Todd Waugh-Ambridge – Film Editor

1. Inception (2010)

In 2010, Inception hit the screens and has since become the poster child for mind-bending cinema. Countless comments and quips have been made about the movie’s complexity and fast-paced exposition; but I think what makes this my film of the decade is its subtle simplicity. Despite the dreams-within-dreams and the pages of expository dialogue, this is a movie about a father trying to get his family back after tragedy.

Christopher Nolan assembled an all-star cast to deliver a heart-pounding, intoxicating sci-fi action thriller and utterly delivered. Leonardo DiCaprio plays Cobb, who leads a team of dream-delving misfits who are hired to perform corporate espionage by Mr. Saito (Ken Watanabe). What follows is a heist movie that happens entirely within the mind of their target, as they navigate his dreams deeper and deeper in order to ‘incept’ him with the rogue idea to dissolve his business empire. Rounding out the cast is Joseph Gordon-Levitt, Ellen Page, and Tom Hardy in perhaps his most charismatic role to date.

Many may now feel that Nolan is overrated – Interstellar’s a bit bloated, Dunkirk’s a tad thin – but Inception is every one of his signature elements firing on all cylinders. His script is sharp, smart, and witty while his directing is masterful. Nolan knows exactly how a scene comes together, and how to string those scenes into edge-of-your-seat sequences by knowing exactly when to crosscut between various points of action. Hans Zimmer’s score swells in these moments to make the whole orchestra of cinema come alive. When reviewing action movies, many critics talk of ‘set-pieces’ and the breathing room between them, but here, once the heist has begun, Inception becomes a single hour-plus long set-piece of gunshots, car-chases, ice-climbing and the physically impossible. The film’s sci-fi setting is clearly a means to an end: Nolan wanted to have characters running up walls and fighting upside down.

But it is the simple elements of this film that work best. Cobb’s tragic relationship with his wife (Marion Cotillard) is explored through the film’s bizarre premise, but it is itself grounded in real emotions that are expressed by DiCaprio and Cotillard to perfection.

Film of the decade is a prestigious title, but Inception deserves it. It may be notorious for being complex and confusing, but its value is in its simplicity: it is a perfectly choreographed action movie that has brains and heart in equal measure.

2. The Handmaiden (2016)

3. Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri (2017)

4. First Reformed (2017) 

5. Vice (2018)

Inception is available now on DVD, Blu-ray, and 4K UHD, and is currently streaming on Netflix.

Peri Cimen – Film Critic

1. The Grand Budapest Hotel (2014)

2014 was a particularly outstanding year for cinema. It only takes a quick look online to see how many incredible films from 2014 have dominated the decade in talent and originality. For me, the absolute best has to be The Grand Budapest Hotel. Wes Anderson’s whimsical ensemble comedy is not only a stand-out in his own eclectic filmography, but one of the best films of the decade precisely for encompassing everything there is to love about cinema. The Grand Budapest Hotel is ingeniously funny, beautifully crafted, and features an immensely talented cast. What’s not to love?

At the heart of The Grand Budapest Hotel are the characters, with the unconventional friendship between eager lobby boy Zero Moufasa (Tony Revolori) and meticulous hotel concierge Monsieur Gustave H (Ralph Fiennes) taking centre stage. When Monsieur Gustave is framed for murder, he and Zero are caught in a whirlwind of embarrassing scandals and secret societies. Along the way, Zero falls in love with a baker named Agatha (Saoirse Ronan) and we, like Agatha, join the pair in their misadventures with complete awe and amusement.

The film is decorated with an enormous range of exciting characters and overlapping narratives, and whilst all are compelling in their own right, they come together to create something downright special. Ralph Fiennes, Saoirse Ronan, Willem Dafoe, Jeff Goldblum, Harvey Keitel, Jude Law, Tilda Swinton, and Edward Norton are a mere few of the stellar names that grace The Grand Budapest Hotel, showcasing a remarkable range of talent. Tony Revolori’s performance as the dutiful and doting Zero is especially worth noting for his debut amongst such a well-established cast, and his deadpan delivery creates a compelling dynamic between Zero and the eccentric Monsieur Gustav, who is played to perfection by Ralph Fiennes.

Wes Anderson displays exemplary use of genre and comedic timing throughout; from Zero and Agatha’s starry-eyed romance to the dramatic revelations that occur throughout the murder plot, The Grand Budapest Hotel has it all. Having won Oscar awards for Best Original Score, Best Costume Design, Best Makeup and Hairstyling, and Best Production Design, it’s hardly an exaggeration to say that every department is flawless. It’s also safe to say that I fell in love with colour after watching it for the first time. From the muted reds and regal violets, all the way down to the pastel pink Mendl’s confectionery boxes, every scene feels like a hand-painted dream. The attention to detail throughout is unmatched (except, perhaps, by Monsieur Gustav).

