The MoFo Top 100 of the 2010s Countdown

Actually... I take that back. Casey Affleck's greatest performance is in SNL in their mock Dunkin Donuts commercial. Great stuff:

__________________
"A candy colored clown!"
Member since Fall 2002
Top 100 Films, clicky below

http://www.movieforums.com/community...ad.php?t=26201

Well, the least "gay" gay movie is Some Like It Hot, which how it got around the Haye's code at the time, 1959, I'll never know. Also some great, GREAT stuff going on in Queen Christina which is one of my top 100 films of all time IF I ever make that list.

Moonlight, for my mileage is just bad writing, in fact so bad and so forced, that I can't believe it's not motivated by something beyond narrative, as I'm sure Barry Jenkins is a much better writer than to have a conclusion like that in a film. Like I said, I absolutely LOVED the opening act, the second was decent but not as good as where it started and then when Chiron comes back as an adult... it just shits on anything the film had going for it. For a film that is telling a dark, gritty, realistic story, then to undermine itself like that, it's soooo disingenuous and not representative to how things often go and how people really behave. The whole "I'm a drug dealer and waited for you for over a decade" thing was just so phony and insulting. This may be the first comparison between these two movies, but a film that I adore that Moonlight was reminiscent of that entered my mind when watching it was Splendor in the Grass in how the Warren Beatty and Natalie Wood characters, as much as we WANT them to be together and to live happily ever after, we know that isn't life and that the film is true to the narrative it was telling by having them not be together and be with other people and having moved on. It's heartbreaking, but genuine.

60. Drive
59. Moonrise Kingdom

I imagine Drive would be in the top 10, at least it's one of those films I'm pulling for in the top 10.

But it doesn't come out of nowhere.

Chiron has a single sexual experience with another boy (and not even sex), and that leads to that same boy participating in a physical attack against him and standing by while others hurt him.

I think it absolutely makes sense that someone who experienced something like that might decide that it wasn't worth it. So he puts on the costume of the gangster alpha male.

I know some slutty gays, but I also know gay people who didn't even date someone of the same sex until they were in their 20s, much less engage in sexy times. While it's definitely true that gay hookup culture exists, not every gay man participates in it. And people who are emotionally sensitive---which Chiron definitely is--are in my experience the least likely to participate.

Being his true self has repeatedly resulted in Chiron being hurt. So at a certain point he walls himself off and creates an image and a persona that won't get him hurt. I don't think we're supposed to see Chiron as noble or principled for not having been in other relationships. We're supposed to see the tragedy of a young man so twisted up that he's ended up sacrificing happiness for safety. He's a man in his mid-20s who hasn't had a real romantic and/or sexual relationship since a single kiss and handjob on a beach. It's not noble. It's sad. Same thing with the drug dealing.

All these arguments against Moonlight are precisely the arguments that I think the film successfully pushes back against; the efforts to put people OR films in little boxes... a Black gay man, a drug dealer, a gay movie, a coming of age movie... while the film is more interested in showing us that there are a thousand layers and facets to everybody. The film is more than a "gay" movie, whatever that means, and Chiron is more than a Black, gay, drug dealer... and whenever other people – characters and the audience – try to put him in little boxes, he pushes against that. Juan, a Black drug dealer, is the only one that ends up being a somewhat positive paternal figure to him, and he is the only one who challenges him to find himself and define himself ("You gotta decide for yourself who you're going to be. Can't let nobody make that decision for you") and through the course of the story, Chiron both embraces and challenges every stereotype there is about Black people, about gay people, and about supposed "tough guys". In that sense, there is a direct correlation between the events of the first two acts and what we see in the third act. I really don't know how one can miss that when you really pay attention to the film.

__________________

I watched Moonlight a few years ago, but I didn't really care much for the movie. I wouldn't say that I disliked it, but it was just okay, and I just didn't see what everyone else seemed to love about it. I haven't had any desire to rewatch it since then.


I didn't watch The Favourite because I read somewhere that there was something bad that happened to a bunny rabbit, and I didn't want to see that. I've never researched it to find out if that's true or not, but unless I find out that it's definitely not true, I have no plans to ever watch the movie.

__________________
.
If I answer a game thread correctly, just skip my turn and continue with the game.
OPEN FLOOR.

Favourite bunny spoilers


I found it upsetting as an animal lover, but not terrible.

Are you familiar with the site Does the Dog Die? It has spoilers for things like animal abuse (and like 50 other categories of content).

