I’m not sure how I feel about the calendar flipping from 2019 to 2020 and the world bidding adieu to another decade. I’m not real sentimental when it comes to the passing of another year, decade or whatever. I’m not big on resolutions and I’m not big on regrets.

But I do love memories. I love nostalgia. And what better way to bookmark those moments than with movies (or books, TV, music and historical events). The films I saw in a given year are signposts on the highway of my life. Maybe that’s why putting a “best of the decade” list is so appealing. It lets me grab Doc Brown and take the DeLorean for a spin from 2010 through 2019, remember what moved me, where I was and – probably – what I had yet to experience and learn.

As one of my favorite authors, Dave Eggers, said of books, they have a way of stopping time and saying “let’s not forget this.” I think that applies to film, as well. Here are 10 motion pictures that left an impact on me. Let me know in the comments if these would or did make your list and what you’d add. Also, if you missed the two-hour KVNU Movie Show where we talked about the best of the decade, click here to listen to the podcast.

INCEPTION (2010)

Christopher Nolan had already shown the world he was a genius with MEMENTO, INSOMNIA, BATMAN BEGINS and THE DARK KNIGHT, but INCEPTION showed he was playing on another level altogether. Nominated for eight Academy Awards (winning four), it boasted one of the best ensemble casts of all-time, as well as a bewitching score put together masterfully by Hans Zimmer.

THE SOCIAL NETWORK (2010)

When David Fincher’s THE SOCIAL NETWORK hit theaters in 2010, Facebook was only three or four years into its heyday. People weren’t arguing about politics yet and the Cambridge Analytica controversy wasn’t even on the map. Still, watching this movie in 2019 is pretty creepy. There were warning signs from the start and it feels like writer Aaron Sorkin hit the nail on the head with his snapshot of Mark Zuckerberg’s early rise to tech power. And like the originality of Hans Zimmer’s music in INCEPTION, can we talk about the haunting Oscar-winning score from Trent Reznor and Atticus Ross? It was like a symphony and a dance club collided and the end result was a boiling, atmospheric powder keg that helps the film keep pace and the tension unbroken.

DRIVE (2011)

I caught DRIVE at a Friday matinee a few hours before the KVNU Movie Show and was floored. I wanted to head right back in the theater and watch it again. The Utah Film Critics felt the same way, as we handed DRIVE our best picture hardware for 2011. In spite of the film’s action and violence, DRIVE really is a quiet movie. Quiet and atmospheric. It’s patient and deliberate and 100 percent ok with stretches of silence. Director Nicolas Winding Refn pushes the narrative by engaging all the viewers senses from the opening scene and never let’s up.

TREE OF LIFE (2011)

TREE OF LIFE is probably the most spiritual experience I’ve ever had at the movies. Simple and gorgeous, grandiose and daunting, this Terrence Malick masterpiece is one of Brad Pitt’s finest performances and was another rung on the ladder of greatness for Jessica Chastain. This is the type of movie where every frame could hang on your wall. It was nominated for three Academy Awards, including Best Picture, Best Director and Best Cinematography.

SILVER LININGS PLAYBOOK (2012)

The gulf between the oftentimes manufactured emotion of a movie’s trailer and the actual final product that hits the big screen can be pretty wide, and I’ve been burned countless times (I’m looking at you VANILLA SKY). That was not the case of SILVER LININGS PLAYBOOK. The preview was charming and the film was the exact same. I loved every minute. The last scene – one of the greatest last scenes of all-time – still puts a lump in my throat. It was also the picture that showed the world that Jennifer Lawrence was more than THE HUNGER GAMES and Bradley Cooper was more than THE HANGOVER.

ZERO DARK THIRTY (2012)

Jessica Chastain was a tour de force in the 2010s and should maintain that velocity for quite some time. She and Ryan Gosling are the only actors that show up in this list more than once. ZERO DARK THIRTY won Chastain a best actress award for her performance as fictional CIA analyst Maya, who is tasked with finding Osama bin Laden, the mastermind of the 9/11 attacks in 2001. The movie was especially timely as bin Laden was killed (as the movie depicts) on May 2, 2011. Director Kathryn Bigelow was already a masterful filmmaker when she received universal applause for THE HURT LOCKER (2008), but ZERO DARK THIRTY cemented her place as one of the great directors working today.

GRAVITY (2013)

When GRAVITY hit theaters in 2013, Sandra Bullock had already won a best actress Oscar for her role in 2009’s THE BLIND SIDE, but like Russell Crowe’s win for GLADIATOR (when he should have won for THE INSIDER), Bullock’s performance as stranded astronaut Ryan Stone was the absolute best performance of her career. Alone for most of the film, Bullock was nothing short of brilliant, fighting for her life and reverberating raw emotion from start to finish. Alfonso Cuarón hadn’t directed a feature length film since CHILDREN OF MEN in 2006 and his return to the big screen was amazing, earning him a Best Director Oscar as well as six other Academy Awards.

GUARDIANS OF THE GALAXY (2014)

I could have easily put THE AVENGERS on this list, or CAPTAIN AMERICA: WINTER SOLDIER, or even THOR: RAGNAROK, but GUARDIANS OF THE GALAXY gets this spot for the breath of fresh air it shot into the MCU (Marvel Cinematic Universe) after some bland sequels, including AVENGERS: AGE OF ULTRON. It showed that irreverent filmmakers – like James Gunn – could shake things up and make die hard fans and casual fans smile big time at the cinema. This also marked what most folks thought would be the start of a Harrison Ford-ish career for Chris Pratt, but it might have been the peak [insert awkward emoji face].

STAR WARS: THE FORCE AWAKENS (2015)

THE LAST JEDI is my favorite film in the STAR WARS sequel trilogy, but the THE FORCE AWAKENS rekindled something for me – and for many STAR WARS fans – that had missing since, at best, 1983. It made me excited about STAR WARS again. It brought back the magic. I think Disney has bungled some goodwill and good fortune they had running after THE FORCE AWAKENS, but I’m excited to see what the galaxy has to hold for moviegoers in this upcoming decade.

LA LA LAND (2016)

LA LA LAND was the last and best movie I saw in 2016. It was the first film I saw multiple times in the multiplex since THE FORCE AWAKENS. It was nothing short of cinematic sunshine and contained all the longing, love and dreaming that millions have stored in their souls. I’m not a big musical guy, but the LA LA LAND soundtrack was on repeat in my car for the better part of six months. Ryan Gosling and Emma Stone tap dancing in Griffith Park made me want to buy some clickity-clackity wingtips and learn to move my feet. I still smile and get goosebumps when I hear Another Day of Sun, and I’m excited for director Damien Chazelle and anything he puts on the silver screen.