My Fav Films of the Decade So Far

2016 has come and gone and we are now well and truly into 2017 and when that change came I began to think about my favorite films from 2010 to 2016 so far and it has actually been quite a good decade for films so far much better I think than the 2000s where there were numerous years where I hated some of the years in film from that period.

But where exactly to rank this list should it be a top 20 or a top 10 or a top 15 perhaps but after purchasing the Accountant on disc I began to properly rank the films from this decade and in the end I've settled on a top 12 the dirty dozen so to speak.

With that brief into out of the way let's get started with number 12 and that is:

The World's End: Released in 2013 this film was the third entry in the now named Cornetto trilogy which also consisted of Shaun of the Dead in 2004 and Hot Fuzz in 2007 and starred Simon Pegg as Gary King a man who rounds up his 4 closest friends to complete a pub crawl they failed at in their youth while also coming face to face with aliens.

This is another very accomplished directorial effort by Edgar Wright who shows the same flair he had in Shaun, Fuzz and even Scott Pilgrim which I did not enjoy as much as others did and for a 109min film (short for a comedy these days) he packs a hell of a lot into each scene and each frame and each cut feels as tight as it can be so you have to keep up in every scene as it feels like it's there for a reason there's no long adlibbing scenes here like in so very very many comedies these days which have gotten so fucking boring.

But what I also really admire about this movie is that as much as it has great action/sci fi ideas/big laughs it also has a much more serious and dramatic side to it in terms of the characters Pegg and Frost play they aren't doing the same buddy act they did in Shaun and Fuzz they're an estranged duo of friends who do not get along for most of the film and they are ably backed up by Martin Freeman, Paddy Considine and Eddie Marsan the latter of those shows some great comedic timing but this more serious feel I think hurt its standing with the Cornetto fans who deep down probably wanted more of the same from Shaun and Fuzz and as a result were let down by this film.

11. Video Nasties

Released in 2011 this documentary from the UK investigated the Video Nasties scare if you will that took place in that country in the early 1980s and the steps the BBFC took to outlaw these tapes even though almost all of them were given 18 certificates or not rated at all.

This documentary I find to simply be a must not just for horror film fans but for students of film in general as well as history because what this represented was an outrageous overreach of censorship by the then government at the time led by the late Margaret Thatcher on tapes that if they were rated here in Australia and most of them were they would've gotten an R rating and that would be it.

As for the historical element this doco shows very clearly how such a thing can start so simply with one voice and then spread quickly if not nipped in the bud not to mention how those so convinced of their cause will simply try to exhaust their opponents by either talking very fast a lot or just speaking a lot of the time so those trying to get answers out of them can't keep up or by targeting our vulnerability and rope in some sections of the community.

Now I am not a huge Horror film fan by any means but this doco was definitely a most interesting one for me and should be seen and studied by film lovers and cinema classes all over the world after all "First they Came for..." a very famous phrase from history started somewhere.

10. The Accountant

Released in 2016 the Accountant was Gavin O'Connor's first big film since his 2011 breakout film Warrior and stars Ben Affleck as Christian Wolff an Assassin with high functioning Autism investigating a Chicago Robotics Company led by John Lithgow and there also meeting Dana played by Anna Kendrick.

I really really enjoyed this movie I thought O'Connor did a great job balancing the character drama with the action scenes as he also showed in Warrior I thought that all of the cast were very good and there is a great cast here though JK Simmons is sadly wasted in a fairly thankless role and the action scenes themselves were very nicely done and I'm not surprised why this got an MA rating as a lot of it is up close and at point blank range.

But as good as everyone here is this is Ben Affleck's movie and the way he portrays an Autistic character is very true to life with someone who has this condition but has had the integration help no matter how twisted that might be to try and live an everyday life and the best scenes that highlight this in the movie are the ones where he is trying to live in the ordinary world and navigate its many paths and as a result of that I put it above the other action throwbacks like John Wick which was well done but not as good as this.

