Help me with 2010s Movie Recommendations

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You can't make a rainbow without a little rain.
@cricket,

I watched The Art of Racing in the Rain (2019). After watching movies like Marley & Me and Hachi: A Dog's Tale, I've tried to avoid movies about the life of dogs because they tend to be too hard to watch, but I got tricked into this one because I thought it was about auto racing. I found out pretty quickly that it was about a dog, and I almost turned it off, but I decided to give it a chance because I loved Milo Ventimiglia in the TV shows "Heroes" and "This I Us". I'm glad I did because I liked this movie a lot.

I loved how Enzo the dog narrated the story, and we got to hear his thoughts. I loved how they treated him like he was a member of the family. I loved the expressions on his face throughout the movie, and how they matched what he was saying (thinking).
WARNING: "SPOILERS about the ENDING of "The Art of Racing in the Rain"!!!" spoilers below
And most of all, I loved the ending, when he finally got to ride in the racecar.


This movie was an emotional roller coaster, but it was definitely worth the ride. Thank you for the great recommendation.
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You can't make a rainbow without a little rain.
@SpelingError,

I watched BlacKkKlansman (2018), and I liked it. This is a powerful movie, but it felt a little bit long. But it's worth sitting through every minute of it for the terrific performances of John David Washington and Adam Driver. (I didn't find out until after I watched the movie that John David Washington is the son of Denzel Washington.)

It's arguably one of the best movies of the decade, but it's just not the type of movie that I would call a "favorite" movie, so it's not likely to make my list.

Thank you for the recommendation.



@cricket,

I watched The Art of Racing in the Rain (2019). After watching movies like Marley & Me and Hachi: A Dog's Tale, I've tried to avoid movies about the life of dogs because they tend to be too hard to watch, but I got tricked into this one because I thought it was about auto racing. I found out pretty quickly that it was about a dog, and I almost turned it off, but I decided to give it a chance because I loved Milo Ventimiglia in the TV shows "Heroes" and "This I Us". I'm glad I did because I liked this movie a lot.

I loved how Enzo the dog narrated the story, and we got to hear his thoughts. I loved how they treated him like he was a member of the family. I loved the expressions on his face throughout the movie, and how they matched what he was saying (thinking).
WARNING: "SPOILERS about the ENDING of "The Art of Racing in the Rain"!!!" spoilers below
And most of all, I loved the ending, when he finally got to ride in the racecar.


This movie was an emotional roller coaster, but it was definitely worth the ride. Thank you for the great recommendation.
I forget who recommended it to me but it's the best dog movie I've seen in the last few years. Still no Pomeranian in the lead though, I figure studios just can't afford to hire them.



@kgaard,

I watched Blue Jay (2016), and I loved this movie. Most of the movie felt like a wonderful romantic stroll down memory lane. I loved the chemistry between Mark Duplass and Sarah Paulson. It was easy to see how much Jim and Amanda love each other, and I spent a lot of the movie wondering why they broke up.
WARNING: "SPOILERS bout the ENDING of "Blue Jay"!!!" spoilers below
And when I finally found out what happened to them, it ripped my heart out and shredded it to pieces. It went from laughter to tears in only a few seconds.
This movie has a good chance to make my list.

Thank you for the great recommendation.
Lovely, so glad you enjoyed it!
My wife and I both loved it so this was a nice find. It will probably fall just short but it made the list of contenders for my ballot.



@SpelingError,

I watched BlacKkKlansman (2018), and I liked it. This is a powerful movie, but it felt a little bit long. But it's worth sitting through every minute of it for the terrific performances of John David Washington and Adam Driver. (I didn't find out until after I watched the movie that John David Washington is the son of Denzel Washington.)

It's arguably one of the best movies of the decade, but it's just not the type of movie that I would call a "favorite" movie, so it's not likely to make my list.

Thank you for the recommendation.
Glad you enjoyed it!
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@thracian dawg and @Takoma11,

I don't usually watch foreign language movies, but Force Majeure (2014) aired on Showtime, and I didn't know that it was a partially foreign language film until after I started watching it. At that point, I figured that I already started watching it, so I decided to give it a chance.

This is the kind of movie that makes you think "what if?". Not only "what would I do if I were in that situation?", but also "what if Tomas had admitted what he did, and apologized for it?". Would Ebba have reacted differently? Was it the act of what he did that she was so upset about, or the fact that he wouldn't even admit that he had done it?

