Revisiting My 2009-2015 Top 10 Lists

Chris recently decided to revisit his best of the year lists to see if he still felt the same, and I thought it was such a wonderful idea that I had to do it too.

I started my blog in 2009 and I decided to only go as far back as 2015, because I feel everything after that is still pretty fresh in my mind and wouldn't change. 

I learned a lot putting this together. Mainly how cringy it is reading my first few years of posts. 😂 I was also kind of surprised at how much my opinions have changed on a few of these films. I really don't miss the time in my life where I lived in the middle of nowhere and only had access to wide release films. Let's jump in and see how much has changed. I'll try not to make this too long.



2009
My Top 10 - Harry Potter and the Half Blood Prince, An Education, Coraline, Precious, Star Trek, Moon, Up in the Air, District 9, Inglorious Basterds, (500) Days of Summer

What stays - Up in the Air, Inglorious Basterds, (500) Days of Summer, Moon, An Education, Precious

What changes - The Cake-Eaters, Trick r' Treat, Dogtooth, A Single Man

You can really tell I missed out on a lot of indies this year. Thirst, Lymelife, and Gigantic would be my honorable mentions before any of the other things I had on my top 10. On a side note, I forgot how much I disliked Pixar's Up when that first came out. Man, I was mean about it. That film really grew on me

2010
My Top 10 - Inception, Never Let Me Go, Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part 1, Black Swan, The Social Network, Machete, The Fighter, Fish Tank, Shutter Island, The Kids Are All Right

What stays - Inception, Black Swan, The Social Network, Never Let Me Go, Fish Tank, The Kids Are All Right, Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part 1

What changes - 127 Hours, Blue Valentine, Scott Pilgrim vs The World

I noted in my post at the time that I hadn't seen 127 Hours or Blue Valentine and of course I'd sub those two in. 2010 was such an excellent year for film. Forgive me, Machete. I still think you're amazing. 

2011
My Top 10 - Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part 2, 50/50, Martha Marcy May Marlene, The Descendants, Drive, The Help, Hesher, Hanna, Super, Our Idiot Brother

What stays - Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part 2, 50/50, Martha Marcy May Marlene, Drive, Super

What changes - Pariah, We Need To Talk About Kevin, Take Shelter, Shame, 

lol The Help. The four films I noted missing in my post ended up in my Top 10. I went back and forth with keeping Super or replacing it with Like Crazy, but my Top 10 was already pretty serious. It needs a bit of dark comedy in there. 

2012
My Top 10 - The Dark Knight Rises, Silver Linings Playbook, Argo, Looper, Moonrise Kingdom, Django Unchained, The Master, Seven Psychopaths, The Avengers, The Cabin in the Woods

What stays - Silver Linings Playbook, Looper, Moonrise Kingdom, The Master, Avengers, The Cabin in the Woods, Argo, The Dark Knight Rises

What changes - Take This Waltz, Les Miserables

Damn, this was a weak year. Originally I had Les Mis as an honorable mention but I find that much more re-watchable than Django or Seven Psychopaths. I almost subbed something for Ruby Sparks. Almost.  

2013
My Top 10 - American Hustle, Prisoners, Star Trek Into Darkness, The East, The Hunt, 12 Years a Slave, The Wolf of Wall Street, Blackfish, Stoker, Her

What stays - American Hustle, Prisoners, The Wolf of Wall Street, Her, The Hunt, Star Trek Into Darkness, 12 Years a Slave, Stoker, The East

What changes - Short Term 12

I'm surprised I only changed one thing here. I love Blackfish, I think it's an amazing documentary but when I watch it now I wish I could change a few things to make it more original. 2013 was an excellent year for independent film. The Brass Teapot, What Maisie Knew, Byzantium, Violet and Daisy, Fruitvale Station,  The Spectacular Now,  Ain't Them Bodies Saints, The Conjuring (okay that was a wide release, but it was made for $10.00) Those are all so great. And yes, I still love Star Trek Into Darkness. I don't care about the plot holes. 

2014
My Top 10 - Birdman, Nightcrawler, How To Train Your Dragon 2, Gone Girl, Snowpiercer, The Theory of Everything, Begin Again, The Imitation Game, I Origins,  Whiplash

What stays - Birdman, Nightcrawler, How to Train Your Dragon 2, Gone Girl, Snowpiercer, Begin Again, Whiplash, I Origins

What changes - Camp X-ray, Captain America: The Winter Soldier, 

This was tough, because The Theory of Everything and The Imitation Game are wonderful and perfect examples of when Oscar baity biopics work, but I hadn't seen Camp X-Ray at the time and The Winter Soldier got better and better with each watch. 

