your favorite films of the decade (so far) redux

but ILF is a graveyard sometimes

Actually my list might not have changed that much since that last thread. I've stopped seeing as many films in the last few years.

me too...that's actually my motivation..wanting to catch up.

my old list mostly holds up:

In the Mood for Love
Before Sunset
Spring Summer Fall Winter and Spring
A.I.
25th Hour
Spirited Away
What Time is it There
Hamlet

Not so sure about Hamlet, What Time, or 25th Hour being really THAT good, but i still like them.

I'd probably add:

Zodiac
The New World

Hmm, apparently I didn't do a list last time. So I'll have to whip one up now.

Wasn't there a thread where we listed our favorite films for every year back to 1960 or whatever? The search engine is impossible to find anything with.

Still Mulholland Dr. for me.

Bubbling under:

I'm Not There
Spirited Away
Into The Wild
The Namesake
The Science Of Sleep
Solaris
Punch-drunk Love
Elephant
City Of God
Donnie Darko
Ghost World

ILX Top Films of 2000-04 RESULTS (yes, really) is a good aide-mémoire.

I think there are maybe seven "four-star" films I've seen from this decade. Munich, Eternal Sunshine... etc.

Closest this year: Still Life, The Witnesses, Standard Operating Procedure, Up the Yangtze, My Winnipeg, Profit motive and the whispering wind

eternal sunshine of the spotless mind
inland empire
decasia
yi yi
children of men
the squid and the whale
i'm not there
uh

wet hot american summer

My Winnipeg

Damn. You've just reminded me about this. It's the last showing tonight in Glasgow and I'm working too late to catch it.

my issue is that im a doubting thomas on Eternal Sunshine, Mulholland Dr., AND Children of Men. I think i grumbled about them on the appropriate threads. Arguably all three of those will show up on everyone's end of decade lists in a few years.

others I could possibly include on my list:
Catch Me If You Can (prob alone here)
yi yi

want to see I'm Not There again. I thought Far From Heaven was boring.

I need to see The Witnesses.

ooh yeah, my winnipeg, absolutely

finish that sentence Morbius! you said seven and you listed two!

I don't keep comprehensive lists anymore.

(Far from Heaven, yes, and 2046 and Saddest Music in the World)

and Mulholland Dr., maybe Crimson Gold or the Khmer Rouge doc (S21)

it is my solemn hope that someday i wont be the only person alive who thinks Adaptation is better than Eternal Sunshine.

ILX Top Films of 2000-04 RESULTS (yes, really) is a good aide-mémoire.

Haha. Yay, memories.

(Far from Heaven, yes, and 2046 and Saddest Music in the World)

All three terrible. ;-)

yeah wtf morbs i always trusted your taste!

Crimson Gold and Mulholland Dr. are both grebt, tho.

i have seen Crimson Gold but remember literally nothing about it.

Couple of things were clear to me as I flipped through my highest rated films on Netflix: 1) most of the best movies of the decade weren't made in the States and 2) the most memorable films were generally the most serious ones.

4 Months, 3 Weeks and 2 Days (Cristian Mungiu)
Battle Royale (Kinji Fukasaki)
Cache (Michael Haneke)
City of God (Katia Lund, Fernando Meirelles)
Dirty Pretty Things (Stephen Frears)
Election (Johnny To)
Head On (Fatih Akin)
Joint Security Area (Chan-wook Park)
Kung Fu Hustle (Stephen Chow)
No Country for Old Men (Ethan Coen)
Read My Lips (Jacques Audiard)
The Blind Swordman: Zatoichi (Takeshi Kitano)
The Child (Jean-Pierre Dardenne, Luc Dardenne)
Volver (Pedro Almodóvar)
Zodiac (David Fincher)

ah what the hey, i'll big up 4 months, 3 weeks, and 2 days as well. tho i would like to see it again.

xpost got it in before me

The Edge of Heaven is so far the best movie I've seen this year.

Wish there was a way to filter Netflix ratings by release date. Hmmph.

I really just wanted to revive this thread:

your favorite films of this decade (so far)

but ILF is a graveyard sometimes.

That's an ILE thread, not ILF!

well son of a bitch. i guess i was remembering a different thread!

here it is

The best films of the first 1/3 of the decade

wow that thread is embarassing.

There's also this ILE thread:

what are the stone cold classic films of the century so far ?

There's also this thread that we are posting on right now.

Yeah, but I thought people might want to check what movies they listed earlier this decade.

The most embarrassing part of that thread:

I really need to see both Platform and Eureka.
-- Eric H. (Eric H.), Monday, January 10, 2005 7:11 AM (3 years ago)

In no particular order:

Spirited Away
Pan's Labyrinth
Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind
No Country for Old Men
The 40 Year Old Virgin
Borat
My Big Fat Greek Wedding
Marie Antoinette
The Royal Tenenbaums
Grizzly Man
Monsoon Wedding
The Devil and Daniel Johnston
Minority Report

off the top of my head:

Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind
Zodiac
Inland Empire
Mulholland Drive
Darjeeling Limited
Children of Men
Donnie Darko
A Scanner Darkly

I'm sure there's more. its been a pretty good decade

Nothing here strikes me as that great, perhaps Inland Empire or Kung Fu Hustle? I'd maybe add Colossal Youth or Mysterious Object At Noon. Those are the only recent films I can remember being genuinely excited by though I'm sure there are a few others.

Profit Motive and the Whispering Wind and La Trinchera Luminosa del Presidente Gonzalo are both recent and pretty good, I suppose they count. Where is C0l1n B?

oh, Kung Fu Hustle would make my top 20 I think. (even Alex in SF is right now & then). So should Decasia.

Oh, and this:

http://www.joyoflifemovie.com/

The most embarrassing part of that thread:
I really need to see both Platform and Eureka.

'SPLAIN? Eureka is in too.

I like Joy Of Life but highlight of the decade? What makes it stand out from all the other movies that do the same thing? Not a rhetorical question.

Adam, what other movies do the same thing? I haven't seen em.

All three terrible. ;-)

Are you back from your long boring walk with Delpy and Hawke?

Also, as c0l1n mentioned Los Angeles Plays Itself, I'd def. put that in there.

xp

I don't know, you haven't seen any other cine-essays comprised of static shots of urban landscapes? I say this as somebody that actually makes this type of movie, too! ;)

I guess all the examples I can think of are actually from the 90s, so maybe you win.

ha, send em to me, I'll put em on my list maybe.

I just liked the sexy Sapphic text over those stunning shots of SF, esp at dusk. And making Meet John Doe a big part of the suicide half.

Okay, here's my top 10 from this decade, in no particular order:

Songs from the Second Floor (Sånger från andra våningen)
The Isle (Seom)
Persepolis
The 40 Year Old Virgin
Waiting List (Lista de espera)
Dark Days
Year of the Devil (Rok dábla)
Kitchen Stories (Salmer fra kjøkkenet)
Broken Flowers
Barking Dogs Never Bite (Flandersui gae)

And some other great movies from 00's:

Before Sunset
Shrek & Shrek 2
25 Watts
Sprited Away
Amélie
Jump Tomorrow
Moulin Rouge!
Return of the King
The Weatherman
Peppermint Candy (Bakha Satang)
Drive
Drôle de Félix (Funny Félix)
Mortal Transfer (Mortel transfert)
Eureka
American Splendor
Blades of Clory
Corto Maltese
Spider-Man 2
Borat
Look at Me (Comme une image)
Spider-Man 2
A Very Long Engagement
Mekhong Full Moon Party
Dodgeball

Oh yeah, and Children of Men too, forgot about that one.

The embarrassing thing is that I haven't seen them in the three years since that post, not that I was ever excited to see them.

One man's boring walk with Hawke/Delpy.

One man's boring realism from the Dardennes.

oh, the Dardennes' The Son! Thanks E. ;)

I do not get what is so great about that movie!

It's horrible.

Mulholland Drive
My Architect
Before Sunset
Into the Wild
Grizzly Man
The Namesake
The Science of Sleep
Riding Giants
Blue Crush
The Darjeeling Limited
The Royal Tenenbaums

Actually, I take that back. I haven't seen The Son. It's The Child that I saw and hated.

oh yeah, me too

AND OH YEAH WAKING LIFE

In no order:

The House of Mirth
Mulholland Drive
Erin Brockovich
The Son
Spirited Away
Cafe Lumiere
Before Sunset
The Wind That Shakes the Barley
Knocked Up
Pan's Labryinth
Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind
American Splendor
Capturing the Friedmans
Grizzly Man
I'm Not There

AND OCEAN'S 12/13

you know I recently re-watched I'm Not There and I must confess it was not nearly as interesting the second time around. still good, but I'd rate it below Velvet Goldmine (yeah yeah I know people hate that movie)

I saw it twice and loved it just as much the second time. I appreciated the Richard Gere stuff more and the rush of the Cate Blanchett and Heath Ledger sections was just as sweet.

two more i'd include:

bamako
old joy

kill bill

Define "that great", adam.

Seriously curious, because I can't imagine seeing the miles and miles of films that get produced each year and thinking to myself "oh yeah only these two obscure hour long docs excite me at all."

diff'rent strokes

Yeah I think I was hoping for a more interesting explanation than that.

lol

imagine the miles and miles of film that get produced each year that none of us see

Yeah like sequel to Madagascar.

Oh sorry, I was at lunch.

I can't imagine seeing the miles and miles of films that get produced each year and thinking to myself "oh yeah only these two obscure hour long docs excite me at all."

What Shakey said, really. but I don't see miles and miles of new films each year, I've been to the theater about 6 or 7 times in the last year. And of the two films I mentioned, only one is a "doc" and it's hardly obscure if you pay any attention to what is written about movies (I can think of two magazines that featured Profit Motive on their front cover). And if you don't pay any attention to what is written about movies, how can you really say what is obscure and what isn't?

But I mean, yeah basically those films excited more than Zodiac. What can I say?

http://h1.ripway.com/johnbrush/snob.jpg

adam, see, this is why we need I Love Film. (Not that I've seen those two mags)

Profit motive is an "essay" I suppose (to use a damn lit-centric term. I didn't like the last 5 minutes though -- too much hope).

Baghead excited me more than Zodiac.

Also everyone who hasn't should see that Shining Trench movie. it's fucking great.

xp

Too much hope haha

I thought the last 5 minutes were pretty crucial to the film, if a bit risky.

I kinda thought they were the opposite or risky, but that goes with believing the USA has gone irreversibly down the toilet.

b-b-but that movie should make you proud to be an American! Cesar Chavez! Eugene Debs!

etcetera

off the top of my head:

Yi Yi
Fog of War
the Ister
Gosford Park
City of God
Children of Men
Superbad

i feel like there's a bunch of obvious stuff i'm forgetting, and there are tons of heavity feted stuff i haven't seen yet

A Prairie Home Companion

shattered glass

^^ oh yeah, that! great great movie

most of my favorites have been mentioned (lynch, haynes, wong) but then there's this

http://images.eonline.com/eol_images/Entire_Site/20080113/425.daylewis.blood.011308.jpg

adam: yes, an American of yesteryear!

oh Gosford Park is 2001; sure. It has been a long decade, hasn't it?

