The MoFo Top 100 Neo-noir Countdown

[rauldc14]

No Country for Old Men. Taxi Driver. Memento. All should be there.

[John-Connor]

https://y.yarn.co/141e2b83-38dd-46bb-92a8-c98df4c837e2_text.gif


Actor Stats Pit Stop


98507

3
Bruce Willis
(The Player, Pulp Fiction, Sin City)
Bill Paxton
(A Simple Plan, One False Move, Nightcrawler)
Billy Bob Thornton
(A Simple Plan, One False Move, The Man Who Wasn’t There)
Gene Hackman
(The French Connection, Night Moves, The Conversation)
Mark Ruffalo
(Shutter Island, Collateral, Zodiac)
Robert Downey Jr.
(Kiss Kiss Bang Bang, The Nice Guys, Zodiac)
Val Kilmer
(Kiss Kiss Bang Bang, True Romance, Heat)
William Fichtner
(The Dark Knight, Strange Days, Heat)
Tom Sizemore
(Strange Days, True Romance, Heat)
Stephen Tobolowsky
(The Grifters, Thelma & Louise, Basic Instinct)
Michael Caine
(Mona Lisa, The Dark Knight, Get Carter)
Dennis Hopper
(The American Friend, Red Rock West, True Romance)
Mickey Rourke
(Angel Heart, Sin City, Body Heat)

https://24.media.tumblr.com/105bf796274e6e8751f89449b8bfdf73/tumblr_ms8m5lpZgr1ra8thso1_500.gif

[rauldc14]

Chinatown
L.A. Confidential
Memento
No Country for Old Men
Fargo
Mulholland Dr.
Blade Runner
Taxi Driver
Seven
Blood Simple
The Long Goodbye
Blue Velvet
The Usual Suspects

[Harry Lime]

Chinatown
L.A. Confidential
Memento
No Country for Old Men
Fargo
Mulholland Dr.
Blade Runner
Taxi Driver
Seven
Blood Simple
The Long Goodbye
Blue Velvet
The Usual Suspects
High and Low
Le samourai
Bad Lieutenant
Drive

[cricket]

Maybe Blow Out, Jackie Brown, The Last Seduction, Before the Devil Knows You're Dead

[rauldc14]

Chinatown
L.A. Confidential
Memento
No Country for Old Men
Fargo
Mulholland Dr.
Blade Runner
Taxi Driver
Seven
Blood Simple
The Long Goodbye
Blue Velvet
The Usual Suspects
Blow Out
High and Low
Le Samourai
Jackie Brown
Drive

Updated list

[Harry Lime]

Miller's Crossing

[cricket]

Chinatown
L.A. Confidential
Memento
No Country for Old Men
Fargo
Mulholland Dr.
Blade Runner
Taxi Driver
Seven
Blood Simple
The Long Goodbye
Blue Velvet
The Usual Suspects
Blow Out
High and Low
Le Samourai
Jackie Brown
Drive

Updated list

+2

[Holden Pike]

The "whatever you see as Neo Noir is good enough" aspect has made this a countdown you can't reliably predict. My best guess for the Top Twenty is...

Blade Runner
Blood Simple
Blow Out
Blue Velvet
Chinatown
Drive
Fargo
High & Low
Jackie Brown
L.A. Confidential
Le Samouraï
Léon: The Professional
The Long Goodbye
Memento
Mulholland Drive
Miller's Crossing
Reservoir Dogs
SE7EN
Taxi Driver
The Usual Suspects

But as this list has shown, just about anything could be coming. Lots of no-doubt Neo Noir canon is going to be left off of the MoFo List.

[Wooley]

I do love me some Body Heat.
Would have been top-10 on my ballot I never finished.

[WHITBISSELL!]

Chinatown
L.A. Confidential
Memento
No Country for Old Men
Fargo
Mulholland Dr.
Blade Runner
Taxi Driver
Seven
Blood Simple
The Long Goodbye
Blue Velvet
The Usual Suspects
Blow Out
High and Low
Le Samourai
Jackie Brown
Drive

Updated listI only managed 5 out of this list and 5 out of Holden's list.

[Little Ash]

Body Heat and Nightcrawler are both movies that are very good, but don't need to be in my particularly canon.



Sometimes it's an elusive thing trying to figure out why some movies speak so strongly to me, and others, while obviously just as good, I just enjoy and appreciate but never think about again.


Sounds about where I landed. There's certain prompts that can cause them jump up to mind as particular examples of something, with Body Heat being a bit more prevalent just because I watched it last year.

[John W Constantine]

The rest of my list should make it, but probably wont because of politics n such.

[Thief]

Was out all morning, but will post reveals in the next minutes.

[Thief]

12lists156pointsThe Usual Suspects (https://www.movieforums.com/movies/629-the-usual-suspects.html)Director
Bryan Singer, 1995

Starring
Kevin Spacey, Gabriel Byrne, Stephen Baldwin, Kevin Pollak

[Thief]

12lists164pointsHigh and Low (https://www.movieforums.com/movies/12493-high-and-low.html)Director
Akira Kurosawa, 1963

Starring
Toshiro Mifune, Tatsuya Nakadai, Kyōko Kagawa, Tatsuya Mihashi

[Thief]

TRAILERS

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=x3t0Nc6fg7w

The Usual Suspects - Five criminals meet in a police lineup only to find themselves in the middle of a multi-million dollar heist orchestrated by a mysterious and mythical crime lord.


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4Pa-Bmz1J14

High and Low - An executive of a Yokohama shoe company becomes a victim of extortion when his chauffeur's son is kidnapped by mistake and held for ransom.

[Thief]

I'm a huge fan of The Usual Suspects. It would probably sneak into my 20 all-time favorites. Rented it back in the late 90s with a group of friends, and the ending f**king blew us away. I still watch it often and always have fun figuring out what is really happening. That said, I really don't see it as neo-noir, so I never even considered it for my ballot.

I haven't seen High and Low, but it's been highly recommended to me.


SEEN: 56/82
MY BALLOT: 16/25


1.
2. The Grifters (#45)
3.
4.
5.
6. Nightcrawler (#21)
7. The Man Who Wasn't There (#27)
8. Following (#84)
9.
10. Who Framed Roger Rabbit (#35)
11. Thief (#29)
12. Bound (#59)
13.
14. The Naked Kiss (#51)
15.
16. Blue Ruin (#82)
17.
18. Red Rock West (#88)
19. A Simple Plan (#46)
20. Killer Joe (#66)
21. Kiss Kiss Bang Bang (#42)
22. Mother (#67)
23. Body Heat (#22)
24. To Live and Die in L.A. (#43)
25.

[Tugg]

My #20 The Usual Suspects (1995).

[Torgo]

High and Low is one of the best movies I've ever seen, neo-noir or otherwise, landing at #2 on my ballot. A short reaction:

This is an excellent police procedural that I would describe as complete. It does for kidnappings what The Day of the Jackal does for assassinations for how detailed it is about every stage of the story. I like how it deglamorizes police work for the way it shows how all-consuming, detail-dependent and sometimes thankless the profession is. I think it would be a good movie to watch for anyone who would want to do that kind of work for a living. This definitely doesn't mean the movie makes it boring, though. Also, with its wide-angled cinematography, use of real Yokohama locations and real people - the passengers on a train scene are actual passengers - it looks and feels authentic, not to mention provides a visual feast.

The movie is old, but with the exception of some sexism here and there, it's not dated. Its theme of the hardly steady relationship between rich and poor make it especially relevant today.

[Holden Pike]

98512

High & Low was #41 on the MoFo Top 100 Foreign Films and #23 on the MoFo Top 100 of the 1960s. The Usual Suspects was #20 on the MoFo Top 100 of the 1990s.

[Harry Lime]

My rating of The Usual Suspects has wavered a bit over the years but it's still a good film. I did once meet Stephen Baldwin at a Starbucks in Vancouver years ago and after talking for a bit I offered to smoke a joint with him. This was back when I still smoked weed in my early twenties. "Nah man thanks though I appreciate it." "Are you sure? You were in The Usual Suspects I'll just give you a joint!" Smiling "Nah dude that's awesome." I don't know he looked and sounded really high. Whenever my previous dog used to pant and squint his eyes I would say he was "baldwinning."

All right enough of that. High and Low is a Kurosawa masterpiece. Toshiro Mifune is excellent self as usual. I don't know how noir the film is but I decided to include it at #5. I heard Spike Lee is remaking it. I wonder if it will be as good as Oldboy.

4. The Killing of a Chinese Bookie (1976)
5. High and Low (1963)
10. Alphaville (1965)
13. The Conversation (1974)
14. Zodiac (2007)
15. Memories of Murder (2003)
17. Fireworks (1997)
18. Pale Flower (1964)
19. The Grifters (1990)
20. Inherent Vice (2014)
22. The American Friend (1977)
24. Le Cercle Rouge (1970)
25. Série noire (1979) - One pointer

[MovieFan1988]

Have seen so far: 26 - The Conversation - I found this a boring movie from the 70's.

Sin City - I thought this movie was decent, Bruce Willis did good in this movie. This movie is #10 on my ballot list.

Nightcrawler - This movie was alright, didn't find much interest in it.

The Usual Suspects - This was an okay movie from the 90's.

Have not seen so far: 53

My Ballot List
#2 - Heat
#3 - The Dark Knight
#4 - Dog Day Afternoon
#5 - Who Framed Roger Rabbit
#10 - Sin City

[Allaby]

High and Low is excellent and made my ballot at number 15. Usual Suspects is good, but didn't make my list.

Seen: 69/82

[CosmicRunaway]

I was just rereading what I wrote about High and Low for the Japanese Hall of Fame, and apparently I didn't think it was very noir at the time. I was probably being overly critical because Kurosawa's noirs didn't have the exact same aesthetics and lighting that the classic noirs do, and I wonder if my expectations would've been different if I'd seen people calling them "neo-noirs" instead of just "noirs".

https://www.movieforums.com/community/attachment.php?attachmentid=58107

High and Low / 天国と地獄 (1963)
Directed By: Akira Kurosawa
Starring: Toshiro Mifune, Tatsuya Nakadai, Kyōko Kagawa

I've seen many claim that this film, along with The Bad Sleep Well and Stray Dog are Kurosawa's attempts at film noir, however I find that all three lack critical noir elements, which unfortunately happen to be my favourite aspects of the genre. As such, all these films are disappointing when you're expecting a noir, so my recommendation is to throw that label out the window. Luckily High and Low was the last of these films I watched, so I was no longer anticipating elements that were never going to appear.

Toshiro Mifune is excellent as the wealthy executive who is dedicated to his company's work, and it's a pleasure to watch him grapple with deciding whether or not to save his position and status over the life of an innocent child. Kagawa's soulful pleas are borderline heartbreaking to watch, but strangely my favourite performances are the detectives who awkwardly stand around the foreground or edges of the shot while these heated and emotional moments between husband and wife, or between Gondo and Aoki happen behind them.

There are very few instances, particularly in the first half, where lighting is used for dramatic effect, but later in the film there are some occasional uses of contrast that do actually give off a little noir vibe, which I naturally appreciated. However it's also during a chase sequence that goes on for far too long, and around the 2 hour mark I started wishing the film would wrap things up. My interest does get renewed for the ending, but I feel like many of those scenes in the final act could've been cut shorter, since I wasn't really feeling the suspense. Overall I really enjoyed the film though, and I'm glad I had abandoned the "Kurosawa noir" expectation before seeing it.



Or perhaps my definitions were just too strict 5 years ago, because I definitely wouldn't argue that the film's not a noir today. It's more noir than quite a few films on my list, actually. I didn't vote for it, but that's because I was kind of mixed on the film regardless. I did, however, vote for today's other film.

Seen: 44/82

My List: 13
02. Blade Runner 2049 (2017) - #44
03. Kiss Kiss Bang Bang (2005) - #42
05. Blue Ruin (2013) - #82
06. Mother (2009) - #67
07. Dark City (1998) - #24
08. Strange Days (1995) - #65
10. The Man from Nowhere (2010) - #87
14. Angel Heart (1987) - #31
15. Infernal Affairs (2002) - #91
17. Memories of Murder (2003) - #25
20. The Usual Suspects (1995) - #20
21. Oldboy (2003) - #52
23. Nightcrawler (2014) - #21
25. The Chaser (2008) - DNP 1-pointer

https://31.media.tumblr.com/3e08aa96b40ee75993914b1dc3735240/tumblr_mhimwy2Qtx1s36e5ko1_500.gif

[Thief]

WHAT DID YOU THINK OF... THE USUAL SUSPECTS

https://i.guim.co.uk/img/media/63c29c157dcefca7a6afc793160c760d0897d619/52_116_1940_1164/master/1940.jpg?width=620&dpr=1&s=none
RT – 88%, IMDb – 8.5


Roger Ebert said:

"To the degree that you will want to see this movie, it will be because of the surprise, and so I will say no more, except to say that the "solution," when it comes, solves little - unless there is really little to solve, which is also a possibility." (read full review here (https://www.rogerebert.com/reviews/the-usual-suspects-1995))

J.P. Devine, from CentralMaine.com, said:

"Usual Suspects is a game of chess, a masterpiece full of fake clues, twists and turns that flows from light to shadow and back again. The Usual Suspects [...] rests somewhere near the top of the list of the greatest film noir thriller-capers of all time. There are many reasons for this, and they’re all there on the credit crawl at the end." (read full review here (https://www.centralmaine.com/2016/07/14/the-usual-suspects-one-of-the-greatest-film-noir-thriller-capers-of-all-time/))

Daniel M said:

"Following the film's end you'll be left kicking yourself in frustration yet amazed at perhaps one of the most famous twists ever in this fantastic thriller hence my recommendation of a second watch where everything should become so much clearer in terms of the plot including subtle clues and the film's great attempts to divert (successfully, at least in my case) you from the truth." (read full review here (https://www.movieforums.com/reviews/827043-the_usual_suspects.html))

[Thief]

WHAT DID YOU THINK OF... HIGH AND LOW

https://criterion-production.s3.amazonaws.com/2rIRbW9Sm0ydpVD8ylgPafMEGUqDIa.png
RT – 96%, IMDb – 8.4


Roger Ebert said:

"Few Japanese directors would have thought to adapt one of Ed McBain's crime stories, for example, but Kurosawa, reading King's Ransom, found the materials for one of his most challenging films." (read full review here (https://www.rogerebert.com/interviews/akira-kurosawa-focused-on-individual-ethical-dilemmas))

Callie Smith, from TalkFilmSociety, said:

"The audience is as much an insidious, nosy onlooker as the villain of the piece as we take these characters’ worst fears and turn them into our entertainment. This latter portion, in its lighting, atmosphere, storytelling style, and so, so many other elements, perfectly epitomizes noir in all the ways the first part avoided [...] High and Low is a film that plays with contraries: black and white, heaven and hell. Even drama and noir." (read full review here (https://talkfilmsociety.com/articles/noirvember-files-high-and-low-1963))

Swapnil Dhruv Bose said:

"The film perfects the genre manipulations by keeping the audience on the edge of their seats while also indulging in an extensive commentary about crime and class divides. By the end, we know that we have just witnessed one of the most sublime pieces of filmmaking by an auteur at the very top of his form." (read full review here (https://faroutmagazine.co.uk/ranking-film-noir-quartet-akira-kurosawa/))

[WHITBISSELL!]

2 for 2 today but neither was on my ballot. I never thought to include The Usual Suspects on my list. Maybe if it had been a Top 50 list.

I loved High and Low but neither Wikipedia nor IMDb categorize it as noir or neo-noir. I'm not using that as an excuse for not including it since I had already picked Stray Dog. So I probably wouldn't have chosen HaL even if it met the criteria. It is a great movie though.

55 of 82 seen so far.

[Kaplan]

High and Low might be my favorite Kurosawa film, but I don't think of it as noir, no matter how gritty it gets at times, but it never has that noir grittiness to it, I guess. I'm completely indifferent to The Usual Suspects, and I'm the one weirdo in the world who can't get what is so great about the blasted twist at the end. I think five from my list won't make it.

[Thursday Next]

Seen both but didn't really consider either, just not films that sprang to mind as neo-noir (although I'm not saying they're not).


High and Low I didn't like as much as Stray Dog or Drunken Angel, both of which I voted for in the classic noir countdown. I guess we can add Kurosawa to the list of directors on both lists. I feel like I may have missed something though so should probably watch it again at some point.


Ditto with The Usual Suspects, which I thought was fine but nowhere near a favourite. I always feel like people overrated acting performances where they play a character who is themselves acting/pretending and that has always slightly annoyed me about the film. But it has Gabriel Byrne in it so probably worth another watch.

[Thursday Next]

I'm completely indifferent to The Usual Suspects, and I'm the one weirdo in the world who can't get what is so great about the blasted twist at the end.


Me too.

[SpelingError]

Seen and liked both films, with High and Low being my clear favorite of the two, but neither of them made my ballot.

[Torgo]

The Usual Suspects ended up at #17 on my list. It was fun to experience and discuss the movie, twist and all, the year it came out. It is a classic twist, but that's not all it has going for it. This is probably old hat, "well, duh," etc., but here goes with my ultimate take on it:

I found that it ends up being a "banality of evil" story. I like how it suggests that the most evil person who ever lived is not how the movie depicts Keyser Soze during Verbal's story about him, but as someone like him who you would never notice if you walked past him or not think about again if you made small talk with him. "The greatest trick the Devil ever pulled was convincing the world he didn't exist" is the most important line in the movie, possibly putting too fine a point on it, in other words.

