The Resident Bitch Prepares for the MoFo 2000s Countdown

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The Resident Bitch Prepares For
The MoFo 2000s Countdown


I'm pretty excited about the upcoming MoFo Top 100 Movies of the 2000s since that is my favorite decade for movies. I'm starting with a really long "shortlist" of potential movies to fill my ballot, but many of them I haven't watched in a very long time, some I've seen for the first time more recently but have only seen once, and some I just want to watch again because I love them so much.

So rather than resurrecting my Movie Log for this, I've decided to make a dedicated thread so I can more easily reference my thoughts and ratings when the difficult and painful time comes to start hacking away at that list.

If there are some qualifying films you think I should watch, feel free to post them here. I can't guarantee that I'll actually get to these recommendations and with so many qualifying movies that I already enjoy it's unlikely they'll make the cut, but I'll take it into consideration.



(Bit of a cheat here. I rewatched this movie at the beginning of the year and posted this on Letterboxd. I'm reposting it here because I probably won't rewatch it again before the deadline.)
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Almost Famous (Cameron Crowe, 2000)
Imdb

Date Watched: 01/01/2021
Rewatch: Yes.


It's been quite a few years since I last gave this a watch and I'd forgotten what a charming film it is. The performances were all really strong. I think Patrick Fugit did well to show the evolution of William from a naive, star-struck kid to someone who is no longer blind to the dark side of things, but hasn't lost the passion for the music. Frances McDormand is hilarious as his mother and is another standout for me. I also loved all the fashion and the general look of the film. It really captured what I imagine that era felt like like.

Of course my fondness for classic rock helped me to stay engaged, but mostly it's just a really fun movie.





Apocalypto (Mel Gibson, 2006)
Imdb

Date Watched: 09/02/2021
Rewatch: Yes.


Set in a very fictionalized last-days-of-the-Maya timeframe, Mel Gibson's Apocalypto plays really fast and really loose with history and he was lucky to have put this out in a time before social media, when the voices railing against cultural misrepresentation weren't quite so loud, quite so widespread, and quite so threatening.

But as flawed as it may be in that respect, in almost every other it is a treat. I remember watching this movie in the theater and being really wowed by its potent combination of beauty and brutality. Set against gorgeous natural backdrops with vibrant colors and jaw dropping imagery, it kept me on the edge of my seat as the hero Jaguar Paw dodged one horrific near death encounter after another. I thought it was great and I made sure to buy the DVD as soon as it was released. I probably watched it again as soon as I got it, but then it sat there collecting dust as it got passed over for shorter English language movies with recognizable stars.

So when I rewatched it tonight it was with nearly fresh eyes, remembering only its most basic plot elements. Once again I was struck by its amazing imagery and skillful (if perhaps not overly original) storytelling. I will say though that there is one particular scene with effects that really didn't age well - or perhaps never looked good at all - and I was briefly taken out of the movie. But this is a very minor complaint. Except for that one little moment, I was fully engrossed in it.

That said though, as much as I enjoyed it tonight, I suspect it may once again be a case of being wowed by it in the moment but it not leaving any really strong, lasting impression. I'm definitely not crossing it off my list just yet, and we'll see how I feel about it in three months time, but it is up against some very stiff competition.




Apocalypto There's one that I really liked way back when it first came out, but I haven't seen it since. So do I rewatch it so that it's fresh in my mind? Forget it for something I've seen more recently and can remember? Or do I possibly include it on my ballot based on my 15 year old memory of it?



Apocalypto There's one that I really liked way back when it first came out, but I haven't seen it since. So do I rewatch it so that it's fresh in my mind? Forget it for something I've seen more recently and can remember? Or do I possibly include it on my ballot based on my 15 year old memory of it?
I say rewatch it.




Death to Smoochy (Danny DeVito, 2002)
Imdb

Date Watched: 09/03/2021
Rewatch: Yes.


"It's the rhino, Angie. The devil sent him here from hell to destroy me. Smoochy is the face of evil!"

Danny DeVito's Death to Smoochy is the tale of a naive idealist who finds himself immersed in a world of corporate greed, corruption, bribery, strong-arm tactics, violence, and drugs, where he struggles to keep his integrity and his reputation intact and his heart still beating. There are threats all around him: from his double-crossing associates, from his deranged predecessor, and even from the head of a charitable organization. Children's television sure is brutal!

Although it was panned by many critics (and Harry Lime), this has long been one of my favorite movies. I don't usually go for comedies but this unique satire with its incredible cast (including Ed Norton, Robin Williams, Catherine Keener, Danny Devito, Jon Stewart, Danny Woodburn, and Vincent Schiavelli), rapid fire jokes, and absurd humor keeps me laughing from start to finish.

I've got a lot of movies left to consider and only 25 slots to fill, so it's still up in the air whether this will make the cut, but it's definitely a contender.

+




Tropic Thunder (Ben Stiller, 2008)
Imdb

Date Watched: 09/03/2021
Rewatch: Yes.


I decided to make it an actor-directed satirical comedy double-feature.

When I first heard about this movie, I was not all interested in a comedy about making a war movie and especially not one starring Ben Stiller and Jack Black. But my mom wanted to see it and she was paying, so... why not?

I laughed my ass off. The movie is outrageous and irreverent, poking fun at the ridiculousness that is the Hollywood movie making machine. And no cog in that machine is spared. Executives, directors, agents, pyrotechnicians, crew, the Oscar academy, and especially the actors themselves get sent up as the eccentric, egotistical, and out-of-touch buffoons that many of them are. And yet none of the humor ever comes across as malicious.

