Notes from the Kraken: December

In All, Notes by David

Welcome again to We Have Always Live the Kraken, a pop culture blog transmitted directly to you from the belly of the beast. Here in the Notes we’ll show you this month’s posting schedule, but first, here are some thoughts.

The road to Valhalla was glorious, shiny, and chrome.

 
David: With the end of 2019, and thus the end of the 2010s, a lot of reflection can be had over the last decade. So instead of a missive this month, Kyu and I are simply going to list our Top Ten Movie Lists for each year this decade, as well as a Top Ten List for the 2010s as a whole. (Note: I tend to pair movies based on the group they are submitted to the Oscars with for release date. This can make things a bit weird at times.) Without further ado:
 
2010 – David
  1. The Social Network
  2. Scott Pilgrim vs. The World
  3. Inception
  4. Toy Story 3
  5. The King’s Speech
  6. Black Swan
  7. Summer Wars (this one gets really weird, as you could argue this is 2009, but its Oscar run was 2010, and this is my list, so it stays)
  8. The Fighter
  9. Another Year
  10. Micmacs

2010 – Kyu

  1. Scott Pilgrim vs. The World
  2. Inception
  3. The Social Network
  4. The Illusionist
  5. Beyond the Black Rainbow
  6. Winter’s Bone
  7. Toy Story 3
  8. Another Year
  9. Exit Through the Gift Shop
  10. Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part 1

Kyu: (My lists go by IMDB year, which is the only reason Summer Wars isn’t on here.)

2011 – David (uggggh… after the first five this list is painful)
  1. Midnight in Paris
  2. Beginners
  3. Drive
  4. A Separation
  5. The Descendants
  6. The Artist
  7. Win/Win
  8. Warrior
  9. Shame
  10. Like Crazy

2011 – Kyu (a fantastic year for genre cinema)

  1. Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy
  2. Drive
  3. The Cabin in the Woods
  4. Margaret
  5. Killer Joe
  6. The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo
  7. Hugo
  8. Hanna
  9. A Separation
  10. Take Shelter
2012 – David
  1. Looper
  2. Django Unchained
  3. Holy Motors
  4. The Master
  5. Argo
  6. The Dark Knight Rises
  7. Silver Linings Playbook
  8. Zero Dark Thirty
  9. Beast of Southern Wilds
  10. Amour

2012 – Kyu (my pick for the best year of the decade, I think; David and I shared six films on these lists as well)

  1. Holy Motors
  2. Django Unchained
  3. The Dark Knight Rises
  4. Moonrise Kingdom
  5. Skyfall
  6. Looper (my article on the film’s influence on sci-fi here)
  7. The Master
  8. Beasts of the Southern Wilds
  9. Dredd
  10. Frances Ha
2013 – David
  1. Wolf Children (This is an example of when release year gets wonky, especially since due to Funimation being the worst, this film was never actually submitted for the Oscars at all… sigh)
  2. Twelve Years A Slave
  3. Gravity
  4. The Wolf of Wall Street
  5. The Past
  6. Her
  7. The Wind Rises
  8. The Spectacular Now
  9. The Kings of Summer
  10. Rush

2013 – Kyu

  1. Upstream Color
  2. Before Midnight
  3. The Wolf of Wall Street
  4. Under the Skin
  5. The Wind Rises
  6. Snowpiercer
  7. Stoker (my review here)
  8. The Past
  9. Inside Llewyn Davis
  10. The Tale of Princess Kaguya
2014 – David
  1. The Grand Budapest Hotel
  2. Birdman or (The Unexpected Virtue of Ignorance)
  3. Boyhood
  4. The Tale of Princess Kaguya
  5. Gone Girl
  6. Song of the Sea
  7. Selma
  8. 22 Jump Street
  9. Whiplash
  10. Interstellar

2014 – Kyu (tied with 2012 and 2018 for the most films shared between our two lists, six)

  1. Birdman or (The Unexpected Virtue of Ignorance)
  2. Interstellar
  3. The Grand Budapest Hotel
  4. Gone Girl (my review here)
  5. It Follows
  6. The Lego Movie
  7. Phoenix (my review here)
  8. Whiplash
  9. Paddington
  10. Boyhood
2015 – David
  1. Mad Max: Fury Road
  2. Sicario
  3. Spotlight
  4. Inside Out
  5. Anomalisa
  6. Star Wars Episode VII: The Force Awakens
  7. Mustang
  8. Bakemono no Ko or The Boy and the Beast
  9. Boy & The World (Another weird one, as this really came out in 2013, but was submitted in 2015)
  10. Carol

2015 – Kyu (one of only two years in which David and I agree on the best film of the year)

  1. Mad Max Fury Road
  2. Star Wars Episode VII: The Force Awakens
  3. Anomalisa
  4. The Forbidden Room
  5. The Hateful Eight
  6. The Lobster
  7. Creed
  8. The Fits
  9. The Big Short
  10. Green Room
2016 – David
  1. The Handmaiden
  2. Your Name
  3. La La Land (these are tied and just listed in alphabetical order)
  4. Moonlight (these are tied and just listed in alphabetical order)
  5. Manchester By the Sea
  6. Moana
  7. Sing Street
  8. Elle
  9. I Am Not Your Negro
  10. Arrival

