The MoFo Top 100 of the 2010s Countdown

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You can't make a rainbow without a little rain.


There are Musicals with a capital M where characters express their feelings and advance the plot in elaborate song and dance numbers, like La La Land, and then there are movies about musicians that have music in them. That is the kind of musical my twenty-fifth choice is. Hearts Beat Loud (2018) is a fictional story about a widower (Nick Offerman) who owns a small record store in New Jersey and whose daughter (Kiersey Clemons) is about to go away to college. Dad loves playing music with his daughter the way a father and son might play catch. They don't play for anyone but themselves. But their latest jam session turns into an original song, which he records and puts on the internet without her knowledge. It becomes a viral hit and now Dad doesn't want to break up the two-person band for something as trivial as a college education. It's sort of a coming-of-age tale for both characters, as Offerman's Frank has been stuck since his wife's death. The daughter also has a girlfriend (Sasha Lane), Frank's best friend is a local bartender (Ted Danson), and Toni Collette is his sympathetic landlord who doesn't want to see the record store go under. Written and directed by Brett Haley (The Hero and I'll See You in My Dreams), this is a charmer that I fell in love with bigtime.

Since it didn't show on the initial list of one-pointers that means at least one of you other MoFos voted for it. Whoever you are, you have excellent taste.


I watched Hearts Beat Loud after you recommended it to me in my 2010s Recommendations thread, and I thought it was a great movie. It's one of those movies that I kept thinking about days after watching it, and the more I thought about it, the more I liked it.

I'm sorry to spoil your one-pointer, but I was hoping that it would have a chance to at least make the bottom part of the countdown. It was #13 on my list.
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You can't make a rainbow without a little rain.
I saw Whiplash a few years ago, and it was one of the first movies that I added to my list when this countdown was announced. I was sure that it would have been on my final list, but after watching a lot of movies for this countdown, including rewatching Whiplash, it just didn't make my final list. I still think it's a great movie, and I'm happy to see it place so high on the countdown, but it just didn't make my top 25.



Whiplash is my #4. Like Yoda, Wooley, et al, I also enjoy it as a story that's not only about what it takes to be the best at something, but also if it's worth it. Here's my writeup from the 25th HoF from way back in '21 (CONTAINS SPOILERS):

Whiplash remains one of the best movies I've ever seen. I, like Andrew, had a band director like Fletcher. He never threw anything at us or got as personal as Fletcher did, but he did expect 110% from everyone and could be terrifying when we didn't meet his expectations. The scene where Fletcher calls out the trombone player for being out of tune rang especially true because I too endured such humiliation. Is using humiliation and fear to motivate problematic and not applicable to every discipline? Yes, and the movie calls this out. I'm still not ashamed to admit that our band was very good and I still credit the director's teachings for a lot of my academic and professional success.

This is not just a great movie for how it portrays a demanding teacher, though: it also succeeds for how it explores the cost of trying to be the best at something. Besides the psychological toll of Fletcher's tutelage and the physical toll with moments like Andrew placing his bloody hand into a bucket of ice water, I like how the movie shows the effects of such a commitment in other aspects of life. In addition to impacts on relationships with friends and family, we learn how it can end in tragedy in the case of Fletcher's former student, Sean. Despite all this, the movie manages to be a lot of fun. As someone who loves concerts and hasn't been to a live one in over a year for obvious reasons, I get a kick out of the jazz band performances, and since they're so well shot and edited, even those who are indifferent or outright dislike jazz are bound to feel the same way. As for the actors’ performances, J.K. Simmons is deserving of his accolades as Fletcher for being a force of nature while leading his band and for the moments that humanize him, his "good job" conversation with Andrew in particular. I also enjoy Paul Reiser's work in his small role as Andrew's father, a man who's a good dad, a good teacher, i.e. everything Andrew does not just want to be, but thankfully, the movie does not villainize or portray him as a loser. After all, Whiplash is not just great for how it shows the blood, sweat and tears that go into greatness. It’s also great for how it asks if they're worth it.



