A Look Back at the 10’s - Your Highlights of the Decade

[Corvinus85]

TV Shows and Movies

No movie franchise or stand-alones really impacted me quite as much as The Lord of the Rings had in the previous decade (and I could maybe add Harry Potter to that, too). LOTR and HP fanned my interest in fantasy to where I started reading more books and haven't stopped. While I greatly enjoyed the MCU movies, it still hasn't made me interested in reading comic books, for example. Star Wars came back with an aggressive marketing campaign and development of new content with hits and misses - the people at LucasFilm who are truly worthy of praise are the people in charge of marketing, especially the movie trailers. And Dave Filoni.

A few standout movies for me, outside of the big franchises: Mad Max: Fury Road, Edge of Tomorrow, The Martian, and Hidden Figures.

TV exploded, and even made serious attempts to compete with movies in terms of production. Never before have I had such a love & rant relationship with a show as I had with Game of Thrones.  There were good historical dramas, my personal favorite being Black Sails. In the last few years, even space opera has made a comeback, thanks especially to  shows like The Expanse (love it), but maybe also because of real life developments, such as the rise of private aerospace companies. (if anything, at least they're making people dream)

Sports

I will never forget the thrashing Brazil received on home soil in the semi-finals of the 2014 World Cup. I enjoyed that competition, and surprisingly even the one in Russia.

The EUROs expanded the field, and gave us some excellent underdogs to cheer for - thank you Iceland for the Viking clap.

College football changed its system somewhat, which made the end of the season more exciting, for sure. I also liked that the first team to win it wasn't Alabama.

Music

I started paying for it.  Yep, thanks to smartphone apps, and starting a career, I can find the music I love without resorting to other means. I really don't have any musicians to highlight, but the explosion of TV shows I mentioned also gave us many excellent original scores.

Video Games

I remain a PC only user. With that out of the way: Skyrim, Mass Effect 2 & 3 (since 1 was in the previous decade), Total War: Warhammer series (I'm liking CA's ever growing commitment to release more titles), Mount & Blade: Warband, and the wait for M&B 2 which rivals the wait for Winds of Winter. 

Also, unlike Hollywood remaking every movie to death, with crap results usually, the re-mastering of old PC games has been a great idea: Homeworld 1&2, Age of Empires 1&2, and many others. Not all look great, to be sure, but many do.

 

[BigFatCoward]

12 hours ago, Annara Snow said:

So, to sum up:

- you hated everything 

- you mocked people who hated GoT for turning into a steaming pile of dung.

Well at least 50% of my post was positive

Nope. I mocked people who acted like GOT being a bit poor was the most important thing in the world. The ones who have been given every episode a 1/10 for the last few seasons but continued watching anyway, you know the type. 

[Darth Richard II]

Well Amon Amarth had some great albums last decade.

[Isis]

On 12/29/2019 at 8:49 AM, HelenaExMachina said:

I meant to mention this too. Feels a lot more special in hindsight actually when you look at our broken and divided country now. Obviously there was still much to criticise and worry about then too but it was a brief moment of unity and happiness for the country and filled with incredible sporting achievements

@Nictarionthanks for the Wes Anderson reminder. GBH was a real gem of a film for me

Absolutely. I feel deeply saddened when I remember watching the opening ceremony. At the time I was surprised that it was so impressive. IT WAS SO GOOD. It felt so positive. And now I feel ashamed of this country. 

[DMC]

Ok, but this is the last "end of the _________" thing I'm doing until next year!  

TV highlights:  I think I gotta start with Breaking Bad here.  If we're going by 2010 as the start of decade, then only the first 2 seasons were from the aughts.  Season 3 is when it really went into awesome-mode anyway.  Plus, BCS may go down as the best spin-off ever.  What's its competition?  Frasier?  Penny Dreadful would be a very close second.  It was only three seasons, but as a complete project I think I..adore that show more than any other.  Westworld was also very exciting for me as a Nolan-ite (more on that later).  And, yes, GoT deserves mentioning.  I loved the first 4 seasons.  Didn't mind 6 either, and 7 was..tolerable - if only because of all the reunions/merging.  So, that's 6 years out of the decade it gave me event television that, at the least, didn't make me want to throw something at the television..most of the time.  That's actually a considerable accomplishment, all things considered.  

