Brooks's best of the decade

Over the past week we will be awarding our own personal best of the decade for film, director, actor, actress, and breakout performer. Then over the course of January we will breakdown the best and worst films of the past decade. So if there's a film you think should be mentioned for the best of the year, look for it to be covered this month.

Best film

Arrival (2016)

Arrival effected me emotionally. I had never been moved by a film before like the way Arrival moved me. It’s questions of communication, fate, and our place in time and space are mind blowing. Smart science fiction is something that is hard to come by these days. I feel like the films are either not ambitious enough or are too ambitious and can’t bring it home at the end. Arrival doesn’t have this problem. It also brilliantly explains itself without having the film stop to have an exposition dump. I respect this and it’s a lost art to world build without having a character take five minutes to explain everything. In my opinion, Arrival is hands down the best film of the decade.

Honorable Mentions:

Blade Runner 2049, Spotlight, Spectre, Midnight Special, Black Swan, The Grey, Roma, The Witch, Ex Machina, Rogue One

Best director

Denis Villeneuve

This is a no brainer for me. This past decade has brought us one of the most talented directors to ever work behind the camera and in my opinion the most interesting director working right now. Villeneuve’s films can see life as both beautiful and ugly. He can lift your spirits with the bittersweetness of Arrival or absolutely crush you with the cruelty of Prisoners. If anyone is going to make Dune work it’s going to be Villeneuve. He is my go to answer when people ask who my favorite director is. I really think in fifty years people will speak of Villeneuve like they speak of Stanley Kubrick and Alfred Hitchcock. The man is a cinematic genius and he’s just getting started.

Honorable mentions:

Christopher Nolan, Coen Brothers, Rian Johnson, Dee Rees, Alex Garland

Best actor

Adam Driver

This was so hard to settle on but I think Adam Driver had the most interesting career in this past decade. Not only is he in a giant franchise like Star Wars, where he brings gravitas to the role of Kylo Ren, but he also will appear in strange indie films like Frances Ha and Paterson. Driver is always solid and is someone I often refer to as the most interesting man in film right now. Driver will make a film for me. For example, I think Frances Ha is mostly pretentious or forgettable but Driver stands out to me in it. What’s interesting is Driver is more of a character actor then a leading man, he isn’t going to be single handedly opening a film anytime soon, but I think he is the most talented male performer right now. 

Honorable mentions: 

Michael Shannon, Denzel Washington, Robert Downey Jr, Joaquin Phoenix, Steve Carell

Best actress

Amy Adams

Amy Adams can do no wrong in my eyes now. It doesn’t matter what film she stars in I am going to see it. She has gone from always being solid to being who I think is the most reliable leading actress in Hollywood. She has to win an Oscar in this upcoming decade and in my opinion she should have already won one for either The Master or Arrival, which the latter she wasn’t even nominated for. Like Driver she can star in a giant franchise like the DC universe but still appear in interesting smaller films like Nocturnal Animals and Her. I think by the time 2030 rolls around, people will be discussing Amy Adams like they discuss Meryl Streep right now. 

Honorable mentions:

Scarlett Johannson, Daisy Ridley, Viola Davis, Alicia Vikander, Gal Gadot, Margot Robie

Best breakout star

Finn Wolfhard 

My newcomer of the decade award goes to Finn Wolfhard from Stranger Things and the IT franchise. I generally think of a breakout star as someone under twenty who has a bright future ahead of them. Wolfhard not only stars in what is arguably Netflix’s best show, Stranger Things, but was a part of a huge film franchise with IT Chapters 1 and 2 and will be one of the stars in 2020’s Ghostbusters Afterlife. I don’t see Wolfhard becoming a giant box office superstar but I do see him having a similar career trajectory to Adam Driver, standing out in an ensemble, perhaps doing more television work, or leading an interesting independent feature.
Honorable mention:
Tom Holland, Daisy Ridley, John Boyega, Alicia Vikander, Alex Wolff, Tiffany Haddish, Gal Gadot