The MoFo Top 100 of the 2000s Countdown

Watch one, then watch the other...report back.

Not enough time for that, unfortunately.

Awards

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Now to the awards received by Almost Famous...

• Oscar for Best Original Screenplay (Cameron Crowe)
• BAFTA for Best Original Screenplay (Crowe)
• BAFTA for Best Sound
• Golden Globe for Best Supporting Actress (Kate Hudson)
• Golden Globe for Best Film - Musical or Comedy
• Grammy Award for Best Compilation Soundtrack Album
• Satellite Award for Best Supporting Actress (Hudson)

As for Juno, it won...

• Oscar for Best Original Screenplay (Diablo Cody)
• AFI Award for Movie of the Year
• Artios Award for Outstanding Achievement in Casting
• Grammy Award for Best Compilation Soundtrack Album
• MTV Movie Award for Best Female Performance (Elliot Page)

Among many, many others.

Love the parallelism of these two winning some of the same awards (Best Screenplay Oscar, Grammy for Best Soundtrack). Serendipity

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#90. Almost Famous

After I've been witnessing for more than a decade how popular among the American audience is the unknown for me Almost Famous, I finally saw it six months ago before my thread MoFo 2000 Film Chart where it was ranked #12 by the users in the forum.

Well, I understand how films like this catch the youngsters. I also watched it with kind of enjoyment, because of the music mostly, but aside of the few superb appearances by Hoffman and McDormand, the acting around the centered cute boy as a whole was miserable, almost amateurish which was quite disturbing. Not good directing, I can also say.

In this field, I would much more recommend the Cameron Crowe's earlier work Singles which will last far longer and deeper in the cultural heritage, I think.

Never heard the film Juno.

Seen 5/12.

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"Population don't imitate art, population imitate bad television." W.A.
"You can't depend on your eyes when your imagination is out of focus." M.T.

I did think Fugit was a weak point, at first. But after a couple of re-viewings, I understood his innocence in the role and the casting.


This was re-enforced with his role in "Wristcutters: A Love Story". Another film that ended up on the cutting room floor.

Ah no clue after all. Good idea!

90. Almost Famous : Another blast from the Millennium countdown past. I've kind of seen Almost Famous in bits throughout the years. It's one of those films I just don't feel a great urge to see from start to finish. I reckon it's because I already feel jealous of the young guy it's about, who gets to hang out with an ultra-famous band and live a life of decadent and extravagant fun-filled freedom. I've been meaning to watch it in full so I can cross it off the list once and for all.

89. Juno : I really like Juno and it nearly made a few early versions of my list, but the all-out enthusiasm I used to have for it has cooled to the point where I now simply consider it to be a really good movie. Smart and funny script which gives Ellen (Elliot?) Page so many smart and sassy lines, and takes the hard edge away from teenage pregnancy but also explores some of the issues inherent in the decisions that must be made when it happens. I'm a big fan of Jason Bateman, J.K. Simmons and especially Rainn Wilson (Super is one of my all-time favourite movies.) Michael Cera is growing on me - and he plays his somewhat clueless and very much 'mid-teens mentally' character well. Jason Reitman is hit and miss for me - but I really loved Up in the Air, so he certainly has great abilities. I never meshed with screenwriter Diablo Cody's Tully, and haven't seen any of her other stuff. I heartily approve of Juno being on the list.

I'm 5/12

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Trivia

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Almost Famous



Did you know that...

• Jack Black and Jon Favreau auditioned for the role of Lester Bangs, before Philip Seymour Hoffman was cast?
• when Penny Lane (Kate Hudson) asks William (Patrick Fugit) if he'd like to go to Morocco with her, and he says, "Yes... ask me again", it was actually Fugit asking Hudson to ask her again for another take? Cameron Crowe liked it and kept it in the final cut.
• the film budget for music was $3.5 million, which was significantly more than most films?
• Brad Pitt and Sarah Polley were cast for the roles of Russell and Pennie Lane? Polley dropped to work in another project and Pitt agreed with Cameron that he wasn't the right fit. Kate Hudson, who was cast to play William's sister, then stepped in to play Pennie.

Almost Famous is a big blind spot for me. No reason, just never super got me interested.

My memories of Juno are that (1) it managed to pull of an interesting line with the issue of abortion, because anti-abortion people liked that she didn't get one and pro-choice people liked that she had the option to consider it and (2) like everyone else who owned a stringed instrument, my roommate and I learned to play "Anyone Else" and frequently sang it as a duet, in part because it is REALLY easy to play and very short. I think it's a film for me, but my impression is generally positive and I can see why its quirky humor and good cast would lead people to really like it.

Trivia

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Juno



Did you know that...

• the hamburger phone in the film is owned by writer Diablo Cody?
• Juno's line about finding a "cool" parent to her baby ("like a graphic designer") is oddly appropriate since both Elliot Page's father and Diablo Cody's ex-husband are graphic designers.
• the film was shot in 31 days? This complicated director Jason Reitman's intention to use the four seasons to frame Juno's journey, and required a bit of trickery from the crew to mock each season (crew members throwing leaves for autumn, taking advantage of a fluke snowstorm in March for winter scenes, etc.)

Now that you mention it, as I was looking for trivia, I read this...

• In an interview with The Guardian in May 2018, writer Diablo Cody said that the one thing she would have changed about the film is to make it clearer as to why Juno chooses not to have an abortion. She said "It was simply because she did not want to. It was not about any type of feeling that abortion was wrong - I'm pro choice." She also went on to say that the fact that some people have interpreted the movie as anti-choice is "upsetting."
• In 2019, Diablo Cody said if she had to do it all over again, she would not have written Juno or would have made it a different story, because so many people have used it for a political agenda she does not agree with.

Ok, how about this for hints...

These are two different critics writing about #88

• "In an age of technical advancements when filmmakers have circumvented ideas for synthetic visual thrills, here is a movie that plays like some decisive, brilliant rebellion to that pattern."
• "Seems to linger in the realm of horror at the most inappropriate times, while also stifling the sense of adventure at equally inopportune moments"

As for #87...

• "The story is difficult to follow, the dialogue is both juvenile and pretentious, the acting is thoroughly uneven, the look and feel of the film are essentially without character or personality, and its social outlook is disoriented at best."
• "Great book, mediocre adaptation."

88 is Sunshine.

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I thought it was pretty clear in the film, honestly. Juno herself is also pretty privileged in terms of her life circumstances, so it's not as big a deal for her to go through with an unwanted pregnancy.

I think that snarky (but sort of vague) critical reviews is a great way to approach the hints.

I'm trying to think of 2000s book adaptations . . .

87 is Watchmen.

Suburban Sasquatch!!

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Captain's Log
My Collection

Oh, well. Same thing.

I'm sorry I laughed out loud when I saw staring Elliot Page on a movie about a teenage pregnancy. No hate just absurdity is the new normal.

Just missed the memo on this countdown by a day. Oh well. So far my favorite has been Almost Famous. Freaking dig the hell out of that flick. It was number 21 on my 101 favorite films 2 years ago.


What kind of beer?

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101 Favorite Movies (2019)

One could just google parts of the reviews to know the movies before the reveal.

Not seen Juno (but of course I own it ) but I did see Almost Famous a couple of times when released. Thought it was OK at best. I really didn't get the love for it or the vibe from it.

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