9. Argo

Released in 2012 Argo was Ben Affleck's 3rd film as director and would go on to win Best Picture at the Academy Awards in early 2013 and it told the tale of the Declassified True Story of a CIA operation posing as a film crew to rescue 6 American hostages from Iran after the 1979 revolution.

This movie to me is a classic example of a filmmaker at their peak; They know exactly what they want to do, how they want to do it and how to balance wild shifts in tone without the film becoming a mess to watch and Affleck handles all of these brilliantly.

Rewatching the film recently I thought to myself that it felt like a companion piece to some of the great Warner Brothers dramas from the 1970s like All the Presidents Men or Dog Day Afternoon and this film recreates that period beautifully with the old cars and suits and extensive use of archive footage from that period and not only is the film very tense but also very funny with 2 great performances by Alan Arkin and John Goodman.

It also highlighted on my rewatch how much Affleck got this movie right and how much George Clooney who produced it tried and failed miserably to recreate the feel of Argo with his Monuments Men film from 2014 which was a mess for that exact reason; Clooney's inability to successfully manage the tonal shifts between tension and humour neither of which felt satisfying in that film guess it's harder than it looks to do what Ben did and successfully pull it off.

8. The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo

Released in 2011 this was David Fincher's adaptation of the first book in the late Steig Larsson's trilogy of books about the mysterious Lisbeth Salander played here by Rooney Mara and the mystery of the disappearance of Harriet Vangar which could also be tied to a killer of women in Sweden.

Like Argo this is simply great filmmaking on show here but not quite in the same way as this for me was a great example of material being a perfect match for a director as this series deals with themes of darkness, rape, corporate intrigue, murder and more and this is material that Fincher has examined in his career with films like Seven, Fight Club, Zodiac and the Social Network to name as examples.

Seeing this movie also inspired me to go and read the 3 books which were terrific but sadly this film never quite got the kudos it deserved as Mara was a perfect Lisbeth from the books and Daniel Craig while not quite how I pictured Mr Blomkvist from the book was also good in the film as well.

But I think this movie failed for 2 reasons first of all Fincher was coming off an amazing success with the Social Network the year before which became both a box office hit and a strong awards contender that's a tough act to follow and also the book series had been adapted in Sweden for TV and then given a theatrical release to very high praise and I think many looked at this US adaptation and went "What's the Point" and as a result the film didn't find a big audience and the plans to do the other 2 were scrapped.

7. Sing Street

Released in 2016 this was writer/director John Carney's film about a young boy living in Ireland in 1985 who decides to start a band with some of his school mates to impress a young girl (the things we do in young love.)

This was the last film I saw last year before finalising my lists of the best and worst for 2016 and I sorely wish I got to see it earlier that year (it came out on disc in November last year but didn't rent it as I wasn't sure if I would like it much) as it would've easily been a strong contender for my favorite film of last year and could well have taken that crown.

For the more I watch this movie and think about it the more I adore it as it does so many things so well:

- It does what you want from a teenager film which dominated in the 80s
- It does what you want from a musical and this blends 80s songs and new songs wonderfully well
- And it recreates the 80s beautifully so much so I wish I could see a 35mm print of this film

And also and forgive me if this sounds silly but when I was watching this movie I felt like I was watching an old Roadshow Home Video or Premiere Home Entertainment VHS release from 1986 (Roadshow distributed the film here in Australia) and that feeling was so strong for me I wish I could've had 5 to 10 minutes worth of Roadshow VHS previews come on after the film ended this will be a favorite of mine for many years to come.

6. Dragon Ball Z: Resurrection F

Released in 2015 Resurrection F sees the evil Lord Freeza wished back to life with the Dragon Balls by the remnants of his Empire (which was dismantled in the original TV Series) and Freeza's own desire for revenge against Goku who killed him in their original battle.

As a big Dragon Ball Z fan (I very nearly became inspired to learn Martial Arts as a result of my love of the series in the early 2000s but didn't put 2 and 2 together back then though I would have now) I had so much fun watching this film in a cinema and it was a PACKED house and almost everyone there had a good time and there was a real buzz coming out of my session (even if it was a late night one.)

