Best of the Decade Part 4

[AlmostAGhost 2718]

Now that Paul & Amy have gone deep on their favorite films of the 2010s, they're ready to hear from everyone else!

This week they finish off Unspooled's Best of the Decade miniseries with picks from Patton Oswalt, Sarah Silverman, Leslye Headland, Seth Rogan, Adam McKay, Jenna Fischer, Jorma Taccone, Rob Huebel, Emily V. Gordon, Justin Roiland, LeVar Burton, Janet Varney, Felicia Day, Michael Weber, Conan O'Brien, Bendavid Grabinski, and the Unspooled listeners. Plus: Engineer Devon & Producer Josh get on mic for their own Top 10 films of the decade.

Next week we return to the AFI list with Dr. Strangelove - pitch us your "Dr. Strange___" movie! Call the Unspooled voicemail line at 747-666-5824 with your answer.

Follow us on Twitter @Unspooled, get more info at unspooledpod.com and don't forget to rate, review & subscribe to us on Apple Podcasts.

[ol' eddy wrecks 212]

I listened to the episode this morning, so I've already forgotten what exactly were on Devon's & Josh's lists.  I just remember Adam McKay had the same film of the decade as me (The Act of Killing) - go figure.

It was hard getting it down to 10 and there were some definite mental debates I had, but the following 5 (unranked) seemed to be the definites on the list (with the exception of The Look of Silence, but only because The Act of Killing was already there, but the more I thought about it, the more I felt it needed to be there):

The Act of Killing + The Look of Silence: I'm surprised both Amy and Adam look at it and feel some hope because one of the killers felt remorse at the end.  I mean, it was one killer, and it was more anguish as he started to be able to imagine what it must have been like for the people he killed (and it was mentioned before he was having issues sleeping), but for the most part, I came away thinking, that the people who did this are not going to have any type of mea-culpa about this.  The fact that so many of the people in the credits are listed as anonymous emphasizes that.

The Master: Rather than take Amy Adams as The Master, I took the movie to be a reflection on such things as religion, and its role in society.  Such as to give focus and direction to those in society who desperately lack it and the responsibility to do so - even if the foundation of it all is made up.  And the rituals, people, and ideas (and ideas of people) we willingly subjugate ourselves to in order to get that direction.

It's Such a Beautiful Day (aka The Everything will be Okay trilogy, or The Billogy (another Don Hertzeldt animated short, World of Tomorrow was mentioned on the podcast - 16 minute animated short on Vimeo). I don't know if this counts as part of this decade since I think the first two parts of the trilogy came out last decade.  However, the third part, and the release as one complete film happened this decade.  This movie gives me a weird emotional gut punch of acceptance and hope in the third chapter that it became something I found myself returning to not infrequently (the short runtime, roughly one hour probably helped).  World of Tomorrow starts of stronger, and has its second chapter (mentioned in the podcast), but it's clear there's still another chapter to go, and until that happens, and I see it, I prefer It's Such a Beautiful Day.  World of Tomorrow starts off stronger in its first chapter.

Inside Llewyn Davis: I feel like I have a much more depressing take on this than producer-Josh (I think it was).  But I'm running out of time and need to go to bed.

Next set of movies to round out the top 10:

• Under the Skin (I'm surprised Paul was surprised by people mentioning this one a lot.  Lots of people loved this movie when it came out)
• Berberian Sound Studio
• Sorry to Bother You
• The Death of Stalin
• Moonlight

Just missed the cut (and were in my original top 13 which I couldn't pare down until now)

• Greenberg
• Anomalisa
• Annihilation

I will say as someone who owns both Kill List and A Field in England (but I own more movies than I should) - Kill List is a lot more accessible.  A Field in England is more like... The Lighthouse in terms of opaqueness - but with much thicker accents - but with the outfits of The Witch.  I can't tell clothes apart.

[AlmostAGhost 2718]

I wrote down all the suggestions from this episode.

Producer Josh's list
Honorable mention: Avengers: Endgame
10. Under The Silver Lake
9. Lady Bird
8. Snowpiercer
7. Phantom Thread
6. The Grand Budapest Hotel
5. Black Swan
4. Paterson
3. Moonlight
2. Mother
1. Inside Llewyn Davis

Engineer Devon's list
Honorable mention: '71 
10. Four Lions
9. Scott Pilgrim vs. The World
8. A Field In England
7. The Master
6. Under The Skin
5. The Raid 2
4. Raw
3. Moonlight
2. Lady Bird
1. Phantom Thread

Paul's Famous Friends

Jorma Taccone: Attack The Block

Leslye Headland: John Wick, Mad Max: Fury Road, Black Swan

Adam McKay: The Act of Killing

Michael Weber: World of Tomorrow

Conan O'Brien: Bone Tomahawk

Levar Burton: Get Out

Jenna Fisher: Bridesmaids

Felicia Day: What We Do In The Shadows

Janet Varney: Under the Skin

Patton Oswalt: Mad Max: Fury Road

Ike Barinholtz: Mad Max: Fury Road

(someone who didn't say his name): Mad Max: Fury Road

Seth Rogan: Mad Max: Fury Road

Sarah Silverman: Bridesmaids, Wolf of Wall Street, Brittany Runs A Marathon, Beautiful Day in the Neighborhood

Justin Roiland: Her

Emily Gordon: Would You Be My Neighbor?, Get Out, Phantom Thread, The Babadook

Rob Huebel: The Lobster, La La Land

Bendavid Grabinski: Mandy, MacGruber, Mad Max: Fury Road

listener calls 

Shaun the Sheep, Cabin in the Woods, About Time, You're Next, Shame, Coco
Swiss Army Man, Pitch Perfect, Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy, Arrival
First Reformed, Upstream Color, Detroit, Birdman, Killing Them Softly, Her, Her

[ol' eddy wrecks 212]

Between Lady Bird and Eighth Grade, I'll mention in terms of coming of age stories, while probably not a best of the decade, but We Are The Best! was a lot of fun and pretty good. So, if you liked those other two movies, you might want to check it out if you haven't seen it. /random thought of movie from past decade coming to mind. 

