The MoFo Top 100 of the 2000s Countdown

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I liked Amelie a lot when I saw it, but it's been way too long.


Two Towers is my favourite of the LOTR trilogy thanks to Helm's Deep and a better killer-to-filler ratio than the other entries.


Voted for neither.





Longtime MoFos know I have been a champion of Le Fabuleux Destin d'Amélie Poulain since my initial experience with it (the first of what wound up being five or six theatrical viewings during its initial engagements in America). To say it is a sweet, romantic movie is true but rather misses the dark humor and just plain wonderful weirdness that permeates throughout and the joyous invention of the filmmaking. It was in my Top Ten, of course. I had it at number eight on this ballot but could just as well have been first or second or third. I haven't run Amélie for my wife yet as I am waiting until the AFI theater in Silver Spring or one of the other revival houses in town screens it. The pandemic has pushed that inevitability back a bit, but I'll get her there eventually.

HOLDEN’S BALLOT
1. The Three Burials of Melquiades Estrada (#86)
2. Dancer in the Dark (#49)
7. Children of Men (#17)
8. Amélie (#16)
9. The Lives of Others (#41)
10. The Pianist (#31)
14. Synecdoche, New York (#46)
15. Moon (#48)
16. Fantastic Mr. Fox (#70)
17. The Diving Bell and the Butterfly (#92)
18. A Serious Man (#66)
19. Adaptation. (#43)
20. The Assassination of Jesse James by the Coward Robert Ford (#51)
21. Downfall (#28)
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Society ennobler, last seen in Medici's Florence
• After a long gap, I score again. Amélie was #3 on my ballot. Saw it in the theater when it came out and later got the DVD on some mall sale. One of the most seen movies for me of the last two decades, probably 9-10 re-watches. If you say now, I'm ready to start it.
Everything is superb here - beautiful photography, colorful characters, nice cast, interesting story, funny moments, touching scenes. I think, this title is already pinned on the cinema classics board. Absolute feast
.

Potentially one of the main top 10 candidates for lists like this, I'm happy it made top 20. Seeing the parade in the countdown, at some point, I was afraid not to be kicked outside of top 50.


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• Back then, we were in the theatre for all three LOTRs in a row. In addition, I've seen them unplanned 3-4 more times through the years, last time about six months ago. These are often on the local cable TVs. Can't understand when people claim some of these is favorite, it is one and the same meal cut in portions.
Fat budget entertainment full of mediocre dialogues and crappy acting. Anyway, it is an OK show which I never consider for polls like this.
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my stats

Top 100 seen 48/86.
(seen one pointers 3/38 • seen 101-110: 5/10)
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My list:
...
3. Amélie [#16.]
4. Snatch [#71.]
5. The Royal Tenenbaums [#35.]
...
8. Sideways [#39.]
9. Amores perros [#81.]
10. The Wrestler [#54.]
...
12. The Pianist [#31.]
14. The Man Who Wasn't There [#84.]
...

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Not on my ballot Top 100 movies I'd support:  
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Spoken like a man who saves the day
Such a Chad move of Gandalf to show up at the last minute and steal the win.
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Catching up: Oldboy and O Brother are pretty decent, not on my list. Shaun is great, but missed my list by a hair. I'm in the group that thinks The Departed is lesser Scorsese. Inglorious Basterds is pretty pure Tarantino--not my thing. Children of Men is excellent, but not having seen it since it came out, it didn't get my vote. Pretty much the same for Amélie. The Two Towers is the weakest of the trilogy, so no vote from me.

By my count, there are about 8 films on my list that haven't shown that I expect to. There's still time, but it'll be interesting to see if one or two of them miss out.



I don’t dislike LOTR, I’m just not particularly excited about 3 clogging up the top of this list, and probably topping it like the millennium

Haven’t seen Amelie , never seemed like one I would enjoy
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The Two Towers is in my opinion, the best of the Rings trilogy. It doesn't take a long time to start (Fellowship)...it doesn't take a long time to end (Return). It just does its thing and thus it's the one that works the best for me. Introducing memorable character Gollum and features some killer Keep in mind that I saw the extended versions of all three (I think I'm overdue to see the theatrical versions to see if I change my mind on them). But it didn't make the cut.

Amelie did make my cut at #19. Sure, it's quirky and it's cute. But it also features France's answer to Audrey Hepburn in Tautou who makes the most of the role as a woman determined to bring happiness to as many people as she can. Funny and touching in equal measure, Amelie is one of those films that you need to watch at least once.

My List:
1. City of God
4. O Brother, Where Art Thou?
6. Pirates of the Caribbean: Curse of the Black Pearl
8. Up
9. Million Dollar Baby
11. Spider-Man 2
13. Brokeback Mountain
14. Finding Nemo
15. Requiem for a Dream
19. Amelie
21. Chicago (Just Missed)
22. The Wrestler
25. Gladiator

Honorable Mentions:
Remember the Titans
Unbreakable
Shaun of the Dead



16. Amélie (313 points) - Such an amazing film. Was so painful leaving it off my list. It's just an amazing comfort watch with amazing visuals.

15. The Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers (332 points) - Just not a fan of these films. I think they are terrible. Just 80% CGI with dubious performances.



Neither film made my list, though I like both.