[Miss Vicky]

I watched The Usual Suspects once back in the 90s, but haven't seen it since and don't really remember it. I've never seen High and Low.

[honeykid]

I had Dark City at #12. It kind of hit at the right time in my life, my love of film was buring white hot, I had access to films and it was just before my depression started to take over. Not usually my kind of thing at all but I really went with it and enjoyed it a lot. It hadn't occured to me until this very minute, but would The Thirteenth Floor have counted? I'm guessing it probably would, so I should've had that, as I remember really enjoying that, too. Just taken a look and it would've qualified. If you've not seen it, take a look. I'm not telling you it's the best film you'll see, not even the best film you'll see this year, but if neo-noir is something you like, I'd say it's worth your time.

Pretty sure I own Le Cercle Rouge but haven't seen it and I know I own Nightcrawler and, you guessed it, haven't seen it.

Body Heat I've not seen since I was a kid. Don't remember liking it, but that wouldn't be unusual considering it's a real noir.

I love The Usual Suspects but didn't consider it for this

[edarsenal]

38. The Big Lebowski Quotable, rewatchable, is a certified cult classic. It truly should have been on my list, but it did not. Oh, well, the Dude abides.

37. Pulp Fiction This nearly took the position of the one Tarantino flick I voted for and the strongest candidate of his films for this Countdown. Very nice to see it in the thirties.

36. Dog Day Afternoon Sidney Lumet does an incredible job at a precarious acrobatic high-wire exhibition where, on a muggy Brooklyn day, an unruly mob is getting WAY out of control cheering on Al Pacino's Sonny's foiled Bank Robbery, now hostage situation as a New York Sargent (Charles Durning) frantically keeps sh#t from exploding full tilt.

35. Who Framed Roger Rabbit Bob Hoskins blends slapstick and the angry PI flawlessly. I always love watching this mix of live-action and anima-- f@ck that, cartoons.

Coming in at #23
https://assets.americancinematheque.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/05/04142451/Collateral-HERO-1.jpg
https://64.media.tumblr.com/c047289f5a09dee9d5b5b26b1892de24/tumblr_ou0ax3wqMH1wwwte4o1_500.gif
33. Collateral A hitman gets in a cab, fans out a sh#tload of cash, convincing the driver to take him to a few stops he needs to make-- to kill people. Tom Cruise does serious credit to the intellectual, efficient killer. A favorite popcorn-munching neo-noir of ours.

32. Heat Michael Mann basically knocks it out of the park with this taut, fast-moving heist film. The ensemble cast delivers, filling out the ranks and backstories on both sides of the law. Every box is checked off to keep me engaged throughout. It's one of the best intense bank shootouts for my money.

Coming in at #3
https://64.media.tumblr.com/7034bddb6b36077313b83491bf68b0bf/tumblr_nz7m4rAyJk1so27ppo2_1280.gif
https://i.makeagif.com/media/6-01-2022/cvTWf1.gif
31. Angel Heart This film is what I would picture many of the pulp novel-adapted noir films may have been without the Hays Code trying to keep them "appropriate" cinematic viewings. I have continually enjoyed this film since I first watched it at the movie theater at its release. There is a finesse to the blending of detective and horror genres with a Faustian twist. A subtle offsetting with every interview that Harry delves into in his investigation, and with them, his every meeting with Cyphere drags him and us deeper into the underworld and away from reality.

30. Zodiac A detailed account of the journalist who continues investigating the serial killer when everyone has given up was an intriguing mystery experience for me.

Coming in at #18
https://i0.wp.com/media2.giphy.com/media/9afDvDHxK7rIA/giphy.gif
https://i.pinimg.com/originals/3c/1b/03/3c1b03ad8cbd111ce70a1b9397b57c89.gif
26. Sin City is overtly stylized and pulp-inspired, adhering to Frank Miller's violent graphics and jam-packed with various vignettes of betrayal, revenge, and the sordid affairs of this metropolitan den of corruption and vice.
What's not to love?

25. Memories of Murder Based on a set of murders/rapes in the eighties, Director Bong Joon Ho gives us two lead detectives of two definitive ways of procedure. The first, a personal favorite actor of mine, Kang-ho Song, as Detective Park Doo-man, who, along with his partner, will fabricate evidence and literally "kick' a confession out of a suspect to close the case. And, from the Seoul department, Kim Sang-Kyung, as Detective Seo Tae-yoon, actually investigates both the dismal amount of evidence and where they truly lead. Their conflicting styles are at the core of the investigation, and from there, many of the memorable scenes stem from.

Coming in at 22
https://64.media.tumblr.com/tumblr_lroxzaIMNr1qg39ewo1_500.gifv
https://64.media.tumblr.com/8dcb5541817e1d9b901addfd5c18c4e7/tumblr_o46mznAz7m1rkpfcgo1_500.gif
24. Dark City is one of my guaranteed placements on my list. It is a crazy mix of noir and science fiction with a hellacious amnesia premise that feels like a Twilight Zone episode and a camera style that follows the illustrations of many great graphic novels. I have enjoyed and continue to enjoy this heavily shadowed cosmos. Recently, I found a Director's Cut, which has only increased my enjoyment.

23. Le Cercle Rouge I have only seen this a couple of times, and I am very much a Melville fanboy; this is not the Melville film I went with.

Coming in at 10
https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/proxy/d2xxMXDbTfBC1nUhHwmegXuzJt4eytVHbCEhpncoq-oitYaa2ZI-wdtPkpJTpAIveaZix-FcYiA0SgA73NWU7P0bmtCXKHgy-g6d4bKQwIFpisesfXzZF2ezKKVCfjZ4fmUXl-gC3w50zyBwgmmz-H4https://64.media.tumblr.com/cbaa7432aa22d03bb5a6edd7014fbe9d/ffe7a4f5f82625eb-34/s540x810/5adfb448a99663469ec0cff875dccec7af12a543.gifv
20. The Usual Suspects This is another guaranteed placement. We've watched it countless times and will watch it countless more. It's serious credit to a film when having full knowledge of the Big Twist adds to the overall enjoyment. There isn't a scene in which I'm not fully invested, with a grin on my face, voicing along on my favorite lines.

19. High and Low The Winner of The Japanese Hall of Fame. From the first introduction of Gondo and his fellow Directors of the Board for the shoe company they worked for to the kidnapping, the drop-off, and the real chase: Finding the kidnapper and capturing him for a greater crime and, thereby, the harsher punishment. The final third of the film, in which they followed him as he purchased more heroin, was far more gripping than many films I've seen with similar circumstances.





Seen 48 out of 82 (58.53%)
1.
2.
3. Angel Heart (1987) #31
4.
5.
6. The Grifters (1990) #45
7.
8. Mystic River (2003) #68
9.
10. The Usual Suspects (1995) #20
11.
12.
13. Kiss Kiss Bang Bang (2005) #42
14. Mother (2009) #67
15.
16.
17.
18. Sin City (2005) #26
19.
20. The Nice Guys (2016) #39
21. Inherent Vice (2014) #41
22. Dark City (1998) #24
23. Collateral (2004) #33
24.Basic Instinct (1992) #70
25. Things to do in Denver When You're Dead (1995) One-Pointer

[Little Ash]

High and Low - I do not particularly care for Kurosawa, so unsurprisingly this did not make my ballot. I will say, the parts of Kurosawa films I usually dislike the most are when people are talking, so I recall actually liking the "Low" parts early in th film, since it's just camera movement and placement as the guy moves around his space. More pure cinematics.


The Usual Suspects - I really loved this movie when it came out in the 90s. But I was also a teen then. I can't remember when I stopped thinking about it, but it's been decades and it hasn't crossed my mind much since.

[mrblond]

Coming in at #3
https://i.makeagif.com/media/6-01-2022/cvTWf1.gif
31. Angel Heart This film is what I would picture many of the pulp novel-adapted noir films may have been without the Hays Code trying to keep them "appropriate" cinematic viewings. I have continually enjoyed this film since I first watched it at the movie theater at its release. There is a finesse to the blending of detective and horror genres with a Faustian twist. A subtle offsetting with every interview that Harry delves into in his investigation, and with them, his every meeting with Cyphere drags him and us deeper into the underworld and away from reality.


:up: Grandiose work of cinema!

[stillmellow]

https://y.yarn.co/141e2b83-38dd-46bb-92a8-c98df4c837e2_text.gif


Actor Stats Pit Stop


98507

3
Bruce Willis
(The Player, Pulp Fiction, Sin City)
Bill Paxton
(A Simple Plan, One False Move, Nightcrawler)
Billy Bob Thornton
(A Simple Plan, One False Move, The Man Who Wasn’t There)
Gene Hackman
(The French Connection, Night Moves, The Conversation)
Mark Ruffalo
(Shutter Island, Collateral, Zodiac)
Robert Downey Jr.
(Kiss Kiss Bang Bang, The Nice Guys, Zodiac)
Val Kilmer
(Kiss Kiss Bang Bang, True Romance, Heat)
William Fichtner
(The Dark Knight, Strange Days, Heat)
Tom Sizemore
(Strange Days, True Romance, Heat)
Stephen Tobolowsky
(The Grifters, Thelma & Louise, Basic Instinct)
Michael Caine
(Mona Lisa, The Dark Knight, Get Carter)
Dennis Hopper
(The American Friend, Red Rock West, True Romance)
Mickey Rourke
(Angel Heart, Sin City, Body Heat)

https://24.media.tumblr.com/105bf796274e6e8751f89449b8bfdf73/tumblr_ms8m5lpZgr1ra8thso1_500.gif



I'm a little surprised to see Val Kilmer up there. He's been in more great movies than I realized.

[stillmellow]

The Usual Suspects ended up at #17 on my list. It was fun to experience and discuss the movie, twist and all, the year it came out. It is a classic twist, but that's not all it has going for it. This is probably old hat, "well, duh," etc., but here goes with my ultimate take on it:

I found that it ends up being a "banality of evil" story. I like how it suggests that the most evil person who ever lived is not how the movie depicts Keyser Soze during Verbal's story about him, but as someone like him who you would never notice if you walked past him or not think about again if you made small talk with him. "The greatest trick the Devil ever pulled was convincing the world he didn't exist" is the most important line in the movie, possibly putting too fine a point on it, in other words.



Yes, yes, and yes! I love when the greatest evil turns out to be something so common and 'normal' that it just fades into the background.


To paraphrase the creator of the webcomic 'Penny Arcade' (of all things):


"I learned that there was no heaven, and that hell is something we create for ourselves here on Earth, every day."

[mrblond]

High and Low
After many years on my to watch list, I finally saw it two years ago.
The Cinematography, naturally was very nice. Toshiro Mifune was superb as always. The big issue for me was the character of the chief police inspector and his almost childish amateurish lines and acting. I was very confused how to take this blunder by such a great filmmaker as Kurosawa.
---

The Usual Suspects
I've seen this once or twice. There are some very nice moments. As whole, I find it just OK movie.

[stillmellow]

I'm one of those people who cooled on Usual Suspects over time, but after watching it again more recently I can say it's a very good movie, albeit with a gimmicky twist ending. It didn't quite make my list.

I've never heard of High and Low. I'll check it out.

[Citizen Rules]

I hate to say this, but I've never seen either of today's movies:shifty:

[cricket]

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)
15. The Driver (#79)
17. Night Moves (#40)
21. Manhunter (#77)
22. Sin City (#26)
24. Bound (#59)

[Thief]

AWARDS?

https://media.gq.com/photos/55d0917a606992214f1ec57f/master/pass/Verbal-Kent-The-Usual-Suspects.jpg


The Usual Suspects received a lot of nominations and awards. These are some of the most notable:


Three (3) Saturn Award nominations, including a win for Best Action/Adventure Film
Three (3) BAFTA Film Award nominations, including a win for Best Original Screenplay (Christopher McQuarrie)
Two (2) Academy Awards, including Best Supporting Actor (Kevin Spacey)
One (1) SAG Award nomination for Best Supporting Actor (Spacey)

[Thief]

AWARDS?

https://s3.amazonaws.com/criterion-production/editorial_content_posts/hero/6622-/T0ANUWjxIIybpJZeOjamMomdhIVtEi_large.jpg


High and Low a few nominations and awards. These are some of the most notable:


Two (2) Mainichi Film Concours Awards for Best Film and Best Screenplay
One (1) Edgar Allan Poe Award nomination for Best Foreign Film
One (1) Golden Globe Award nomination for Best Foreign Film
One (1) Golden Lion Award from Venice Film Festival

[Thief]

List facts!


The Usual Suspects 8.5 IMDb rating is tied for the third highest in the countdown, along with The Departed.
Akira Kurosawa is another of the directors that crossed over between countdowns. He had already placed Stray Dog (#32) and Drunken Angel (#70) on the Film Noir Countdown.

[stillmellow]

Seen 44 of 82

My list as we go into the home stretch,

1. ?
2. ?
3. Brick (2006)
4. Heat (1995)
5. ?
6. ?
7. ?
8. Point Blank (1969)
9. Who Framed Roger Rabbit (1988)
10. ?
11. Lost Highway (1997)
12. ?
13. ?
14. ?
15. Oldboy (2003)
16. Basic Instinct (1992)
17. ?
18. ?
19. Gone Girl (2014)
20. A Simple Plan (1998)
21. ?
22. Sin City (2005)
23. ?
24. Under the Silver Lake (2018)
25. Dark City (1998)

[PHOENIX74]

20. The Usual Suspects - I've seen this film a few times, but I've got a feeling that if I watched it again today it'd be the viewing that cements it as a great in my mind. Full of great performances (Benicio del Toro invented his character's garbled speech pattern to make his character more memorable, and my god it worked.) As per film noir tradition, it has a complex, twisted narrative that you have to completely rethink when the film ends. I've never reacted to the film as strongly as most other people, who champion it with a passion - therefore it obviously didn't make my ballot. I need to see it again, because I think having a better understanding of classic noir would make me appreciate this true neo noir champ a lot more.

19. High and Low - Another great neo noir film that I don't have on my ballot. I've only ever seen the once, but it did impress me a great deal. I gave it an extremely high rating, and said at the time - "For 1963 this film is ambitious and beyond most everything I've seen from that time period. I'd say that many police procedural films have taken a cue or two from it. It's genuinely exciting, captivating and emotionally wrenching. There's a final scene that just puts an added stamp on the excellence that has gone before." Pretty vague. I have it on Criterion, but when you've only seen a film once it doesn't all stick. Kurosawa and Toshiro Mifune are absolute legends.

I hope some more of the films that made my ballot are hiding in the top 20, snugly near the apex.

Seen : 57/82

[John-Connor]

I'm a little surprised to see Val Kilmer up there. He's been in more great movies than I realized.
I'm not surprised, dude's been in great films since '84, his first film was Top Secret! :D
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Q5zen7sHQFI

[Iroquois]

one vote. high and low was my #23. easily the best of kurosawa's noir films and one i should definitely revisit soon (at least before it finally gets hit with an american remake). i used to like the usual suspects, but now it just strikes me as another one of those films you watch early on when becoming a cinephile and then naturally move on from as you get deeper into film - maybe that gives it more staying power than what it actually merits on its own terms, but still.

[Sedai]

Nightcrawler was on my list at #16. I am not sure why, but I always have trouble getting people to watch this with me. I don't know if it's the cover or if there is some weird epidemic of dislike for Jake in my circle of friends. When I do finally break down their defenses and get them to sit down and watch this film, there is almost universal praise and applause. See, I knew they would like it! Like others have said, I like this more and more each time I watch it. Very dark, and one of Jake's best performances.

https://i2.wp.com/cornellsun.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/01/4-nightcrawler-learning-from-other-photographer.jpg?fit=1170%2C486&ssl=1

Body Heat is a film I really bounced off of when I went to watch it. It was somehow a blind spot for me from the 80s, and I think it's because I had conflated it with Body Double for years, and always just assumed I had seen it already. I put it on a couple of years ago, and had trouble getting past the performances of both leads, which came across as corny to me for some reason, especially Turner. I kept thinking I was watching one of her cheesy books brought to life from Romancing the Stone. The style was there, as far as noir was concerned, but I will just have to add this to my growing list of films I need to give another shot at some point.

The Usual Suspects easily made my list at #21. In years past, I would have probably had it n the Top 10, but I have cool a bit on it over the years, or maybe it's just been a while since I watched it. Anyway, iconic stuff from the 90s, and a really fun screenplay.

https://film-grab.com/wp-content/uploads/photo-gallery/22%20(1212).jpg?bwg=1547474840

Sadly, I have never even heard of High and Low. :(

[CosmicRunaway]

I am not sure why, but I always have trouble getting people to watch this with me. I don't know if it's the cover or if there is some weird epidemic of dislike for Jake in my circle of friends.
Maybe they think it's an origin story for Nightcrawler, the X-men character haha.

