The MoFo Top 100 of the 2010s Countdown

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You can't make a rainbow without a little rain.
Was battling a stomach bug over the weekend, and I am still back on page 211 catching up on replies etc. Now I am behind at work and it ma be a bit before I can catch up and comment on the last few sets of reveals... Will catch up ASAP!

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You can't make a rainbow without a little rain.
Slacker - for the past few days I've had quite a nasty flu-like critter that herself ever so kindly brought back from the UK as a Chinese New Years' gift to me and I've still managed to keep up

Glad you're presumably on the road to recovery now though




I watched Spider-Man: Into the Spiderverse. I'm still happy to see animation rank so high on a decade list, but it's frustrating that with so many wonderful animated films released in the decade, this is what appeals to MoFos.

Countdown Rectification #4



Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse (Bob Persichetti, Peter Ramsey, and Rodney Rothman, 2018)

I finally let the animation-loving side of me win over the superhero-hating side and gave this a shot. Having done so I'm now not so sure that it was a good decision. Now don't get me wrong, if I were to rate this solely on the quality of the animation, it would score quite high with me. It's gorgeous. But that's not how I rate movies and the reality is that I hate most superhero stuff and this is very much superhero stuff. I was hoping for something more along the lines of The Incredibles - where all that was balanced with a lot of emotion and heartfelt scenes - but this wasn't that. It tried to be that and had a few good moments but it mostly just seemed to be full of callbacks to previous Spidey movies/comics and a whole lot of flash for the sake of flash. I suppose I might've appreciated all of that if I was Spider-Man fan but I'm not.

Oh well. I will give it credit for being pretty and for giving me a couple of chuckles, but this is just not my kind of movie.




Welcome to the human race...
One vote.

It's Such A Beautiful Day was my #1.

It was interesting to see that SpelingError had apparently not found any user reviews on here because I knew that I had written one upon first watching the film in 2015 so I did a little searching and, for some reason, it still has its own page like any other review that's tagged and added to the database but the title itself is missing. Not sure what exactly has gone on here (maybe Yoda can figure it out), but in a weird way I find it appropriate that a film focused on the disintegration of the self could disappear from the database like that. Here is the link to see what I'm talking about.

Anyway, the film itself. This was the review I wrote for it - it is noteworthy because I do favour a ratings system where I try not to go above
(especially on first viewing) in order to temper expectations and not overrate things in ways I'm almost certainly end up downgrading later anyway, but for this film I had to make an exception.

Good God.

Prior to watching It's Such a Beautiful Day, my only experience with the works of Don Hertzfeldt had been watching his notorious Oscar-nominated short film Rejected (about a handful of darkly humourous and surreal television spots that had been rejected from the network that had requested them) a few years ago - even then, I had been aware of some of its more...shall we say "memorable" scenes thanks to GIFs scattered across the Internet. I sort of forgot about him until I started noticing recently that It's Such a Beautiful Day had been earning some considerable acclaim and was being cited as one of the greatest films of the 2010s (despite technically being a compilation where two of the three segments predate 2010, but hey, if it counts, it counts). It's only an hour long or so, so I figured that I'd give it a try and see what the deal was.

What a deal.

It's Such a Beautiful Day consists of three chapters. Chapter One, Everything Will Be OK, introduces viewers to the life of Bill, a seemingly ordinary man who is trying to live his life despite the fact that he is clearly struggling with mental illness. Though Bill remains high-functioning in the face of increasingly intrusive thoughts that are preoccupied with the inherent sadness of life's more mundane aspects, he really gets thrown for a loop when he has a health scare that weakens what little resolve he still has. Chapter Two, I Am So Proud of You, is mostly a flashback that develops not just Bill's childhood but also goes back several generations into his family history, weaving tale after tale of everyday insanity. Chapter Three, It's Such a Beautiful Day...well, I actually don't think I want to discuss it in specific detail at this point. If this review intrigues you enough to check out the full film then you will probably be glad I didn't.

Despite being only an hour in length, It's Such a Beautiful Day packs so much into its brief running time that it honestly feels so much larger than it actually is. Hertzfeldt's simplistic and near-identical character models (the main thing distinguishing Bill is his hat) make perfect sense given the film's insight into a neurodivergent mindset, plus it also makes for the plainest method for depicting countless instances of depressing, horrifying images. The animation itself is aided by a lot of avant-garde techniques such as multi-screen editing, frequent inter-cutting with real-life footage and photographs, extremely disorienting sound design, and many other things that perfectly reflect the disorder in the minds of Bill and the people around him. The whole film is narrated by an uncredited Hertzfeldt, whose lilting air of apparent disinterest in what he's describing makes for the ideal voice-over to describe the characters' quiet despair and the various disturbing events of the film. The film is simply phenomenal at sucking you down into this dark, dire world and making you feel for its hat-wearing protagonist as he goes through a variety of nightmarish yet mundane perils and vibrant (but no less disconcerting) fantasies.

