If we learned anything from this exhaustive listing exercise it is that there were a lot of great films that came out over the past decade.

The MJ crew has compiled a list of some of our favorite flicks. Hopefully you will stumble upon a new favorite film or maybe uncover one that has been forgotten. Either way, there’s probably one we missed or maybe didn’t get a chance to watch. Luckily, we all the live mantra of “always be watching movies” so we will probably get around to those missed flicks in the next decade. Stay tuned old sport! Until then, feel free to comment below with some of your favorites from the past ten years.

Movies!

1 - Moonlight
Moonlight is a movie that moves in circles - James Laxton’s oscillating camera swirling around a sun-soaked and moon-drenched Miami, Tarrell Alvin McCraney’s characters pulled into and pushing against seemingly inevitable cycles. Barry Jenkins’s masterpiece is, like a circle, both contained and infinite; the smallest gestures carry the weight of the world and reverberate through time. While there are certainly movies that are more expansive, few, if any, so effectively plumb the depths of a specific place, time, and person; depths that are reflected through every aspect of the film. -Ryan Smillie

2 - Call Me By Your Name
Amongst all the very memorable scenes in this heartbreaking beauty, let us never lose our memories of Armie Hammer dancing in his Converse sneakers to The Psychedelic Furs. Possibly my scene of the decade. No fucking joke. -Ashley Jane Carruthers

3 - Cold War
What's so striking is that it's a period piece that doesn't feel like a period piece at all - it actually looks like it was made during the 1950's. Director Pawel Pawlikowski has a knack for nailing this type of period specificity (see his 2013 Ida for further confirmation). One of the most beautiful, striking, heartbreaking love stories perhaps of all time. -Jaime Davis, The Fixer

4 - Get Out
Every scene, every line of dialogue in Get Out is so careful. The feeling of watching a movie and knowing that you’re a human being sitting in a seat watching a movie is the moment the magic goes away. That never happens in Get Out. Just thinking about the scene where Rose fumbles for the keys makes me so mad! -Audrey Callerstrom

5 - Parasite
Parasite makes me want to grab a long-haul flight to Korea, find Bong Joon-ho, and make him be my best friend. Well, I won't have to make him - it's destiny! We both like coffee and food and movies so it's a no-brainer. The first thing we're going to do as friends is have a super fun slumber party at a dope house somewhere in Gangnam in Seoul. We're gonna watch movies and stay up late and gab about Tilda Swinton and eat Cheetos and Take 5's, the best snacks in the world. It's gonna be awesome and I'd invite you but he's my bestie now - too bad so sad! -Jaime Davis, The Fixer

6 - Blindspotting

Blindspotting might be the freshest film of the decade. It tackled America's glaring issues with racism, gentrification, a broken criminal justice system, and other modern problems and still made managed to be incredibly entertaining, fun, and hopeful. This is ostensibly a story of two best friends (written by and starring real life pals Daveed Diggs and Rafael Casal) at a crossroads in their friendship. This film has some incredibly funny moments, but it also has some of the most intense moments I saw on film all decade.
-Ian Hrabe

7 - Leave No Trace
Beautiful, fascinating, and challenging, reminding me once again that Ben Foster is a national treasure undamaged by the stardom he may deserve but has never received. Thomasin’s performance was heart-breaking, and Debra’s direction and script were absolutely pitch perfect. As an aspiring one-day father, I found it especially worthwhile as a meditation on mental health, and how one’s own can affect your ability to mold another. Incredible film.-Bryan Aiken

8 - Carol
Shout out to our lord Todd Haynes for making me gayer with his sensitive and beautiful portrayal of a chance meeting leading to a deep, albeit complicated love story between two women in 1950s New York. Bonus: a lesbian movie without a sad ending! -Ashley Jane Carruthers