I kinda thought Milkshake's great-film status might wore off by now? Like Crouching Tiger's?

2046 is so much better than In the Mood for Love.

wait, is The Ister really, actually, good? really?

i loved it! unlike anything i've seen. uniqueness is a big plus to me. my philosopher friend though it was kind of "intro to"

ooh I would totally add Gosford Park to my list.

PTA is awful

oh ok...yeah im a heidegger geek so i was intriqued...i will have to watch it now!

ooooh...another one that no one else will like: House of Flying Daggers

The Ister is the sort of movie that you think is great simply for having gotten through it, a tad.

haha, that's what i was afraid of.

looking at people's pics things aren't really standing out for me as "oh wow I loved that", aside from Mulholland Drvie.

I guess if pressed I'd add The Station Agent, Children of Men and Finding Nemo.

My favorite movie that I've seen this year was In Bruges.

Wild Zero (2000), with Guitar Wolf.

still around from the last list:

Morvern Callar
Before Sunset
25th Hour
Jesus' Son
The Good Thief

new additions:
Pan's Labyrinth
Eternal Sunshine
Mulholland Dr.
Miami Vice
Brokeback Mountain

I haven't seen all that much that excited me in recent years. The Angelika and Landmark theatres nearby have mostly stopped bringing in interesting foreign films (and revival shows - the two best films I've seen since the old list were Masculin-feminin and Killer of Sheep). And I can't get into watching new DVDs all that much, I really enjoy the theater experience.

Werckmeister Harmonies
The Saddest Music in the World
Senso '45

And all of del Toro . . a decade is a LOT of Movies

The Ister is the sort of movie that you think is great simply for having gotten through it, a tad.

kind of, but i really was immersed all the way through! the interwoven narratives all commented on each other well, the talking heads were all totes charismatic, the video of contemporary europe managed to be revelatory. i'll rep for this movie forever, and i only saw it once, and it's not available on dvd really...

you know, i caught the last hour or so of Miami Vice on cable the other night and really, really liked it. hadn't see it since it was in theaters.

and that's sad about the angelika...i have often wished there was one here in Austin because i loved the one in Houston so much.

Stuff like The Ister really intrigues me as a philosophy buff, because I'm not really sure there has ever been a great "philosophy film"--but it would seem possible! why not a movie/doc based on The Phenomenology of Spirit! etc...

im glad someone repped for Brokeback too...

The Ister sounds almost like a W.G. Sebald movie - something I suppose will happen eventually.

Orderless:

Russian Ark
In The Mood For Love
Marie Antoinette
2046
The New World
Morvern Callar
Into Great Silence
The Brown Bunny

Struggling to think of any other ones I really loved

Even a couple of years ago the Angelika was a solid lineup from week to week, regular Janus Films showings, etc.. Now it seems heavily geared to the middle-aged upper-middle class (and gay men). Looking at the schedule, maybe there are some decent movies but nothing that makes me want to drive a half hour.

i don't think i've seen enough to make a list, really.

what do you guys think about funny ha ha? it sounded like the kind of movie i'd hate until i saw it.

The Miyazaki movies are all amazing - he's possibly the discovery of the decade.

Morvern Callar
Before Sunset
25th Hour

oh yeah these are good too.

it sounded like the kind of movie i'd hate until i saw it.

are people just forgetting Eternal Sunshine or is it not as popular as I thought?

"And of the two films I mentioned, only one is a "doc" and it's hardly obscure if you pay any attention to what is written about movies"

Well PMATWW's (which is the doc I guess) not available on DVD from Netflix or Amazon (or any conventional distributor that I can see) and I don't recall it being in the theaters for any kind of sustained run (being a Zinn fan, I'd like to imagine I'd have heard if it was.) That equals pretty obscure to me. No idea what mags you are talking about either, but I think I pay pretty good attention to what's written about movies frankly (even if I don't read much film criticism.)

So wait if you haven't seen any of the films mentioned above (or did you just happen to see those miles) then how you can dismiss them as being not that great? Just a hunch on your part?

are people just forgetting Eternal Sunshine or is it not as popular as I thought?

haha!

Oh, and Secretary, dammit!

Top 20, in no particular order.

24 Hour Party People
40 Year Old Virgin
Amelie
AI
A History of Violence
A Mighty Wind
A Very Long Engagement
Eternal Sunshine...
Galaxy Quest
The Good Shepherd
Happiness of the Katakturis
Incredibles
London to Brighton
Munich
Minority Report
No Country For Old Men
Royal Tenenbaums
Stranger than Fiction
Tsotsi
War of the Worlds

It's been a good decade for Spielberg, if you ignore Indy IV.

And Munich, War of the Worlds, Minority Report and A Mighty Wind.

i think I've liked more TV from the past ten years than films.

mxxp to Alex

Profit Motive has no distributor and I imagine it only played a few festivals, but yeah, it did get get a lot of press and I was lucky enough to get to see it. I'm sure anyone who wrote to John Gianvito and asked for a copy would be granted one and I doubt David Fincher allows that kind of access! =)

I've seen a good majority of the films above (probably because most of them were released before I started school) and some of them were good but not many of them would be among my favourites of the decade because of various problems I have with each of them. But Kung Fu Hustle was actually kind of perfect. The Child I found sort of dull and middlebrow. And I don't have an opinion on the films I haven't seen because I haven't seen them.

in alph-num order:

2046
Away From Her
Broken English
Cafe Lumiere
Children of Men
City of God
DogTown & Z-Boys
Eureka
In The Mood For Love
INLAND EMPIRE
Last Life In The Universe
Mulholland Drive
No Country For Old Men
Nobody Knows
Platform
The Virgin Suicides
Yi Yi

I need to see Eureka

kind of suprised by repeated mentions of A Very Long Engagement! ilx discussion of it tanked when it came out, iirc. i didn't like it much.

The Virgin Suicides

oh come on now

Haha, I quite like The Virgin Suicides!

And Munich, War of the Worlds, Minority Report and A Mighty Wind.

Spielberg did A Mighty Wind? Christopher Guest will be pissed off about that

roughly top 25

yi yi
eternal sunshine
children of men
werckmeister harmonies
no country for old men
platform
tekkon kinkreet
gerry
cache
there will be blood
superbad
the squid and the whale
all about lily chou-chou
infernal affairs
donnie darko
in the mood for love
zodiac
still life
unknown pleasures
inland empire
when the levees broke
nobody knows
survive style 5
decasia
sympathy for mr vengeance

Haha, I quite like The Virgin Suicides!

Me too, but that's reminded me of the much more tempting Marie Antoinette.

Volver
Savage Grace
The Hours
Caramel
The Black Duck

xxxxxmanyp I doubt Fincher does either. I think our definitions of "a lot of press" are probably wildly different, but hey maybe I'll write this guy and ask for a copy of this non-obscure movie you just happen to luck into seeing. ;)

I need to see Eureka

-- admrl, Thursday, July 24, 2008 2:45 PM (9 minutes ago)

I own it on DVD, why didn't you ever ask?

"Platform" - which I've yet to see - reminds me of "All Tomorrow's Parties" by the same director, which I thought was just amazing. I think it alienated people by using an imaginary future Buddhist Theocracy (How could that be bad?) as a way of talking about Maoism.

The only other debut by a young female director that stunned me as much as The Virgin Suicides was Broken English. In fact, Broken English is much better which is quite a feat considering the source material!

Soukesian,

I liked "Unknown Pleasures" more than "Platform" but that was 90s.

Amélie
Audition
Barking Dogs Never Bite
Battle Royale
Cache
Children of Men
Cremaster 3
Dagon
Dark Days
Dogville
Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind
Finding Nemo
Grizzly Man
Happiness of the Katakuris
House of 1,000 Corpses
I Don't Want to Sleep Alone
In the Mood for Love
Inland Empire
Kung Fu Hustle
May
Mulholland Drive
Nobody Knows
Pan's Labyrinth
Russian Ark
Spirited Away
Superbad
The Child
The Five Obstructions
The Isle
The Royal Tenenbaums
The Saddest Music in the World
The Squid and the Whale
Trouble Every Day
Werckmeister Harmonies
What Time is it There?

1. La Chatte à deux têtes (Porn Theater) (Jacques Nolot 2002)
2. A.I. Artificial Intelligence (Steven Spielberg and Stanley Kubrick 2001)
3. Women of the Night (Zalman King 2000)
4. L'Emploi du temps (Time Out) (Laurent Cantet 2002)
5. The Death of Mr. Lazarescu (Cristi Puiu 2005)
6. Down With Love (Peyton Reed 2003)
7. Masked and Anonymous (Larry Charles 2003)
8. The Target Shoots First (Christopher Wilcha 2000)
9. Esther Kahn (Arnaud Desplechin 2000)
10. A Chronicle of Corpses (Andrew Repasky McElhinney 2000)

have you gone to the cinema in the last 7 years?

In The Mood For Love feels so long ago.

is it really kosher to credit (or blame) kubrick for AI?

Shasta - I'll have to track both of the titles you mention down, but ATP is definitely worth seeing. I think it's got an unfair rep as an anti - Falun Gong piece. Seems to me it's actually looking back at the cultural revolution era, though giving an all too credible picture of how history might repeat. One of the truly great SF movies I've seen over the last few years.

I nearly wrote The Thin Red Line and julien donkey boy though

I've had way more cinematic experiences with music videos recently than with movies so whatevs.

people still make music videos?

Contenderizer - thanks for reminding me about Cremaster 3. Didn't see the cycle till the noughties, and the rest are out of scope, but that definitely has to be up there with my movie experiences of the decade.

Also . . Decasia.

First thing - I haven't seen enough movies.

Second thing - I'm only giving a top two for now.

Oldboy
Irreversible

Soukesian,

I liked "Unknown Pleasures" more than "Platform" but that was 90s.

-- Steve Shasta, Thursday, July 24, 2008 5:57 PM (6 minutes ago) Bookmark Link

unknown pleasures was 2002!

yeah, can we include video art?

like, is tacita dean eligible?

or, movie trailers?

sure why not?

Shit I forgot about Death Of Mr. Lazarescu! That would definitely make (top) my list.

xxp

sleep,

ha, i confused it with pickpocket (which is also really good!)

xp:

fuck trailers, wikipedia articles are the new cinema.

I wonder if I know, right? is proposing this?
http://www.ubu.com/film/dean_kodak.html

haven't seen pickpocket, but i will seek it out
only zhangke i wasnt that into was the world

she's so great!
xp

Mention of Dagon reminds me of the HPL Historical Society's Call of Cthulhu, an amazing piece of retro silent film-making, a work of fan-love that turns out incredibly well.

Can't wait for their follow-up, The Whisperer in Darkness.

I know, right?

xp

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9E8QPsvFpnY

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=v_1WhMo8Ke0

xp Right! I forgot all about Call of Cthulhu. Lot of fun, though awfully silly. Climactic scenes on the island are marvelous. Glad to hear they're making another.

