The MoFo Top 100 of the 2010s Countdown

01-20-23

36. The Babadook
35. Searching

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Originally Posted by Yoda

terrible, 0/5, not enough puppies.

Daniel M

01-20-23

Originally Posted by PHOENIX74

Ditto. I think Paterson is the kind of film that might alienate quite a few who see it, but I couldn't leave it off my ballot. Once we got to the 60s I gave up all hope, and I'll be interested to see if anyone else voted for it when we get to the end.

I might as well say now, because I don't think any of them are going to show up, but I voted for all three Jim Jarmusch films on my list. Probably ought to have given them more points, mind.

As for the hints...

Suspiria (2018)? Didn't know it was popular though, or maybe Call Me By Your Name?

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Last edited by Daniel M; 01-20-23 at 07:20 AM.

dadgumblah

Registered User

01-20-23

Finally watched Nightcrawler and thought it was great. Jake Gyllenhaal was super as the almost inhuman "newsman" and agree that maybe he should have been nominated for an Oscar for his performance. Wow. Dark, but excellent. Still, I don't think I would have put it on my list for the countdown. I can see why it made the countdown, though.

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Sedai

A system of cells interlinked

01-20-23

Originally Posted by Takoma11

Have you seen Good Time? I enjoyed it a notch more than Uncut Gems.

Funny you ask that.

Why yes, I have seen it!

Just last night, actually. I was just popping in here to mention that, while I didn't get to Uncut Gems yet, my wife and I watched Good Time last night. We both really liked it. Great acting, tense situations, and a fantastic score. I enjoyed the style and will be checking out more Safdie Bros.

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Little Ash

he/him

01-20-23

I've got nothing
36. The Lighthouse
35. The Lighthouse

A movie that I still can't guess if it just barely missed or there was just a massive break towards it compared to The VVitch. I will probably start to think it's the former when It's Such a Beautiful Day shows up, because the discrepancy between that and World of Tomorrow is probably going to be comparatively larger due to short vs sort of full featured length.

Harry Lime

BANNED FROM VIENNA

01-20-23

Speaking of Paterson - I thought it was a great film too but I put another Jarmusch film on my ballot that I liked well enough the first time I watched it but on rewatch I appreciated it even more. Funny I have two "vampire movies" on my list with What We Do in the Shadows - not expected.

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01-20-23

156 points, 12 lists

Sicario

Director

Denis Villeneuve, 2015

Starring

Emily Blunt, Benicio del Toro, Josh Brolin, Daniel Kaluuya

#36

01-20-23

163 points, 9 lists

Burning

Director

Lee Chang-dong, 2018

Starring

Yoo Ah-in, Steven Yeun, Jeon Jong-seo, Kim Soo-kyung

#35

SpelingError

AKA Popcorn Reviews

01-20-23

Trivia

Sicario - While Benicio Del Toro's character is frequently silent in the movie, he initially had more lines. "In the original script, the character explained his background several times to Kate," Del Toro said. "And that gave me information about who this guy was, but it felt a little stiff to have someone you just met fifteen minutes ago suddenly telling you what happened to him and who he is." Working with director Denis Villeneuve, Del Toro began cutting some of his dialogue to preserve the mystery of who his character is; Villeneuve estimated they cut 90% of what Del Toro was originally intended to say by screenwriter Taylor Sheridan. Like Del Toro, Villeneuve saw power in stripping the character down to a brooding silence, stating that dialogue belongs to plays and "movies are about movement, character, and presence, and Benicio had all that."

Burning - The scene in which the main characters talk at Jong-su's house was filmed for about a month. They were only able to shoot for a few minutes every day to capture the twilight on camera.

SpelingError

AKA Popcorn Reviews

01-20-23

MoFo Reviewers

Sicario

Originally Posted by PHOENIX74

If a film is truly a director's, then we're in good hands with French-Canadian Denis Villeneuve. I was suitably impressed with Enemy and Prisoners. Arrival and Blade Runner 2049 were stupendously large enough to easily go awry, but he emerged with his reputation not only intact, but heightened. His films have a refreshing uniqueness from each other, and we can only hope that the old rule of a director's creative lifespan of 10 years is similarly different from him than others. It has been just over 10 years since Villeneuve arrived on the scene with Incendies in 2010, but Sicario in 2015, nestled between Enemy and Arrival, is a triumph. A dark journey where our heroes are men turned evil, and our protagonist hamstrung by her own principles in a land where principles don't belong. When your opponent fights dirty will you? If you do, then what is left to differentiate the two of you? "You should move to a small town where the rule of law still exists," Alejandro advises Mercer. "You will not survive here." It would seem to me, that the Wild West has returned - and with it a new look at an old genre.

Read the full review here.

Burning

Originally Posted by Takoma11

The film lands in a really nice place between a thriller and a character study. Like many great films that lean into the psychological aspect, it's framed with just the right degree of ambiguity that we can never totally know if the conclusions reached by the main character are sound or not, lending multiple layers of dread to the events that play out. Is Ben really a sociopath? Or does Jong-Su see that because he wants to believe that Mae-Mi's boyfriend must be evil? And, by extension, do we the audience want him to be evil because a sociopath/serial killer is more sensational than just a faux-edgy pretty boy?

Read the full review here.

