As the 2010s come to a close, there’s no better time to reflect on the fantastic filmgoing experiences that have graced the big screen over the last ten years. To celebrate another decade in the books, we spoke with film critics, filmmakers, film festival coordinators, and personalities from around the internet about their favorite movies and filmgoing experiences that have shaped their love for cinema from the last ten years.
In part three of The Cinematropolis four-part series, we spoke with staff members of Oklahoma’s largest film festival, the deadCenter Film Festival, about their most beloved films of the 2010s.
Lance McDaniel, deadCenter Executive Director
Searching for Sugarman (2012)
A beautifully crafted story about Rodriguez, a forgotten Detroit singer from the early seventies who became bigger than Elvis in South Africa after his alleged suicide on stage. The film follows two South African musicologists on a global search to find out what happened to their musical hero and offers a poignant look at fame and success.
Ai Weiwei: Never Sorry (2012)
This film tells the amazing story of Chinese artist Ai Weiwei, the most significant artist of the decade, who uses art to openly criticize the human rights abuses and political cover-ups of the Chinese government. Ai Weiwei speaks truth to power on a massive, international scale despite living in a country that routinely stamps out opposition.
20 Feet From Stardom (2013)
20 Feet From Stardom looks at the surprisingly small group of women that have provided the gospel-tinged vocals for nearly every rock song since the sixties and explores the wide gulf between people who can sing beautifully and people who have the other intangibles necessary to become a star.
Alyx Picard Davis, deadCenter Director of Operations
Arrival (2016)
Often a film adaptation is inferior to its originating material, and the odds of this occurring with a short story favor a bloated storyline to carry the longer runtime. Arrival does the opposite; Norman-native Eric Heisserer builds a script that expands the world, adds importance and urgency, and creates the foundation for the decade’s most beautifully performed and presented piece of moving art. This is one film you have to see. Period.
Paddington 2 (2018)
In this age of Disney digital makeovers and super-powered sequels, this is how it should be. Bear with me – Paddington 2 brings a solid story, dynamic characters, and good-old filmmaking. The cast is littered with award-winning faces, and everyone is having the world’s greatest time on-screen. And, I’m still bitter that Hugh Grant didn’t receive more recognition for his multi-faceted role as Phoenix Buchanan. He was robbed!
Dealt (2017)
This documentary about blind card magician Richard Turner is as entertaining as it is emotional. Director Luke Korem balances the biographical with interviews with Turner and friends, including Turner’s wife Kim and son Asa (as in Asa Spades Turner-read that again aloud). While other strong docs addressed larger issues, this film succeeds in shining a light on the greatness, determination, and passion of a man making life all his own with the cards he’s been dealt.
Whiplash (2014)
The last 15 minutes of this film are some of the tensest minutes I’ve ever experienced, and they remain that way upon repeat viewings. Whiplash is a textbook powder keg – J.K. Simmons and Miles Teller crackle and spark off each other with laser focus, but director Damien Chazelle carefully modulates the dynamics of each and every scene as to not fatigue viewers.
21 Jump Street (2012)
21 Jump Street should have been so, so bad. A blatant cash grab in a decade stuffed with sequels, remakes, and reconceptualized intellectual property, 21JS could have gone the way of A-Team, Baywatch, CHiPs, Dark Shadows…(I encourage you to create your own alphabet of failed tv-to-movies) and it didn’t. Films that break the fourth-wall are my jam, and 21 doesn’t disappoint. This movie succeeds where others can’t in part to two charming performances by Jonah Hill and Channing Tatum, the sarcastic wit of Ice Cube, and a couple of well-placed cameos.
Sara Thompson, deadCenter Head of Programming
Kehinde Wiley: An Economy of Grace – short (2014)
Jeff Dupree’s short documentary “Kehinde Wiley: An Economy of Grace” is a remarkable look inside the mastery of one of our time’s most preeminent artists. The soul of the film lies in following Wiley’s first female subjects through his initial approach on the streets of New York to the unveiling of his gorgeous paintings of them dressed in Givenchy gowns with his stunning backgrounds thus intimately changing the way the women see themselves. The film so beautifully examines the artist and his subjects in a way that has changed the way I view his work.