[Little Ash]

Nightcrawler was on my list at #16. I am not sure why, but I always have trouble getting people to watch this with me. I don't know if it's the cover or if there is some weird epidemic of dislike for Jake in my circle of friends. When I do finally break down their defenses and get them to sit down and watch this film, there is almost universal praise and applause. See, I knew they would like it! Like others have said, I like this more and more each time I watch it. Very dark, and one of Jake's best performances.


I haven't seen a lot of Gyllenhaal's performances, and Nightcrawler might have actually been the first one. I will say, the face, and especially the pitch of his voice doesn't match the general stereotype of the type of character that shows up in seedy movies like this. Coupled with the synopsis, I could imagine someone having some resistance to, "is this actually going to work or is it going to be kind of a softened-up, generic take on the seedy, night time degenerate movie."


It's a shame that Gilroy's follow up movie, Velvet Buzzsaw was, "meh." I suspect it's hurt Nightcrawler's real estate in our minds (not negative on it, just not as present. Though it did pretty well here, so maybe I'm just talking about my mind).

[Holden Pike]

Catching up, another pair of mine were revealed.

98531

Kurosawa’s High & Low was fifth on my ballot. In some ways a spiritual successor to his earlier Stray Dog (1949) – which was #32 on the MoFo Top 100 Films Noir countdown – as it examines again the steamy margins of society where our criminal dwells. But this time we also get to see how the other half lives. The beautiful, modern house of a wealthy shoe executive (Tishoro Mifune) is disrupted when they receive a call demanding a large cash ransom for the safe return of his son. He has enough cash to satisfy the kidnapper, but it will mean he cannot take financial control of his company, a bold move he was about to execute. There is momentary relief when the supposedly kidnapped child calmy comes home. Was it a prank? No. The dilemma is given another dimension when they and the kidnapper both realize the wrong boy was taken. It is not the rich man’s son but his friend and playmate, the son of his chauffeur (Yutaka Sada), who has been abducted. Giving the cash for the safe return of his own son was going to be painful but the easy choice. But for a boy who isn’t his? And the money may not even guarantee his safe return.

98532

In contrast to the modern, air-conditioned structure atop the hill where the rich folk live, the mysterious kidnapper (Tsutomu Yamazaki) and his accomplices live in the sweaty, heroin-laced ghetto below. While one was about to leverage his fortune to potentially become even wealthier, the other sat brooding, watching, coveting. Can the Police find the culprit in time? Fantastic thriller. That’s why I gave it twenty-one of its 164 points.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0XgTvS7sbpc


98533

Nightcrawler was also on my list, right behind the Kurosawa. This 21st Century update of Ace in the Hole’s slippery slope of the media’s thirst for bloody stories and the lengths one can go to deliver that product is gangbusters. In the 1950s Kirk Douglas’ character was practically a carnival barker who could rationalize staging or exaggerating for a news cycle. Jake Gyllenhaal’s Lou Bloom is scarier. He presents himself as a straightforward seeker of the American dream who is willing to work hard to achieve it, but once he happens upon the scene of a car accident and sees the independent video vultures that swoop down upon tragedies looking for saleable if not exclusive footage he quickly reveals the sociopathic side of that American dream, the one that has zero moral qualms about anything at all, as long as it advances your goal and gets the adrenaline pumping.

98534

Tense, thrilling, darkly comic, and it has something to say. That’s a cinematic home run, Kids. Nightcrawler was sixth on my ballot which makes a baker’s dozen of my choices, with another six coming.

HOLDEN'S BALLOT
4. Night Moves (#40)
5. High & Low (#19)
6. Nightcrawler (#21)
7. The Grifters (#45)
8. One False Move (#73)
9. Blast of Silence (#48)
12. To Live & Die in L.A. (#43)
13. The Naked Kiss (#51)
14. Angel Heart (#31)
15. Shallow Grave (#95)
17. Dead Again (#90)
22. The Hot Spot (#85)
24. Blue Ruin (#82)
25. Johnny Handsome (DNP)

[Thief]

13lists183pointsJackie Brown (https://www.movieforums.com/movies/184-jackie-brown.html)Director
Quentin Tarantino, 1997

Starring
Pam Grier, Samuel L. Jackson, Robert De Niro, Bridget Fonda

[Thief]

16lists188pointsBlow Out (https://www.movieforums.com/movies/11644-blow-out.html)Director
Brian De Palma, 1981

Starring
John Travolta, Nancy Allen, John Lithgow, Dennis Franz

[Thief]

TRAILERS

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DpV3e8UQ5d8

Jackie Brown - When a flight attendant with a criminal past finds herself in the crossfire between her arms dealer boss and the federal agents that caught her smuggling money, she enlists the help of a bondsman to help her.


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dgWfyFgEsO8

Blow Out - When a movie sound recordist accidentally stumbles upon a fatal car accident, he realizes he might have accidentally recorded evidence with his equipment which puts him in the middle of a dangerous conspiracy.

[Thief]

Blow Out is great. Probably my favorite De Palma and my favorite Travolta film. I have a review written on Letterboxd that I might transfer here, but I'm a big fan of how De Palma puts the focus on the minds of Jack and Sally, instead of the whole murder/conspiracy, which reminds me of something that Eddie Muller said in one of the videos I shared when this started: the mystery *is* the "detective" (or whoever is doing the "investigating"). The mystery itself is, more often than not, secondary. Bottom line, I love it. Had it at #13.

Jackie Brown is a film I've been meaning to rewatch for years, but for some reason still haven't. I remember I wasn't very impressed after my first watch, maybe because I was expecting the same bombastic approach from Pulp Fiction and instead found this more straightforward and meditative character study. When I rewatched it some time later, it went down way better and my feelings towards it improved a lot, but still, it's been easily 20 years since I last saw it. Need to definitely refresh my memory so I didn't include it.


SEEN: 58/84
MY BALLOT: 17/25


1.
2. The Grifters (#45)
3.
4.
5.
6. Nightcrawler (#21)
7. The Man Who Wasn't There (#27)
8. Following (#84)
9.
10. Who Framed Roger Rabbit (#35)
11. Thief (#29)
12. Bound (#59)
13. Blow Out (#17)
14. The Naked Kiss (#51)
15.
16. Blue Ruin (#82)
17.
18. Red Rock West (#88)
19. A Simple Plan (#46)
20. Killer Joe (#66)
21. Kiss Kiss Bang Bang (#42)
22. Mother (#67)
23. Body Heat (#22)
24. To Live and Die in L.A. (#43)
25.

[Allaby]

I like both but neither made my ballot.

Seen: 71/84

[Tugg]

My #18 Jackie Brown (1997).

[Thief]

BLOW OUT
(1981, De Palma)

https://i.imgur.com/h1SAkyA.jpg


"Nobody wants to know about it. Nobody wants to know about conspiracy. I don't get it!"



I enjoy many of Brian De Palma's films, but for some reason, he isn't a director I tend to consciously gravitate to. He doesn't come to mind a lot when I'm thinking of directors I enjoy, even though he has made several films I enjoy a lot, like the first Mission: Impossible or Casualties of War. Blow Out is the kind of film that will make me raise my ears more often when I hear his name, and pay attention more closely to what he has made because it was really good.

Blow Out follows Jack Terry (John Travolta), a sound technician for cheap, slasher films that accidentally records the murder of a prominent politician. In the midst of the accident, he ends up rescuing Sally (Nancy Allen), who happened to be with the politician at the time of the murder. What they don't know at the time is that there are bigger forces involved in what happened, and they find themselves with a target on their back and stalked by Burke (John Lithgow), a professional hitman hired to tie the loose ends.

De Palma puts forth all the noir elements necessary in this film, but chooses to focus on the psyche of Jack and Sally, instead of the murder and the conspiracy themselves. As a matter of fact, both plotpoints end up being pretty much brushed aside as the film reaches its climax. Kinda reminded me of Hitchcock, whom I can't seem to escape now, and his MacGuffins. But the truth of the matter is that what we get, in terms of how Terry slowly unravels in his quest for truth, or how Sally comes around from being an accesory to the accident to probably its final victim is great.

Allen has a nice performance, but Travolta and Lithgow are the true stars, IMO. Loved both performances. De Palma also uses some neat camera tricks like a revolving camera in a particularly tense scene for Terry, or a high crane shot in, well, a particularly tense scene for Sally. He does loses a bit of his restraint in the final chase, as Terry drives through a parade, but the pay-off was more than worth it with its dark, bleak ending. So, Mr. De Palma, you have my attention.

Grade: 4

[Holden Pike]

98543

Jackie Brown was #44 on the MoFo Top 100 of the 1990s and Blow Out was #65 on the MoFo Top 100 of the 1980s.

[Citizen Rules]

Jackie Brown, Blow Out...Believe it or not, that's two more I haven't seen. When all is said and done and the countdown over I might just have seen the least amount of the 100 neo noirs.

[Torgo]

Blow Out is #15 on my ballot. It's my third favorite De Palma behind Carlito's Way and Carrie.

I wrote something about it a few years ago on here. It has spoilers and it's slightly political (dun dun dun) so click here (https://www.movieforums.com/community/showthread.php?p=2223632#post2223632) if you dare!

[seanc]

Both of these are great. I put Blow Out off for a long time thinking it wouldn’t be for me. It was though, and I wouldn’t mind seeing it again soon.

Jackie Brown was my 4. We all know how we feel about Tarantino by now. Either you love him or you don’t. I do.

[WHITBISSELL!]

1 for 2 today. Have seen Jackie Brown and it's probably my favorite Tarantino mostly because it's based on an Elmore Leonard novel. It seems more mature and less gimmicky than his other films. Plus what movie lover isn't a Robert Forster or Pam Grier fan?

Have never seen Blow Out. I'm somewhat surprised it not only made the countdown but placed so high. It's never really been on my radar much. Of course the same could be said about other entries.This was the much harder countdown to figure out. There were just so many possibilities. I wonder if anyone will manage a complete 25 of 25 sweep? It certainly won't be me. :nope: :D

56 of 84 seen so far.

[Harry Lime]

Both are very good movies but neither made my list. Jackie Brown is one of Tarantino's best and Blow Out is maybe De Palma's best(?). I don't know to be fair I've never been a huge fan of his work so haven't dug too deep in his filmography. This one is good though.

[Harry Lime]

So much love for the 90s in this countdown. I was just thinking, and I'm not meaning to derail the thread, just want to get in fellow Mofos heads, that 90s redux should be next up. Not hosted by me. It's been 10 years. Sure we know the top 10 or 20 but the rest could be fun.

[mrblond]

So much love for the 90s in this countdown. I was just thinking, and I'm not meaning to derail the thread, just want to get in fellow Mofos heads, that 90s redux should be next up. Not hosted by me. It's been 10 years. Sure we know the top 10 or 20 but the rest could be fun.

:up::up:

Yeah! The 90's is the place where all current generations overlap.

[Thief]

WHAT DID YOU THINK OF... JACKIE BROWN

https://m.media-amazon.com/images/M/MV5BMDI0MTdiYjEtMjNhMi00NzQ3LThiNWItNzVhMTBiZDU4NTI4XkEyXkFqcGdeQXJoYW5uYWg@._V1_.jpg
RT – 88%, IMDb – 7.5


Roger Ebert said:

"A lot of crime films play like they were written by crossword puzzle fans who fill in the easy words and then call the hot line for the solution. (The solution is always: Abandon the characters and end with a chase and a shootout.) Tarantino leaves the hardest questions for last, hides his moves, conceals his strategies in plain view, and gives his characters dialogue that is alive, authentic and spontaneous." (read full review here (https://www.rogerebert.com/reviews/jackie-brown-1997))

K. Austin Collins, from Rolling Stone, said:

"There’s a lo-fi L.A. noir feel to some of this movie, something sort of plain-clothed and gumshoe-y about Max Cherry, contra the danger and excitement of Jackie’s scheme." (read full review here (https://www.rollingstone.com/tv-movies/tv-movie-features/jackie-brown-tarantino-25th-anniversary-pam-grier-samuel-l-jackson-elmore-leonard-1234651948/))

MovieMad16 said:

"This is easily Tarantino's best film by a long shot. For once, every character is different and not similar like in Tarantino's other films. Pam Grier plays a character with not much to lose, so she decides to go all out and get something for herself." (read full review here (https://www.movieforums.com/reviews/719422-jackie_brown.html))

[Thief]

WHAT DID YOU THINK OF... BLOW OUT

https://assets.mubicdn.net/images/film/27590/image-w1280.jpg
RT – 88%, IMDb – 7.4


Roger Ebert said:

"This movie is inhabited by a real cinematic intelligence. The audience isn't condescended to. In sequences like the one in which Travolta reconstructs a film and sound record of the accident, we're challenged and stimulated: We share the excitement of figuring out how things develop and unfold, when so often the movies only need us as passive witnesses." (read full review here (https://www.rogerebert.com/reviews/blow-out))

Travis Woods, from Bright Wall/Dark Room, said:

"Blow Out, the singular moment in which the split in the screen between De Palma’s obsessions and his aesthetics, between the politics of his early films and the sleaze-noir terror of his erotic thrillers finally fell, merging in a high-low monument of cinematic purity that interrogates our need for comfort from movie narratives while offering that same succor in its devastatingly beautiful irresolution." (read full review here (https://www.brightwalldarkroom.com/2021/11/03/a-shot-in-the-dark-blow-out-1981/))

Cobpyth said:

"I was glued to the screen during the whole movie and the ending was so wonderful and yet so horrifying that I sat through the whole credits, thinking about the shockingly beautiful final scenes. You just know a film was great when that happens." (read full review here (https://www.movieforums.com/reviews/899155-blow_out.html))

[Holden Pike]

98547

I was not much of a fan of Brian De Palma’s stuff before Blow Out. Carrie worked for what it was and Phantom of the Paradise was over-the-top fun, but I found the others – Sisters, Obsession, The Fury, and Dressed to Kill – to be nothing more than working through his own Hitchcock fetish, adding bright red blood and naked t!ts to Vertigo and Psycho. He went right back to it with Body Double, a nearly X-rated take on Rear Window. But Blow Out is De Palma’s magnum opus, to that point in his career. He seemed to have exorcised some of the Hitchcockian demons and what remained was spectacular. Blow Out is a suspense film, so still generally Hitchcockian, but unlike the others it is not consciously restaging specific scenes from the Master over and over again. And those techniques and touches that were De Palmian from the very beginning, like split screen action, split focus diopteris, tracking overhead shots, and extreme angles, are utilized perfectly in this paranoid conspiratorial potboiler that is one part Blow-Up, one part The Conversation, and one part Zapruder Film mixed with De Palma’s gloriously crass sex and death and violence with no happy ending for anybody…except maybe the director who finally gets his great scream. It all comes together. To me it is De Palma’s masterpiece, far and away.

98548

Assassination, prostitutes, and a sound man, oh my. Heartbreakingly bleak, as a Neo Noir should. I had it up at number eleven on my list, fifteen points.

HOLDEN'S BALLOT
4. Night Moves (#40)
5. High & Low (#19)
6. Nightcrawler (#21)
7. The Grifters (#45)
8. One False Move (#73)
9. Blast of Silence (#48)
11. Blow Out (#17)
12. To Live & Die in L.A. (#43)
13. The Naked Kiss (#51)
14. Angel Heart (#31)
15. Shallow Grave (#95)
17. Dead Again (#90)
22. The Hot Spot (#85)
24. Blue Ruin (#82)
25. Johnny Handsome (DNP)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=egvlvWvpzRE
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=V4wV3e78svY
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CxA9QTLbl8o
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-M6FrLIQM0g
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fN9RgM0Ds04

[mrblond]

98549

#18. Jackie Brown (1987) is my #3.

This is a proof that Tarantino knows what is a Literature and Art of Cinema. What a collection of masterfully created characters superbly choreographed in a great story. Robert Forster and Pam Grier are just... Wow! All of the others around them are top level too. For me, this film almost overthrown Pulp Fiction.
Seen it dozen of times and some fragments hundreds of times.

98550
-----

My Ballot
▽
1. Angel Heart (1987) [#31]
2.
3. Jackie Brown (1997) [#18]
4. The Driver (1978) [#79]
5.
6. Red Rock West (1993) [#88]
7. The Hot Spot (1990) [#85]
8. Shallow Grave (1994) [#95]
9. Le Cercle Rouge (1970) [#23]
10. The Man Who Wasn't There (2001) [#27]
...
14. Purple Noon (1960) [#94]
15.
16. Thelma & Louise (1991) [#56]
...
19. Dog Day Afternoon (1975) [#36]
20.
21. Mona Lisa (1986) [#78]
...
24. Pulp Fiction (1994) [#37]
25.

https://image.tmdb.org/t/p/w154/h5v3wjJQNB7q2RntEnKDLhKtTFE.jpg https://image.tmdb.org/t/p/w154/ewbLUXvm4riZL0aepy90o0vMesn.jpg https://image.tmdb.org/t/p/w154/bd175Fmt3Web3j0qXahSKmdZPOe.jpg https://image.tmdb.org/t/p/w154/wI6CalCMdSKXgx10gzfHY3vwyzf.jpg https://image.tmdb.org/t/p/w154/iQCP69183K1QZo8bb23nkcLap3W.jpg https://image.tmdb.org/t/p/w154/5t0mGiFlj5GBrZ7ggvvkMdFJ7fV.jpg https://image.tmdb.org/t/p/w154/3X1EqovVKNpHoYHAhPznWDwQmqB.jpg https://image.tmdb.org/t/p/w154/5ecDOWpNoYJfrQ4Epxx8vYXKUcQ.jpg

https://image.tmdb.org/t/p/w154/7n1KNXs4OFfeVLjJ3g10M8oK1fM.jpg https://image.tmdb.org/t/p/w154/cQaqpwN5Nq0GNNKE1hIgYLpLlca.jpg https://image.tmdb.org/t/p/w154/mavrhr0ig2aCRR8d48yaxtD5aMQ.jpg https://image.tmdb.org/t/p/w154/8VuPD8ZKAqxT6F1HaH9sFFURmsi.jpg https://image.tmdb.org/t/p/w154/d5iIlFn5s0ImszYzBPb8JPIfbXD.jpg

-----

Others in my radar:
▽
The Ninth Gate (1999) [one-pointers]
The Talented Mr. Ripley (1999) [#96]
True Romance (1993) [#60]
Thief (1981) [#29]
The Conversation (1974) [#28]
Sin City (2005) [#26]

[Kaplan]

I only had Jackie Brown at #20, but that says nothing about my love for it. While I've long ago burned out on Pulp Fiction, I can still watch Jackie Brown any time and still happily dive into this story and hang out with these characters as they scheme and connive and try to outwit each other.

