Jordan Peele’s Get Out is one of two directorial debuts in my top ten. Peele displayed such an expert command of the medium right out of the gate. I imagine he picked up a lot of these instincts on the set of Key & Peele (where he was a writer but not a director), because that show often toed the same line of comedy and surreal horror.
Yesterday’s film was the most recent on this list, and today’s is the oldest. Toy Story 3 just made the decade cut, premiering in 2010.
2019 provided a nice opportunity to revisit it, given the release of the fourth film in the series. The popular consensus on Toy Story 4 (before anyone saw it) was that it was entirely unnecessary because Toy Story 3 was such a perfect ending for these characters. TS4 ended up being pretty darn great in its own right, managing to find new metaphors to mine for humor and pathos, but it still paled in comparison to this masterpiece.
Alas, we have arrived at the much-anticipated Top Ten films of the 2010s. The top five titles have been cemented in place for awhile, but I’ve been all over the place with the rankings of numbers six through 10. I’ve changed a couple even as I’ve written these posts. But the order is unimportant; what matters is that these ten films spoke to me more than any others over the last decade.
Greta Gerwig’s Little Women is the most recent title on this list. I watched it for the first time on Christmas Day, less than a month ago. But to hell with recency bias, I was so touched and inspired by the film I knew right away it would find a place high on this list.
In lieu of today’s Random Weekend selection, and ahead of my top ten movies of the 2010s kicking off tomorrow, I thought I’d offer up a few thoughts on the Marvel Cinematic Universe.
I considered putting one of the Marvel films on my Top 20. I likely would have gone with Avengers: Endgame and used it as a catchall representing the whole 11-year achievement. I decided not to get cute with just one slot on the list when the rest was honoring individual films. And none of the individual Marvel movies placed in my top five in a given year.
‘Hold That Thought’ is a standout track from Ben Folds Five’s reunion album, 2012’s The Sound of the Life of the Mind.
This track’s vibe sounds a lot like some of Folds’ solo work, such as ‘Jesusland’ from 2005’s Songs From Silverman. But Darren Jesse’s drumming and especially Robert Sledge’s bass work add something that Folds has never been quite able to capture the same way on his own.
Meet Me In Montauk 