1.
The
King’s Speech (2010) – “The story of King George VI, his impromptu
ascension to the throne of the British Empire in 1936, and the speech therapist
who helped the unsure monarch overcome his stammer”
2.
The
Darkest Hour (2017) – “In May 1940, the fate of Western Europe hangs on
British Prime Minister Winston Churchill, who must decide whether to
negotiate with Adolf Hitler, or fight on knowing that it could mean a
humiliating defeat for Britain and its empire.”
3.
Dunkirk
(2017) – “Allied soldiers from Belgium, the British Empire, and France are
surrounded by the German Army, and evacuated during a fierce battle in World
War II.”
4.
Argo
(2012) – “Acting under the cover of a Hollywood producer scouting a location
for a science fiction film, a CIA agent launches a dangerous operation to
rescue six Americans in Tehran during the U.S. hostage crisis in Iran in 1979.”
5.
Moneyball
(2011) – “Oakland A's general manager Billy Beane's successful attempt to
assemble a baseball team on a lean budget by employing computer-generated
analysis to acquire new players.”
6.
The
Imitation Game (2014) – “During World War II, the English mathematical
genius Alan Turing tries to crack the German Enigma code with help
from fellow mathematicians.”
7.
Hidden
Figures (2016) – “The story of a team of female African-American
mathematicians who served a vital role in NASA during the early years of the
U.S. space program
8.
On
the Basis of Sex (2018) – “The true story of Ruth Bader Ginsburg, her
struggles for equal rights, and the early cases of a historic career that lead
to her nomination and confirmation as U.S. Supreme Court Associate Justice.”
9.
The
Post (2018) – “A cover-up that spanned four U.S. Presidents pushed the
country's first female newspaper publisher and a hard-driving editor to join an
unprecedented battle between the press and the government.”
10. A
Beautiful Day in the Neighborhood (2019) – “
11. Bridge of Spies (2015) – “During
the Cold War, an American lawyer is recruited to defend an arrested Soviet spy
in court, and then help the CIA facilitate an exchange of the spy for the
Soviet captured American U2 spy plane pilot, Francis Gary Powers.”
12. Captain Phillips (2013) – “The
true story of Captain Richard Phillips and the 2009 hijacking by Somali pirates
of the U.S.-flagged MV Maersk Alabama, the first American cargo ship to be
hijacked in two hundred years.
13. The Martian (2015) – “An
astronaut becomes stranded on Mars after his team assume him dead, and must
rely on his ingenuity to find a way to signal to Earth that he is alive.”
14. The Upside (2017) – “A comedic
look at the relationship between a wealthy man with quadriplegia and an
unemployed man with a criminal record who's hired to help him.”
15. Green Book (2018) “A
working-class Italian-American bouncer becomes the driver of an
African-American classical pianist on a tour of venues through the 1960s
American South.”
16. Free Solo (2018) – “Alex
Honnold attempts to become the first person to ever free solo climb El Capitan.”
17. Guardians of the Galaxy (“2014)
–“A group of intergalactic criminals must pull together to stop a fanatical
warrior with plans to purge the universe.
18. Coco (2017) – “Aspiring
musician Miguel, confronted with his family's ancestral ban on music, enters
the Land of the Dead to find his great-great-grandfather, a legendary singer.
19. Draft Day (2014) – “At the NFL
Draft, General Manager Sonny Weaver has the opportunity to rebuild his team
when he trades for the number one pick. He must decide what he's willing to
sacrifice on a life-changing day for a few hundred young men with NFL dreams.”
20. The Iron Lady (2011) – “An
elderly Margaret Thatcher talks to the imagined presence of her
recently deceased husband as she struggles to come to terms with his death while
scenes from her past life, from girlhood to British prime minister, intervene.”
I think this would be a fun exercise for students, but I
think I would decrease the number. Many students might not be able to go to the
movies that much or have no interest in the movies. Depending on their age,
some students may not be old enough to name movies for the whole decade. I think I would ask them to name their top 5
movies of all time.
What are your top 20 movies for the decade? Please share.