My List:
4. Memories of Murder (#25)
5. True Romance (#60)
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)

[rauldc14]

I don't care what anyone else says: Jackie Brown is the best Tarantino film.

I had it at #9.

[Sedai]

I also think Blow Out is easily DePalma's best film. DePalma is a creative director, but his films range from great to straight-up bad in my book. I recall seeing this back on VHS and thinking it was just so damned cool with all the cool cinematography and crazy shots. I was about 12, so I most likely had never even heard the term cinematography, but I liked it anyway! packed with fun and inventive sequences, and it absolutely does not cop out with the ending. I had it at #15 on my ballot.

https://www.furiouscinema.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/04/blow1.jpeg

I don't get the love for Jackie Brown. I think it's good, but not great, and I rank it in the bottom tier of Tarantino films.

[beelzebubble]

This is my list so far.
1 Not going to happen
2. You Were Never Really Here
3. Dog Day Afternoon
4 Not going to happen
5. Good possiblity
6. I'll have to double check it may already be on here
7. Klute
8. Cape Fear (1962)
9. Good possibility
10 The Hustler
11. The Talented Mr. Ripley
12. The Grifters
13. Maybe
14. Probably not
15. Probably not
16. Definitely not
17. Body Heat
18. Maybe already on there.
19. Probable
20. Gone Girl
21. Pulp Fiction
22. Nope
23. Bound
24. Maybe already on there
25. Swoon

[John W Constantine]

I also think Blow Out is easily DePalma's best film.
It's a good scream.

[SpelingError]

I still haven't seen Jackie Brown. I should get that remedied soon.

Blow Out was #18 on my ballot. Here's what I wrote on it a while ago:

This film has been on my watchlist for a while, so I'm glad I finally got around to it. Like the other films I've seen from De Palma, the craft is really good. The standout sequences for me were when Jack pieced together the murder with the sound recording and the photographs of the crime. Like their equivalent sequence in Blow-Up, those scenes pack a ton of suspense and, even though I didn't understand all the logistics of what Jack was doing in those scenes, they were directed in a way which made them easy to follow. Other great sequences include the 360 pan shot inside Jack's apartment, the use of split screen in a few scenes, and the Liberty Day Parade in the final act. The film also avoids giving Jack and Sally a simple black and white morality and casts some grey into the mix. As a result, there's a subtle feeling of inevitability in the film that culminates with a powerful ending. I was initially bothered with a few medium to minor details such as Burke relying on trial and error to track down Sally, Jack eluding the police and the paramedics as easily as he did in the final act, and the final scene. Upon reflection though, I warmed up to most of those details. I'll have to rewatch Blow-Up to decide which film I prefer, but I imagine they'll be pretty close to each other.

[John W Constantine]

Across 110th street.

[SpelingError]

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

[John-Connor]

98553

98552
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

https://image.tmdb.org/t/p/original/dMDgPPaBvyed07YZOV98ge2igLL.jpghttps://image.tmdb.org/t/p/original/wxk1cgl23GZQ1fC50GE9alPgNcJ.jpghttps://image.tmdb.org/t/p/original/tgNjemQPG96uIezpiUiXFcer5ga.jpghttps://image.tmdb.org/t/p/original/a5ccZmPZteTxnUZEuCbNyfQMysM.jpghttps://image.tmdb.org/t/p/original/2LVm3fETVMOqwWPCmYCWVta9Eya.jpghttps://image.tmdb.org/t/p/original/3q9SGLL9nccXgidRu3QOdAJjElk.jpghttps://image.tmdb.org/t/p/original/iQCP69183K1QZo8bb23nkcLap3W.jpghttps://image.tmdb.org/t/p/original/lbBVqm1LABRbkgfkpD407LHC7dK.jpghttps://image.tmdb.org/t/p/original/x5xCkGw4jutMcc8nmWLKNzbDKht.jpghttps://image.tmdb.org/t/p/original/weMW1wLzeagP3tw6BfmYf1iL7dz.jpg

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)

[GulfportDoc]

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.

[cricket]

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)

[Hey Fredrick]

"We friends again. Why don't you point that mother ****in' gun somewhere else?"

https://external-content.duckduckgo.com/iu/?u=http%3A%2F%2Fmedia.giphy.com%2Fmedia%2FmVzzDpObK5rSE%2Fgiphy.gif&f=1&nofb=1&ipt=e5c9484f877dae8d2f03a498934911fd014bfb83e31e7178ad3b4be4821d3ed7&ipo=images



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

[Thief]

AWARDS?

https://i.redd.it/w1gwb2dosb541.jpg


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)

[Thief]

AWARDS?

https://resizing.flixster.com/-XZAfHZM39UwaGJIFWKAE8fS0ak=/v3/t/assets/p1085_i_h10_ab.jpg


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

[stillmellow]

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.

[StuSmallz]

I'm a huge fan of The Usual Suspects. It would probably sneak into my 20 all-time favorites. Rented it back in the late 90s with a group of friends, and the ending f**king blew us away. I still watch it often and always have fun figuring out what is really happening. That said, I really don't see it as neo-noir, so I never even considered it for my ballot.Geez man, if that one doesn't qualify as Neo-Noir for you, then what on Earth does?

[Iroquois]

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.

[Thief]

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

:laugh: 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.

[Little Ash]

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).

[Thief]

13lists191pointsReservoir Dogs (https://www.movieforums.com/movies/500-reservoir-dogs.html)Director
Quentin Tarantino, 1992

Starring
Harvey Keitel, Tim Roth, Michael Madsen, Chris Penn

[Thief]

15lists193pointsMiller's Crossing (https://www.movieforums.com/movies/379-millers-crossing.html)Director
Ethan Coen, 1990

Starring
Gabriel Byrne, Marcia Gay Harden, John Turturro, Jon Polito

[Thief]

TRAILERS

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vayksn4Y93A

Reservoir Dogs - When a simple jewelry heist goes awry, the surviving criminals rendezvous at a warehouse where they try to find out who set them up.


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5P7FdpluO7U

Miller's Crossing - The right-hand man of a Prohibition-era crime boss finds himself in the middle of both a an escalating gang war and a conflict with his boss and a crooked bookie he's supposed to execute.

[Thief]

Two films that I saw probably around the same time, mid-to-late 90s, but had a somewhat different reaction to.

I really don't remember if I saw Reservoir Dogs before or after Pulp Fiction, but I've been a fan since. The colorful (pun intended?) characters, the twists and turns, the dialogue and direction, it all made for a heck of an experience. I've seen it lots of times and I always have fun with it, but it's another one I left off my list.

Miller's Crossing has to be one of the first Coen films I saw; possibly after Fargo and around the same time as Barton Fink. I remember liking it, but it left me a bit cold. Don't remember why, but I've felt the need to go back to it since; just haven't gotten to it. Actually, both that and Barton Fink are films I know I have to rewatch cause I'm sure I will appreciate them more now than when I was, say, 17 or 18.

So, nothing from my ballot on this round.


SEEN: 60/86
MY BALLOT: 17/25


1.
2. The Grifters (#45)
3.
4.
5.
6. Nightcrawler (#21)
7. The Man Who Wasn't There (#27)
8. Following (#84)
9.
10. Who Framed Roger Rabbit (#35)
11. Thief (#29)
12. Bound (#59)
13. Blow Out (#17)
14. The Naked Kiss (#51)
15.
16. Blue Ruin (#82)
17.
18. Red Rock West (#88)
19. A Simple Plan (#46)
20. Killer Joe (#66)
21. Kiss Kiss Bang Bang (#42)
22. Mother (#67)
23. Body Heat (#22)
24. To Live and Die in L.A. (#43)
25.

[Holden Pike]

98569

Miller's Crossing was #37 on the MoFo Top 100 of the 1990s. Reservoir Dogs was #7 on that list as well as #47 on the original MoFo Top 100 in 2010.

[Holden Pike]

Miller's Crossing is my favorite of all the Coen Brothers' films, a masterpiece among masterpieces that I have deeply loved since I saw it theatrically in Washington D.C. in 1990. But I didn't put it on my ballot. It is inspired largely by Dashiell Hammett's The Glass Key, it definitely qualifies as a stripe of Noir, but I decided to leave it off and instead make room for some lesser-known titles on my ballot, some of which made the cut and several of which did not. No regrets.

I know and adore every single frame, every single line, every single note of Miller's Crossing. It is cinematic perfection.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tLcrlEwF1M8
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DuxY8jCdcqU
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CXNb0MDJh4A
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7yZIVuvKa0Y

[Tugg]

My #15 Miller's Crossing (1990).

[Allaby]

Reservoir Dogs is fantastic and barked its way up to number 7 on my ballot. Miller's Crossing is excellent, but just missed my ballot.

Seen: 73/86

[John W Constantine]

Reservoir Dogs was maybe THE gateway film for me to seeking out different films than the ones I had watched up until that point. The opening scene where the guys are talking hooked my attention immediately up until the violent ending. I could probably name hundreds of films now that I would take over it but have never forgotten that hook from the opening scene. I had it at #15.


Miller's Crossing is one I watched maybe around the same time as RD but I haven't gone back and watched it again. Maybe soon.

[Holden Pike]

And for those who are fans of Miller's Crossing but have never either read the novel nor seen the 1942 movie The Galss Key (which missed the Noir list) starring Alan Ladd, Veronica Lake, Brian Donlevy, Joseph Calleia, and William Bendix, do yourself a favor and make it a double feature some evening,

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KYgQI0spEFk

[Sedai]

Miller's Crossing is an absolute gem of a film, and currently resides in my wife's Top 5 favorite films of all time. I have seen this film over a dozen times, and I have seen the Danny Boy scene much more than that, as I will fire that up from time to time as an example of how awesome the Coens can be whenever I run into a doubter. This usually comes right before I tell them we can't be friends anymore if they continue with this silly nonsense about the Coens not being geniuses. After that, I have them talk to The Dane. ;)

https://criterion-production.s3.amazonaws.com/carousel-files/Kd2rvRBk1zjFGdQjmgGpUVVwXgWdKUXLQUQ7fda9.jpeg

This one was certainly noir enough for me, so I ran it all the way up to #6 on my ballot.

Reservoir Dogs...was not on my ballot.

[WHITBISSELL!]

2 for 2 today. Reservoir Dogs was one of Tarantino's talkier films (which is really saying something). If it wasn't for Death Proof it'd be my least favorite Tarantino. But hey, even his flawed movies are worth watching. He's obviously a talented director or else I wouldn't have seen every single one of his movies.

Haven't seen Miller's Crossing in years and years. I'm due for a rewatch. The Coens did a great job of world building and immersing you in that era. Neither of these made my list.

58 of 86 seen.

[WHITBISSELL!]

1. The French Connection (#58)
2. You Were Never Really Here (#50)
3. Get Carter (#49)
4. In the Heat of the Night (#98)
5. Blast of Silence (#48)
6. Won't make it
7. Definitely won't
8. Yes?
9. Thief (#29)
10. Nope
11. Maybe?
12. Yes?
13. Nope
14. No. Excellent movie, but no
15. It certainly qualifies but ...
16. Snowball's chance in hell
17. Dark City (#24)
18. One False Move (#73)
19. It should but they're already well represented so ...
20. Nope, no giallo
21. Another good one but no
22. It'd be nice but ...
23. Maybe. I certainly think the director is deserving
24. Point Blank (#72)
25. Collateral (#33)

[Harry Lime]

Played with the idea of including Miller's Crossing but it was a late cut. Upper tier Coens for sure. As usual the Coens fill the screen with an outstanding cast and a film that is uniquely theirs in look and feel. We all know about Reservoir Dogs. One of QT's best. Double nineties eh...seems like that countdown is ripe for redux.

[mrblond]

#16. Reservoir Dogs (1992) - I have it on my ballot at #11.

Interestingly, while I've constructed the ballot, this title disappeared from my mind. Couple of days before submitting, I saw it in some of the discussion threads here and I couldn't believe that I forgot about it.

I found this on a VHS at some local video rental shop in the mid 90's, as far as I remember just after watching Pulp Fiction and True Romance. This movie caught me hard then and I've seen it several more times since then. Love the Keitel-Buscemi scene.

98574

[Miss Vicky]

I haven’t seen Blow Out but I’ve seen the others from yesterday and today. I don’t have any strong feelings about them though and didn’t vote for any of them.

[Kaplan]

Jesus, Tom, I had Miller's Crossing all the way up at #3. If you ever read the book The Glass Key, you'll see that, while it is only a loose adaptation, it nails the overall tone of the book and its central character perfectly. The dialogue, too, is pitch perfect.

My List:
3. Miller's Crossing (#15)
4. Memories of Murder (#25)
5. True Romance (#60)
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)

[CosmicRunaway]

I think I caught part of Blow Out on tv once, but definitely haven't seen the whole thing. And despite all the praise I keep hearing about Miller's Crossing, I haven't yet bothered to add that it to my watchlist.

I've been meaning to rewatch Jackie Brown for ages now, but haven't ever gotten around to it. And yes, I know I've probably said that many times in the last couple weeks haha. I don't actually remember very much from it, so I really should've made it a higher priority before finalizing my list. It didn't make the cut, but Reservoir Dogs did.

So far that's 14 of the films on my list that have made the Countdown, and I think I'll end up with 20/25 when all's said and done. My #22 and 24 definitely aren't making it now, that's for sure.

Seen: 46/86

My List: 14
01.
02. Blade Runner 2049 (2017) - #44
03. Kiss Kiss Bang Bang (2005) - #42
04.
05. Blue Ruin (2013) - #82
06. Mother (2009) - #67
07. Dark City (1998) - #24
08. Strange Days (1995) - #65
09.
10. The Man from Nowhere (2010) - #87
11.
12. Reservoir Dogs (1992) - #16
13.
14. Angel Heart (1987) - #31
15. Infernal Affairs (2002) - #91
16.
17. Memories of Murder (2003) - #25
18.
19.
20. The Usual Suspects (1995) - #20
21. Oldboy (2003) - #52
22.
23. Nightcrawler (2014) - #21
24.
25. The Chaser (2008) - DNP 1-pointer

https://64.media.tumblr.com/42cead5767a693614ba901f2e24d0021/3695a86acc902c44-42/s1280x1920/66978b471f824de9a6e77817aecfc58eadc89aa4.gifv

[Citizen Rules]

Hey guess what? I had seen one of today's reveals...My #20. was Miller's Crossing (1990).