The Karman Line – short (2014)
“The Karman Line” stars a pre-Oscar winning Olivia Coleman as a woman who mysteriously begins to levitate off the ground and away from her family drifting further and further away every day. The film is wonderfully kooky and original in a way only a short film can pull off and be even more touching to me after hearing director Oscar Sharp explain he made the film after his mother was diagnosed with cancer and each day he felt she floated further away from him.
Mad Max: Fury Road (2015)
My husband really wanted to see this movie and not being an action fan, I was on the fence. Fast forward two hours later, after finally taking a breath, and I was totally obsessed with George Miller’s female-driven, edge of your seat, action-packed film — Mad Max: Fury Road. And I am absolutely naming my next dog Furryoisa.
Eighth Grade (2018)
Bo Burnham’s Eighth Grade is the heartbreaking story of eighth-grader, Kayla Day during her last week of middle school. Elsie Fisher gives a beautifully authentic performance as Day that compels the audience to understand the trials and tribulations of being an awkward and introverted teen in the age of social media and shooter drills. This is a must-see for anyone wondering what is going on with kids today.
The Art of Self-Defense (2019)
This dark comedy is both hilarious and horrid and a very thought-provoking look at masculinity. From start to finish, nothing is out of place and its timing is impeccable. Kudos to director Riley Stearns and actor Jessie Eisenberg for (in my opinion) a seemingly perfect film.
Kevin Ely, deadCenter Senior Programmer
The Tree of Life (2011)
The greatest achievement in cinema during the last 10 years is Terrence Malick’s The Tree of Life. Like 2001: A Space Odyssey, I felt this movie was almost creating a new cinematic language, using the tools of music, imagery, and editing to transcend narrative and express something deeper and more sacred. It’s more psalm than a movie.
Cameraperson (2016)
This personal memoir compiled from discarded clips and unused scenes shot by documentary shooter Kirsten Johnson could have been a simple curiosity or art-piece, but its elegant editing and empathy for every subject in its frame create a deeply moving portrait of an artist without ever showing her.
Hugo (2011)
I’ll never say that Hugo is the best of Martin Scorsese’s films, but it might be the one I love the most dearly. This is Uncle Marty’s love letter to his chosen craft, and his affection for the magic of cinema pours out of every moment, culminating in a masterful use of 3D to present the early silent films of Georges Melies with the awe and wonder audiences must have felt when they were first seen.
Short Term 12 (2013)
I can’t think of any move in the 2010’s that snuck up on me like Short Term 12 did. This portrait of kids and workers in a teenage group home is so understated, relaxed, and confident in its storytelling, I was completely swept up and came out rooting for everyone involved to become the next big thing. I wasn’t far off… star Brie Larson went on to become an Oscar-winner and Captain Marvel while supporting actors Rami Malek and Lakeith Stanfield didn’t do so bad for themselves either.
Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse (2018)
This was the decade superheroes took over, and while the MCU was a monumental achievement in mainstream movie production and standouts like Black Panther, Deadpool, and Wonder Woman broke the mold, nothing captured the sheer magic of the comic book genre like this animated classic. For my money, it’s the best superhero movie ever made.
Stephen Tyler, deadCenter Technical Coordinator and Managing Partner at Tower Theatre OKC
Interstellar (2014)
A film that, in my opinion, is on the level of 2001: A Space Odyssey only released in my lifetime. It’s gorgeous, compelling, thought-provoking, and at times sheer adrenaline. A perfect film with a perfect score. If you think otherwise I’ll fight you.
