The 50 Best Movie Scenes of the decade

By Jake Skubish

As the decade comes to a close, I am looking back at the best of cinema from 2010 - 2019. Check out the Best of the Decade Homepage for the rest of the lists.

50. Mom’s Speech - Love, Simon

This pick will give you a good sense of what you’re in for with this list: lots of scenes that make me cry like a big dumb baby. Here, Simon’s mom (Jennifer Garner) delivers a speech confirming her acceptance of her son after he’s come out as gay. It’s such a movie moment; Garner delivers the sort of eloquent dialogue that could only be crafted for the screen. It still gets me every time. Love, Simon is available to stream through Cinemax.

49. Secret Formula for Happiness - About Time

About Time was a 2-seed in this year’s Romantic Comedy Bracket, a point of contention between my bracket co-host Zoë and myself; her case was that it’s not actually a rom-com. The film’s best scene supports that point: a romance drives much of the narrative, but the message of this time-traveling comedy is about what makes a life worth living. About Time is available to stream through Netflix.

48. Opening getaway - Drive

Drive is a cool movie, if a little too in love with its own aesthetic. Its best moment comes at the beginning of the movie, as the Driver (Ryan Gosling) mans the getaway car for a heist gone awry. The escape from law enforcement is thrilling, but the scene’s true excellence is how the Driver ultimately makes his escape. This is only the second-best heist getaway scene on this list, though. Drive is available to stream for free on Vudu and Crackle.

47. Goodbye - Super 8

Look, is J.J. Abrams doing Steven Spielberg fan fiction with every movie he makes? Yes, yes he is. Is that a problem for me? No, no it is not. Super 8 is a big budget E.T.-ripoff that charms like hell, and it makes me sad that no one remembers it. If you’ve seen E.T. you can guess the gist of how this final scene goes; it still works.

46. Rooftop Chase - mission: Impossible - Fallout

Tom Cruise breaks his ankle during this scene and keeps running. Give me 20 more of these movies, please. Mission: Impossible - Fallout is available to stream through Hulu.

45. Cafeteria - The Big Sick

The famous 9/11 joke from The Big Sick is still funny, even after watching it a dozen times, and it both makes this scene and fundamentally changes the relationship between Kumail (Kumail Nanjiani) and Emily’s parents (Holly Hunter and Ray Romano). What people forget when talking about this scene, though, is how crucial Romano’s delivery is. You get what he’s trying to say, but what comes out is classic awkward dad material. The Big Sick is available to stream for free for Amazon Prime members.

44. Pizza - Set It Up

Set It Up is one of the great rom-coms, and I will not forgive the world until it is recognized as such. This scene works for a simple reason: the chemistry between Glen Powell and Zoey Deutch. Thankfully the pair has another Netflix rom-com on the way next year, from Set It Up writer Katie Silberman. Set It Up is available to stream through Netflix.

43. Rapper’s Delight - Everybody Wants Some!!

Back to back Glen Powell picks! Everybody Wants Some!! is a masterwork on par with the best of Richard Linklater. If Dazed and Confused is Linklater's opus on nostalgia, Everybody Wants Some!! is about fully enjoying the present. And nothing says enjoying the present like singing along to one of the grooviest rap songs in history.

42. Bin Laden Song - Popstar: Never Stop Never Stopping

The Lonely Island’s send-up of the pop music industry is the funniest pure comedy of the decade, and this scene perfectly exemplifies why. I dare you not to laugh as Connor4Real (Andy Samberg) struggles to keep up with the metaphors of a woman who wants him to "“f**k her like we f**ked Bin Laden.” It’s shallow garbage, and yet…you can’t help but sing along.

41. The Audition - In A World…

I couldn’t find the clip of this scene online, but it’s fitting that I include the trailer instead—the scene is about a trio of voice-over stars auditioning to be the voice of the trailer for a Hunger Games-style YA franchise. Lake Bell shines in In a World…, and I hope she gets more opportunities to drive her own projects. Much of the humor in the film is a result of the outsize egos of the folks in this relatively anonymous industry, and yet when they face off for the job, I’ll be damned if their voice-over work isn’t compelling. I could listen to Fred Melamed talk forever.

