The MoFo Top 100 Neo-noir Countdown

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Miss Vicky's Avatar
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04-03-24
I've seen both movies. Kiss Kiss Bang Bang I thought was fun, but forgettable and it did not get my vote - though another Shane Black movie did.

Inherent Vice is a weird one for me. Besides being just a weird movie in general, it stands as the only Paul Thomas Anderson movie that I have ever liked. I even like it enough to put it on my ballot at #14.

Here's what I wrote when I rewatched it in 2019:

Originally Posted by Miss Vicky


Inherent Vice (Paul Thomas Anderson, 2014)
Imdb

Date Watched: 11/08/19
Cinema or Home: Home
Reason For Watching: Joaquin Phoenix
Rewatch: Yes.

"Fun" is not generally a word I'd use to describe the work of Paul Thomas Anderson, but it definitely applies here. It's pretty apparent that the cast had a damn good time making this film and none moreso than star Joaquin Phoenix, who gets to show off his comedic chops as the stoner hippie private investigator Doc Sportello (who is strongly reminiscent of Philip Marlowe from Robert Altman's The Long Goodbye).

The film itself views as not a whole lot more than a montage of awkward scenes and WTF moments, but on that front it is immensely appealing and engaging (which are also words that I do not normally associate with Anderson's work). But for all its entertainment value, its characters are rather lacking in depth and dimension. And this shallowness will forever relegate it to the category of movies that I like but do not love - which is still a whole lot more than can be said for any other Paul Thomas Anderson film.

+



My Ballot:
2. You Were Never Really Here (#50)
3. The Man From Nowhere (#87)
4. The Departed (#53)
7. True Romance (#60)
12. Shutter Island (#86)
14. Inherent Vice (#41)
17. Killer Joe (2011) (#66)



Citizen Rules's Avatar
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Movie Time
04-03-24
My #21...
Kiss Kiss Bang Bang

Robert Downey Jr. and Val Kilmer were great in this. Both played really fun characters, who had oodles of chemistry together. That was by far the best part of the movie.

I also liked the light comic elements and the overall story plot was well done too, never a dull moment. And I like Michelle Monaghan who held her own with Downey and Kilmer, not an easy task but she did good. I'll give it bonus points for the Christmas theme. And more bonus points for making the neo noir crime drama fun. It's a stylish film, with plenty of eye appeal and fast breaking action. Never a boring moment. And perhaps a good Christmas alternative movie too, ho ho.



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BANNED FROM VIENNA
04-03-24
A lot of people seem to like Kiss Kiss Bang Bang a lot more than I do. It's still a decent flick, though. I'm a big fan of Pynchon and PTA so...Inherent Vice was made just for me. What might turn off some about this film appeals to me. Great adaptation considering the source material, skilled performances especially Phoenix - always right, and I felt the movie, the era, the vibe, and the anti-vibe. I had it at #20.


4. The Killing of a Chinese Bookie (1976)
10. Alphaville (1965)
17. Fireworks (1997)
18. Pale Flower (1964)
19. The Grifters (1990)
20. Inherent Vice (2014)
22. The American Friend (1977)
25. Série noire (1979) - One pointer
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Guy who likes movies
04-03-24
I liked Kiss Kiss, Bang Bang, but it didn't make my ballot. Inherent Vice was underwhelming and didn't really work for me.

Seen: 47/60



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Basic Non-B
04-03-24
2 for 2 I've seen. 2 for 2 I didn't care for.



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Master of None
04-03-24
List facts...
  • At 6.6, Inherent Vice has one of the lowest IMDb ratings from the countdown, just below You Were Never Really Here and Killer Joe (both at 6.7), and just above Under the Silver Lake (6.5) and The Hot Spot (6.4).
  • Like I mentioned yesterday, the 4-point gap between yesterday's To Live and Die in L.A. and today's Kiss Kiss Bang Bang is one of the highest so far. Everything has been pretty close, with yesterday's 6-point gap being the highest so far. 4 is the second highest.
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A system of cells interlinked
04-03-24
Seen both but no votes for either for me. Really dug Kiss Kiss, Bang Bang, but didn't really connect with Inherent Vice.
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04-03-24
WHAT DID YOU THINK OF... KISS KISS BANG BANG


RT – 86%, IMDb – 7.5

Roger Ebert said:

"I've seen the movie twice, foolishly thinking I might understand it better the second time. Understanding it is not the point. The dialogue exists not to explain anything or advance the story. It exists entirely in order to be dialogue. When the characters speak, it is an example of their verbal style, which is half film noir and half smart-ass. The dialogue, and just about everything else in the movie, is there for its own sake." (read full review here)
Cameron Geiser, from Films Fatale, said:

"This is a film that lies snugly between parody and paragon when it comes to its Noir nature. Self aware, smarmy, and full of the snark that Robert Downey Jr. would become synonymous with in just a few years after this film’s release." (read full review here)
@Holden Pike said:

"The plotting has nods to Chandler and pulps like Jim Thompson, if the milieu is by way of Tony Scott, and it's nothing but fun every step of the way. Each day is a chapter in our story, and each chapter has the same title as a Raymond Chandler novel [...] But this is a bit of self conscious fun where the plot truly don't matter all that much, an exercise in cinematic style where you know it's a movie that knows it's a movie and enjoy every frame of it anyway." (read full review here)