With all the quirks of a typical Wes Anderson film piled on top of each other, the director himself deserves applaud for the sense of community he creates out of chaos, overseeing all of the moving parts and wrapping them up neatly with Mendl’s bakery bow. The Grand Budapest Hotel is among the best of what this decade has to offer – and it’s delectable.

2. What We Do in the Shadows (2014)

3. Ex Machina (2014)

4. Baby Driver (2017)

5. The Nice Guys (2016)

The Grand Budapest Hotel is available now on DVD and Blu-ray.

Read our original review here.

Ellie Burridge – Film Critic

1. Gone Girl (2014)

Gone Girl was the first film I ever snuck in to the cinema to see. It was the autumn of 2014, I’d just turned sixteen, and I’d never seen anything like it before. In point of fact, I’d never seen a David Fincher film before, and was still at the age where most of my cinematic exposure was to rom-coms, action franchises and family animation. There was a sense of liberation watching a film that was so deliberately cold, keeping its audience at arm’s length so that the mystery could unfurl before them and thrill in turn—a film that revelled in ambiguity. Neither of the lead characters could simplistically be categorised as ‘good’ or ‘evil’, and were in turns likeable and detestable.

To this day, Amy Dunne is my favourite anti-hero of all time, and her triumphant monologue still makes my heart race every time I re-watch it. Gillian Flynn’s razor-sharp script (adapted from her own novel) complements Fincher’s direction and is topped off by a score-of-the-century from Trent Reznor and Atticus Ross. Every moment of the film is deliberate and captivating—which is why it’s my favourite film of all time, let alone the decade.

2. La La Land (2016)

3. The Favourite (2018)

4. You Were Never Really Here (2017)

5. Mission: Impossible – Fallout (2018)

Gone Girl is available now on DVD and Blu-ray, and is currently streaming on Netflix.

Read our original review here.

Sam Denyer – Film Critic

1. Boyhood (2014)

Richard Linklater’s Boyhood sounds like a gimmick. He shot it over twelve years, recruiting the same band of actors to return annually to shoot new snatches of the film. We watch mother, father, sister and brother age in real-time, experiencing a fairly ordinary life which feels extraordinary because Linklater, one of cinema’s greatest naturalists, strings it together with a quiet lyricism which makes even mundanity sing.

Ellar Coltrane portrays Mason, the boy whose journey we follow most closely. As the film progresses, time slips past, often unnoticed, bringing new meaning to ‘oh how you’ve grown.’ The physical transformation is dramatic, but his emotional and intellectual maturation is endlessly rewarding to watch. The sensitivity and curiosity of the precocious child from the film’s beginning are not lost on Mason as he goes to college towards the film’s end. They are merely tempered by experience. We know – we saw it happen over twelve years.

Patricia Arquette and Ethan Hawke as warm, meditative parents anchor the film whatever year it finds itself in, offering the same stability which their children seek in them. Their performances are contemplative and often heartbreaking; experiencing twelve years of life in two-and-a-half hours is overwhelming, but none more so than when you see these two go from bickering divorcees to friends united with pride in the children they raised. The amity between them and their subsequent partners is heartfelt, but we are never allowed to forget how hard-fought such developments were, having witnessed them advance from the messy separation to now.

They are affecting throughout the film, but become increasingly less central as it progresses, symbolising how Mason relies on them less and less as he grows older. In one scene, he comes home on the eve of his sixteenth birthday, having spent the night smoking with a girl. His mother, hosting friends, remarks that he has been out late and smells of smoke. He does not deny anything, nor make any apology. Arquette’s “huh”, tells us everything. This boy is no longer her’s: there are parts of his life she will no longer know about straight away and parts she will never know about at all. It is a small moment, but one which Linklater strings together with dozens of others to create a timeline of growth which affects everyone, not just those going through boyhood. Each person’s growth is inextricably linked to the other and there is often little they can do about it. The film speaks to a communal experience, but one which educates and connects us instead of limiting or isolating. As Mason and a new friend remark at the film’s conclusion, it is moments which seize us: things that seem normal at the time can prove formative. In this sense, Boyhood is a kaleidoscope of retrospect, reflecting its specific memories back onto its audience to convey feelings and relationships which are universal. Far from a gimmick.

2. Call Me By Your Name (2017)

3. Mommy (2014)

Your Name is available now on DVD and Blu-ray.

Read our original review here.