The MoFo Top 100 of the 2000s Countdown

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Simply love the imagination of Spirited Away, my favourite anime of those I've seen so naturally I'm delighted to see it this high up on the list.


Seen: 67/96 (Own: 46/96)
My ballot:  



Faildictions (millennial edition v1.01):
26. Superbad (2007)
25. Memento (2000) [11]
24. Road To Perdition (2002)
23. The Lord Of The Rings: The Two Towers (2002) [15]
22. Shrek (2001)
21. Requiem For A Dream (2000) [26]
20. Oldboy (2003) [22]
19. Inglourious Basterds (2009) [18]
18. Eternal Sunshine Of The Spotless Mind (2004) [6]
17. City Of God (2002) [25]
16. In The Mood For Love (2000) [12]
15. O Brother Where Art Thou? (2000) [21]
14. Children Of Men (2006) [17]
13. Amélie (2001) [16]
12. Zodiac (2007) [9]
11. WALL·E (2008) [13]
10. The Departed (2006) [19]
9. The Lord Of The Rings: The Fellowship Of The Ring (2001)
8. Shaun Of The Dead (2004) [20]
7. Mulholland Drive (2001)
6. Pan's Labyrinth (2006) [7]
5. There Will Be Blood (2007)
4. The Dark Knight (2008) [10]
3. Spirited Away (2001) [5]
2. The Lord Of The Rings: The Return Of The King (2003) [8]
1. No Country For Old Men (2007)

And then, as aunt Agatha would say, there was one......





Hayao Miyazaki’s Spirited Away jumps up from #26 on the MoFo Top 100 Millennium List. It was also #95 on the original MoFo Top 100, improved to #39 on the MoFo Top 100 Reboot, and #3 on the MoFo Top 100 Animated Films list
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Spirited Away is an excellent film that I like a lot, but it didn't make my ballot. I'm glad to see it on the list though, as it is deserving.



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I thought Spendor made it so that's where my error was. Whoops.

It was easy to recognize Spirited would be 5 out of these last films though.



28 days...6 hours...42 minutes...12 seconds
21. Spirited Away (2001)

My (at the time) 3 year old watched this movie and loved it. He laughed at the pigs eating the food, was scared of the glob monster and the entire film kept his attention until the very end. Which was my biggest surprise. We went on a Ghibli binge and watched Howl's Moving Castle, Princess Mononoke (Don't judge me) and My Neighbor Totoro. I think he liked Howl's Moving Castle the best because of the "old lady" and the "talking fire guy". He's 5 now, I wonder if a revisit would still keep his attention.

His favourite film is Edward Scissorhands.

My wife hates that he wants to watch "scary movies" or scenes that involve bodily harm. He tells me to get to the bad guys part of Home Alone, skipping 85% of the film. My little one, who is 2, loved TMNT, Three Ninjas and the recent Disney film, Under Wraps. I think I need to get him onto some Ghibli.

We were able to watch them because the all went to Netflix in the two years I think.
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28 days...6 hours...42 minutes...12 seconds
1. Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind (2004)
2. The Dark Knight (2008)
3.
4. Amélie (2001)
5. The Royal Tenenbaums (2001)
6. The Pianist (2002)
7.
8. Memento (2000)
9. Zodiac (2007)
10. City of God (2002)
11.
12.
13. Lost in Translation (2003)
14. Sin City (2005)
15. Hot Fuzz (2007)
16. Up (2009)
17. WALL·E (2008)
18. Requiem for a Dream (2000)
19. The Departed (2006)
20. Battle Royale (2000)
21. Spirited Away (2001)
22. Oldboy (2003)
23. Inglourious Basterds (2009)
24. Kung Fu Hustle (2004)
25. American Psycho (2000)


4 movies left, 4 spots.



That elusive hide-and-seek cow is at it again
Yimou's Hero was on my ballot, but...
Hero was in my starting mental list of considerations, but given the cap at 25, I ended up having to consolidate some films with a single representation of a genre, or sorts. Like, had I nominated a LotR entry, I probably could only reasonably place one, else waste up to two spots for other movies/genres. Unless I just REALLY loved all three way more than most other movies. Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon was this for Hero and Kung Fu Hustle, sadly.

Spirited Away was also briefly a consideration. While it's a beautifully layered movie, I just liked others far more to handicap toward a genre that I don't get to watch as much.

I REALLY hate only having 25 spots. I feel like it has to be 50 to really be representative of my favorites while showing more context of measure between each other. Without the crunch, I could add in two or three anime flicks, or three to five solid comedies, each ranked against each other relative to a greater list rather than holding my breath as I am forced to choose just one. Even some genres go completely unrepresented! I'm sure I'd change my mind if I had to sort a 50-spot list though, and I'm sure that requirement might dissuade a lot of users from participating due to time investment and a dooming sense of obligation. I get it, but I don't have to like it.

As others have posted some of their lists, I'll add that I chose to include Coraline as my #22 spot. This was a reluctant measure of one film against another, such as Spirited Away, where I felt that SOME movies deserved to make the list but ended in a weird internal civil war until one film had so many "checks" that it felt wrong NOT to include it. Even if that meant cutting several other near equally deserving titles. I really hate that.



eh.
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While Hayao Miyazaki's work is often visually appealing, it's very rare for one of his films to actually engage me. I wish I could single out something specific and say that it's the culprit, but I have no idea what it is. Compared to his other films, Spirited Away is definitely one of his best, but that's not exactly the high praise it should be.

