The MoFo Top 100 of the 2010s Countdown

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Shutter Island was my #11
One of maybe three DiCaprio movies I can actually watch.


1: Bloody well better had do
2: Bloody well better had do
3: 100%
4: Bloody well better had do
5: 100%
6: 100%
7: 100%
8: 100%
9: 100%
10: 100%
11: Shutter Island (2010) - 76th
12: 100%
13: Hopefully
14: Hopefully
15: Hopefully
16: Deadpool (2016) - 85th
17: Maybe
18: Probably
19: Probably
20: Avengers: Endgame (2019) - 79th
21: The Martian (2015) - 82nd
22: 100%
23: 100%
24: Maybe
25: Probably not

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Haven't seen either. Guess today's the day for Shutter Island. Love Scorsese, even though I usually have at least one criticism for his fiction movies, save The Departed.

MoFo Reviewers

Shutter Island

Read the full review here.

The Raid 2

Read the full review here.

mark f

Sadly, I couldn't find any ratings/reviews he wrote for either film.

Shutter Island is a film that I’ve seen many times. Its Caligari-esque plot is not exactly ground breaking but it’s so well constructed that I’m totally engaged with it anyway - helped immensely by an impressive cast. If I were to construct my own top 100 of the decade, I would definitely include it, but it did not get my vote here.

I haven’t seen Raid 2 and after watching the first one I don’t think I will change that.

Seen: 13/26
My Ballot:
11. The Man From Nowhere (#95)
20. Jojo Rabbit (2019) (#89)
25. Kitbull (One Pointer)

Reviews in My 2010s Countdown Preparation Thread

My most recent review for Shutter Island:

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Haven't seen Shutter Island in years, but I remember it pretty good, albeit rather predictable.

I tried watching The Raid 2 some time ago, but I gave up after about an hour as its plot was too convoluted for me to keep up with it. I might go back to it someday though. The prison fight was really cool though, for what it's worth.

You know what alot of people said about The King's Speech not staying with them...well same for me but with Shutter Island. I watched it, it was OK, then I promptly forgot about it.

Shutter Island was really good both times I watched it but it doesn’t stick with me at all. I will definitely watch it again, multiple times probably. Be surprised if it’s ever a favorite or one that would be on any type of favorite lists.

Knew Raid 2 was coming once Raid showed up. We will see if checking off the whole list ever means enough for me to watch them. Probably will eventually, but I’m definitely not in the mood at the moment. My second miss.

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Letterboxd

Shutter Island is a solid psychological thriller that I keep forgetting was directed by Scorsese…it’s a movie I tend to forget about in general really.

Raid 2 was on my list. A movie that improves on the original by not just amping up the fight scenes but actually adding more story and characters so it all works to make a more complete experience. Epic is a word that’s thrown around liberally but I’d say The Raid 2 is a great example of an epic action movie in the sense of scale and scope.

The Raid 2 is an incredible action movie and sequel. I'm not surprised it's this far ahead of its predecessor. It's close, but I still prefer the first one and I think it comes down to novelty. Again, I love how it uses the one-location, "ascend the staircase" story structure. Plus, it has Mad Dog. You gotta love Mad Dog.

Both decent but neither Shutter Island nor The Raid 2 were that close to making my ballot. I'm somewhat surprised the latter isn't a fair bit higher but personally I much prefer the first one.

Seen: 21/26 (Own: 14/26)

The Raid 2 is the first one from my list.

I had it at #25 but only because I stupidly thought it wouldn’t make the countdown and perhaps not even get voted for. And well… there’s also many great movies I probably had to put above it. Maybe it could’ve been slightly higher on my list.

But no matter what, it’s one of the best action movies of all time imo. The first one is great as well, but I feel like the scope, scale and ambition just rises even higher with the second one. It’s such a thrilling, well directed marital arts actioner.

If you don’t like martial arts and fighting you won’t like it, but if you appreciate the art and skill that goes into it, then you should appreciate it.

Glad to see it here and surprisingly higher than the first. That’s cool.

My room mate is a fan of Spring Breakers, but I haven't seen it myself.

I have however seen the other three films revealed since my last post. I like Colin Firth, so The King's Speech was a nice, easy watch for me. I don't think there's anything particularly special about it, but I wouldn't complain about watching it again if I had to.

I don't have much to say about Shutter Island. I didn't have any interest in watching it when it was new, but I later caught it on the Movie Network when there was nothing else on. All I really remember is that I didn't particularly like it.

As for The Raid 2... the movie is just way too long. It is unnecessarily bloated, and there are large parts of the film that seemingly only exist to show off the actors' martial arts. Yayan Ruhian in particular returns as a different character from the one he played in The Raid, and his inclusion is entirely pointless. However with that said, if his part has been cut we would've been robbed of an impressive single shot fight sequence, so I'm not complaining too hard about it haha.

The Raid 2 has a much cleaner visual style, and a wider colour palette than the first film had. If The Raid had looked like The Raid 2 does, it would've been a 5/5 film for me. Despite my issues with the sequel's runtime, and the fact that the action really does start to feel exhausting this time around, I still really enjoy the film overall, and I even had it at #10 on my list. It's probably one of the best action sequels out there.

Seen: 17/26

My List: 5
03. The Raid (2011) - #100
10. The Raid 2 (2014) - #75
14. The Martian (2015) - #82
15. Hereditary (2018) - #96
20. Cabin in the Woods (2011) -#88

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So, what if you do but two hours of it is a bit much. That rhetorical. I had some buddies that loved this kind of stuff. I can appreciate the skill and creativity of guys like Bruce, Jackie, and Jet. That skill and creativity can’t sustain me for a whole movie though, never really has. For me it’s like when you go to an amusement park and see a cool show, they are usually like ten minutes. They start, and I’m like this is really cool. Then after five minutes I’m packing up before it’s over.

Shutter Island, which I liked well enough, is a weird one for me.
I saw the trailer the first time and said,
And I also said, "Why is Scorsese even making this movie, doesn't seem like it would be worth his time."
When I finally just decided to watch it for the "Well, a thriller directed by Scorsese might be good enough for a rainy Sunday and let's see if I was right all along", I found myself mostly enjoying it even though, yes, it was the utterly obvious thing from the very first scene. I could understand why Scorsese is, at the very least, an incredible pro, someone who can actually elevate a script that is no better than and in fact much more obvious than Session 9. Even if his love-affair with totally unnecessary CGI in his dotage has really hurt the look of his films (Why are we green-screening a random forest? Is it that freaking hard to just take a camera into the woods so everything doesn't look so fake? Or is this supposed to be some sort of choice to make the world look fake because of the plot-thingy?).
Anyway, I would call this a slightly below-average psychological thriller script that gets a big, big boost from an All-Pro director and cast inexplicably deciding to do it.

Seems like it's been 25 years since I've seen Shutter Island. My wife and I were both looking forward to it and neither one of us liked it.

The Raid 2, a great action film just like the first one.

This is a boring pair. Anyway...


Happy New Year Mofo Countdowners!

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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."

I never saw either Raid film despite of all the rantings and ravings about how great they were when they came out.


Shutter Island is in the category of, "yeah, I guess, maybe one day I'll watch it. I get the sense that it's very predictable. It'll be competently crafted, because, you know, Scorsese, but the idea isn't really exciting me."


I guess that's the problem with a lot of the well known movies from the decade showing up on the list (so far)... if I haven't seen them, it probably wasn't because I haven't had the opportunity to catch up with them.

ETA: the one exception I can think of is The Wind Rises, if it ever shows up. That's one I meant to watch, but for some reason, I never did.