We’re close to halfway through the 2020s and over 200 readers voted on the best films of the decade, so far. As you can see from the resulting list (below), despite a pandemic, multiple strikes and Hollywood’s fixation with IP, there was still plenty of worthy films to choose from.
Todd Field’s “Tár” was the runaway winner — it beat out Christopher Nolan’s “Oppenheimer” (#2) by 10 votes and Jonathan Glazer’s “The Zone of Interest” (#3) was the next highest vote getter. One thing I notice was how all three films have parallels to today’s world and can be seen as topical statements.
As expected, some of out readers are still championing Damien Chazelle’s “Babylon” (#17) Ari Aster’s “Beau is Afraid,” (#21) and Andrew Dominik’s “Blonde” (#22). These are three films that were ill-received by critics, but have still managed to find a passionate base of fans who absolutely swear by their brilliance.
It should be noted that “Dune: Part II” hadn’t even been released yet when the ballots started coming in on Tuesday. Denis Villeneuve’s sci-fi sequel still managed to get an impressive 10 votes, most likely from people who had gone to the preview screenings of the film on Sunday and Thursday.
RESULTS
1) Tár (Todd Field) 59 votes
2) Oppenheimer (Christopher Nolan) 49
3) The Zone of Interest (Jonathan Glazer) 44
4) Aftersun (Charlotte Wells) 38
5) The Banshees of Inisherin (Martin Mcdonagh) 37
6) Killers of the Flower Moon (Martin Scorsese) 36
7) Drive My Car (Ryusuke Hamaguchi) 34
8) The Worst Person in the World (Joachim Trier) 24
9) Past Lives (Céline Song) 21
10) Power of the Dog (Jane Campion) 21
11) Licorice Pizza (Paul Thomas Anderson) 20
12) Poor Things (Yorgos Lanthimos) 20
13) Red Rocket (Sean Baker) 19
14) Everything Everywhere All At Once (The Daniels) 18
15) I’m Thinking of Ending Things (Charlie Kaufman) 17
16) Top Gun: Maverick (Joseph Kosinski) 16
17) Babylon (Damien Chazelle) 16
18) Holdovers (Alexander Payne) 16
19) Another Round (Thomas Vinterberg) 16
20) The Father (Florian Zeller) 15
21) Beau is Afraid (Ari Aster) 15
22) Blonde ((Andrew Dominik) 14
23) Dune (Denis Villeneuve) 14
24) The Fabelmans (Steven Spielberg) 14
25) Pacifiction (Albert Serra) 13
26) The Boy and the Heron (Hayao Miyazaki) 13
27) Bones and All (Luca Guadagnino) 13
28) The Green Knight (David Lowery) 12
29) Anatomy of A Fall (Justine Triet) 12
30) Asteroid City (Wes Anderson) 12
While Alfonso Cuarón directed “Disclaimer,” a 2024 Apple TV series, the Mexican-born filmmaker hasn’t helmed a feature film in nearly eight years, not since his Oscar-winning “Roma” in 2018.