Jinn's 100 Films of the 2010s

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Victim of The Night
Let's not say things we can't take back.


This was my favorite spider movie growing up.



A system of cells interlinked
40. Jojo Rabbit (2019, dir. Taika Waititi)





Some people, I understand, were offended by this film. Personally, I think they probably need to get drop-kicked out a window quicker than Hitler. Some of the humor (like the opening comparing the Hitler Youth to Beatlemania) is deceptively scathing, some of it is just silly (the satirical banality of evil), some of it triumphant (Sam Rockwell's fabulous fashion sense). But the film also knows when to be touching, and exactly the line where these gestapo games are no longer a laughing matter. Our child actors, Roman Griffith Davis and Thomisine McKenzie, are no goonies but sympathetic idealists. You know, folks, the Nazis still don't win here. Calm down.
Most of the people I run into that claim they are put off or offended by this film, haven't even seen it, simply claiming Nazis are no laughing matter. As if dozens of other films in the past haven't used comedy to process the horrors of the Third Reich.
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Most of the people I run into that claim they are put off or offended by this film, haven't even seen it, simply claiming Nazis are no laughing matter. As if dozens of other films in the past haven't used comedy to process the horrors of the Third Reich.
Ugh, I've seen the same responses and its so frustrating. Of course Nazi's are a laughing matter. Has anyone ever taken a good look at the ****ing clown they followed? At the pathetic levels of empty pageantry they needed to disguise their moral cowardice? Is it really an acceptable level of cultural retribution to only portray them as the ultimate avatar of villainy, and skip on our opportunity to also throw a few cream pies in their faces, or show them having the ass of their pants split mid-goosestep? Nazi's are the perfect mix of being pitiful without even the slightest redemptive qualities, which makes them the absolute ideal target for comedy.

It's a shame that laughter somehow became misunderstood as being an entirely empty gesture signifying nothing but a good time. Laughter is political, and it is a weapon. There is an enormous difference between laughing at Nazi's and laughing at the results of Nazism. Laughing at Nazi's, not only attempts to disarm the power they still have over us to this day, but helps squash the seeds in ourselves that can lead us towards such small-minded, cowardly, bigoted ideologies. It's like those who railed against the Life of Brian for disparaging the words of Jesus, not understanding the film was ridiculing those who misunderstood those words and how willing many of us are to blindly follow anyone who claims to offer a solution.

Ultimately, humours greatest value is drawing attention to all of the follies of being human, and how many events in modern history have been a better example of human folly than the rise of Hitler? So to all of those who say this is an off topic issue to be ridiculed, try and take a few minutes to look at what you are actually protecting by shielding it from a few jokes. It might not be what you think.



Hopefully, I'm not spoiling an upcoming entry, but while I liked Jojo Rabbit, I loved Boy, Taika Waititi's other movie about what happens when idealizing a father figure goes wrong.



Hopefully, I'm not spoiling an upcoming entry, but while I liked Jojo Rabbit, I loved Boy, Taika Waititi's other movie about what happens when idealizing a father figure goes wrong.
I haven't seen that one yet.



Most of the people I run into that claim they are put off or offended by this film, haven't even seen it, simply claiming Nazis are no laughing matter.
I saw a review somewhere, maybe Slate or something, which said that by having a sympathetic Nazi character (Sam Rockwell) was equivalent to Trump's line about "fine people on both sides". Which is ludicrous, even without botheing to understand that character's repressive duplicity.


Ultimately, humours greatest value is drawing attention to all of the follies of being human, and how many events in modern history have been a better example of human folly than the rise of Hitler?
Especially, maybe, as we can see authoritarianism becoming popular again on a scale not seen since, it's important to mock not just the object of Nazism (with their pompous regalia) but also the appeal that this speaks to. I mentioned how the film's comparison with Beatlemania was "deceptively scathing". What's deceptive about the joke is that it seems pretty ridiculous and the comparison does seem to soften the danger of the movement. But what's scathing is the historical reality of how easily and enthusiatically Nazism was embraced by the popular culture of 1930s Germany. That kind of joke should be shocking, not because the joke is glib but because glib popular attitudes can potentially enable atrocity. It's all fun and games, until....



