The 8 Best Movies of the 2010s, Ranked

Ranked by movie.guru score, the blend of critics and audiences. Zero superheroes made it. Take it up with the math.

Number one starts as a comedy about a con. It does not stay one.

1. 8
   Manchester by the Sea (2016)9.1

   Saddest movie of the decade, and somehow it's also funny.

   Metacritic 96. Casey Affleck barely talks, Michelle Williams wrecks you in a single scene, and tiny jokes keep you breathing for 137 minutes.
2. 7
   Call Me by Your Name (2017)9.3

   Michael Stuhlbarg plays the best movie dad of the decade.

   Made for $3.5 million, 94 on Metacritic. A slow Italian summer of bikes and books, and Timothée Chalamet becomes a star mostly by staring out of windows.
3. 6
   Marriage Story (2019)9.5

   Laura Dern's lawyer is the scariest villain of the decade.

   94 on Metacritic, made for $18 million. Adam Driver and Scarlett Johansson play two decent people getting worse by the week, and Dern smiles through it all like a shark.
4. 5
   The Irishman (2019)9.3

   Basically the anti-Goodfellas, and that's the whole point.

   A $159 to $250 million budget and just $968,853 worldwide, since most people watched it on a couch. It moves slowly on purpose. Bring patience, not popcorn.
5. 4
   Boyhood (2014)9.2

   A gimmick that became the most honest movie of the decade.

   Metacritic 100 on a $4 million budget. Nothing big happens in 165 minutes, no villains, no twists, just birthdays, moving trucks and awkward phases. That's why it lands.
6. 3
   Whiplash (2014)9.5

   J. K. Simmons made every music teacher look relaxed by comparison.

   Terence Fletcher throws one chair and every audience flinches. A $3.3 million budget, $50.4 million worldwide, 8.5 on IMDb from 1.19 million votes. Drummers still have nightmares.
7. 2
   Spotlight (2015)9.6

   The best newspaper movie ever made, and the most restrained.

   Boston Globe reporters dig into years of hidden abuse in the Catholic Church, and the film never sensationalizes a second of it. 97% on Rotten Tomatoes, made for $20 million.
8. 1
   Parasite (2019)9.6

   The best movie of the decade. I'll take questions.

   A 9.8 movie.guru score on an $11.4 million budget, $263.5 million worldwide. Bong Joon Ho starts with a scrappy con-family comedy, then turns somewhere you won't see coming. Read nothing else first.

$25.44 says the first comment is an Avengers movie and the second is an apology.

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