[Thief]

WHAT DID YOU THINK OF... RESERVOIR DOGS

https://www.hollywoodreporter.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/06/M8DREDO_EC001.jpg?w=1296
RT – 90%, IMDb – 8.3


Roger Ebert said:

"I liked what I saw, but I wanted more. I know the story behind the movie - Tarantino promoted the project from scratch, on talent and nerve - and I think it's quite an achievement for a first-timer. It was made on a low budget. But the part that needs work didn't cost money. It's the screenplay. Having created the characters and fashioned the outline, Tarantino doesn't do much with his characters except to let them talk too much, especially when they should be unconscious from shock and loss of blood." (read full review here (https://www.rogerebert.com/reviews/reservoir-dogs-1992))

Desson Howe, from Washington Post, said:

"A nod to such noir crime classics as Stanley Kubrick's The Killing, the movie's more than savvy sensationalism. Suspense, horror and humor are expertly interwoven. There is also a distinct code of honor among these cursing thieves -- pride in their work, loyalty and occasional grace under pressure. They're individuals who happen to operate on the wrong side of the law." (read full review here (https://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-srv/style/longterm/movies/videos/reservoirdogsrhowe_a0af27.htm))

Gideon58 said:

"As always with Tarantino's direction, his eye for cinematic carnage is unapologetic as is his ability to get riveting performances from his hand-picked ensemble cast. There is standout work from Michael Madsen, Harvey Keitel, Tim Roth, and especially Steve Buscemi, who I don't think has ever been better." (read full review here (https://www.movieforums.com/reviews/1420010-reservoir_dogs.html))

[Thief]

WHAT DID YOU THINK OF... MILLER'S CROSSING

https://m.media-amazon.com/images/M/MV5BNmE2YTliZTYtYjNkZS00ODIxLTkxZWEtNmUzYjYwNTg5OGQzXkEyXkFqcGdeQXVyMTExMTE3NDg5._V1_.jpg
RT – 93%, IMDb – 7.7


Roger Ebert said:

"The pleasures of the film are largely technical. It is likely to be most appreciated by movie lovers who will enjoy its resonance with films of the past. What it doesn't have is a narrative magnet to pull us through -- a story line that makes us really care what happens, aside from the elegant but mechanical manipulations of the plot." (read full review here (https://www.rogerebert.com/reviews/millers-crossing-1990))

Olivia Rutigliano, from CrimeReads, said:

"It alternates between melodrama and stone-cold noir—with many of its characters, and especially its stony, wisecracking protagonist Tom, making conscious efforts to project indifference, trying to quell any inkling of sentimentality." (read full review here (https://crimereads.com/on-the-coen-brothers-bitter-brokenhearted-noir-millers-crossing/))

crumbsroom said:

"While it may be a meticulously made noir homage, filled with all sorts of eccentric underworld hanger-ons, each sporting a mouthful of the tastiest pulp dialogue this side of Dashiell Hammet, Miller’s Crossing seems like an emotional wasteland as we watch. Mostly this will be because we are not permitted to share in any of its failures or triumphs. Only to watch and wonder who is pulling the strings here, if anybody. And, in this respect, it is fascinating. But the movie also seems as if it lacks some amount of heart, a fitting (and likely necessary) absence since the central question posed in the film revolves around whether or not Tom Regan is in possession of such a pesky organ." (read full review here (https://www.movieforums.com/reviews/2168873-millers_crossing.html))

[beelzebubble]

These are both wonderful and entertaining movies but they are not on my list.

[Thief]

AWARDS?

https://media.timeout.com/images/100013251/750/422/image.jpg


Reservoir Dogs received several nominations and awards. These are some of the most notable:


Six (6) Awards Circuit Community Award nominations, including a win for Best Original Screenplay (Quentin Tarantino)
Three (3) Film Independent Spirit Award nominations, including a win for Best Supporting Male (Steve Buscemi)
One (1) Sundance Film Festival nomination for the Grand Jury Prize
One (1) Sant Jordi Award for Best Foreign Actor (Harvey Keitel)

[Thief]

AWARDS?

https://s3.amazonaws.com/media.thecrimson.com/photos/2020/11/23/081539_1347038.jpg


Miller's Crossing received several nominations and awards. These are some of the most notable:


One (1) Casting Society of America Artios Award nomination for Best Casting
One (1) National Board of Review Award for Top Ten Films
One (1) National Society of Film Critics Award nomination for Best Supporting Actor (John Turturro)
One (1) Yubari International Fantastic Film Festival Critics Award

[stillmellow]

Both are excellent movies, but both missed my list. In retrospect they probably both should've outranked Under the Silver Lake, but there are no take-backs here. 🤔

[Thief]

List facts!


Reservoir Dogs is Quentin Tarantino's third entry in the countdown. He already placed Pulp Fiction at #37 and Jackie Brown at #18.
Miller's Crossing is also the Coen's third entry in the countdown, after placing The Big Lebowski at #38 and [i]The Man Who Wasn't There at #27.

[cricket]

Reservoir Dogs is a favorite of mine but I wasn't feeling it for this countdown.

Saw Miller's Crossing once and didn't care for it.

[SpelingError]

Reservoir Dogs didn't make my ballot since it didn't pop up on any of the sites I frequent as neo noir when I assembled it, but I would've included it if I known it was eligible.

Miller's Crossing, on the other hand, was #6 on my ballot.

[SpelingError]

6. Miller's Crossing
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

[GulfportDoc]

Miller's Crossing and Reservoir Dogs are both very good films.

"Crossing" is a gripping picture with phenomenal acting. I have it at #25 on my neo-noir list.

Despite Tarantino's homage to The Killing (1956), I don't think of "Reservoir" as a noir, but more so a heist crime film. There's plenty of interesting back story material on the shoot, especially the fight between veteran badass Lawrence Tierney and Tarantino. https://faroutmagazine.co.uk/quentin-tarantino-feud-lawrence-tierney/ It didn't make my neo-noir list.

[Little Ash]

Miller's Crossing was #5 on my ballot. I think any contemplation I had of leaving retro-noirs off of a neo-noir ballot got erased when this one came into play.

Reservoir Dogs - It's actually pretty wild to think how long it's been since I've watched this movie. I have no idea what I'd think of it today. Probably, "it's perfectly fine." I do not have a Quentin Tarantino film on my ballot. I do have a movie starring Harvey Keitel on my ballot (seems unlikely to make it), a movie with Steve Buscemi on my ballot (likely to make it), no movie with Tim Roth, Michael Madsen, or Chris Penn though.

[Wooley]

Like Holden, Miller's Crossing is my No.1 Coen Bros. movies.
It has been since I first saw it (in the wake of Blood Simple, my first, and Raising Arizona, my second, which I saw in the theater). And it still is.

[Iroquois]

no votes. as soon as jackie brown hit the list, i knew reservoir dogs couldn't be far behind (ahead? whatever) as it does have the most in common with classic noir out of all of tarantino's films. there was a time where i would've called it my favourite of his, but it's definitely slipped in my estimation over the years - i still really like it, but clearly not enough to vote for it. i'm more surprised that i didn't vote for miller's crossing - in a filmography defined largely by subversion and comedy, the coens doing a straightforward gangster thriller is a relative anomaly but they really throw their all into making the best possible version of such a film.

[Thief]

Have you had your weekly dose of Neo-noir fun?

Neo-noir Movies Picture Click Quiz II (https://www.sporcle.com/games/LisaSimpsonOH/neo-noir-movie-picture-click-ii)

How many can you identify?

[Holden Pike]

98577

[Miss Vicky]

Have you had your weekly dose of Neo-noir fun?

Neo-noir Movies Picture Click Quiz II (https://www.sporcle.com/games/LisaSimpsonOH/neo-noir-movie-picture-click-ii)

How many can you identify?

13/15 2:18

Not bad considering I've only seen 7 of them.

[SpelingError]

As for the Coens in general, A Serious Man is my favorite of their films.

[PHOENIX74]

Here's a few from my ballot...

18. Jackie Brown - I guess Jackie Brown is one of my least favourite Quentin Tarantino movies, but it's still a great movie nevertheless. A friend of mine gave me the novel Rum Punch - and considering who that friend is I really ought to read the novel, because he only does that when it's something I really should read or watch. Pam Grier, Samuel L. Jackson, Robert Forster, Bridget Fonda, Michael Keaton and Robert De Niro - they all bring their A-game, and of course they do. People were expecting big things after Pulp Fiction - but how on earth do you follow up that movie? Anyway, in retrospect it's a better movie than people gave it credit for. Didn't make my ballot though.

17. Blow Out - Classic, atmospheric and a last blast that echoes the paranoia of the 1970s - also an interesting film to compare with 1966 Michelangelo Antonioni film Blow-Up. John Travolta actually had a role here that tested him, and he passed with flying colours. Nancy Allen should have been a much bigger star, and I find it hard to express how much I love John Lithgow. I have Blow Out on Criterion, but it's been quite a long time since I last watched it. Regardless, it's one of my favourite films, and simply too good to miss out on a spot on my ballot. I had it at #22.

16. Reservoir Dogs - I love this film. I know, it's excruciatingly violent - but it's so well-written, and fearlessly so. Tarantino bulldozes over his own mistakes with a confidence I've never seen in a debut. The blood, the Rat Pack-like style, the nastiness and the brilliant idea to make this about the aftermath of a heist instead of the heist itself. The flash-back styled narrative, the performances and the visual style here just explodes off the screen - this was something completely new when it came out. Reservoir Dogs shakes you in your seat. It assaults you, and wastes no time letting you know that the characters in this film are nasty, terrible, awful people - murderous hounds, with their "cool" veneer a disguise. This film still electrifies me after all these years. I had it at #2.

15. Miller's Crossing - The Coen Bros Miller's Crossing showcased the visual power they had like no film before it. It's jaw-dropping inasmuch as it crosses over into the kind of style that requires a genius level of filmmaking nous. This is pure neo-noir, and Gabriel Byrne's greatest moment as an actor - but he's well backed up by Albert Finney, John Turturro, Marcia Gay Harden and Jon Polito. The plot is complex, layered and large in scope. The score is also magnificent. A very stylish masterpiece, with a dozen or so memorable scenes. Simply beautiful. I had it at #6 on my ballot.

------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Seen : 61/86
I'd never even heard of : 9/86
Movies that had been on my radar, but I haven't seen yet : 16/86
Films from my list : 11

#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)

[PHOENIX74]

Have you had your weekly dose of Neo-noir fun?

Neo-noir Movies Picture Click Quiz II (https://www.sporcle.com/games/LisaSimpsonOH/neo-noir-movie-picture-click-ii)

How many can you identify?

15/15! But I couldn't beat Holden's time of 3:41, I had 2:44 left.

[stillmellow]

Have you had your weekly dose of Neo-noir fun?

Neo-noir Movies Picture Click Quiz II (https://www.sporcle.com/games/LisaSimpsonOH/neo-noir-movie-picture-click-ii)

How many can you identify?


13/15

[WHITBISSELL!]

Have you had your weekly dose of Neo-noir fun?

Neo-noir Movies Picture Click Quiz II (https://www.sporcle.com/games/LisaSimpsonOH/neo-noir-movie-picture-click-ii)

How many can you identify?15 of 15 3:11

[Sedai]

https://i.postimg.cc/1X90n85f/Neo-Quiz.jpg

Full disclosure: If I would have had to type in the answers instead of being able to click when it asked me a title, I would have been 13/15, as I didn't know either The Late Show or Croupier, and I totally guessed on those and just happened to guess correctly.

[John-Connor]

Any predictions for the Top 20?
Predictions for the Top 14:

Blade Runner
Blood Simple
Blue Velvet
Chinatown
Drive
Fargo
Le Samouraï
L.A. Confidential
The Long Goodbye
Memento
Mulholland Drive
No Country for Old Men
SE7EN
Taxi Driver

long shots:

The Conformist
Prisoners

[Holden Pike]

Predictions for the Top 14?
My best guess for the Top Twenty is...

Blade Runner
Blood Simple
Blow Out
Blue Velvet
Chinatown
Drive
Fargo
High & Low
Jackie Brown
L.A. Confidential
Le Samouraï
Léon: The Professional
The Long Goodbye
Memento
Mulholland Drive
Miller's Crossing
Reservoir Dogs
SE7EN
Taxi Driver
The Usual Suspects
Six-for-six, so far, from my Top Twenty prediction. I've got Léon: The Professional tagged rather than No Country for Old Men, but we shall see. Very soon.

[rauldc14]

80% on that quiz.

[Torgo]

Have you had your weekly dose of Neo-noir fun?

Neo-noir Movies Picture Click Quiz II (https://www.sporcle.com/games/LisaSimpsonOH/neo-noir-movie-picture-click-ii)

How many can you identify?100%! I struggled a bit in the other quizzes, but take a look at me now!

[Citizen Rules]

You guys broke that quizz! Take a look if you don't believe me:shifty:

[stillmellow]

Predictions for the Top 14:

[I]Blade Runner
Blood Simple
Blue Velvet
Chinatown
Drive
Fargo
Le Samouraï
L.A. Confidential
The Long Goodbye
Memento
Mulholland Drive
No Country for Old Men
SE7EN

Taxi Driver






I think you've cracked the case. 14/14

[John-Connor]

https://media0.giphy.com/media/8rTW790gEovy8/200w.gif?cid=6c09b952309za0gv1rqqzxiebrwmmaolvrxv8gnuzqs7hi95&ep=v1_gifs_search&rid=200w.gif
https://64.media.tumblr.com/tumblr_m4hziqEqtY1qiz3j8o4_250.gifv



Actor Stats Pit Stop

98584

5
Steve Buscemi
(The Grifters (uncredited) Pulp Fiction, Reservoir Dogs, The Big Lebowski, Miller’s Crossing)

3
Robert De Niro
(Angel Heart, Heat, Jackie Brown)
Harvey Keitel
(Thelma & Louise, Pulp Fiction, Reservoir Dogs)
John Turturro
(To Live and Die in L.A., The Big Lebowski, Miller’s Crossing)
Benicio del Toro
(Inherent Vice, Sin City, The Usual Suspects)
Michael Madsen
(Thelma & Louise, Sin City, Reservoir Dogs)
Bruce Willis
(The Player, Pulp Fiction, Sin City)
Bill Paxton
(A Simple Plan, One False Move, Nightcrawler)
Billy Bob Thornton
(A Simple Plan, One False Move, The Man Who Wasn’t There)
Gene Hackman
(The French Connection, Night Moves, The Conversation)
Mark Ruffalo
(Shutter Island, Collateral, Zodiac)
Mickey Rourke
(Angel Heart, Sin City, Body Heat)
Robert Downey Jr.
(Kiss Kiss Bang Bang, The Nice Guys, Zodiac)
Val Kilmer
(Kiss Kiss Bang Bang, True Romance, Heat)
William Fichtner
(The Dark Knight, Strange Days, Heat)
Tom Sizemore
(Strange Days, True Romance, Heat)
Stephen Tobolowsky
(The Grifters, Thelma & Louise, Basic Instinct)
Michael Caine
(Mona Lisa, The Dark Knight, Get Carter)
Dennis Hopper
(The American Friend, Red Rock West, True Romance)

[Citizen Rules]

You guys broke that quizz! Take a look if you don't believe me:shifty:Now it works! I swear I got a site maintenance page. Taking and failing the neo noir test now.:cool:

[Citizen Rules]

I got lucky I got 12 out of 15 and most of those I've never seen...but I knew who starred in them.

[Thief]

22lists205pointsDrive (https://www.movieforums.com/movies/64690-drive.html)Director
Nicolas Winding Refn, 2011

Starring
Ryan Gosling, Carey Mulligan, Bryan Cranston, Albert Brooks

[Thief]

16lists210pointsBlue Velvet (https://www.movieforums.com/movies/793-blue-velvet.html)Director
David Lynch, 1986

Starring
Kyle MacLachlan, Isabella Rossellini, Laura Dern, Dennis Hopper

[Thief]

TRAILERS

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KBiOF3y1W0Y

Drive - A mysterious Hollywood stuntman who moonlights as a getaway driver for criminals agrees to help her neighbor's boyfriend in a heist. But when the job goes horribly wrong, he must protect her and her young son from those behind the robbery.


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yKdztrUft-c

Blue Velvet - When a young college student discovers a severed ear in an abandoned field, he sets out to investigate with a detective's daughter, and finds himself entangled in a web of mystery with a mysterious nightclub singer and a sexually depraved psychopath.

[Thief]

Drive is a film I... liked, but really didn't care much for when I first saw it. However, it kinda stuck in my mind so I went back to it shortly after, and it landed waaaay better. I've seen it a couple of times since and I've really warmed up to its slow pace and meticulous approach. All of the performances are pretty good with Albert Brooks being the standout for me. I had it at #17.

Blue Velvet is one I haven't seen in probably 20 years. Even though I remember liking it, love Dennis Hopper, and I'm a huge fan of Lynch, for some reason, I haven't gotten back to it. I barely remember scattered scenes, but it's yet another one I've been meaning to rewatch, so I didn't include it.


SEEN: 62/88
MY BALLOT: 18/25


1.
2. The Grifters (#45)
3.
4.
5.
6. Nightcrawler (#21)
7. The Man Who Wasn't There (#27)
8. Following (#84)
9.
10. Who Framed Roger Rabbit (#35)
11. Thief (#29)
12. Bound (#59)
13. Blow Out (#17)
14. The Naked Kiss (#51)
15.
16. Blue Ruin (#82)
17. Drive (#14)
18. Red Rock West (#88)
19. A Simple Plan (#46)
20. Killer Joe (#66)
21. Kiss Kiss Bang Bang (#42)
22. Mother (#67)
23. Body Heat (#22)
24. To Live and Die in L.A. (#43)
25.

[Allaby]

I like Blue Velvet a lot, but it didn't make my ballot. I thought Drive was just alright.

Seen: 75/88

[Harry Lime]

There are a few movies that just get better and better every time I go in for a rewatch, and Blue Velvet is one of them. Currently my favourite David Lynch film. It's just so perverse and brilliant. Peel back the layers, Mr. Lynch. I had it at #3. Drive is a great film that I haven't seen since it came out.


3. Blue Velvet (1986)
4. The Killing of a Chinese Bookie (1976)
5. High and Low (1963)
10. Alphaville (1965)
13. The Conversation (1974)
14. Zodiac (2007)
15. Memories of Murder (2003)
17. Fireworks (1997)
18. Pale Flower (1964)
19. The Grifters (1990)
20. Inherent Vice (2014)
22. The American Friend (1977)
24. Le Cercle Rouge (1970)
25. Série noire (1979) - One pointer

[Thief]

List facts!