:fresh: :fresh: :fresh:

The only thing I could find that Mark wrote about The Favourite was in a thread titled "The Favourite" about the movie. He gave his family's thoughts on the movie, but he didn't mention if he saw it at that time.

Aye, thanks for sharing

__________________
IMDb
Letterboxd

Thanks for the information. I'm an animal lover, and I have trouble watching when any animals get hurt, but rabbits are my favorite animal, so it hurts the most when I see anything bad happen to them.

I've never heard of that site, but I'll definitely bookmark it for future movie info. Thank you.

I totally understand. If you know that it's coming, it's actually pretty obvious when it starts to happen, so you could mute or look away. Again, it doesn't die.

And Does the Dog Die? is really my go-to. I have a few things that I just can't watch when I've had a rough day, so I use it to screen for animal cruelty, sexual assault, and child abuse.

My favorite thing is when people put comments and editorialize, like "No the dog doesn't die. Her name is Buttons and she's the best dog!"

I do that a lot while watching movies. Anytime I think something bad is going to happen that I don't want to see, I decide that it's a good time to leave the room for a minute to get a drink or a snack, or maybe just a quick breath of fresh air.


It sounds like it's going to become a go-to site for me too. Thanks again.

For me the important part is that it's fictional. If it's done with special effects, no matter how gruesome I will respect it as part of an artistic work. However, directors who decide to abuse real animals in the name of "art" repulse me. It's thankfully mostly a relic after the 80's, but it does hurt to even have some classics affected by this horrible practice. I really want to watch Pink Flamingos for example, but I'm dreading the infamous chicken scene.

__________________

62. Moonlight - I've only seen this film once, and while that was enough to get Manchester by the Sea onto my list I want to see Moonlight again, despite enjoying it and thinking it was a really great film. It should feature in a top 100 of the decade, and I was very sure it wouldn't need my help getting here. As I'm sure someone has already noted, it's the 4th Best Picture winner to feature here, which means I'm surprised at the number that have made this Countdown. Parasite and Birdman will probably feature, and The Shape of Water, Argo and 12 Years a Slave are still a chance. I very much doubt Green Book will feature.

61. The Favourite - This was on my list, then it was cut, then I found room for it again and put it back, then it was cut again...this went on and on until my final submission, and unfortunately it ended up off the list. It was a damn hard film for me to leave behind, because I like it an awful lot and I've seen it numerous times. Definitely my favourite film not on my list - and one that I was sure was going to feature. I guess I'll settle for mid-countdown. Olivia Colman is awesome of course, but so are Emma Stone and Rachel Weisz in this battle for royal stature and favoritism from a fickle and dim-witted queen. There are no rules to this game, which is what makes it so tense and exciting. Great movie - love it.

Seen 32/40

__________________

Two films I have yet to see.

__________________
"A laugh can be a very powerful thing. Why, sometimes in life, it's the only weapon we have."

Suspect's Reviews

I haven't seen Moonlight but, again, maybe some day.

I've seen The Favourite and really loved it. All three actresses are excellent in it and I found it to be very funny. I especially liked the ending where

No votes from this round.

List so far:
#10. Hell or High Water #73
#15. Edge of Tomorrow #68
#24. Gone Girl #65

__________________
"Miss Jean Louise, Mr. Arthur Radley."

Once again I'm left picking at the scraps (not a complaint, this is fun not life or death)...
60. Fruitvale Station
59. The Wind Rises

62. Kinda surprised Moonlight was this low. I thought it would have been top half for sure, maybe even top quarter.

One thing that caught my eye in this discussion on the film was the phrase "I'm a drug dealer and I've waited over a decade for you". Chiron doesn't become a drug dealer by accident. No, the whole thing is a consequence of the first act where little Chiron finds himself protected and nurtured by kindly drug dealer Juan while hiding from those kids chasing after him. It's like the father/son relationship he never had. Juan (and his girlfriend Teresa) shows him the parental sort of love he is missing from his mother Paula who is battling a crack addiction and doesn't accept Chiron for being gay. As a result of that, Chiron is able to open up and express his issues with his mother and be who he is as a person. I think you can tell that Chiron as dealer feels similar to us watching Juan in his first minutes of the film when he deals. Like father, like son?

As for the third act:



I guess what I'm saying is that the actions and emotions of the third act build based on the actions and emotions of the first two. There are no accidents as everything builds on itself. Although I should have put this on the list, at least it made my honorable mentions.

61. The Favourite...haven't seen it.

Tomorrow, I will update my list and the odds that my entries have on making it.