That's what made this an interesting movie. I got bored for a little while when the movie switched the focus to their friends Mats and Fanny, but I was glad to see that it was only a short scene. And I didn't understand the party scene. It just took me right out of the movie at that point, and it seemed like an unnecessary scene.

WARNING: "SPOILERS for the ENDING of "Force Majeure"!!!" spoilers below
But it was interesting to see how the parents roles switched at the end on the bus, when Ebba was the first one to run off the bus because she was scared.


This movie won't make my list, but I liked it. Thank you for the recommendation.
Glad you liked it. I think that when viewed as a dark comedy it is incredibly funny. You just see how these people--including the kids--have really built no emotional foundation for themselves. They are all completely self-involved.



You can't make a rainbow without a little rain.
@Thief,
I watched Dark Waters (2019), and Mark Ruffalo is terrific as the lawyer who risked his career trying to stop the DuPont corporation from harming people with their chemicals. Just the idea that a company could do that to people, and not care enough to stop what they're doing is maddening. They did everything they could to cover it up, but it took one man, who refused to back down, to finally stop them. It was a bit too graphic at the beginning, (I really didn't need to see animal parts, or an animal autopsy), but once they got past that stuff, this was an edge of your seat law movie. The movie felt slow at times, but I think it worked for this movie because it helps us to feel what Robert Bilott and the rest of the people who were waiting for decisions and answers felt while they were waiting. It's just a shame that the farmer who started it all, Wilbur Tennant, didn't live to see the final decision.

Thank you for this great recommendation.



You can't make a rainbow without a little rain.
@Holden Pike and @Takoma11,
I watched First Reformed (2017), but unfortunately, it just didn't work for me. I generally don't like religious movies, but I took a chance with this one because it stars Ethan Hawke and Amanda Seyfried, but it's a very depressing movie. I just couldn't relate to anyone in the movie. I had no idea what was going on in that weird dream sequence with Toller and Mary. I assume it was supposed to be something spiritual, but I have no idea what it meant.

Thank you for the recommendation. Hopefully some other people reading this thread will like this movie more than I did.



@Holden Pike and @Takoma11,
I watched First Reformed (2017), but unfortunately, it just didn't work for me. I generally don't like religious movies, but I took a chance with this one because it stars Ethan Hawke and Amanda Seyfried, but it's a very depressing movie. I just couldn't relate to anyone in the movie. I had no idea what was going on in that weird dream sequence with Toller and Mary. I assume it was supposed to be something spiritual, but I have no idea what it meant.

Thank you for the recommendation. Hopefully some other people reading this thread will like this movie more than I did.
I knew very little about it going in and was shocked by both the plot itself and how moved I felt by it. I liked that it was an exploration of the concept of faith, and the idea of how each of us must personally interpret what we think of as good or evil and then how we respond. It is very depressing, but I felt like it was so clear about the main character's journey that it didn't feel like it was sad just for the sake of being sad.



Sorry if I'm rude but I'm right
BlacKkKlansman (2018)
It's arguably one of the best movies of the decade
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Look, I'm not judging you - after all, I'm posting here myself, but maybe, just maybe, if you spent less time here and more time watching films, maybe, and I stress, maybe your taste would be of some value. Just a thought, ya know.



You can't make a rainbow without a little rain.
bernie (richard linklater, 2012)

I watched Bernie (2011), and while I didn't think of it as a comedy movie, I liked the movie.

I was very impressed with Jack Black as Bernie. This was a very different role than his usual goofball roles. I think the first scene of him cleaning a dead body was supposed to set up the type of person he is, but it didn't work for me. It made him seem a bit creepy, so it took a little bit longer than it should have for me to like him, but I eventually saw why the townspeople liked him so much.

I love how the movie had clips of the townspeople, (called "The Gossips"), throughout the movie. It almost gave the movie a documentary feel at times.

WARNING: "SPOILERS about the ENDING of "Bernie"!!!" spoilers below
The first half of the movie, where we meet Bernie and Marjorie, felt a little longer than it needed to be, but once they got to the second half, after her body was found, the movie really picked up. The way the townspeople talked about Bernie made it sound like they couldn't get along without him. It made me wonder how they got by when he and Marjorie went away on their vacations. The D.A., (played by Matthew McConaughey), reminded me a lot of the sheriff on the TV show "Resident Alien". He was a bit overbearing, but also kind of likeable. I was not impressed with Bernie's lawyer at all. It was very clear that Bernie was guilty, and as soon as the trial was moved, Bernie had no chance to win. Why didn't he either plead temporary insanity from the way Marjorie treated him, or at least try to make a deal for a lesser sentence? Maybe he could have even found a way to let the townspeople keep the stuff Bernie bought for them if he had made a deal.


