The MoFo Top 100 of the 2000s Countdown

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Citizen Rules:
Amelie...Loved it! It brought a smile to my face that lasted two hours...now my face hurts, ha. But that's OK because any movie that can make me happy, make me laugh and impress me with it's quirky cleverness, that movie then is worth a few sore facial muscles.



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."
So easy to see that I didn't use a grammar checker back then. That text is missing multiple commas
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I forgot the opening line.
Another 4 reveals, another 4 movies I didn't vote for - for varying reasons.

18. Inglourious Basterds : Basterds is great - and I've seen it many times, but when it came time to remove a few films so that I could add really great films that needed votes I decided it didn't need my help. In any case, it's stellar scenes (endlessly rewatchable) don't form a cohesive whole that tell us much more than the fact that Quentin Tarantino loves cinema. Whenever I see it playing though, I stop and gawk - Tarantino can sure write stuff that captivates and hypnotizes. We'd all been waiting for him to do something related to the Second World War, and this piece of revisionist history was the perfect way to deliver. It also introduced the English-speaking world to Christoph Waltz, who is marvelous as Hans Landa, and delivered Brad Pitt one of his more memorable characters - larger than life players, which were needed for a story writ large. The removal of Shaun of the Dead would have made no difference to it's placing, but the removal of Basterds meant it finished in 18th place instead of 17th. I don't think anyone will lose sleep over that.

17. Children of Men : I'll have to give this another watch one day to see if my feelings for Children of Men have changed - a universally liked film, which holds a much loftier place on this countdown than I would have ever anticipated. I have to admit - seeing the human race in such a desperately dour position is a little depressing, but I feel I should have got a little more out of the exciting aspects of the film which were well constructed. Everyone in my family loves this film except for me - and since I really got a lot out of playing The Last of Us (especially the story aspect) then why should this be any different? I didn't enjoy my first experience with Children of Men, but that might change.

16. Amélie : I really like Amélie, but not enough to crack my top 25 for the decade - although I voted for it in the Foreign Language Countdown. I'd normally approach such a cutesy picture with cynicism, but this one wins me over every time - it has a certain intelligence behind all of the whimsical fancy, and a sense of humour that really works well for me. The approach of this countdown also got me to finally see Jean-Pierre Jeunet's Micmacs, which is nowhere near as good as this, but he made a few decent (and strange) films in the 1990s. Amélie remains his high point.

15. The Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers : Here they come. Peter Jacksons Lord of the Rings films are a stunning feat of filmmaking - they look incredible, and keep wowing us while watching for an extraordinary length of time. Unfortunately, the whole fantasy genre isn't my cup of tea - so they were unlikely to get votes from me. It's a testament to how good they are that despite my dislike of the kind of film they are, I bought the huge extended special editions of each film for my collection. I've seen them a few times, because they are remarkable - however, I never got around to watching all of the Hobbit films. After a certain extent I felt a little weary of the Tolkien universe.
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Welcome to the human race...
No votes. I remember thinking Amelie was really good when I first watched it, but it has been a very long while since then and I virtually forget that it even exists for considerable stretches of time. Not about to argue with the idea that Two Towers is the weakest of the trilogy, but it still has plenty going for it anyway.

It's funny that he messages others saying it's "a bit he's doing", but he doesn't message me who's the one he keeps pestering with his insufferable whining.
Guess I took it seriously enough that he felt he had to say it. No matter.
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Iro's Top 100 Movies v3.0



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
you've done a stellar job hosting, rest up king
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I watched Amélie for the Foreign Language Movies countdown. I liked it, and I can understand why so many people love it, but she was just a bit too quirky at times for it to make my list for that countdown, so it didn't stand a chance to make my list for this countdown.

I watched all three of the LOTR movies for the Fantasy Movies HoF, and The Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers was my favorite of the three movies, but it didn't make my list.
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OPEN FLOOR.



Everyone's using all the adjectives for Amélie that I would have picked but I'll use them anyway. Sweet, whimsical, quirky, clever, charming---it's all these things and the writing and directing go a long way towards making it that way, but all of it would be useless to me if it wasn't for the devastating loveliness that is Audrey Tautou. I fell for her pretty hard in this movie. She is just a ball of fun. Sad to say I didn't vote for it.

The Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers is a great movie and expands the characters deeply, while introducing several new ones that will play pivotal roles in the outcome of the saga. Andy Serkis as Gollum should have been nominated for an Oscar, he was that good. The scene where Gollum argues with Smeagol is astonishing and unforgettable. This one stands equally tall with the other two, even if I have a particular favorite. It's #4 on my list.