9 - Frances Ha
Frances Ha follows Frances (Greta Gerwig) and her friendship with Sophie (Mickey Summer). Sophie has a cushion that allows her to live the New York lifestyle she wants; Frances does not. It’s about that awkward stage in your twenties when you throw things at the wall to see what sticks. -Audrey Callerstrom

10 - The Wind Rises
Hayao Miyazaki’s intended farewell to his animation days is more sombre than his earlier work, but remains optimistic in a cruel world, and is possibly the most subtly beautiful work in his filmography both visually and narratively. Jiro may as well be a stand in for the director himself, though with a darker twist: a quiet artist with a love for the world, forced to work in a cruel industry that distorts his creations and uses them as tools of destruction. Strangely, he managed to summarise the core message of this film in Princess Mononoke, a movie made almost 15 years earlier: ‘Life is suffering. It is hard. The world is cursed. But still, you find reasons to keep living’. -Zoe Crombie

11 - A Star is Born
I really didn’t think I needed yet another Star in my life. Turns out I did. This re-telling offers stunning musical performances, real emotions and, hopefully, the story of the way my future adopted parents met (Coop and Gaga, obviously). -Ashley Jane Carruthers

12 - Atomic Blonde
What's not to love about Charlize Theron thoroughly kicking everyone's ass with the most stylish assortment of coats in a movie this past decade? -Jaime Davis, The Fixer

13 - Melancholia
I realize that saying a performance leaves you “weak in the knees” is a hackneyed turn of phrase, but that’s how I felt after seeing Kirsten Dunst in Melancholia. I felt seen. The second film in Lars Von Trier’s “Depression Trilogy” follows a depressed Dunst as she limps her way through her wedding and eventually into the apocalypse. When she tries to eat meatloaf, she remarks that it “tastes like ash.” That’s depression! -Audrey Callerstrom

14 - Moonrise Kingdom
Wes Anderson has always had an eye toward the fantastic, but this New England isle feels more like somewhere that could exist in a way that Steve Zissou’s boat or even the Tenenbaum’s New York never could. Part of it is his eye for detail: maps, distances, and even books created for the film all add an air of reality to this otherwise fable-like story helping us suspend disbelief, creating enough data points to anchor oneself in this world. The blend here is perfect, and this remains one of Anderson's best films, capturing the feeling of youth in summer the way it ought to be. -Ryan Silberstein

15 - We Need To Talk About Kevin
We need to talk about the stunning performances in this, most notably from Tilda Swinton and Ezra Miller. We need to talk about how amazing Lynne Ramsay is a director and her way of deftly tackling such devastating subject matter. We need to talk about how this movie is so believable and raw, I've had a very hard time rewatching. -Jaime Davis, The Fixer

16 - The Social Network
“The Internet’s not written in pencil, Mark. It’s written in ink.” How is that line nine years old? I think about it all the time. -Audrey Callerstrom

17 - If Beale Street Could Talk
Simply the film that spoke to my heart the most in this entire decade. It hurt, again in a different way from the main point of the film - but it made me feel hopeful, and made me feel empathy in a whole new way. It impressed upon me the need to fight for who I love, to never give up, and to be patient.
-Ashley Jane Carruthers

18 - Inside Llewyn Davis
Llewyn is both the protagonist and antagonist of his own story. If he would ask for help, or stop acting like a jerk, most of his problems would probably go away. But from beginning to end, he is getting in his own way. It's a beautiful funny moving portrait of grief with a soundtrack that transcends the folk genre.
-Ryan Silberstein

19- La La Land
This was a movie for dreamers who dream. I loved the visual style, the romance, and the message that even when it seems hopeless, you’ve got to keep pursuing your goals. -Liz Locke

20 - The Boy
I'm afraid to rewatch this because I don't think it'll stand up as well to repeat viewings but I've rarely enjoyed a movie's final reel more. -Hunter Bush

21 - You Were Never Really Here
The Lynne Ramsay masterpiece You Were Never Really Here isn’t talked about enough. In a decade of strong Joaquin Phoenix performances, hands down the one I champion. -Ashley Jane Carruthers

