The MoFo Top 100 of the 2000s Countdown

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IN THE MOOD FOR LOVE: If this was a list of 25 'best' films, I may have included this. Wong Kar Wai has been a seismic voice in movies the last twenty years. A rebel, a pioneer, a deep cinematic soul. Unfortunately, as much as I like his films, I've never been swept away by them. And it is pretty clear by the presentation of the relationship in Mood for Love, that being swept away, not only by the love that is in the air, but by the directors general aesthetic, is very much a part of his point. So I always feel I'm missing one last ingredient for truly loving this. Part of the problem is, there is elements to Kar Wai's style that don't jive with my idea of beauty. I don't like his tendency to change frame rates, and slow things down, blur the city lights into a glittering smear as we move through the streets. It calls too much attention to the camera and pulls too much attention away from the sensuality of what he is filming. Now, I don't say this as a plea for a corrective to this, that he should start dialling down this signature move of his. What I'm saying is I want to learn how to become immersed in it, as is required. And I maybe just haven't watched his stuff enough to get there. Yet!


MEMENTO: I think I might have overlooked this. If I did, it should have been on my list, as the 'gimmick' of its structure unleashes not only an irreverence to how narrative is supposed to play out, but also serves a number of really important functions. It completely immerses us in the head space of the character. It inverts the movies sense of humor (an often overlooked element of the film) where we continually are laughing at moments that happened earlier in the film, as the set ups for the jokes become the punchlines. And, maybe most importantly, it allows the despair of the 'twist' to have particular resonance. After we wade through the time warping sensibilities of the movie, all the way to the end, to have the information that waits for us there (at what is actually the beginning, the place where all of this could have been avoided) it becomes a particularly deflating gut punch, and something which only illuminates the films sadness and wisdom about the pathetic human condition with every rewatch. It's a straight up masterpiece of suspense and the sweatiest of noirish sensibilities.



Stats: Pit Stop #9





This is the ninth and penultimate pit stop (90), so here are our stats so far:

Decade Breakdown
  • 2000 = 17
  • 2001 = 10
  • 2002 = 7
  • 2003 = 8
  • 2004 = 10
  • 2005 = 12
  • 2006 = 6
  • 2007 = 6
  • 2008 = 6
  • 2009 = 8

Surprisingly, 2000 continues to widen the gap, with 2005 falling further back, and then 2001 and 2004.


Director Breakdown
  • Joel & Ethan Coen = 3 (O Brother, Where Art Thou?, The Man Who Wasn't There, A Serious Man)
  • Wes Anderson = 3 (The Royal Tenenbaums, Life Aquatic of Steve Zissou, Fantastic Mr. Fox)
  • Christopher Nolan = 3 (Memento, The Prestige, Batman Begins)
  • Quentin Tarantino = 3 (Kill Bill Vol. 1, Inglourious Basterds, Kill Bill Vol. 2)
  • Edgar Wright = 2 (Shaun of the Dead, Hot Fuzz) = 100%
  • Andrew Stanton = 2 (WALL-E, Finding Nemo) = 100%
  • Brad Bird = 2 (Ratatouille, The Incredibles) = 100%
  • Pete Docter = 2 (Up, Monsters Inc.) = 100%
  • Alfonso Cuarón = 2 (Children of Men, Y tu mamá también)
  • Darren Aronofsky = 2 (Requiem for a Dream, The Wrestler)
  • Bong Joon-ho = 2 (Memories of Murder, Mother)
  • Clint Eastwood = 2 (Mystic River, Million Dollar Baby)
  • Ang Lee = 2 (Crouching Tiger Hidden Dragon, Brokeback Mountain)
  • Danny Boyle = 2 (28 Days Later, Sunshine)
  • Richard Linklater = 2 (Before Sunset, Waking Life)

A couple of new additions, most notably, Tarantino who springs into the list with two films within the last 10 entries. Also, after today, Nolan also joins the group of 3. As mentioned previously, Edgar Wright and Andrew Stanton get their second films in to complete their perfect run for the decade. Finally, Alfonso Cuarón is the other new addition to the list.