40. Break-in at the Tyler Residence - Us

An underrated aspect of Jordan Peele’s directorial skills: his use of music. This scene from Us, in which the Tethered go after the Tyler family, would be electrifying enough without it. But the dual use of “Good Vibrations” by The Beach Boys and “Fuk Tha Police” by N.W.A. adds an extra layer of terror, and humor. And if you think the “straight from the underground” lyrics in “Fuk Tha Police” are an accident, you underestimate Peele’s attention to detail, too.

39. Let It Go - Frozen

I grew sick of “Let It Go” pretty quickly, as anyone would when listening to a song roughly 10,000 times in a 3-month stretch. This song was everywhere. But six years removed from the release of Frozen, it’s undeniable that “Let It Go” is an absolute banger. It’s not the best animated musical number of the decade (more on that later), but it is the biggest, and that counts for something. Frozen is available to stream through Starz.

38. The dad talk - Spider-Man: Homecoming

Spoiler: Liz (Laura Herrier), Peter Parker’s (Tom Holland) date to the school dance, also happens to be the daughter of the villain Peter has been facing off with, Vulture (Michael Keaton). And Peter knows it. It’s a delicious twist that I didn’t see coming at all, and it makes for a terrifying car ride.

37. The Funeral - Thunder Road

Thunder Road stars Jim Cummings (who also wrote and directed it) as Officer Jim Arnaud, a police officer facing a mental breakdown after the loss of his mother and an impending divorce. It’s funnier than it sounds. Cummings gives one of the strangest performances I’ve seen in a while, and his nervous collapse during this scene is a case for allowing for emotional fragility in men. Thunder Road is available to stream for free for Amazon Prime members.

36. I Love You All - Frank

A strange thing for a movie to do with an actor whose face is as interesting as Michael Fassbender’s: hide it. Yet that’s what Frank does for nearly the whole movie, placing Fassbender as the frontman of a bizarre band who always wears a massive paper papier-mâché head with bulbous eyes. In this final scene the mask comes off, and Frank, finally himself, sings a beautiful ballad about unconditional love. Frank is available to stream on Hulu.

35. Drive It Like You Stole It - Sing Street

Sing Street is yet another installment of the winning John Carney formula: a simple romance and kick-ass music make for a great movie. This one is set in 1980s Ireland, where Conor (Ferdia Walsh-Peelo) starts a band to impress the girl at school he likes, Ann (Kelly Thornton). Sing Street is overflowing with charm, and this climactic song is catchy as hell. Sing Street is available to stream for free on Vudu.

34. The Montage - Minding The Gap

Near the end of this documentary, which follows a group of skateboarding teens in Rockville, Illinois as they navigate masculinity, poverty, and general insecurity, the story lines of its subjects converge into a rousing, heartbreaking montage. Keire visits his father’s grave; Bing, a subject and director of the film, interviews his mom about her abusive relationships; Zack opens up about his abusive tendencies and struggles with impulse control. It’s a personal documentary unlike anything I’ve seen, and this montage will break your heart. Minding the Gap is available to stream on Hulu.

33. Love In This Club - Hustlers

Sometimes a scene is great because it’s the apex of a series of great moments in a movie. The preceding 15 minutes to the “Love in this Club” scene in Hustlers chart the coalescence of Ramona (Jennifer Lopez) and Destiny (Constance Wu) as a power duo and their rise in financial success at the strip club where they perform. When Usher shows up and the women rush to dance for him, it caps off the ascension, but also hints at something more somber to come. Hustlers is still in theaters. Go see it.

32. The Backyard Firepit - Eighth Grade

Kayla (Elsie Fisher), an unconfident eighth-grader, is performing a ritual of sorts in her backyard: she is burning a time capsule of her possessions she made back in sixth grade for her future self. When Kayla asks her dad (Josh Hamilton) if she makes him sad, he responds with a shocked, firm refutation before telling her just how easy it is to be proud of her. It makes me cry every time. Eighth Grade is available to stream for free for Amazon Prime members.

31. White Voice - Sorry to Bother You

Boots Riley’s bonkers anti-capitalist satire begins with Cassius (LaKeith Stanfield) securing a job at a telemarketing center, only to find he can’t close a sale. Things start to turn around, though, when a senior member of his office (Danny Glover) tells him to use his “white voice.” The literalized gag is hilarious, and also serves as a neat explication of how racial oppression is built on false aspirational pretenses. Sorry to Bother You is available to stream on Hulu.