As for my own views on the film itself I really really enjoyed it I loved the use of the characters purely from that original storyline (some of the ones that appeared afterwards make cameos but nothing more and rightly so) I loved how the Z fighters got to fight as a group again some of them had been sidelined to some extent the more the series went on and I also loved how it balanced the action and the humour something the original Dragon Ball did very well whereas DBZ got more serious with its action.

But this is not in my top 5 for one reason and one reason alone: The Ending quite frankly it is fucking horrendous leading to one thing that makes perfect sense and then pulling a really bad trick that undoes so much of the good will that I extend to this movie but this was not uncommon to me as the series particularly the back end would frequently do this to quickly resolve a story or bring a beloved character back.

5. X-Men Days of Future Past

Released in 2014 Days of Future Past marked the return of Bryan Singer to the franchise he helped launch in the year 2000 with a tale of Mutant kind facing extinction by the human created Sentinels and Wolverine being sent back in time to fix the mistakes of the past created in 1973.

Days of Future Past was simply fantastic from start to finish from the opening title sequence that also marked the return of John Ottman's X-Men theme he created for X-Men 2 and would use again in X-Men Apocalypse to the great performances by Hugh Jackman, James McAvoy, Michael Fassbender and Peter Dinklage among others, a great sequence with Quicksilver and great action sequences that highlighted the mutant powers and the team as a whole.

But what makes this movie for me is that like X-Men 1 and 2 it feels like it is actually about something and that is Hope the Hope for a better tomorrow with Xavier, the hope that Mystique will come to see the error of her ways and the hope that those mutants in the future will not die in vain and that the mission will mean salvation for their kind.

It is this feeling above all else that is why I love the X-Men franchise despite its very hit and miss track record after X-Men 2 in that it has the action and the special effects and the comic book feel like the Avengers series has but this has both a bit more substance to it and a great villain which the MCU has lacked big time it's just such a shame that Singer could not replicate his success here with Apocalypse which was fun but not as good but that's what happens when you overstuff a film and put the focus on big destruction.

4. Batman: The Dark Knight Returns

Released in 2013 this DC Animated film tackled the much loved and iconic Batman story from 1986 by Frank Miller and had Peter Weller as the voice of Batman who comes out of retirement to fight the Mutant Gangs terrorizing Gotham only to have far more dangerous friends and foes coming after him as a result.

This was a masterful and epic adaptation of one of the most iconic comic book stories to be written and everyone involved takes great care in adapting this material, this book helped to begin the recharting of the course for Batman it definitely influenced the Batman arc in Batman V Superman and I have no doubt that had Heath Ledger lived the Dark Knight Rises would've been much more of an adaptation of this book just as the Dark Knight was very much a Killing Joke film by any other name.

Although Kevin Conroy did not voice Batman/Bruce Wayne in this animated film Weller is more than up to the task of providing the voice here and his gravel tone nicely suits the older Wayne who dons the Bat one last time despite his old age Michael Emerson is creepy as hell as the Joker and every line out of his mouth made me want to wince a little bit and the animation style nicely recreates the drawing style of Miller's book.

But also this film nicely recreates the story elements of the 1980s that were present in Miller's book and the final 20 minutes is nothing short of epic with the kind of knock down drag out violent brawl we should have gotten in Batman V Superman between the two characters that just wasn't there in Snyder's film plus the dark tone of Batman is very nicely recreated as this is not a film for kids despite being animated.

3. Waking Sleeping Beauty

Released in 2010 this documentary examines the famous renaissance of Walt Disney Pictures from 1984 to 1994 which was the period that saw films like the Little Mermaid, Beauty and the Beast, Aladdin and the Lion King get made as well as the formation and success of Touchstone Pictures.

As a child of the 90s who grew up with the later 3 of those 4 animated films from Disney this doco was simply unmissable viewing as for the first time it really feels like the honest story of how those hit films got made was really told especially Beauty and the Beast which went through a very tough production and would become a huge triumph.

