15 Best Films Of The Decade (So Far)

5. The Social Network

Being called "the Citizen Kane of " is a pretty daunting title, with only the very best of cinema living up to the name (The Dark Knight is the Citizen Kane of superhero films, Birdman is the Citizen Kane of films about people who were in superhero films). The Social Network had it worst, however, finding itself being directly compared to Orson Welles immortal masterpiece. Telling a totally modern day story of an unassuming man working his way to become a prolific media figure (a newspaper mogul and the creator of the world's most popular social media respectively) who at the end misses his pre-fame life, the parallels are certainly there, but really only on a surface level. Not only is The Social Network unflinchingly based on true events (Kane was a fictitious figure, only loosely based on William Randolph Hearst), but its protagonist's project is a warped opposite of himself, lending a distinctly different tone to proceedings; he's managed to bring everyone together while pushing himself away. As you'd expect from a David Fincher film, the whole thing is immaculately constructed, his infamous repeated take leading to great performances from the entire cast, although the real star is Aaron Sorkin's Oscar-winning script. Still, you can't understate the brilliance of Fincher's idea to have every line rushed out, bringing the tight film in at bang-on two hours long.