I forgot the opening line.
But...at a certain point, you are chasing perfection for an audience of no one. I believe you can get so good at something, there is no longer anyone left to truly understand how good you've become. That if you were a fragment less good, it wouldn't make any true tangible difference to how a piece of art resonates with anyone else. Or at least very very few people.
I might be kind of weird, but I just wanted to quietly put my hand up and say that I'd get a kind of soul-defining satisfaction from achieving something almost super-human like that in spite of absolutely nobody either being able to tell or noticing or knowing about it. It's not because I'm super humble, and I love positive feedback, respect and adoration - it's just when I do something in the realm of what you might loosely define as "art" I always do it for an audience of one primarily. Do I care if people love it or hate it? Yeah, I do, but by extension if I were to do something so sublime it's off the charts, I'd still have the ultimate satisfaction that would fulfill me completely, in spite of any attention it gathers, or more to the point doesn't gather. I don't know if all that is too contradictory, but it's just an attempt to explain how I feel.
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I forgot the opening line.
"Young," as in specifically the angsty, full-of-himself, late teen years.


I had a vaguely similar view of what @kgaard did. Or at least, I saw that dichotomy posed (happiness vs greatness through the cost of suffering), and that was a type of story arc, at least presented the way it was (and ultimately felt like the movie actually endorsed), that would have appealed to me in my late teen years. And being somewhere in my thirties when I saw it, I rejected the premise (or the dichotomy). I think partly because while there's something to be said about sacrifice through practice, I think the instrument of growth here being challenge by way of abuse rings hollow for me as an adult.
I don't think that the movie endorsed Fletcher's teaching methods at all - they were obviously framed in a way that said otherwise. I think it did posit the question - if Fletcher's abominable teaching methods worked in this one instance, what does that mean? That it's totally worth it, despite the deplorable methods? It's like the torture question. If you torturing a prisoner leads to a good outcome on the battlefield, was it worth blackening your own soul? Would it have been better to take a few more losses and been a more noble person? What we don't know is if Andrew would have been just as good without Fletcher's abuse, and we don't know if perhaps Andrew had a breakdown after the end performance and never took to a drum kit again.

Anyway, I wouldn't be such a fan of the film if it was just one of those - "oh, teaching this way is bad" films - because obviously it is and as such the film would be saying nothing.



Society ennobler, last seen in Medici's Florence
Stepping deeper in my ballot:

My #13. A Better Life (2011)

Directed by Chris Weitz
Starring Demián Bichir


Very discussed and pressing theme that applies to many regions of the world. Small people, whose life passes in a gap between two communities, trying to adjust to one of them but catch neither. Very touching drama.
And this guy Demián Bichir, what a great performance! I was blown away. Absolutely deserved his Oscar nomination. For me, this was one of the top leading male roles in the 2010's. If we do a decade film acting countdown this definitely will be among first to consider.
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There are Musicals with a capital M where characters express their feelings and advance the plot in elaborate song and dance numbers, like La La Land, and then there are movies about musicians that have music in them. That is the kind of musical my twenty-fifth choice is. Hearts Beat Loud (2018) is a fictional story about a widower (Nick Offerman) who owns a small record store in New Jersey and whose daughter (Kiersey Clemons) is about to go away to college. Dad loves playing music with his daughter the way a father and son might play catch. They don't play for anyone but themselves. But their latest jam session turns into an original song, which he records and puts on the internet without her knowledge. It becomes a viral hit and now Dad doesn't want to break up the two-person band for something as trivial as a college education. It's sort of a coming-of-age tale for both characters, as Offerman's Frank has been stuck since his wife's death. The daughter also has a girlfriend (Sasha Lane), Frank's best friend is a local bartender (Ted Danson), and Toni Collette is his sympathetic landlord who doesn't want to see the record store go under. Written and directed by Brett Haley (The Hero and I'll See You in My Dreams), this is a charmer that I fell in love with bigtime.

Since it didn't show on the initial list of one-pointers that means at least one of you other MoFos voted for it. Whoever you are, you have excellent taste.

HOLDEN PIKE’S LIST
1. La La Land (#5)
2. The Tree of Life (#10)
3. The Social Network (#7)
4. Incendies (#30)
5. Take Shelter (#67)
6. The Artist (#87)
8. Silence (#43)
9. Birdman (#21)
10. The Revenant (#53)
11. The Favourite (#61)
12. A Hidden Life (DNP)
13. Hunt for the Wilderpeople (DNP)
14. Nightcrawler (#55)
15. Scott Pilgrim vs. the World (#72)
16. Her (#9)
17. The Wolf of Wall Street (#11)
18. Blade Runner 2049 (#8)
19. Silver Linings Playbook (#24)
20. Blue Ruin (DNP)
21. Room (#97)
22. True Grit (#40)
24. Get Out (#19)
25. Hearts Beat Loud (DNP)


Thanks for the heads-up on this one, Holden! This absolutely looks like my kind of jam. Offerman I love, and Ted Danson as his friend? That already makes it a must before we even get to his daughter and Toni Collette. There's no way I'm not going to see this now, it's just a matter of getting a few other movies out of the way that I've put off too long. Thanks again!

@Kaplan I've made no secret of the fact that I was never a huge fan of Ben Affleck, but after a time it seems like he's kind of gotten over his own celebrity (which I think, right or wrong, was part of his problem, along with the drinking but I digress) and has concentrated for a good while now on giving the best he can to each role. And The Accountant was one of his best performances, ever, for me. That and the fact that the action rocked made it a total winner. And I'm just sad that I forgot to consider it come ballot time.


Have not seen Whiplash but it looks completely intense and riveting. Love J.K. Simmons so I may have to see it one day. No vote.



Adding another to my "no chance of making it" entries, I'll put down my #18 which was How to Train Your Dragon (2010) which is one of my all-time favorite animated films. Toothless is such a great character that never speaks a single word (I mean, it's not out of the realm of possibility, it's a fantasy animated flick) but still talks volumes. And Hiccup is a great character that grows leaps and bounds throughout the movie, thanks largely to his friendship and understanding of his buddy dragon. The animation and voice work is fantastic and I wish it had made the Top #100.

List so far:
#2. Moonrise Kingdom #37
#4. Silver Linings Playbook #24
#5. Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri #44
#6. True Grit #40
#7. Arrival #12
#9. Brooklyn No chance for it.
#10. Hell or High Water #73
#11. Zero Dark Thirty #58
#13. The Nice Guys DNP #103
#15. Edge of Tomorrow #68
#16. The Edge of Seventeen I knew it wouldn't place but I had to vote for it.
#17. War Horse Old-fashioned Spielberg flick I had to include.
#18. How to Train Your Dragon Wish it had made it
#21. 10 Cloverfield Lane I thought for sure this would show up a ways back.
#22. Train to Busan Pretty shocked this one didn't make the Top 100.
#23. Looper Thought for sure this great Sci-Fi flick would show.
#24. Gone Girl #65
#25. Heaven Is For Real Will not place.
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I watched Hearts Beat Loud after you recommended it to me in my 2010s Recommendations thread, and I thought it was a great movie. It's one of those movies that I kept thinking about days after watching it, and the more I thought about it, the more I liked it.

