Best Movie of the 2010s, Round of 16: Regal Burlington & AMC Hamilton Regions
We’re down to the nitty gritty here: the sixteen best movies of the 2010s as voted on by us and you. In my view, there’s a pretty substantial upset in these picks. More than one of you picked this movie to win the entire thing, but it failed to crack the Elite 8! It goes to show that every single vote counts, so let your voice be heard on our Instagram page @motionpicturemadness! Anyway, here are the results:
BOYHOOD (2014)
PARASITE (2019)
Erin’s Pitch for Boyhood: For this round, I’m going to pick my favorite thing about each movie. In Boyhood, it has to be the scope of the whole shebang. It is truly impossible to wrap my head around the idea that this was made over the course of twelve years. It’s a wonder!
Tom’s Pitch for Boyhood: Alright, here we are again! I’ve talked about Patricia Arquette & Ethan Hawke. Now it’s Ellar Coltrane’s time. They started filming Boyhood when they were 8 years old and basically went all the way through their 19th birthday. The movie is almost as much about the actor playing Mason as it is the character himself. Coltrane carried an entire movie on their shoulders from the time they were *eight*. I’m not sure I was correctly using a toilet when I was eight!
Erin’s Pitch for Parasite: I think my favorite aspect of Parasite is that it defies genre. It is at times a comedy, a family drama, and a horror film, all combined with social commentary. I can’t think of many movies that can say that.
Tom’s Pitch for Parasite: Do you remember that moment of pure bewilderment when the basement twist happened? How crazy was that?! How crazy was this whole movie?! How timely and poignant was this movie?! God I love Parasite so much.
Erin’s Choice: Parasite is gorgeous, brilliant, the moment darling.
Tom’s Choice: I'm going with Parasite. Boyhood is an amazing, once-in-a-generation project, but it's the Sweet 16. I'm nitpicking. Parasite is one of the craziest theater experiences I've ever had and a virtually flawless movie.
The People’s Choice: Boyhood - 3 (15.0%), Parasite - 17 (85.0%). More of you should watch Boyhood, but this isn’t an extremely hard choice.
WINNER: PARASITE (2019)
COCO (2017)
JOJO RABBIT (2019)
Erin’s Pitch for Coco: My favorite thing about Coco is that Pixar went all in on a movie about dead people and skeletons and just hoped that little kids wouldn’t be too scared. I feel like that was a big risk! Also Dante the dog is my other fave because he’s so cute.
Tom’s Pitch for Coco: Sometimes I sit around and think about Ernesto de la Cruz and my blood boils. He’s a top Pixar villain of all time because of how smarmy, arrogant, and so full of his own $%@# he is. Benjamin Bratt, however, is the man and was the perfect actor for that role!
Erin’s Pitch for Jojo Rabbit: My favorite thing about this one has to be the tone shifts. It masterfully oscillates between hilarious and tragic throughout the entire runtime. You find yourself laughing while feeling quite disturbed. I love this movie.
Tom’s Pitch for Jojo Rabbit: Just think about Yorki’s quote as the Americans are beating back the Nazi army: “It’s not a good time to be a Nazi.” Carry that through with you in your everyday life. Too few people in this world understand this. It is *NEVER* a good time to be a Nazi!
Erin’s Choice: Fight me. I pick Jojo.
Tom’s Choice: No, fight me. I pick Coco.
The People’s Choice: Coco - 10 (47.6%), Jojo Rabbit - 11 (52.4%). By the slimmest of margins, Jojo moves on in what I consider to be a pretty big upset!
WINNER: JOJO RABBIT (2019)
LITTLE WOMEN (2019)
SPOTLIGHT (2015)
Erin’s Pitch for Little Women: I think my favorite part of Little Women is that Greta Gerwig changed the ending. That’s so badass. Oh! And Florence Pugh’s scene where she’s painting.
Tom’s Pitch for Little Women: The acting in the scene where Jo shuts down Laurie when he proposes to her is ridiculous. Saoirse Ronan is such a star and Greta Gerwig consistently knows exactly how to use her. Let Saoirse Ronan be the star in every movie!
Erin’s Pitch for Spotlight: The ending!!! The black screen with a message after the movie closes is a total gut punch.
Tom’s Pitch for Spotlight: I’ve never been super into Rachel McAdams in serious roles (Season 2 of True Detective was especially rough, but not really her fault), but I love her in this movie. She holds her own against incredible talent like Michael Keaton, Mark Ruffalo, John Slattery, and Liev Schreiber. She’s really impressive.
Erin’s Choice: Ooooh this is a tough little matchup here. I pick Spotlight.
Tom’s Choice: I love an ensemble cast. Both of these are great. Spotlight wins though.
The People’s Choice: Little Women - 8 (50.0%), Spotlight - 8 (50.0%). You may have been indecisive, but we weren’t! Spotlight moves on.
WINNER: SPOTLIGHT (2015)
THE SOCIAL NETWORK (2010)
HELL OR HIGH WATER (2016)
Erin’s Pitch for The Social Network: I think the best thing about The Social Network is the score. Right? It’s iconic.
Tom’s Pitch for The Social Network: For as much as I don’t really like Justin Timberlake, his portrayal of Sean Parker is electric and it’s essential to this movie to show how far Mark Zuckerberg had fallen into the dark zone of Facebook. And to think that at this time, he’d barely fallen at all given where he’s at now. I don’t often say this about biopics, but this needs a sequel. It’s been another lifetime since it came out.
Erin’s Pitch for Hell or High Water: What I like the most about this movie is that you root for all of the characters, even though they are on opposite sides. That’s an achievement right there.
Tom’s Pitch for Hell or High Water: There’s so much sadness undergirding this entire movie. It’s a unique take on the Western genre and it also splashes a bit of Dog Day Afternoon: “realistic” bank robbers who you get to know and whose motivations you come to understand. At times you root for the Texas Rangers, at others you root for the robbers. This one just happens to have a loose cannon played by Ben Foster giving the movie an air of unpredictability. It’s not a traditional Western crime film, but it’s heart-pounding nonetheless.
Erin’s Choice: This one is a little easier of a choice—The Social Network.
Tom’s Choice: Jesse Eisenberg is so smarmy in this movie. I feel like his Zuckerberg would find some vindictive way to get back at me if I didn’t pick him to move on. The Social Network it is.
The People’s Choice: The Social Network - 15 (88.2%), Hell or High Water - 2 (11.8%). The Chris Pine/Jeff Bridges/Ben Foster western had a good run, but it ran into a buzzsaw here. The Social Network moves on.
WINNER: THE SOCIAL NETWORK (2010)
That’s it so far! Keep an eye on Instagram for the next region’s matchups! For now, we’ll leave you with the state of the Regal Burlington 20 and AMC Hamilton 24 Memorial Regions so far:
