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10 Must-Watch 2010s Movies, Ranked Batman and Bane fighting in the street in The Dark Knight Rises

Batman (Christian Bale) and Bane (Tom Hardy) fighting in the street in The Dark Knight RisesImage via Warner Bros.

By Safwan Azeem Published 1 hour ago

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People talk about the 2010s like it was all franchises, but the truth is that decade quietly did give us a stack of movies that still feel fresh on a random Tuesday night. These are the ones I recommend when someone says, wants something they can’t stop thinking about. They hit because the storytelling is confident, the performances feel lived in, and the big moments land without begging for attention.

This list leans on rewatch value and that feeling of, “I get why everyone talks about this.” Some are loud, some are intimate, and a couple are straight-up unsettling in the best way. If you have only ten slots to understand what the decade did right, start below.

10 'The Wolf of Wall Street' (2013)

Jordan Belfort (Leonardo DiCaprio) boastfully leaving a helicopter in The Wolf of Wall StreetImage via Paramount Pictures

It’s wild how The Wolf of Wall Street can make you laugh, motivated, and feel gross in the same breath. Jordan Belfort (Leonardo DiCaprio) talks you into the money-making party before you notice the hangover coming, and that’s the trick: you’re inside the mania long enough to understand why people keep saying yes.

The movie’s funniest scenes are also the most revealing, especially when Donnie Azoff (Jonah Hill) turns friendship into a business strategy and then a liability. Director Martin Scorsese keeps the pace so hot you barely realize how far the harmless choices slide into damage. By the end, the high feels empty, and you’re left staring at the wreckage.

9 'Mad Max: Fury Road' (2015)

Furiosa, played by Charlize Theron, looks back at Max, played by Tom Hardy, leaving through the crowd in Mad Max: Fury RoadImage via Warner Bros. Pictures

Some action movies have chases. Mad Max: Fury Road is a chase that becomes its own language. Max Rockatansky (Tom Hardy) starts as a desperate survivor in this revival debut of the franchise, but the movie quickly pivots to Imperator Furiosa (Charlize Theron) and makes her mission feel like the only thing that matters.

What I love is how clean it is: every vehicle, every stunt, every split-second decision is readable, so the intensity never turns into noise. Not to forget the signature vibe of the franchise that’s beautifully captured and feels like a mix of exotic and dystopia. As far as the plot is concerned, whenever the plan flips, the film commits to that turn, so the whole movie feels earned.

8 'Whiplash' (2014)

Miles Teller behind his drum set in Whiplash

Image via Sony Pictures Classics

You don’t have to care about jazz to get why Whiplash is hands down the finest movie ever made with music at its center. Andrew Neiman (Miles Teller) is chasing greatness with that tunnel-vision hunger to become the best drummer, and Terence Fletcher (J. K. Simmons) is the mentor who turns his motivation into a weapon. Watching them circle each other is stressful in a way that feels familiar and motivating.

The movie also nails the small humiliations: the practice room obsession, the social life you quietly delete, the way almost good starts feeling like failure. Director Damien Chazelle builds to that final performance like a standoff, and when it finally snaps into place, you’re not sure if you witnessed victory or self-destruction. The ending of the film is one of the most satisfying ever and that’s why this is a must watch.

7 'Parasite' (2019)

Choi Yeon-gyo (Cho Yeo-jeong) talks on a cellphone as Kim Ki-taek (Song Kang-ho) drives in Parasite.Image via NEON

The first time I watched Parasite, I kept thinking, “This can’t keep escalating,” and then it did. Kim Ki-taek (Song Kang-ho) and his family slide into the Park household with confidence that feels clever, almost playful, until the movie quietly shows you how fragile that plan really is. What makes it stick, then, is how every detail starts to matter. The stairs are not just stairs.

The doors feel like boundaries. Even the weather feels like it’s choosing sides. A normal living-room moment can suddenly turn tense, and you don’t even realize your body is holding its breath until it’s already happening. Then the back half flips the tone, and it’s genuinely shocking. And at the same time, it feels like the inevitable result of all that pressure building up. That’s why it’s a must-watch. It’s funny, stressful, and brutal, and it stays in your head after.

6 'Her' (2013)

Joaquin Phoenix smiling with his hand to his face in HerImage via Warner Bros.

Her sounds like a gimmick on paper, but it lands because it treats loneliness like a real environment. Theodore Twombly (Joaquin Phoenix) isn’t sad in a dramatic way; he’s quietly disconnected, going through days that look normal until you notice the emptiness underneath. Then Samantha (Scarlett Johansson) arrives as a voice, and suddenly the movie feels oddly intimate. It’s a man's love story with a computer, and about a decade before Artificial Intelligence rolled in, so it had hit much harder when it was first released.