I'm sorry to spoil your one-pointer, but I was hoping that it would have a chance to at least make the bottom part of the countdown. It was #13 on my list.
You didn't spoil anything! I didn't put it on my list so that it would be mentioned first, I hoped it might sneak onto the bottom of the collective. Glad you have found and loved it, too!
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Ok, I now have some free time... I saw Whiplash early last year. It was a film that was recommended to me numerous times by numerous people, and I know now why. I'm gonna copy/paste my review here, because I think I bring up in it some of the arguments and questions that were being discussed yesterday:

My Whiplash review  


Bottom line, I think it is an excellent character study of two extremely talented but extremely flawed characters. One of those films that raises the question, "do you need a likable character to latch on to a film? or can you have a film where every character is an a$$hole?". I think this film gives us a positive answer, at least for me. Like I said, it was my #14, but looking at it now, I would probably swap it with Chazelle's own La La Land on my list.


Here's where I'm at, including the chances for the rest of my list...

Seen: 74/97

My ballot:  
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Gotta be Wes Anderson day today, yes?
Looks like it, but I keep going back and forth with what would split the vote more: Anderson's quirky, idiosyncratic style, or the fact that Parasite is a foreign film? I think it's 75% safe to say that Mad Max Fury Road will be #1.





There are Musicals with a capital M where characters express their feelings and advance the plot in elaborate song and dance numbers, like La La Land, and then there are movies about musicians that have music in them. That is the kind of musical my twenty-fifth choice is. Hearts Beat Loud (2018) is a fictional story about a widower (Nick Offerman) who owns a small record store in New Jersey and whose daughter (Kiersey Clemons) is about to go away to college. Dad loves playing music with his daughter the way a father and son might play catch. They don't play for anyone but themselves. But their latest jam session turns into an original song, which he records and puts on the internet without her knowledge. It becomes a viral hit and now Dad doesn't want to break up the two-person band for something as trivial as a college education. It's sort of a coming-of-age tale for both characters, as Offerman's Frank has been stuck since his wife's death. The daughter also has a girlfriend (Sasha Lane), Frank's best friend is a local bartender (Ted Danson), and Toni Collette is his sympathetic landlord who doesn't want to see the record store go under. Written and directed by Brett Haley (The Hero and I'll See You in My Dreams), this is a charmer that I fell in love with bigtime.

Since it didn't show on the initial list of one-pointers that means at least one of you other MoFos voted for it. Whoever you are, you have excellent taste.
Somebody recommended this to me for a challenge this year. Looking forward to it.



Welcome to the human race...
Whiplash was my #13. In the final analysis, maybe there's nothing overly deep to its whole conflict between an aspiring musician and a domineering conductor with methods so severe that they border on the implausible (though never quite cross over) and how the whole thing becomes a tug-of-war to determine whether the student can truly stand up to the master. In any case, it's a feature debut that's shot through with so much verve and musicality while still maintaining such a level of perpetual intensity that the Blumhouse logo at the beginning feels 100% justified.
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Made a small error on my list reveal.... I did have Inside Out on my list at #24.

I remember my eldest daughter watching this, who has had problems with attitude and behaviour and, well, acts of aggression in place of frustration.
Remember my daughter in that thread where she was playing football at the top goal-keeper in her league?
She was unable to deal with the smallest set-backs and terms of life itself being unfair.

The movie helped her hugely in understanding the therapy we were getting on how to realign those emotions and how to basically emote, rather than get angry.

In being able to understand thoughts, thought processes and emotions, with therapy backed up by a visual representation of emotion that's implied in the movie Inside Out, my eldest daughter, is now my Son, and the aggression and the frustration is now over.
He has a job, completed college, a driving license, a car, and is functioning normally.

Inside Out is a movie worthy of a placement, even if I did only put it into my #24 spot.

