The MoFo Top 100 Neo-noir Countdown

Across 110th street.

7. The Big Lebowski
8. Pulp Fiction
10. Le Circle Rouge
17. The Silence of the Lambs
18. Blow Out
22. Point Blank
23. Alphaville

Hello..? Moshi Moshi.. Yes, of course I voted for Akira Kurosawa San's High and Low, had it at #18. De Palma’s neo noir masterpiece, Blow Out was my #5. Expected both to finish higher on the countdown but glad they showed up.

SEEN: 78/84
MY BALLOT: 10/25



25. Mirage (1965)
22. In the Heat of the Night (1967)
18. High and Low (1963)
17. The Driver (1978)
14. Collateral (2004)
11. Get Carter (1971)
08. The Hot Spot (1990)
06. Thief (1981)
05. Blow Out (1981)
04. One False Move (1992)

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I really enjoyed Blow Out. It was suspenseful and well thought out, with good acting. It was an interesting re-imagining of the great Blow-Up (1966) by M. Antonioni, but I did enjoy the Antonioni film much more.

Still, I have Blow Out at #11 on my neo-noir list.

Blow Out is from 1981 so I guess I was 10 when I first saw it with my mother while waiting for a Greyhound bus. Been a fan ever since.

Love Jackie Brown as well and I considered voting for it.

1. Killer Joe (#66)
3. Gone Baby Gone (#64)
4. The Player (#47)
6. The Usual Suspects (#20)
7. Body Heat (#22)
9. Mona Lisa (#78)
10. High and Low (#19)
11. The Killing of a Chinese Bookie (#62)
12. Body Double (#69)
14. Blow Out (#17)
15. The Driver (#79)
17. Night Moves (#40)
21. Manhunter (#77)
22. Sin City (#26)
24. Bound (#59)

When it comes to Tarantino, I'm in the Jackie Brown is his best film camp. It was number 2 on my ballot. It certainly has the Tarantino feel, especially the dialogue, yet it's the least Tarantino like film. If that makes any sense. The movie is about a heist yet the heist isn't the most interesting thing about the movie. Don't get me wrong, it's a great double cross but the real strength of the film for me is the relationship between Jackie and Max. They make a great pair. The scenes between Ordell and Max are also a lot of fun with Max taking absolutely zero shit from Ordell who seems used to getting it his way and doesn't quite know what to make of this middle aged bondsman not buying any of it. There's a respect amongst the characters that feels earned. Forster's performance is one of my favorite performances ever. People always talk about the Tarantino universe and this is the film that seems to exist outside of that (for obvious reasons) and it's better for it. Nothing about Jackie Brown is over the top. It does contain some of the Tarantino dark humor, which is right up my alley, and It's probably the least violent of all his films. As much as I like Tarantino's later films I wish he would have tried doing a couple more like this one

AWARDS?


Jackie Brown received several nominations and awards. These are some of the most notable:

• Two (2) Saturn Award nominations, including Best Actress (Pam Grier)
• Two (2) Golden Globe Award nominations, including Best Actress (Grier)
• One (1) Academy Award nomination for Best Supporting Actor (Robert Forster)
• One (1) Satellite Award nomination for Best Actress (Grier)
• One (1) SAG Award nomination for Best Actress (Grier)

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AWARDS?


Blow Out only received one award nomination from the National Society of Film Critics Award for its Cinematography (Vilmos Zsigmond).

Blowout is my #21. Extremely captivating and powerful noir thriller. It's another great example of true evil just fading into the background, a part of the universe that goes unseen, mostly because people don't want to admit it's there.


Jackie Brown is very well made, but I didn't enjoy it very much. I just don't connect well to any of its main characters. I do love the Samuel L Jackson "trunk" scene, from start to finish. Pure noir.

Geez man, if that one doesn't qualify as Neo-Noir for you, then what on Earth does?

one vote. jackie brown was my #13. as of writing, my pick for tarantino's best, one where he's willing to tone down some of his more bombastic qualities (flaws?) for the sake of a relatively muted story of a woman trying to stay ahead of an erratic gun-runner and the feds who want to bring him down, all the while forming an unlikely connection with the guy who bails her out of jail on said gun-runner's murder-minded orders. he's touched on that strange sense of criminal grace here and there across his career, but never to the same extent that he manages here. blow out is very good. i doubt anything will ever truly overtake scarface as my one truly subjective favourite de palma (remind me, was that eligible? if so, i've got to go kick myself), but i suppose if you have to pick an "objective" best then this would be as fine a choice as you could possibly make.

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I should've phrased it differently. I do see the noir in it, but whenever I think of it, I think more of a crime thriller, so it didn't really come to mind when making my list.

I've seen both Jackie Brown and Blow Out, voted for neither. No strong opinion on their presence here. I guess Blow Out feels more political thriller to me (which isn't out of place with the rest of the list). Jackie Brown feels more clearly neo-noir to me (Jackie playing the role of a femme fatale and Robert Forster is playing something of a detective, probably make it feel more neo-noir than just a crime drama).