Every Best Picture Nominee of the 2010's Ranked: #35-39

Scene from Once Upon a Time... in Hollywood

As 2019 reached its end, another decade of cinema had passed. It's amazing to think about how things have evolved since 2010 when the biggest controversies were about recognizing genre movies. Things look different now, especially as genre films like The Shape of Water and Parasite are winning Best Picture and the voting body looks incredibly different with each passing year. With this period in the books, it feels like a good time to celebrate their accomplishments by ranking all 88 titles nominated for Best Picture from worst to best with the goal of seeing which films are more likely to stand the test of time. Join me every Saturday and Sunday as I count them down, five at a time. It's going to be a fun summer looking back on what was, especially as we prepare for the decade ahead and an even more interesting diversity that we haven't even begun to think of.

39. Birdman (2014) – Dir. Alejandro Gonzalez Inarritu

Depending on who you ask, this may be the most self-serving Best Picture winner of the decade, serving as a meta-commentary on the entertainment industry while using the long take format to experiment with the narrative. It’s definitely a unique experience and one that helped relaunch Michael Keaton’s career and turn Emma Stone into a more serious actress. It’s a film boiling with rage as an existential crisis butts heads with a rehearsal that goes awry. The best that can be said it’s that it’s one of Inarritu’s most accessible films and also his most upbeat and interesting, leaving you feeling like you just witnessed one of the more original takes on modern culture that The Oscars have noticed.

38. The Artist (2011) – Dir. Michel Hazanavicius

It’s hard not to feel some sympathy for The Artist, which has almost zero staying power in the larger conversation. Hazanavicius went back to France and has made middling movies. Jean Dujardin or Berenice Bejo have never lived up to their promise either. Even poor Uggie is dead. With all of this stacked against this cute update of the silent film genre, it’s interesting to note that this is more than pastiche, managing to create one of the greatest love letters to Hollywood’s yesteryear that reminds us how much can be achieved without speaking a word. For what it lacks in bigger influence, it more than makes up for with its quiet charm, introducing a new generation to the techniques that helped create the medium that they love so well. It may be called a novelty winner, but it’s only because nobody has created a film this captivating in the silent film genre since. 

37. Brooklyn (2014) – John Crowley

After spending a few years doing odd projects that could’ve reshaped her career, Saoirse Ronan returned to Oscar conversation with this gentle romantic drama about an Irish immigrant falling in love. What it lacks in flamboyant storytelling, it more than makes up with the quiet perspective of Ronan, admiring America for all of its rich potentials. It’s a story of hope and a search for your own identity in a new world. It’s also secretly one of Ronan’s best performances, allowing her to capture an emotional complexity that she’d rarely been allowed to achieve before. It was the start of a career resurgence, and she’s only become more interesting since.

36. Once Upon a Time… in Hollywood (2019) – Dir. Quentin Tarantino

If he is serious and this is Tarantino’s penultimate movie, it feels like a fitting eulogy to his idols. While the story may be billed as “Saving Sharon Tate,” it’s so much more, reflecting on a moment in 1969 when the old guard was paving the way for a new one, coming to terms with their growing irrelevance. With plenty of style, the film features some of his most confident directing to date, allowing the camera to linger on details that make you appreciate the feel of a California that doesn’t exist anymore (for instance, all those open freeways). It’s a nostalgic rewriting that may not come without controversy, but it’s a thorny goodbye to an era that is high on entertainment value and features the quintessential Brad Pitt performance. It’s more than stroking an ego, it’s engaging with the past and why we love movies in general. If we’re reaching the end, then whatever comes next will be quite the bittersweet moment.

35.  La La Land (2016) – Dir. Damien Chazelle

While it may forever be a punchline due to that Best Picture mix-up, there’s plenty to love in a story that mixes jazz with Hollywood imagery to create a magical new world. It’s a story that helped to revive the musical genre, full of dazzling choreography and set designs that may be reminiscent of old Hollywood, but find artists trying to make their own footprint in the industry, able to define their own legacies. It’s difficult when you have the diner from Casablanca looking over your shoulder, but those who try hard enough will come away with that Hollywood ending we’ve all been trying to achieve in the city of stars.