1: Ex Machina (2015) - 49th
2: Dredd (2012) - 42nd
3: Interstellar (2014) - 33rd
4:
5: Joker (2019) - 60th
6: Blade Runner 2049 (2017) - 8th
7: Prisoners (2013) - 69th
8: The Hateful Eight (2015) - 20th
9: The Shape of Water (2017) - 52nd
10: Django Unchained (2012) 27th
11: Shutter Island (2010) - 76th
12: Once Upon a Time in Hollywood (2019) - 7th
13:
14:
15:
16: Deadpool (2016) - 85th
17:
18: Logan (2017) - 46th
19:
20: Avengers: Endgame (2019) - 79th
21: The Martian (2015) - 82nd
22:
23: Arrival (2016) - 12th
24: Inside Out (2015) - 59th
25:



Women will be your undoing, Pépé
I'm really curious as to what this is. It's probably something I voted for as well.
Unsure if you had but if I hint you'll guess it so I'll simply say its from an HoFs of course



Victim of The Night
I might be kind of weird, but I just wanted to quietly put my hand up and say that I'd get a kind of soul-defining satisfaction from achieving something almost super-human like that in spite of absolutely nobody either being able to tell or noticing or knowing about it. It's not because I'm super humble, and I love positive feedback, respect and adoration - it's just when I do something in the realm of what you might loosely define as "art" I always do it for an audience of one primarily. Do I care if people love it or hate it? Yeah, I do, but by extension if I were to do something so sublime it's off the charts, I'd still have the ultimate satisfaction that would fulfill me completely, in spite of any attention it gathers, or more to the point doesn't gather. I don't know if all that is too contradictory, but it's just an attempt to explain how I feel.
Amen, brother.



Let's see if I can get these before the next one drops...

#17. WAJIB
(2017, Jacir)



"Living is choosing how you want to live."

Another recent watch that I instantly fell in love with. Wajib follows a man that returns to his family in Palestine for his sister's wedding. As he drives around Nazareth with his father, delivering the invitations to the wedding (a tradition called "wajib"), a lot of issues, conflicts, regrets, and past wounds among them come to the surface, forcing them to address them. This is a film that really surprised me for the good script, the great performances, and the way that director/writer Annemarie Jacir manages to stay clear from clunky and forced socio-political statements, but still manages to pass the message across. Great drama.




#16. ROGUE ONE
(2016, Edwards)



"What chance do we have? The question is "what choice." Run, hide, plead for mercy, scatter your forces. You give way to an enemy this evil with this much power and you condemn the galaxy to an eternity of submission. The time to fight is now!"

This is one I thought had a bit of a chance; at least in the first half of the list. Unfortunately, it didn't. I still think this is the best Star Wars film to come out in this century. I love the way it crafts this story about reluctant and unlikely heroes being borne out of "social rejects" and "outcasts", and out of sheer need, instead of the want for glory. Instead you have the desire and need for freedom. I love that this feels more sober and less "market-driven", which seems weird, considering it was made just to tie in with the original Star Wars. Still, I think Tony Gilroy does an excellent job in creating a world that feels real, inhabited by real people, and plagued by real issues.




#9. FIRST REFORMED
(2017, Schrader)



"Courage is the solution to despair, reason provides no answers. I can't know what the future will bring; we have to choose despite uncertainty. Wisdom is holding two contradictory truths in our mind, simultaneously, Hope and despair. A life without despair is a life without hope. Holding these two ideas in our head is life itself."

Yet another one that I thought had a bit of a chance. A thought-provoking script that manages to go into interesting and unexpected places as it explores the notions of despair and hope, and how we handle those in the face of real-life situations. Great performances by everyone, but especially Ethan Hawke. But props to Schrader for trying to present his themes of hope, despair, pollution of the body and spirit, but also our purpose in the world. One that has stuck with me quite fiercely.





Seen: 72/95

My ballot:  



Stepping deeper in my ballot:

My #13. A Better Life (2011)

Directed by Chris Weitz
Starring Demián Bichir


Very discussed and pressing theme that applies to many regions of the world. Small people, whose life passes in a gap between two communities, trying to adjust to one of them but catch neither. Very touching drama.
And this guy Demián Bichir, what a great performance! I was blown away. Absolutely deserved his Oscar nomination. For me, this was one of the top leading male roles in the 2010's. If we do a decade film acting countdown this definitely will be among first to consider.
Liked this one a lot.