The 2010s ended five years ago and began (somehow!) 14 years ago, so enough time has passed to assess the film industry's output in that decade. Some movies released in the 2010s were immediately recognized as classics, including Moonlight, which was celebrated by critics and audiences and won the Academy Award for Best Picture. Other films were well-received at the time and have only become more praised in the time that's passed since their release.
Of course, awards and Rotten Tomatoes scores aren't the only indicators of how great a film is, but they are convenient gauges. Below, you'll find 25 of the best movies of the 2010s, as well as how they fared with awards bodies and critics. How many have you seen?
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1 | Moonlight (2016)
Accolades: Oscars for Best Picture, Best Supporting Actor (Mahershala Ali), and Best Adapted Screenplay
Rotten Tomatoes score: 98 percent
The Best Picture winner of 2017, Moonlight is a coming-of-age story from director Barry Jenkins. It checks in on the same person, Chiron, at three different stage of life: as a little boy (Alex R. Hibbert), a teenager (Ashton Sanders), and an adult (Trevante Rhodes). Chiron, who is gay, struggles with his sexual identity, with his friend Kevin (Jaden Piner, Jharrel Jerome, André Holland) who he has feelings for, and with his relationship with his mother (Naomie Harris), who is addicted to drugs.
2 | Parasite (2019)
Accolades: Oscars for Best Picture, Best Director, Best Original Screenplay, and Best International Feature
Rotten Tomatoes score: 99 percent
Parasite, directed by Bong Joon-ho, is a comedy-thriller about class. A poor family infiltrate the lives of a wealthy family by working for them in various roles, including the brother (Choi Woo-shik) becoming a tutor and the father (Song Kang-ho) becoming a driver. They then learn that they're not the only ones who had this idea when they find a husband (Park Myung-hoon) and wife (Lee Jung-eun) hiding in the family's basement.
3 | Get Out (2017)
Accolades: Oscar for Best Original Screenplay; nominations for Best Picture, Best Director, and Best Actor (Daniel Kaluuya)
Rotten Tomatoes score: 98 percent
Comedian Jordan Peele made a name for himself as a horror director with 2017's Get Out. It follows Chris (Daniel Kaluuya), a Black man who goes to visit his white girlfriend Rose's (Allison Williams) family only to find that they're up to some truly disturbing stuff. The film is about race, and wealth, and getting out of a scary situation as fast as you possibly can.
4 | Roma (2018)
Accolades: Oscar for Best Director, Best International Feature, and Best Cinematography; nomination for Best Picture
Rotten Tomatoes score: 96 percent
Alfonso Cuarón's Roma is inspired by his own childhood growing up in the Roma neighborhood of Mexico City. The film is set in the early 1970s and is centered around Cleo (Yalitza Aparicio), a maid for an upper class family. It explores her relationships with the family members, including mother Sofía (Marina de Tavira), as well as her unplanned pregnancy, with all of the action set against the historical events of Mexico City at the time, including El Halconazo, a massacre of college student protestors.
5 | The Social Network (2010)
Accolades: Oscar for Best Original Screenplay, Best Original Score, and Best Film Editing; nominations for Best Picture and Best Director
Rotten Tomatoes score: 96 percent
The Social Network dramatizes the creation of Facebook with Jesse Eisenberg starring as college-aged Mark Zuckerberg. The David Fincher film also details the legal and personal disputes the social media site caused, including Tyler and Cameron Winklevoss (Armie Hammer) claiming Zuckerberg stole their idea and site co-founder Eduardo Saverin (Andrew Garfield) arguing that he was cut out of his share of the profits.
6 | Portrait of a Lady on Fire (2019)
Accolades: Nomination for Palme d'Or at Cannes Film Festival; named 30th Greatest Film of All Time on 2022 Sight and Sound list
Rotten Tomatoes score: 97 percent
Director Céline Sciamma's Portrait of a Lady on Fire is a love story between two women in 18th century France. Héloïse (Adèle Haenel) is a wealthy young woman set to marry a man she hasn't met, while Marianne (Noémie Merlant) is an artist sent to paint a portrait of Héloïse to be sent to her future husband. In the process, the two fall for each other, knowing that their happiness is temporary.
7 | Boyhood (2014)
Accolades: Oscar for Best Supporting Actress (Patricia Arquette); nominations for Best Picture, Best Director, and Best Original Screenplay
Rotten Tomatoes score: 97 percent
Boyhood set itself apart thanks to how it was filmed: Richard Linklater shot the movie over 12 years with the same actors returning each time production started back up. Ellar Coltrane stars as Mason, the boy whose adolescence is the focus of the film, while Patricia Arquette and Ethan Hawke play his divorced parents.
