30 Greatest Best Picture Oscar Nominees Of The Last Ten Years
24. The Irishman
The Irishman saw Martin Scorsese return to the Best Picture field (after his previous film, Silence, got inexplicably snubbed in 2017) and the gangster epic in what, on the surface, looks like his biggest film yet given that it's 3-and-a-half hours long and also spans half a century.
The Irishman might show the director revisiting familiar subject matter, but he explores it in a very different way from movies like Goodfellas and Casino. It's a far more sombre, intimate work that strips all the glamour away from a life of organized crime to deliver a devastating indictment of violence.
The Irishman sees everyone involved - in particular Scorsese, writer Steven Zaillian, editor Thelma Schoonmaker, actors Robert De Niro, Al Pacino and Joe Pesci - at the absolute top of their game and the film ultimately arrives at a completely stunning, shattering final act that ranks among the finest in any modern film.
Due to its mammoth length and downbeat tone this is not the easiest watch, but it is still an intensely rewarding tour-de-force from America's greatest living director, and believe it or not, the film does actually justify the huge run-time.