2015
My Top 10 - Sicario, The Martian, Ex Machina, It Follows, Spotlight, Room, The Revenant, Star Wars: The Force Awakens, Brooklyn, The Stanford Prison Experiment

What stays - Sicario, The Martian, Ex Machina, Spotlight, Room, Star Wars: The Force Awakens, Brooklyn, 

What changes - Mustang, Avengers: Age of Ultron, Mad Max: Fury Road

At the time I had Age of Ultron as a runner up, but I would rather re-watch that than The Revenant at this point. Mustang I hadn't seen at the the time, and I appreciate Mad Max: Fury Road quite a bit more now then when I first saw it. 

If you're still here, thanks for reading, and big thanks to Chris again for the idea!

Comments

  1. My lists, through my Letterboxd account, changes from time to time as I'm seriously thinking about doing a list of the 500 Best Films of the 2010s likely around 2021 or 2022 but it would be subtitled (take one). Opinions do change as the years go on and through re-watches as what we liked then is something we probably don't like now. This is a good idea.

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    1. Making a list of 500 would be quite the undertaking. I don't know that I could rank something properly like that. Good luck!

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  2. When you revisit this again in 20 yrs it will change again:). I love The Imitation Game but I can’t stand black bird, I mean psycho Swan and I can’t stand The Social Network. There are some I do want to see for sure and, overall, I love your list

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    1. lol Black Swam is amazing though! I'm sure it will change again in 20.

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  3. Awesome post! I envy people who can post a list and never go back to it. Like, what if it changes? lol

    Also, I really need to watch Mustang. Never got around to it.

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    1. Oh I know. Truthfully I never thought of going back and looking until I saw Chris' post.

      Mustang is so good.

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  4. Awesome post! I'd love to do this list, but I don't have my top ten lists from those years. It's fun to see how much our favorites have changed though. 2010 was an incredible year for film.

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    1. You should do something like it with what you have! It was fun.

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  5. Thanks for the shoutout, Brittani. Glad you decided to do this as well. :)

    I can definitely relate to the lack of indies in earlier years. They've thankfully become more widely available around here, but were far fewer and farther between years back.

    Les Mis definitely grew on me as well. Though I didn't mention it in my post, it probably would've bumped up onto my own list that year, too.

    Love the inclusion of Camp X-Ray. I didn't even hear of that movie until about a year or so ago, and it was great!

    Also, I still need to actually get around to Blue Valentine. It's been on my to-watch list forever, but I keep putting it off because I never feel I'm in the right mood for it. XP

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    1. Blue Valentine is so depressing but it's just brilliant. So is Camp X-Ray, that film is extraordinary. I wish I owned it.

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  6. I love this!! Star Trek Into Darkness is a big big fave for me too.

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  7. Omg that last gif hahahaha...never fails to make me lol.

    2011 is when I really got into seeing lots of movies/noting my favorites, but it wasn't until 2012 that I started my blog. I refuse to look that far back...I'm sure my writing is god awful!

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    1. Do it! lol. I'm sure your writing is still amazing, mine left a lot to be desired.

      Also yaasss Wolf of Wall Street. I laughed so hard I nearly cried the first time I saw that.

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  8. This revisiting series seems fun, but I could never do it since I've not compiled a top ten for any year.

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  9. I love doing this every few years, it’s such a fun exercise. Love that Shame got added, as well as, Blue Valentine, We Need To Talk About Kevin, The Wolf of Wall Street, and, well, so many more. Begin Again… that was a movie I didn’t think I’d like, and didn’t even see in 2014. What a shame. That’s a great movie! It'd definitely make my list for that year.

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    1. I still listen to Lost Stars (Keira's version) pretty frequently. I love that song.

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  10. Sorry I'm so late to this post, but I love it. I've also soured on The Help. I've also soured on Age of Ultron, too.

    Yay, Scott Pilgrim and Pariah!

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    1. I think everyone as soured on The Help lol.

      And yes yay to those films! I love them.

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  11. I feel like my lists will change so so much if I would take a look back. I'm even afraid to do so because I'd feel embarrassed about my lists. :D :D

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