Genre Breakdown
  • Musical = 2
  • Biopic drama = 6
  • Romantic drama = 6
  • Horror = 5
  • Horror comedy = 1
  • Coming of age = 2
  • Thriller = 12
  • Drama/mystery = 4
  • Comedy drama = 10
  • Romantic comedy = 1
  • Action comedy = 3
  • Epic, war drama = 3
  • Psychological drama = 5
  • Animated drama = 2
  • Animated comedy = 7
  • Superhero action = 4
  • Crime = 8
  • Western/Neo-western = 2
  • Science fiction = 2
  • Martial arts = 3
  • Action = 2

After 90 films, thrillers continue on top with comedy dramas next. Crime films, and then animated comedies are next.


And finally, with three more foreign films in this last batch we have 25 out of 90. As for animated, films, we add one more for a total of 9.
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Awards




Now to the awards received by In the Mood for Love...

  • Asia-Pacific Film Festival Award for Best Cinematography (Christopher Doyle and Ping Bin Lee) and Best Editing (William Chang)
  • British Independent Film Award for Best Foreign Independent Film
  • Cannes Film Festival for Best Actor (Tony Leung)
  • Chlotrudis Award for Best Cinematography (Doyle and Ping) and Best Movie (tied with Mulholland Dr.)
  • Durban International Film Festival Award for Best Lead Performance (Maggie Cheung)
  • Faro Island Film Festival Audience Award for Best Actor (Leung) and Best Film

Among many others.

As for Memento, it won...

  • Saturn Award for Best Action/Adventure/Thriller Film
  • AFI Award for Screenwriter of the Year (Christopher Nolan)
  • Awards Circuit Community Award for Best Screenplay (Christopher and Jonathan Nolan) and Best Editing (Dody Dorn)
  • Chlotrudis Award for Best Director (Nolan)
  • Sundance Film Festival Waldo Salt Screenwriting Award (Nolan brothers)



Society ennobler, last seen in Medici's Florence
• For a long period, I've avoided the contemporary far east movies just because noticing their popularity among the western crowd. Couple of years ago, I organized a month dedicated to these films, watching a selection of 5 titles I've made. Well, I was deeply impressed by In the Mood for Love, feeling alone in the understanding what this movie is actually about. Since then, I constantly consider this title for my top slots for polls like this.
It was #16 on my ballot.


In the Mood for Love was the winner in MoFo 2000 Film Chart.
I've expected it to make the Top 5 of the decade.


-----

• I saw Memento when it came out in the theaters. It was just OK and nothing more it pretended to be.



_____________
my stats

Top 100 seen 52/90.
(seen one pointers 3/38 • seen 101-110: 5/10)
--
My list:
...
3. Amélie [#16.]
4. Snatch [#71.]
5. The Royal Tenenbaums [#35.]
...
8. Sideways [#39.]
9. Amores perros [#81.]
10. The Wrestler [#54.]
...
12. The Pianist [#31.]
14. The Man Who Wasn't There [#84.]
16. In the Mood for Love [#12.]
19. Kill Bill: Vol. 1 [#14.]
...
24. WALL·E [#13.]
...


--

Not on my ballot Top 100 movies I'd support:  
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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.



A system of cells interlinked
I'll throw out a guess for the order of the Top Ten...

1. LOTR: The Fellowship of the Ring
2. No Country for Old Men
3. There Will Be Blood
4. Spirited Away
5. Mulholland Dr.
6. LOTR: The Return of the King
7. Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind
8. Pan's Labyrinth
9. Zodiac
10. The Dark Knight
And I will take a shot at guessing your final 4 ballot entries:

  1. No Country for Old Men
  2. There Will be Blood
  3. Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind
  4. Zodiac

I know you aren't a big PTA fan, but I think TWBB does enough right, and excels at so much else, while also not being your typical Altman/Scorsese mashup. Not 100% on this one...maybe Pan's Labyrinth in this slot? Nah, it's TWBB.
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Memento made my list at #17. The more I see it the more I'm convinced it's not a gimmick film, but the absolute best way of telling this story, and it has never failed to draw me into the perspective of the character.

