2010 seems like just yesterday, but with 2020 coming to a close, there are a ton of movies that fans wouldn’t believe are already turning 10 years old. Looking at the movies released in 2010, nobody would have ever realized how the landscape of the movie industry was going to change in the 2010s, as these movies are not representative of the paradigm shift that would be in flux years later.
With so many original movies filling out the list, nobody would have guessed that the following years would be filled with dozens of superhero movies, a Star Wars resurgence, and countless franchises spearheaded by Dwayne Johnson.
The Fighter
Before David O’ Russell settled on casting Jennifer Lawrence and Bradley Cooper for seemingly every movie he’d direct in the 2010s, the director worked with Christian Bale and Mark Wahlberg in one of the most interesting biopics of the decade.
The Fighter follows the professional boxer Mickey Ward, his brother Dicky Eklund, and is about the inner workings of their family relationship and the result is one of the best David O. Russell movies.
The Social Network
The Social Network has aged so gracefully over the past 10 years and the message of the movie is arguably more relevant now than it was 10 years ago.
The movie is a work of art with every factor being expertly crafted, from Aaron Sorkin’s dialogue driven screenplay, to David Fincher’s toned down directing, to Trent Reznor and Atticus Ross’ icy score, to Jesse Eisenberg’s incredible take on one of the decade’s most deceptive villains, which is why so many fans need a sequel.
Black Swan
The follow up to Darren Aronofsky’s fairly straightforward The Wrestler (straightforward as far as Aronofsky movies go, anyway) Black Swan was a return to the strange psychological and emotionally exhausting style that the director became known for.
Black Swan is an extremely alternative take on Tchaikovsky’s Swan Lake and, thanks in part to Natalie Portman’s performance, is one of the most mind blowing psychological thrillers of the 2010s.
Kick-Ass
Before the foul-mouthed, machete swinging Deadpool stormed the screen in 2016, there was another superhero that satirized and played on the tropes of the superhero genre.
At the time, Kick-Ass was unlike any other superhero movie, as it parodied the idea of superheroes but still completely respected the material, and it’s still one of the best vigilante movies ever made. If it wasn’t for the success of Kick-Ass, Deadpool and The Boys probably wouldn’t have even been put into development.
Get Him To The Greek
Jason Segel’s mightily underrated Forgetting Sarah Marshall (in which he plays The Muppet Show theme tune on the piano while crying) was successful enough to spawn a sequel.
Get Him To The Greek stars Russell Brand as the rock-star sex icon Aldous Snow, and it’s a worthy follow up to Forgetting Sarah Marshall. It may be even better thanks to it’s supporting cast, which includes Jonah Hill and P. Diddy.
Toy Story 3
Though it was inevitable, it was almost looked like Toy Story 3 was never going to happen, as there was such a long time between Toy Story 2 and the third movie.
However, when it arrived in 2010, it made fully grown adults cry even more than the children. It’s an incredible kids’ movie with visuals that movies today can’t even compete with. It carries some weighty themes such as mortality, and it’s of the rare sequels that’s better than the original.
Buried
Not many people knew about Buried upon it’s release, as the movie only made $20 million worldwide, but given it’s minuscule $2 million budget, the movie was a huge success.
In the time since, it has built up a reputation of being one of the most overlooked movies of the decade, as the whole film takes place inside a coffin with the whole 90 minutes keeping the viewer’s attention. Even though it isn’t very well known, Buried is one of Reynold’s best movies according to Rotten Tomatoes.
Jack Ass 3D
Though 3D is highly divisive among cinephiles and, at its peak in the early 2010s, it arguably ruined the experience of many movies, if there’s any movie that’s perfect for 3D, it’s Jackass.
Not only does the movie use the 3D well, as Johnny Knoxville being rammed by a bull has never looked better, but the stunts were on another level compared to the first two movies too. With a fourth movie currently in production, Jackass 3D is going to be hard to top.
Due Date
In between shooting two of the most successful comedies of the 21st century, The Hangover and The Hangover Part II, Todd Phillips directed this low key road trip movie starring Robert Downey Jr. and Zack Galifinakis.
Due Date is one big homage to John Hughes’ Planes, Trains and Automobiles and though the director has plenty of comedies under his belt, this one might be his most underrated.
Blue Valentine
Blue Valentine is almost an anti-romantic comedy, as the movie cuts between the past and the present, showing the same couple’s relationship in it’s fruition and years later after they’ve had children.
It’s a depressing movie, but one of the most original and realistic dramas about relationships. Ryan Gosling and Michelle Williams play the roles perfectly, and with an amazing score from the indie band Grizzly Bear, the movie has a beautiful audiovisual aesthetic too.