Fellowship is the only LOTR film I return to with any regularity (because I find that the human moments alternating with the action sequences work best for me in it).

Amelie is a very sweet film and it was a delight in the theater.



I've seen Amelie 2 times, 2 times too many.

I've seen The Fellowship of the Ring, and that's the main reason I haven't seen Two Towers, Three Towers, or any friggin Towers.



I don’t dislike LOTR, I’m just not particularly excited about 3 clogging up the top of this list, and probably topping it like the millennium
I think we had this discussion on the Refresh list, and personally, I avoided voting for all three (or both Kill Bills, for that matter) but this is basically my line of thinking... I think it's interesting that different people see different things in each entry. For example, a lot of people saying The Two Towers is their favorite, when to me, even though I like it a lot, is such a clear last spot. But as it has been said about other films, if enough people felt strongly about each entry to vote them in, then I see no issue on that.
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The Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers (332 points) - Just not a fan of these films. I think they are terrible. Just 80% CGI with dubious performances.
ROTK has a lot of CGI... mainly because of the scale of the battles.

But just wanted to throw out that Fellowship is actually a masterpiece with Two Towers a close follower.

If you've seen the making-of for Fellowship, it's actually the other way round, 80% locations and sets with very little CGI.
A lot of the epic shots of fantasy worlds like Rivendell are miniatures too, with rotoscoping to blend the live action into it.
WETA coined a new phrase with their miniatures because they were so big... Bigiatures.

One thing with the trilogy was they actually hand made everything in two separate scales to match when Human characters were interacting with Hobbit sized objects... and used camera tricks and motion-controlled cameras with overlaid footage on what was essentially two different sized sets, with two different sizes of props, to interact seamlessly between what was two actors who were actually the same height.

... and used forced-perspective shots and clever camera tricks like having moving sets and moving tables on rails when Bilbo and Frodo are interacting with Gandalf in Bag End.

Greenscreen was used extremely sparingly with blended footage of the sets and actors.

The Two Towers' Helm's Deep battle was also miniatures/bigiatures and used motion-controlled cameras to blend with live-action.

Gondor was also a Bigiature.
They built a scale model of Gondor in the same quarry that they built Helm's Deep so they could get decent camera-pan shots.



Critics




Critics thoughts on our #16, Amélie...



It currently has a 89% Certified Fresh Tomatometer score among critics, and a 8.3/10 score on IMDb (with 734,000 votes).

Roger Ebert gave it ★★★˝ and said:
"It is so hard to make a nimble, charming comedy. So hard to get the tone right and find actors who embody charm instead of impersonating it. It takes so much confidence to dance on the tightrope of whimsy. Amelie takes those chances, and gets away with them."
Meanwhile Keith Phipps, of AV Club, said:
"Amelie contains enough material for a dozen or so charming shorts, but stretched to feature length, the whimsy grows wearisome, and the film delights far less than it seems to desire."
As for our MoFo reviewers, @Sedai said:
"The production design is incredibly creative, with original ideas and images appearing at every turn. This has to be one of the most well-crafted feel good pieces I have ever seen, and I am usually not a fan of the genre. I would have to say it could be one of the best films, period, that I have ever seen. The impression it leaves is priceless and this movie can turn any glum morning into a cheery afternoon."
And @pahaK said:
"Other than the annoying main character the script is pretty nice. There's too much narration that mostly focuses on needless information (a joke that didn't work for me) though. Acting is good but like in many French films the characters are exaggeratedly weird. The music was kinda irritating but rather fitting. Small fantasy elements worked well and enhanced the film's likeness to fairy tales."



Critics




Critics thoughts on our #15, The Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers...



It currently has a 95% Certified Fresh Tomatometer score among critics, and a 8.7/10 score on IMDb (with 1,600,000 votes).

Roger Ebert gave it ★★★ and said:
"[Jackson] has taken an enchanting and unique work of literature and retold it in the terms of the modern action picture. [Tolkien] told a tale in which modest little hobbits were the heroes. And now Jackson has steered the story into the action mainstream. To do what he has done in this film must have been awesomely difficult, and he deserves applause, but to remain true to Tolkien would have been more difficult, and braver."
Meanwhile Dustin Putman, of TheFilmFile.com, said:
"Maybe The Two Towers will stand as a more respectable and meaningful bridge between the crucial first and last entries. On its own, however, it is a crushing disappointment of ill-advised missteps and misplaced opportunities."
As for our MoFo reviewers, @The Rodent said:
"It outweighs the first film by miles with the slightly darker feel and expanded storylines. But with more plot and character changes during the transition, I feel I must mark it down again like I did the first movie, though it doesn't take too much away."
And @Omnizoa said:
"Remarkably solid, even if admittedly less emotionally engaging given how much thinner the narrative is spread across all of our characters now."



Amelie is a wonderful film and it's been far too long since I've watched it. I feel it's good to have in your life every ten years or so.

You guys are all debating about which of LOTR movies is the best. Well I rewatched the trilogy recently...I guess you could say for the countdown. It was a very good time had by all and I can now officially confirm the following true fact: it's all one movie.
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I've barely had a chance to be online today and I'm tired as hell. I'll continue tomorrow. If I can, I'll throw a hint early in the morning.

Good night, people