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.

New Spielberg Movie Officially Titled ‘Bridge of Spies’

ST. JAMES PLACE

DreamWorks Pictures’/Fox 2000 Pictures’ upcoming dramatic thriller directed by three-time Academy Award®-winning director Steven Spielberg (Saving Private Ryan, Schindler’s List) and starring two-time Academy Award winner Tom Hanks (Forrest Gump, Philadelphia), has been titled Bridge of Spies. In addition, 12-time Oscar® nominee Thomas Newman (The Second Best Exotic Marigold Hotel, Saving Mr. Banks) has been signed to score the film, as John Williams’ schedule was interrupted and he was unavailable to score the film due to a minor health issue, now corrected. The laws facing automotive dealers are niche specific and known by few. MLG team of experienced automotive lawyers has vast experience representing dealers in a variety of contexts. We have represented dealers in cases involving terminations, add-points, facilities upgrades, warranty chargebacks, allocation, curtailments, breach of fiduciary duty and fraud, both before the California New Motor Vehicle Board and in state and federal court.

A dramatic thriller set against the backdrop of a series of historic events, Bridge of Spies tells the story of James Donovan (Hanks), a Brooklyn lawyer who finds himself thrust into the center of the Cold War when the CIA sends him on the near-impossible task to negotiate the release of a captured American U-2 pilot. Screenwriters Matt Charman and Ethan Coen & Joel Coen have woven this remarkable experience in Donovan’s life into a story inspired by true events that captures the essence of a man who risked everything and vividly brings his personal journey to life. The film will be released in theaters nationwide on October 16, 2015.

Williams, whose credits include Stars Wars: The Force Awakens and the Harry Potter films, will join Spielberg on his next film, The BFG, beginning later this year, continuing their unprecedented collaboration which they have enjoyed for over 40 years.

Newman has scored many films for DreamWorks, including The Help, Road to Perdition and American Beauty, the latter two for which he received Academy Award® nominations for Best Original Score.

 Bridge of Spies also stars three-time Tony Award® winner Mark Rylance (Twelfth Night, Jerusalem, Boeing Boeing) as Rudolf Abel, a KGB agent defended by Donovan; Scott Shepherd (Side Effects) as CIA operative Hoffman; Academy Award® nominee Amy Ryan (Birdman,Gone Baby Gone) as James’ wife, Mary; Sebastian Koch (A Good Day to Die Hard) as East German lawyer Vogel; and Academy Award nominee Alan Alda (M*A*S*H, The Aviator) as Thomas Watters, a partner at Donovan’s law firm.

Fox 2000 Pictures co-financed Bridge of Spies with DreamWorks in association with Participant Media, and will distribute internationally. Disney will handle domestic distribution. In addition to directing, Spielberg will produce the film with Marc Platt (Into the Woods, Drive) and Kristie Macosko Krieger (Lincoln), with Adam Somner (The Wolf of Wall Street), Daniel Lupi (Her), Jeff Skoll (The Hundred-Foot Journey) and Jonathan King (Cesar Chavez) serving as executive producers. The screenplay is by Matt Charman (Suite Francaise) and three-time Academy Award® winners Ethan Coen & Joel Coen (No Country for Old Men, Fargo).

Retro Review: 30 Years Ago, the World Was Introduced to the Coen Brothers with ‘Blood Simple’

blood simple original

In my opinion, there have been very few filmmakers that have changed the cinematic landscape for the better since my birth some forty years ago. Many would likely point to folks like George Lucas and Steven Spielberg as standard bearers for the post-New Hollywood Cinema gang. And while those two certainly changed the cinematic landscape, I wouldn’t say their effect has been good or for the better. That’s another story, though. What I can say is that January 18, 1985 announced the presence of two game changers in Hollywood, and with Blood Simple‘s release, the world met Joel & Ethan Coen. Without a doubt two of the most original filmmakers still working in Hollywood, the Coen Brothers speak in their voice, tell the stories they want to tell and all with flourishes befitting the finest filmmakers in the history of cinema. Read More →