The MoFo Top 100 Neo-noir Countdown

WHAT DID YOU THINK OF... BLUE VELVET


Roger Ebert said:

Zombie Dog, from Mutant Reviewers, said:

@Jack1 said:

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2 for 2 today and Drive was my #23 pick. Looking at my list just now it could have gone much higher. And I also should have found a spot for Blue Velvet. By my count there are also six picks I made out of personal preference. Oh well, 20/20 hindsight and all that.

60 of 88 seen so far and 11 picks accounted for leaving 14 to go with 12 more reveals. I can still pull this out right? Right?

Both of today’s movies were chosen for me for Personal Recommendation HOFs and I went into each with low expectations. I don’t like David Lynch’s brand of weird and Blue Velvet proved to be no exception. Drive looked to be all style and no substance but I was very happy to discover that my assumptions about it were wrong. It’s an excellent movie and I voted for it at #11.

Here's what I wrote about Drive when I watched it in preparation for the 2010s Countdown:


My Ballot:
1. Who Framed Roger Rabbit (#35)
2. You Were Never Really Here (#50)ve
3. The Man From Nowhere (#87)
4. The Departed (#53)
5. The Big Lebowski (#38)
7. True Romance (#60)
8. Zodiac (#30)
11. Drive (#14)
12. Shutter Island (#86)
13. The Nice Guys (#39)
14. Inherent Vice (#41)
15. Gone Girl (#34)
16. Pulp Fiction (#37)
17. Killer Joe (#66)
21. Dark City (#24)
22. Nightcrawler (#21)

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Drive is awesome. I haven't seen it in a while at this point, but I watched it a bunch of times when it first came out and I have it at #7. Blue Velvet is great, too, but it missed my list.

My List:
3. Miller's Crossing (#15)
4. Memories of Murder (#25)
5. True Romance (#60)
7. Drive (#14)
9. Nightcrawler (#21)
11. The Friends of Eddie Coyle (#100)
12. Branded to Kill (#71)
13. The Man Who Wasn't There (#27)
14. Blast of Silence (#48)
16. Sin City (#26)
18. Following (#84)
20. Jackie Brown (#18)
21. Mother (#67)
22. Purple Noon (#94)

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I may go back to hating you. It was more fun.

Seen both and neither made my list. I was shuffling and shuffling, but ultimately couldn't find room for a Lynch picture beyond the one I do have on my list, which I am absolutely sure is still to come. Blue Velvet is fantastic stuff, and I have seen it many, many times.

I recall liking Drive a whole lot when I saw it, but it didn't send up a signal to me to include it on my list, so no vote from me there. I am definitely due for another viewing ASAP.

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Both made my ballot but I hate that stinkin song in Drive!

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)
19. Drive (#14)
21. Manhunter (#77)
22. Sin City (#26)
23. Blue Velvet (#13)
24. Bound (#59)

AWARDS?


Drive received a lot of nominations and awards. These are some of the most notable:

• Eight (8) Critics Choice Award nominations, including a win for Best Action Movie
• Four (4) BAFTA Film Award nominations, including Best Film
• Two (2) Cannes Film Festival nominations, including a win for Best Director (Nicolas Winding Refn)
• One (1) Academy Award nomination for Best Sound Editing
• One (1) Golden Globe Award nomination for Best Supporting Actor (Albert Brooks)

AWARDS?


Blue Velvet received several nominations and awards. These are some of the most notable:

• Seven (7) Film Independent Spirit Award nominations, including a win for Best Female Lead (Isabella Rossellini)
• Four (4) National Society of Film Critics Awards, including Best Film
• Two (2) Golden Globe nominations, including Best Supporting Actor (Dennis Hopper)
• One (1) Academy Award nomination for Best Director (David Lynch)

Those very scenes of stark sexual despair are the tipoff to what's wrong with the movie. They're so strong that they deserve to be in a movie that is sincere, honest and true. But Blue Velvet surrounds them with a story that's marred by sophomoric satire and cheap shots. The director is either denying the strength of his material or trying to defuse it by pretending it's all part of a campy in-joke." -- Roger Ebert


My response to this is, WTF? Blue Velvet is my #5, obviously I do not agree with Roger.