2016 – Kyu

  1. Moonlight
  2. Manchester by the Sea
  3. Kubo and the Two Strings
  4. La La Land
  5. OJ: Made in America
  6. Rogue One
  7. Shin Godzilla
  8. Swiss Army Man
  9. Jackie
  10. Sing Street
2017 – David
  1. Logan
  2. Call Me By Your Name
  3. Lady Bird
  4. Thelma
  5. The Disaster Artist
  6. The Square
  7. The Shape of Water
  8. Dunkirk
  9. The Big Sick
  10. The Work

2017 – Kyu (the other year in which David and I agree on the best film of the year)

  1. Logan
  2. Phantom Thread
  3. Blade Runner 2049
  4. Paddington 2
  5. Call Me By Your Name
  6. Star Wars Episode VIII: The Last Jedi
  7. The Shape of Water
  8. Get Out
  9. Colossal
  10. Strong Island
2018 – David
  1. If Beale Street Could Talk
  2. The Favourite
  3. BlacKkKlansman
  4. Blindspotting
  5. Minding the Gap
  6. Mirai
  7. Paddington 2
  8. Black Panther
  9. Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse
  10. Shoplifters

2018 – Kyu (the third year in which David and I share six films)

  1. Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse
  2. If Beale Street Could Talk
  3. Isle of Dogs
  4. Hereditary
  5. Annihilation
  6. BlacKkKlansman
  7. The Favourite
  8. Black Panther
  9. First Reformed
  10. Shoplifters
2019 – David (obviously this is still a work in progress, but here you go for now)
  1. Parasite
  2. Knives Out
  3. Jojo Rabbit
  4. The Irishman
  5. The Farewell
  6. Once Upon a Time in … Hollywood
  7. Midsommar
  8. Pain and Glory
  9. Booksmart 
  10. Avengers: Endgame 

2019 – Kyu (at least for now)

  1. Parasite
  2. Knives Out
  3. Once Upon a Time … in Hollywood
  4. Midsommar
  5. A Hidden Life
  6. Joker
  7. The Steven Universe Movie
  8. The Farewell
  9. The Killing of Kenneth Chamberlain
  10. Ad Astra
Best of the Decade – David
  1. Mad Max (2015)
  2. Wolf Children (2013)
  3. The Handmaiden (2016)
  4. Grand Budapest Hotel (2014)
  5. Logan (2017)
  6. Looper (2012)
  7. Midnight in Paris (2011)
  8. Sicario (2015)
  9. Your Name (2016)
  10. Call Me By Your Name (2017)

The last spot was hotly contested with Call Me By Your Name just barely beating out Django Unchained and Twelve Years a Slave (and I am still not entirely thrilled with the choice). Considering my general vitriol towards 2011, some might be surprised by it getting a film on the list, but the top five of that year I have always found to be quite amazing, it is just that things go downhill from there. I was still torn on how to handle the Woody Allen of it all with Midnight in Paris, but I truly think that movie is extraordinary, so ultimately felt I had to rank it accordingly.

Also, just for fun, I thought I would also give a Top Ten list of what my Favorite Films of the Decade are, which is slightly different than my other list, which is based more on quality (not entirely, but mostly):

  1. Mad Max Fury Road
  2. Scott Pilgrim vs. The World (I have re-watched this film so many times)
  3. Wolf Children
  4. Summer Wars
  5. Pacific Rim
  6. The Grand Budapest Hotel
  7. Logan
  8. The Handmaiden
  9. La La Land 
  10. Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse

Best of the Decade – Kyu (unlike David’s, my sole list is more of a favorites list already)

  1. Scott Pilgrim vs. The World
  2. Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy
  3. Upstream Color
  4. Holy Motors
  5. Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse
  6. Logan
  7. Django Unchained
  8. Moonrise Kingdom
  9. Mad Max: Fury Road
  10. Skyfall (honestly, probably tied with a good dozen runner-ups)

All in all, it’s been a pretty great decade for cinema. Here’s to the next ten years.

-Kyu

There you have it. I hope you find these lists useful, and that they give you a lot of ideas about things you should watch if you haven’t already.

-David

From the depths of the Kraken, here is what we are bringing you this month.

*crickets* *crickets* Look at those all-decade lists we made! Totally counts!

Our new wing continues to allow you to reflect on past works of ours whenever you might want, so please enjoy this month’s highlighted works:

Go back to the very beginning and look at David’s examination of Hayao Miyazaki’s first film The Castle of Cagliostro in a column of unfinished past known as the Miyazaki Experience.

Another grand edition of Hidden Levels in which Matt looks at Sunset Overdrive.

Catch of the Week Month:

Each and every week the residents here in the Kraken will offer one recommendation for the week that we think you all would enjoy. It might be a movie. It might be a book. Who knows? This is your… Catch of the Week Month.

David: Before Rian Johnson got stuck in the Star Wars vortex and created the most controversial Star Wars film of all time (controversial for some real, but mostly bullshit reasons), he created two superb genre movies in Brick and Looper, and one still pretty good, but flawed movie in The Brothers Bloom. Now Johnson gets to return to these smaller-scale movies that don’t have to please everyone in the form of the murder mystery thriller Knives Out, and man, is it a return to form. An exciting and deep movie that has so much going on both thematically and on-screen, Knives Out is an absolute blast, and one of the best films of the year. See it when you get the chance!

That’s it for this month’s notes. ‘Tis the season for giving, so make sure to give your yearly soul tithe to the Kraken so he will continue to bless you for the new year.