Right, so now its time for Part 2 of my look at my pick of the films of the decade from 2010 to 2019 and again these aren't in any particular order and not necessarily from every year in the decade.
So, with that said let's continue with the list...
6. The Dark Knight Rises (2012)
So at No.6 is one that people might not necessarily put on their lists but I figured I would put it on mine which is the finale of the Christopher Nolan trilogy of Batman films: The Dark Knight Rises.
Now I have to say that many people may prefer the The Dark Knight over this one but I personally prefer The Dark Knight Rises as I just see it as a better movie and a bit more satisfying to watch and I also think that The Dark Knight is pretty overrated (only my opinion of course). It also acts as a very solid conclusion to Nolan's trilogy aswell and it of course left things wide open for someone to take over the franchise in future.
As for the story, it follows on from the Dark Knight by about 8 years where Bruce Wayne has hung up his mask and cape and become a recluse while crime in Gotham has gotten under control thanks to the Dent act (named after Harvey Dent, who became Two-Face in TDK) so Bruce no longer feels needed by the city. Meanwhile however, a masked man named Bane (Tom Hardy) escapes FBI custody by hijacking a plane and sets in place a plan to take over Gotham and fulfil the destiny of Ra's Al Gul (Liam Neeson from Batman Begins) and destroy it to end its corruption. Bruce as Batman then returns to fight Bane but is soon overpowered by him as Bane breaks Bruce's back he sends him off to a remote prison abroad. And from here Bruce must find a way to recover and escape from the prison to get back to Gotham and stop Bane from carrying out his plan...
As far as trilogy conclusions go, this is a very solid one and The Dark Knight Rises pays off in quite a few departments with its excellent performances, great action scenes and one of Hans Zimmer's finest scores.
Christian Bale once is great here as Bruce Wayne/Batman although he still does insist on overdoing the husky voice as Batman! As for the new cast members, Tom Hardy is also excellent and quite sinister in his role as the physically intimidating Bane, who wears a tubed mask that helps him breath and stay alive and his fight scene with Batman is one of the most intense in the trilogy. Then there is Anne Hathaway, who is also great in her role as Selina Kyle aka Catwoman and she exhibits the right amount of sass and sexiness to play the part, not to mention there is that scene with Catwoman leaning over on the Batbike! And lastly Marion Cotillard is excellent aswell as Miranda Tate, who Bruce has a brief romantic fling and helps him along the way but later there is a twist involving her.
And as mentioned for me one of the standout aspects of this film is its soundtrack as Hans Zimmer's score is superb and its incredibly intense and suspensful throughout and is great way for him to close out the trilogy also.
So, The Dark Knight Rises is definitely one of my favourite films from the 2010s and for me also the best of the three films in Nolan's trilogy and as such it deserves its spot on the list.
7. Once Upon a Time In Hollywood (2019)
So at No.7 is a film from last year and its the latest offering from Quentin Tarantino, Once upon a time in Hollywood, and for me its easily one of his best films in years. The film itself is Taraninto's loveletter to the end of the Golden era of Hollywood in the late 1960's but it also surrounds the events of the Manson murders that happened around this time.
WARNING: THESE PARAGRAPHS MAY CONTAIN SPOILERS BUT NOT BIG ONES!
Story wise it follows the two fictional characters, Rick Dalton (Leo Di Caprio) a TV actor who's career is now struggling after previous success on the small screen with a western show called Bounty Law and his stunt double, Cliff Booth (Brad Pitt). So in the film Rick does however manage land himself a role in a western TV show called Lancer where he delivers an impressive performance as a villain and he also soon attracts the attention of a casting agent Marvin Schawz (Al Pacino) who wants him to do Spaghetti western films in Italy.
Meanwhile Cliff befriends a hippie girl known as Pussycat (Margaret Qualley) who takes her out to a ranch where the Manson family are located and he talks to the ranch owner, George Spahn (Burce Dern) to check out he is OK and not being taken advantage of but he is soon dismissed by George. Cliff then leaves the ranch but not before beating up one of the family for puncturing a tyre on his car (or rather Rick's car).
The film's other subplot also surrounds the lives of Hollywood actress Sharon Tate (Margot Robbie) and her husband and famed director, Roman Polanski (Rafal Zawierucha) who also just happened to next door neighbours to Rick as well as Sharon's former boyfriend Jay Sebring (Emile Hirsch). And the film's plotlines all intertwine as it leads towards its climax where the events of the Manson murders loom to unfold...