I actually prefer Hardy's take on Max to Gibson's now; I mean, Mel was good as the character in his own entries, but he still didn't leave as much of an impression as Hardy's sheer, animalistic intensity in Fury Road, if you ask me
Unfortunately "vulpine" doesn't mean "animal intensity" so you missed the point I was making anyway, but sometimes, Stu, you really can make being wrong into an artform of its own.



33. Blue Ruin (2013, dir. Jeremy Saulnier)





An excellent crime/revenge drama that has a touch of the Coens' Blood Simple/No Country vibe in that Saulnier has a similar touch in plotting interesting contingencies - basically a Murphy's Law series of complications - mixed with a small-town realism. Macon Blair, our hapless antihero, is outstanding in unassuming ways.


HM: Macon Blair is also a promising filmmaker in his own right, and his debut, I Don't Feel at Home in this World Anymore is not as exciting, but a very good film in its own right.



32. Burning (2018, dir. Lee Chang-dong)





The most fascinating South Korean thriller since Memories of Murder, it's a slow, moody and suggestive mystery evocatively shot with many ambiguous images. Disturbing and dream-like.



31. Ain't Them Bodies Saints (2013, dir. David Lowery)





Another example of a recent film about working-class small town rural America that doesn't condescend to its subjects (unlike, say, Hillbilly Elegy *gag*), this film strongly alludes to Malick's Badlands with it subject of young criminal lovers and Lowery's convincing rustic atmosphere (although Affleck's Bob is much more sympathetic than Sheen's Kit). Uniformly solid performances, with Keith Carradine perhaps at his best in a late-career comeback, and a surprisingly subdued turn by Ben Foster, an actor I normally can't stand because of his more hysterical, crazy-eyed tendencies. I guess he can actually be pretty impressive with a director capable of reigning him in.



30. Ex Machina (2014, dir. Alex Garland)





Clever sci-fi surrounding the nature of artifical intelligence and sentience. A Bezos/Musk-esque tech billionaire brings in a top programmer from his company to a secluded, extravagant compound to study his latest android creation and to administer the Turing test to see if she can pass for self-aware. Problems arise, secret motives emerge, intrigue compounds, Alicia Vikander steals our sentimental hearts and Oscar Isaac cuts a f#cking rug like Travolta.


HM: Garland's follow-up, Annihilation (with the real Natalie Portman this time ), is nearly as impressive, and probably should have been on this list.



32. Burning (2018, dir. Lee Chang-dong)





The most fascinating South Korean thriller since Memories of Murder, it's a slow, moody and suggestive mystery evocatively shot with many ambiguous images. Disturbing and dream-like.
Loved this one. I think it did a great job at capturing alienation and melancholia in the first half and ambiguous terror in the second half.
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34. Enemy (2013, dir. Denis Villenueve)





There's that scene in Prestige where, upon encountering his double, the magician instinctively kills him. It's a terrifying trait of primal human psychology. This film involves a similar fear/fascination with the doppleganger, even obsession. Donnie Darko done good here. And (sorry, Rock) that last shot is a scream.
I don't have any issues with this one. However, it has left me emotionally distant both times I watched it. Arrival is my favorite of Villeneuve's films.



Victim of The Night
...I actually prefer Hardy's take on Max to Gibson's now; I mean, Mel was good as the character in his own entries, but he still didn't leave as much of an impression as Hardy's sheer, animalistic intensity in Fury Road, if you ask me:

I gotta be honest, this surprises me. I didn't think Hardy's Max left much of an impression at all. He was just sorta there for me, filling in for an actor grown too old to wear the leathers of a character he created and completely inhabited. Almost like a mannequin.
And I generally like Tom Hardy. But I felt like he got overshadowed twice in one movie, once by the ghost of Mel Gibson and once by Charlize Theron.



