The MoFo Top 100 of the 2000s Countdown

I've been trying to guess what people don't like about Watchmen. No I easily could have missed a big detail that could rewrite the 96 rating I gave, but I'd like to make this argument: what I loved about it was the fact that we didn't get some story about an old team getting back together. We got a story about how their differences both clashed and lead some of them to unity as they all changed. It was the average life of a washed-up superhero from multiple perspectives. The humorous tone of the comic book (as people say) might have been missed, but that detail is something the adaptation couldn't ever take away I'll bet.

Yes, it's nice when people don't say obviously stupid things.



There are good movies about the gay community and bad ones. My gut is Hedwig is one of the bad ones (even though I wouldn't discourage others from seeing it as it is at least something)

Almost Famous - I think this is the first one from my list. I have my reservations about it, as it is the kind of movie that unfolds just as you expect it will, and has a central performance by Jason Lee that I ****ing hate, but I return to it repeatedly. I think it gets something very right about the love of music and the innocence of youth and how they can't help but commingle deeply for a brief blissful moment. This movie is about that moment and the untutored performance of Patrick Fugit is what makes it all work. Is he a good actor? Not really. But his awkwardness in front of the camera is a gift.



Juno - No thanks. I don't like anything about this outside of Michael Cera's jogging shorts. And that is not nearly enough to carry a movie. Horrible dialogue littered with wink-wink pop culture references that make me want to barf. There is a reason Diablo Cody vanished into oblivion. She sucks. And I wager she likes Wizard of Gore more than Suspiria just like that knob Juno. The movie I probably hated most until Babydriver was farted into existence.


Sunshine - Everyone harps on the end, so I won't bother, even though it is deserving of the dislike. The first two thirds is close to the best thing Danny Boyle has every done. Before he became the worst director on earth.


Watchmen - A bad movie with great moments. Unfortunately, it's a really long bad movie, so there is a lot of waiting around for the worthwhile bits. Usually, it has to do with Rorschach. Maybe they should have left the rest of the characters on the cutting room floor.


Three Burials - Easily the best movie on the list so far for me. And I totally forgot about it. Bought this for fifty cents at some pawn shop before Christmas last year and was expecting a dull, sun bleached drama out in the desert. Turns out Tommy Lee Jones directed one of the best movies of the last twenty years. Poetic, unpredictable, uncompromising. I thought they stopped making American films like this in the 70's. It's perfect.


Cache - I didn't know what Haneke to choose for my list, and this was close. But I instead, chose another. The movie is a great example of giving an audience just enough information to piece a mystery together, but never enough for them to feel certain they've solved it. It lingers because, like a nightmare, we feel we should understand what is happening better than we do, and as it descends into the heart of darkness, we are helpless to reason ourselves out of it.

The only Haneke I've gelled to so far are the Funny Games movies, because they own up to not playing fair with the audience. The rest of them mostly struck me with a certain smugness, as if Haneke wants to play with the tropes of whatever genre he's chosen but considers himself above actually paying them off because he has an important point to make. What I'm saying is, i didn't vote for Cache.


I suppose I should watch The Piano Teacher at some point, if only for Queen Huppert.

I linked to my review when I posted my thoughts, but here it is again.

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to catch up a bit-

Pride & Prejudice was my #6. i love it unabashedly, and i also love the Colin Firth version. i have a huge crush on Kiera Knightley and i love her in this role. i had no idea if it would make the countdown or not, i'm just a whore for period piece dramas. i'm glad it did

haven't seen Diving Bell and the Butterfly in, like... 13 years. i enjoyed it but i dunno if i'll ever watch it again, movies about young immortality like that really bum me out these days. still, it's a good movie so i think it belongs on this list.

Hedwig and the Angry Inch was my #18. i only saw it for the first time last year, but i've loved the soundtrack for over a decade. kinda kicking myself for having waited so long to watch it. better late than never i guess.

anyway, pretty good list so far. the only movie on this list so far i cannot fkn stand is Juno. ughhhhh, no thanks

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letterboxd

I do like Caché, though it wouldn't be anywhere near my top twenty-five. As most long-time MoFos will know I am a tireless/annoying champion for The Three Burials of Melquiades Estrada and have been since I saw it theatrically in early 2006. It is one of those movies that connected so squarely with me on every level. For those who have never seen or heard of it, it has plot elements of and thematic similarities to such titles as Bring Me the Head of Alfredo Garcia, Lonely Are the Brave, and A Perfect World. It even has some similarities to two other Tommy Lee Jones vehicles in "Lonesome Dove" and No Country for Old Men. All of those projects are favorites of mine but Melquiades Estrada rises above them all. It was my numero uno, getting my full twenty-five points. After fifteen years of gushing about this flick here at MoFo I am simultaneously gratified that it continues to makes our lists and slightly disappointed that it isn't much, much higher.

That makes two of mine, so far.

HOLDEN’S BALLOT
1. The Three Burials of Melquiades Estrada (#86)
17. The Diving Bell and the Butterfly (#92)

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"Film is a disease. When it infects your bloodstream it takes over as the number one hormone. It bosses the enzymes, directs the pineal gland, plays Iago to your psyche. As with heroin, the antidote to Film is more Film." - Frank Capra

Exactly. And every time it felt like the movie was finding its feet, it would totally fumble for like 5 solid minutes of runtime.

My main memory of this film is the derisive laughter at the sex scene.

I'm surprised so many people haven't heard of Three Burials . . .. It's a really good film!

I mostly know the movie by reputation, but it never ceases to amaze me that Spike Spencer, who's most famous for dubbing anime like Evangelion and Nadesico, has a cameo in The Three Burials of Melquiades Estrada.

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Look, Dr. Lesh, we don't care about the disturbances, the pounding and the flashing, the screaming, the music. We just want you to find our little girl.

After a day of not looking at clues, maybe I'll look at the next one.

Saw Three Burials a year or so ago and thought it was excellent. It would definitely make my top 50.

Been a few years since seeing Cache. I remember it being a good watch but being frustrated by the ending.

For those who haven’t seen it yet (3 Burials), and have access to Amazon prime, it is available there.

*eyes it up warily, realizing he has had it saved for over a year, and on his watchlist since it first came out over 15 years ago*

👀

It's great and you should watch it.

I’ve been meaning to…for 15 years. 👀

I know it might seem like a film that would feel like "work", but I had that same wariness when I watched it (free rental---perks of working at the video store!) and 10 minutes in you'll be sucked into the story and characters.

This is actually what happens to me with almost every movie.

"What? 2 hours and 12 minutes? Ugh."

But if it's any good I just have to start it and I wanna see what happens next. And if I don't, well, I take that as a sign that maybe it's not worth the time. Either way I'm only really "risking" a little bit of time.

Oh yeah, I fully expect to enjoy it, I just always get side reached by so many other films. I really should watch it this week, though.

Oh yes.

There's a big difference between, "Wow, that was 2 hours! It flew by!" and "Please tell me this movie is almost over *checks run time*. THIS THING STILL HAS 50 MINUTES LEFT?!?!?!"

Trivia

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The Three Burials of Melquiades Estrada



Did you know that...

• Many parts of the film were shot in Tommy Lee Jones ranch?
• The script was written in Spanish by Guillermo Arriaga, but translated to English by Jones himself?
• Jones gave each cast member a copy of Albert Camus' The Stranger to read so that they would understand alienation, a big theme in both the novel and the film?

Trivia

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Caché



Did you know that...

• Haneke wrote the script with Daniel Auteuil in mind? He has also said that he envisioned Auteuil and Bincohe and had "almost all the actors in mind" while working on the screenplay.
• there is no music in the film?