I’ve been straining my memory for the past week in an attempt to articulate a dominant ethos of the 2010s. Does one exist? It was a decidedly elusive decade. Our initial impression was that it blended seamlessly with the first decade of the new millennium, and never really emerged with its own distinctive palette.

But a closer look casts doubt on that first assessment. The 2010s were a decade of explosive technological growth and change. Social media arrived as a main driver of cultural influence, generating all kinds of eddies and flows in the cultural stream: hipster culture, superhero movies, gaming culture, gluten-free diets, carnivore diets, podcasting, real estate investment culture, “athleisure” wear, etc., etc. But on the whole, I think it is true that the 2010s are difficult to define. Perhaps not enough time has passed for us to render a verdict on them. Or perhaps there is something deeper going on. The financial collapse of 2008 was so thorough and decisive that its effects carried over well into the 2010s, and we could never quite escape them.

As I saw it, the 2010s were a time of anxiety: a Decade of Dread. We were all waiting for the other shoe to fall. We were trapped with our international and domestic policy choices, and could not extricate ourselves from them. There was a sense that we were all living on borrowed time, and that, sooner or later, we were all going to have to pay the collective piper. That feeling has not yet dissipated.

Below I present my list of the greatest movies of the 2010s. The selections are not presented in any order of importance: I see them all as equally significant. You will find some surprises here, but I am confident that I can defend every selection on its own merits. As I pondered this list, I do begin to see common undercurrents: anxiety, foreboding, apprehension, and nervous expectation. For me, the 2010s were without doubt the Decade of Dread.

Nightcrawler (2014). Jake Gyllenhaal’s greatest performance. This dark tale of a sociopathic man driven to become an on-the-spot video news reporter will have your flesh crawling. It’s an incredible portrayal of a defective personality, and of the cultural environment that allows such a creature to exist. But the most remarkable thing is that it’s all entirely plausible. Praise also goes to Rene Russo for her depiction of a newscaster who’s just morally corrupt enough to give Gyllenhaal’s character the oxygen he needs.

Arrival (2016). The theme of extraterrestrial visitation has been treated many times before. But I don’t think anyone has done it as well, and as intelligently, as Denis Villeneuve. The viewer is drawn into a tale that manages to be both intimate and cosmic in its significance.

Moneyball (2011). It’s not really about baseball, despite the fact that baseball is the vehicle used to tell the story. This movie really is about shattering paradigms, and creating bold solutions that can change conventional wisdom. For that reason, Moneyball has universal applicability and timeless appeal. Brad Pitt’s best performance.

Interstellar (2014). Christopher Nolan operatic science fiction opus was crafted with great deference to scientific fidelity, and the results are evident in every minute of screen time. Matthew McConaughey proved he had the acting skills to carry this project, and the result is a moving parable of devotion and time’s unrelenting passage. The Neoplatonists were right after all: everything we do, we do for love.

Blade Runner 2049 (2017). Yes, it is probably too long. But this long-delayed sequel to the original Blade Runner honors and complements the original the way a sequel should. The story seems to confirm the observation that in the search for our origins, we often find ourselves back to where we started.

Kill List (2011). British horror has often drawn on the rich tradition of Druidic and Celtic lore pulsing like a substratal artery through the islands. This movie draws on that legacy, and crafts a tale so unexpected, so ominous, and so demented that the viewer will need days to comprehend the final act. The beauty of Kill List is that you can feel a net closing in on the characters, yet that net remains completely invisible. The plot: two hitmen are hired by a shadowy organization to carry out a series of contracts. They soon realize that they have signed on for far, far more than they contracted for.

In The Heart Of The Sea (2015). There are no deep meanings here, only a wonderful sea story and period drama. And that, it turns out, is enough. The plot: a dramatic recounting of the sinking of the ship Essex by an angry whale, an incident that helped inspire the conclusion to Herman Melville’s Moby Dick. A thoroughly satisfying film that should be seen on the largest screen you can find.

A Hijacking (2012). This great Danish film never attracted the attention it richly deserved. Its directly-told narrative explores the divergent mentalities of Somali pirates and comfortable European executives, each of whom struggles to control events they have recklessly set in motion. We are left with the conclusion that when fate and human agency collide, fate always has the final say.

Simon Killer (2012). You’ve probably never heard of this obscure gem. But Antonio Campos’s penetrating character study has a great deal of modern relevance, and deserves far more recognition than it has received. The plot: a morose American man moves to Paris to recover from a failed relationship, but quickly discovers that his bad character follows him wherever he goes. This movie explores the dark side of the expatriate life, and exposes a cowardly, narcissistic personality type that seems all too common these days. Brady Corbet’s chilling portrayal of the main character is one of the best performances of the decade.

Hell Or High Water (2016). If you can imagine a fantastic crime story, Western drama, and character study all rolled into one, then you can get an idea of how good Hell or High Water is. The plot: lawman Jeff Bridges and his faithful deputy are hot on the trail of two bank robbers with mysterious motivations. The performances are perfectly calibrated, never straying into melodrama or excess. Jeff Bridges and Chris Pine prove to be the perfect antagonists, and you can feel the emotions fly off the screen when they confront each other.

A Ghost Story (2017). One of the pleasures of the movies is finding brilliant experimental films that fit into no discernible category. This is one of those movies. Director David Lowery’s melancholy tale of a ghost fated to haunt the same plot of land pulls the viewer across the boundaries of time and space. The result is that rarest of cinematic experiences: a story that connects with us spiritually, in the literal sense of the word.

The Irishman (2019). It’s Martin Scorsese, after all. No, the movie is not perfect, and it does feel at times like he’s covered this ground before. But it’s hard to complain when you have the chance to see Pacino, DeNiro, and Joe Pesci bounce off each other for three hours.