30. The Dance -Ex Machina

Ex Machina follows a wealthy recluse (Oscar Isaac) who hires a coder (Domhnall Gleeson) to perform a human Turing Test on his AI creation (Alicia Vikander), and it’s, well, a machine of a movie: it plods forward like clockwork and is academic in tone. But that’s all broken wide open in this surreal scene, in which Nathan (Isaac) and one of his AIs perform a dance to “Get Down Saturday Night” by Oliver Cheatham. Ex Machina is available to stream on Netflix.

29. The Show - Moneyball

Well, would you look at that, I’m sobbing again. The best sports movies are great because they know the sports are always less interesting than the people playing them. Moneyball is a movie about taking a ragtag group of players and building them into a winner, and that’s all fun. But the heart of the movie lies in Billy Beane’s (Brad Pitt) relationship with his daughter (Kerris Dorsey), and this final moment will never cease to wreck me. Moneyball is available to stream through Starz.

28. The Throne Room - Star Wars: The Last Jedi

This pivotal scene from the most recent main trilogy Star Wars installment is great for a couple reasons. First, the fight scene in the all-red Throne Room just looks awesome. But second, a major revelation about Rey’s (Daisy Ridley) origin shakes up the mythology for the franchise in an exciting and unprecedented direction. Star Wars: The Last Jedi is available to stream on Netflix.

27. I am the Captain Now - Captain Phillips

This is a meme now, which could be an easy way for many to condescend to it. But I think part of the reason this scene has been memed is because its message is so specific, yet so widely applicable: one person taking power from someone else who can do nothing to stop it. Barkhad Abdi delivers this line with real menace, and the relationship between he and Hanks have made it iconic.

26. Pony - Magic Mike

Magic Mike was Hustlers before Hustlers: a strip-club set drama that uses its sexy setting as a Trojan Horse to tell a story about the folly of American capitalism. And while I don’t think it quite reaches the same heights as Hustlers, Steven Soderbergh does pay far more attention to the actual stripping than Lorene Scafaria. Forget all the high-brow stuff: this scene is a hell of a lot of fun.

25. You Always Hurt The One You Love - Blue Valentine

The crumbling of a relationship in Blue Valentine is only an emotional gut punch because the origins of that romance are so charming. This scene takes us back to the beginning of Dean’s (Ryan Gosling) courtship of Cindy (Michelle Williams), as he plays her a song on the ukulele. The lyrics of the song speak for themselves. Blue Valentine is available to stream on Netflix.

24. Financial Explainer - The Big Short

The screenplay for The Big Short is a uniquely thrilling piece of pop art, and these cutaways are a big reason why. Each involves a celebrity explaining a complex financial concept directly to the audience. They’re gimmicks, but brilliant gimmicks: they really do explain the concepts well, and drive home the point that these things are complicated on purpose.

23. The Dance - Silver Linings Playbook

I revisited Silver Linings Playbook recently, and for long stretches the movie loses its footing amid all the loud, Oscar-y performances. But when it finally gets to the moment the whole movie has been working toward, the wait is worth it. Cooper and Lawrence are electric, and I hope they star in something together again soon.

22. Opening Getaway - Baby Driver

God bless Edgar Wright. The director continues to avoid making anything that’s not original, and his films continue to be financial successes. Part of that is the simplicity of his genre conceits. A pioneering zombie comedy (Shaun of the Dead)? Dope. A buddy comedy-mystery (Hot Fuzz)? All in. A deaf getaway driver? Hell yes. Baby Driver rules, and this opening scene, set to “Bellbottoms” by Jon Spencer Blues Explosion, is dynamite. Baby Driver is available to stream through Showtime.

21. See You Again - Furious 7

“It doesn’t matter what’s under the hood. The only thing that matters is who’s behind the wheel,” Dom (Vin Diesel) remarks in the film after this one, The Fate of the Furious. The Fast & Furious franchise is great for this very reason: the intrigue is always rooted in the relationship among the members of the family. When Paul Walker tragically died in 2013, it sideswiped the franchise, and it still hasn’t recovered. It never will; the love between he and Diesel was what drove these stories forward. This is a hokey scene, but it’s also real for everyone involved, and it truly breaks my heart.

20. Shallow - A Star Is Born

Oh Oh Oh Oh Ohhhhh Aughhhh Ohhhhh Ohhh Aughh Ohh Aghh AGHHHHHHHH

A Star is Born is available to stream through HBO.