The doco also shows the long road towards that comeback starting with the shakeup of the culture of Disney that was very much in place since Walt's death in the late 60s and how flop after flop after flop had shaken the confidence of those running the studio at the time and that it took outsiders to bring the studio back to greatness and how the loss of 2 key people would later have devastating consequences.

And this story is told by the very people who were there when this all happened and in a brilliant move only with their voices over huge amounts of archival footage which gives the doco a real blunt feel and the footage from the release of the Lion King in particular really took me back to when that film first came out as it really was mind blowing to experience in a cinema.

2. The Hunger Games

Now this is a bit of a cheat as this entry represents the franchise which came out from 2012 to 2015 and told the tale of Katniss Everdeen played by Jennifer Lawrence and her rise as the Mockingjay against President Snow played by Donald Sutherland and the other enemies of Panem.

Watching this franchise unfold I was reminded of how I felt as an 11 year old boy in 1997 experiencing the Star Wars Trilogy for the first time I am seriously not joking about this point others have tried to replicate this feeling for me but none of them have done it quite like this series did and I feel that it is because that it does a very similar tale of the heroes journey to fight an evil enemy and save her homeland from oppression but it also wonderfully holds up a mirror to the times in which we live in terms of Celebrity Worship, Late Night Talk Shows, the effect War has on a person and a nation as a whole, the loss of loved ones along that road and the sacrifice people make for a cause they believe in.

This is simply beautiful storytelling and Suzanne Collins the writer of the 3 books this film series is based on has to be given a lot of credit for collaborating with the creative team behind the films in terms of helping them out and also letting them make the movies they want to make even if that means making some big changes from the book unlike a certain other author of a successful franchise whose ego got so bad the writer and director quit the series.

Another thing I admire about this franchise was that it told the story they wanted to tell and then moved on and ended the series so often nowadays a franchise is sometimes forced to go on and on and on because of fans wanting more and more stories which happened with Dragon Ball and sure that can happen but a lot of the time they just end up going in circles and repeating the ground of the first 1 or 2 films that worked so well Alien could well become an example of this later this year.

And also this series has a wonderful hero and villain that for me rank highly on both lists Katniss to me is very much the new Luke Skywalker and she is number 2 on my fav heroes list right behind him and much like Luke she starts her journey wanting a specific goal and then finds herself in a battle much bigger than her own and like Luke she trusts her own instincts in terms of knowing who her allies and enemies are and that sometimes they are not who they originally are made out to be.

As for Snow well how often in our own history have we seen leaders of political parties come along who skilfully exploit the genuine fears and anxieties a peoples might have be they of war or race or changing economic circumstances to use as a platform for their rise to power and when they win it they go to great lengths to hold onto it even if it means indulging in some community sections greed at the expense of others this makes Snow such an interesting and relevant villain for the times we live in.

And finally we are here the number 1 film of the decade for me so far and there was really no question what that film is for me:

Senna: Released in 2011 this doco by Asif Kapadia told the life of Ayrton Senna the Brazillian Formula 1 Grand Prix driver who was skilled behind the wheel and along with Alain Prost one of the best drivers of his generation before his sad death in 1994.

This documentary I had heard great things about before watching it but after watching it myself I went back to the start and watched it through again much like Waking Sleeping Beauty it brilliantly uses archival footage from the time to tell the story and only has the participants interviewed presented with just their voice as if they were commentating on an F1 race and that race footage is exhilarating and it definitely gets the heart pumping a beat or two faster.

But the real beauty of this documentary for me is twofold and firstly I was familiar with Formula 1 but not a huge devotee of it but it didn't matter the doco still worked as well without knowing the ins and outs of the sport and the narrative here reminded me of a great live action film in terms of the rivalry between Senna and Prost the need to be in the driver's seat, the desire to wanna be the very best like no one ever was and the sadness that came over everyone in the sport and in Brazil with his tragic death.

