We never did decide on a name for this decade that didn’t sound completely stupid did we? Thank goodness for the insight and escapism that cinema offers because the world has been heading for disaster at an alarming rate as the last ten years have flown by.

Just like every other amateur or professional film critic, I’ve put a lot of thought into not just the best and worst films of the last ten years, but the ones that will stay with me, that changed me on some profound level, that I’ll revisit and get something new out of every single time.

Before the main event, let’s briefly look back at the best from the year just gone, which all told was pretty good one at the movies.

The Best of 2019:

10. I LOST MY BODY Review in brief here.

9. THE TWO POPES Review in brief here.

8. THE NIGHTINGALE Review in brief here.

7. TELL ME WHO I AM Review in brief here.

6. THE FAREWELL Full review here.

5. JOJO RABBIT Full review here.

4. WILD ROSE Full review here.

3. PARASITE Full review here.

2. AVENGERS: ENDGAME Full review here.

1. FOR SAMA Review in brief here.

The Very Best of 2010-19 (in alphabetical order):

Marvel

AVENGERS: ENDGAME (2019) Marvel’s decade-long gamble paid off in spectacular and resonant fashion.

Working Title

BABY DRIVER (2017) Full review here.

Sony

BLADE RUNNER 2049 (2017) Full review here.

Bold Films

DRIVE (2011) Divisive auteur Nicolas Winding Refn’s most mainstream movie is a cool, ultraviolet neo-noir with a gentle soul, timeless themes and a killer soundtrack.

Film4

EX MACHINA (2015) Full review here.

Channel 4

FOR SAMA (2019) Not just the documentary of the decade but an essential preservation of a nightmarish time and place where, somehow, families willed themselves to survive.

Sailor Bear

A GHOST STORY (2017) Full review here.

Det Danske Filminstitut

THE HUNT (2012) Full review here.

Pathe

THE ILLUSIONIST (2010) More emotive and certainly more unique than anything CG-animated this decade, Sylvian Chomet’s little gem based on an unmade Jacques Tati script is simple, beautiful soul food.

Jeva Films

NINA FOREVER (2016) Full review here.

FILM

OUR LITTLE SISTER (2015) Hirokazu Koreeda well and truly broke through in the West in the 2010s. SHOPLIFTERS got him an Oscar nomination, but Our Little Sister is the purest and most grounded of stories about sisterhood in all its forms.

CJ Entertainment

PARASITE (2019) Bong Joon-ho finally gets belated mainstream recognition for one of the finest films he’s ever crafted – a bold, furious and funny class satire.

Netflix

PRIVATE LIFE (2018) Full review here.

Highwayman Films

THE RIDER (2018) Review in brief here.

FilmNation

ROOM (2015) Full review here.

Stage 6 Films

SEARCHING (2018) Full review here.

Sony

SPIDER-MAN: INTO THE SPIDER-VERSE (2018) Full review here.

Film i Vast

WE ARE THE BEST! (2013) Full review here.

BBC Films

WE NEED TO TALK ABOUT KEVIN (2011) Releasing two films in the same decade is prolific by Lynne Ramsay’s standards and Kevin is a challenging, harrowing and immaculately performed drama.

Netflix

13TH (2013) Full review here.

Here’s to another decade of groundbreaking, entertaining, thought-provoking films from around the world. And maybe to a world that becomes a little less crappy. Cheers! SSP