Oh dude! I used to go over a friends apartment to watch Twin Peaks way back in the day. During almost every episode, I would jump up at some point and storm out of the apartment in disgust at some Lynchian silliness.

14. Drive - I love Nicolas Winding Refn's films and I think Ryan Gosling is a good fit for playing dark, brooding protagonists - he excels with characters who don't have a lot to say conversation-wise. That's probably why he got the nod to play Armstrong in First Man. What is it specifically that attracts me to Drive? I like films that deal with hubris, and I like films that have that rough edge when it comes to exposing hubris and excessive pride in regards to it's characters. Throw in the insane driving skills of Gosling's character, and Refn's as always fascinating filmmaking brain and you've got a really tough, edgy, exciting and enjoyable movie on your hands with this one. I wouldn't mind watching it again one day soon. As it is, it ended up at #15 on my ballot - glad it made the grade.

13. Blue Velvet - A classic - what about the opening to this movie, with Lynch just throwing in some of his surreal mind-bending stuff? Best of all though, Blue Velvet gave Dennis Hopper the chance to (checking to see if he was Oscar-nominated...no, only Lynch was for Best Director - Hopper was robbed) give us his best ever performance. What a crazy film, allowing a young naïve college student (played by Kyle MacLachlan) to get involved with a group of murderous thugs (Hopper chief amongst them) and a simmering sex object (for them) while at the same time romancing a sweet girl (played by Laura Dern.) Isabella Rossellini plays the insanely sensual, abused, tortured lady who lures MacLachlan's character as if she's a fantasy from his dreams. This whole movie plays like a dream. It's fabulous. I had it at #7 on my ballot. Nice to see a few of my movies turning up (5 in a row!)

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Seen : 63/88
I'd never even heard of : 9/88
Movies that had been on my radar, but I haven't seen yet : 16/88
Films from my list : 13

#13 - My #7 - Blue Velvet (1986)
#14 - My #15 - Drive (2011)
#15 - My #6 - Miller's Crossing (1990)
#16 - My #2 - Reservoir Dogs (1992)
#17 - My #22 - Blow Out (1981)
#21 - My #13 - Nightcrawler (2014)
#27 - My #24 - The Man Who Wasn't There (2001)
#28 - My #1 - The Conversation (1974)
#30 - My #23 - Zodiac (2007)
#42 - My #19 - Kiss Kiss Bang Bang (2005)
#44 - My #21 - Blade Runner 2049 (2017)
#52 - My #11 - Oldboy (2003)
#81 - My #17 - Brick (2005)

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Nestled right next to each other, Drive is my #6 and Blue Velvet is my #7.


Both are excellent films that have extremely unique visual styles and powerful connections to music.


Which hero was "brutally attacked right outside a car" better? You decide.

no votes. drive is a film that i've always liked but have always regarded with a degree of skepticism - surely, it's not that good. a permanent 4.5, especially if i end up watching films that clearly serve as sources of inspiration like the driver or thief that keep my estimation of it sufficiently grounded. still, i guess it's undeniable. blue velvet is also very good and fits the noir bill most out of lynch's films, though i see it less as his quintessential classic than as a building block for him to truly move in even bolder and more exciting cinematic directions.

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Iro's Top 100 Movies v3.0

I'm at 49 of 88 for movies seen. Just a smidge over double my score in the classic Noir thread (24 of 88).

Because I just mentioned it in another thread, here's a link to the TV special where Garfield the cat is a hard Boiled Noir detective.

It's a comedy, but it's also a straight up murder mystery with a surprisingly serious resolution. I kid you not, you see a man die in a Garfield cartoon.

I figured I'd put it here, to annoy the purists by referring to it as Neo-noir.

https://www.dailymotion.com/video/x564899

Our final double reveal until the Top Two! Anybody want to make a blind guess for eleven and twelve? I'll go with...Fargo and Léon: The Professional.

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"Film is a disease. When it infects your bloodstream it takes over as the number one hormone. It bosses the enzymes, directs the pineal gland, plays Iago to your psyche. As with heroin, the antidote to Film is more Film." - Frank Capra