22 - Baby Driver
Baby Driver is a musical where no one sings. Ansel Elgort plays “Baby,” an orphan who supports his foster father by driving around for criminals. When Baby dances around to Beck’s “Debra” (on vinyl!) I knew this film was made for me. -Audrey Callerstrom

23 - Stoker
Stoker is set in the modern day with a mid-twentieth century aesthetic, but death hangs over our protagonist India. -Fiona Underhill

24 - The Girl Without Hands
A beautifully animated labor of love. -Hunter Bush

25 - The Master
What sticks with me most is the sense of post-war ennui that feeds right into our worst impulses. And the great performances. -Ryan Silberstein

26 - The Shape Of Water
Del Toro best balances his yin-yang impulses to be both popular and eccentric in this film. Meshing fairy tale and 1950s monster movies works well, given that both genres are fundamentally about fear and caution, though del Toro wisely uses the framework to celebrate outcasts and monsters rather than conformity. -Ryan Silberstein

27 - Whiplash
Who knew a fairly simple story about a boy and his drums would be so...intense. And so thoroughly, creepily engaging. -Jaime Davis, The Fixer

28 - Anomalisa
At its core, Anamolisa is the struggle to reconcile the human brain with the human heart. While most art touches on some aspect of this dichotomy, Kaufman’s work is uniquely attuned to approach it head-on, reminding us that these struggles are universal, even when we feel at our most alone. -Ryan Silberstein

29 - Before Midnight
Richard Linklater concludes(?) the Before trilogy with this film, an examination on what happens to romance as we age. I say “we” because I see myself in this couple. In their fights, in their conversations, in how they make up, in how they parent. Will Linklater make another one? I hope he will, because I want to know what to expect.- Audrey Callerstrom

30 - Florida Project
The Florida Project, is a story reminiscent of The Little Rascals. A gang of friends, roaming the neighborhood, going on adventures and at times getting into a bit of mischief. -Rosalie Kicks, Old Sport

31 - Snowpiercer
A train at the end of the world. As much as class warfare tickles the mind, we're all cars chained together being pulled by the engine that is capitalism. -Ryan Silberstein

32 - The Founder
A tremendous performance from Michael Keaton that I find endlessly entertaining.-Hunter Bush

33 - A Girl Walks Home Alone at Night
The black and white cinematography is stunning. And combined with the soundtrack and story, create a wonderful blend of mood and blend of Western/Vampire/romance genres. -Ryan Silberstein

34 - Captain America Civil War
The best Avengers movie. -Hunter Bush

35 - Diary of a Teenage Girl
The animation and artwork for the film was done by Sara Gunnarsdottir and they illuminate this groundbreaking depiction of a teen girl’s sexuality. -Fiona Underhill

36 - Inception
This time, the heist is all in the mind! A great mashup of genres, imaginative action, and an emotional core make this both pulpier and more original than your average action thriller. Non, je ne regrette rien.
-Ryan Silberstein

37 - Let the Fire Burn
Remember that time Philadelphia dropped a bomb on its own citizens? This is a relatively balanced documentary discussing the MOVE bombing of the 80s. -Benjamin Leonard, Best Boy

38 - Mad Max: Fury Road
What's not to love about Charlize Theron thoroughly kicking everyone's ass (but mostly Tom Hardy's) with the most stylish shaved head in a movie this past decade? -Jaime Davis, The Fixer

39 - Raw
Smart, shocking horror that examines primal instincts. How far are you willing to go to be yourself? How far are you willing to go to hide it? -Ashley Jane Carruthers

40 - Burning
Chang-dong Lee’s slow burn pacing near masterful, the muted cinematography a beautiful contrast to the main character's all-consuming distress. The acting throughout is raw and real and pulls you into this world so fully - at the end, while I was ready to get the hell out, I was somewhat sad to say goodbye to these characters. -Jaime Davis, The Fixer