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Master of None
04-03-24
WHAT DID YOU THINK OF... INHERENT VICE


RT – 74%, IMDb – 6.6

Matt Zoller Seitz, from RogerEbert.com, said:

"[Inherent Vice] owes a great deal to laid-back, character-and-atmosphere driven 1970s L.A. films such as The Long Goodbye and Cisco Pike, but it never makes too big a deal of that lineage [...] Mostly it's a long, shaggy, knockabout comedy about eccentrics who pursue their own appetites and manias and indulge their private demons while remaining oblivious to their effect on others." (read full review here)
The Dallas Morning News said:

"[Inherent Vice] [...] is a dense deconstruction of noir — the dark moods and visuals, the narrative curlicues, the expectations we've developed over several decades. It's about a time: when the hangover from the heady 1960s bled into the grime of the malaised '70s, and a place: Los Angeles, fogged over with pot smoke and harder stuff, reeling from the Manson murders, living through its own overdose of weird." (read full review here)
@hello101 said:

"PTA's script is an account on deceit with cunning comicality and shaky thrills. It's never boring and constantly off-the-wall fun, the cinematography is stylish and it's great to see PTA's way in execution (which doesn't borrow too much from other famed directors like his previous films)." (read full review here)



Thief's Avatar
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Master of None
04-03-24
AWARDS?



Kiss Kiss Bang Bang received several nominations and awards. These are some of the most notable:
  • Five (5) Saturn Award nominations, including Best Action/Adventure/Thriller Film
  • Five (5) Satellite Award nominations, a win for Best Supporting Actor (Val Kilmer)
  • One (1) Empire Award for Best Thriller
  • One (1) Cannes Film Festival nomination for the Golden Camera Award
  • One (1) Golden Schmoes Award nomination for Best Comedy of the Year



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One Ornery Sumbitch
04-03-24
Considered both, voted for neither. I fell madly in love with Shane Black's Kiss Kiss Bang Bang when it was released, and though I still love it I have come to like The Nice Guys even more - though I didn't vote for it, either. Figured none of them needed my help to make the cut, especially with all the PTA love around MoFo.

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Master of None
04-03-24
AWARDS?



Inherent Vice received several nominations and awards. These are some of the most notable:
  • Two (2) Academy Award nominations, including Best Adapted Screenplay
  • Two (2) Saturn Award nominations, including Best Supporting Actor (Josh Brolin)
  • Four (4) Critics Choice Award nominations, including Best Supporting Actor (Brolin)
  • Three (3) Satellite Award nominations, including Best Supporting Actress (Katherine Waterston)
  • One (1) Golden Globe Award nomination for Best Actor (Joaquin Phoenix)



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Master of None
04-03-24
Stats: Pit Stop #6




After hitting our sixth pit stop (60), here's were we are now:

Decade Breakdown
  • 1960s = 11
  • 1970s = 8
  • 1980s = 4
  • 1990s = 19
  • 2000s = 9
  • 2010s = 9
  • 2020s = 0

Strong showing from the 2010s in this last batch, but the 1990s seem to be running away with this. Nothing recent, also. Is there a neo-noir film from the 2020s you expect to make the list?


Recurring Directors
  • William Friedkin = 3
  • Martin Scorsese = 2
  • Christopher Nolan = 2

William Friedkin becomes the first director to get three entries in the countdown, but nobody else so far.



John W Constantine's Avatar
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Alias: John Utah
04-03-24
Pretty sure I saw inherent vice the first weekend it came out and haven't watched it since. Looking back on some of my watch list from the past, I'm surprised the amount of time that passes without watching something again. Another entry in the countdown I could have sworn I watched it originally in 2017 but realized it was 2014. Crazy.



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One Ornery Sumbitch
04-03-24
Originally Posted by Thief
Strong showing from the 2010s in this last batch, but the 1990s seem to be running away with this. Nothing recent, also. Is there a neo-noir film from the 2020s you expect to make the list?
About the only one I would bet had a shot is Del Toro's remake of Nightmare Alley (2021). Though I would have thought it would be in the bottom fifty, were it coming on the collective list.

The only one I seriously considered for my ballot was Vengeance (2022). I was going to throw it on as my twenty-fifth pick, figuring it would at least be highlighted as a one-pointer. I like it a lot. Very clever, funny, but still sneaky powerful modern deconstruction of the genre.




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04-03-24
2 for 2. I missed the bus when it came to Kiss Kiss Bang Bang. Ended up watching it a couple of years after the buzz had died down. There is a lot to be said for being part of a communal experience and even though I never thought of it as a bad movie maybe I would have liked it more if I had been part of the inaugural appreciation.

But I did like Inherent Vice. I like most PTA movies and Phoenix is worthy of a watch in just about anything he's in. Never read the Thomas Pynchon novel and as someone said before it doesn't delve too deeply and does lean towards the episodic. But it's a rock solid cast and I liked Josh Brolin as "Bigfoot" Bjornsen and even the minor players seemed perfectly cast. Plus I thought it featured two of the more alluring female characters in Shasta and Sortilège. Something about them really appealed to me. This is another movie I would have made room for on my ballot if only I had remembered. Plus The Nice Guys as Holden mentioned above.

38 of 60 seen.

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