For me, Once Upon a Time In Hollywood is a real return to form for Tarantino after making a couple of hit and miss westerns with the disappointing Django Unchained and the better but overlong and at times uneventful Hateful Eight. However here he manages to succeed in creating a highly enjoyable and at times even charming comedy drama that takes some pretty dark themes with the Manson family and combines with the fictional characters of Rick and Cliff that leads to a somewhat unexpected end (which I won't say anymore about promise!). Rick and Cliff's friendship is also one of the things that drives the film and it gives it its heart as Cliff supports Rick through thick and thin as Rick tries to get his ailing career back on track.
Performance wise of course the film is also excellent as the two leads of Leo and Brad deliver great performances in their respective roles as Rick and Cliff and you get a sense of just how good buddies they are. The supporting cast are also just as good with Margot Robbie excellent as Sharon Tate as she plays her like a daydreamer living in a dream world in Hollywood as she mingles with the cream of the town. Margaret Qualley is also very good as the hippie girl Pussycat, who is bubbly and energetic yet she happens to also be a member of the Manson family. Al Pacino does very well too in his brief role as the casting agent Marvin Schwarz as does Bruce Dern as the rancher owner, George Spahn. And last of all is Mike Moh as Bruce Lee, who does a fine impression of him but his performance courted controversry due to his depiction of Lee being seen as too arrogant and as such disrepectful to his memory.
So, overall Once upon a time in Hollywood is an excellent Tarantino film and a great return to form for him and as such one of the best films of the decade and it more than deserves its spot on here.
8. Skyfall (2012)
So, at No.8 is a James Bond film, Skyfall, which has often been acclaimed as one of the very best Bond films and its easy to see why as its a Bond film that has just about everything in it with Daniel Craig maybe giving his best performance in the role, a very creepy villain, fine action scenes and a great score.
Plot wise the film begins with a terror attack that destroys MI6 headquarters in London that brings Bond (Craig) back out of hiding after he was presumed dead during a previous botched operation. Bond undergoes a series of medical/physical tests to determine that he is fully fit to return to duty but he ends up failing them all but his superior M (Judi Dench) clears him for duty nonetheless.
Bond then travels to Shanghai where he tracks down a mercenary named Patrice but during a fight, Patrice falls to his death before Bond can learn who he is employer was. Bond regardless finds a casino token from Patrice who intended to cash it in and it leads him to a casino in Macau. Bond once there approaches Patrice's accomplice, Severine (Berenice Marolhe) who Bond seduces and they travel to an island where Bond meets her employer, Raoul Silva (Javier Bardem) who turns out to be a former MI6 agent and the one behind the attack on MI6. However Bond manages to apprehend Silva and takes him back to London where he is interrogated by M but its no long before Silva manages to escape MI6's clutches and he then goes after M and its up to Bond to stop him....
Skyfall is undoubtedly one of the best Bond films in recent years and its a great conclusion to what is arguably a trilogy of films that Craig had done up to that point even though SPECTRE was still to come and his final Bond flick was in the works. But here Skyfall hits all the right notes and provides some great action scenes, moments of fun, suspense aswell as one of the most memorable Bond villains in quite some time in Silva. The film also features one of Thomas Newman's finest scores as his music for Skyfall is just superb from start to finish.
If I did however have a criticism of the film then its the final showdown in the Scottish Highlands is a bit of a letdown in some ways and it takes a bit too long to get going and then there is of course the whole thing of Bond's contempt for his old Scottish home that did kind of annoy me (git!).
That aside however this is still an excellent Bond film and one that warrants repeated viewing and deserves a spot on the list.
9. The Martian (2015)
So, at No.9 is Ridley Scott's The Martian, which was based on the novel of the same name by American writer, Andy Weir and its highly entertaining and gripping sci-fi film which is easily one of Scott's best films in years.
As for the story it is set in the future in the year 2035 where a space crew are exploring on Mars but while the crew are out on the surface they are soon hit by a strong dust storm that forces them to abort their mission and make an emergency take-off. However unbeknownst to the rest of the crew one of the team, Mark Watney (Matt Dillon) is struck by debris and left in the storm and stranded on the planet. As the storm worsens, the crew believe that Watney must be dead and their mission commander (Jessica Chastain) decides they must go back to their orbiting vessel, the Hermes.
Watney in the meantime however regains consciousness and manages to get back to the crew's surface base on the planet and performs emergency surgery on himself to remove a piece of debris that punctured his suit. Watney then starts to keep a video diary of his progress on the base and he tries to find a way to keep himself from starving as he creates a makeshift farm inside the base using his skills as a botanist, he starts growing potatoes to eat as food. Watney then determines that it will take four years before another ship will head out to Mars on a mission. However, back on Earth at NASA one of the satelitte planners notices that there is still activity on Mars and determines that Watney survived.