Jesper Just!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mMmmodMSGvc

http://ubu.com/film/trecartin_family.html

guitar drag OTM, my favorite piece in that ps1 show

Are we derailing the thread somewhat or expanding the definition? I saw this live and yeah it's really a performance rather than a "film" but it is probably the most amazed I've been while sat in front a screen for quite some time

http://www.semihemisphere.com/lucid_living_video.html

maybe a derail but the trecartin video was maybe the most fun i've had in a movie theater ever

what's the deal with Tarnation, I remember this movie causing a stir in a way that seems disproportionate to how little people seem to care about it now.

I never expect to find new stuff on Ubuweb, its such a 60's resource for me I forget.

Cellular
Eternal Sunshine ...
Primer
Bad Santa
Femme Fatale
Eastern Promises
AI
Waking Life
Mulholland Drive
Spirited Away

actually, why has nobody said team america?

I have more questions than answers

fuck i forgot about mulholland

Favourite films would be pretty similar to everyone else (Cache, Mulholland drive, Spirited Away and shit).

9 favourite australian films this decade (couldn't think of 10):

Lantana
Little Fish
Noise
Undead
Ten Canoes
Australian Rules
Rabbit-Proof Fence
Chopper
The Proposition

I watched Jindabyne just cause it was based on a Carver story. It was pretty good. Couldn't figure out why they made the central couple an Irish/American union. It seemed odd to not have either as an Australian. I woulda thought Linney coulda handled the accent if that was the reason

Right, I decided to actually try to do this as thoroughly as I can. I'm not that keen on going to the cinema (I hate people) so I tend to see films a few years after they come out, therefore it's likely to be skewed to the earlier part of the decade. Also, I have a terrible memory, so have been going through all the linked threads and compiling out of that, so there may be some that none of you mentioned that I forgot about.

1. Songs from the Second Floor (Sånger från Andra Våningen) (Roy Andersson, 2000)
2. The Piano Teacher (Michael Haneke, 2001)
3. Mulholland Drive (David Lynch, 2001)
4. Cache (Michael Haneke, 2005)
5. The Subconscious Art of Graffiti Removal (Matt McCormick, 2002)
6. Cecil B. DeMented (John Waters, 2000)*
7. The Devil and Daniel Johnston (Jeff Feuerzeig, 2005)
8. Amelie (Jean-Pierre Jeunet, 2001)**
9. The Happiness of the Katakuris (Takashi Miike, 2001)
10. Belleville Rendezvous (Sylvain Chomet, 2003)

*I’m probably going to get hammered for including this but I really did like it.
**Also, I thought I would hate this but no, it is great.

I liked these but I had problems with one or more aspects of them: A Ma Soeur, A Mighty Wind, Audition, Battle Royale, Bowling for Columbine, City of God, Donnie Darko, Ghost World, Goodbye Lenin!, Morvern Callar, O Brother Where Art Thou?, Pan’s Labyrinth, Secretary, Spirited Away, Storytelling…

Haven’t got around to seeing yet but would probably like a lot (in order of confidence):
You the Living (Du Levande) (Roy Andersson, 2007)
Inland Empire (David Lynch, 2006)
Le Temps du Loup (Michael Haneke, 2003)
Russian Ark (Aleksandr Sokurov, 2002)
The Five Obstructions (Jorgen Leth, 2003)
The Pianist (Roman Polanski, 2002)
Dancer in the Dark (Lars von Trier, 2000)

Things I’d not heard about but will now check out:
Yi Yi (Edward Yang, 2000)
Psalms from the Kitchen (Salmer fra Kjokkenet) (Bent Hamer, 2003)
La Commune (Paris, 1871) (Peter Watkins, 2000)
Barking Dogs Never Bite (Joon-ho Bong, 2000)
Decasia (Bill Morrison, 2002)
The Ister (David Barison, Daniel Ross, 2004)

I haven't seen Jindabyne, I heard it was pretty ordinary.

I was so certain Dancer in the Dark was 90's, add it to my list please. Also, Russian Ark is incredible, watch it alone and in the dark.

It was better than ordinary.

I'll give it a watch then :)

Yeah but I hated the proposition, but Chopper is great and the only argument for Eric Bana's hottttness I can agree with.

Yeah it's pretty much the only movie he's been good in.

Yeah, but I'm focussing more on the hottness.

sorry, hotttness

Actually, no, he's good in the Castle. And I haven't seen Romulus my father yet either

xp ha

Jindabyne was meh. The Shortcuts version of the story is better frankly. And the original story is leagues better IIRC.

actually, why has nobody said team america?

cuz its politics are totally loathsome and apart from two really funny musical sequences it was pretty boring

also incredibly racist

eric bana was very good in black hawk down

Also not really all that funny. Would have been willing to suffer the dodgy/cowardly politics and everything-baiting, if only it made me laugh more than once or twice. But no. A wasteland.

I couldn't really think about that movie in relation to the story. The story is about six pages long, they just use the premise really. Still, My husband eats with an appetitie but something tells me he's not really hungry. Ugh.

by which I mean Jindabyne

well contenderizer, i for one found black hawk down to be totally hilarious

hahaa

Bana's accent in black hawk down was terribly done iirc

Mulholland Dr.
Y Tu Mama Tambien
In the Mood For Love
Before Sunset
25th Hour
Ghost World
Far From Heaven
Children of Men
Dave Chappelle’s Block Party
Vera Drake

Grandma's Boy
Primer
King of Kong: Fistful of Quarters

I tried watching BHD when I was going through a war movie/book phase, and god that movie is unwatchable. I don't remember disliking it in the theater, but it's just too hyper without being interesting in any particular way.

The list I jotted down during my show tonight (alphabetical):

Children of Men
The Company
Femme Fatale
Inland Empire
Kings & Queen
Light is Calling
Munich / War of the Worlds
Pulse
Tropical Malady
Wet Hot American Summer

Apparently I could only remember English-language films tonight, without the aid of previously-made lists.

Closest this year: Still Life, The Witnesses, Standard Operating Procedure, Up the Yangtze, My Winnipeg, Profit motive and the whispering wind

Really? I mean, it's a competent film--good, even--but there are def. ten+ better docs this year.

From memory + Facebook profile, here are my favorites:
Donnie Darko
INLAND EMPIRE
The Devil and Daniel Johnston
My Winnipeg
Forbidden Lie$
Zodiac
Alpha Dog
Mulholland Drive
American Teen
Southland Tales
Charlie Bartlett
Children of Men
Darwin's Nightmare
Iraq in Fragments
Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind
The Descent
4 Months, 3 Weeks and 2 Days
Punch Drunk Love
Me and You and Everyone We Know
Control Room
L'Enfant
Summercamp!
Triplets of Belleville
The Saddest Music In The World
The Mother
Almost Famous

I kinda thought Milkshake's great-film status might wore off by now? Like Crouching Tiger's?

you must be thinking of some terence malick snoozefest. (was crouching tiger ever great? i thought it had stayed consistently at the pretty-good level.)

hooray to tape store for southland tales.

a few others:
dogville
together
lilya 4-ever
the return
the holy girl
la cienaga
24 hour party people
adaptation
the fast runner
les destinees
oasis
princess raccoon
the taste of tea

i don't watch very many movies, but feel free to clown me

top 10

1. kill bill 1
2. no country for old men
3. american psycho
4. the departed
5. the bourne ultimatum
6. kill bill 2
7. anchorman
8. a history of violence
9. iron man
10. the darjeeling limited

also finding nemo

oh i forgot unknown pleasures. and the world.

I think Crouching Tiger got a lot of residual help in the reputation dept. for being the crowdpleaser of a legendary Cannes fest ... but, yeah, by the time the DVD came out, I remember everyone had moved on.

Louis needs some serious film education. Irreversible, uergh.

My Facebook profile lists the following films from 2000 to now:

Children Of Men, The Dark Knight, Pan's Labyrinth, Spirited Away, Batman Begins, Waking Life, Battle Royale, Little Miss Sunshine, Team America: World Police, X-Men, Spiderman, Hellboy, The Incredibles, Io Non Ho Paura, Wall-E, Zodiac, Kiss Kiss Bang Bang!, Brotherhood Of The Wolf, The Fellowship Of The Ring, The Prestige, Ping Pong, Sideways, 24 Hour Party People, Zoolander, Napoleon Dynamite, Brick, Superbad, The Lives Of Others, Belleville Rendez-Vous, Donnie Darko, Belleville Rendezvous,

For X-Men and Spider-Man take the sequel in each case, I think.

i will back geoff up on der ister which is great if you can get past your lol grad school self-loathing

i should say which was great once i got past my lol grad school self loathing

i suppose it could have been tighter and better-edited but theres something sort of appealing about the way it spills over with ideas and pictures. i wonder if it wouldnt be more enjoyable to watch in parts, like reading a book.

Most of the movies I really liked have been mentioned upthread. Anyways, here goes, in no special order :

ITMFL/2046
The New World
Syndromes and a Century
Grizzly Man
Crank
Children of Men
Nobody Knows
Infernal Affairs
Kill Bill
Kings and Queen

Really, really want to see Southland Tales but it will never get a theatre release and the DVD doesnt come out till december out here. I've been anticipating this damn movie ever since it was shown in Cannes and I heard great reviews and I've been waiting for so looooooooooong.

I managed about twenty minutes of Southland Tales before we switched it off and posted it back to LoveFilm.

See, that makes me want to watch it even more!

Cinema as self-flagellation.

It's a masterpiece. You'll love it, Jibe.

A movie on which people disagree so much is definitely one I want to see

I'm glad to see someone else give props to Songs from the Second Floor, if I had to pick the one best film of this decade, that would probably be it. It's such an amazing piece of cinema both visually and thematically, like Monty Python and Ken Loach working together to do a dystopian vision on the destruction of the welfare state.

this thread is reminding me of some things, here's a list (no order):

The House of Mirth
Audition
The Gleaners and I
What Time Is It There? (or Goodbye, Dragon Inn??)
Funny Ha Ha
Kung Fu Hustle
In the Mood for Love
The Intruder
Grizzly Man
There Will Be Blood

this looks promising: http://disney.go.com/disneypictures/beverlyhillschihuahua/

The Gleaners and I might be my fav doc of all time fwiw (haven't seen so many docs).

x-post

oh shit i forgot Tropical Malady, waaay up there

team america (the beavis and butthead guys 1ol 18890)

borat (the beavis and butthead guys 1ol 18890 THE CUNNILINGUS GUYSWE LOVE 2 H8 2000 MI9RACLE GROWTH ew)

namesake (in

superbad (that funny man 2002)

the forty-something year-old virgin (JUDD apatow, 1ike 199)

porky's IV: interplanetary nsfw handjob

i am a sex addict (cave zahedi 2000-something)

lars and the real firl

and the bourne ultimatum
and superbad

pretty good decade for movies

"Southland Tales" is without a doubt my least favorite film of the decade (and possibly beyond).

But I imagine my list would contain some pretty hated titles ("Bubble," "The Blair Witch Project," "Bug").