My List:
3. Synecdoche, New York (#46)
4. Inglourious Basterds (#18)
6. Let the Right One In (#29)
8. Sin City (#47)
13. Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon (#53)
14. The Lives of Others (#41)
16. The Royal Tenenbaums (#35)
17. Memento (#11)
18. The Three Burials of Melquiades Estrada (#86)
19. The Incredibles (#36)
20. Lost in Translation (#32)
22. The Man Who Wasn’t There (#84)
24. Moon (#48)
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I saw Memento when it was newish. I guess it did something right, as I still remember the concept, but it felt awfully gimmicky then. One of the few Nolans I'm planning to rewatch at some point. And I guess I haven't been in the mood for love

Seen: 47/90

My Ballot:
1. Let the Right One In (2008) [#29]
5. Watchmen (2009) [#87]
6. The Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers (2002) [#15]
8. The Descent (2005) [#80]
13. The Children (2008) [DNP]
18. Battle Royale (2000) [#77]
19. Chocolate (2008) [DNP]
25. Harry Brown (2009) [1-pointer]
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Sorry if I'm rude but I'm right
Apart from a few 'obvious' masterpieces, this is a rote, insipid list, MoFo's worst to date. An equivalent of looking up IMDb's top films of the 2000s. Then, there's the social aspect. But I'm not interested in it anymore. inb4 you haven't even sent a list. True, but it wouldn't have changed anything. The non-English language list was better than this, and my participation had nothing to do with that fact (none of the films from my list made it IIRC).

Yeah, an ugh list. But I guess that's the issue with most accumulated lists. There's hope individual ballots will be more captivating. But I doubt it.
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Look, I'm not judging you - after all, I'm posting here myself, but maybe, just maybe, if you spent less time here and more time watching films, maybe, and I stress, maybe your taste would be of some value. Just a thought, ya know.



Apart from a few 'obvious' masterpieces, this is a rote, insipid list, MoFo's worst to date. An equivalent of looking up IMDb's top films of the 2000s. Then, there's the social aspect. But I'm not interested in it anymore. inb4 you haven't even sent a list. True, but it wouldn't have changed anything. The non-English language list was better than this, and my participation had nothing to do with that fact (none of the films from my list made it IIRC).

Yeah, an ugh list. But I guess that's the issue with most accumulated lists. There's hope individual ballots will be more captivating. But I doubt it.



I'm still waiting for a criticism of any of these lists that doesn't take hundreds of words to say "I'm upset more people don't like the things I like."

Of course, the real (unanswerable) question is, if more people did, who would still like them, and who would somehow find other lesser-known things to like? Sometimes there's just a difference in taste (which is totally unremarkable), but sometimes I get the sense the lack of popularity is a substantial part of the appeal. In other words, sure, some people like things just because they're popular, but the inverse is true, too.



That elusive hide-and-seek cow is at it again
Apart from a few 'obvious' masterpieces, this is a rote, insipid list, MoFo's worst to date. An equivalent of looking up IMDb's top films of the 2000s. Then, there's the social aspect. But I'm not interested in it anymore. inb4 you haven't even sent a list. True, but it wouldn't have changed anything. The non-English language list was better than this, and my participation had nothing to do with that fact (none of the films from my list made it IIRC).

Yeah, an ugh list. But I guess that's the issue with most accumulated lists. There's hope individual ballots will be more captivating. But I doubt it.
Not so fast there, pard'ner....
https://www.movieforums.com/communit...75#post2259075


a
aaaaaahjhhhh!!!! PAYOFF nearly a month and a half in the making!!!! I LOVE ME!!!!!1!
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I'm still waiting for a criticism of any of these lists that doesn't take hundreds of words to say "I'm upset more people don't like the things I like."

Of course, the real (unanswerable) question is, if more people did, who would still like them, and who would somehow find other lesser-known things to like? Sometimes there's just a difference in taste (which is totally unremarkable), but sometimes I get the sense the lack of popularity is a substantial part of the appeal. In other words, sure, some people like things just because they're popular, but the inverse is true, too.
I was just thinking the same (as you did in the 2nd paragraph). It's like the old music joke about a guy who raves about a demo, but once the band releases the same songs on a label they turn to commercial garbage. To me, Minio is a caricature of a snob movie elitist - I just don't know if he's for real or is he just trolling.



It'd be very interesting to see what everyone liked--movies, music, books, whatever--in a world where nobody got to see what everyone else liked first.

It would definitely be different.