The MoFo Top 100 of the 2010s Countdown

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John Wick made my list. There’s something very satisfying about the simplicity of it. Bad guys kill his dog so he kills bad guys for 3 straight movies. And the 4th one comes out in March. On top of the premise there’s a great little society of underground assassins to keep you interested and Reeves brings some real emotion to the character, mainly melancholy and anger. I also think part of its success was due to its timing. I remember it coming out at a time when everything was just PG superhero movies. To have a really well made adult action movie was a breath of fresh air.

I haven’t seen The Act of Killing but I always meant to. I just have to be in the right mood and mindset for the subject matter.

John Wick wasn't on my ballot but is a ton of fun. Didn't enjoy the sequels quite as much (mainly because I think the world building crossed some sort of "fun-ridiculous"/"stupid-ridiculous" boundary), but it's a solid enough franchise.

I haven't watched The Act of Killing, though it's been on my to-see list ever since it came out. It is easily available to me, but I've just shied away from what I know will be difficult viewing. This is a good kick in the pants to finally check it out.

It would rank 22nd in the MCU.

Yikes.
Well, internet fist-bump as I also thought Black Swan would be Top-5 with a good shot at No.1 and didn't think there was any chance I'd see it or Ex-Machina til the final week.

I put off seeing John Wick for a long time, finally relenting either last year or the year before. I think it’s abysmal. I have no use for body count action movies anymore, like at all. I always try to see what other people like in movies like this when they are so popular. I’m blinded here. Probably why I have no interest in the Raid movies, which are the only movies on the list I haven’t watched so far. People talk about them in the same way.

I liked Act Of Killing a lot, but wasn’t blown away as so many others. After being blown away by The Look Of Silence a couple years later, I really think I should revisit. I was hoping Look Of Silence would make it too, I think this means it doesn’t. Since I didn’t vote for that one either, I have only myself to blame.

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I haven't seen either of today's movies.

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I think John Wick was about as slick and stylish and well-put-together as a completely empty action exercise can be, and I mean that as a compliment. But we'd have had to go to 50 for it to make my list.

Haven't seen The Act Of Killing (haven't been in the mood to be that bummed out for a few years now).

48 N/S
47 N/S

The first John Wick is a baffling film of opposing truths. It's both lame and cool, atrocious and good, cookie-cutter and fresh, balletic and static, and so on. There's not much to the first film in terms of pure cinematic joy but the sequels are gradually more and more intriguing in that area. While the second movie is basically a rehash of the first with occasional bursts of color and rife bursts of gunfire, the third film, the best in the series yet, is a sight to behold. The third John Wick employs nigh-Deakins orange and blue tints, dogs, horses, seemingly unbeatable Asian martial arts masters, Kyary Pamyu Pamyu, a black man with a shotgun, and a plebeian rape on Vivaldi to top it off. With the third one, which will probably show up in the countdown, the creators finally found the key to success, discovering that less is not more and that unabashed carnage is best when topped with an unrelenting assault on the senses.

It's tempting to name The Act of Killing a shockumentary but doing so does it a disservice and places it among the Italian Mondo movies of the 60s while its place is somewhere between Lanzmann's Shoah and Rithy Panh's films on the Khmer Rouge regime, even though the approach is so disparate from the filmmaking of those two documentarians. Celebrity murderers on TV, proud of themselves, publicly supported and unpunished by the law - the otherworldly form of the film suits the otherworldly (but alas real) content. Oppenheimer analyzes the banality of evil that hinges on schizophrenic absurdity but also asks about the relationship between truth and fiction (Hollywood films, Oppenheimer's own method of filmmaking). Somehow, Oppenheimer's controversial approach manages to crack the monolith and the murderer's boasting begins to give way to something not yet fully defined (alexithymia is somewhat a theme here, too) because it is difficult to say whether the killer shows regret or shame. He does show, however, a germinating, though pushed back, reflection, which manifests itself in a finale where he literally throws up his soul. At the end of the day, all of that is of little importance, though, as the titular act of killing is still what it was: killing. Though the film is pleasantly universal, I still believe that in terms of its thematic weight, a native Indonesian (I'm looking at you, @resopamenic) might have more to say about it than any of us. Oppenheimer's follow-up, The Look of Silence, is very worth seeing, too.

PS: Purportedly the working title of The Act of Killing was How to Throw Up Your Soul: A comprehensive guide by Joshua Oppenheimer. Supposedly there were also action scenes and explosions in the first screenplay draft to please less patient viewers as well, but Joshua eventually cut them out. He limited the explosions to volcanic eruptions and made a film with Herzog about it: Into the Inferno.

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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.

Lots of backhanded compliments on todays entries. Yoda, the participants are getting antsy with the list

I haven't seen either of today's films.

Ex Machina is a film that I have watched and that's about all I can say. It didn't leave a lasting impression.

Black Swan was basically just Perfect Blue in live action. I liked bits of it but overall it seemed overwrought.

