Honorable Mentions: Hobo with a Shotgun, Horrible Bosses, Martha Marcy May Marlene
50/50: As I mentioned in my Top 20 Movies of the 2010's countdown earlier this year, I believe this is the single most underrated movie of the past decade. By combing gut-wrenching emotion with a sharp sense of humor and an exceptional cast anchored by an astounding Joseph Gordon-Levitt as the protagonist, 50/50 tackles cancer and how it effects everyone from the patient to their loved ones with a realism that other similar films couldn't even dream of. Hopefully Will Reiser returns to screenwriting again someday because the film world needs more stories that are profound and well-rounded as this.
Attack the Block: Longtime Edgar Wright collaborator Joe Cornish proved he could match the brilliance of his friend when he finally got the chance to direct his own movie. Not since Wright's Shaun of the Dead has a film expertly blended tense genre thrills with broad comedy to make a gory, hilarious and deliriously entertaining concoction. If Attack the Block's success as a sci-fi/horror/comedy hybrid wasn't enough, it was also the vehicle that was responsible for launching the great John Boyega's career as well as giving the current Doctor Who Jodie Whittaker one of her first prominent roles. Pretty good resume for a scrappy little British production that cost a little under $9 million in US dollars.
Super 8: Well before Stranger Things became a cultural phenomenon, J.J Abrams was dabbling in the art of making throwback sci-fi adventures where misfit 12-13 year olds have a series of encounters with alien lifeforms. Abrams gleefully captures the spirit of Steven Spielberg's early work (E.T., Close Encounters of the Third Kind) by packing Super 8 with enough heart, humor and wonderous spectacle to make it a damn near perfect piece of popcorn entertainment.
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