This is hard, though... where can I see a list of everything released within a given year?

also

punch drunk love

sideways

and anything that was not based upon american comic books

though my favorite genre is seventies wuxia

this has been a pretty awful decade for film

But I imagine my list would contain some pretty hated titles ("Bubble," "The Blair Witch Project," "Bug").

Bubble, really? That seemed so, I dunno, meaningless? It wasnt really bad or good, it just was I guees and it feels kind of strange seeing it appear in a favorite films thread (I suppose you mean the Soderbergh movie right?). Blair Witch was 90's also, wasnt it? As for Bug, I liked it.

you know what totally sucked?

that mov ie shortbus

that movie totally sucked

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2000s_in_film

adaptation

the brown bunny

Debbie Does Dallas ... Again

External links

* Showtime website

Dirty Dancing: Havana Nights

Shy, intelligent, eighteen-year-old Katey Miller moves from United States to Havana, Cuba with her parents in November 1958, just before the Revolution breaks out! Her parents expect her to move within their well-to-do circles, but she defies their wish when she falls in love with Javier Suarez, a waiter who also happens to be a talented club dancer! Secretly meeting in a Havana nightclub the pair practice their Salsa dance routine in preparation for a prestigious national dance competition!

However, Katey's parents are ex-professional dancers who trained her in ballroom dancing, whereas Javier has been trained in the titular Cuban style of dirty dancing, and the two must reconcile the differences between their styles if they are to win! Things become more heated when the coming revolution spells trouble for the pair's plans! When the Revolution breaks out, Katey and Javier go to a beach tent and make love. The day after, Katey finds out that she has to leave Cubazz! On their last night in Havana together, Katey and Javier share a night full of dancing before they say goodbye but Katey also narrates that she and Javier know that it will not be their last night dancing together!

Welcome Home, Roscoe Jenkins

^^^^^^^

This is below Audition on my og list

Election

1999. (The Election I think it is, right?) I'm afraid we're in drunk wars. I concede.

drunk loser wars

yeah, pretty much!

kangaroo jack

heh, not trying to be challopsy here... welcome home, roscoe jenkins was seriously funny, probably made me lol = to or more than superbad. great performances.. the 'improv' stuff was better than anything jonah hill has ever involved himself with, that poor wannabe

yes, election is def. '99. i was looking at that wikipedia 2000-films bullshit, and "Election" was listed, but it turned out to be some HK/Chinese flick about triad dudes

"Lucky Numbers" is from 2000! I liked that lots

Do you guys remember when Siskel and Ebert used to do their Oscar shows based on lightweight, middleweight and heavyweight movies? I am obv. a lightweight kinda guy

that dewey cox walk home movie was pretty great too.

i think

x-post why do you think? that movie was terrible.

ugh not wannabe, just... medium-level snl talent, you know?

wait what? kangaroo jack? dewey cox? don't fuddle my brain

1 . THE POWERPUFF GIRLS MOVIE
2 . O Brother Where Art Thou
3 . Children Of Men
4 . LOTR: The Fellowship Of The Ring
5 . Spirited Away
6 . Jump Tomorrow
7 . City Of God
8 . Rushmore
9 . Kill Bill 1
10 . 24 Hour Party People

+
Sexy Beast
Donnie Darko
Eternal Sunshine...
The Royal Tenenbaums
Election
Pan's Labyrinth
DogTown & Z-Boys
Pirates Of The Carribean 1 & 2

argh dunno why i keep thinking Rushmore is from 2000

Louis needs some serious film education. Irreversible, uergh.

My Facebook profile lists the following films from 2000 to now:

Children Of Men, The Dark Knight, Pan's Labyrinth, Spirited Away, Batman Begins, Waking Life, Battle Royale, Little Miss Sunshine, Team America: World Police, X-Men, Spiderman, Hellboy, The Incredibles, Io Non Ho Paura, Wall-E, Zodiac, Kiss Kiss Bang Bang!, Brotherhood Of The Wolf, The Fellowship Of The Ring, The Prestige, Ping Pong, Sideways, 24 Hour Party People, Zoolander, Napoleon Dynamite, Brick, Superbad, The Lives Of Others, Belleville Rendez-Vous, Donnie Darko, Belleville Rendezvous,

For X-Men and Spider-Man take the sequel in each case, I think.

-- Scik Mouthy, Friday, 25 July 2008 06:29 (4 hours ago) Bookmark Link

I listed those two for a reason, that they were the two most profoundly affecting films I've seen this decade, and the two that gave me the best internal debates. Plus, I was trying to make my list very particular.

I've SEEN about 80% of the films in your list, and were I to make a slightly more extended list, the vast majority of additions would be from those ^^^ above.

Irreversible was affecting to me too, for being a homophobic, pseudo-profound and shocking-for-no-proper-at-all reason piece of crap. Admittedly it was technically well done (though the main gimmick was lifted from Memento), but that's about it. Everyone should Innocence by Lucile Hadzihalilovic, Gaspar Noé's editor and wife, it's clearly better than either of Noé's two feature films. She uses similar techniques as Noé, but puts them to better use than pointless misanthropic shock tactics.

"no-proper-reason-at-all"

Oh yeah, and Innocence should totally be on my list of the top films of the decade.

Irreversible was affecting to me too, for being a homophobic, pseudo-profound and shocking-for-no-proper-at-all reason piece of crap

I missed the "for" in this first time round and was shocked.

well at least it has a pretty cool soundtrack

I'm an idiot and was picking films from 1998-2008.

Mulholland Drive
Inland Empire
I (heart) Huckabees
There Will Be Blood
Wet Hot American Summer
Shaun of the Dead
Spirited Away
Children of Men
To Be and To Have (Être et avoir)
the Bourne trilogy

And then because I'm a big Altman fanboy (although these seriously are three of my all-time favorite Altman joints):
Gosford Park
The Company
A Prairie Home Companion

ohhh, Gosford Park and A Prairie Home Companion OTM.

O
M
G

ADAPTATION

yes.

I want to say Adaptation, but I appreciate it more than I like it. Like, concept-wise it's a brilliant movie and I'm really glad that it exists, but it's not something I'm dying to watch again.

Also, though: I'm tempted to add Confessions of a Dangerous Mind to my list, if only because I could watch Sam Rockwell playing Chuck Barris for, like, forever.

see i'm DYING to watch it. now.

ohh Mean Girls

also i'm disappointed i'm the only rep for Caramel. my mind was blown.

i might rewatch Adaptation just to assess Maggie G. deric OTM tho.

I loved Croupier

^^^^awesome film, would make my top-20 shortlist

dudes, meryl's performance in adaptation is nothing short of insanity. i mean some of those lines. and just the whole premise of her being addicted to orchid dust.

"we have to kill him"

okay and the scene in the swamp is just too good.

Oldboy was very good, btw. Irreversible... technically interestingly done (the palindromic camera dynamism), but just disgusting.

Louis have you seen Anatomy of Hell?

http://images.amazon.com/images/P/B0000714DU.01.LZZZZZZZ.jpg

and i don't mean this in the oh-it's-so-funny-and-stupid way: this movie is something else.

No, I haven't. Will endeavour to. Is it another of the more controversial recent releases? Irreversible I found to be a gripping, revolting, brilliantly-constructed and gleefully sadistic assault upon sense and reason, and hey, I dig that sort of thing. The key is the second half. Get through to that and you've got a movie on your hands.

wise girls
mean girls
dream girls

what's next?!

haha but to be clear, i did NOT say dream girls

Anatomy of Hell is all those things crossed with a kind of Eyes Wide Shut dream-narrative bullshit trope thing and trussed up with anal garden-tool-rape and shit-eating and stuff. French. Surprisingly. It's awful.

I imagine there's no one in the world who likes Anatomy of Hell more than I do, but I still wouldn't put it in my decade top 10 unless I was feeling particularly willful.

There was no shit eating in AoH.

There was a lot, however, in Little Miss Sunshine.

OK, 00's films I loved that WEREN'T full of live-octopus slayings or 9-minute anal rape scenes:

Croupier
Spirited Away
Bourne pts. 2+3
The Princess And The Warrior
Roger Dodger
Ocean's Eleven (aw cmon now)
Etre Et Avoir (actually made me cry at the end, no rly)
Superbad
Sideways
24hr Party People
A Cock And Bull Story
A Scanner Darkly

with an absolute shit-ton bubbling just under, including both Kaufmans, the recently-watched Wall-E, Children Of Men, numerous superhero movies, and possibly a sneaky Wes Anderson flick here or there.

Please note the absence of "Punch-Drunk Love".

i do like Ocean's XI but i also want to kill every one of those smug motherfuckers

except julia roberts cuz she looked like a gorgeous duck

I had a brief tussle about including it but fuck it's just about the most fun I've ever had watching a movie.

omg i'm really glad to say that that is not true for me in my life

but i hope i can still be your friend anyway

11/12 were ok but oceans 13 was worse than the tv show las vegas BY A LOT

of course you can, ramzi! :)

maybe i don't mean "fun", it wasn't profound fun, just a really light-headed couple of hours' worth of pure unbridled entertainment with a somewhat superb soundtrack that i left guilt-free and smiling

haven't seen 12/13, and honestly never will (much like the matrix 2+3)

except julia roberts cuz she looked like a gorgeous duck

-- Surmounter, Friday, 25 July 2008 14:24 (6 minutes ago)

if you had only typed 'THE MOST gorgeous duck' this coulda been my favourite post of recent times

hahahaha

actually the post after that beats it lolol

your post i mean

;D

Matrix 2 was genuinely one of the most fun times i had watching a movie :/

except julia roberts cuz she looked like a gorgeous duck

This is kind of a perfect description of Julia Roberts. Kudos.

Etre Et Avoir (actually made me cry at the end, no rly)

Seriously. I'm getting a little choked up just thinking about it.

Did To Be and To Have (Être et avoir) just slip by most people? It's probably not for everyone, but it's probably my second favorite documentary ever (right behind Hoop Dreams), and pretty high on my all-time list.

just 'a duck' would do really (xp)

12 and 13 are more fun than 11

Has anyone mentioned The Station Agent yet?

Probably best not to spoil precisely what it is that elicited the most powerfully melancholic emotional response I've ever had while watching a movie, suffice it to say that what you are watching is real, and what is seen is merely the look on one person's face while doing an everyday job. That's the kind of magic only the most perceptive of documentarists can transmit. xposts to Deric

it is no beacon of great moviemaking but a movie i love & prob hasnt been mentioned & is great fun & super funny = Grandma's Boy

oh, Pulse, Breakfast on Pluto, AI/WotW all contenders for a top 20. And yes, The Virgin Suicides near the top.

was crouching tiger ever great?

The late Joel Siegel said so!

Iraq in Fragments

oh man i forgot about this! very good

I still do make a distinction between favorite/best a little bit. Hence me listing Wet Hot American Summer and not La Commune (Paris, 1871)

NO SUCH DIFFERENTIAL

boo Eric, not "populist"

your list is mostly OK! Femme Fatale would make my top 100 (probably a first for BdP).

wait remind me why we're including the virgin suicides? is this not 2000 on?