19. The Trip - Michael Caine

If we lived in a just world in which the box office returns of movies correlated to their actual quality, the Marvel films would be middling, run-of-the mill successes and The Trip trilogy would be the blockbuster franchise of our time. Actually, now that I think about it, it’s a miracle that we got three of these movies at all, and that they’re all great. Comedians Rob Brydon and Steve Coogan travel throughout Europe playing exaggerated versions of themselves, and here they perform their most iconic impressions. The Trip is available to stream through IFC Films Unlimited.

18. Country Roads - Logan Lucky

Logan Lucky is a worthy descendant of Steven Soderbergh’s Ocean’s trilogy, and it’s a purposely un-slick heist: nothing can go right for the idiot brothers pulling it off (Adam Driver and Channing Tatum), and it leads to nonstop action. It all slows down during this scene, though, when Tatum’s character manages to catch his daughter perform a touching tribute to her dad in the midst of the heist. Logan Lucky is available to stream for free for Amazon Prime members.

17. Magical Mystery Tour - First Reformed

The ‘Magical Mystery Tour’ sequence is a logical break from the story, but it is spiritually consistent with what the film is trying to accomplish: a celebration of human connection in the face of environmental destruction. It one sense, the scene is deeply intimate, and it feels as if we are encroaching on a private embrace. But it is also a public call to action, an invitation to witness a destruction and not only ask what we are going to do about it, but what it is already doing to us. First Reformed is available to stream for free for Amazon Prime members.

16. Hiding Tonight - Submarine

I adore Submarine. It’s a Wes Anderson-inspired romance infused with acerbic British wit, centered on a main character reminiscent of Bud Cort’s turn in Harold & Maude. This montage showcases the blossoming love between Oliver (Craig Roberts) and Jordana (Yasmin Paige) as they rampage around a junkyard and set off fireworks. Add in Alex Turner’s “Hiding Tonight” as the musical backdrop, and you have a damn-near perfect montage sequence. Submarine is available to stream for free on Tubi.

15. Training Montage - Creed

How could I not include a training montage? A reboot of the Rocky series seemed like a risky proposition, but it launched director Ryan Coogler to stardom and wisely centered on an energetic performance from Michael B. Jordan. This training montage fires me up every time, capped off by a transcendent shot of Jordan sprinting down the streets of Philadelphia escorted by a crew of ATVs.

14. The Mansons - Once Upon a Time … In Hollywood

With Inglourious Basterds and Django Unchained, Quentin Tarantino has had a recent penchant for revising history. Once Upon a Time … in Hollywood is no exception, yet it does so with more maturity than either of those previous films; the past is changed, but not without an acknowledgement of the sadness that in reality it was not. Still, when the Mansons do come to town, what Tarantino brings to the screen is one of the most exciting set pieces of his lofty career.

13. Growing Up - Searching

In Searching’s opening sequence, its visual structure of confining the entire movie within digital screens is used to devastating emotional effect. In the first five minutes, we see Margot grow up; we also see her mother (Sara Sohn) grow sick. It recalls the opening scene of Up, allowing us to learn everything we need to about the dynamics between the main characters and delivering an emotion gut-punch at the end. Searching is available to stream through Starz.

12. Remember Me - Coco

Coco is a meticulously animated movie that, although it follows the standard Pixar beats, still breathed new life into the studio’s output due to its unique setting and design. This final song is a touching testament to the importance of respecting one’s ancestry, and also makes me sob. Coco is available to stream on Netflix.

11. Amy Wins the Grammy - Amy

Amy is largely a misfire; it’s an oversimplified documentary that lays the vast majority of responsibility for Amy Winehouse’s demise at the hands of a hounding media. The film hits its stride when it forgets all of that and just examines Winehouse herself as a tragic figure. In this moment (this clip is the TV footage, not the behind-the-scenes action in the documentary), Winehouse wins the Grammy for Record of the Year. In the film, when she reacts to Tony Bennett presenting the award, it breaks my heart. Amy is available to stream on Netflix.