It's Such a Beautiful Day is undoubtedly one of the most powerful films I've watched in the past few years. In the space of an hour, it manages to effectively communicate what it's like to cope with chronic mental illness that makes everyday life a miserable existence even without the promise of physical distress and death - this is a promise that the film frequently makes good upon. This is most definitely not a film for the sensitive - even if you can handle the film's tendency towards flashy experimentation that frequently feels like deliberate sensory abuse, the film's many meditations on subjects like depression, time, aging, death, fate, and so on and so forth can be genuinely overwhelming on both mental and emotional levels. If you feel like you can handle it, It's Such a Beautiful Day really is an astonishing piece of work. It's visually creative, filled with bizarre profundity that isn't as tone-deaf as you'd expect from the man responsible for Rejected, and is able to strike an emotional chord despite (or perhaps because of) its extremely basic stick-figure design. People who have been following my ratings for a while will know that I try not to give a film more than four popcorn boxes out of five on the first viewing. To give you an idea of just how much I liked this film...well, see for yourselves.

It's such a beautiful day.
As for Phantom Thread, I've only seen it once during its theatrical run and, like most PTA films, I liked it. Still have to do that full rewatch before his filmography gets too long, but I get the impression this stands a good chance of ending up in the top half.

I can’t let Rauldc be alone in the list rants so it’s time to bring the negativity. It’s Such A Beautiful Day is a really well written you tube video. Like if Joe Schmo showed this to me on his phone one day in the break room, I would respond “that’s pretty cool”. It’s not a movie. It’s content. I hate when I get this reductive, but if we have Hollywood directors running around saying the MCU aren’t real cinema, I feel safe in saying this isn’t a movie. 15? Whatevs.
The objection re: MCU not being cinema is that they're films created so completely by committee for the sake of profit that there is little (if any) room left in the final product for individual artistic idiosyncrasy unless it too can easily be commodified to death. Hertzfeldt is the complete opposite, an independent artist who creates his work almost entirely by himself and thus gets multiple opportunities to demonstrate his unfettered creativity. I'm not saying you have to like it, but to shrug it off as "content" that doesn't warrant consideration for this list is (as you so thoroughly understated) reductive.

It's Such a Beautiful Day this high is an absolute travesty though. I don't get the Mofo obsession. It's really not even that good. Add up to the fact all the great animation that this countdown has overlooked that makes it even worse.
Curious as to what exactly you think was overlooked. This was the only animated film I really considered for my list - tried to think of a second and I ended up landing on Masaaki Yuasa's The Night Is Short, Walk On Girl! because its boozy and madcap nocturnal odyssey through a surreal world of weirdos definitely stands out compared to much of what Western animation was putting out.

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Sorry if I'm rude but I'm right
It was interesting to see that SpelingError had apparently not found any user reviews on here because I knew that I had written one upon first watching the film in 2015
I bet he makes a lot of spelling errors when searching, which results in not finding stuff.
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14. Purely from the smile I reckon this could be The Wind Rises
13. Leviathan



I forgot the opening line.
16. It's Such a Beautiful Day - I've been meaning to see this, so I ought to get around to it. It's appeared in the last two countdowns, after surprising me by it's very existence in the last one. Seems to be something special.

15. Phantom Thread - What can I say about Phantom Thread? It's sublime, and it presents us with two out-of-the-ordinary characters that I at first thought would destroy each other. Actually, they always seem to be about to, but the dance of attraction, brilliance and madness that has chic fashion designer Reynolds Woodcock (Daniel Day-Lewis) and his mysterious muse, Alma Elson (Vicky Krieps) bound together is something absolutely riveting. Our journey into the inner sanctum of the eccentric and easily-triggered is very interesting when it's combined with the likes of fashion, grief, money and jealousy. Paul Thomas Anderson really caught me by surprise with this film, for I had it earmarked as a probable disappointment for me considering it's subject matter. Nothing related to fashion has ever been remotely interesting to me, but Phantom Thread simply used it as a story-telling and metaphorical device that had me enthralled. Of course, it works on many different levels at different times, and is a cinematic package which immediately impressed me as an all-time favourite film. I had it at #6 on my ballot.