Others:

Tropical Malady
What Time Is It There?
Minority Report
Time Out
The Piano Teacher
Femme Fatale
Gosford Park

wait remind me why we're including the virgin suicides? is this not 2000 on?

Virgin Suicides came out in 2000. Seems so long ago, I know.

The iMdb's sometimes dumb dating policy lists it as '99 cuz, as I recall, it played one film festival.

someone needs to start "Your favorite Apatow-Rogen films of the year (so far)" thread.

they trailed Last Exit To Brooklyn as 'the first major motion picture of the 1990s'. what is the 00s equivalent?

Yeah, I remember seeing VS the summer after I graduated from college and remarking on how it felt very uneven (but for some reason I really liked James Woods's performance).

they trailed Last Exit To Brooklyn as 'the first major motion picture of the 1990s'. what is the 00s equivalent?

Gladiator.

I can't read the title "Gladiator" without hearing it as squealed by Elizabeth Taylor:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Zle6_AoITMk

Hallam Foe
+ others already mentioned (not Donnie Darko though)

My only criteria is movies I've bought and get watched often:

City of God
Morvern Callar
Mulholland Drive
2046
Children of Men
Visitor Q
Old Boy
Sympathy for Mr Vengeance
The Blind Swordsman: Zatoichi
A History of Violence
Solaris
No Country for Old Men
Casino Royale
Batman Begins
The Bourne Identity
Michael Clayton
Amores Perros
Munich

some more i like a lot that i havent seen mentioned much:

Casino Royale
3 Burials of Melquiadas Estrada
Tears of the Black Tiger
All the Real Girls

I did a best of 2000-04 list on one of those other threads. Here's 15 more from 2005-08:

4 Months, 3 Weeks, and 2 Days
Brokeback Mountain
Capote
Children of Men
Conversations with Other Women
The Departed
Grizzly Man
Half Nelson
A History of Violence
Little Children (SORRY ERIC H)
No Country for Old Men
The Queen
The Squid and the Whale
There Will Be Blood
Zodiac

French films that could be great if I understood them: The Intruder and La France

haha i felt the same way about the intruder

"something's going on here, maybe once i stop falling asleep i'll be able to understand what it is"

forgot about George Washington.

and I'd also note the HBO film Wit.

My boring list in no particular order:

Eternal Sunshine of The Spotless Mind *
Royal Tenenbaums
Junebug
Me and You and Everyone We Know
You Can Count On Me
Almost Famous **
No Country For Old Men
There Will Be Blood
Superbad
40 Year Old Virgin
Science of Sleep
Sounds of Silence
Diving Bell and The Butterfly
XXY
The Zone
Kept and Dreamless
The Custodian
All For Free
Merci pour le Chocolat
La Captive
Juno **
Once **
The Aviator
Festival Express
Chicken Run
Wallace & Gromit in The Curse of The Wererabbit
The Incredibles
Cars
Ghost World
Spuid and The Whale
Borat
The Pope's Toilet
A Very Long Engagement
Spellbound
Munich
Anchorman
24 Hour Party People
Sideways
Morvern Callar
Notre Musique
Zodiac

*Although this for me will probably be "Movie of The Decade"
**Screw you, I like it.

if i could vote for the wire en masse it'd blow everything else away, no question.

I totally forgot about Grizzly Man, The Departed, and Brokeback Mountain. I'd probably throw Crouching Tiger on there, too, speaking of Ang Lee. Despite its flaws I watched it a ton and even got teary the first time I saw it. "Chow Yun Fat is sad as hell, maan... sniff"

Why has nobody nominated THE HAPPENING?

http://youtube.com/watch?v=DendKIx01zc

if i could vote for the wire en masse it'd blow everything else away

and if a frog had wings it wouldn't be a film, either

you should stop being a crabby bitch and watch some wire, it's really good.

Watched A.I. last night, ‘cuz several folks put it on their lists, and I remembered it being TOTAL CRAP. Well, it isn’t total crap, but it isn’t all that great, either. First act is a failure, the second a jumbled rush of noisy nonsense, but the final stretch is spectacular (everything from Dr. Know’s “clue” on to the credits). If only the rest of the film were even half that good. But it isn’t.

Some stuff I left of my earlier list, mostly cribbed from subsequent posts:

Adaptation
Anchorman
Belleville Rendezvous
Bubble Boy (...)
Capturing the Friedmans
Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon (yeah, okay, I loved it)
George Washington
Kill Bill 1 (not part 2)
Mean Girls
Napoleon Dynamite
O Brother, Where Art Thou?
Tears of the Black Tiger
The Weeping Camel (serious)
Virgin Suicides (if it counts)
Waking Life (understand the objections; don’t care)

Shortbus did suck. Really, really hard. As did Tarnation. As did Southland Tales, but I liked it anyway. Kinda. Almost. And I’m conflicted about including Adaptation – really should see it again. Liked it, but kinda loathed it, too. Should have had P.S. Hoffman instead of fuggin’ Nick Cage. Or Cate Blanchett. Just someone else. Speaking of Cate, I wish her parts of I’m Not There were a separate movie, ‘cuz then I could put it on my list. Unfortunately everything else about that movie made Shortbus look good. Except no, but still.

AI has some really great moments, but then so does Signs and we can hardly have Mel Gibson up in here.

AI is on my list due to the handful of times I watched it, a few times in the theater and maybe once at home. so I am prepared to agree it may be a bit of a mess. But there's also no other film that I found quite as emotionally disturbing--something about it really gets to me. to the point that I don't really feel any desire to watch it again despite the fact that I'd consider putting it on my best films evah list.

You are the most despondant, self-absorbed generation ever.

Here are the films that garnered at least 2 mentions so far, and which you will be expected to have an opinion on:

14 - Mulholland Dr.
13 - Children of Men
12 - Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind
10 - Inland Empire
9 - Spirited Away
7 - Before Sunset
7 - In the Mood for Love
6 - Grizzly Man
6 - Yi Yi
5 - City Of God
5 - Donnie Darko
5 - Pan's Labryinth
5 - Zodiac
4 - 25th Hour
4 - 24 Hour Party People
4 - A.I.
4 - Amelie
4 - Cache
4 - Kill Bill 1
4 - Kung Fu Hustle
4 - Nobody Knows
4 - Superbad
4 - The Royal Tenenbaums
3 - 2046
3 - 4 Months, 3 Weeks and 2 Days
3 - Barking Dogs Never Bite
3 - Decasia
3 - I'm Not There
3 - Morvern Callar
3 - No Country for Old Men
3 - Russian Ark
3 - The Devil and Daniel Johnston
3 - The New World
3 - The Saddest Music in the World
3 - The Squid and the Whale
3 - There Will Be Blood
3 - What Time is it There
3 - Werckmeister Harmonies 2 - A History of Violence
2 - A Scanner Darkly
2 - A Very Long Engagement
2 - Adaptation
2 - American Splendor
2 - Audition
2 - Battle Royale
2 - Borat
2 - Cafe Lumiere
2 - Crimson Gold
2 - Dark Days
2 - DogTown & Z-Boys
2 - Dogville
2 - Election
2 - Eureka
2 - Far from Heaven
2 - Femme Fatale
2 - Ghost World
2 - Happiness of the Katakturis
2 - Infernal Affairs
2 - Into The Wild
2 - Jump Tomorrow
2 - Kings & Queen
2 - Marie Antoinette
2 - Minority Report
2 - Munich
2 - My Winnipeg
2 - Platform
2 - Primer
2 - Profit Motive
2 - Punch Drunk Love
2 - Spider-Man 2
2 - Songs from the Second Floor
2 - The 40 Year Old Virgin
2 - the bourne ultimatum
2 - The Child
2 - The Darjeeling Limited
2 - The House of Mirth
2 - The Isle
2 - The Ister
2 - The Namesake
2 - The Science Of Sleep
2 – Volver
2 - Wet Hot American Summer

I can't say I disagree. These pretty much cover my own favorites, but I do believe "Last Life in the Universe", "Survive Style 5+", and "You, the Living" deserve more attention from the canon makers.

Hah! I just read "Werckmeister Harmonies 2 - A History of Violence" and thought "Fuck - a sequel?"

I dunno, maybe two whales. And a really big squid.

Little Children and Sin City - WORST films of the decade so far

Wait when did GARAGE DAYS come out?? And then there's Crash!

adamrl OTM x 1,000,000 on the worsts of the decade

Except I haven't seen Garage Days

Sin City probably wasn't quite the worst, but definitely the most instantly forgettable.

Swap out 300 for Sin City, maybe.

oh i forgot about "wet hot american summer"

does not deserve to be on a "best of" list, but is very funny

all american comicbook super-hero movies need to be taken out back and shot

go watch some late-seventies films based on gu long/jin yong novels and then report back to me. thanks, bye.

most of my favourites (ie all the serious ones) have already been mentioned several times so i will just add some love for the first Pirates movie (destroy the sequels), "28 Days Later", "28 Weeks Later", "Mean Girls", "Night Watch" and "Day Watch".

Lots of bland, toothless SF movies and flat-out worthless comic book adaptations over the last decade. And these are genres I'm theoretically prejudiced in favor of.

"Pirates" for sure, and Night/Day Watch are unique and amazing.

I do believe "Last Life in the Universe", "Survive Style 5+", and "You, the Living" deserve more attention from the canon makers.

i'd 2nd last life in the universe. not seen the other two.

oh, goodbye dragon inn -- probably a decade top-10 for me.

i wouldve absolutely listed last life but i had noticed it mentioned a few times. i remember reviving the sparse thread cuz i was so blown away by it!

oh, goodbye dragon inn -- probably a decade top-10 for me.

i feel like a lesser, shittier human being for not having seen that yet. seriously

i know i'll come off like a jack-ass saying this, especially since i put batman begins on my best list, but... it's probably the most boring film i've ever seen. i had a lot of respect for the atmosphere, but it felt extremely overindulgent to me.

what i mean is that he did a great job conveying the atmosphere. the camera shots were well-framed, the movie looked great. the sound was really nicely done. i can see this being a great movie for people who are really into still photography and/or minimal drone music.

"i can see this being a great movie for people who are really into still photography and/or minimal drone music."

Nope. Hated it.

Can I just second the vote for Mean Girls, as long as we're allowed to edit out the group bonding in the gym bit.

Bad Santa
Thank You For Smoking
Lost in Translation
Dead Man's Shoes
Master & Commander
Brick
The Proposition

-bad santa
-bourne movies
-the 'yo homie' scene in collateral

Things I Forgot:
Mean Girls
Brick
Lost In Translation
Adaptation

I'm happy we have this thread. I now have a much longer 'to see' list.

derelict your list fails to mention GRANDMA'S BOY which has been mentioned by 2 different people on this thread! it is YOU who fail!

which is funnier than either Superbad or Knocked Up, although not as touching as either

also ME AND YOU AND EVERYONE WE KNOW, which only has two mentions (wtf?)

Guess I was the only one who went crazy for Sunshine (not little miss, not eternal).