Film highlights:  It's Nolan worship time!  So, he's got 4 movies this decade.  I think Dark Knight Rises is decidedly the weak link of his Batman trilogy, but even so, it still ranks pretty high up there in terms of best superhero movies - and I'll still readily rewatch it if it's on cable and I'm bored (even though, of course, I could just pop in the version I own.  Ah, laziness).  Which I think is a good test.  Then there's Interstellar, which I think is my favorite space movie after 2001.  Maybe Moon, definitely go back and forth on that.  Plus Dunkirk, which as I just said in another thread, I think is my favorite war movie ever - albeit that's because I don't think of Apocalypse Now as a war movie.  Finally, ya got Inception, which may just be my favorite movie out of the four (Dunkirk's is its only competition.)  I really do believe Nolan is definitively unique and something to appreciate in this day and age.  A guy that can make legit high quality films that also have the big budget spectacle -- AND, most importantly, come up with his own concepts and material in the process.  He's a goddamn Hollywood treasure you guys!

Tarantino also had a pretty good decade.  Django was a lot of fun, the Foxx/Waltz/Leo dynamic was a blast.  I'm also one of the few that really likes Hateful Eight.  Love the juxtaposition of the awe-inspiring, John Ford-esque cinematography with them all stuck in a cabin wherein Tarantino just lets loose with his unmatched ability to write dialogue and cohesively put a cast of characters together.  And while I've only seen it twice so far, pretty sure Once Upon a Time will go down as one of my all-time favorites of his entries.  Definitely the funniest - and funniest movie I've seen in a good while in general - and most of his movies are pretty funny.  Finally, the MCU does stand out as a highlight to me.  What Fiege and co. accomplished is pretty extraordinary.  At the least I enjoyed almost all the offerings throughout the decade, and the cohesiveness with which it was ran just continued to happily surprise me.  Fiege done changed the game, for better and worse.

Music highlights:  I haven't listened to new/current music since I was in high school, so I always skip this, but I whole-heartedly agree with this:

On 12/28/2019 at 4:37 PM, HelenaExMachina said:

And of course this decade brought Ramin Djawadi and his beautiful scores to the public eye, or rather ear. 

Light of the Seven is like musical crack.

Acting highlights:  I think this is probably a me problem, but gotta say at least with film, I'm struggling to come up with much.  Dunno why exactly, I don't think this way a particularly bad decade in film, but...just can't come up with much.  DDL did retire, I guess.  On the TV side, obvs, EVA GREEN.  And Cranston for BB.  And, ironic cuz I thought just the opposite when it was airing, but I don't think Hamm gets enough credit these days for Mad Men.  Seriously, where'd he go?  But if I had to name an acting highlight in film over the past decade I think I'd have to say..Jessica Chastain?  That seems weird, maybe I should go to bed.

Sports highlights:  This decade sucked.  The Magic continued to suck throughout.  This was the first decade in literally a century the Yankees didn't win the WS.  And the Niners are looking competitive right now, and did have that run early in the decade, but then lost to the Ravens because they couldn't get a damn goalline score.  Plus, of course, even if they do get to the SB this year, they'll probably lose to the Ravens again!  Fuck you gods.  And Harbaughs.  I'm looking forward to a much more fruitful and roaring twenties for my favorite teams in my three favorite sports.  (Except the Magic, of course.)

[Nictarion]

How can you possibly consider Apocalypse Now not to be a war movie? 

Here’s some interesting recent comments from Coppola on how he doesn’t feel it’s an anti-war movie btw (something I see people say a lot)

“No one wants to make a pro-war film, everyone wants to make an anti-war film,” he says. “But an anti-war film, I always thought, should be like [Kon Ichikawa’s 1956 post-second world war drama] The Burmese Harp – something filled with love and peace and tranquillity and happiness. It shouldn’t have sequences of violence that inspire a lust for violence. Apocalypse Now has stirring scenes of helicopters attacking innocent people. That’s not anti-war.”

 

Also, as far as people not liking Hateful 8, am I missing something? I remember it be very well received, and many on this board liked it a lot. 

[Mark Antony]

Yeah Hateful Eight was fucking great. And the roadshow viewing was a top 3 cinema experience for me 

[DMC]

5 hours ago, Nictarion said:

Here’s some interesting recent comments from Coppola on how he doesn’t feel it’s an anti-war movie btw (something I see people say a lot)

Oh, I did not mean to suggest it was an "anti-war" movie.  Plenty of movies could be described as that, I suppose, and still actually are great war movies.  But not AN.  For me, it's the Heart of Darkness.  An Odyssey of sorts.  And then it gets..surreal.  I don't know how to describe the third act, but it's definitely not about war anymore.  I think Apocalypse Now is beyond..maybe not beyond that sounds superior, but orthogonal to war movies, as Brando's Kurtz was beyond the US military.