8 | Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse (2018)
Accolades: Oscar for Best Animated Feature
Rotten Tomatoes score: 97 percent
A number of Spider-Man movies have been released over the years, but Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse—directed by Bob Persichetti, Peter Ramsey, and Rodney Rothman—brings something different to the mythology. The animated film is designed to look like a comic book come to life and focused on the Miles Morales (Shameik Moore) rather than the usual Peter Parker. Peter Parker does show up, though, as do many other Spider-Men, since this version is also about multiple universes.
9 | Ex Machina (2015)
Accolades: Oscar for Best Visual Effects; nomination for Best Original Screenplay
Rotten Tomatoes score: 92 percent
Alex Garland's Ex Machina is a sci-fi film about a wealthy tech CEO named Nathan (Oscar Isaac), who creates a human-like robot he calls Ava (Alicia Vikander). Nathan invites one of his employees, Caleb (Domhnall Gleeson), to spend time at his home and to test Ava's ability to behave like a human. Things take a dramatic and thrilling turn when Caleb and Ava bond and begin to turn against Nathan.
10 | Inside Out (2015)
Accolades: Oscar for Best Animated Feature; nomination for Best Original Screenplay
Rotten Tomatoes score: 98 percent
Inside Out, directed by Pete Docter, shows how the emotions inside of an 11-year-old girl named Riley (Kaitlyn Dias) react to the major life change of her family moving to a new state. The Pixar film is a unique and warm way of teaching children about psychology and feelings with a voice cast that includes Amy Poehler as Joy, Mindy Kaling as Disgust, and Bill Hader as Fear.
11 | Lady Bird (2017)
Accolades: Oscar nominations including Best Picture, Best Director, and Best Actress (Saoirse Ronan)
Rotten Tomatoes score: 99 percent
Lady Bird is inspired by director Greta Gerwig's time growing up in Sacramento, California. Saoirse Ronan stars as a high school senior who goes by Lady Bird and can't wait to leave her home to hopefully attend college on the east coast. In the meantime, she has complicated relationships with her mother (Laurie Metcalf), friends—including best friend Julie (Beanie Feldstein)—and crushes, such as a popular boy played by Timothée Chalamet.
12 | Mad Max: Fury Road (2015)
Accolades: Oscar wins including Best Film Editing and Best Production Design; nominations including Best Picture and Best Director
Rotten Tomatoes score: 97 percent
A fourth film joined the Mad Max action franchise 30 years after the third with 2015's Mad Max: Fury Road. Tom Hardy takes on the character Max Rockatansky, who was previously played by Mel Gibson. Like the other movies in the series from George Miller, it's about a post-apocalyptic world in which Mad Max wanders through the desert, coming across potential allies and enemies, as everyone struggles to survive. Charlize Theron co-stars as breakout character Imperator Furiosa.
13 | 12 Years a Slave (2013)
Accolades: Oscars for Best Picture, Best Supporting Actress (Lupita Nyong'o), and Best Adapted Screenplay
Rotten Tomatoes score: 95 percent
Steve McQueen's12 Years a Slave is based on the 1853 memoir of the same name by Solomon Northup. The Best Picture winner tells Northup's (Chiwetel Ejiofor) true story of being a free Black man in New York kidnapped and sold into slavery in Louisiana. Over 12 years, Northup fights for his freedom and to return to his family.
14 | Her (2013)
Accolades: Oscar for Best Original Screenplay; nominations for Best Picture and Best Original Score
Rotten Tomatoes score: 95 percent
Joaquin Phoenix stars in Spike Jonze's sci-fi romance Her as Theodore, a man who falls in love with an AI personal assistant named Samantha (Scarlett Johansson), who he connects with only as a voice from his smartphone. Their relationships grows increasingly complex—first, because Theodore is an actual human and Samantha is not real, and then as Samantha gains more and more intelligence.
15 | Carol (2015)
Accolades: Oscar nominations for Best Picture, Best Actress (Cate Blanchett), and Best Supporting Actress (Rooney Mara)
Rotten Tomatoes score: 94 percent
Based the Patricia Highsmith novel The Price of Salt, Todd Haynes'Carol is a romance set in the 1950s. Cate Blanchett stars as the titular character, a well-off woman going through a divorce from her husband, Harge (Kyle Chandler). After she meets Therese (Rooney Mara) at a department store, they begin an affair. When Harge finds out, he threatens to use Carol's sexuality to prevent her from seeing their child and the strength of Carol and Therese's connection is challenged.
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16 | Coco (2017)
Accolades: Oscars for Best Animated Feature and Best Original Song
Rotten Tomatoes score: 97 percent
Pixar's Coco, directed by Lee Unkrich, is about a young boy named Miguel (Anthony Gonzalez), who wants to learn why his family bans has banned music from their lives in the hopes of the strict rule changing. During Day of the Dead festivities, Miguel accidentally ends up in the Land of the Dead, where he meets a guide named Héctor (Gael García Bernal) and learns the truth about his musical heritage.