I'm still not at all a fan of Stiller or Black, but they both turned in excellent performances - even if they were overshadowed by two other stars, Robert Downey, Jr. and Tom Cruise, who were both nearly unrecognizable. The rest of the supporting cast were all excellent as well.

As I sat down to watch it again today, though, I was worried that the jokes might not land like they did 13 years ago. I've seen Tropic Thunder many times, but it's a good long while since the last time. I'll admit that it certainly didn't blow me away this time like it did the first time, but for a comedy, it held up really well and I won't be eliminating it from my possibilities just yet.




Damn, forgot about "Death to Smoochy". Dark comedy is my favorite genre and embarrassed not to remembering it.. My list now stands at 30 with no idea who gets the boot.I

On the other end of the spectrum, I hated " TropicThunder" almost as much as "Superbad".



Apocalypto There's one that I really liked way back when it first came out, but I haven't seen it since. So do I rewatch it so that it's fresh in my mind? Forget it for something I've seen more recently and can remember? Or do I possibly include it on my ballot based on my 15 year old memory of it?
I say rewatch too. I haven't seen it in a couple of years, but have seen it several times after theaters, and always enjoyed it. Intense, edge-of-your-seat thrills.




Death to Smoochy (Danny DeVito, 2002)
Imdb

Date Watched: 09/03/2021
Rewatch: Yes.


"It's the rhino, Angie. The devil sent him here from hell to destroy me. Smoochy is the face of evil!"

Danny DeVito's Death to Smoochy is the tale of a naive idealist who finds himself immersed in a world of corporate greed, corruption, bribery, strong-arm tactics, violence, and drugs, where he struggles to keep his integrity and his reputation intact his heart still beating. There are threats all around him: from his double-crossing associates, from his deranged predecessor, and even from the head of a charitable organization. Children's television sure is brutal!

Although it was panned by many critics (and Harry Lime), this has long been one of my favorite movies. I don't usually go for comedies but this unique satire with its incredible cast (including Ed Norton, Robin Williams, Catherine Keener, Danny Devito, Jon Stewart, Danny Woodburn, and Vincent Schiavelli), rapid fire jokes, and absurd humor keeps me laughing from start to finish.

I've got a lot of movies left to consider and only 25 slots to fill, so it's still up in the air whether this will make the cut, but it's definitely a contender.

+
This is one I've always been on the fence on whether to see or not. Like you said, reviews were very mixed back in the day, so I kinda stepped away from it, but I've heard good things about it since.



This is one I've always been on the fence on weather to see or not. Like you said, reviews were very mixed back in the day, so I kinda stepped away from it, but I've heard good things about it since.
I have no idea what your taste or sense of humor is like, but there’s no harm in giving it a shot. If you’re not into it after a bit, just don’t finish.



I have no idea what your taste or sense of humor is like, but there’s no harm in giving it a shot. If you’re not into it after a bit, just don’t finish.
I can dig black humor, or any kind of humor, as long as its well executed. I'm gonna keep it in my mind, if I see it available somewhere.




Cold Mountain (Anthony Minghella, 2003)
Imdb

Date Watched: 09/04/2021
Rewatch: Yes.


"Every piece of this is man's bulls***. They call this war "a cloud over the land" but they made the weather and then they stand in the rain and say "S***, it's rainin'!""

This is another movie that I initially saw because my mom wanted to see it and I'm not one to turn down a free trip to the movie theater. However, the thought of sitting through a 2.5 hour long American Civil War romance starring a Brit and an Aussie didn't exactly appeal to me at the time. This was not at all helped by the fact that I really don't like that particular Brit.

My reservations were unfounded. While the film is not without its sap, Cold Mountain is a stunning look at the suffering inflicted when a country divides and turns on itself. And while it doesn't shy away from showing the horrors of battle, it's the trauma and hardship endured by the average citizen that is its focus. While soldiers fight and die in the muck and the gore, those left at home face food shortages, financial ruin, the deaths of loved ones, and the constant threat from the Home Guard.

Cold Mountain is a tragic tale that is framed by gorgeous landscapes, beautiful cinematography, and a wonderful score. It is a film that is breathtaking, heartbreaking. It depicts both the best and worst of humanity and it does so through the excellent and memorable performances from a slew of familiar faces in the supporting cast including Renée Zellweger (in an Oscar-winning role), Philip Seymour Hoffman, Brendan Gleeson, Natalie Portman, Donald Sutherland, Ray Winstone, Giovanni Ribisi, Jack White, Kathy Baker, James Gammon, and Jenna Malone. As to those leads? I still don't like Jude Law but I'd be lying if I said that he and Nicole Kidman didn't pull their weight. Though they were not the standouts of the cast, I thought they were both wonderful as two awkward people who fall in love through a few fleeting moments and then cling to the idea of each other and the hope of meeting again as their reason to go on when all else is lost and they're surrounded by misery.

But the film is not without hope or without humor. It offers both in spades and is as entertaining as it is devastating. Today was the first time in awhile that I'd seen this. I've always known that I've loved it, but I'd allowed myself to forget just how much I love it. With so few slots available on my ballot and so many movies that I love as much or more, it could end up being an extremely painful cut come the deadline, but right now it's a very serious contender.