Lists are fun aren’t they? Regardless of who does them a list, particularly one based on quality, is sure to be an interesting read and one that challenges you to make your own judgements. It was recently brought to my attention that The AV Club made a top 100 films of the decade so far list and yall know I couldn’t let it go unanswered.

The list at AV Club is fascinating and the discussion the writers had about films that missed/shouldn’t have made it is intruging (how did Whiplash make the top 20?!). Rather than just blabber on Twitter, I decided to take a crack at it, even though I’m only doing 10. Though I do keep a running list of films that I think are great movies, this seemed like a fun exercise. As a way to hadicap the race (cause I’m not doing 100 films like they did) I’m going to pull from my great movies list and it was still excruciatingly difficult. I mean look at these movies.

The Contenders: Black Swan (2010), Inception (2010), Scott Pilgrim vs. The World (2010), The Social Network (2010), A Separation (2011), The Tree of Life (2011), Weekend (2011), Cloud Atlas (2012), How to Survive a Plague (2012), ParaNorman (2012), The Conjuring (2013), Her (2013), Stories We Tell (2013), The Wolf of Wall Street (2013), Boyhood (2014), Foxcatcher (2014), kink (2014), The Way He Looks (2014)

Oof, this was difficult. I don’t even want to dwell on how difficult anymore and just dive into the list. So without further ado…

The List of the 10 Best Films of the Decade So Far

10. The Way He Looks (2014): Amazing young actors + specificity in LGBT experience + a phenomenal script

9. How to Survive a Plague (2012): Sheer editing might + storytelling prowress + important without screaming important

8. Boyhood (2014): 12 years worth of memories + audacity of Richard Linklater + Arquette’s tour de force performance

7. The Social Network (2010): a crackling script + showy, but never campy acting + film about my generation

6. Foxcatcher (2014): Oppressive bleakness + directing might + fascinating rumination on manhood + acting

5. The Conjuring (2013): A modern day 70s horror film + technical mastery + uncompromising vision

4. Black Swan (2010): Horror by another name + Aronofsky’s vision + Natalie Portman’s total dedication to perfection

3. Cloud Atlas (2012): epic scope + visual dazzlement + beautiful story about souls flowing through time

2. Weekend (2011): Brilliant characterizations + intimacy that’s both spacial and plot driven + sensitive direction

1. A Separation (2011): Sheer perfection. Seriously. If you’ve ever wondered what a perfect movie could be, this is it.

What movies would be on your list?