Victim of The Night
30. Ex Machina (2014, dir. Alex Garland)





Clever sci-fi surrounding the nature of artifical intelligence and sentience. A Bezos/Musk-esque tech billionaire brings in a top programmer from his company to a secluded, extravagant compound to study his latest android creation and to administer the Turing test to see if she can pass for self-aware. Problems arise, secret motives emerge, intrigue compounds, Alicia Vikander steals our sentimental hearts and Oscar Isaac cuts a f#cking rug like Travolta.


HM: Garland's follow-up, Annihilation (with the real Natalie Portman this time ), is nearly as impressive, and probably should have been on this list.
This pleases me greatly.



Also, Isaacs dancing was not lost on me either. I actually felt it was important to the film that he be good at it. Reminded me a bit of Sam Rockwell in Charlie's Angels in that it mattered that he could pull it off with an easy, self-assured swagger.



The "plot" is just a conveyer for one incredible set piece to arrive at another incredible set piece.
Eh, I don't mind that mode of Action movie (how else would I be a fan of Speed otherwise, eh?), but The Raid 2 spent way too much (unnecessary) time and effort on its knotty plot for it to feel like just a conveyer belt movie. Not saying I don't like Action movies with more in-depth stories either, but there's a right way to do that, and a wrong.
Unfortunately "vulpine" doesn't mean "animal intensity" so you missed the point I was making anyway, but sometimes, Stu, you really can make being wrong into an artform of its own.
I get that, but what I'm saying is, a rabid fox has more of a screen presence than a relatively calm one.





I gotta be honest, this surprises me. I didn't think Hardy's Max left much of an impression at all. He was just sorta there for me, filling in for an actor grown too old to wear the leathers of a character he created and completely inhabited. Almost like a mannequin.
And I generally like Tom Hardy. But I felt like he got overshadowed twice in one movie, once by the ghost of Mel Gibson and once by Charlize Theron.
I dunno, I just don't see Mel's Max being able to capture the same level of intensity as Hardy did in this scene:




I get that, but what I'm saying is, a rabid fox has more of a screen presence than a relatively calm one.
And what I said is that this is the kind of woefully wrong hot take that you could hang in a museum as inscrutable abstract art.



Welcome to the human race...
Hardy is fine as Max, he brings a different energy to Gibson and that's arguably necessary when the film at large differs from the Gibson entries.

Ugh, I've seen the same responses and its so frustrating. Of course Nazi's are a laughing matter. Has anyone ever taken a good look at the ****ing clown they followed? At the pathetic levels of empty pageantry they needed to disguise their moral cowardice? Is it really an acceptable level of cultural retribution to only portray them as the ultimate avatar of villainy, and skip on our opportunity to also throw a few cream pies in their faces, or show them having the ass of their pants split mid-goosestep? Nazi's are the perfect mix of being pitiful without even the slightest redemptive qualities, which makes them the absolute ideal target for comedy.

It's a shame that laughter somehow became misunderstood as being an entirely empty gesture signifying nothing but a good time. Laughter is political, and it is a weapon. There is an enormous difference between laughing at Nazi's and laughing at the results of Nazism. Laughing at Nazi's, not only attempts to disarm the power they still have over us to this day, but helps squash the seeds in ourselves that can lead us towards such small-minded, cowardly, bigoted ideologies. It's like those who railed against the Life of Brian for disparaging the words of Jesus, not understanding the film was ridiculing those who misunderstood those words and how willing many of us are to blindly follow anyone who claims to offer a solution.

Ultimately, humours greatest value is drawing attention to all of the follies of being human, and how many events in modern history have been a better example of human folly than the rise of Hitler? So to all of those who say this is an off topic issue to be ridiculed, try and take a few minutes to look at what you are actually protecting by shielding it from a few jokes. It might not be what you think.
In that case, I think it would be fair for me to say that there is nothing inherently wrong with mocking Nazis but that Jojo Rabbit in particular is a bad example of how to do it for these exact reasons (e.g. it has multiple Nazis who can be considered sympathetic/relatable/redemptive).
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Iro's Top 100 Movies v3.0



Some very good films cropping up here. Love Blue Ruin. I'm a big fan of Korean movies, so I'm always a bit perplexed as to why 'Burning' is so popular with Western audiences. I'd say it's Chang Dong's weakest film