Hereditary (2018). Australian actress Toni Collette turns in the performance of her career in this mind-bending psychological horror drama. Like most great suspense films, the sense of dread escalates slowly, then arrives like a tsunami in the final act. Fans of the genre will not want to miss this one.

Looper (2012). This intriguing science fiction drama is pure old-school entertainment. The premise is that in the future, crime syndicates have to send their enemies back in time to be executed. Don’t worry too much about the plot. The point here is to watch Bruce Willis, Joseph Gordon-Levitt, and Emily Blunt run around and chew on the sets and dialogue.

Prisoners (2013). Denis Villeneuve, again. Rarely has a film portrayed evil in such stark and uncompromising tones. Jake Gyllenhaal and Hugh Jackman find themselves caught up in a missing children investigation. Unfortunately for them, the truth turns out to be darker than they ever imagined.

Mud (2012). This diamond of a movie proved that the Southern Gothic drama is still alive and well. A coming-of-age movie with Matthew McConaughey as a mysterious vagrant.

A Quiet Place (2018). Nothing too sophisticated here, but this science fiction movie introduced an interesting premise: alien invaders who are ultra-sensitive to sound, forcing humanity to live in complete silence. The story revolves around a family doing their best to survive in a horrifically hostile environment. And this may be just what the 2010s was all about.

Sicario (2015). Denis Villeneuve just keeps hitting grand slams. Here he focuses on Mexico’s drug trade, and the corruption and criminality that straddle both sides of the border. Buried within this subject is a revenge tale of undiluted and ferocious power. Yes, this subject matter has been dealt with before. But no one has presented the drug war in such stark, uncompromising tones.

The Witch (2015). Robert Eggers has definitely done his research on 17th century New England. This evocative horror yarn recreates the logic and aura of a world many of us know only from dry chronicles. King James I, while composing his treatise Daemonologie, would have nodded approvingly at this movie.

Lincoln (2012). Steven Spielberg’s historical drama traces the final phases of the American Civil War. Daniel Day-Lewis plays the title role, and gives us a Lincoln that is more historically accurate than any previous portrayal in film. We finally get chance to see Lincoln’s leadership style in action, his hopes, his fears, and his overriding sense of purpose. The supporting roles are also uniformly excellent, especially the venerable Tommy Lee Jones as Thaddeus Stevens. Required viewing.

Under The Skin (2013). Art house science fiction at its very best. Scarlett Johansson plays a humanoid-like alien that seems to “absorb” men she encounters in urban Scotland. What makes this film great are the deft artistic touches that linger in the mind long after the curtain has come down. There is a sense of intelligent restraint throughout that allows the viewer to draw his own interpretation of events.

The Master (2012). Paul Thomas Anderson’s psychological drama about a charismatic cult leader’s effect on the life of a wayward veteran is slow and cerebral, but absolutely worth your time. It was not successful at the box office, but its prestige has only increased with time. Philip Seymour Hoffman proves again that he was among the very best actors of his generation.

The Raid: Redemption (2011). This Indonesian police action film grabs you by the throat in its first fifteen minutes and never lets go. The plot: a SWAT team raids an apartment controlled by a drug lord. They find themselves surrounded, and must fight their way to safety. If you’re looking for raw action, this is the place to find it.

Enemy (2013). Jake Gyllenhaal plays a quiet teacher who inadvertently discovers that he has a doppelganger living in his city. An early effort by Denis Villeneuve that explores the psychological fault lines of modern society, while offering subtle commentary on living in an authoritarian system without realizing it.

Sleepless Night (2011). This fantastic French crime thriller will have you on the edge of your seat. It starts out like a shot out of a cannon. The plot: a corrupt cop frantically tries to save his son from a vengeful drug dealer. The action scenes are well done, the pacing impeccable, and the writing superb.

Destroyer (2018). Neo-noir at its very best. A real surprise here from Nicole Kidman, who transforms herself into a grungy, burnt out ex-cop seeking revenge for the death of her lover many years earlier. I first saw this movie on an international flight and couldn’t believe how good it was. Faithful to all the noir conventions, Destroyer succeeds on every level. Don’t expect happy endings here: noir is more about remaining faithful to a code of honor.

The Grey (2011). Liam Neeson has a way of starring in small, unexpectedly good movies. This great film explores the themes of free will, personal choice, and heroism in the face of insurmountable odds, and does so using the vehicle of an adventure tale. The plot: a disillusioned man takes a job working in the far north. When his plane crashes in the wilderness, he and his fellow survivors must navigate their way to safety while being stalked by wolves.

The Hunter (2011). An intelligent, expertly made Australian drama about a man (Willem Dafoe) hired to track down a supposedly extinct animal whose DNA could be used to develop a powerful weapon. Part morality tale, part allegory, and part suspense drama, The Hunter remains one of the most innovative films of the decade. Who can doubt that environmental preservation, corporate greed, and the insatiable human lust for power will be dominant themes in the coming years?

Hold The Dark (2018). This elusive, brooding “northern gothic” tale is not without flaws, but no one can deny a powerful sense of atmosphere. The plot: a scientist specializing in wolf behavior is summoned to remote Alaska to track down wolves suspected of being linked to the disappearance of local children. This pretext, however, turns out to conceal a much more sinister reality.

The Woman In The Fifth (2011). Ethan Hawke and Kristen Scott Thomas are both masters of the independent film. This psychological noir can be interpreted on several levels, and provides the viewer with no easy answers. But that’s what makes it so great. The plot: a down-on-his-luck novelist finds his way to Paris to reconnect with his estranged wife and daughter. There he finds himself pulled into a world in which fantasy and reality become increasingly difficult to separate. A penetrating study of isolation and the price of artistic creativity.