Something a bit different – this is a top-to-bottom ranking of the best movie needle-drops of the 2010s, so essentially It’s a playlist that comes with homework (watch the fillums) that I will not be collecting or marking. Most-but-not all picks are diagetic, not all of the films are good and there is a tragic recency bias for stuff I’ve watched since 2016 because what am I some kind of memory wizard. Please suggest anything I might have missed, I haven’t seen everything there is, although rest assured that I’ve seen Baby Driver and it’s not here for a reason.
Father Figure – George Michael
[Atomic Blonde]
I get one very stupid pick, so here is this bit from the quite bad film Atomic Blonde where Charlize Theron fully decks some henchmen to “Father Figure” while wearing a cool coat and some nice boots.
You Could’ve Been a Lady – Hot Chocolate
[Mistress America]
If you want to establish that a character is a very chaotic Brooklynite you get her up on stage to dance with the Dirty Projectors while they cover Hot Chocolate.
Nautilus – Anna Mereditch
[Eighth Grade]
Pool parties – a dystopian sci-fi nightmare!
The Footba’ Referee – Matt McGinn
[An Evening With Beverley Luff Linn]
The most baffling reveal in recent cinema history. Art!
Gypsy Woman – She’s Homeless (Basement Boy Strip to the Bone Mix)
[Eden]
Eden is just 130 minutes of great needle drops, this is just the one that made me go “Ooh!” and wave my arms the most.
Gloria – Them with Van Morrison
[Two Days, One Night]
“Do you like rock music?”
Hymme a l’Amour – Edith Piaf
[To The Ends of the Earth]
A full on music-hall-belter in the middle of the otherwise very low-key fish out of water story of an anxious travel show host. Everyone should be doing it.
One Step Ahead – Aretha Franklin
[Moonlight]
I don’t know if Moonlight is intentionally scattered with GOAT hip-hop samples, but this is the best one.
Plus Putes Que Toutes Les Putes – ORTIES
[Raw]
The most shocking bit in this film where people eat each other is somehow the lyrics on this.
YMCA – The Village People
[Ash is Purest White]
Depressed gangsters and their wives dancing to the YMCA in a small town in China in 2001 is, somehow, cool as shit.
Fairytale in the Supermarket – The Raincoats
[20th Century Women]
“What is that?”
“It’s The Raincoats.”
“Can’t things just be pretty?”
“Pretty music is used to hide how unfair and corrupt society is.”
“Ah, okay so… they’re not very good, and they know that, right?”
“Yeah, it’s like they’ve got this feeling, and they don’t have any skill, and they don’t want skill, because it’s really interesting what happens when your passion is bigger than the tools you have to deal with it. It creates this energy that’s raw. Isn’t it great?”
Small-Town Boy (Arnaud Rebotini Remix) – Bronski Beat
[120 Beats Per Minute]
Every time “Small-Town Boy” is used it’s perfect, but this is the saddest use and therefore the best.
Greatest Love of All – Whitney Houston
[Toni Erdmann]
Like the ending of Martyrs, only this time our heroine experiences cringe so transcendent that she sees God and comes back down from the mountain like Embarrassment Moses.
Horses – Patti Smith
[Catch Me Daddy]
Making your lead character dance to Patti Smith in a caravan is pretty much a cinematic cheat code, everyone should be doing it.
Lawman – Girl Band
[Tully]
Charlize Theron gets an emergency breast pump in a dingy club toilet while this thumps in another room. Really blows your hair back.
Laugh at Me – Sonny Bono
[Good Vibrations]
The absolute pinnacle of the Big Triumphant Climactic Singalong, there’s never been one this good and there never will be again.
Diamonds – Rihanna
[Girlhood]
Just some mates singing Rihanna in a hotel room shot with a blue filter. Perfection! Cinema!
Gloria – Umberto Tolli
[Gloria]
The most magical cinematic moment of any kind of the last decade is a sad, ageing woman dancing to a song that has the same name as her, and it’s not even close.