So its from here that NASA must find a way to communicate with Watney in order to start the process to bring him back home....
On seeing The Martian the first time I was quite surprised at how good a film it was and given its subject matter that it was handled in such a light hearted way and that is certainly one of the best aspects of the movie itself is that the tone of it is perfect. Scott also does a great job at showing the story from both Watney's perspective on Mars and the NASA teams on Earth trying to bring him back home aswell as the crew of the Hermes, who are unaware that he survived.
Performance wise, The Martian is also very good with Matt Damon giving one of his best as Mark Watney and he plays him in a very down to Earth way (no pun intended!) and about as level headed as you could possibly be given the situation that he is in. The supporting cast also do very well with fine performances from Jessica Chastain as the Hermes commander Lewis, Jeff Daniels is also excellent as Teddy Sanders, the director of NASA. Chiwetel Ejiofor is also great in his role as Vincent Kapoor, NASA's Director of Mars missions and lastly Sean Bean gives a pretty solid performance as Mitch Henderson, the Hermes flight director at NASA.
And for the most part this is a film that rarely sets a foot wrong although I do have to say there are two things that bugged me about it, one: the inclusion of Watney being subjected to listening to Lewis's cheesy 70s disco music and two relates more to a big plot spoiler so I won't mention here!
That aside, The Martian is an excellent film and one of my favourites from the decade that is well worth checking out.
10. Wonder Woman (2017)
So, at No.10 is another superhero film and who would have thought it would be a DC one instead of Marvel?! So yes I have decided to go with Wonder Woman to round off the list and its quite a film indeed.
As for the story, it follows Wonder Woman aka Diana Prince (Gal Gadot) from the early years of her life in Themyscira where she was raised among Amazonian warriors created by Zeus to protect mankind. The film then moves on to 1918, near the end of the First World War where Diana is now grown up and one day she rescues a US pilot, Captain Steve Trevor (Chris Pine) who is washed up on the shore after his plane has crashed on the coast. However its not long before the German forces arrive on the island and invade with many of the Amazonian warriors being killed in a fight. Steve soon reveals himself to be an allied spy who has stolen a book from the Germans documenting a powerful mustard gas that they intend to use to the defeat the allies. Diana believes that Ares, the God of War is behind all this and decides to travel with Steve as they head into the war in London and she intends to stop the war and Ares once and for all.
Wonder Woman is undoubtedly one of the best superhero films of the decade and it works so well mainly because of its tone is in such stark contrast to the previous DC films before such as Man of Steel and Batman vs Superman and it actually has engaging characters as well as great action scenes. And one of the film's most memorable scenes is when Diana reveals her Wonder Woman outfit and braves it across No Mans Land and takes on the enemy German forces, its one of the most visually impressive sequences in recent years in an action movie. The film also features a very good score by Rupert Gregsen-Williams that has a pretty distinctive theme that works well.
Performance wise, Wonder Woman is also great as Gal Gadot is terrific in her role as Diana Prince/Wonder Woman (although she is never once referred to as Wonder Woman!) and she looks drop dead gorgeous which also helps! Gal also get's some good lines in the film and the most quotable one is when Diana asks what Etta does for Steve and she explains "Well I do whatever he tells me to do" and Diana says "Well, where I come from, that's called slavery!".
Chris Pine is also excellent in his role as Steve Trevor, the US Captain who is allied with the British and he ends up falling for Diana as the film goes on and he has some good moments in the film such as when Diana tells him that she was sculpted by her mother and brought to life by Zeus to which Steve replies "Well that's neat!".
Connie Nielsen also does very well in her briefer role as Queen Hippolyta, the mother of Diana as does Robin Wright as Antiope, the Amazon general who trains Diana. Danny Huston makes for a pretty good villain in the film as the evil General Ludendorff. Lucy Davis is also great as she provides some comic relief in the film as Etta Candy, Steve's secretary and she get's some good lines in the film such as the scene where Diana tries to walk out of a clothes store in her new outfit carrying her sword and shield and Etta tells her "It doesn't go with the outfit!".
And last of all is David Thewlis who does pretty well in his role as Sir Patrick Morgan but as the film carries on we discover that he isn't all he appears to be and for the sake of no spoiling the film for anyone who hasn't seen it I won't say anymore!
So for me Wonder Woman is definitely one of the best superhero films in recent years and in a barren midst of mediocre DC films, this one definitely stands out all on its own with engaging characters, great action scenes and a very solid soundtrack and as such it deserves its spot on here.
Right so that's it for now and I will be back soon with another post of sorts.
Till then its bye for now!
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