12 Movies of the Past Decade That Withstood the Test of Time and Emotion

During the New Year holidays, many of us have this unexplainable wish to summarize the 12 months of the past year and recall all the good and bad things to come to some conclusions and set new goals. 2020 finished the entire decade and it’s another reason to look back and recollect the brightest of memories.

We at Bright Side got into the New Year nostalgia, grabbed some popcorn, and now want to offer you a compilation of the top-rated movies of the past decade, according to viewers.

The Intouchables, 2011

Disabled millionaire, Philippe, hires a young man with a criminal record to take care of him. No one was expecting that this pairing would be the start of a strong friendship that would change the lives of both men forever.

Perhaps many people have wondered why Philippe was not afraid to hire a guy with criminal tendencies. The millionaire himself answered this in one of his interviews saying, “I needed a guy crazy enough to not be afraid of this situation. He was afraid of nothing at all.”

IMDb — 8.5

Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: Part II, 2011

In the final part of the franchise, Harry, Ron, and Hermione continue searching for Lord Voldemort’s Horcruxes. Meanwhile, the rest of the magical world is at war and a final battle is about to happen in Hogwarts.

For the young actors playing the main roles and who have grown up together on set, the end of their work on the movie became the final part of an important part of their lives. The actors were even allowed to keep some elements of the props as memories. Thus, Emma Watson took the magic wand of her character, the time-turner, and the cloak; Daniel Radcliffe took Harry Potter’s glasses from the 1st and 7th parts, while Rupert Grint decided to keep the number off the Dursleys’ house (4 Privet Drive) and Dumbledore’s Deluminator.

IMDb — 8.1

The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey, 2012

An ordinary hobbit, Bilbo Baggins, succumbs to the cunning of the wizard Gandalf and finds himself drawn into dizzying events. Together with 13 dwarves, the brave hero sets off to the east to fight off the dwarves’ kingdom from the dragon Smaug. On the voyage, he meets Gollum who will change Bilbo for the rest of his life.

It was Martin Freeman who played the main role in the prequel about Frodo and his friends’ adventures and who was simultaneously working on the Sherlock series. And if the director, Peter Jackson, hadn’t rescheduled the whole shooting process, we would have seen someone else (like Daniel Radcliffe, for example) in the role of the hobbit instead of Freeman who actually fit the movie perfectly.

IMDb — 7.8

12 Years a Slave, 2013

The main character, the free dark-skinned resident of the northern part of the United States, Solomon Northup, falls into slavery having wrongly trusted some fraudsters. The cruelty of one lord will be replaced by the kindness of another, and a constant struggle for survival and preservation of human dignity will continue for the next 12 years — until the moment Solomon meets a person who can put an end to his ordeals.

According to John Powers, Vogue cinema critic, this movie is the best narration about people’s slavery problem.

IMDb — 8.1

Whiplash, 2014

An absolutely unique story of a teacher and a student demonstrating what a person striving to reach his dreams is capable of and how the aspiration to become a better person can turn into an obsession.

Despite the 3 Oscars that it won, the movie has an unspoken status as the best, but lowest-grossing, movie since 1990 — all because the focus was put on the acting, not on high-budget special effects.

IMDb — 8.5

John Wick, 2014

John Wick is a retired mercenary. The only valuables for him are a vintage 1969 Ford Mustang and a dog, a gift from his wife that she gave him before her death.

One night Wick’s house gets attacked by a crime boss’ son’s gang. After this raid, John loses both his car and his dog and promises to get revenge...

Actors like Sylvester Stallone, Dolph Lundgren, Jean-Claude Van Damme, Bruce Willis, Kurt Russell, Nicolas Cage, Kevin Costner, Johnny Depp, and Jason Statham were considered for the role of John Wick. But the movie got its notoriety thanks to Keanu Reeves. Initially, the script had a different name — Scorn, which perfectly describes the character’s attitude and feelings toward his offenders. But Keanu Reeves kept calling the flick by the name of his character and the studio eventually decided to keep it.

IMDb — 7.4

A Man Called Ove, 2015

After his wife passed away, the elderly Ove, who was absolutely alone, gradually starts to hate the world around him and loses his will to live. In these difficult times, a new neighbor suddenly bursts into Ove’s life. Over time, thanks to her and her family, the old grumbler changes and regains his love of life.

The movie is based on the bestseller from Swedish author, Fredrik Backman. The book was translated into 38 languages.

IMDb — 7.7

Deadpool, 2016

Hoping to recover from cancer, a former special forces agent becomes the victim of a fraudulent experiment. Having gotten the ability of rapid regeneration and having joined it with his sharp sense of humor, Deadpool (that’s what he starts to call himself) tries to take revenge on the person who ruined his life.

Turns out, Ryan Reynolds is the master of all and he not only played the main role in Deadpool, but also acted as a producer and the head of the marketing department.

IMDb — 8

Blade Runner 2049, 2017

30 years after the events of the first part, the new Blade Runner, ’K’ - a police officer in Los Angeles, reveals an old secret that could propel society into chaos.

Having a budget of $150 million, the creators didn’t skimp on visuals when portraying the fictional world of the future. However, the movie only collected $259,239,658 at the box office. Ridley Scott, the director who created the original movie in 1982, believes that the long timing (2 hours and 44 minutes) could be one of the reasons for the low box office numbers. The first movie is 47 minutes shorter than the second one.

IMDb — 8

Bohemian Rhapsody, 2018

This is the story of the legendary rock band Queen and its front man Freddie Mercury. The main inconvenience for Rami Malek, the actor who played the main role, was that he needed to wear fake teeth. But by the end of the shooting, he got so used to them that he “felt naked without them.” And after the movie, he even had them cast in gold.

IMDb — 8

Joker, 2019

Arthur Fleck, a comedian loser suffering from a mental disorder, crosses the line and becomes a supervillain who will put all of Gotham City in fear.

The flick brought an Oscar for Best Actor to Joaquin Phoenix. Before that, the actor had turned down the roles of Marvel superheroes twice: Doctor Strange and Bruce Banner in Avengers, 2012.

IMDb — 8.5

Tenet, 2020

The main character travels the dangerous world of international espionage and fights for the survival of humanity. He performs his mission outside of real-time with the help of a mysterious word from the future — “tenet.”

Christopher Nolan is a unique person. While Hollywood is literally drowning in remakes and creating screen versions of comics, Nolan won’t budge from his credo and keeps promoting his controversial but definitely outstanding ideas. If you like break-your-head-open, tangled sci-fi plots, welcome to the army of Nolan’s fans.

IMDb — 7.6

What other flicks or cartoons would you include on the list of the best movies of the past decade?