#4. The Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers 15
#5.Pirates of the Caribbean: The Curse of the Black Pearl 63
#8. Unbreakable 62
#10.Million Dollar Baby 57
#15. Shaun of the Dead 20
#18. The Royal Tenenbaums 35
#22. Fantastic Mr. Fox 70
#20. Iron Man 83
#21 Finding Nemo 44
#23. The Descent 80
#25. Kiss Kiss Bang Bang 76
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I wonder, since the blockbuster fan club mostly dominates this countdown, I still not seen comments about the second and third Matrix.
What happens?
Moreover, there are no vocals about The Crystal Skull too...
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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.
Yeah, the work gone into them is hugely impressive. But it's too much nonsense for me. The levels of fantasy involved just doesn't interest me.



Awards




Now to the awards received by Amélie...

  • BAFTA Award for Best Screenplay (Guillaume Laurant and Jean-Pierre Jeunet)
  • Awards Circuit Community Award for Best Foreign Language Film
  • Chlotrudis Audience Award for Best Movie
  • Goya Award for Best European Film
  • World Soundtrack Award for Best Original Soundtrack of the Year (Yann Tiersen)

Among many others.

As for The Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers, it won...

  • Academy Award for Best Sound Editing and Visual Effects
  • BAFTA Award for Best Costume Design and Special Visual Effects
  • Saturn Award for Best Fantasy Film, Best Supporting Actor (Andy Serkis), Best Costumes and Best Make-Up
  • Chlotrudis Award for Best Adapted Screenplay (Peter Jackson, Fran Walsh, Philippa Boyens, and Stephen Sinclair)
  • Empire Award for Best Film
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Trivia




Amélie



Did you know that...
  • the role of Amélie was written specifically for Emily Watson? However, she didn't speak French and had scheduling issues with Gosford Park.
  • when shooting on location, Jean-Pierre Jeunet and crew would clean the area of debris, grime, trash, and graffiti to match the fantastic nature of the film?
  • the pregnancy footage is from an actual short called 17 Seconds to Sophie, by Bill Cote?




Trivia




The Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers



Did you know that...
  • there were so many extras during the Helm's Deep month-long filming that almost all of them got T-shirts that read "I survived Helm's Deep"?
  • when they couldn't recruit enough 6' men to play Uruk-hai, they cast 5' men as well? They were nicknamed the Uruk-Low *ba-dum-tshhh*
  • Andy Serkis drank bottles of "Gollum juice", a mixture of honey, lemon, and ginger, to keep his throat lubricated for the vocal performance?
  • Viggo Mortensen was so impressed with the horse his character rode that he purchased him from the owners?




As a personal rule I didn't want to just include several movies from the same director and/or franchise so that I, in return, could have a more diverse and interesting list.

I think the Lord of the Rings trilogy is one of the best things ever done in cinema on several aspects and one could easily count the three films as one single film. But of course, for this list one has too split them up or simply pick one - and I did not choose The Two Towers...

In an otherwise strong trilogy, the middle entry is probably my least favorite. I consider it no spoiler to say that one of the two other entries is somewhere on my list. And I'm sure they'll both show up later anyways - with or without my vote.

I'm not a fan of Amelie, but I understand the appeal. What it tries to do it succeeds in, but it's not really my type of film.



Hint, hint...

WARNING: spoilers below

Blood, blood everywhere
Guns, stabs, bites
Blood on the screen
Messing my nice whites

Outside is cold
Below is dirty
Will we get there?
Maybe in thirty

Find all of them
Follow her through
Whether for payback
or for love too



A system of cells interlinked
I wonder, since the blockbuster fan club mostly dominates this countdown, I still not seen comments about the second and third Matrix.
What happens?
Moreover, there are no vocals about The Crystal Skull too...
I think it speaks volumes about the balance of this countdown that we have one guy saying it is too obscure, with not enough well-known films, and another guy saying it is dominated by an alleged blockbuster club...
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I think it speaks volumes about the balance of this countdown that we have one guy saying it is too obscure, with not enough well-known films, and another guy saying it is dominated by an alleged blockbuster club...
I don't know how serious @mrblond's comments was, but if you look at the last 15-ish, there are hardly "blockbusters" there, at least in the traditional sense of what a "blockbuster" is...

30. Hot Fuzz (202 points)
29. Let the Right One In (208 points)
28. Downfall (214 points)
27. Memories of Murder (219 points)
26. Requiem for a Dream (223 points)
25. City of God (233 points)
24. Donnie Darko (241 points)
23. Ratatouille (243 points)
22. Oldboy (247 points)
21. O Brother, Where Art Thou? (249 points)
20. Shaun of the Dead (249 points)
19. The Departed (267 points)
18. Inglourious Basterds (290 points)
17. Children of Men (302 points)
16. Amélie (313 points)
15. The Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers (332 points)


Out of those 15, I think the only one I would call a "blockbuster" is The Two Towers, and maybe Inglourious Basterds.





340 points, 25 lists
Kill Bill: Vol. 1
Director

Quentin Tarantino, 2003

Starring

Uma Thurman, Lucy Liu, Vivica A. Fox, Daryl Hannah

#14