After I watched the movie, I watched the extras on the DVD, and they interviewed some of the townspeople, (who also played "The Gossips" in the movie). The thing that confused me a bit was that a few people said that they knew Marjorie, and she was a nice person. That's the complete opposite of how she was portrayed in the movie. In the movie, we never really got to know Marjorie other than finding out that she was a very mean person who nobody liked, so it seems like they made her a very unlikeable person in the movie, probably so we would sympathize with Bernie.

This was a very interesting movie. Thank you for the great recommendation.



You can't make a rainbow without a little rain.
I watched Coco (2017) because it's been on my watchlist since it was released, but when I went back through this thread to add a mention to anyone who might have recommended it, I was surprised to find that nobody recommended this movie.

I know nothing about the Mexican holiday Day of the Dead, but I loved this movie. It's a movie that somehow managed to make skeletons fun. I loved how Miguel went against his family's ban of music, and followed his heart instead. I loved the beautiful colors of the Land of the Dead, and I loved the music. And as much as this movie is about Miguel's love of music, it's also about the importance of family. This is one of my favorite Pixar movies.

And coincidentally, I recently bought a collection of Funko Pops that I was planning to resell, and this one was in the collection. I didn't know what it was when I bought it, but after seeing this movie, it went right into my personal collection.




You can't make a rainbow without a little rain.
Another movie that nobody recommended, but I watched because it was on my watchlist is Spies in Disguise (2019). This was a cute movie, but it's a bit too predictable. It's kind of like a James Bond movie, but without his license to kill because the gadgets are made to NOT kill, so that's a unique twist. The voice acting was very good.

I think there's enough in this movie for both kids and adults to enjoy it, but it's probably not likely to make a lot of top movie lists.



You can't make a rainbow without a little rain.
Zootopia (2016) is another movie that, surprisingly, nobody recommended to me. It's been on my watchlist for a while, and thanks to this countdown, I finally got around to watching it, and I loved it.

I loved that the whole design of the city is made to accommodate different size animals, and even the train has a whole bunch of different size doors. I loved the whole concept of the unlikely friendship between a rabbit and a fox. I loved that the DMV was entirely employed by sloths. I'm not a big fan of The Godfather movies, but I loved Mr. Big. And as much fun as this movie is, it even has the whole mystery of what happened to the otter and the other missing animals.

This movie has a very good chance to make my list, and I highly recommend it.



You can't make a rainbow without a little rain.
@Jabs and @Holden Pike,

I decided to watch Drive (2011) for two reasons. One reason was that I have the movie on DVD, so it was easy to find. The second reason was because I got it confused with a different movie that I saw a trailer for, that looked interesting. I thought this was a movie where the guy spends most of the movie, (if not all of it), driving in his car while talking to people on the phone, but apparently that's a different movie. (Now I have to figure out what the other movie is, and if it's from the 2010s.)

This movie is a bit too violent, bloody, and gory for my taste, but it's one of the few violent moves that's good enough that I can look past the violence, and enjoy the movie anyway. It had twists and turns that I never saw coming.

There were a couple of things about the ending that bothered me, but they didn't take much away from the movie itself.
WARNING: "SPOILERS about the ENDING of "Drive"!!!" spoilers below
I think that wearing the fake head when he killed someone was a waste because he was also wearing a very unique jacket that could be used to identify him. And he just left the money with the dead body at the end??? I understand that he didn't want the money, but he just left it right out in the open where any idiot walking past could just take it. That just seemed like a waste to me.
But those were minor issues with a very good movie.

Thank you for the recommendation.



Also answers to Jabba
I thought this was a movie where the guy spends most of the movie, (if not all of it), driving in his car while talking to people on the phone, but apparently that's a different movie. (Now I have to figure out what the other movie is, and if it's from the 2010s.)
I think you may be talking about Locke.



You can't make a rainbow without a little rain.
I think you may be talking about Locke.

Thank you! I just watched the trailer for Locke on YouTube, and I think you're right. That looks like the movie I was thinking of!

And it's from 2013, so I added it to my 2010s watchlist.



Had I known you hadn’t seen Coco or Zootopia I would have suggested them, but I assumed you had already seen them. Zootopia is a lock for my ballot. I like Coco but I probably won’t vote for it.

And I’ll second what cricket said about Drive. I enjoy it but would never have suggested it for you.