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Seen 77/86

Films on my radar : 4
Films I've never even heard about : 5

Films from my list : 11

#15 - My #6 - Phantom Thread (2017)
#19 - My #21 - Get Out (2017)
#21 - My #3 - Inside Llewyn Davis (2013)
#25 - My #20 - Portrait of a Lady on Fire (2019)
#41 - My #16 - Melancholia (2011)
#54 - My #11 - Under the Skin (2013)
#60 - My #4 - Joker (2019)
#64 - My #8 - Manchester by the Sea (2016)
#71 - My #12 - Ida (2013)
#93 - My #15 - It Follows (2014)
#96 - My #1 - Hereditary (2018)
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Latest Review : Le Circle Rouge (1970)



Let the night air cool you off
Looks like I am one of those folks that voted for It's Such a Beautiful Day the short, but it was to represent the entire trilogy, even though the entire trilogy was released as one feature film with the same title, which would have done the trick literally. I'm fine with my vote not counting towards the feature as it was my mistake. But I did not expect this wonderful film to do so well in this countdown. What a pleasant surprise that a film so wonderfully creative and thoughtful, funny and sad, idiosyncratic and relatable coming from a single person on the system's periphery could manage to penetrate our list and pass up huge films that have budgets and audiences that are multiple multiples higher than what Hertzfeldt gets.

Anyway, my list so far

5. Shoplifters
7. World of Tomorrow
8. It's Such a Beautiful Day (short)
9. Sicario
12. The Hateful Eight
13. Inside Out
18. Django Unchained
25. Tucker and Dale vs Evil



A short animated film I can get. But Phantom Thread? Really? You've never heard of that film? It's talked about quite alot on here and Daniel Day Lewis is one of the most celebrated actors on the planet.
I know this wasn't addressing me, but as I also hadn't heard of either I thought I'd reply. Now, to be clear, I had 'heard' of Phantom Thread because I'd seen it mentioned on the site, but I didn't know what it was, who was in it, who'd directed it or anything else because I don't care to. Now I do know, I'm right not to because I don't care for either PTA or DDL.

I doubt that these were @John Dumbear reasons, but they could be. I'll have more respect for them if they are.

I think I messed up when I submitted my list. This is obviously top 100 worst films of the 2010s, I thought it was supposed to be the best films of the decade.
TBF, isn't that partly the same thing with this decade?

Unbelievable... Phantom Thread is on UK BBC2 tonight at 23:20.
About an hour and 30 mins from this post.
And Portait Of A Lady On Fire is on BBC2 tonight at 11:45pm
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It's great that It's Such a Beautiful Day did so well even though a few people voted for the short. We forgive you!
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It's great that It's Such a Beautiful Day did so well even though a few people voted for the short. We forgive you!

TBH, on the comedy countdown, when I thought it wasn't the type of movie that jumped to the front of people's minds, I was concerned (as concerned as one can be with these type of lists), that it wouldn't make it because one or two crucial votes would be lost from accidentally voting for just the ch. 3 segment/short.



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Re: It's Such a Beautiful Day.

The ballot tabulator shows me that four people voted for the short, from 2011, rather than the feature, from 2012. I'm not sure how many of those were deliberate, but I'm going to PM them individually to find out. Just a heads-up. I'm not sure we can/should do anything about it now, but it might still be instructional for people to know where it would've ended up otherwise.
I'm confused. So they were added together or kept separate?



I'm confused. So they were added together or kept separate?

Given how computers tend to work, I'm assuming they were considered separate movies for the sake of point tabulation (for what we've seen), so it sounds like it might have ended up even higher (or at least with higher points), except you know, user error.



It was interesting to see that SpelingError had apparently not found any user reviews on here because I knew that I had written one upon first watching the film in 2015 so I did a little searching and, for some reason, it still has its own page like any other review that's tagged and added to the database but the title itself is missing. Not sure what exactly has gone on here (maybe Yoda can figure it out), but in a weird way I find it appropriate that a film focused on the disintegration of the self could disappear from the database like that. Here is the link to see what I'm talking about.]
Here's its page in the Movies section. It shows that there aren't any user reviews for it:

https://www.movieforums.com/movies/4...tiful-day.html
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238 points, 18 lists
The Florida Project
Director

Sean Baker, 2017

Starring

Brooklynn Prince, Willem Dafoe, Bria Vinaite, Valeria Cotto
#14








239 points, 14 lists
The Master
Director

Paul Thomas Anderson, 2012

Starring

Joaquin Phoenix, Philip Seymour Hoffman, Amy Adams, Laura Dern
#13






Trivia

The Florida Project - Producers had originally wanted a major star to play Halley and considered Britney Spears and Miley Cyrus, but writer/director Sean Baker felt it would be inauthentic to have a millionaire playing the part.
The Master - During the jail cell scene, Joaquin Phoenix breaks a real toilet. His actions were entirely improvised. Due to the historical past of the building where the scene took place, the toilet was considered "historical." Joaquin had no intentions to break the toilet, nor did he think it was possible.

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