As for Hateful Eight, most of those around me didn't like it nearly as much as I did.  And there were a lot of critics that seemed to agree it was one of Tarantino's worst.  

ETA:  "They were gonna make me a major for this, and I wasn't even in their fucking army anymore."  See - now you got me wanting to watch it again, which is like a 4 hour commitment.  Sonofa..

[Nictarion]

16 minutes ago, DMC said:

Oh, I did not mean to suggest it was an "anti-war" movie.  Plenty of movies could be described as that, I suppose, and still actually are great war movies.  But not AN.  For me, it's the Heart of Darkness.  An Odyssey of sorts.  And then it gets..surreal.  I don't know how to describe the third act, but it's definitely not about war anymore.  I think Apocalypse Now is beyond..maybe not beyond that sounds superior, but orthogonal to war movies, as Brando's Kurtz was beyond the US military.

As for Hateful Eight, most of those around me didn't like it nearly as much as I did.  And there were a lot of critics that seemed to agree it was one of Tarantino's worst.  

ETA:  "They were gonna make me a major for this, and I wasn't even in their fucking army anymore."  See - now you got me wanting to watch it again, which is like a 4 hour commitment.  Sonofa..

I do consider it a war movie, but it’s a masterpiece, on that much I agree. It’s my favorite as well. Paths of Glory is probably a close second. 

To get back on topic I also loved Dunkirk. Probably the best war movie of the decade. I liked Hacksaw Ridge a lot too though. 

[DMC]

1 hour ago, Nictarion said:

Paths of Glory is probably a close second. 

Yeah that's definitely up there.  I was almost thinking of comparing Nolan to Kubrick in my little diatribe there, but Kubrick tended to rely on extant material for his films.  Haven't seen Hacksaw Ridge yet, it's on the list.

[HexMachina]

@DMC my fellow Eva/Penny champion, i am thrilled someone matches my adoration of the two!

[DMC]

1 minute ago, HelenaExMachina said:

@DMC my fellow Eva/Penny champion, i am thrilled someone matches my adoration of the two!

  Ya know, I noticed in Petyr's Year in Review thread, you neglected to mention City of Angels as something you're looking forward to.  For shame! 

[HexMachina]

10 minutes ago, DMC said:

  Ya know, I noticed in Petyr's Year in Review thread, you neglected to mention City of Angels as something you're looking forward to.  For shame! 

I focused on music, my tv list would be too long! And much of it the same as yours, to be honest. Westworld! My girl Maeve back and this time with nazis...

 I am admittedly less excited for City of Angels because of no Eva Green and not yet having the attachment to the characters i quickly developed with PD but i’m still excited.

Eva Green though...its kind of sad, most of her body of work is utter tripe or forgettable nothingness. Yet always she is able to put in an outstanding performance and elevate the material (*cough* 300 *cough*)

[DMC]

1 minute ago, HelenaExMachina said:

I focused on music, my tv list would be too long! And much of it the same as yours, to be honest. Westworld! My girl Maeve back and this time with nazis...

 I am admittedly less excited for City of Angels because of no Eva Green and not yet having the attachment to the characters i quickly developed with PD but i’m still excited.

Eva Green though...its kind of sad, most of her body of work is utter tripe or forgettable nothingness. Yet always she is able to put in an outstanding performance and elevate the material (*cough* 300 *cough*)

Yeah I remember you used to have a Maeve avatar, right?  Loved that.  Newton is awesome.

I will definitely commiserate on Eva.  She deserves so much better.  The breadth and depth she did with that show..was talking about it with my brother-in-law over Christmas.  He was like, "oh yeah, we stopped watching it when we stopped getting showtime."  I was like "it's on Netflix now fucking watch it!"  In a way too aggressive way.  Then I poured him a Bulleit.  

Anyway, on City of Angels, I'm glad Logan has something else to offer.  And I like Dormer.  I forget her name, but the one who plays her sister/foe also seems to be an up and comer.  Looking forward to it.  Although it will be weird to see Kinnear in a different role.

[Nictarion]

5 minutes ago, HelenaExMachina said:

I focused on music, my tv list would be too long! And much of it the same as yours, to be honest. Westworld! My girl Maeve back and this time with nazis...

 I am admittedly less excited for City of Angels because of no Eva Green and not yet having the attachment to the characters i quickly developed with PD but i’m still excited.