Seen: 63/96



A system of cells interlinked
As I mentioned earlier in the thread, I find Spirited Away to be somewhat overrated. My daughter will watch both Kiki's Delivery Service and My Neighbor Totoro over and over, but she bails on Spirited Away fairly quickly. I stuck around to watch the entire thing, but I found myself checking my watch a couple of times - it just didn't grab me like some of the other Ghibli flicks.
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Spirited Away has become my favorite Miyazaki. Watched it recently and gave it a 4/5. Really imaginative and super cool to look at. #5 is way too high n a list like this for my tastes though. No vote from me.
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While we're on the subject of animation, I guess I'll bring up the two animated films left on my ballot that clearly aren't making the Countdown now.



04. Tokyo Godfathers (2003)

With Millennium Actress and Paprika also on my list, it's probably no surprise that I included another Satoshi Kon film. Unlike those other two entries, Tokyo Godfathers isn't a seamless blend of fantasy and reality. Though ridiculous at times, it's a far more grounded film that is often as harsh as it is humorous.

It's actually the only one of Kon's films that I loved from my first viewing. The others had to grow on me over time (and a rewatch or two). Perhaps my opinion of this one will eventually fall, but for now I hold it in very high regard. It was my #4.



24.
Cowboy Bebop: The Movie (2001)

In retrospect, I might not have included this if this Countdown had taken place a few months earlier or later. But when I was making my list, friends of mine were suddenly talking about the series again due to the Netflix adaptation, and I had enjoyed the film a lot more when I rewatched it for the 2nd Animated Film HoF.

Cowboy Bebop made great use of lightning and cinematic angles that, while very common in live action films, were still fairly unusual for animation at the time. In another rare occurrence for an anime from the late 90s/early 2000s, the English dub (which I checked out for my rewatch) was also surprisingly well done. I didn't appreciate the film much when it was new, but I have something of a soft spot for it now. It was the very last addition to my list at #24, as I already had my 1-pointer locked in.



The final 4 predictions

The Notebook
Paul Blart 2
Napoleon Dynamite
Paul Blart



Just messin
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The final 4 predictions

The Notebook
Paul Blart 2
Napoleon Dynamite
Paul Blart



Just messin
How come you left out Battlefield Earth? That's an unforgivable mistake.



A couple more reveals that had no shot, but still considered my favorites of the decade.


My Ballot:  



Have seen so far: 57/ 96
Put on list for future viewing: 13
My list that ended up on the cutting room floor (dammit!): 6
Put on "meh" list : 23
Zero chance of ever watching: 16
1 Ptrs: seen 8



Critics




Critics thoughts on our #5, Spirited Away...



It currently has a 97% Certified Fresh Tomatometer score among critics, and a 8.6/10 score on IMDb (with 714,000 votes).

Roger Ebert gave it ★★★★ and said:
"Miyazaki's drawing style, which descends from the classical Japanese graphic artists, is a pleasure to regard, with its subtle use of colors, clear lines, rich detail and its realistic depiction of fantastical elements. He suggests not just the appearances of his characters, but their natures. Apart from the stories and dialogue, Spirited Away is a pleasure to regard just for itself. This is one of the year's best films."
Meanwhile David Cornelius, of eFilmCritic.com, said:
"Spirited Away is a movie that's often great to look at, but not that much fun to watch, if that makes sense. The animation is lively, and Miyazaki ... once again shows he's a master of visual imagery. But this means nothing if the story doesn't connect. The ideas shown here would make a nifty picture book, but tying the random creations together without a workable plotline causes the audience to lose interest."
As for our MoFo reviewers, @Steve Freeling said:
"[Spirited Away] is every bit as relevant and engrossing in 2021 as it was in 2001 (if not more so), as touching as it is beautiful, as haunting as it is poignant, and as captivating as it is unforgettable ... Its core story of overcoming one's fears continues to satisfy time and again with repeated viewings, its characters are all too easy to get invested in all over again, its animation continues to amaze with each new watch, the voice acting is faultless in both English and Japanese, and Joe Hisaishi's musical score continues to send a chill down the spine. The film is uplifting, poignant, exciting, emotionally satisfying, and consistently rewarding with repeated viewings."
And @TylerDurden99 said:
"It's evident to me that director Hayao Miyazaki struggles with the tone in this film, and what the film is trying to be. In one scene, it's a loss of innocence, coming of age story, and in others, it's a foreboding, mysterious, supernatural Alice In Wonderland. It works for the most part, but you can feel it all slowly unravelling throughout. And at two hours, it could've been about 20 minutes shorter."
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How come you left out Battlefield Earth? That's an unforgivable mistake.
haha, I was trying to think of a 4th movie and the notebook just popped into my mind lol



I’ll wait until after the countdown is complete to reveal my full ballot, but from the recent posts people have made about their favorites that missed the cut, I see I have one each in common with Holden, Cosmic, and John Dumbear.



For those curious enough, Spirited Away got the following:

1st Place: 5 ballots
2nd Place: 4 ballots
3rd Place: 1 ballot
4th Place: 3 ballots
5th Place: 2 ballots

6th Place or less: 13 ballots

Curiously enough, it got more 1st Place votes than the films that ended up at #1 and #4.