Jinn's 100 Films of the 2010s

93. Carnage (2011, dir. Roman Polanski)





I haven't seen this performed on stage, but about the most common criticism of the film is with this comparison. Maybe they're right. Or maybe that's exactly the kind of specious presumption made by venal urbane pseudointellectuals that are so viciously skewered here. I don't know. I do know this. This film is a petty, nasty riot of the sour veneers and barely disguised spite that passes for a banal sense of social superiority, where the only sympathy earned is by the god damn hamster. Terrible and hilarious.

I think I went up and down with Carnage. Liked some bits, didn't care for others. I seem to recall Waltz and Reilly being pretty good, but overall, it didn't stick.

__________________

92. The Meyerowitz Stories (2017, dir. Noah Baumbach)





Baumbach is a bit of a naval gazer. Write what you know, right? The nadir of his selfish obsessions was probably the excruciating Greenberg (oh, I know, it's about self-obsession, got it, good job), and his work has tempered a bit since then. The golden key here is Dustin Hoffman, in his best role in over 20 years, absorbing Baumbach's writing, manners and ennui into something both ornery and approachable, a perfect fit for Baumbach's preoccupation with the affections and frustrations of affluent but neurotic Jewish relationships. I believe Hoffman's work also elevates Stiller and Sandler to sympathetic qualities beyond their standard abilities. The characters are all still borderline contemptable, but believably forgivable.


HM: Uncut Gems (2019, dir. Safdie Brothers) - Speaking of Sandler, this is his best film, well, ever, and the Safdie's have crafted a brilliant NYC style that's sparking with anxiety and chaos, and a dreadful apprehension that only Sandler's Ratner cannot comprehend. Pick this one up wih the Brothers' Good Time for some of the decade's most exhilarating debauchery.

91. Roman J. Israel, Esq. (2017, dir. Dan Gilroy)





Another one of the decade's films that I feel was undeservedly ignored on release, as well as critically, because it's a film that refused to abide by any specific genre expectations. It's not a crime drama, a courtroom drama, a dark comedy, a political statement. It has none of the sinister qualities that Gilroy was praised for in Nightcrawler. It has none of the race sermonizing of the films by Spike Lee or Boots Riley. Without a tangible criminal or legal plot, without a self-congratulatory message for the critics to applaud, the film seemed lost on most audiences.


The film is actually a deep character study, one which flirts with the genre conventions mentioned above but keeps its focus on its character, warmly realized by Denzel Washington (his best acting of the decade), an old school civil rights lawyer who is lost in an era that no longer appreciates his individualism or ideology, an adherent to "soul" and "unity" that his community increasingly considers antiquated and nostalgic values. It's the generational and political dialectic of the black community that made many critics and activists uncomfortable because the script avoids cliches and stereotypes. Israel is not some crusty Uncle Ruckus yelling about the kids today. Ultimately, the character's refusal to fit into an easy sociopolitical category is what makes him formidable, and also vulnerable to temptation as his disenchantment pervades.


HM: Sorry To Bother You (2018, dir. Boots Riley) - I've admired Boots since The Coup, but I've never subscribed to his Marxist critiques. Beyond that, however, this is such an unpredictablly bonkers and ambitious film that it has to be considered one of the most remarkable films of the decade.

Late to the party but found this one quite funny. Good pairing in the lead, that melded together seamlessly. What more do you want from a "buddy" crime escapade.

Maybe a dozen more quotable lines.

90. The Place Beyond The Pines (2012, dir. Derek Cianfrance)





There were several indies from the decade that managed portraits of working class American struggle that avoided patronizing its subjects - Out of the Furnace, Mud, Manchester on the Sea - and Cianfrance produced some of the best examples. (Among the worst, bordering on fetishizing, would be Beasts of the Southern Wild, Hell or High Water and Three Billboards - incidentally all with better reviews than the ones I mentioned )


I'm not sure what more to add for this one. The structure may be off-putting in its juxtaposition, but it's quietly complex and unnerving.


HM: Cianfrance's previous film, Blue Valentine, fits the same bill, but more focused on a relationship rather than a crime premise. Many would say that Valentine is the superior film of the two. I would be inclined to agree, except that only one of them has Ben Mendelsohn.

89. Why Don't You Play In Hell? (2013, dir. Sion Sono)





I like to believe that this film is Sono's idea of mocking Kill Bill's ultraviolence and Tarantino's cultural appropriation. Regardless, it's an insanely gruesome take on the kind of parasitic voyeurism that Tarantino denies exists. The hyperbolic spasms of ecstatic violence are most definitely parodies of exploitation, regardless of any specific director who may or not be responsible.

88. Django Unchained/The Hateful Eight (2012;2015, dir. Quentin Tarantino)





And yet here we are. Clearly Tarantino is a highly gifted filmmaker with an innate sense of movement and tension on screen. I can have all kinds of qualms, regarding the characters, the more juvenile tendencies, QT's clear lack of understanding (or interest) in historical context, the muddled and sometimes laughably inept attempts at Big Statements, etc, etc. What I can't deny is that he makes irresistibly entertaining films, and that his visual tastes are far more refined than his emotional tastes. The films are fun, after all, not deep.


HM: The Sisters Brothers (2018, dir. Jacques Audiard) is a quality western that disappeared overnight but well worth seeking out.

Very pleased to see this film on your list...I thought it was brilliant...not a lot of talk about it on this site, glad to learn someone has seen it other than myself.