The second reason was that this documentary really opened my eyes as to want documentaries could really achieve they could be as compelling and exciting and watchable as any film live action or animated and sometimes they could tell stories that if they were filmed you would sometimes find difficult to believe and after this documentary I have become a real devotee of the format and always get a little excited when a new doco comes down the pike.

And so that is my top 12 films of the decade from 2010 to 2016 it is a very personal list for sure and some on here will be films either not very many liked with me or would say that they were enjoyable but not worthy of being here and that's fine and fair enough we still have 3 more years left of this decade and this list could very well change but that is something not to think about for some time yet.

On the Air Season 4 Episode 2

Well here is my second Radio show for 2017 where I review the following:

- Split
- Patriots Day
- La La Land
- Lion

As always you can listen here: https://soundcloud.com/abclocalradio_sa/friday-flicks-february-17-2017

Film Review - Jackie (2017)

Jackie is based off the life of Jacqueline Kennedy and is directed by Pablo Lerrain Jackie is played by Natalie Portman and this movie deals with the assassination of JFK from her perspective and her determination to preserve his legacy for future generations.

Jackie is very enjoyable and well directed by Mr Lerrain there isn't a lot of heavy editing in the film instead you get the feeling of the film being cut in the camera with a lot of long takes and close ups that are beautifully done and let you get a feeling for this woman and her headspace as she takes in the whirlwind of events going on around her whilst also trying to maintain her dignity and her grace.

Portman is also extremely good here and had it not been for Isabelle Huppert in Elle she would be the clear favourite to win Best Actress at the Academy Awards for a second time as she carries the film effortlessly even with the many close up shots throughout the film and she also manages to convey this while also doing the accent which was how the real Jackie spoke.

I also did get a little sad seeing the late great Sir John Hurt in this movie and he is good as well but it made me sad that he recently passed away we lost a great talent for sure be it in this film or the Elephant Man or the original Alien among his many films over the years.

And lastly I really loved the way the production footage blended with the archival footage it all feels very seamless and its clear that Mr Lerrain and his production design team took great care in making sure it all looked authentic to the time period and I was very impressed with their work here.

And so that was Jackie a very enjoyable film for those with an interest in history and it has great direction and a central performance, 3 and a half out of 5.

Film Review - Hidden Figures (2017)

Hidden Figures tells the true story of a group of 3 African American women played by Janelle Monae, Octavia Spencer and Taraji P. Henson working at NASA during the Space Race of the early 1960s where the US and the Soviet Union but the early 1960s in the US was also the time of segregation which these 3 women sadly know all too well.

I really liked Hidden Figures I was surprised that I enjoyed this film as much as I did when it was over and the reason for that is that wonderful group of actresses who carry this film so well and so effortlessly that you would watch them do anything and it is set up well after the first scene you meet them in the opening of the film, I also really liked the performances by Kevin Costner, Jim Parsons and Kirsten Dunst and the ensemble of that group play off each other nicely.

But I also loved seeing Mahershala Ali in this movie he doesn't have a big role like he did as Colonel Boggs the head of security in District 13 in the Mockingjay movies but in both those films and in this one I thought to myself "This guy is the new Denzel" in that like Mr Washington he is a very stern screen presence but also one that is utterly charming, charismatic and likeable which were all the elements that made Denzel the star he is today so I hope that happens to Mahershala as well.

But I'll stop my gushing for him there and turn to what I most admire about this movie and that is while it is an upbeat Science Fiction story like the Dish or the Martian it also never shies away from the issue of Segregation which really held America back in the 60s these three women are the best at what they do and you see it plainly in this film but because of their skin colour they have to live like 2nd class citizens and it made me a little mad at times during the film that they were needlessly held back but happily we have made a lot of advances since then even though we still have a fair ways to go but progress is a long road but one worth travelling on.

And so that was Hidden Figures a film that I really liked and would recommend, 3 and a half out of 5.