10. The Rooftop - Support The Girls

At work Lisa (Regina Hall) was forced to manage everything and everyone, and did so with patience and aplomb. Sitting on the rooftop, she finds herself freed from responsibility. Maci (Haley Lu Richardson) notices a girl on the street crying and shouts at her from the rooftop. “We love you! You can do this!” Lisa recalls Danyelle’s (Shayna McHayle) advice to her earlier about “how you deal when life keeps throwing you bullshit”: first comes crying, then comes laughing, then comes screaming your ass off. The three of them proceed to scream into the void. It’s not clear if their lives are looking up, but they’re supporting each other, and in the moment that’s all that matters. Support the Girls is available to stream on Hulu.

9. Reality - The Lego Movie

Even before this scene, The Lego Movie was in pole position as the most surprising film of the decade to qualify as a truly great film. But when we learn that Emmet’s (Chris Pratt) world is so much bigger, and smaller, than he ever could have imagined, it not only infuses the film with philosophical quandaries but also raises its emotional stakes. The Lego Movie is, as the great Josh Larsen puts it, product placement as artistic expression, and that is a high compliment.

8. The Moon - First Man

I really liked First Man when I first saw it in theaters, but I didn’t fully appreciate it for what it is until revisiting it this year: an absolute masterpiece. Unlike director Damien Chazelle’s other films, First Man is not a story of ambition but of intense grief, and all that is bubbling below the surface is finally revealed explicitly in this heartbreaking scene on the moon. Space movies are often used to show how humans pursue a goal not to accomplish it but to run from something else; none do it better than First Man. First Man is available to stream on HBO.

7. Creation of the Universe - The Tree of Life

The biggest flex of the decade in movies: right in the middle of his movie about a family growing up in Texas, Terrence Malick tells the story of the creation of the universe. It’s technically ambitious and visually stunning, but it fits with the rest of the movie because of Malick’s unyielding faith in humanity. The Tree of Life is available to stream on Cinemax.

6. Breakup/FAcemash - The Social Network

These two opening scenes, which I’ll count as one, form the thesis of The Social Network: Mark Zuckerberg’s ambition to create Facebook was not driven by any desire to change the world but because he was slighted by a woman and wanted somewhere he belonged. Facebook has grown massively in power and evil since the film’s 2010 release, but that’s what makes it remain so perfect: it got the root of the evil of Facebook right without seeing anything that was to follow. The Social Network is available to stream on Starz.

5. Caravan - Whiplash

Whiplash is the best sports movie that’s not about sports, and the final performance of “Caravan” by Fletcher’s (J.K. Simmons) jazz band fits this mold: every time I watch it I just want to cheer. Who knew jazz drumming could be this tense? The way the song begins, there is a natural arc for where Andrew (Miles Teller) could end up, but the movie, and the song, quickly pivot to a very different message, one that elevates the film as a whole to a new level of greatness.

4. The Ending - Moonlight

Moonlight tells the story of a boy becoming a man, but it’s in the spaces in between, in the missed opportunities and alternate possibilities of Chiron’s life, that the movie shines brightest. The film’s ending is at once an affirmation of the love Chiron has only experienced sporadically in the world and a eulogy for the past that could have been. Moonlight is available to stream on Netflix.

3. The Ending - La La Land

Damien Chazelle pulls the rug out from underneath the audience with the 10-minute finale of La La Land, which becomes more emotionally destructive each time I watch it. On first watch, it’s crushing because you think there’s a chance the alternate reality being laid out for you could be real; on repeat viewing, it’s heartbreaking because you know it’s not but still wish it could be. But, then, a final stare and a mutual look of recognition: perhaps the way things turned out was how they were supposed to be. La La Land is available to stream for free (with ads) through IMDb TV.

2. Cool Girl - Gone Girl

If you go in blind this is a particularly shocking scene; having not read the book, I was floored by this twist. But even with the knowledge of what takes place, this is still an all-time scene. All the pieces fit together just right: Rosamund Pike, purring her monologue; the knowing score from Trent Reznor and Atticus Ross; and the caustic writing from Gillian Flynn, all set to crucial plot developments. It is, in a way, the opposite of my number one pick: a character staring down the possibility of their future misery and deciding they want out.

1. The Sunken Place - Get Out

It’s a repeat at #1 from my Best Shots of the Decade List, as “The Sunken Place” scene from Get Out takes it in a landslide. Everything leading up to this moment obviously suggested a terror yet to come, but this twist was both unpredictable and metaphorically influential. It’s the clearest analogy for racial oppression I’ve ever seen on screen, all wrapped up in a thrilling visual and emotional spectacle.