Four Months, Three Weeks, and Two Days would probably be my number one.

Sunshine was fucking awesome all the way up until they introduced the whole scary space-cabin-fever-man/monster thing, then it became really fucking stupid really quick. What a waste of movie potential!

Oh yeah I forgot that was the standard objection. Well I thought the fucking awesome parts were way more fucking awesome than the fucking stupid parts were fucking stupid so it's still a winner for me.

I'm going to rent sunshine this week! Will report and settle this dispute.

I wish stanley kubrick was releasing a movie for this decade.we're gonna get two from malick at least.

Damn your laziness, Zombie Kubrick.

oh, add a diff Tsai movie for me than tipsy's: What Time Is It There?

a select few which i remember

Casino Royale
Election
Master & Commander
Me Myself and Irene

I totally forgot to mention Bodysong, which wasn't perfect or anything, but it managed to get an unique, interesting, and enjoyable experience out of a concept that I'd never seen used in a feature film... Building a stream-of-consciousness-like story out of pre-existing documentary footage (as far as I know, no new footage was shot for the movie) gathered from a wide array of sources, and put into juxtaposition with the help of music.

The Witnesses is excellent. Why do the French make the best AIDS movies?

For this year, Let The Right One In has to be up there

i completely forgot to put Master & Commander on my list. i own it and have watched it many times. i'm reading the books right now.

V For Vendetta
Eastern Promises
Rescue Dawn
Step Brothers
SAW
SAW II
SAW IV

Half Nelson
12:08 East of Bucharest
Zodiac
La Tourneuse de Pages

Why do the French make the best AIDS movies?

Foucault?

V For Vendetta
Eastern Promises
Rescue Dawn
Step Brothers
SAW
SAW II
SAW IV

what about SAW III?

3RD FILM CURSE

there are some films released before 2000 on that list - audition, election.

it's good to see korean films in the mix but I'm suprised that barking dogs never bite is ranking, considering it's never been availble in the us or europe on dvd. also surprised at the lack of votes for memories of murder, sympathy for lady vengeance, oldboy, save the green planet, oasis, peppermint candy.

zodiac
iron island
children of men
city of god
spirited away
triplets of belleville
hotel rwanda
kikujiro
the pianist
pan's labyrinth
hero
capote
return of the king
eternal sunshine of the spotless mind
swimming pool
no country for old men
thank you for smoking
juno
little miss sunshine
wall-e
incredibles
the royal tenenbaums
the good thief
a history of violence
spider

wall-e
visitor Q
eternal sunshine of the spotless mind
spirited away
triplets of belleville
2046
grizzly man
ma mère

this says a lot more about things I haven't seen than what I have, I really haven't been keeping up. haven't seen 'in the mood for love' and everyone tells me that if I had I couldn't like '2046' but... I totally loved '2046'

I forgot to mention About a Boy

Hi pj, I liked SAW III but I didn't love it. II was my favorite.

Re Edward III, on Korean flicks:

Saw Barking Dogs Never Bite at the Seattle International Film Festival several years back. Stood out for me as the best of all the movies I saw that year, and has stayed with me since. Liked it a hell of a lot better than The Host. Haven't seen Memories of Murder, though I wanna. Should have included Lady Vengeance on my list (and thought about it) -- by far my favorite of the vengeance trilogy. Save the Green Planet is fun, but I can't quite call it a favorite. Haven't seen the rest you mention. For what it's worth, I did include The Isle/Seom on my first list. Bad Guy and Spring, Summer, etc. should have made it, too.

Re Milton Parker, on Visitor Q:

Damn! I totally forgot about VQ. Likely one of my ten favorite films of the decade, and easily my favorite Miike.

i would have words with anyone who has a good thing to say about my winnipeg.

Bump.

I feel like buying some DVDs. What's essential from the last few years?

On an Asian theme.

Miike's 'Dead or Alive' trilogy is worth seeking out, even just for it's complete audacity.

The MPD Psycho TV series is also worthwhile, some episodes are quite Grant Morrison-esque.

And the Infernal Affairs trilogy is similar in essence to the three Godfather movies, the first
two are especially great.

On a non Asian theme, 'Primer' I still love and watch often, even though it's kinda frustrating.

I should list a few films I've loved / really liked recently and own (and therefore would feel like I'd want to watch them repeatedly), for reference, ad to save people showing all answers:

Children Of Men
The Dark Knight
Pan's Labyrinth
Primer
There Will Be Blood
Spirited Away
Waking Life
Belleville Rendezvous
Little Miss Sunshine
Team America: World Police
Kiss Kiss Bang Bang
Superbad
The Fellowship of the Ring
The Prestige
Brick
Napoleon Dynamite
The Bourne Trilogy
Hellboy
Wall-E
The Incredibles

Things I'm considering = There Will Be Blood (seen once and enjoyed, wltsa), Oldboy (ditto), The Lives of Others (same), The Departed (ditto again).

Things I've seen once and enjoyed to a degree but don't feel any compulsion to want to see again (unless they come on TV when I'm in the mood): most "gritty" European films about abortion etc, No Country For Old Men, Half Nelson (and any other "gritty" American / Australian / British drug romance films), Brokeback Mountain, Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind.

Things I've not seen but should have - Infernal Affairs films, Wong Kar Wai films.

Things I normally hate - Scorsese.

'The Departed' might grate then if you dislike Scorsese (how many times can he keep using that bloody Rolling Stones song?), you probably know that it's a remake of the first Infernal Affairs film though right?

goddamnit! reading this thread, just skimming it reminds me of what a terrible decade it's been

i hate so many of these films!!! others seems to love

The Departed I've seen once; it's the Scorsese film I've enjoyed most, by far. I know it's a remake, aye (my job used to be running the film dept. of a university library).

What film is this Metacritic user talking about?

"Amy gave it a0:
Surprisingly BAD. Too predictable, too obvious, no cleverness, forced "originality". What's that word? Oh, contrived. I've rarely been so annoyed. It was a good premise, but the film was complete rubbish. RUBBISH. I WISH there was something thought-provoking in it. If you require this drivel to provoke your thoughts, you clearly need to spend more time THINKING. I am disappointed in all of you who think or pretend to think this was a great film. It was devoid of intellectual value, I promise you. Look again, and look with some intelligence. Think how much better it should have been. Honestly, was anything in this movie something new to you? Are you still in Jr. High? How could these concepts be news to you otherwise? Will someone PLEASE give me something to stir my mind? It's been too many years without something truly inspiring and I'm going to give up looking pretty soon! I am thankful to see there are a few people with discerning minds out there, though. I had been worrying that there was nobody out there whom I could respect. So many people are so easily impressed by the most banal of ideas. Are they just pretentious or stupid? Both? I wish I could figure it out. Why aren't more people angered by a waste of time like this film? It was an insult to our intelligence, folks!!!"

legally blonde

Not seen that; liked Election, which I imagine would have parallels of a kind. And I love Pleasantville.

haha no i was answering your question

crank
role models
uh...

Haha, dur me. No, not Legally Blonde.

Clue = it's a film mentioned on this thread, as a favourite. A LOT. There's another thread on ILXdedicated to this film, which is MAHOOSIVE.

Vital
I'm a Cyborg, But That's Ok
Electric Dragon 80,000v
Funky Forest
The Fast Runner

And I liked all the X-Men movies.

eternal sunshine?

Nope, not that.

Children of Men
Sweeney Todd
Mulholland Drive
Incredibles / Ratatouille / Wall-E
Lost in Translation (though if I had any guts, I'd just say Marie Antoinette)
Good Night and Good Luck
Munich (maybe, though I've only seen it once since I saw it in theaters)
O Brother Where Art Thou (the real best Coen Brothers flick of the decade)
Memento
Spirited Away
Almost Famous
Sin City
Brick
Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind
Pan's Labyrinth
V for Vendetta

This is all stuff I can either imagine watching again, or that I have watched again. Stuff like 4m3w2d, which is probably the best film I saw this decade, doesn't list because I will never see it again. So, best != favorite. Also, I'm guessing my list totally pegs the kind of movie fan I am.

Oh Battle Royale. I forgot about that one. Definitely on the list.

OH SHIT. And Big Fish.

See I don't get why 4m3w2d would rate as best or favourite if you never want to see it again? I was moved by it, I enjoyed it (in a sense), but I'd never call it favourite or best.

'Amewsd' ?

ah, 4 months 3 weeks, etc. got it.

we are not 4 months 3 weeks 2 days

2046
Marie Antoinette
Into Great Silence
Far From Heaven
I ♥ Huckabees
Morvern Callar
Little Children

Children Of Men
The Dark Knight
Pan's Labyrinth
Primer
There Will Be Blood
Spirited Away
Waking Life
Belleville Rendezvous
Little Miss Sunshine
Team America: World Police
Kiss Kiss Bang Bang
Superbad
The Fellowship of the Ring
The Prestige
Brick
Napoleon Dynamite
The Bourne Trilogy
Hellboy
Wall-E
The Incredibles

swap city of god for hellboy (!) and that's my list too.

Anyway, that displeased Metacritic commentator was having a bitch at Children of Men. wtf?

Children of Men was a good showcase for production design. Excellent job there, folks. That's about it.

I think you may be lonely in that opinion here.

Caché
Gabrielle
Syndromes and a Century
INLAND EMPIRE
4 Months, 3 Weeks and 2 Days

Children of Men was a good showcase for production design. Excellent job there, folks. That's about it.

― Vichitravirya_XI, Wednesday, December 10, 2008 8:09 AM

I think you may be lonely in that opinion here.

― Sick Mouthy (Scik Mouthy), Wednesday, December 10, 2008 8:20 AM

Lonely but not alone. Beautiful hollow shell of a movie.

bollocks

Stuff like 4m3w2d, which is probably the best film I saw this decade, doesn't list because I will never see it again.

because?

Right now I've got 3 films on my ten-best of '08 that opened in NYC last January, like 4m3w2d, which isn't one of them.

Jackass The Movie
Jackass The Movie 2
Crocodile Hunter: Collision Course

^ beautiful hollow shells

i really liked a lot of hated films on this thread - Punch Drunk Love, Shortbus, Irreversible - and quite a few of the well liked films but i don't really love many other than the 5 i just listed. I don't think i care much about movies any more. the only thing i really liked from this year was In Search of a Midnight Kiss.

I kind of loved Mulholland Drive. everything else just seems pale. lol i know, i know

I'd like to know what makes a movie NOT a "beautiful hollow shell".

well, not many of them are beautiful.

The Pledge
Eternal Sunshine
Cellular
Iron Man
Cast Away
A.I. shut up
Ghost World
Mulholland Dr.
Waking Life
Femme Fatale
Eastern Promises
Tropical Malady

I'd like to know what makes a movie NOT a "beautiful hollow shell".

Something where the construction doesn't trump the content. Hitchcock was a master at the construction of a film, but was able to have content that also satisfied. Children of Men is immaculate in its construction - superbly shot and edited, but utterly obvious in its linearity of story, devoid of character, and horribly acted. The concepts and underpinnings of the world it portrays are interesting; sadly, the movie added nothing to that initial thought. Hence, "beautiful hollow shell."