Star Wars (Sequel Trilogy, 2015-2019)
I’m cheating and including these three films as one. As a whole, they achieved the culmination of the longest-running story in film franchise history. Whether you loved them or hated them you had opinions and about half the people on the planet disagreed with you. It spurred conversations and challenged our imagination. What this series and this trilogy have achieved is just crazy to consider. They each deserve their own recognition but it’s now time we start looking at these films as a whole story. We know how it starts and ends and a lot of us never thought we’d see the day. Star Wars has taught us that no matter who we are or where we came from our destiny is ours to control, that anyone can make a difference, and it’s never too late to change the path you’re on. There’s no greater lesson to be learned than that.
Mad Max: Fury Road (2015)
No list of the 2010s is complete without this piece of cinematic perfection. I mean buddy comedy road trip movie combined with post-apocalyptic action extravaganza?! How could you not love this?
Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse (2018)
The most visually stunning animated film ever featuring an amazing coming of age story combined with a bit of mind-bending multi-dimensional sci-fi flair. Oh, and it’s definitely a superhero movie.
Sunrise Tippeconnie, deadCenter Shorts Programmer
The Assassin (2015)
In a decade in which international blockbusters heavily rely upon visual effects, international stars and little refinement of form to emphasize spectacle, Hou Hsiao-hsien revives the martial arts genre with a spirit and energy otherwise lost with his beautiful ode to the sub-genre of wuxia. Hou not only skillfully distills the genre to its most important questions of family, honor and code over transcendent love, but his emphasis on environment, duration and contemplation evoke a haunting tone that pulls at the amazing realism in the depiction of the Chinese Tang dynastic period (618-907 CE).
Certain Women (2016)
Kelly Reichardt’s quiet depiction of the tirelessly strong-willed women of our decade that contend with the challenging self-doubt that threatens the importance of asserting one’s position of ‘certainty’ in the face of adverse gender, class, sexuality and one’s own psyche. Reichardt’s able to draft scenes that arise from not just some of the best performances from a few of the decades’ best performers (Laura Dern, Kristen Stewart, Michelle Williams and decade newcomer Lily Gladstone), but she was able to evoke from them an amazingly observant feminine humor that has yet to meet its match.
La Flor (2018)
Mariano Llinás’ 14 hour and, depending on its exhibition, six-episode presentation challenges the notion of the singularity of ‘film,’ which appropriately communicates the rise of episodic format and incomplete narrative viewing of this decade. Through its unique patchwork voyages through various genres, constantly shifting perspectives, cinematic tones and cultural evocations there is a constant, and infectious, celebration of narrative form that also implies an incredibly needed strategy in unifying identification and meaning across the seemingly incompatible.
Prometheus (2012)
Ridley Scott’s misunderstood masterpiece bravely utilizes the sci-fi genre to articulate timely philosophical questions about cybernetic politics and corporate governance while simultaneously exploring the boundaries in the concept of a “franchise” as an allegory about our postmodern psyche’s moral and ethical struggle with intentional privatized progenation. Expanding beyond his own exploration of class in Alien and of post-human digital sentience in Blade Runner, this work is due for reassessment, in the vein of Blade Runner, and will hopefully be observed as a poetic work that raises itself (and Scott) to the level of admiration he poses towards the poets and authors that gracefully articulated the same questions on the verge of their own upcoming 20th century.
The Social Network (2010)
David Fincher’s timely successor, and perhaps overthrower, of Lumet’s Network, not only started off the decade in a miraculous observance of digital culture’s influence in the change over of authority from establishment to young Digi-punks, but it anticipated the rhythmic aesthetics of immediacy that arose through narrative momentum and editorial flow in most episodic and feature works that depicted the contemporary.
Don’t forget to read parts one and two featuring picks from Oklahoma filmmakers and the Oklahoma Film Critics Circle members respectively. Join us again tomorrow in the final part of The Cinematropolis four-part series where we’ll speak with podcasters, writers and internet personalities about their most beloved films of the 2010s.