17 | 20 Feet From Stardom (2013)
Accolades: Oscar for Best Documentary Feature
Rotten Tomatoes score: 99 percent
The documentary 20 Feet from Stardom tells the stories of the backup singers for some of the biggest musical acts of all time, including the Rolling Stones, Tina Turner, Sam Cooke, Elvis Presley, and Michael Jackson. Some of the singers, including Darlene Love, made names for themselves on their own, while others were either happy being in the background or struggled to break out as artists. The film is directed by Morgan Neville.
18 | Inside Llewyn Davis (2013)
Accolades: Winner of Grand Prix at Cannes Film Festival; Oscar nominations for Best Cinematography and Best Sound Mixing
Rotten Tomatoes score: 92 percent
Oscar Isaac stars as the titular folk musician in Joel and Ethan Coen'sInside Llewyn Davis. In the early 1960s-set film, Llewyn deals with personal issues while traveling around in an attempt to find success as an artist and make enough money to be able to afford his own apartment. Co-stars include Adam Driver, Carey Mulligan, and John Goodman.
19 | Phantom Thread (2017)
Accolades: Oscar for Best Costume Design; nominations for Best Picture, Best Director, Best Actor (Daniel Day-Lewis), and Best Supporting Actress (Lesley Manville)
Rotten Tomatoes score: 91 percent
Phantom Thread is an offbeat romance from director Paul Thomas Anderson that turns pretty dark as it goes on. Daniel Day-Lewis stars as Reynolds Woodcock, a haute couture designer in 1950s London. Alma (Vicky Krieps), a younger waitress he meets in a restaurant, becomes his muse, but their relationship is challenged by Reynolds' sister, Cyril (Lesley Manville), as well as the fact that he is hot-tempered and they don't get along all that well. Let's just say, Alma doesn't stand by and just let things go.
20 | The Tree of Life (2011)
Accolades: Won Palme d'Or at Cannes Film Festival; Oscar nominations for Best Picture, Best Director, and Best Cinematography
Rotten Tomatoes score: 85 percent
Terrence Malick's The Tree of Life is both about one man's upbringing and the creation of the entire universe. Sean Penn stars as Jack, a man who reflects on his childhood with his parents, played by Brad Pitt and Jessica Chastain, via a series of flashbacks. These scenes are cut with clips depicting the creation of the universe and the history of planet Earth.
21 | A Separation (2011)
Accolades: Oscar for Best International Feature; nomination for Best Original Screenplay
Rotten Tomatoes score: 99 percent
In Asghar Farhadi's A Separation, married couple Simin (Leila Hatami) and Nader (Peyman Maadi) split up after 14 years. The movie shows how they and their daughter, Termeh (Sarina Farhadi), cope after Simin is denied an official divorce and they continue to care for Nader's father (Ali-Asghar Shahbazi), who has Alzheimer's disease.
22 | Arrival (2016)
Accolades: Oscar for Best Sound Editing; nominations for Best Picture, Best Director, and Best Adapted Screenplay
Amy Adams stars in Arrival as Louise Banks, a linguist called in to help when aliens invade Earth to share a message. Through the process of learning the aliens' language, Louise learns that the message is one that has some serious consequences, including when it comes how humans perceive time. The sci-fi movie is directed by Denis Villeneuve.
23 | Shoplifters (2018)
Accolades: Won Palme d'Or at Cannes Film Festival; Oscar nomination for Best International Feature
Rotten Tomatoes score: 99 percent
Shoplifters, directed by Hirokazu Kore-eda, is about a family in Japan, who are bonded in various ways, though not all blood-related. The father figure Osamu (Lily Franky) and son Shota (Kairi Jō) regularly shoplift from stores with their own moral code and techniques for not getting caught. The poor family's rough situation only becomes more complicated as they lose one member, elderly Hatsue (Kirin Kiki), and bring in a new member, a young girl named Yuri (Miyu Sasaki).
24 | Honeyland (2019)
Accolades: Oscar nominations for Best International Feature and Best Documentary Feature
Rotten Tomatoes score: 100 percent
Honeyland is a documentary about the life of Hatidže Muratova, a beekeeper in a village in Macedonia who is highly skilled, sells honey, and takes care of her bedridden mother, Nazife. Things change for Muratova when a family moves in nearby and express interest in beekeeping but do not follow her directions for keeping the practice sustainable. The film from Tamara Kotevska and Ljubomir Stefanov is about beekeeping, specifically, but also deals with larger themes of climate change and conservation.
25 | Selma (2014)
Accolades: Oscar for Best Original Song; nomination for Best Picture
Rotten Tomatoes score: 99 percent
Ava Duvernay's Selma is about the voting rights marches that took place from Selma to Montgomery, Alabama during the Civil Rights Movement of the 1960s, focusing on these particular events rather than being an overall biopic about Martin Luther King Jr.. David Oyelowo stars as King, while Carmen Ejogo plays Coretta Scott King, Stephan James plays Hosea Williams, and Common plays the organizer of the marches, James Bevel.