57. The Hunt (2012, Thomas Vinterberg) 123 points

I was so damn ENRAGED watching this for an HoF; it took three deletions of Rants typed after multiple Walk Away/Chill sessions before writing about the d@mn good film of Mob mentality, witch hunts, and how one rumor, regardless of how unlikely can spread like something far worse than the accusation itself, is done exceedingly well in this film.
It is a d@mn near impossible watch that I CANNOT watch ever again, seeing what an innocent man goes through because of how everyone around him - people who have known him for practically his whole life will quickly think the worse and d@mn him for it. The ending of "A Year Later" and what occurs in the woods I had this at #3 in the HoF and would have made room if not for another film I adored, but I am unable to sit through a revisit due to how heartbreakingly sad it is on my List.




56. What We Do in the Shadows (2014, Taika Waititi and Jemaine Clement) 123 points

This became a member of my Rectification List in the Comedy Countdown since I have been wanting very much to check it out, being a fan of the TV series, my love of it grows with each rewatch of the series from my mild enjoyment the first time around. Along with checking out more and more of Waititi as well as his co-creator Jemaine Clement, whom I got a kick out of Dinner With Shmucks from my Comedy Countdown List.




54. Under the Skin (2014, Jonathan Glazer) 124 points

A fascinating watch that I still remain unsure of, in a very good way. Scarlett Johansson's portrayal of an unknown alien creature that fed on her chosen lovers created a rather delicious concoction of dread and curiosity, sympathy and arousal. The fact that we never learned anything and only witness it all felt far more satisfying than if we were given the Grand Tour.





53. The Revenant (2015, Alejandro González Iñárritu) 125 points

I looked up my review for this when I first saw it, and along with a 5 out of 5 rating, I simply wrote: "Wow!. . . Just, WOW"
A visual pageantry of poetic stature that stays with you long after its viewing with both Hardy and DiCaprio committing themselves to Alejandro González Iñárritu's mesmerizing vision of revenge and indomitable will.
I reiterate, wow, just WOW.




52. The Shape of Water (2017, Guillermo del Toro) 127 points

A Love Story between species that only Guillermo del Toro can truly envision with the Love he has for the Supernatural surprised me that I didn't make a spot for him and for this.





49. Ex-Machina (2015, Alex Garland) 129 points

If I done a rewatch of this prior to my List it would have quite easily vied for a position somewhere. A cerebral cinematic experience that affects you on a visceral level.





48. John Wick (2014, Chad Stahelski) 132 points

Joining my Top 5 for sheer enjoyment and the countless rewatches I've had with this and the series itself. Even though we do watch the second a little more, this is the one that pulled us in and held us captivated. Keanu Reeves epitomizes the Lone Warrior of mythic proportions, having left The Life only to be dragged back in and unleash unrelenting vengeance for it. A complete and whole package where the emotional connections hit you with equal fervor, as does the ballet of finesse that is the action sequences.




Movies Seen 29 out of 54 (53.7%)
1. Upper Fifty
2. Jojo Rabbit (2012) #89
3. Lower Thirty, if at all
4. Will be a Surprise
5. John Wick (2014) #48
6. Mid Pack
7. Upper Fifty
8. Hell or High Water (2016) #76
9. Unlikely
10. Upper Twenty
11. Mid Pack
12. Probably Not
13. The King's Speech (2010) #78
14. Upper Fifty
15. The Raid (2011) #100
16. Mid, maybe Upper Fifty
17. Mid Pack
18. The Revenant (2015) #53
19. Joker (2019) #60
20. Lower Fifty
21. Hopefully Places
22. Lower Fifty
23. Mid Pack
24. Mid Pack or Higher
25. A Royal Affair (2012) (One Pointer)


One Pointers Seen 7 out of 35 (20%)


Rectification List
86. 1917 (2019)
71. Ida (2013)

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Damn, and I thought I had a problem with mob and false accuation films.

I've heard both John Wick and The Act of Killing, seen none, aside of ten minutes of the former on the telly years ago.

I know The Act of Killing is highly acclaimed here and there.
Never took seriously the next in the line action featuring the photogenic Keanu Reeves. Being in top 100, even top 50 of the decade is a great surprise for me.

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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.

Quick belated look at the first 50 for me:

Seen 36/50
My list 6/25

3. The Shape of Water
4. The Favourite
8. What We Do In the Shadows
9. Captain America: Civil War
12. The Martian
23. Gone Girl
(25. Sherlock Holmes: A Game of Shadows)

I will guess 7 more of my picks will still make it, although some more could squeeze on here.

I watched The Act of Killing a while ago, but I don't remember it that well. All I can recall is the final act, which was quite shocking when I first watched it.

Haven't seen John Wick.

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LOL oh migod!

John Wick is a lot of fun, and probably one of the best action films I've seen recently. Here's a bit of what I wrote back when I first saw it in 2016:

I also enjoyed Michael Nyqvist's performance as the bad guy. I had some issues towards the end, but nothing big. Still, 7 years after that first time watch, the biggest issue I can come up with is that it's not a film I think a lot about. It came a lot of cable so I watched bits and pieces of it often and always enjoyed it, but that's about it.

I haven't seen The Act of Killing.



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

Seen: 43/54

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Never got the fuss of John Wick to be honest. So much it's going to end up on the Raul Seal of Disapproval list. Don't belong in a top 50 of a very good decade like this.

Act of Killing is a blind spot that needs to be rectified.