For this month’s Mutant Roundtable, we asked a rather daunting question of the staff: What do each of us think was the best decade for movies — and why?

Sitting Duck: The Aughts, AKA 2001-2010. As I’ve mentioned elsewhere, this was the peak of my movie attending experience. A time when superhero movies were mostly good and not yet weighed down with overplanned cinematic universe nonsense. A time when Pixar was the 800-pound gorilla of animation and had yet to descend into sequel-fueled mediocrity. A time when the late, lamented Hillside Cinema offered four-dollar matinee showings every day.

Sure, there were disappointments (Serenity and Prince Caspian come to mind), but all in all those were outweighed by the good stuff. We shall not look on its like again.

Justin: While many of my favorite franchises were born or blossomed in the ’80s, my heart tells me that the only true answer to this is the 1990s. It was such an amazing decade for cinematic excellence. The mid-budget movie saw its peak in this era, while the independent film took off in a big way. We got awesome practical effects and the birth of CGI, a whole lot of fun sequels, and some incredibly dark flicks countered by some of the most inspirational ever made.

Star Wars and Star Trek both made significant contributions, and we were still getting some great brand-new franchises like Jurassic Park. I loved all of the scifi classics that came out of this era like Dark City and Ghost in the Shell and reveled in comfort flicks like Can’t Hardly Wait and PCU. And, of course, the ’90s produced a rich wealth of cult movies that we’re still discovering and enjoying today.

ZombieDog: In my opinion, the best decade for movies was the 1970s. The ’70s represented the best in screenwriting and cinematography coupled along with audiences willing to sit through more complicated plots and longer runtimes. More than that though, we have movies from this period that arguably set the tone for the next 50 years. Movies such as Star Wars (1977), Jaws (1975), Alien (1979), and Apocalypse Now (1979) — just to hit the highlights. There were many more to be sure.

It was one of the last decades where they believed that if a movie was written well, acted well, and looked good, it would make money. And I would say largely that represents the ’70s. I would suggest that you Google “1970s movies” and pick something you never even heard of and give it a shot. More often than not, you will be entertained and maybe even walk away with something to think about afterwards.

Quick endnote, if you really motivated to watch a ’70s movie and you have never seen it let me suggest 1977’s Sorcerer. It was directed by William Friedkin who unfortunately passed recently. It is a perfect example of a ’70s film.

Mike: The ’80s. You see anybody making a five-hour documentary about scifi in the 2000s?

Chad: In my humble opinion, the best decade for movies was the Hollywood OG decade of the 1920s. Today’s audiences routinely ignore the century-old silent era of cinema, writing them off as relics of a bygone time. This is a shame because the early 1920s was one of the most experimental times in Hollywood.

At the dawn of the new decade, movies had found form and language in the (then) new two-hour run time, but there was still a wild west mentality in getting films made. If you saw last year’s overblown Babylon starring Margot Robbie and Brad Pitt, much of the crazed shenanigans portrayed on screen weren’t too far off the mark of the energy and creativity that became the engine of this new art form.

And many of those creaky old films have stood the test of time. Just look at Metropolis, the granddaddy of the cyberpunk genre. With its stylized sets and themes of man vs. machine, you can see the 1927 sci-fi epic’s influence on films like Blade Runner and Akira. Or the creepy Nosferatu, a gothic retelling of the Dracula legend that has inspired filmmakers like Tim Burton and Guillermo del Toro.

Even the great comics of the time like Buster Keaton, Harold Lloyd, and Charlie Chaplin crafted visually outrageous comedies that are both shocking and hilarious. Just watch Keaton’s death-defying stunt work during the train sequence in The Generalor or Lloyd’s optical trickery of him dangling off a skyscraper in Safety Last! Even Chaplin’s iconic Little Tramp character is a sentimental creation that could only exist in a silent film as the illusion would be broken if the Tramp started talking.

Not all silent films have aged very well and are products of their time. Greta Garbo, one of the great screen beauties, could make audiences swoon with her lustful, smoldering gaze that seduced co-star John Gilbert in The Flesh and the Devil. Yet her melodramatic acting later in the film borders on the comical. Of course, that was the style of the time: Directors had to keep the story moving through purely visual beats, with actors conveying emotions through exaggerated gestures. It’s strange to watch a silent movie as the rhythms and pacing were so different from today’s filmmaking style. And the actors had a large than life presence, as the absence of sound heightened their mystique.

But all that mystique came crashing down in 1927 when movies started to talk, thanks to The Jazz Singer. The technological marvel also marked the end of the Wild West era and the start of the modern-day studio system. The guardrails were now in place, and the new studio bosses marked their territory with a giant “Hollywood Land” sign. But those ghostly movies from a century ago still live on.

And if you’re in a curious film-watching mood, take a gander at two of my favorite silent gems: The still stunning Sunrise, directed by F.W. Murnau (who also helmed Nosferatu), and the devastating The Crowd from King Vidor. Both are lush yet stylized films thatare pinnacles of the silent art form.

Heather: As for the roundtable, I admit I could be biased because they were my formative years, but I would say the ’90s. It felt like movies (and theater-going) were a big deal in the ’90s in a way I haven’t felt since. We had an array of great comedies (yes, I’m still a Jim Carrey megafan), it was the Disney Renaissance, Titanic happened… there was just so much out there that people were excited about.

Drake: To absolutely no one’s surprise, I’m going to go with the 1970s here. While I have a great love for the Silent Era, and of course a fondness for films from any given decade, the ‘70s shaped my entire outlook as a film enthusiast. The rise of the New Hollywood changed the cinematic landscape entirely, and filmmakers were introducing both exciting concepts and bold new directions for motion pictures.

And it should be noted that much of their success, and that of filmmakers to follow, was due to the Panavsion Panaflex. This new, lightweight camera allowed for much easier exterior and outdoor shooting, so that films could be shot with more naturalistic scenery and fewer sets. It changed the whole look of film, allowing for more realism, something that even low-budget studios could take advantage of.

But the ‘70s brought an end to the studio system that had been in place since the 1920’s, allowing bold directors the chance to really experiment with the language of film. It wasn’t always successful, of course, but at the very least some interesting ideas burst through. And let’s face it: Any decade that kicks off with The French Connection and climaxes with Apocalypse Now has some truly interesting stuff going on.

Kat: Jumping into the fray, I’ll just say that the 2000s brought us some truly awesome movies. Most of us tend to hold a special place for the films we grew up with. When I was entering my preteen years, my aunt introduced me to some really awesome (yet questionable) horror films. One of the first horror movies I watched but didn’t fully grasp as a young kid was The Blair Witch Project. I recall thinking, “What is this boring camping movie?”

Then came the worst movie my aunt could have possibly exposed me to at the highly impressionable age of 12: Saw. My uncle’s band did some music for the film, along with a dedicated music video at the end (which actually has them chained up in the bathroom!). I was obsessed with that movie. The coolest part for me was probably seeing my uncle at the end, but I must have watched that film 100 times.

The rest is history – I’m a big fan of horror movies, especially the gory ones. I believe that because I watched them at such a young age, my mind recognizes that everything is fictional, and I simply appreciate the artistry of the special effects. Anyway, early 2000s movies played a fantastic role in shaping who I am today, and you can interpret that as you will.