Film Review - The Great Wall (2017)

The Great Wall marks the first genuine co-production between the United States and China and the story here concerns Matt Damon as a thief on the run until he comes across the great wall of China and the vast army that helps guard it from invaders (the Wall was built to keep the Mongols out though they weren't made to pay for it so that's a plus) but the attackers against the Wall are not human but are a lizard race called the Tao Tse and they will be hard to defeat.

I cannot lie I was very very disappointed in this movie and my hopes going in were not all that high but films can have bad previews but then turn out to be pretty good Miss Peregrine and Doctor Strange are just two examples from last year that I will name but unfortunately this turned out to be the latter where the previews weren't the best but the film itself feels even worse.

And the main reason for that is simply the storytelling it is very very thin and rather weak and this movie in many ways reminds me of how I felt about Warcraft from last year in that this is a very handsome production (to look at the film purely from a visual standpoint is gorgeous) but without an interesting story that pretty much rips off films like Aliens and Starship Troopers and even Independence Day Resurgence (I'm not joking though smh) I just sat there feeling bored and sleepy and there were a number of times where I did want to fall asleep.

And even the battle sequences were not that impressive there's a lot of CGI that looks okay but not great and Matt Damon wasn't that good either and I really like him as an actor but here just put on the MATT DAMON!! mode and snarled his way throughout most of the film as if he was bored with the material he was given at times.

And ironically enough this reminded me of the reception of the first major movie ever to shoot in China got and that film was Tai-Pan in 1986 which starred Bryan Brown and the review by Roger Ebert of that film is very fun and worth watching.

And so that was the Great Wall it is not a good film and frankly go see Split instead as that is good fun whereas this is boring, 1 out of 5.

Film Review - Patriots Day (2017)

Patriots Day is directed by Peter Berg and tells the true story of the 2013 Boston Bombings which killed 4 people and injured many others along with the manhunt that followed for the 2 men responsible.

Patriots Day has some very strong moments in it but overall I just thought it was okay nothing bad at all but one that just didn't do all that much for me, I liked Berg's direction I thought it had some really nice flourishes to it in terms of the use of CCTV footage, handheld camerawork and good action scenes especially in the climax of the film and the cast equip themselves well with Mark Whalberg, Kevin Bacon and John Goodman being the real highlights.

But again I just thought it was okay a film that I saw and I thought was pretty good but one that I feel didn't really grab me in that special way that I feel that Split and Live by Night in particular have done at the beginning of this movie year (Edge of 17 is really good as well) in a way it feels like a lot of the meh movies I saw last year which weren't terrible at all but really nothing special.

And so that was Patriots Day a film I feel overall was just okay, 2 out of 5.

Film Review - Live by Night (2017)

Live by Night is adapted, directed and stars Ben Affleck as Joe Coughlin a former WW1 soldier who comes home and becomes an outlaw only to cross the wrong gangster after serving a prison sentence he then heads to Florida to head up a Rum operation the very type that could make him powerful.

I have been ridiculously excited to see this movie mainly because of Ben as I've been a big fan of him as a director (I think he's one of the best of his generation) and also his most recent film the Accountant was my favourite film of last year so could Ben continue his good run or do the unthinkable and let me down.

Happily he does the former as I really enjoyed this movie, I thought Ben once again did a great job as a director and he shows in this movie that he has a deep understanding of his craft, there is also some really nice cinematography by Robert Richardson, a great score by Harry Gregson-Williams, costumes by Jacqueline West and a slew of great performances especially by Elle Fanning, Zoe Saldana, Chris Cooper, Brendan Gleeson and Chris Messina.

I do have to say however that the films editing does at times feel a little choppy in terms of scenes feeling very undercut in terms of their impact and key plot points at times feel skipped over and pasted with a voiceover I wonder if this movie would have really benefited from a 2.5 to 3 hour running time like a lot of great Gangster films which like this movie were very ambitious but had the long runtime to really develop its storytelling hopefully this movie gets an Extended Edition for the DVD release as I feel it would really benefit from one.

So that was Live by Night which was well worth the wait and like Split and Edge of 17 kicks the year in films off very nicely, 4 out of 5.