I enjoy some movies where construction rules all, but this was not one of them.

I don't recognise the criticisms "devoid of character, and horribly acted"in relation to this film. Oh well.

Tropical Malady hell yeah

I don't recognise the criticisms "devoid of character, and horribly acted"in relation to this film. Oh well.

That's totally cool (taste is subjective, after all) - just wanted to clarify the construct concept and why this film is that for me.

Hitchcock was a master at the construction of a film, but was able to have content that also satisfied. Children of Men is immaculate in its construction - superbly shot and edited, but utterly obvious in its linearity of story, devoid of character, and horribly acted.

no, no, no.

i believed more in j-mo and owen than in practically any hitchcock couple. and hitchcock's films were almost deliberately "empty" most of the time! the thrillers blatantly avoided being "about" the rise of fascism, the cold war, etc, though they were the obvious backdrops. whereas this wonderful film is able to use """""post-9/11"""" shit without being wack.

I'm glad there's no uniform positive consensus on such cinematic candy as "Children of Men," one of the most deeply superficial films I've ever experienced...it was more like the concept of a short being stretched into a feature

Content that satisfies does not require faux-"real world" connotations. I thought CoM's "post 9/11" crap was poorly done and incredibly reaching. I can't believe anything about Clive Owen so I was undone from the start.

I mean, gosh, that year I thought fucking Babel approached whatever sort of pop-profundity or Meaningful Statement that pomo art aims for, closer than that flick

it was more like the concept of a short being stretched into a feature

You mean that famous twenty minute single shot didn't hold your interest while they went from point A to point B? How dare you!

is CoM pomo? i wouldn't have thought so. nor is it a big statement film. i'm just saying, it isn't aiming to be emptily enjoyable like hitch. hitch *isn't* empty, when he's good; it's just that he is never interested in the "real world".

i felt pretty bad for clive owen when his ex got dead.

xpost

lol it was a lot more interesting than the long shots in 'rope'.

"nor is it a big statement film."

Uh what?

x-post

It was better than the shots in Rope, but Rope ain't being held up as one of the best of anything. It is remembered more for its technical novelty than as a picture.

it's the definition of a big statement that says NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOTHING :)

Rope was just ghey

I think you missed an O.

I admire yr minority report, Vichi, but am with the majority, even if CoM's second half was a little too videogame.

way too few Chinese and French films mentioned on this thread.

Still not recognising these criticisms of CoM; I went to the cinema knowing nothing about it and walked out blown away having been spellbound from the opening shot. I've never been particularly struck by it making big statements or commenting on post 9/11 whatever, although there were obvious visual references.

a big statement film is something like 'on the beach' or 'philadelphia' or, er, 'the day after tomorrow', that says 'nuclear war is bad', or 'racism is bad', or whatever. 'children of men' is obviously 'about' real-world shit, but it's relatively oblique compared with those; or, if not, at least it isn't didactic.

the only way I would have enjoyed CoM beyond the lovely & enticing production design was if the bedraggled survivor-characters met up with the bedraggled survivor-characters of 28 Days Later and joining forces, fought off mutant Muslim terrorist-zombies

tl;dr so did these Children Of Men haters mention a 00s film they do love yet?

Mulholland Drive.

What does tl;dr mean?

well i kind of am lukewarm on the films i do like, compared to THAT one. i see other people listing them - Huckabees, Waking Life, etc - but nothing is inspiring much enthusiasm at the moment. except for the loathing of Children of Men!

So you like cod-philosophical movies that say nothing about real life?

for the record I am also not a fan of Brick or Amelie, looking at what other people seem to love

i don't know what sort of taste EZ Snappin seems to have, or who he/she is either, but so far I agree with it

so Children of Men was about real life?

Idiocracy might be my favorite movie that says something about "real life" this decade

x-post

so did these Children Of Men haters mention a 00s film they do love yet?

Why does this matter? So you can either judge or dismiss the criticism?

But since you asked so nicely, here's a few: Ghost Dog: The Way of the Samurai, In The Mood For Love, Infernal Affairs, Tristram Shandy: A Cock and Bull Story, Ratatouille, Wall-E

FYI -I didn't care for Mulholland Drive either, but haven't liked any of Lynch's work since Blue Velvet. I keep on trying though, glutton for punishment that I am.

so Children of Men was about real life?

It is a documentary about the present living conditions on the British Isles.

Being "about" real life and "saying something about" real life are very different.

how does this statement:

I've never been particularly struck by it making big statements or commenting on post 9/11 whatever, although there were obvious visual references.

gel with "saying something about real life"? I'm not trying to be a prick, I'm honestly asking.

x-post: my other favorites are also boringly predictable: Eternal Sunshine/Synecdoche, 40 Year Old Virgin, Far From Heaven, Ghost World, Borat, Dogville etc. etc. - all that have been mentioned innumerable times in this thread, but, um, as Snappin said - what bearing do the other films I like have if I'm shooting yer holy cow down?

What films you do like is all about contextualising your opinion so I can understand where you're coming from better; I dislike Eternal Sunshine, for instance.

The "not struck by big statements" bit gels with "saying something about real life" because I was more struck by the characters and their environment than political allegories; the relationships with animals, towards art, the way people still went to work. I came out of the cinema thinking "wow, I've just seen a great film with some characters I really liked that was set in a universe I found really plausible" rather than "fuck me, Guantanamo Bay imagery".

i'm trying to decide which side of the coin equilibrium fell on, but i still really liked it anyway.

Huckabees wasn't cod-philosophical, it was (intentionally) lol-philosophical. All just a gag.

That's true about Huckabees, I guess.

Waking Life I love because it's a beautiful, hollow shell of a film; the lucid dream / epistemology stuff is palatable, but basically, for me, a vehicle for some fucking amazing visuals.

Why does this matter? So you can either judge or dismiss the criticism?

so I can get a sense of how much I should regard the criticism (and whether to bother arguing it) yeah!

i should've perhaps specified 'films of the same 'genre' as CoM' tho

big x-post

The "not struck by big statements" bit gels with "saying something about real life" because I was more struck by the characters and their environment than political allegories; the relationships with animals, towards art, the way people still went to work. I came out of the cinema thinking "wow, I've just seen a great film with some characters I really liked that was set in a universe I found really plausible" rather than "fuck me, Guantanamo Bay imagery".

What does you're interest in the constructed reality say about real life? I'm not quite getting what you mean.

another x-post

This - What films you do like is all about contextualising your opinion so I can understand where you're coming from better; I dislike Eternal Sunshine, for instance. - is a good reason to share likes/dislikes.

This - so I can get a sense of how much I should regard the criticism (and whether to bother arguing it) yeah! - is not.

Interest in greater understanding I'm cool with. Interest in order to judge or dismiss, not so much.

seems pretty much that A is a euphimistic B

I was reading the best into it, I'll admit. Understanding ≠ judgment, necessarily.

The constructed reality in CoM, for me, was constructed from things I found recognisable in reality now; I recognised bits of London, TV presenters, the rhythms of people's speech ("baby Diego's a wanker", "make Sid a fugee face"), patterns of behaviour (the prevalence of animals, the gated off areas of London, the instinct to hoard art, or to drink in the day, dog racing, etc etc etc); arguably these are all production design things, yes, but they all fed into my enjoyment of the film as a version of reality I could imagine myself in. Coupled with the fact that I found Clive Owen's performance and character immensely sympathetic (having never really rated him before, and in fact actively disliked at least one film he's been in). I like films that construct a reality I find recognisable and plausible, a reality not that far removed from my own, but one that is still fantastical, that I can escape to, or project myself within; it's what I watch films for, really. Adventure! Discovering a new world.

Okay, that helps a great deal! I actually agree with those aspects of the film being strong - it is a well constructed, coherent possible world. I would use the phrase "grounded in reality." Cinematic sci-fi too often fails that simple test (written sci-fi does too, but different topic for a different thread).

What I am still unclear on is what does that "say about real life"? Is that just an unfortunate phrase for what you are getting at?

May I ask what other films fulfill this criteria for you? I find myself attracted to films that hew to an internal plausibility and coherence even if they aren't "real" in any way; my favorite film of all time (major warts and all) is Brazil, which is incredibly consistent and internally coherent to its World without being "real" or "plausible."

superbly shot and edited, but utterly obvious in its linearity of story

this is a weird criticism to make of an adventure sci-fi movie! why does the 'obviousness' of the story's 'linearity' bother you? what is 'obvious' about it? why prize complex non-linear stories at the expense of more straightforward linear narratives?

devoid of character, and horribly acted.

do you mean the movie itself as a text had no 'character' or that the main figures weren't characters?

do you mean the movie itself as a text had no 'character' or that the main figures weren't characters?

Now that you mention it, both, though I meant it more about the main figures. Not ciphers, not archetypes, not tropes, just... not there, I guess. They had names and things happened to them.

The "things happened to them" is my problem with the obvious linearity of the story as well. "Here is X, things happen to X over and over, at the end X does something we present as choice but is really not." I am not valuing complexity over simplicity at all; I'm arguing against hackneyed cliches. "X thinks A but it is really B!" is not only unoriginal but it is insulting when it can't be anything but. And this was an adventure movie? Really? I thought it was a parable in pretty clothes, our generations Logan's Run. Rare is the adventure in which the protagonist is not a participant in but an accessory to the story. Hmm. Must have seen a different movie from most everyone else.

If people want to compare it to adventures like the Indiana Jones or National Treasure franchises, then I'm totally okay with it. As a great work, one of the best of the decade - I'm going to take issue with that assessment.

sorry dude but? "things happen to a character and then the character makes a choice" is such a broad description it could apply to nearly any narrative at all... i mean its not so much a cliche as it is a working definition of what narrative is...?

also "x thinks a but it is really b" is called "dramatic irony" and

i dont disagree w/ you that the movie at its narrative heart is simple and straightforward, but this seems to me to be a pretty necessary aesthetic choice...

I am a hater of BOTH CoM and Eternal Sunshine and know that when the decade lists come out a year from now I'm gonna be annoyed, alas. (I don't actually HATE either, of course, just find both to be massively flawed.)

I'd add Wall-E to my list. That's about it. I saw The Dark Knight again last night and my opinion about it actually went up a little bit!

The Happy Guy Movie
How I Got Less Sad
Face 24
My Aged Scotch
Blankets & Pillows: A History

x-post

I think the key is "things happen to X". He is not an active participant in his own story. As a protagonist, this makes it pretty hard to give a crap about a character whose narrative role could be assumed by a pillow until the end when - my god! he has to do something! - and his choice isn't a choice at all. He is never the actor, or even the reactor. He's a lump. And yes, you could apply my description of this particular movie to many other narratives. That does not, however, make the narrative of this piece any less generic or cliched.

also "x thinks a but it is really b" is called "dramatic irony"

Thanks for the literary theory. In CoM it isn't dramatic irony, because the viewer doesn't "know" the information before the character. It is just so patently obvious a development as to be painful. My wife groaned when the character finds out his ex's crew have their own agenda. Everyone has an agenda, except for Mr. Lumpen Protagonist. It wasn't dramatic irony as much as poor story construction that perhaps may have been intended as dramatic irony.

i dont disagree w/ you that the movie at its narrative heart is simple and straightforward, but this seems to me to be a pretty necessary aesthetic choice...