Blue Velvet is David Lynch's second entry in the countdown, after Lost Highway (#55). Do you think he has something else coming?
The 12-point gap between Miller's Crossing and Drive is one of the few two-digit point gaps we've had, and will have in the whole countdown. The other ones being 19 points between High and Low and Jackie Brown and 10 points between Collateral and Heat. This means that the countdown has been close as hell.

[Holden Pike]

98591

Drive was #49 on the MoFo Top 100 of the Millennium then advanced to #17 on the MoFo Top 100 of the 2010s. Blue Velvet was all the way up at #9 on the MoFo Top 100 of the 1980s.

[Holden Pike]

Blue Velvet is David Lynch's second entry in the countdown, after Lost Highway (#55). Do you think he has something else coming?
Of course. Mulholland Drive.

[Citizen Rules]

I seen Blue Velvet like 40 years ago, does that even count as watching it? I can't remember it so not sure if I should count that as a watch or not?

[Tugg]

My #16 Drive (2011).

[mrblond]

#13. Blue Velvet (1986) is my #22, worth 4 points from me.

Some film personalities attracts me everywhere all the time and Dennis Hopper is one of them. It is third flick related to him on my ballot (two acting and one directing).
I remember how popular Kyle MacLachlan has been in those years, late eighties to mid 90's.

I'm afraid that other Lynch film, much higher on my list, won't make the countdown which is a big surprise for me.

98592
-----

I saw Drive couple of years ago. It is a good movie, that's all. Just The Driver (1978) is too big for me to consider this heavily influenced 2011 film for my ballot.

[SpelingError]

Both films are very good,.but neither made my ballot. Blue Velvet might've had I rewatched it though.

[John W Constantine]

Lots of points. Day 2.

Drive has been quite an experience since I went to the theater to check it out back in 2011. The whole techno vibe and the ridiculous violence have always stayed with my movie mind. The Driver > Ken. I had it at # 5.

...as for my #1, Blue Velvet is for me the obvious David Lynch choice. It contains all his unique strangeness without going over into laughable stupidity of his later works. It found a top spot in my previous Top100 and I don't see it leaving anytime soon.

[Holden Pike]

No recency bias, Drive is just that good.

98594

Nicolas Winding Refn’s breakthrough was destined to be the highest-placed entry from the 2010s and beyond. Only ten other titles post-2009 made the cut, and the next closest was 2014’s Nightcrawler, which was #21. There wasn’t really anything in Winding Refn’s filmography to suggest what a brutally poetic Neo Noir he was going to unleash with Drive. The stellar cast he assembled certainly helped, led by Ryan Gosling just oozing cool with Carey Mulligan, Bryan Cranston, Christina Hendricks, Ron Perlman, Oscar Isaac, and of course Albert Brooks brilliantly cast against type as the bad guy. Tense, exciting, romantic, and darkly fun violent fable of a Hollywood stuntman who moonlights as a getaway driver and becomes a vengeful superhero to protect a couple of innocents, with slick cinematography and perfectly choreographed action. So simple yet perfectly done, making it both beautiful and accessible without pandering.

98595

I only had it at #21, just five of its points, but I couldn’t very well leave it off of my ballot. That makes fifteen of mine and I have four of the remaining twelve reveals, six misses (counting my one-pointer). Been a fun ride.

HOLDEN'S BALLOT
4. Night Moves (#40)
5. High & Low (#19)
6. Nightcrawler (#21)
7. The Grifters (#45)
8. One False Move (#73)
9. Blast of Silence (#48)
11. Blow Out (#17)
12. To Live & Die in L.A. (#43)
13. The Naked Kiss (#51)
14. Angel Heart (#31)
15. Shallow Grave (#95)
17. Dead Again (#90)
21. Drive (#14)
22. The Hot Spot (#85)
24. Blue Ruin (#82)
25. Johnny Handsome (DNP)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=h5jESZGShLU

[Thief]

WHAT DID YOU THINK OF... DRIVE

https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5a7dcf69d7bdce185884a6b5/1550027378810-H4KVXCC90DNTIIADETJD/d+2.jpg
RT – 93%, IMDb – 7.8


Roger Ebert said:

"Drive" is more of an elegant exercise in style, and its emotions may be hidden but they run deep. Sometimes a movie will make a greater impact by not trying too hard. The enigma of the driver is surrounded by a rich gallery of supporting actors who are clear about their hopes and fears, and who have either reached an accommodation with the Driver, or not. Here is still another illustration of the old Hollywood noir principle that a movie lives its life not through its hero, but within its shadows." (read full review here (https://www.rogerebert.com/reviews/drive-2011))

Dillon Rey Dowell, from Game Rant, said:

"The story at its core is undeniably rooted in noir, being a bleaker story driven by idealistic dreams that ultimately fall short. There are very human moments as The Driver is torn between wanting to live a normal life with Irene and knowing that the dark underbelly of LA won’t let him leave." (read full review here (https://gamerant.com/drive-essential-modern-noir/))

GrantD2 said:

"One reason why I think this film really worked for me is how tight the story is. There aren't really any dead or pointless scenes. Everything has a purpose, and there are some scenes in this film that have an incredible amount of tension. I also really liked the cinematography and overall look of it, all the way down to the long takes that the director used at some points." (read full review here (https://www.movieforums.com/reviews/1896431-drive.html))

[Thief]

WHAT DID YOU THINK OF... BLUE VELVET

https://filmfreedonia.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/10/bluevelvet12.jpg
RT – 95%, IMDb – 7.7


Roger Ebert said:

"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." (read full review here (https://www.rogerebert.com/reviews/blue-velvet-1986))

Zombie Dog, from Mutant Reviewers, said:

"Blue Velvet feels like a movie done with a huge amount of passion — and probably some hatred for the studio system — so much so that I would say it is one of the best examples of neo-noir. There isn’t a single scene in the movie that doesn’t advance the story. Every line, every action takes us deeper into Lynch’s world." (read full review here (https://mutantreviewersmovies.com/2023/07/05/blue-velvet-1986/))

Jack1 said:

"Blue Velvet is a great film, I think. It's stylish, terrifically well-made and well-acted, and has all the hallmarks of the very best Lynch material. Not only do I think there's plenty of scope for repeat watches, but I think it'd even improve the rating for me further. Even so, it's certainly the best Lynch film I've seen so far. Strange but satisfying." (read full review here (https://www.movieforums.com/reviews/1171422-blue_velvet.html))

[WHITBISSELL!]

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? :shifty: :rotfl::nope:

[Miss Vicky]

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:

https://www.angelfire.com/music6/walteregan/2010s/drive.gif

Drive (Nicolas Winding Refn, 2011)
(Rewatch)

I first watched this movie back in 2020 when it was chosen for me in a Personal Recommendation Hall of Fame after I'd intentionally avoided it for 9 years. I've never had much of an opinion of Ryan Gosling, the movie just looked so slick, and I often find highly stylized movies to be a big turn off.

But I was treated to a pleasant surprise. Whereas stylish movies often come across as cold, Drive does well to balance the cool elements with a little bit of warmth and humanity. Ryan Gosling does a great job of carrying this movie with his performance - ever cool and collected, with just that little smirk to betray any kind of emotion. He's a badass with a heart of gold: One moment we see the driver gently putting a young child to bed or tenderly kissing his girl and another moment we see him kicking a guy's head in. He's complicated. He exists in a gray area between good and bad. And I love that.

One thing I didn't love on the first watch though was that I felt we didn't get to see enough of his tender side, or at least not enough for me to buy his motivations for the risks he takes and the sacrifices he makes. But this time around I wasn't bothered at all by that and was fully immersed in the experience of the film.

Ultimately I don't know if it'll get my vote - I'm just too spoiled for choices here - but I do very much hope it places high on the countdown.

4


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)

[Kaplan]

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)

[Sedai]

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.

[cricket]

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)

[Thief]

AWARDS?

https://i.ytimg.com/vi/1OUTaxkrK4o/hq720.jpg?sqp=-oaymwEhCK4FEIIDSFryq4qpAxMIARUAAAAAGAElAADIQj0AgKJD&rs=AOn4CLA0atas6FISu5oLYaG-gC13Y_WaFQ


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)

[Thief]

AWARDS?

https://filmfreedonia.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/10/bluevelvet17.jpg?w=763


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)

[beelzebubble]

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.


@John W Constantine ...as for my #1, Blue Velvet is for me the obvious David Lynch choice. It contains all his unique strangeness without going over into laughable stupidity of his later works. 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.

[PHOENIX74]

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!)

------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
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)

[stillmellow]

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.

[Iroquois]

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.

[stillmellow]

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

[stillmellow]

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

[Holden Pike]

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.

[Thief]

17lists229pointsNo Country for Old Men (https://www.movieforums.com/movies/6977-no-country-for-old-men.html)Director
Ethan Coen, 2007

Starring
Josh Brolin, Javier Bardem, Tommy Lee Jones, Woody Harrelson

[Thief]

15lists242pointsFargo (https://www.movieforums.com/movies/275-fargo.html)Director
Ethan Coen, 1996

Starring
Frances McDormand, William H. Macy, Steve Buscemi, Peter Stormare

[Thief]

TRAILERS

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=38A__WT3-o0

No Country for Old Men - When a Texas hunter stumbles upon a drug deal gone wrong in the middle of the desert, he decides to keep a suitcase full of cash. However, that puts him in the path of a merciless killer, while an aging lawman tries to warn him.


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ju75Sd4yAZw

Fargo - An inept car salesman desperate for money hires two thugs to kidnap his wife so he can collect the ransom from her wealthy father, while a good-natured and persistent sheriff investigates a related murder.

[Thief]

A Coen 1-2 punch! I'm a big fan of these two. They're both on my Coen brothers Top 3. Both are exceptionally well acted, perfectly written, and most importantly, a lot of fun. As is usual with the Coens, there's a bit of a mish-mash of genres, crime, western, comedy, thriller, noir, drama, etc. which is probably why I didn't include any of them on my list.


SEEN: 64/90
MY BALLOT: 16/25


1.
2. The Grifters (#45)
3.
4.
5.
6. Nightcrawler (#21)
7. The Man Who Wasn't There (#27)
8. Following (#84)
9.
10. Who Framed Roger Rabbit (#35)
11. Thief (#29)
12. Bound (#59)
13. Blow Out (#17)
14. The Naked Kiss (#51)
15.
16. Blue Ruin (#82)
17. Drive (#14)
18. Red Rock West (#88)
19. A Simple Plan (#46)
20. Killer Joe (#66)
21. Kiss Kiss Bang Bang (#42)
22. Mother (#67)
23. Body Heat (#22)
24. To Live and Die in L.A. (#43)
25.

[Thief]

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.

Ha! Didn't see your post until after I posted the reveals. Should've let a couple of guesses sneak in before :D However, I will probably be away from the computer for the rest of the day, so I wanted to do the reveal before I left.

[Miss Vicky]

I've seen both of today's movies, but didn't vote for either. I like Fargo, but it's never been a favorite and I don't think it came to mind when making my ballot. I don't like No Country For Old Men.

[Torgo]

Fargo holds more than one top spot for me: my #1 movie of the '90s, my #1 Coen bros. movie and #1 on my ballot.

I figured it would be #1 on this countdown, but I'll take #11. Only a heartbeat away from the top 10. Not bad.

[Holden Pike]

98602

Fargo was #14 on the MoFo Top 100 of the 1990s, #60 on the original MoFo Top 100 in 2010, and #98 on the MoFo Top 100 Comedies. No Country for Old Men was #1 on the MoFo Top 100 of the 2000s, #9 on the MoFo Top 100 of the Millenium, and #51 on the MoFo Top 100 Refresh in 2020.

[Thief]

WHAT DID YOU THINK OF... NO COUNTRY FOR OLD MEN

https://variety.com/wp-content/uploads/2007/05/no-country-for-old-men.jpg
RT – 93%, IMDb – 8.2


Roger Ebert said:

"Many of the scenes in No Country for Old Men are so flawlessly constructed that you want them to simply continue, and yet they create an emotional suction drawing you to the next scene. Another movie that made me feel that way was Fargo. To make one such film is a miracle. Here is another." (read full review here (https://www.rogerebert.com/reviews/no-country-for-old-men-2007))

Lee Clark Mitchell, from Dismantling the Western, said:

"The triumph of the Coens' adaptation lies in their having grasped how fully McCarthy's novel subverts Western conventions and in revealing via film noir techniques how much our desire for generic platitudes is at once misdirected and unavailing." (read full review here (https://www.researchgate.net/publication/287562296_Dismantling_the_Western_Film_Noir's_Defiance_of_Genre_in_No_Country_for_Old_Men))

aronisred said:

"The thriller aspect of the movie is the best part. The intricacies of the cat and mouse chase and the character study of both the cat and mouse is awesome.The moment where this movie sort of stopped being your very well made thriller and became an Oscar material is towards the ending where it becomes more philiosophical and less conventional." (read full review here (https://www.movieforums.com/reviews/1902546-no_country_for_old_men.html))

[Thief]

WHAT DID YOU THINK OF... FARGO

https://images2.minutemediacdn.com/image/upload/c_fill,w_720,ar_16:9,f_auto,q_auto,g_auto/shape/cover/sport/62092-warner-bros-home-entertainment-79e6354187c2d058e219168591967f9e.jpg
RT – 94%, IMDb – 8.1


Roger Ebert said:

"Frances McDormand should have a lock on an Academy Award nomination with this performance, which is true in every individual moment, and yet slyly, quietly, over the top in its cumulative effect." (read full review here (https://www.rogerebert.com/reviews/fargo-1996))

Peter Bradshaw, from The Guardian, said:

"This movie is a noir but there is no cynicism; Marge sees the very worst that human nature has to offer, but doesn’t become a wisecracking seen-it-all shady lady; she is still entirely fresh, and her pregnancy, that hope for the future, is uncompromised." (read full review here (hhttps://www.theguardian.com/film/2021/jun/10/fargo-review-coen-brothers-frances-mcdormand))

TylerDurden99 said:

"Fargo is a marvelously twisted black comedy and the excellence of this film mostly comes the film's script and performances. The script is remarkably well-written by the extraordinary Coen's Brothers, who can make us laugh about the most darkest things. In this film, you laugh at murder, blackmail, kidnapping, prostitution and mostly, gruesomely funny violence." (read full review here (https://www.movieforums.com/reviews/702993-fargo.html))

[Allaby]

I’m a big fan of both Fargo and No Country For Old Men. Fargo was my number 3 and No Country was my number 4.

Seen: 77/90

[Sedai]

No Country for Old Men was my #9. I understand the argument against its noir credentials, but to me, it works as a neo-noir, and is one of the best. Oddly, as much as my wife adores Miller's Crossing and the Coens in general, she just doesn't care for this one, so I don't get a chance to watch it as often as I would like. Myself? I love pretty much everything about this film. One of the most memorable and cold villains of all time, stellar cinematography, an air tight screenplay... it's got it all!

https://film-grab.com/wp-content/uploads/photo-gallery/16%20(767).jpg?bwg=1547239834

Also a fan of Fargo, but I don't hold it in as high regard as some of the Coens' work, and its noir pedigree isn't as apparent to me. Great film, but did not make my ballot.

71 Seen

[Holden Pike]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BKmCaVsn9KQ
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FW0NG-CGGRM
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MO7DuX56lXg

[Holden Pike]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EiVlK9mZo_A
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=subNgWRPLg4&t=1s
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7ODrmhTbVIA&t=2s
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=83xAOGOeCJg

[Thief]

Stats: Pit Stop #9
https://i.imgur.com/H7omanV.png

-

After hitting our ninth pit stop (90), here's were we are now:

Decade Breakdown


1960s = 12
1970s = 12
1980s = 10
1990s = 28
2000s = 15
2010s = 13
2020s = 0


The 1990s keep pushing its lead with 5 entries in the last batch to pretty much secure the lead, while the 2000s remain in second for now.


Recurring Directors


Coen Brothers = 5
Michael Mann = 4
David Lynch = 3
Quentin Tarantino = 3
William Friedkin = 3
David Fincher = 3
Brian de Palma = 2
Bong Joon-ho = 2
Shane Black = 2
Martin Scorsese = 2
Christopher Nolan = 2


The Coen brothers catapult to the top with three entries in this last batch for a total of 5 films in the countdown. Lynch and Tarantino also add a third one to their respective lists.

[Citizen Rules]

I'm not sure but I think I seen Fargo but I can't find anywhere on MoFo where I actually said that. I know I haven't seen No Country for Old Men. I wouldn't mind see either film or both.

[Holden Pike]

Decade Breakdown


1960s = 12
1970s = 12
1980s = 10
1990s = 28
2000s = 15
2010s = 13
2020s = 0


The 1990s keep pushing its lead with 5 entries in the last batch to pretty much secure the lead, while the 2000s remain in second for now.

"Pretty much"? My math isn't the strongest, but there are only ten titles left. Even if all ten of them were from the 2000s - and only two of them are - mathematically the 1990s can't be caught. And there should be another pair of 1990 titles meaning they'll top out at an impressive thirty. The expected three more from the 1970s will push that decade into third place. But other than the spike for the 1990s, very evenly distributed.

[seanc]

I will never argue with anything Coen brothers.

Fargo is in my top ten, but I left it off this list for…reasons!?

