The MoFo Top 100 of the 2000s Countdown

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My one-pointer didn’t make it… and I’m furious! I highly doubt it’ll make the countdown but who knows haha

This is a strong start. I’ve not seen the #101 entry, but both Master and Commander and The New World are great films. I love a few films by Malick and that one is no different. Beautiful film.



For **** Sake!!!

I was so sure I'd not forgotten anything, and there it is, first load of films. Master and Commander would have been my top 5 most likely, glad that it made it though!
Maybe heading your list as...
The Master And Commander's List
... wasn't the best idea.



Ah the memories of having the info...

Feel like a kind of Dark Lord...
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I briefly considered Master and Commander for my ballot, but ultimately, ended up pulling it. When I was finalizing my ballot, I was trying to ensure I was including films I liked from all genres, as well as animation etc. Master and Commander ended up getting cut so I could include an animated film. Anyway, great stuff, I love the score, and the tense scenes of nautical battle as we travel along with the crew aboard their little wooden world.
I seem to recall this was one of the movies that we watched when I visited, but correct me if I'm wrong.

But I seem to recall me geeking out at the quality of the audio mix, so I am pretty certain we watched it. It was either that or Kingdom of Heaven.

Man, I don't even know anymore. We watched quite a few things: I do remember watching The Goonies when you were at work and also we watched True Lies and The Last of the Mohicans.

Good times, man.
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Critics




Some info about our #100, Master and Commander: The Far Side of the World...



It currently has a 85% Certified Fresh Tomatometer score among critics, if you're the kind of guy that checks that. Remember that the Tomatometer is not a direct measure of quality, but rather a metric of how many critics gave it a positive review, which could've ranged from "Wow! It was magnificent! Best of the year!" to merely "twas Ok".

Meanwhile, the film has a 7.4/10 score on IMDb (with 213,000 votes).

Anyway, Roger Ebert gave it ★★★★ and called it:
"Grand and glorious, and touching in its attention to its characters. Like the work of David Lean, it achieves the epic without losing sight of the human, and to see it is to be reminded of the way great action movies can rouse and exhilarate us, can affirm life instead of simply dramatizing its destruction."
On the other hand, Kam Williams of Town Topics said:
"While Master and Commander recaptures the bygone days of the ultimate in intimate male-bonding opportunities, it fails to develop any meaningful relationships among its characters. Thus, this is a mindless war movie with dialogue saturated with words such as sextant, leftenant and bosun's mate, and punctuated with Anglophilic appeals like 'For England! For home and the prize!' and 'This ship is England!'."
As for our MoFo reviewers, @Citizen Rules said:
"What a great film!... It's the characters and how they interact and show us life abroad ship that makes this film very special. Yes it does have some thrilling moments, many in fact. Yes there's plenty of action and good old ship broadsides with roaring canon blast and shards of ship boards a-flying. But this film has something more, heart and that makes it much better than the average sailing ship movie."
While @Hondo333 said:
"I have walked out of the cinema disappointed... Not that I had expected a lot from Master and Commander, but I had at least expected a decent film, which was not delivered... I think that there was a (failed) attempt to transfer what was happening on the screen to affect the viewer."
Remember that although I might or might not share this thoughts for some of the films, you can always click the poster on each entry, which will take you to each film's special page within MoFo, with lots of neat information about it, and links to the reviews of fellow MoFo's.



If you click the percentage, you'll get exact statistics about the movie, including the average rating from the critics. A 100% on RT can range from 6.5-9.



mattiasflgrtll6's Avatar
The truth is in here
I've never liked the weird percentage system for Rottentomatoes. That's why imdb even though it can be unreliable sometimes, the rating tends to be more honest there.
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Critics




And now, some info about our #99, The New World...



It currently has a 63% Fresh Tomatometer score among critics.

Meanwhile, the film has a 6.7/10 score on IMDb (with 85,000 votes).

Roger Ebert ALSO gave this ★★★★ and called it:
"Terrence Malick's "The New World" strips away all the fancy and lore from the story of Pocahontas and her tribe and the English settlers at Jamestown, and imagines how new and strange these people must have seemed to one another."
On the other hand, Josh Larsen gave it ★★ and said:
"The tale may be perfectly suited to Malick’s languorous cinematography and portentous voice-over narration, but by now these elements have begun to resemble a misguided perfume commercial. Call it Terrence Malick’s Obsession."
As for our MoFo reviewers, @Holden Pike said:
"The larger and more constant Malick themes of the natural world and how man is both juxtaposed and in harmony with it are on full display in The New World. Malick is a cinematic poet, which is really the key point of audience division. If you go into Terry's films expecting traditional narrative you will likely be frustrated, confused and bored by the images, no matter how beautiful. But if you open yourself up to his unique brand of storytelling, these are momentously engaging and emotionally moving films."
While @ashdoc said:
"I only wished that the tides of history could have been turned, and that every meeting that the natives had with the white man would have been like the experience of Pocahontas, and that sheer poetry like the film could have been weaved out of that meet... Verdict---Good."
I seriously doubt I will do this for all of the 100 entries but for now, I'll ride the high



I've never liked the weird percentage system for Rottentomatoes. That's why imdb even though it can be unreliable sometimes, the rating tends to be more honest there.
I have no strong feelings one way or the other towards the Tomatometer, but I do with the wrong way that many interpret its score. I hope MoFo's here can look at it as its intended. Anyway, I had also intended to include the IMDb score, but forgot. Will edit now. Thanks for reminding me!