That is because it is a parable, not an adventure movie.

I've talked more about this movie than I ever intended. I really didn't like it, saw it once and will never see it again. I hope.

But Wall-E, now that's a movie I can get behind.

w/r/t 4m3w2d, all I mean is that I cannot - at the moment - remember a film that I had such a powerful reaction to this decade. That I was impressed by visually, narratively, and thematically, quite as much as I was by 4m3w2d. I suppose there's some underlying assumption behind my statement - that a great film has to be important, or strive for importance. But all I meant was that I found it an incredibly powerful flick, and, that said, will never see it again. In hindsight, it might have been a bit hyperbolic to call it without qualification the best film of the decade.

'99 films I wish would get consideration for this decade:

How's Your News? (1999) - more general release later
Galaxy Quest (1999) - December 25 release; international release in 2000
Spring Forward (1999) - 2000 general U.S. release

I loved all three

I think the key is "things happen to X". He is not an active participant in his own story. As a protagonist, this makes it pretty hard to give a crap about a character whose narrative role could be assumed by a pillow until the end when - my god! he has to do something! - and his choice isn't a choice at all. He is never the actor, or even the reactor. He's a lump. And yes, you could apply my description of this particular movie to many other narratives. That does not, however, make the narrative of this piece any less generic or cliched.

but... owen's passivity isnt a fault of the movie, its a specific narrative choice that reveals things about his character, his character's background, and the world he lives in. this doesnt bother me, particularly, but it really seems to rub you the wrong way, i guess because you think that lumpenness makes his character generic and interchangeable--but at no point does that lumpenness sacrifice specific character traits or make owens character any less 'believable' (if anything it makes him more human and believable!)

Thanks for the literary theory. In CoM it isn't dramatic irony, because the viewer doesn't "know" the information before the character. It is just so patently obvious a development as to be painful. My wife groaned when the character finds out his ex's crew have their own agenda. Everyone has an agenda, except for Mr. Lumpen Protagonist. It wasn't dramatic irony as much as poor story construction that perhaps may have been intended as dramatic irony.

you cant have it both ways--either its 'so patently obvious' that everyone knows it, in which case its dramatic irony; or its subtle and surprising, in which case you dont really have a complaint.

im pretty poor at articulating my thoughts, and this may just be one of those things--but it bothers me that you can harbor such a vehement dislike for a movie based on its simplicity of narrative and the passivity of its main character. i dont really know what youre getting at with your parable stuff, and why on earth the difference btw parable and adventure would matter, but the idea that a character as subtly-crafted as owens, one whose backstory and personality is told so humanely and quietly, in the glances and silences of conversations as much as in the words that come out of his an others mouth, is generic or interchangeable, is totally bizarre to me. for all of its explosions and 20 minute tracking shots and a-to-b narrative setpieces CoM comes across as an enormously subtle movie, and i think focusing on the 'obviousness' of its plot development is... sort of missing the forest for the trees

max OTM

it's subtle in some ways but enormously overheated in others. The whole conceit feels like pandering and even the darker more nihilistic stuff is oppressive in it's bleakness. That's the best I can do. It's hard to explain why you don't like things :-/

the idea that a character as subtly-crafted as owens, one whose backstory and personality is told so humanely and quietly, in the glances and silences of conversations as much as in the words that come out of his an others mouth, is generic or interchangeable, is totally bizarre to me.

See, this is the root of all my problems with this movie: I saw absolutely nothing in Owens performance. I have to scratch my head when I read about this subtle humanity and reticent personality. I got nothing from him at all. I felt almost any other actor would have made something - anything - from the role. I've seen nothing from him in any of his movies I've seen that makes me think he can act. Nothing.

I think neither one of us is articulating well. Something obvious is not necessarily "dramatic irony" - in this case it just seemed cliche, and irritated me. Is it dramatic irony that the character is too thick to figure it out? Maybe. But I don't feel that dramatic irony was what the filmmaker was trying to do in this case.

I don't "harbor a vehement dislike" for this because of simplicity or passivity of character. I dislike the movie (though not as vehemently as it may come across in scattered message board posts) because I found it uninteresting as a story, one filled with uninteresting characters who did nothing that wasn't telegraphed from miles away. However, it was beautiful to look at. The concepts and the construction of the world were sharp. Just didn't have anything in it for me to take away or care about in the least.

I think people make more of this than was there; people think I'm missing the point and all this subtle nuance. I don't hate the movie as much as am completely befuddled by the fawning appreciation. I think I wasted my money, but I didn't walk out or boo it or anything.

I didn't intend to derail this into a Children of Men discussion years after the fact. Just surprised that it still is held in such high regard. I had thought it might be a "flavor of the moment" type thing.

Let's talk about other things, shall we? I'm not changing anyone's mind, nor am I ever going to watch this again in hopes of catching a glimpse of the sublime.

Humphrey Bogart doesn't have an "agenda" in Casablanca either (to resurrecta CoMparison)

Maybe I just hate kids and the movie portrays a kind of utopia!

imo owen is perfect for the role, all soft and craggy-faced with a weird wry smile and passive-aggressive demeanor. everything abt him screams frightened, all his movements are hesitant. hes soft and bored and apathetic and anxious...

honestly sounds sort of like u dislike owen and arent particularly willing to let him get away with such a soft & passive character

i remember thinking the CoM trailer sucked and had no intention of seeing it, but the movie ended up being pretty great when i finally did.

See maybe there's the difference. I thought the corny trailer was appropriate to the movie!

i dunno, the corny trailer didn't make me think it would be this brutal super-actiony flick

so was this a comeback decade for Godard, or what?

I totally hated the CoM trailer, made me not want to see it. Was very surprised when it turned out to be so great.

All the movie did differently was take out the shitty music!

um, no. I remember the trailer emphasizing the "humanity is doomed.... but a fertile black woman will save us all!" angle in this sorta annoying, "uplifting" tone. There was no hint of the intricately constructed backdrop or subtle characterizations that make the film so great.

and yes where EZ (and ryan I presume) see one-dimensional cliches - in Owen, in Julianne Moore, in the guard who refers to himself in the third person, in the art collector, in Caine's old stoner - I see subtletly.

sure. I am probably being way too hard on it. either way, it's a striking and well-crafted movie.

tho i should add i dont really care about characters in a movie like this--and for all the subtleties and exciting actions scenes, i dunno...no one's convinced me that there's any interesting ideas in there.

not that they need to! i just havent found them. is it on blu-ray yet? maybe i'll watch it again.

Zizek is OTM about the old stoner, btw. Him being this detoothed, infertile paternal figure of the 60s. The guy you kinda like having hang around.

I enjoyed watching that Zizek video in general. Don't know if I agree with him about everything, but some cool ideas in there.

My favorites so far (in vaguely chronological order):

Galaxy Quest (1999): Best wish fulfillment.

How's Your News? (1999): Best empathy for people with developmental disabilities.

Spring Forward (1999)
Sideways (2004)
Shaun of the Dead (2004)
Superbad (2007): Best buds movies, why indie exists.

Best in Show (2000)
Anvil: The Anvil Movie (2008): Best Guest and best real-life movie about holding on to your dreams.

Dark Days (2000)
Into the Wild (2007): Best films about going off the grid.

Traffic (2000)
Syrianna (2005)
Babel (2006)
Fast Food Nation (2006): Best "Meet the new wars, same as the old wars."

Cast Away (2000): Best film to say that you can let go of your great love/job, that maybe they were just your handprint on a ball anyway.

Meet the Parents (2000)
Dan in Real Life (2008): Best new awkward.

Girlfight (2000)
Million Dollar Baby (2004): Best new genre.

The Filth and the Fury (2000)
Westway to the World (2000)
Joe Strummer: The Future Is Unwritten (2007): Best punk.

Kaho Naa... Pyaar Hai (2000): Best token Bollywood musical mind-blower.

Memento (2000): Best screwing-with-time-frame noir.

Go Tigers! (2001): Best football.

Training Day (2001): Best film about the sinking feeling that everything is much worse than you thought.

Iris (2001): Best film about decline before death.

Bridget Jones's Diary (2001)
Legally Blonde (2001): Best romantic comedies about underestimated women in bunny suits.

Mulholland Dr. (2001)
Los Angeles Plays Itself (2003): Best non-hoorays for Hollywood, and inadvertent tributes to movie dreams.

Porn Star: The Legend of Ron Jeremy (2001): Best porn doc.

The Fashionistas (2002, Rated X): Best porn.

The Revolution Will Not Be Televised (2002) [a.k.a. Chavez: Inside the Coup]: Best live coup attempt.

About a Boy (2002)
School of Rock (2003): Best caring-for-children-as-moment-of-clarity comedies.

The Pianist (2002): Best worm's-eye view of Holocaust.

Secretary (2002): Best adult love story.

Elf (2003): Best Christmas and Will Ferrell.

Aileen: Life and Death of a Serial Killer (2003)
Monster (2003): Best tragic-serial-killer-lovers.

American Splendor (2003): Best film about a non-music artist, even if he's technically a writer.

The Yes Men (2003): Best corporations-are-evil film.

Before Sunset (2004): Best film about love from random meeting (at least since The Clock).

North Korea: A Day in the Life (2004): Best covert denunciation.

Hotel Rwanda (2004): Best true heroic suspense story.

Spider-Man 2 (2004)
Iron Man (2008): Best superhero (zeitgeist Marvel with humor).

The Village (2004)
The White Diamond (2004): Best movies about belief in the woods.

Krumped (2004, short documentary) [precursor to Rize]: Best hip-hop document.

The Woodsman (2004)
The Squid and the Whale (2005): Best abuse stories (in an increasingly crowded field).

Brokeback Mountain (2005): Best forbidden love.

Sweet Land (2005): Best love-the-one-you're-with.

Serenity (2005): Best Star Wars.

North Country (2005): Best muckraking trial film, but with no trial. Also best localism, realism, feminism, and father coming around.

Casino Royale (2006): Best comedy of pop revisionism, and best Bond since The Spy Who Loved Me.

Children of Men (2006): Best dystopia.

Michael Clayton (2007): Best new paranoid.

No Country for Old Men (2007): Best villain.

Ratatouille (2007): Best animal-secret-world film, and best film to get kids interested in cooking.

Run Fatboy Run (2007): Best Rocky.

Shoot 'Em Up (2007): Best action wet dream.

Sicko (2007): Best compare-contrast expose.

There Will Be Blood (2007): Best new Citizen Kane/reverse-It's a Wonderful Life opera.

Trouble the Water (2008): Best Katrina doc and aspiring-rapper drama.

oooooh Cast Away is 2000? That goes on my list too!

A Serious Man & Bad Lieutenant: POCNO