The MoFo Top 100 Neo-noir Countdown

The Killing of a Chinese Bookie is pretty good, but I like a few Cassavetes films more than it.

I've elaborated on my opinion of The Dark Knight in the past, but I think the first 2/3 or so are great, but then the ending becomes a big muddled mess.

__________________
IMDb
Letterboxd

AWARDS?


The Killing of a Chinese Bookie didn't receive any nominations or awards. The Dark Knight, on the other hand, received a ton of nominations and awards. These are some of the most notable:

• Thirteen (13) Saturn Award nominations, including a win for Best Action/Adventure/Thriller Film
• Nine (9) BAFTA Film Award, including a win for Best Supporting Actor (Ledger)
• Eight (8) Academy Award nominations, including a win for Best Supporting Actor (Heath Ledger)
• Seven (7) Critics Choice Award nominations, including a win for Best Action Movie
• Six (6) Satellite Award nominations, including a win for Best Sound Mixing and Editing
• One (1) Golden Globe Award for Best Supporting Actor (Ledger)

__________________

Stats: Pit Stop #4

---

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

Decade Breakdown

• 1960s = 7
• 1970s = 6
• 1980s = 3
• 1990s = 12
• 2000s = 6
• 2010s = 6
• 2020s = 0

The 1990s are still at the top, but with a strong demonstration from the 1970s and the 2000s in this batch, things are bound to get messy.

So far, Christopher Nolan has been the only director with more than one entry. He had Following at #84, followed today by The Dark Knight. But trust me, there'll be more.

I've seen A Woman Under the Influence, Gloria and Minnie and Moskowtiz - all three are amongst my favourite films, so it goes without saying that I will get to every John Cassavetes film by some stage - he's one of the absolute best filmmakers of his time. I'm really looking forward to catching The Killing of a Chinese Bookie.

61. The Dark Knight - I must have watched this 15 times when it came out - just a great movie with one of the most enjoyable performances of all time from Heath Ledger, who we were soon to be robbed of - but when you combine oxycodone, hydrocodone, diazepam, temazepam, alprazolam and doxylamine you're playing dice with your life. My reasons are selfish - I would have liked to have seen him go even further with the talent he had. Anyway, by far the best Batman film ever made - I'm not all that big on the character myself, but The Dark Knight got everything right, and stands out so much that it kind of makes the trilogy Nolan made somewhat uneven. Never mind - I'll take that. It didn't make my list - I didn't quite see it as neo noir, being pretty much locked into the 'superhero film' bracket it is. I'm not arguing with the classification, just explaining why I didn't vote for The Dark Knight. It wasn't neo-noir enough for me personally.

Seen : 24/40 - surprised by the number of films appearing I haven't seen actually.

__________________

No, because it's whack.

I have not seen Killing of A Chinese Bookie and should probably rectify that.


I'm not the first person to say this, but I think there are diminishing returns watching The Dark Knight. I enjoyed the trilogy when it first came out but rewatched them all recently and was underwhelmed. Agree the final third is a mess. (And you could drive a truck through the plotholes in Rises).


My first thought seeing it here was 'is that really noir or do people just like to vote TDK for everything?' but the more I think about it, Batman as an entity is very noir and Nolan does play up the noirish elements.

66. Killer Joe (59 points) - Can't remember anything about it other than a controversial scene.
65. Strange Days (60 points) - Don't think I've seen it
64. Gone Baby Gone (60 points) - Decent film but not close to being on my ballot
63. Klute (60 points) - watched the other day. Good film.
62. The Killing of a Chinese Bookie (61 points) - not seen
61. The Dark Knight (62 points) - Fun film but the most overrated movie in the history of movies.

Second most overrated, in my opinion. Most overrated was the next one, DK Rises.

I do think Dark Knight is okay. Mainly for Heath Ledger's performance. The parts that work, work well.


It's just nowhere near a top tier movie. The pilot's too ridiculous, and the love interest sub-plot doesn't work at all.

20/40 and 4 from my list.

The Dark Knight placed on the original MoFo Top 100 (#46), the MoFo Top 100 of the Millennium (#3), the MoFo Top 100 of the 2000s (#10), and the MoFo Top 100 Comic Book Movies (#1).

__________________
"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

For what it's worth, I took my first dip into Cassavetes a little over a year ago. I decided to go with his first one, Shadows, and it went fairly well (You can check my review here). Haven't seen any other, though.

For what it's worth, even though weekdays reveal times should be fairly stable, weekends are always up in the air for me. It all depends on what the "family schedule" is, and sometimes I don't even touch my computer until late in the afternoon. I'll try to pop in from my phone and let you know in advance, but that's not always possible either, so keep that in mind for the upcoming weekends. Reveals might come as early as 8:00am or as late as 8:00pm.

But anyway, buckle up. Next two reveals in the next few minutes.

Interesting to see The Dark Knight appear here. It's not one I would have considered, but it feels appropriate nonetheless.