Eva Green though...its kind of sad, most of her body of work is utter tripe or forgettable nothingness. Yet always she is able to put in an outstanding performance and elevate the material (*cough* 300 *cough*)

She really does deserve so much better. I wonder why she doesn’t get more quality roles? I loved her in Penny Dreadful, and some of the big budget stuff like Casino Royale and Kingdom of Heaven, but I would like to see her in more movies like The Dreamers (for multiple reasons ). 

[Ramsay B.]

Yeah, I just looked at Eva Green’s IMDB page and it’s worse than I imagined. I figured I was forgetting some stuff she was in, but no. Only 24 roles too. 

I’m cautiously optimistic for City of Angels. 

[HexMachina]

4 hours ago, DMC said:

Yeah I remember you used to have a Maeve avatar, right?  Loved that.  Newton is awesome.

I will definitely commiserate on Eva.  She deserves so much better.  The breadth and depth she did with that show..was talking about it with my brother-in-law over Christmas.  He was like, "oh yeah, we stopped watching it when we stopped getting showtime."  I was like "it's on Netflix now fucking watch it!"  In a way too aggressive way.  Then I poured him a Bulleit.  

Anyway, on City of Angels, I'm glad Logan has something else to offer.  And I like Dormer.  I forget her name, but the one who plays her sister/foe also seems to be an up and comer.  Looking forward to it.  Although it will be weird to see Kinnear in a different role.

Yep, now its a funky cat because...well just look at him. But yeah, between Thandie and and ERW and Tessa Thompson i’m in for the long haul with Westworld.

Here was the most up to date breakdown of the city of angels news i could find: https://www.denofgeek.com/uk/tv/penny-dreadful/61561/penny-dreadful-city-of-angels-news

4 hours ago, Nictarion said:

She really does deserve so much better. I wonder why she doesn’t get more quality roles? I loved her in Penny Dreadful, and some of the big budget stuff like Casino Royale and Kingdom of Heaven, but I would like to see her in more movies like The Dreamers (for multiple reasons ). 

 

3 hours ago, Ramsay B. said:

Yeah, I just looked at Eva Green’s IMDB page and it’s worse than I imagined. I figured I was forgetting some stuff she was in, but no. Only 24 roles too. 

I’m cautiously optimistic for City of Angels. 

Strangely i think its personal choice. I mean she was cast in Vita and Virginia but chose to go for Dumbo instead when schedules conflicted. 

She is my favourite Bond character, possibly ever  

[DMC]

1 hour ago, HelenaExMachina said:

But yeah, between Thandie and and ERW and Tessa Thompson i’m in for the long haul with Westworld.

Here was the most up to date breakdown of the city of angels news i could find: https://www.denofgeek.com/uk/tv/penny-dreadful/61561/penny-dreadful-city-of-angels-news

Hear hear!  And yeah, was looking at that same den of geek article yesterday.  No new information, but some pretty good pictures.  Made me recognize the cast a lot more than I thought just by reading names.  Hey, it's that guy that turned into a Hare Krishna on Mad Men!

[Isis]

On 12/28/2019 at 9:37 PM, HelenaExMachina said:

And of course this decade brought Ramin Djawadi and his beautiful scores to the public eye, or rather ear.

Agreed.

Re. films, this was a meaningful decade for me as I met my husband in 2010 and we saw a lot of films at the pictures which were highly memorable experiences for various reasons (prior to that I used to go to see films exclusively by myself*). Memorable films at the cinema include Blue Valentine, Take This Waltz (so bleak that we travelled home in absolute silence after I had cried through most of it), Fury Road, Drive, Only God Forgives (we left with a whole bag of snacks which we were unable to consume due to the visceral nature of the experience, see also Raw), Arrival, Grand Hotel Budapest, Hereditary, Midsommar, Sightseers, Melancholia... I must be blanking on lots of them.

Films I only saw on the small screen but which still had a big impact: The Witch, It Follows, Kill List, Whiplash, Nightcrawler and Enemy. Wow, I'd love to watch all of these again soon (except for It Follows, because it took me years to get over it).

On TV, the first seasons of Westworld, Dark and True Detective were great things to binge-watch over Christmas holidays. Chernobyl was incredible. As was Fosse/Verdon. Some shows really did live up to the hype.

*Ohhh, except for that time I went to see The Road (January 2010) wtih a friend from this board and went outside for a cigarette because I was having a rubbish time (in general, not anything to do with the film), and I was staning there on Shaftsbury Avenue in the dark, smoking and crying and looking at the floor and some dude walked past and called out, "HEY DON'T LOOK AT WHAT YOU CAN'T AFFORD!"