The MoFo Top 100 of the 2000s Countdown

I watched Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind years ago and don't remember it that well. I remember liking it quite a bit, albeit not loving it. If I rewatched it before this countdown though, it might've made my list. Who knows.

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That scene, man...

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I'll unveil 2 more. Man on Fire was my number 1. It made the millennium list, but it didn't have a shot in hell here. I'm probably even the only one who voted it, but it's the most badass Denzel performance and that includes Training Day.

About Elly was my 25 and it's among my favorite foreign films. It could have certainly been higher on a different day, but then again the 2000s is loaded with favorites for me.

1. Man On Fire (2004)
2. Mystic River (2003)
3. Million Dollar Baby (2004)
4. Gladiator (2000)
5.
6.
7.
8. Iron Man (2008)
9. Casino Royale (2006)
10. Finding Nemo (2003)
11. Gran Torino (2008)
12. Crash (2004)
13. Lost in Translation (2003)
14. Inside Man (2006)
15. The Prestige (2006)
16. Up (2009)
17.
18. WALL·E (2008)
19.
20. Spider-Man 2 (2004)
21. The Dark Knight (2008)
22.
23. A Beautiful Mind (2001)
24. Sideways (2004)
25. About Elly (2009)

Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind and ROTK are both solid for me, haven't seen Pans

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Stats: Final Pit Stop

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This is the final pit stop, so here are our stats so far:

Decade Breakdown

• 2000 = 17
• 2001 = 10
• 2002 = 7
• 2003 = 9
• 2004 = 11
• 2005 = 12
• 2006 = 7
• 2007 = 7
• 2008 = 7
• 2009 = 8

2000 remains on top by a wide margin, but a couple other years gain some traction. Still, with only 5 entries remaining, 2000 seems to be walking out with the crown.


Director Breakdown

• Christopher Nolan = 4 (The Dark Knight, Memento, The Prestige, Batman Begins)
• 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)
• 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%
• Guillermo del Toro = 2 (Pan's Labyrinth, The Devil's Backbone)
• Peter Jackson = 2 (LOTR: The Two Towers and The Return of the King)
• 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)

As expected, Peter Jackson joins the list with two LOTR films. Meanwhile, Christopher Nolan jumps to the top spot with four (4) of his films in the countdown. Will any other director tie or surpass him?


Genre Breakdown

• Musical = 2
• Biopic drama = 6
• Romantic drama = 7
• Horror = 5
• Horror comedy = 1
• Coming of age = 2
• Thriller = 13
• Drama/mystery = 4
• Comedy drama = 10
• Romantic comedy = 1
• Action comedy = 3
• Epic, war drama = 4
• Psychological drama = 5
• Animated drama = 2
• Animated comedy = 7
• Superhero action = 5
• Crime = 8
• Western/Neo-western = 2
• Science fiction = 2
• Martial arts = 3
• Action = 2
• Fantasy = 1

Thrillers don't seem to be ceding the top spot, but comedy dramas continue to be close.


And finally, one more foreign film takes the total to 26 out of 95. No animated films in this last group, so we remain at 9.

I haven't seen Spotless, only bits of it, and never got around to seeing it.

So, I will, instead, reveal #19 on my list--





The Beat That My Heart Skipped aka De battre mon coeur s'est arrêté (2005) A remake of Harvey Keitel's Fingers (1978) which I have never heard of and a bit curious regarding it having watched this.

Romain Duris plays a furious, emotionally calloused young man who is a bit of a real sh#t real estate man who beats people/squatters out of possible money-making buildings. With a con artist father and a deceased mother who was once a great pianist with severe mental issues. He is caught between the crashing influences of both as a chance meeting inspires him to, once more, take up the piano. He attempts to become a concert pianist like his mother while walking away from the criminal world that is his life.

This is in NO way one of those feel-good, inspirational flicks about following one's dreams, and everything will be lollipops and rainbows. Far from it. Nor is the pursuit of musical achievement a salve for his turbulent nature, as we discover throughout this edgy, uncompromising film of a conflicted man caught in the dangerous influences of both his father and mother.

A winner of some twenty-odd Awards, this is a finely constructed, dark sojourn and worthwhile cinematic experience.


Films Watched 69 out of 95 (72.63%)
1. Amélie (#16)
2. O Brother, Where Art Thou? (#21)
3. Ratatouille (#23)
4.
5. Gladiator (#40)
6. Pan's Labyrinth (#7)
7.
8. The Incredibles (#36)
9. V for Vendetta (#58)
10. The Dark Knight (#10)
11. WALL·E (#13)
12.
13. Memories of Murder (#27)
14. Kiss Kiss Bang Bang (#76)
15.
16.
17. Mother (#96)
18. The Departed (#19)
19. The Beat That My Heart Skipped (2005)
20. Memento (#11)
21. In the Mood for Love (#12)
22. Downfall (#28)
23. Quills (#67)
24. Oldboy (#22)
25. A Bittersweet Life (One Pointer)


One Pointers: 10 out of 38 (26.31%)

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What to do if you find yourself stuck with no hope of rescue:
Consider yourself lucky that life has been good to you so far. Alternatively, if life hasn't been good to you so far, which given your present circumstances seems more likely, consider yourself lucky that it won't be troubling you much longer.

