As 2020’s cinematic releases continue to be pushed back into 2021, I thought now would be a good time to take a retrospective look back at my 50 favourite films from the last decade, in case anyone’s looking for some inspiration of what to watch.

To prevent the Top Fifty from becoming completely swamped with (let’s be honest) Marvel films, I’ve introduced the rule that only one film from a franchise can appear in the Top Fifty (subject to a few special cases). I should also stress that these are my favourite Top Fifty films from the 2010s, not necessarily the “best” (whatever that means).

I’ve already covered numbers 50 to 41 and numbers 40 to 31 in my rundown, so now we’re getting into the real heavy-hitters with numbers 30 to 21 in my Top Fifty Films of the 2010s:

30) Bridesmaids (2011): This was the film that really put Paul Feig, Kristen Wiig and Melissa McCarthy on the map, and although they all may have gone on to make arguably better films, there’s no denying the impact that Bridesmaids had when it came out in 2011. Even nearly a decade later, it’s still packed full of terrific gags, it explores female friendship and rivalry in a really interesting way, and it’s packed full of great comedic performances from actors that, until then, had only been recognised for their “serious” work (like Rose Byrne and John Hamm). For me, the dress fitting scene never fails to make me laugh, no matter how many times I watch it.

29) Looper (2012): I hadn’t seen writer/director Rian Johnson’s two earlier films, so Looper caught me completely by surprise. An inventive, original and intelligent sci-fi time-travel thriller that delivers action, emotion and mind-bending temporal mechanics, centred around a underplayed performance from Joseph Gordon-Levitt, with great support from Emily Blunt and Bruce Willis. A genuine must-see for any sci-fi fans out there.

28) A Simple Favour (2018): I accept that this film won’t be to everyone’s taste, as it’s neither a deadly serious thriller nor a comedy romp – instead, it’s a glorious hybrid of the two – a dark and twisty mystery with a strong vein of black comedy that balances the laughs and the chills perfectly. Re-watching this film with a chilled martini in hand is one of my guilty pleasures whenever I need an instant pick-me-up.

27) The Martian (2015): Ridley Scott’s best film of the decade (and arguably his best film since 2000’s Gladiator) is a fantastic “grounded” sci-fi thriller in which Matt Damon’s stranded astronaut reminds us that sometimes a hero’s intelligence is his greatest asset. In some respects Damon carries the film alone (being the only character on screen for large portions of the film), but the supporting cast is also incredible (Jessica Chastain, Jeff Daniels, Michael Peña, Kate Mara, Sebastian Stan, Sean Bean, Kristen Wiig, Chiwetel Ejiofor, Donald Glover, Mackenzie Davis, Benedict Wong … the list goes on!), all playing characters that represent the very best of humanity, in a strangely uplifting and life-affirming “disaster” movie.

26) Alan Partridge: Alpha Papa (2013): You can probably count on one hand the number of truly great comedy-TV-series-to-film adaptations, but this is certainly one of them. I doubted that Alan Partridge – a character who works so well on TV precisely because his trials are so trivial – could make the transition to the big screen (especially when word surfaced that this was going to be a Die Hard spoof), but Alpha Papa was a work of absolute comic genius.

25) Dredd (2012): As a long-time fan of the 2000AD comics, I was really excited about this second attempt to bring Judge Dredd to the big screen – and it did not disappoint. Karl Urban was perfect, ego-free casting as the single-minded Judge who never removes his helmet, and the R-rating allowed them to do justice to the blackly-comic violence of the source material. I absolutely love this film, and I’m still to this day gutted that it was so mis-marketed that it failed to find its audience in the cinema, meaning that all of the potential for a great sequel (or sequels) ultimately came to nothing. But at least we’ll always have Peach Trees…

24) Deadpool (2016): Another blackly comic, R-rated underdog that came out of nowhere (but this time did find an audience) was Ryan Reynolds’ labour of love, Deadpool. After the character was botched so badly in X-Men: Origins – Wolverine, it seemed unlikely that a commercially-risky R-rated adaptation would ever be financed … until “someone” leaked the test footage at Comic-Con and the film was suddenly all anyone could talk about. Yes, the final film has its flaws (although it is still tighter and better structured than its sequel), but it’s also quite unlike anything else in the (arguably overcrowded) superhero genre, and it paved the way for the other R-rated, boundary-pushing films that followed it.

23) Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse (2018): I couldn’t have been less excited about the announcement of an animated Spider-Man film, especially when it was clear it wasn’t connected to the MCU and didn’t even focus on the “main” Marvel universe and the established Peter Parker character. How wrong I was. This standalone animated movie was nothing short of a triumph – original, inventive, funny and genuinely touching. Visually, it was unlike anything you’ve ever seen before (and rightly won the Oscar), but more than that, it really captured the heart of the character(s) like never before.

22) Rogue One: A Star Wars Story (2016): Arguably the best Star Wars film since the Disney takeover of Lucasfilm, Rogue One is a perfect blend of nostalgia for the Original Trilogy and exciting new material, expanding on the establish mythos while also showing us a new perspective of the familiar universe. Diego Luna’s Cassian Andor and Forest Whitaker’s Saw Gerrera offered us a new, morally-complex view of the Rebellion, while the relationship between Felicity Jones’ Jyn Erso and Mads Mikkelsen’s Galen Erso puts the events of A New Hope in an entirely different light. The Sequel Trilogy had its ups and downs, but ultimately, the lack of cohesion between the final three instalments of the Skywalker Saga was its biggest failing – a problem that doesn’t affect the continued enjoyment of Rogue One.

21) X-Men: Days of Future Past (2014): The best ensemble X-Men film of the 2010s was unquestionably Days of Future Past. Combining the cast from the original trilogy with the rebooted cast from First Class via a classic time-travel story was a stroke of genius, making this effectively the Avengers: Endgame of the X-Men film series. And unlike other films in the franchise which took classic storylines from the comics but failed to do them justice, Days of Future Past hits all the right notes while also adapting the original concept to better fit the movies’ continuity. It’s great to spend time with the original cast one last time, while all of the rebooted cast also get plenty to do – and the coda at the end is an almost perfect goodbye to the entire saga. Not only is this the best ensemble X-Men movie of the 2010s, it’s arguably the high point for the entire film series.