Well I'd just like to start off this post by wishing you all a Happy New Year and hope you all had a good one.
And now that the 2010's have come to a close, I figured I would do a list of some of my favourite films from this period of time.
Now I've chosen to go with 10 films since well its a decade but I won't do a film from each year and I won't list them in order of preference as I find that a bit too difficult to decide in this case. So, instead I will just list these films in no specific order of year either and split this post over two parts.
So, with that all said let's take a look at my pick of the films of the decade...
1. The Social Network (2010)
So, first up is the Social Network released back in 2010, which was a gripping look into the creation of Facebook and its creator, Mark Zuckerberg (Jesse Eisenberg). The film portrays Zuckerberg as a pretty self obssessed a-hole, who would ultimately do his business partner Eduardo Saverin (Andrew Garfield) out of Facebook at the behest of one of the company's partners and business mentor, Sean Parker (Justine Timberlake).
The story is told in a very verbose but entertaining way thanks to Aaron Sorkin's wordy but excellent not to mention, oscar winning screenplay. How accurate the story is to the real life situations is of course debatable but its still a very well put together film and its director, David Fincher does a superb job here in creating an engrossing drama that is highly watchable.
The performances are of course also top notch with Jesse Eisenberg speaking at 100 miles an hour as Mark Zuckerberg but he also captures the essence of a man driven by his own project. Andrew Garfield also does very well in his role as Eduardo Saverin, Zuckerberg's room mate at Harvard and business partner in Facebook and Justin Timberlake shows his acting chops as Sean Parker, the ambitious enterpeneur, who worked his way into Zuckerberg's head to become his mentor much to the chagrin of Eduardo.
So, the Social Network for me was definitely one of the best films of the decade and told a gripping, entertaining story and is well worth checking out 10 years on.
2. Whiplash (2014)
So next up is Whiplash, which is a film is was not previously aware of until last year when I saw a Youtube video about it and I was intrigued to check it out and I would have to say I'm glad that I did as it really is a highly enjoyable and somewhat intense experience.
As for the story it follows a young, ambitious jazz drum student, Andrew Nieman (Miles Teller) who goes to a prestigious jazz school called the Shaeffer conservatory (which is fictional). Andrew however has far from an easy time at the school as he is given some pretty brutal tutelage by hotheaded and ruthless band leader, Terence Fletcher (J.K. Simmons) who pushes him to his very limit. And throughout the film, the two men have a battle of wits as Andrew is determined to prove himself and stand up against Fletcher's rutheless ways.
From the word go, Whiplash reeks of sheer intensity as you are thrown into Andrew's world as a jazz drum student and the moment he meets Fletcher you know that he is in for one rough ride as he constantly berates and yells at him. Basically think of Full Metal Jacket set in a jazz school and you've got the gist of this film right away.
And what makes the film so good is of course its performances as both Miles Teller and J.K. Simmons are gripping throughout and in particular Simmons delivers a terrific performance, which won him an academy award for best supporting actor. Simmons of course also get's the films best lines, which are also pretty foul mouthed but being a ruthless band leader you would probably imagine that would be the case. And he has so many quotable lines such as in the scene where he chastises Andrew for not playing in time "Were you rushing or dragging?!" and later "Not my fucking tempo!" and of course when he berates a smaller student "I can still fucking see you, Mini-me!". There are plenty more of course but I'll leave it at that.
So, Whiplash for me was a tremendously entertaining film from start to finish, even if it does have some far fetched moments here and there, it still makes for essential viewing and a worthy place on the list.
3. The Irishman (2019)
At No.3 is Martin Scorsese's epic crime drama (and I do mean epic as it must easily be his longest film!) starring three Hollywood heavyweights: Robert De Niro, Al Pacino and Joe Pesci and it ranks as one of the most engrossing crime films in recent years.
The story itself follows the real life events of gangster and hitman, Frank Sheeran (Robert De Niro) and his time working for the Bufalino crime family lead by crime boss, Russell Bufalino (Joe Pesci). The film begins with Frank working as a honest delivery driver but on meeting Russell one day, its not long before he is sucked into the criminal underworld. Frank also later on meets and befriends Jimmy Hoffa (Al Pacino) who was head of the Teamsters union back in the 60s and 70s and it also deals with the crime family's struggles with Hoffa's stubborn personality aswell as many other things.