Miss Vicky

MoFo's Resident Bitch

01-20-23

I haven't seen either of these. Also I don't think I've heard of Burning before, which is not something I expected to happen this high up on the countdown.

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SpelingError

AKA Popcorn Reviews

01-20-23

mark f

Originally Posted by mark f

Sicario (Denis Villeneuve 2015)

Against her better judgment, FBI agent Emily Blunt joins a secret government team headed by Josh Brolin and mystery man Benicio Del Toro who are trying to catch a Mexican druglord.

I couldn't find any ratings/reviews mark f wrote for Burning (pages gbgoodies

).

Neither film made mark f's ballot.

MovieFan1988

Msg

Registered User

01-20-23

Seen: 24 - Guardians of the Galaxy - One of my favorite marvel movies and it's #10 on my ballot

Uncut Gems - Imo, it's one of those films where it wasn't bad or the best, it was in the middle. Sandler did alright in this movie.

Sicario - This movie was decent, not a favorite movie of mines though.

Not Seen: 39

I have not seen True Grit. Moonrise Kingdom and Burning

My Ballot so far:

#5 - Deadpool
#6 - Easy A
#10 - Guardians of the Galaxy
#25 - One Pointer: Purge: Election Year

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Chypmunk

01-20-23

Both decent but no votes from me. Sicario was never really in contention for a spot on my ballot (though I did expect it to appear higher than this on the countdown) but Burning was and only got cut late in the process so am happy to see that one make it.

Seen: 52/66 (Own: 32/66)

My ballot:

Faildictions

Mr Minio

Subtle Slayer of Normies

01-20-23

I wish I could say Sicario is sick, but I didn't like it. It is, along with Incendies, my least favorite Villeneuve from what I've seen.

I've been meaning to watch Burning ever since it came out. I tried a couple of times, and I just can't get past the first 10 minutes. Not because these opening minutes are bad. But because every time I start watching Burning, I immediately start thinking that this is not the right day for watching it and that I will like it more another day. And so I still haven't seen it. Let's hope the day I feel this is the day comes.

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SpelingError

AKA Popcorn Reviews

01-20-23

I watched Sicario years ago, but I don't remember it that well. I remember getting somewhat lost as I moved to the second half, but I think that was probably more my fault than the movie's. I generally like Villeneuve, so I might rewatch it sometime down the road.

Burning was #10 on my ballot. Here's what I wrote about it a few years ago:

I think Lee did a great job at effectively conveying the isolation of the characters. This was conveyed by a number of stylistic strategies such as the camera placement, the set design, and the acting. For instance, take Jong-su's jealousy of Ben in the first half. Several sequences featuring Jong-su remaining silent as Ben and Hae-mi continue to chat and get to know each other around him, his various glances and remarks at the two which effortlessly capture subtle, yet firm expressions of alienation and melancholy, and all kinds of visual details which demonstrate how Ben is everything which Jong-su isn't succeed in getting under your skin far better than any direct statement of his jealousy would've been able to accomplish. Around the halfway point though, Ben confesses something to Jong-su which sends the film in a whole new direction (a change which is telegraphed to us by an abrupt and completely silent scene). This direction adds a consistent layer of slow burning suspense to the film which characterizes the rest of it. Throughout this part of the film, many indications that something is up are given to us as it goes on. In addition, Lee also makes us second guess a couple other details brought up earlier in the film which we believed to be true. As much as we (and Jong-su for that matter) hope to receive a definitive answer though, Lee refuses to supply us with one. He chooses to leave us hanging with a shred of doubt that we wish to see satisfied throughout the second half. Since the film is told from the point of view of Jong-su though, we go along and side with him. Does he do the right thing at the end though? The shred of doubt we've had throughout is what makes the payoff so effective. Once the credits roll, you can't stop thinking about what you've just seen.

Updated ballot:

1.
2. Holy Motors (#51)
3.
4. Moonlight (#62)
5.
6.
7.
8.
9.
10. Burning (#35)
11.
12. Take Shelter (#67)
13. Certified Copy (#84)
14. Under the Skin (#54)
15.
16.
17.
18.
19.
20. A Separation (#90)
21.
22.
23. Hereditary (#96)
24.
25.

Little Ash

he/him

01-20-23

Holy shit. Burning made it.

That one completely slipped under my radar in terms of existing until this past year when it showed up in a friend's letterboxd activity, and then noticed a number of critics I follow all gave it four stars.

It's not a very catchy title. I noticed it was from the same director as [b[Poetry[/b] - a movie that I actually liked a good deal, but in that, "more 26-50" type of solid drama for me, though one I liked more than anything from Wook or Bong (a preference of taste, I suppose).

I start it up and then I notice, "based on a story by Haruki Murakami," and then I ended up really wondering how I missed it when it came out. I will say, some of the interactions felt like something out of a Murakami novel (at least the ones I've read), with subtleties of the damage we cause each other, with the backdrop of a mystery with an undercurrent of suspense. All giving the sense of, well, that would be a spoiler (which looks like it might have already appeared in the review).

It was definitely a late add to my top 25 list, but it was my #9.

Last edited by Little Ash; 01-20-23 at 11:38 AM.

Thief

Msg

Master of None

01-20-23

*Thief looks at the hints* Motherf--

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