No Country was number 11 on my last top 100, and was #1 on my list here. I actually almost left it off as I find more Neo Western, but it was on so many lists around the internet I knew it would be high here and I wanted to help it win because it’s the greatest.

[Thief]

"Pretty much"? My math isn't the strongest, but there are only ten titles left. Even if all ten of them were from the 2000s - and only two of them are - mathematically the 1990s can't be caught. And there should be another pair of 1990 titles meaning they'll top out at an impressive thirty. The expected three more from the 1970s will push that decade into third place. But other than the spike for the 1990s, very evenly distributed.

Exactly! :up:

[Iroquois]

one vote. no country was my #20. as someone who mainly knew the coens for doing comedies of varying degrees, there was little about their filmography that could've prepared me for the seismic shock of seeing them adapt cormac mccarthy's tex-mex tale of blood money and the toll it does or does not take on the men who pursue it. fargo is its much less cynical counterpart that also deals in low-level crooks chasing money and the humble officer on the case - this was a bit of an acquired taste, but i definitely consider it ones of the brothers' best.

[mrblond]

#11. Fargo
#12. No Country for Old Men

Saw both in theatres when they were released and couple more times each, after that. Of course, everyone in these two movies is very good and interesting but The William H. Macy's character/performance is surely in my all time hall of fame. I can watch him over and over again. Actually, he gave us a great new installment of the same type of character couple of years later in Magnolia.

Fargo was briefly in my consideration for the ballot but I've decided not to push it in there. Instead, I wanted to emphasis on some overlooked master cinema works.

98607

[mrblond]

Isn't it the time for the traditional portion of near misses (#101-120)?

[Thief]

Isn't it the time for the traditional portion of near misses (#101-120)?


I suppose. I'm out now, but some time later.

[SpelingError]

No Country for Old Men was #13 on my ballot. Huge fan of it.

Fargo didn't make my ballot, but it's really good.

[SpelingError]

6. Miller's Crossing
7. The Big Lebowski
8. Pulp Fiction
10. Le Circle Rouge
13. No Country for Old Men
17. The Silence of the Lambs
18. Blow Out
22. Point Blank
23. Alphaville

[WHITBISSELL!]

2 for 2 today. No Country for Old Men was my #19 pick. Fargo didn't make my ballot. It should have. 12 of my picks accounted for. I might even crack 15. :up:

62 of 90 seen. Bring on the Top 10!

[Holden Pike]

I'll wait for a Near Misses reveal before I make a final guess on the order of the Top Ten.

[MovieFan1988]

Have seen so far: 31 - Reservoir Dogs - This movie was okay, not a big fan of Tarantino's movies.

Blue Velvet - I thought this movie was alright, I found nothing special about it, tbh.

Drive - Decent movie with a nice 80's vibe to it, Ryan Gosling does well in it. This film is #8 on my ballot list.

Fargo - A decent Crime movie that takes place on the northern part of the US, Fargo, North Dakota. This film is #6 on my ballot list.

No Country for Old Men - Not a bad movie from the 2000's, the cast did good in this movie. This film is #7 on my ballot list.

Have not seen so far: 57

I got two more movies to go and they are definitely going to make it. :)

My Ballot List
#2 - Heat
#3 - The Dark Knight
#4 - Dog Day Afternoon
#5 - Who Framed Roger Rabbit
#6. Fargo
#7. No Country for Old Men
#8 - Drive
#10 - Sin City

[John W Constantine]

No Country landed at no. 23 on my ballot. Was hooked immediately when I saw it in theaters back in '07. Haven't revisited it in many years but it still seem like something I feel strongly voting for when it's eligible for one of these lists.

Fargo I have seen a few times, not a favorite but I'm open to getting back to it soon.

[Harry Lime]

Top quality Coen films here with Fargo being one of my all-time favourites and No Country not too far off but I didn't include either on my list. I'm fine with the choice I made.

[Harry Lime]

So what's the final 10? I'm too lazy to dig through the thread or make a list and I want to make predictions of rankings that will be proven incorrect tomorrow when #10 is posted.

[Tugg]

My #11 No Country for Old Men (2007). Re-watching movies for this countdown I enjoyed it more than many old time favorites.

[Kaplan]

I absolutely love both of those Coen brothers films, but neither made my list. I just do not see No Country as neo-noir. Fargo, sure, but I already had three of their films, so I had to stop at some point.

[stillmellow]

Both are on my list, Fargo at #14 and No Country for Old Men at #17.

I still have serious issues with the latter for the major 'off screen death', but it makes up for it with its incredible depth. Both movies warrant multiple watches.

Off the noir topic, but I just don't 'get' A Serious Man. It's just depressing and frustrating, and then after all his pain and struggles, he's effectively stomped to death by God, like a bug. More Werner Herzog in spirit than Coen.

I'm eager for the near misses, as there's one movie in my list that I'm disappointed didn't make the top 100 somewhere.

[beelzebubble]

Well Friendo, Fargo was my #9 and No Country for Old Men was my #13. The Coen brothers gave us an incredibly memorable cop and an astonishingly iconic...I was going to say "bad guy" but that is kind of an understatement, so I'll say an astonishingly iconic monster.

[Thief]

Off the noir topic, but I just don't 'get' A Serious Man. It's just depressing and frustrating, and then after all his pain and struggles, he's effectively stomped to death by God, like a bug. More Werner Herzog in spirit than Coen.



Was he? I would need a refresher, but as far as I remember, the ending wasn't as negative on him as I would've expected. Still, the topic of universal fate stomping all our attempts to control things is 100% Coen. Today's entries are a prime example of that.

[SpelingError]

The ending to A Serious Man, plus the entire film in general, is intentionally unfair to the main character. The point it argues is that divine punishment is unfair, impossible to make sense of, and disproportionate to the nature of the crime.

[Thief]

Ok, let's see the ones that ALMOST made it...

https://i.imgur.com/6zvM9VR.jpg

101. Harper (34 points)
102. Payback (34 points)
103. Badlands (32 points)
104. John Wick (32 points)
105. Sonatine (31 points)
106. Before the Devil Knows You're Dead (29 points)
107. Hard Eight (29 points)
108. Ghost Dog: The Way of the Samurai (29 points)
109. Wild at Heart (29 points)
110. The Killers (28 points)


https://i.imgur.com/mSAgKhK.jpg

[Thief]

Have seen 6 of those...

102. Payback (34 points)
103. Badlands (32 points)
104. John Wick (32 points)
106. Before the Devil Knows You're Dead (29 points)
107. Hard Eight (29 points)
109. Wild at Heart (29 points)

...but none of them were on my ballot. I'm confident all from my ballot will make it (except for my "one-pointer")

[Miss Vicky]

I've seen Payback, Sonatine, and Before the Devil Knows You're Dead, but voted for none of them.

[Harry Lime]

Ghost Dog and Sonatine. Nice double feature.

[mrblond]

#107. Hard Eight (1996) was my #23 for three points from me.

That's a very nice debut film by P.T. Anderson. I didn't have high hopes for it but I feel it is totally for this countdown and I'm a big admirer of Philip Baker Hall.

98618

[cricket]

Love both of today's films but I wasn't confident in my feeling for their fits here. I'm still not confident in a couple films I did vote for. My ballot was far from an exact science.

[cricket]

Ok, let's see the ones that ALMOST made it...

https://i.imgur.com/6zvM9VR.jpg

101. Harper (34 points)
102. Payback (34 points)
103. Badlands (32 points)
104. John Wick (32 points)
105. Sonatine (31 points)
106. Before the Devil Knows You're Dead (29 points)
107. Hard Eight (29 points)
108. Ghost Dog: The Way of the Samurai (29 points)
109. Wild at Heart (29 points)
110. The Killers (28 points)


https://i.imgur.com/mSAgKhK.jpg


Seen all except Harper and Ghost Dog, which both look good.

I had one of them at #8

[Holden Pike]

OK, I will take a shot at the order of the Top Ten...

1. Chinatown
2. Mulholland Drive
3. Taxi Driver
4. SE7EN
5. Blade Runner
6. Memento
7. Le Samuraï
8. L.A. Confidential
9. The Long Goodbye
10. Blood Simple

The only one I am no longer super-duper confident about appearing at all is Blood Simple. The only two Coen Bros. flicks that are plainly Noir and not hybrids with other genres are The Man Who Wasn't There and Blood Simple. But is Blood Simple so overwhelmingly Noir that it is going to top the much, much more popular Fargo, Big Lebowski, and No Country for Old Men? On a genre list it should be higher, but we left "should" a long, long time ago. The other nine gotta be there. "But the fact is, nothing comes with a guarantee. Something can all go wrong."

[rauldc14]

My guess
1. Chinatown
2. Blade Runner
3. Memento
4. L.A. Confidential
5. Mulholland Dr.
6. Se7en
7. Taxi Driver
8. The Long Goodbye
9. Blood Simple
10. Le Samurai

[GulfportDoc]

Funny-- two Coen films together.

Both great pictures, I was most impressed in No Country for Old Men by the great cinematography from the legendary Roger Deakins.

Fargo was a landmark picture which really put Mrs. Coen, Frances McDormand, on the map. Ditto for Macey and Buscemi.

I had it at #19 on my neo-noir list.

[Thief]

#107. Hard Eight (1996) was my #23 for three points from me.

That's a very nice debut film by P.T. Anderson. I didn't have high hopes for it but I feel it is totally for this countdown and I'm a big admirer of Philip Baker Hall.

98618

I'm a big fan of this film. One of my favorite directorial debuts.

[Holden Pike]

Funny - two Coen films together.

Funnier, a similar thing happened on the MoFo Top 100 Westerns List (https://www.movieforums.com/community/showthread.php?t=61540): a pair of Tarantino titles landed at twelve and eleven.

12. Django Unchained (https://www.movieforums.com/community/showthread.php?anchor=1&p=2103825#post2103825) (2012)
11. The Hateful Eight (https://www.movieforums.com/community/showthread.php?anchor=1&p=2103826#post2103826) (2015)

98624

[Harry Lime]

I'm agreeing with Holden: three Coens in a row. Here are my top 10 guesses.

1. Chinatown
2. Mulholland Drive
3. SE7EN
4. Memento
5. Blade Runner
6. L.A. Confidential
7. Taxi Driver
8. Le Samouraï
9. The Long Goodbye
10. Blood Simple

[Thief]

Funny-- two Coen films together.



Yeah, there have been a couple of interesting pairings, which I tried to highlight as the countdown progressed. For example:

Three (3) Tom Ripley film adaptations coming *almost* back-to-back-to-back:

99. The American Friend
96. The Talented Mr. Ripley
94. Purple Noon

https://www.themoviedb.org/t/p/w600_and_h900_bestv2/4Q0ofXN58bSNEpiqGZu0caWHPa5.jpg https://www.themoviedb.org/t/p/w600_and_h900_bestv2/k68qyuNGGiBgZ34ozlA9B6eNLGE.jpg https://www.themoviedb.org/t/p/w600_and_h900_bestv2/7n1KNXs4OFfeVLjJ3g10M8oK1fM.jpg

Two (2) Thomas Harris' adaptations in two (2) consecutive days:

77. Manhunter
75. The Silence of the Lambs

https://www.themoviedb.org/t/p/w600_and_h900_bestv2/mv1DISpwWOOJqAyPTEqDrnnAna2.jpg https://www.themoviedb.org/t/p/w600_and_h900_bestv2/rplLJ2hPcOQmkFhTqUte0MkEaO2.jpg

Two (2) films about new lovers stealing money and/or drugs from their previous lovers and trying to make it out alive:

60. Bound
59. True Romance

https://www.themoviedb.org/t/p/w600_and_h900_bestv2/AqlPzcILRi0IW0JodKp7pMMNEFt.jpg https://www.themoviedb.org/t/p/w600_and_h900_bestv2/uBgdSluw1RioTOkMrlvfTuFVgEI.jpg

Two (2) Shane Black movies in two (2) consecutive days:

42. Kiss Kiss Bang Bang
39. The Nice Guys

https://www.themoviedb.org/t/p/w600_and_h900_bestv2/5cPk7YIEP6Uj9tV0mKZSsI9MGbF.jpg https://www.themoviedb.org/t/p/w600_and_h900_bestv2/clq4So9spa9cXk3MZy2iMdqkxP2.jpg

Three (3) Michael Mann and two (2) David Fincher films, with two (2) Robert De Niro connections, in three (3) consecutive days:

34. Gone Girl (David Fincher)
33. Collateral (Michael Mann)
32. Heat (Michael Mann, starring Robert De Niro)
31. Angel Heart (starring Robert De Niro)
30. Zodiac (David Fincher)
29. Thief (Michael Mann)

https://www.themoviedb.org/t/p/w600_and_h900_bestv2/tQf4DUygWo64AOuqgk4jEDCE3Ws.jpg https://www.themoviedb.org/t/p/w600_and_h900_bestv2/iOpi3ut5DhQIbrVVjlnmfy2U7dI.jpg https://www.themoviedb.org/t/p/w600_and_h900_bestv2/obpPQskaVpSiC9RcJRB6iWDTCXS.jpg https://www.themoviedb.org/t/p/w600_and_h900_bestv2/h5v3wjJQNB7q2RntEnKDLhKtTFE.jpghttps://www.themoviedb.org/t/p/w600_and_h900_bestv2/6YmeO4pB7XTh8P8F960O1uA14JO.jpg https://www.themoviedb.org/t/p/w600_and_h900_bestv2/bpjRGwfYJ71bU0hNhLIz7g3t6Oy.jpg

Two (2) films with the word "City" in their titles, paired with a foreign neo-noir film:

26. Sin City
25. Memories of Murder
24. Dark City
23. Le Cercle Rouge

https://www.themoviedb.org/t/p/w600_and_h900_bestv2/8qGW691AOyqbKsEhpe7nHwMEbRe.jpg https://www.themoviedb.org/t/p/w600_and_h900_bestv2/dVZJByLhVpbKp4YKAChM12MxSNn.jpg https://www.themoviedb.org/t/p/w600_and_h900_bestv2/AdBe2ow8hdlT2aLBYuUjs0Xkqkw.jpg https://www.themoviedb.org/t/p/w600_and_h900_bestv2/3X1EqovVKNpHoYHAhPznWDwQmqB.jpg

And I'm sure this is more of a mind thing, where if you look for connections anywhere you're gonna find them, but I still think it's cool. I like those kinds of things :laugh:

[Thief]

Also, in the Film Noir countdown, we had two (2) William Wyler films on the same day:

71. The Desperate Hours (1955)
72. The Letter (1940)

[stillmellow]

The ending to A Serious Man, plus the entire film in general, is intentionally unfair to the main character. The point it argues is that divine punishment is unfair, impossible to make sense of, and disproportionate to the nature of the crime.


I get that. I just don't feel it was presented in a watchable way. To me, when art is 90+ minutes long, it has to be palatable. But as my bio line suggests, I can be on the 'basic' side of things.

[stillmellow]

Ok, let's see the ones that ALMOST made it...

https://i.imgur.com/6zvM9VR.jpg

101. Harper (34 points)
102. Payback (34 points)
103. Badlands (32 points)
104. John Wick (32 points)
105. Sonatine (31 points)
106. Before the Devil Knows You're Dead (29 points)
107. Hard Eight (29 points)
108. Ghost Dog: The Way of the Samurai (29 points)
109. Wild at Heart (29 points)
110. The Killers (28 points)


https://i.imgur.com/mSAgKhK.jpg




Harper was on my list. A worthy 101st.


I like Sonatine, but thought of it more as a crime drama. As we've gone over, the difference between that and a neo-noir can be murky.


Am I the only one who voted for An Experiment in Terror?


https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/4/49/Experiment_In_Terror_poster.jpg

[SpelingError]

Ok, let's see the ones that ALMOST made it...

https://i.imgur.com/6zvM9VR.jpg

101. Harper (34 points)
102. Payback (34 points)
103. Badlands (32 points)
104. John Wick (32 points)
105. Sonatine (31 points)
106. Before the Devil Knows You're Dead (29 points)
107. Hard Eight (29 points)
108. Ghost Dog: The Way of the Samurai (29 points)
109. Wild at Heart (29 points)
110. The Killers (28 points)


https://i.imgur.com/mSAgKhK.jpg


Badlands is very good. It didn't make my ballot though as I prefer a few Malick films over it.

Ghost Dog was #21 on my ballot.

Wild at Heart is pretty good, but it didn't make my ballot.

[Thief]

Am I the only one who voted for An Experiment in Terror?


https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/4/49/Experiment_In_Terror_poster.jpg

I didn't vote for it, but I like it quite a bit.

[WHITBISSELL!]

Ok, let's see the ones that ALMOST made it...

101. Harper (34 points)
102. Payback (34 points)
103. Badlands (32 points)
104. John Wick (32 points)
105. Sonatine (31 points)
106. Before the Devil Knows You're Dead (29 points)
107. Hard Eight (29 points)
108. Ghost Dog: The Way of the Samurai (29 points)
109. Wild at Heart (29 points)
110. The Killers (28 points)Harper was my #16 and Badlands my #13. I've seen all these except for Before the Devil Knows You're Dead.