Really enjoying this list so far though there are several films on it I have never heard of, but I will try to continue and follow it...the inclusion of Carnage definitely piqued my interest.

87. Margin Call/A Most Violent Year (2011; 2014, dir. J.C. Chandor)





Cheating with the two-fers? Sometimes I can't help it. J.C. Chandor has had an impressive decade, from his debut ensemble drama about the '08 recession to the somewhat misleading title (which isn't violent at all, actually) of his look at the kind of organized crime that's as normalized as a strip mall. I could've added All Is Lost, a film nearly as compelling (I'm sure Redford fans would think more so), but what's clear is that Chandor has either providential fortune or a golden touch to managing his actors, extracting excellence in virtually every role.


I know some of you may point to Triple Frontier, and my condolences, but I place more of the blame there on Mark Boal, surely one of the worst writers currently working in Hollywood. This film better reflects Boal's ignorant (dishonest) jingoism than any of Chandor's prior work.



HM: Arbitrage (2012, dir. Nicholas Jarecki), a similar financial thriller to Margin Call, and only requires a certain tolerance to Richard Gere to fully enjoy.

Thank you. I'm still not acquainted enough with the site to know which films get often talked about or not. I hope to spread the word on some possibly lesser known stuff and find suggestions for the many that I'm sure I've missed.

86. The Babadook (2014, dir. Jennifer Kent)





I like the kind of horror film that can penetrate into really primal areas of fear and inadequecy, and, like The Shining, the struggles of parenthood is prime territory for horrific impulses. This film adds complications, by having a single working mother and a child who is more explicitly special needs, and also, maybe most important, an archetypal spectre that is elusive and subjective and elemental. More than The Shining, the audience is never assured of whether our enemy is mere hallucination, manifested subliminal desire, or a truly supernatural presence, tapping into something both magical and psychological. One of the very best horror films of the decade, Essie Davis is tremendous, and, urgh, I still haven't seen Nightingale


HM: The two other superlative horror films that combine psychological and social archetypes would be It Follows and Hereditary, both very good, but also both have diminished for me on rewatches.

85. Snowpiercer (2013, dir. Bong Joon-ho)





Not the most sophisticated dystopian social allegory ever conceived, this is still filled with enough verve and imagination to make it a highlight. Sections of the train are some of the most jaw-dropping action sequences of the decade, and the characters are a grotesque menagerie of banal evil. And, let's face it, it's better than the Matrix!

I think I would feel exactly the same about efforts like Django or Basterds, if I found them fundamentally entertaining... but the self-indulgent creative decisions, the relentless misanthropy, and the emphasis on over-the-top cariactures instead of well-developed characters are all cinematic turn-offs for me, so not only are a lot of QT's recent efforts not deep, they aren't even fun for me. That being said though, Once Upon A Time was finally a step back in the right direction, one that I hope he continues in for however much longer his career lasts, so I'm still somewhat hopeful for his future anyway.

Edit: I am glad to see that we won't be getting Hereditary on this list, though.

Well, I can't argue about the self-indulence or the over-the-top caricatures, but I'm not sure I see the "misanthropy". Arguably, the dispatching of Marvin in Pulp Fiction was more misanthropic than anything in Django.

I think the fact that Eight was Tarantino's third film in a row where someone got shot in their testicles speaks for itself regarding the misanthropy in his recent efforts. At any rate, of course his films have often had a sadistic streak for a long time now; I mean, the moment in Dogs where The difference with his best movies, though, is that you have some kind of emotional substance with the characterizations to offset the nasty ****; yes, you got the entire sequence in the pawn shop in Pulp, but you also have Jules' monologue in the diner, which probably has more character development in that one scene than every single character combined gets in Django, where most of its protagonist's internal arc is essentially finished within the first five minutes. And Jackie Brown has pretty much no graphic sadism in it at all, and is composed of nothing but character development for at least half its running time, and it's honestly my #1 Tarantino, so I think that shows that his films don't need the sadism at all, but he does need the well-developed characters... but it feels to me like he often feels exactly the opposite, which is why his filmography has been so hit-or-miss with me. But, like I said, I'm still hopeful that he's started to go back in the other direction now.

I'd put this firmly under the "juvenile tendency" category.

I dunno. There's a stark difference between Mr. Blonde (a character everyone acknowledges as a sociopath) and the pawn shop dudes who are clearly sadistic with Jules and Vincent who has the audience sympathy. With Marvin, we (the audience) are left with rooting for "the good guys" to effectively erase a human being off the planet, as a joke, and Marvin is someone who we, the audience, have no reason to see as deserving of such a fate. All we know is that he's the inside guy for Marcellus. It's different when the film presents clearly sadistic characters doing sadistic things, but the dehumanization of a random person, being cheered on by the audience for no reason, goes a lot further to normalize the indifference of human life. And anyway I still don't see that being the case in Django, where the dehumanizing acts are exclusively committed by those who will receive their cathartic comeuppance.

I like The Hateful Eight more than most of the Corrie crowd, I think. Even though I think it's one of Tarantino's weaker films.

The Babadook is great and is among my favorite horror films of the decade. The Nightingale can be really unpleasant at times (if you've seen it, you know what I'm referring to), but I also liked it quite a bit.

Snowpiercer is on my short list of favorite action and science fiction movies ever. It's my second favorite of Joon-ho's films.

Overall, good list so far!

__________________
IMDb
Letterboxd