For those interested, there's a BIG gap in points between #6 and #5. Actually the biggest gap in the countdown, which is 89 points. So these last 5 were the clear favorites by quite a bit, and anybody complaining about this or that should take it up with 30-40 people

All right you 30-40 creeps.

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It's what you learn after you know it all that counts. - John Wooden
My IMDb page

Jeez, sounds like Paul Blart Episode VI: Return of the Blart did real good.

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Awards

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Now to the awards received by Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind...

• Academy Award for Best Original Screenplay (Charlie Kaufman)
• BAFTA Film Award for Best Original Screenplay (Kaufman)
• BAFTA Film Award for Best Editing (Valdís Óskarsdóttir)
• Saturn Award for Best Science Fiction Film
• AFI Award for Movie of the Year
• Awards Circuit Community Award for Best Original Screenplay of the Decade (Kaufman)
• Empire Award for Best British Actress (Kate Winslet)
• Golden Schmoes Award for Favorite Movie of the Year
• Golden Schmoes Award for Trippiest Movie of the Year
• Writers Guild of America for Best Original Screenplay (Kaufman)

Among many, many others.

Final 5 Prediction
1. Fellowship
2. There Will Be Blood
3. No Country
4. Mulholland
5. Spirited

My last and final and accurate prediction!

Fixed,,,

Spirited Away is a Miyazaki I just don't get the love for. It's pretty good, but never has a chance of getting near the top of my rankings for his work.

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My original guess five days ago for the bottom half of the top ten was close...
...except for where I had ROTK. So, I'll stick with that top five...

1. LOTR: The Fellowship of the Ring
2. No Country for Old Men
3. There Will Be Blood
4. Spirited Away
5. Mulholland Dr.

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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

No Country and TWBB top five, I’m good. Hoping they finish 1-2

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Letterboxd

Didn't Make the Cut: There's some good moments in Return of the King. But it's also too long with too many endings which killed any momentum the climax had to offer.

Made the Cut:

Eternal Sunshine for the Spotless Mind was my number 3. This meditation on relationships features a provocative yet clever plot by Charlie Kaufman, an innovative directorial effort from Michel Gondry and great performances from Jim Carrey (!) and Kate Winslet. Is it worth it to remove the pain and heartbreak from your life? Or is the pain part of the process of a relationship along with the good times? The answer to these questions get revealed in the course of Mind.

Pan's Labyrinth is my number 16. This magical realist fairy tale about an imaginative young girl and her effort to complete three quests while her father makes plans to wipe out the rebels in the Spanish regime makes for fascinating viewing. Of course there's CGI, but it wouldn't do much good if the story itself was found lacking. Thanks to the assured, even-handed direction of Guillermo del Toro, the film manages a careful balance between the fantastic (the beast with eyes for hands) and the realistic (it turns out some of the rebels are closer than he'd imagine). The result feels like something out of Grimm's Fairy Tales, timeless and deeper than you might think.

My List:
1. City of God
2. Made the top 5
3. Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind
4. O Brother, Where Art Thou?
5. Memento
6. Pirates of the Caribbean: Curse of the Black Pearl
7. X
8. Up
9. Million Dollar Baby
10. X
11. Spider-Man 2
12. X
13. Brokeback Mountain
14. Finding Nemo
15. Requiem for a Dream
16. Pan's Labyrinth
17. X (Kind of surprising to me)
18. X
19. Amelie
20. Kill Bill Volume 1
21. Chicago (Just Missed)
22. The Wrestler
23. X (Probably the only one who picked this one)
24. X (Probably the only one who picked this one)
25. Gladiator

Honorable Mentions:
Remember the Titans
Unbreakable
Shaun of the Dead

You know, for like the last 20 or so pages I've been beating my head against a wall wondering how on earth you all could predict that Nick Nolte flick would land in the top 10 here. In my mistake, you've all at least gained some level respect back after I realized. Still, there's an emotional tug-O-war playing out for me with that LoTR:RotK weirdness.


(sorta kinda)

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"Ever try to forcibly pin down a house cat? It's not easy." - Captain Steel

"I just can't get pass sticking a finger up a dog's butt." - John Dumbear

The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King (#20), Pan's Labyrinth (#12), and Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind (#3) all made my list. Return of the King isn't the best of the series (that one is yet to appear) but it is a fitting capstone in spite of its occasional excesses.

For Pan's Labyrinth, here's what I wrote after I saw it:
And more succinctly for Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind:

I saw the Eternal Sunshine... in the theater when it came out. It was a big disappointment and I forgot this film on the next day. It was a big surprise when years later, I noticed how popular even fashionable is this among the crowd.


Although there were signs, I couldn't even imagine that dispiriting Top 10.
Since the top 5 are almost pretty clear, at least I know that there are two relatively good movies.

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