The MoFo Top 100 of the 2010s Countdown

It's Such a Beautiful Day made my ballot at #21. It almost didn't make my ballot though since I didn't watch it until a month or two before the deadline, but I'm glad I managed to sneak it in. Not a huge animated film buff, but this is exactly the kind of film which is right up my alley. Its animation style is unique from all other major animators/animation companies, it tells a depressing and emotionally involving story which the animation style suits very well, and it's the kind of film which leaves you appropriately depressed when it finishes. If I rewatch it down the road, it might move up on my ballot, but since I wasn't able to spend a lot of time with it before the deadline, it stayed at around the tail end. Still very good though.

Phantom Thread didn't make my ballot, but I found its story on two people who can't live neither without nor with each other very compelling. It's definitely due for a rewatch though. When I first watched it, I found one vital scene very poorly executed and, given how much it shaped what came after that, I was left in a state of confusion and it took a while for me to figure out what was actually happening. Granted, if I were to rewatch the film, I'm sure it will fare better, but I just wished the character motives were made more clear.

Updated ballot:

1.
2. Holy Motors (#51)
3.
4. Moonlight (#62)
5.
6. Inside Llewyn Davis (#22)
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. It's Such a Beautiful Day (#16)
22.
23. Hereditary (#96)
24.
25.

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IMDb
Letterboxd

Dude, you did it again.

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I have zero animated films on my ballot and in my overall top hundred for the decade I would only name Anomalisa, Isle of Dogs, and The LEGO Movie, only one of which is apparently making this countdown.

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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

One person's 'It's Such a Beautiful Day' is the next person's 'The Avengers'. This list is quite ecclectic, which can only be a good thing.

I have some animated features on my all time list but not the 2010s. I feel 'The Red Turtle' may have featured here but maybe not enough people have seen it.

Just looked that up, looks good

I like The Red Turtle. Saw it at a film festival.

I like It's Such a Beautiful Day , a fair bit. & understand how it spoke to some on a very personal level. Wasn't in contention for my list

Haven't seen Phantom Thread nor did I realize it's so popular

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Every time I see It's Such a Beautiful Day mentioned, I keep thinking I watched it for the 4th Short Film Hall of Fame, but then realize I'm mixing it up with Everything Will be OK.

I haven't seen the Phantom Thread either, but I have seen the previous two reveals. I really liked Shoplifters when I saw it, but I honestly don't remember that much about it. I know I preferred The Third Murder and Like Father, Like Son at the time, and since I can still remember most of After the Storm I'd probably put that ahead of Shoplifters now as well if I had to rank the director's eligible films. I haven't seen I Wish or The Truth, but I'd definitely put Shoplifters ahead of Our Little Sister, so at least it's not at the bottom of that theoretical list haha.

I wasn't a fan of Drive at all, but it's something I've considered revisiting. I had a co-worker who loved it though, and he even had a cheap knock-off jacket like the one Gosling wears in the film that he grossly overpaid for.

Seen: 60/86

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I haven't seen Shoplifters, however Drive made my list at #10. One of Gylenhaals (Goslings) great performances in a decade that he shined. The Kaminsky, "Night Drive" scene is the perfect brief into the atmosphere of this film, which in my mind reinvigorated the style it brings. I see its influences on many later projects fromA24 & the likes

Phantom Thread was definitely on my short list, likely a top 50 contender, but I decided to go with just one, transcendent PTA film for this countdown.

It's Such a Beautiful Day is my favourite YouTube video that got smashed into a movie. I ignored classification and listed it #19 on my list.

3. The Act of Killing (2012)
4. Holy Motors (2012)
6. Shoplifters (2018)
8. Under the Skin (2014)
9. Inside Llewyn Davis (2013)
12. Joker (2019)
14. The Turin Horse (2011)
17. Birdman (2014)
18. What We Do in the Shadows (2014)
19. It's Such a Beautiful Day (2012)
22. Moonlight (2016)

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"Don't be so gloomy. After all it's not that awful. Like the fella says, in Italy for 30 years under the Borgias they had warfare, terror, murder, and bloodshed, but they produced Michelangelo, Leonardo da Vinci, and the Renaissance. In Switzerland they had brotherly love - they had 500 years of democracy and peace, and what did that produce? The cuckoo clock."

It's Such a Beautiful Day, not seen it animation ain't my bag.

Phantom Thread, my old review:


A couple of years ago I watched Phantom Thread, my reaction was one of ambivalence. I suppose that's because like many people who don't warm to a movie my expectations weren't met. That's the problem with expectations they're often quite different than what one encounters in movies and life. Movies don't necessarily follow a specific formula but the movie watcher has been dialed into the conventional story telling concept that's used in most movies and when that expected conventionalism doesn't occur disappointment can be the result.

Phantom Thread unlike many films utilizes a much more subtle approach with sustained moments of low key tension as a means of achieving it's story. One then might decide that there wasn't much going on in the film, and that's what I thought on my first watch.

A rewatch made me appreciate the moments the film exist in. It suggest underpinnings that aren't always forefront, nor do they need to be. The impression is more important than the whole...

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I think I messed up when I submitted my list. This is obviously top 100 worst films of the 2010s, I thought it was supposed to be the best films of the decade.

Haven't seen It's Such a Beautiful Day.

Phantom Thread is a magnificent exploration of toxic relationships, obsessions, curses literal or not, all packaged with a perfect balance of romance, drama, and dark humor. Three excellent lead performances where each manage to hold their own against the other, plus PTA's meticulous direction. I loved it the first time I saw it, I loved it even more when I rewatched it. As much as I love There Will Be Blood, this one is almost at its heels. It was my #2.


Here's where I'm at, including the chances for the rest of my list...

Seen: 66/86



Adjusted percentages again...

For anyone interested, a year ago I was a guest at a podcast called Cinema Recall, where we talked specifically about Phantom Thread. Here is the link...

Cinema Recall: PTA Meetings: Phantom Thread (2017)

Hope you like it.

Was battling a stomach bug over the weekend, and I am still back on page 211 catching up on replies etc. Now I am behind at work and it ma be a bit before I can catch up and comment on the last few sets of reveals... Will catch up ASAP!

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Useless trivia factoids...

The point gap between It's Such a Beautiful Day (213) and Phantom Thread (232) is the biggest so far (19). Double the previous biggest gap, which was 8 points.

Speaking of It's Such a Beautiful Day, Don Hertzfeldt joins the list of directors with two or more entries in the countdown.

And again with the film, much to the dismay of some It's Such a Beautiful Day AND Shoplifters are two of the Top 5 films with the highest Tomatometer score (100% and 99%) respectively, which means that all you haters are in the minority (I haven't seen either, so I'm just yanking your collective chains )

As if you've skipped Shoplifters and Drive in the main list... the posters are there though.

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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.

Slacker - for the past few days I've had quite a nasty flu-like critter that herself ever so kindly brought back from the UK as a Chinese New Years' gift to me and I've still managed to keep up

Glad you're presumably on the road to recovery now though