[Iroquois]

101. Harper (34 points)
102. Payback (34 points)
103. Badlands (32 points)
104. John Wick (32 points)
105. Sonatine (31 points)
106. Before the Devil Knows You're Dead (29 points)
107. Hard Eight (29 points)
108. Ghost Dog: The Way of the Samurai (29 points)
109. Wild at Heart (29 points)
110. The Killers (28 points)

two votes.

sonatine was my #9. definitely satisfied with kitano being represented on the list by fireworks, but i've always preferred this tale of a handful of yakuza whose botched intervention in an okinawa turf war leads to them hiding out in an isolated beach house. it's a curious blend of tones and styles - blunt violence meets chill hangout vibes, making for something so distinct in the process.

ghost dog was my #12. what can i say, jarmusch really knows how to put his own spin on genre even with a simple x-meets-y approach of making a hip-hop version of a melville film.

as for the others that i've seen here...

badlands is a great film but i guess i didn't consider it neo-noir.

john wick is excellent but for reasons that escape me now i put in a vote for chapter 4 instead. i had that at #22 - if i'd given that vote to the original, it would've made the list. would've made sense to pick it since it is also the closest the franchise gets to being a pure underworld neo-noir in the style of melville before the sequels practically turn it into a fantasy franchise. long short story, i'm an idiot.

before the devil knows you're dead and hard eight are good, but i've only seen either of them once.

wild at heart isn't too bad, but it's definitely my least favourite david lynch film.

saw payback once and thought it was flat-out bad.

[John-Connor]

https://i.imgur.com/E25vDQo.jpg
Ghost Dog: The Way of the Samurai is my shit! Didn't know it was eligible.:(
Can we do this countdown over? :D Next time pls PM me when Ghost Dog is eligible, thnx in advance.

[PHOENIX74]

12. No Country For Old Men - I don't really need to say anything about these movies, they're pretty high profile and most people have seen them. No Country For Old Men is a great movie I've seen several times and will no doubt see more times as my life continues. Tommy Lee Jones, Javier Bardem, Josh Brolin, Joel and Ethan Coen - terrific, fantastic, amazing. A really hard-edged adaptation of Cormac McCarthy's novel and yeah - Bardem and his Chigurh character are my favourite part of the whole experience. It's always the villain who gets to play the most interesting part. When I was a kid I used to secretly cheer on the villain because they were too much fun, and the hero was always boring in comparison. I was a good kid though - don't judge me on that! I had No Country For Old Men at #10 on my ballot. Might have been higher if I were more sure of it's neo noir status.

11. Fargo - Okay, Fargo is a masterpiece but I obviously had no idea what was neo noir and what was not - I relied on this or that website to nudge me in either direction, and this one didn't end up on the right side. Great movie. Frances McDormand, William H. Macy, Steve Buscemi, the Coens again - classic stuff. I haven't seen any of the television series. I have so little time for TV series, but there are a heap I'd like to get into if I could just pause my life and buy myself a lot of time. I never get tired of appreciating the performing arts. So, movies like Fargo and Pulp Fiction would have probably made my list but my selections went on two criteria - how much I liked them and how much I thought they were neo noir combined. If I was really unsure, the movie didn't make it. That broke my streak of 6 straight.

* Out of the films that nearly made it, I had Before the Devil Knows You're Dead at #16 - I'll talk more about it when going through my ballot later.

------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Seen : 65/90
I'd never even heard of : 9/90
Movies that had been on my radar, but I haven't seen yet : 16/90
Films from my list : 14 + 1

#12 - My #10 - No Country For Old Men (2007)
#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)
#106 - My #16 - Before the Devil Knows You're Dead (2007)

[mrblond]

98626

#109. Wild at Heart (1990) was my #2

That was a big movie for us when it came in the theatres. I've seen it several times only in the 90's alone and couple more times after then. Stylish, interesting, masterly directed film with great cast.

When other two of my favorites Red Rock West and The Hot Spot showed early in the countdown, I was pretty confident that Wild at Heart will come later on, thinking it is more popular as a whole. Upon entering the range #40-31, shadow of a doubt creeped my mind.

It seems a bit strange to me, these two Lynch flicks to be so separated. Blue Velvet to be so high at #13 and this one outside top 100. I would understand Wild at Heart not making the list if the former was somewhere in the range #70-80, but now :shrug:. These are kind of a group to me.
98627

[mrblond]

Where I am, before top 10 opening:

98628

-----

My Ballot
▽
1. Angel Heart (1987) [#31]
2. Wild at Heart (1990) [near misses]
3. Jackie Brown (1997) [#18]
4. The Driver (1978) [#79]
5.
6. Red Rock West (1993) [#88]
7. The Hot Spot (1990) [#85]
8. Shallow Grave (1994) [#95]
9. Le Cercle Rouge (1970) [#23]
10. The Man Who Wasn't There (2001) [#27]
11. Reservoir Dogs (1992) [#16]
12.
13.
14. Purple Noon (1960) [#94]
15.
16. Thelma & Louise (1991) [#56]
...
19. Dog Day Afternoon (1975) [#36]
20.
21. Mona Lisa (1986) [#78]
22. Blue Velvet (1986) [#13]
23. Hard Eight (1996) [near misses]
24. Pulp Fiction (1994) [#37]
25.

https://image.tmdb.org/t/p/w154/h5v3wjJQNB7q2RntEnKDLhKtTFE.jpg https://image.tmdb.org/t/p/w154/tGCEhrjS7fLuOYaGLAklo07ULO4.jpg https://image.tmdb.org/t/p/w154/ewbLUXvm4riZL0aepy90o0vMesn.jpg https://image.tmdb.org/t/p/w154/bd175Fmt3Web3j0qXahSKmdZPOe.jpg https://image.tmdb.org/t/p/w154/wI6CalCMdSKXgx10gzfHY3vwyzf.jpg https://image.tmdb.org/t/p/w154/iQCP69183K1QZo8bb23nkcLap3W.jpg https://image.tmdb.org/t/p/w154/5t0mGiFlj5GBrZ7ggvvkMdFJ7fV.jpg https://image.tmdb.org/t/p/w154/3X1EqovVKNpHoYHAhPznWDwQmqB.jpg https://image.tmdb.org/t/p/w154/5ecDOWpNoYJfrQ4Epxx8vYXKUcQ.jpg

https://image.tmdb.org/t/p/w154/g7spS2Y4SZoQoC6Hn7zoqEqdYqR.jpg https://image.tmdb.org/t/p/w154/7n1KNXs4OFfeVLjJ3g10M8oK1fM.jpg https://image.tmdb.org/t/p/w154/cQaqpwN5Nq0GNNKE1hIgYLpLlca.jpg https://image.tmdb.org/t/p/w154/mavrhr0ig2aCRR8d48yaxtD5aMQ.jpg https://image.tmdb.org/t/p/w154/8VuPD8ZKAqxT6F1HaH9sFFURmsi.jpg https://image.tmdb.org/t/p/w154/1ngSOsdyYaI6hw6B9gEreWLQocf.jpg https://image.tmdb.org/t/p/w154/1l5UaoP25Ak8PWCKIULQz70yF03.jpg https://image.tmdb.org/t/p/w154/d5iIlFn5s0ImszYzBPb8JPIfbXD.jpg

-----

Others on my radar:
▽
The Ninth Gate (1999) [one-pointers]
The Talented Mr. Ripley (1999) [#96]
True Romance (1993) [#60]
Thief (1981) [#29]
The Conversation (1974) [#28]
Sin City (2005) [#26]
Fargo (1996) [#11]

[Holden Pike]

I'm a little surprised that Harper (1966) is the one that got closest to cracking the Top 100. I like it fine and it is a good example of the private dick genre transitioning from the hardboiled '40 and '50s into the counterculture of the 1960s before the renaissance of the Watergate 1970s, but its tone is a more than a bit hit and miss and, to my taste, doesn't hold up especially well past the star power of Newman. It does have an amazing cast: Lauren Bacall, Janet Leigh, Shelley Winters, Robert Wagner, Robert Webber, Julie Harris, Pamela Tiffin, Harold Gould, Strother Martin...but despite a script by William Goldman adapting the first Ross Macdonald Lew Archer novel, the mix of humor and jeopardy doesn't quite come together. A lot of good scenes, not enough tying them together. The somewhat superstitious Newman changing the character's name from Archer to Harper because he had enjoyed success with other H pictures in The Hustler and Hud may have thrown a voodoo curse over it?

I think the comedic tone they were going for is similar to what "The Rockford Files" turned out to be on television in the 1970s. Jim Garner had a poke at that himself in the 1960s with Marlowe (1969), a very swinging '60s adaptation of Chandler's The Little Sister, probably best known today for a couple scenes where Bruce Lee plays one of the henchmen Philip Marlowe must dispatch. It has some of the exact same tone problems that Harper has.

98630

Harper was just successful enough that it did spawn a belated sequel nine years later, The Drowning Pool (1975). I happen to like that one a lot more than the original Lew Harper mystery. Another more than solid cast including Joanne Woodward, Melanie Griffith, Anthony Franciosa, Murray Hamilton, Gail Strickland, Andrew Robinson, Paul Koslo, and Richard Jaeckel. It is certainly not up to the level of the top tier of 1970s detective flicks - Chinatown, The Long Goodbye, Night Moves - but it sits comfortably on the second tier with The Big Fix and The Late Show. And there is yet another movie that is not an official Harper sequel but is a spiritual successor starring Newman called Twilight (1998) - sorry, Kids, no shiny vampires. That cast is a big wow with Gene Hackman, Susan Sarandon, James Garner, Reese Witherspoon, Stockard Channing, Giancarlo Esposito, Liev Schreiber, John Spencer, and M. Emmet Walsh! Newman's mostly retired private detective Harry Ross could just as easily have been an aged Lew Harper/Archer shifting through lies and corruption one last time. I like Twilight more than Harper, too.

But a couple of you MoFos must have had Harper pretty high for it to finish at #101.

[CosmicRunaway]

I finally got around to watching No Country For Old Men in preparation for this Countdown, and it would've made my Westerns list had I seen it before. I wasn't really a fan of Drive, but it's another one of those "I should rewatch this" films that I think I'll like better if I gave it another chance. I did rewatch Blue Velvet while working on my list, but it didn't quite make the cut. I still haven't seen Fargo.

From the near misses, John Wick was very high on my list at #4. The film was a breath of fresh air for the action genre when it first came out, and while I don't particularly like the sequels, I'm still quite fond of the first film in the franchise. The cinematography is great, and has a very noir aesthetic, just with coloured lights instead of the stark black and white contrast that the classics had. I strangely didn't mention any of that when I first wrote about the film, but I did make sure to point out how appreciative I was that the fight scenes didn't feature shaky cam, which was the bane of my existence at the time haha. I also only gave it a rating_4 when I rated it, but I'd definitely go half a popcorn higher.

http://www.movieforums.com/community/attachment.php?attachmentid=25685&stc=1&d=1464526831


John Wick (2014)
Dir. Chad Stahelski, David Leitch.
Starring: Keanu Reeves, Michael Nyqvist


At first glance, John Wick is a revenge story that audiences have seen dozens of times before, however directors Chad Stahelski and David Leitch make an effort to add style to their action flick, without coming across as pretentious. Perhaps to the benefit of Keanu Reeves, who plays the titular character, there is a distinct lack of spoken dialogue, especially in early scenes. Instead the film uses atmosphere, its visuals, and sound design to set the story without needing to force unnecessary exposition on the audience.

For these reasons John Wick is smarter than the average action film, allowing the audience to discover the meaning of events through context. The histories and relationships of the characters, the rules of their trade, and businesses such as the Continental Hotel are all easily understood without an outright explanation. However not everything in John Wick is that subtle. John Wick unabashedly sports an R-rating from the MPAA at a time when most mainstream action films are cutting content to score a more accessible PG-13.

http://www.movieforums.com/community/attachment.php?attachmentid=25687&stc=1&d=1464527444


Viewers who were disappointed with the cuts made to other action films of 2014 will appreciate that John Wick doesn't water down its content in order to be more marketable. The action is appropriately bloody, but not grotesque. Refreshingly unlike a lot of action films at the time, John Wick's fight sequences are not filmed with the often overused “shaky cam” technique. In a bold move, John Wick's scenes are framed in such a manner that all of the action is clearly visible. Viewers can easily follow the actors' movements, and are never left wondering “wait...what just happened?”.

The film also has a number of light-hearted moments which lift the mood with a quick laugh. They don't seem forced, but rather a quirk of the film's universe and the characters which inhabit it. The film does however get too corny with some of the subtitles for its Russian speaking characters, where key words will be in bold font and coloured for emphasis. The film otherwise follows the “less is more” mindset, but breaks that rule here in a jarring manner that pulls the audience out of of what is otherwise a relatively restrained movie.

rating_4

If you're looking for a stylish take on a classic revenge story, then John Wick is the movie for you.


I'm sad to see it didn't quite make the cut, especially since I was being hopeful after some less overtly neo-noir films on my list did make it. Oh well.

Seen: 49/90

My List: 14
01.
02. Blade Runner 2049 (2017) - #44
03. Kiss Kiss Bang Bang (2005) - #42
04. John Wick (2014) - DNP
05. Blue Ruin (2013) - #82
06. Mother (2009) - #67
07. Dark City (1998) - #24
08. Strange Days (1995) - #65
09.
10. The Man from Nowhere (2010) - #87
11.
12. Reservoir Dogs (1992) - #16
13.
14. Angel Heart (1987) - #31
15. Infernal Affairs (2002) - #91
16.
17. Memories of Murder (2003) - #25
18.
19.
20. The Usual Suspects (1995) - #20
21. Oldboy (2003) - #52
22.
23. Nightcrawler (2014) - #21
24.
25. The Chaser (2008) - DNP 1-pointer

[Holden Pike]

I finally got around to watching No Country For Old Men in preparation for this Countdown, and it would've made my Westerns list had I seen it before.
No Country for Old Men undoubtably would have placed very highly on the MoFo Westerns List...but we took a vote and the majority decided it was too much of a hybrid to include, so we made it ineligible. It is much more of a Neo Western than it is a Neo Noir, but...here we are.

[CosmicRunaway]

No Country for Old Men undoubtably would have placed very highly on the MoFo Westerns List...but we took a vote and the majority decided it was too much of a hybrid to include, so we made it ineligible. It is much more of a Neo Western than it is a Neo Noir, but...here we are.
Now that you mention it, that does actually sound familiar. I might've seen that at the time, but since I hadn't seen the film then, I didn't retain the information since it wasn't important to my ballot either way.

I was really on the fence about whether or not to include it on my neo-noir list, and that indecisiveness was the reason why I didn't. It's definitely a hard film to categorize, but that's also part of what makes it interesting.

[Thief]

https://media.giphy.com/media/v1.Y2lkPTc5MGI3NjExd2p4Z2YwODV5dm81ZDhhazl0MWFnNzF4ZW1zcWN5cGNvcnJwNXpteSZlcD12MV9pbnRlcm5hbF9naWZfY nlfaWQmY3Q9Zw/xTgeJ9wvIb5cS78U92/giphy.gif


Ok, people rounds are squares and moneys on the double! Let's see those bets for the #10 Spot, c'mon! We have...


10. Blood Simple



10. Le Samurai


10. Blood Simple

10. Mulholland Drive


I'm gonna guess Blade Runner for #10 for no particular reason.

Two points for a Coen brothers trifecta with Blood Simple, one point for Le Samourai, one point for Mulholland Drive, one point for Blade Runner. Anyone else?

[John W Constantine]

I had one of those options...

[Sedai]

10. Mulholland Drive

I think the overall fan base for this film is just a bit smaller than many think, so I will take a shot at it not making the top 5...

[Thief]

AWARDS?

https://bostonhassle.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/12/Fargo-1996-1-2.jpg


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


Seven (7) Academy Award nominations, including a win for Best Actress (Frances McDormand)
Six (6) BAFTA Film Award nominations, including the David Lean Award for Direction (Joel Coen)
Four (4) Critics Choice Award nominations, including a win for Best Picture
Three (3) Saturn Award nominations, including a win for Best Action/Adventure/Thriller Film
Two (2) Cannes Film Festival nominations, including a win for Best Director (Coen)

[Thief]

AWARDS?

https://www.pluggedin.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/12/no-country-for-old-men-1024x435.png


No Country for Old Men received a sh!tload of nominations and awards. These are some of the most notable:


Nine (9) BAFTA Film Award nominations, including the David Lean Award for Direction (Joel & Ethan Coen)
Eight (8) Academy Award nominations, including a win for Best Picture
Seven (7) Satellite Award nominations, including a win for Best Motion Picture
Four (4) Golden Globe Award nominations, including a win for Best Supporting Actor (Javier Bardem)
One (2) Cannes Film Festival nomination for the Palme d'Or

[Thief]

I had one of those options...

Which one? c'mon!

https://i.giphy.com/ywl1399lYn5ZEYVslt.webp

[Miss Vicky]

I'm gonna guess Blade Runner for #10 for no particular reason.

[John W Constantine]

Which one? c'mon!

https://i.giphy.com/ywl1399lYn5ZEYVslt.webp

I'll tell you all about it....right after we come back from these following commercials!

[Thief]

While we wait for the reveal, have some fun with a simple game:

Neo-Noir by actors (https://www.sporcle.com/games/Lawrence_O_Toole/neo_noir)