What got me is how the relationship grows in small, believable steps: humor, curiosity, comfort, then the scary part, which is dependence. By the end, it’s not about “technology bad.” It’s about how humans reach for connection and still can’t get it.

5 'La La Land' (2016)

Emma Stone and Ryan Gosling dancing on a street with Los Angeles in the background in La La Land (2016).Image via Lionsgate

If you’ve ever had a phase where a dream felt like oxygen, La La Land gets you. Mia Dolan (Emma Stone) and Sebastian “Seb” Wilder (Ryan Gosling) meet like two people who don’t even have time for love, because ambition already owns their schedule. And yet, the movie makes their connection feel effortless. The whole movie is like a night you'll never forget.

The reason it belongs here is that it doesn’t lie about what chasing your perfect life can do to your actual life. La La Land is directed by Damien Chazelle, and he makes the music feel like emotion in motion in the film, but the story is always about choices. The movie is bittersweet in the best way possible.

4 'The Dark Knight Rises' (2012)

Christian Bale, Tom Hardy, and Christopher Nolan on the set of The Dark Knight RisesImage via Warner Bros.

The Dark Knight Rises is arguably the finest Batman installment that the character has ever received — at least so far. Bruce Wayne (Christian Bale), after everything that had happened, he’s worn down, isolated, and trying to figure out who he is without the mask. Then Bane (Tom Hardy) shows up and makes Gotham feel fragile, and makes it tip over in a weekend. And then once Wayne finally makes it out of the pit, it’s a game-changer.

I love how the movie keeps widening the problem: it’s not just fists, it’s fear, politics, and the idea that hope can be manipulated. Christopher Nolan has specifically played the long game here, and it shows. Selina Kyle (Anne Hathaway) adds that slippery unpredictability the story needs. When the final act arrives, it feels big without feeling hollow, because it’s been earned through loss.

3 'Get Out' (2017)

Rose and Chris smiling while looking in the same direction in Get Out 2017Image via Universal Pictures

Get Out is one of those movies where the jokes make you comfortable right before the discomfort hits. Chris Washington (Daniel Kaluuya) walking into Rose Armitage’s (Allison Williams) family home feels like a normal meet-the-parents situation until the little moments stack up and the vibe turns wrong.

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What makes it a must-watch is how the film explains nothing until it has to, so you’re always half a step behind. Ordinary conversations feel like a trap, and when the reveal lands, it’s horrifying because it re-frames everything you already watched. And yes, the ending satisfaction slaps.

2 'Interstellar' (2014)

Matthew McConaughey as Joseph Cooper flying a spaceship in InterstellarImage via Paramount Pictures

I don’t even think of Interstellar as space sci-fi first. I think of it as a movie about leaving. Cooper (Matthew McConaughey) walking away from his kids hurts in a way that’s instantly personal, and the film keeps returning to that wound, even as the science gets big. Murph (Jessica Chastain) carries the other side of the story: what it does to the people left behind. This is, hands down, Nolan’s best work when it comes to packing emotions inside a spectacle.

And while the set pieces are great, what sticks is the time distortion turning love into a clock you can’t stop. The best part is how the movie makes distance feel cruel, not exciting. Every minute out there costs Cooper years with his children, and you feel that loss like a physical thing. By the time it lands its biggest emotional beat, you learn that the film was never about saving the world. It was much more.

1 'Inception' (2010)

Leonardo DiCaprio in Inception as the dream collapsesImage via Warner Bros.

Nolan’s third entry on this list and the best compliment I can give Inception is that it makes you feel smart while it’s melting your brain. Dom Cobb (Leonardo DiCaprio) is running a heist inside dreams, but the hook is emotional: he’s haunted, distracted, and desperate to get back to his kids. Ariadne (Elliot Page) is your way in, asking the questions you’re thinking. It’s a puzzle with a pulse.

It’s one of those movies that you watch that blows your mind, but since it’s so layered, you have to watch it again and again to fully inhale and dissect everything. The hallway fight, the layered timing, the way a simple spinning top becomes a whole debate, it’s all built with craft. Nolan also knows exactly when to let a scene breathe, so the film never feels like homework. When it ends, you want to argue about it with someone immediately. It’s a rare blockbuster brain-teaser.

Like Follow Followed Inception PG-13 Adventure Sci-Fi Thriller Action Release Date July 16, 2010 Runtime 148 minutes Director Christopher Nolan Writers Christopher Nolan