the heart of
Director Bong Joon Ho’s latest film. 
Okja will have its world premiere at the 70th Cannes Film Festival
Director Bong, a visionary director and one of the world’s greatest storytellers, has assembled an esteemed international ensemble cast that includes Tilda Swinton, Paul Dano, Byun Heebong, Steven Yeun, 
Lily Collins, Giancarlo Esposito, Jake Gyllenhaal
and introducing An Seo Hyun as “Mija”

Jeremy’s Review: Kim Seong-Hun’s ‘A Hard Day’ Is an Adrenaline-Fueled Thrill Ride Worthy of Your Attention

hard dayLet’s just say this – Korean film is on a roll. From the works of Chan Wook Park to Bong Joon Ho, South Korean is churning out some of the most inventive and interesting films since the turn of the millennium. Kim Seong-Hun‘s A Hard Day is definitely welcome in this same group. A white-knuckler for sure, A Hard Day doesn’t waste any time getting into the action, raising the pulse of the action steadily from the opening scene to the perfect last shot.  That it is able to sustain a level of high intensity for almost two hours is commendable, if not exhausting for the viewer. But it is highly rewarding. This is a film that many thrillers aspire to but rarely achieve.

hard day - ko 1

The story is simple – Detective Ko (Sun-kyun Lee) is in mourning for his mother, who has just passed. As he sits with his family as he receives a call that something has happened at the police station where he works that requires his attention. As he is driving to the station, he accidentally hits and kills a man in the road. This leaves him in a dilemma – does he turn himself in or does he cover it up? Take a guess which one he chooses. This decision continues to haunt him for the remainder of the film. When he gets to the office, he finds out that they have been raided by Internal Affairs for taking bribes and now his job is at risk…and he has a dead body in his trunk. He disposes of the body in a perfect way, which leads us to think that we haven’t seen or heard the last of it. When Ko gets a phone call from a man purporting to know that he has killed the pedestrian, a whole host of new problems open up for Ko pushing him (and his family) to the brink.

hard day - chase

This movie is so kinetic, so heart-pounding that you rarely get a chance to come up and breathe before Ko falls into one more twist that draws him (and us) back into some deeper shit.  Jin-woong Jo, who plays Ko’s formidable opponent Park, looks every bit of a villain. Park’s cunning and planning push Ko to stay on his toes and adapt quickly. So often villains telegraph their moves making it easy for the protagonist to succeed. Not in this film, though. Park is one step ahead of Ko at seemingly all times and just keeps coming back for more.

hard day - cho

While the ending sequence between Park and Ko dragged on for a bit too long, it had such a satisfying end and one that the film earned. The final shot of the film is just perfection. Credit goes to Seong-Hun‘s script throughout for really giving the viewer the proxy ride, via Ko, on this adventure. It’s one that you won’t easily shake for a while after it’s done. I could easily see this film getting an American remake (although I hope it doesn’t as it’s perfect as is) a la Scorsese‘s remake of Lau & Mak‘s Infernal Affairs. This is a film that American audiences crave as is evident that there have been three (THREE!!!!) films made in the Taken series and all three combined don’t give anywhere near the amount of thrills and suspense that A Hard Day gives.

hard day - ko 2

With respect to the great number of blockbuster films that have come out this summer, none that I’ve seen engaged me or thrilled me as much as A Hard Day. That said, you should RUN, not walk, to see this film if you get the chance. It has all you could want in an action film and more.

A Hard Day opens today at Village East Cinemas in New York with a national release to follow and is brought to you by the good people over at Kino Lorber.