[Nova 1]

THANK YOU for listing those out @AlmostAGhost - I was making a list of the ones I hadn't seen, but this is a lot better. 

I'm not sure what my Top 10 would be yet, but now I do want to make a list and hopefully narrow it down to that many. I was glad Under the Silver Lake got some love and that would be up there in at least the top 20 for me. The person who first recommended that movie to me also threw me some other gems over the last couple of years, and because of that I'd have to throw in A Ghost Story into my top bunch as well. That is a movie I VIOLENTLY cried through. There's sobbing, there's ugly crying and there's whatever the fuck this movie made me do which was akin to convulsing my way through an existential crisis. 

[taylor anne photo 11311]

I find it very interesting how many movies have come up that aren't American productions. Raw is a purely French film, Shame is purely British produced, and I'm curious about What We Do in the Shadows because it has only New Zealand production money until suddenly I see Funny or Die listed as a company that produced it. Does that make it an American production as well at that point?

My only reasoning for bringing this up is that while we are honoring what we all view as the best of the decade, the point of the show for me would be to honor the best of the decade that has the ability to make it onto the AFI list. If I misunderstood the point of this episode, or misheard a disclaimer then by all means shut me up lol, but the fun of this for me is figuring out what is the best of American cinema in this decade.

[ol' eddy wrecks 212]

43 minutes ago, taylor anne photo said:

I find it very interesting how many movies have come up that aren't American productions. Raw is a purely French film, Shame is purely British produced, and I'm curious about What We Do in the Shadows because it has only New Zealand production money until suddenly I see Funny or Die listed as a company that produced it. Does that make it an American production as well at that point?

My only reasoning for bringing this up is that while we are honoring what we all view as the best of the decade, the point of the show for me would be to honor the best of the decade that has the ability to make it onto the AFI list. If I misunderstood the point of this episode, or misheard a disclaimer then by all means shut me up lol, but the fun of this for me is figuring out what is the best of American cinema in this decade.

I noted this as well (because my best film of the decade isn't eligible for the list - both foreign and a documentary).

I think Amy & Paul stuck to that criteria (or tried to) during their episodes (going year-by-year). e.g. When they mentioned Raw, it was as an "extra movie, but not choice because it's French and therefore not eligible for the list."

When asking guests their best movie of the decade, it's not surprising they didn't bother to adhere to AFI list criteria/probably weren't told/didn't care/etc.

I suspect Josh and Devon, in not sticking to the AFI criteria for their lists, probably just ignored it, since they already have their top 100 (or whatever) for the decade which already takes a lot of effort, and imposing "American-only" seems like an arbitrary restriction when talking about the best films you've seen this decade (e.g. imagine being someone who does a best-of list, and then asked, "oh by the way, can you choose just the films eligible for the AFI list." It'd feel like something was lost.  That's just my 2 cents.)

[ol' eddy wrecks 212]

Slight addendum to my previous post: looking at Producer Josh's list, it does look like it's purely US films.

[GrahamS. 803]

Hi there! I know I’m late to the party, but...

Here are two films from the 2010s that weren’t mentioned at all in the episodes.  both really struck a chord with me. Both of these films I saw three times in the theater and would add to best of the decade.

Guardians of the Galaxy. It is—by far—my favorite of the Marvel movies (although I really like Black Panther) because it helped me through a time in my life when I was really depressed. It is a goofy popcorn flick, but also has a genuine emotional core that gives it an additional layer that most Marvel films don’t have for me. Chris Pratt’s speech about the group being bound together through loss is a genuinely moving speech for me. It has a place in my heart right next to the original Star Wars trilogy because of that speech, and maybe even surpasses it, because I can’t think of a speech in Star Wars that is as well-written. 
 

I, Tonya. I did not expect this film to be as good as it was. You could accuse it of being too indebted to Scorsese, but the film transcends that comparison (in my opinion) because it found it’s own footing by just being really fucking well-made, from its amazing acting to its multiple POV narrative, writing, directing, etc. it’s a film that succeeded in showing how willing we are to write people off as one-dimensional, when real-life is much more complicated. And honestly, I liked it way better than Scorsese’s The Wolf of Wall Street (which I think is 90 minutes of a great movie, thirty minutes of a good one, then an hour of diminishing returns).

That’s my belated two cents, for what it’s worth!

[sycasey 2.0 2301]

44 minutes ago, GrahamS. said:

Guardians of the Galaxy. It is—by far—my favorite of the Marvel movies (although I really like Black Panther) because it helped me through a time in my life when I was really depressed. It is a goofy popcorn flick, but also has a genuine emotional core that gives it an additional layer that most Marvel films don’t have for me. Chris Pratt’s speech about the group being bound together through loss is a genuinely moving speech for me. It has a place in my heart right next to the original Star Wars trilogy because of that speech, and maybe even surpasses it, because I can’t think of a speech in Star Wars that is as well-written. 

I said at the time that Guardians of the Galaxy was the best Star Wars movie since the OT. I love it.