There is little doubt that this one of Martin Scorsese's best films in quite some time and although he did make the amusing but highly perverse Wolf of Wall Street early this decade in 2013, The Irishman tells a more gripping story. The cast are also on top form here throughout with De Niro delivering a fine performance as Frank Sheeran and he tells the story as an old man in a care home but the film also uses CGI to make De Niro look younger for his backstory. Joe Pesci is also great in his role as Russell Bufalino and he plays his part with more restraint but there is no doubting his ability to play authoratative mob figures. And lastly Al Pacino does a great job as Jimmy Hoffa and he delivers what is easily the most flamboyant performance in the entire film as the arrogant, stubborn head of the Teamsters union, which was a massive movement back in the 50, 60s and 70s.
Perhaps the film does lag a bit in places given its extensive length of 3 hours and 30 minutes but that aside its still one of Scorsese's best in recent years and its well worth checking out and deserves a spot on here.
4. Blade Runner 2049 (2017)
At No.4 is something of a surprise in a way because for me the original Blade Runner by Ridley Scott stands as one of the greatest sci-fi films of all time so to do a sequel to it was a very daunting task. However with Blade Runner 2049 I was plesantly suprised to find an incredibly solid sequel to the original that stands up very well on its own.
The story itself basically follows on from the original by 30 years and by this time replicants are now common slaves in society but there are still some known rogue replicants, which are still hunted by blade runners. And one such blade runner is K (Ryan Gosling) who is actually a replicant also but has been designed to hunt the rogues. However it is soon discovered that replicants are capable of reproducing as K finds the remains of a replicant who died after a c-section birth. K's superior, Lt Joshi (Robin Wright) insists that K track down and "retire" the child replicant as she fears a war could break out if it is discovered that replicants can reproduce. And from here K starts his trails to find the child which along the way leads him to a former blade runner, Deckard (Harrison Ford).
Blade Runner 2049 is definitely a very impressive sequel and the fact that it is able to hold its own against a classic such as Blade Runner makes it even more remarkable. The film also has a pretty good story and the performances are excellent throughout and I was particularly impressed by Ryan Gosling as I previously was unaware of his films other than Drive, which I never was interested in here but here he does a terrific job as a replicant on a journey that is both personal and professional.
The supporting cast are also excellent with Ana de Armas as K's hologramatic girlfriend, Jared Leto as Niander Wallace, the rutheless CEO of the Wallace corporation, who created the replicants and Robin Wright as Lt Joshi, K's superior officer. And last all and by no means least is of course Harrison Ford, who reprises his role as Deckard but he doesn't appear until much later into the film, which is a bit of a shame and one of the more disappointing aspects of it.
That aside however and maybe some issues with pacing here and there, Blade Runner 2049 is definitely an excellent sequel to the original and certainly deserves a spot on the list.
5. Mission: Impossible - Ghost Protocol (2011)
So, at No.5 is one of the many Mission Impossible films that Tom Cruise has starred in but if I had to have a guess, I would say that Ghost Protocol is probably my favourite out of them all and as such I thought I would put it on here.
As for the story it follows IMF agent, Ethan Hunt (Cruise) who is trying to track down a man code named "Cobalt" who has Russian nuclear launch codes. Ethan is helped along the way in his mission by Benji (Simon Pegg) who was formerly a tech support agent but has since been promoted to a field agent by the IMF and later on helped by Jane Carter (Paula Patton) another agent, who's boyfriend was murdered by an assassin Sobine Moreau (Lea Seydoux). And Ethan's mission sees him travel to the Kremlin, which he flees from as it is destroyed in a terror attack and later he travels to Dubai where he is also joined by intelligence analyst William Brandt (Jeremy Renner) who has a mysterious past. And together they must find a way to stop the Russian codes getting into the wrong hands...
As far as action films go (or did go) in the last decade, Ghost Protocol was certainly one of the best as it is a film that is packed with some great setpieces and the one that stands out the most is of course where Ethan climbs outside the Burj Khalifa (the tallest skyscarper in the world) something which Cruise himself did! And this scene has got to rank as one of the most suspenseful action scenes in moder cinema! Then there is of course the memorable scenes such as where Ethan flees the Kremlin as it literally explodes behind him and later on his chase in the sandstorm aswell as his showdown with the main villain.
The film also sets up a new MI family with the inclusion of Benji, who did feature in MI III aswell as Brandt and of course Luther Stickler (Ving Rhames) although Jane Carter would only appear in this film but they all gel well together here and share some nice moments of banter.
The film was suprisingly also directed by Brad Bird, who was best known of course for directing Pixar animated movies such as The Incredibles and Ratatouille so this proved to be his first live full film feature. And it really has to be said makes a very confident transition here from the animated world to real life with this film.
So overall I would say that Mission: Impossible - Ghost Protocol is a very solid action film and one that deserves its spot on the list.
OK, so that's it for now and I will be back soon with part two of my list.
Till then its bye for now!
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