A system of cells interlinked
I seem to recall this was one of the movies that we watched when I visited, but correct me if I'm wrong.

But I seem to recall me geeking out at the quality of the audio mix, so I am pretty certain we watched it. It was either that or Kingdom of Heaven.

Man, I don't even know anymore. We watched quite a few things: I do remember watching The Goonies when you were at work and also we watched True Lies and The Last of the Mohicans.

Good times, man.
We watched it, and that was most certainly the one that had us flipping out about the sound mix. Awesome mix, for sure! I may or may not have had it up too loud.

Also, re: The Last of the Mohicans - I replaced my Director's Cut copy with the original cut, as we discussed! I definitely prefer the original cut.
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I seriously doubt I will do this for all of the 100 entries but for now, I'll ride the high
Well, only fair to mention that now you've started doing these I shall have to dock some points from your overall hosting score should you not see them through to the bitter end. And I imagine it will be bitter by the time you get to the Top Ten. Very bitter indeed.



Trailers




Finally, trailers for both, in case you're interested...






Well, only fair to mention that now you've started doing these I shall have to dock some points from your overall hosting score should you not see them through to the bitter end. And I imagine it will be bitter by the time you get to the Top Ten. Very bitter indeed.
I shot myself in the foot, I guess



You ready? You look ready.
We watched it, and that was most certainly the one that had us flipping out about the sound mix. Awesome mix, for sure! I may or may not have had it up too loud.
What?!

Also, re: The Last of the Mohicans - I replaced my Director's Cut copy with the original cut, as we discussed! I definitely prefer the original cut.
Aye, the minor differences really do make for a completely different film. The stuff omitted in the Director's Cut was kinda important, so that's why I found it odd at the time.

They even have a "Definitive Directors Edition" now, which put some of that stuff back but it doesn't seem to have the cohesiveness of the theatrical cut. All I know is it'll always be a top ten for me because of that whole Deleuze/Guattari bull****.



I haven't seen Still Walking, but I'm sure I'd like it better than the other two, both of which I found unimpressive, though they are nice looking films. I'm glad to get them out of the way right at the start. I didn't try for a 1-pointer for this list, because when I tried for a 1-pointer for the foreign language film it was OSS 117: Cairo, Nest of Spies, which someone else also voted for, so I didn't bother for this list. Now I see there's a third OSS 117 movie that came out this year. Too bad the second one wasn't very good.
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As no one attempted managed to guess my one-pointer correctly, I'll have to reveal it myself. I suppose my fancy towards vigilante films has come up earlier, so it should not be a major surprise that my one-pointer is Harry Brown. I've only seen it once but I did like it a lot.

I haven't seen Still Walking (actually, I haven't even heard of it before). I've seen two of Kore-eda's films and liked the other (The Third Murder) and disliked the other (After Life). This one seems like it would belong to that dislike portion for me, unfortunately.

I've seen Master and Commander when it was released, and remember it is OK. It's one of those films I'm planning to rewatch at some point and probably should have done so prior to this countdown.

I'm pretty sure I've seen The New World too, but my memories are pretty vague. Back then I didn't know what to expect from Malick, so I've probably been disappointed. I've found most of his films decent lately, so maybe a rewatch is due in here as well.
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Haven't seen Master and Commander or The New World. I do have the former among my VUDU films so maybe I'll get around to it in 2022?

As for the one pointers, I'm kind of surprised Atonement just had the one vote. It's not bad. Anger Management might be among Adam Sandler's last decent movies (haven't seen Uncut Gems or the Meyerowitz Stories), Still I would have rather seen Sandler enter into Jack's world (that film would have probably been a career highlight). Blade 2 might have been my first and only taste with a dollar theater (they were phasing out the old cinemaplex with a bigger one so they decided to go cut rate on its way out the door). You can tell some of the Del Toro quirks were present, but the film was only alright. The Bucket List was a decent concept with some good actors in search of a good script (they didn't find it). Jason X was a highlight of the Friday the 13th franchise and did have some choice moments such as Jason in the VR world and any scene featuring Chuck Campbell and Lisa Ryder. National Treasure was a fun one riding the charisma of Nicolas Cage and a crazy plot. Remember the Titans would be an honorable mention for me. Great acting from Will Patton and Denzel Washington and a compelling story allows this one to march towards the end zone. I couldn't vibe with World's Greatest Dad (that sequence in the pool is a bit on the nose) but Robin Williams does give a good performance as a father desperate to reshape the family story.