The MoFo Top 100 of the 2000s Countdown

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Have seen so far: 23 - Kill Bill Volume 2 - Not a bad sequel to the original, surprised to see this movie make it on the list on the mid 30's
Have not seen so far: 49
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Moviefan1988's Favorite Movies
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Welcome to the Dance: My Favorite 20 High School Movies
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Takoma's post on these last two could have been mine. Up is ... fine. But I just don't love it. And Tarantino, like Wes Anderson, started out doing something interesting but gradually fell into self-indulgence. Whatever he's doing, it's not to my tastes.



People often talk about its amazing opening montage, but sometimes dismiss the rest of the film.
Hi! How ya doin'?

Actually it's nice to see some similarly-minded Up people here. I've been fighting this battle alone for a long time. It's, arguably, the best short ever made followed by 80 odd minutes of an OK but pointless film with annoying characters and 'adventure'.... Yes, I've only seen it once, what's ya point?

I think I liked the second half of Kill Bill more than the first (forget all that Vol rubbish) but I'm not 100% sure. I think I've only seen it once (think I saw the first half twice) but, again, I'm not sure. I don't like the films he's paying homage to and, of those I've seen of his, QT has been downhill since this film with the exception of Death Proof (on which I also fight alone )

Saw The Incredibles once too. That was probably enough for me, though I do usually at least enjoy a Pixar movie (or did back then) so maybe it was just the time I saw it? But animation and super heroes? It's not me.

The Royal Tenenbaums is pure 00's and effortlessly sums up why it's so ****ing awful. Again, no, I didn't see it all.
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Society ennobler, last seen in Medici's Florence
• I saw Kill Bill Vol. 2 back then in the theater and later I got the DVDs of both parts, seen them couple more times through the years. Beautifully shot as always, this Tarantino film marks the fall of his works in terms of empty screenplays fulfilled cynically with lot of meaningless scenes supported by the huge budget he usually has.
Anyway, it is an entertaining movie which I didn't consider for my ballot.


• I've not seen Up until today when I finally decided to give it a chance. Not bad, traditional touching start and then it turned into an average kid movie.


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my stats

Top 100 seen 36/68.
(seen one pointers 3/38 • seen 101-110: 5/10)
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My list:
...
4. Snatch [#71.]
5. The Royal Tenenbaums [#35.]
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8. Sideways [#39.]
9. Amores perros [#81.]
10. The Wrestler [#54.]
...
14. The Man Who Wasn't There [#84.]
...

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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.



Sometimes I wonder why I like you.
Because he admitted he's only seen it once, thereby absolving those of us who love the film and insist it has depth of arguing with him! What am I gonna say...the thing he already said?

Anyway, yeah, I would encourage anyone who doesn't get all the fuss to watch it again, skim the essay I linked, whatever. You can like it or not, but that there's a lot going on there is, I think, inarguable.



This actually occurred to me semi-recently (as in the last couple of months) because I've been watching more of those on YouTube.

It would be a ton of work, but I've gotten a lot better at video editing over the last year, and I think it would be quite good. There's a very good chance this'll happen.

I'm not sure it would or could become a regular thing, stuff like this takes a lot of time and effort, and that's before you get into the perfectionism problem (I'm not kidding when I said I was tweaking the essay for years). But the best version of the essay is, probably, a video version, so I probably will at least start work on something like that and see where it goes.
That's great. Make sure to let me know if and when. You'll have at least one viewer. I can imagine it taking some time to complete but could also be fun. I'm sure you would be good at it and probably get a following.

Do we have any other film critics that do video essays here? We must.
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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."



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I watched The Royal Tenenbaums for this countdown, but I just don't seem to "get" Wes Anderson's quirky style. (It probably didn't help that I tend to get Owen Wilson and Luke Wilson confused sometimes.)
Agreed. I can acknowledge Anderson's quirky style, but in "Tenenbaums" none of it grabbed me.

I hadn't seen it in 2001, so I fired it up last night. Struggled though about an hour, then bailed. I really like several of the actors, and I agree that Hackman gave a good performance, but the offbeat characters never connected with me. It was droll at times, but mostly flat. I did like his The Grand Budapest Hotel.



Seen both, voted for none...

Up is pretty good. I've seen it several times, but it wasn't in contention for me. Good to see it pop up, though.

Kill Bill Vol. 2 is great. However, I'm one of those that like to think of it all as a single film, and I have a slight preference for the first one and I didn't want to use two slots, so... didn't make it.


Where are we now?...

Seen: 51/68

My ballot:  



Critics




Critics thoughts on our #34, Kill Bill Vol. 2...



It currently has an 84% Certified Fresh Tomatometer score among critics, and a 8.0/10 score on IMDb (with 725,000 votes).

Roger Ebert gave it ★★★★ and said:
"Quentin Tarantino's Kill Bill, Volume 2 is an exuberant celebration of moviemaking, coasting with heedless joy from one audacious chapter to another, working as irony, working as satire, working as drama, working as pure action. I liked it even more than Kill Bill, Volume 1."
While Christopher Orr, of The New Republic, said:
"Where KB1 had the pace of an ADHD six-year-old on a sugar high, KB2 has been Ritalinized, its tempo slowed to a crawl in self-conscious, and self-defeating, imitation of Sergio Leone. It's two hours that feel like five."
As for our MoFo reviewers, @MovieMeditation said:
"The whole bloody affair of Kill Bill is a picture-perfect "portrayal of betrayal", which as a whole is an amazing experience; but the second volume beats out the first by several miles in my opinion. On the other hand, if you want full-blown entertainment volume one will deliver that and more to you, while the second is just masterful filmmaking at its finest!"
Meanwhile, @Sedai said:
"I liked Kill Bill Volume 2. At this point I think I may like Volume 1 a bit more, but I have a feeling after additional viewings of both, that may change, as Volume 2 is a more character driven, personal film. So if you don’t mind some drawn out conversation and additional character development, I recommend Kill Bill Volume 2. If you’re looking for another high energy action film, You may want to stick with Volume 1."



Critics




Critics thoughts on our #33, Up...



It currently has a 98% Certified Fresh Tomatometer score among critics, and a 8.2/10 score on IMDb (with 992,000 votes).

Roger Ebert gave it ★★★★ and said:
"The adventures on the jungle plateau are satisfying in a Mummy/Tomb Raider/Indiana Jones sort of way. But they aren't the whole point of the film. This isn't a movie like Monsters vs. Aliens, which is mostly just frenetic action. There are stakes here, and personalities involved, and two old men battling for meaning in their lives. And a kid who, for once, isn't smarter than all the adults."
While Stephanie Zacharek, of Salon.com, said:
"Its charms appear to have been applied with surgical precision; by the end, I felt expertly sutured, but not much else."
As for our MoFo reviewers, @Yoda said:
"This is an odd film: the hero is a geriatric, his sidekicks are unusually eclectic, and even the villain and his 'henchmen' are atypical. It carries with it an unusually advanced message for a family film. The obligatory 'it's never too late to do so-and-so' meme is present, to be sure, but it's not what Up is really about. It praises something much more ordinary and powerful, and suggests that the kinds of choices we think life has forced us into are really exactly what we wanted. Life, itself, is the adventure."
Meanwhile, @gbgoodies said:
"It has some very good scenes, but just not enough for me to love this movie as much as the rest of you seem to love it. But it is a good movie, and I would definitely recommend it more now than I would have before the re-watch."



Awards




Now to the awards received by Kill Bill Vol. 2...

  • Saturn Award for Best Action/Adventure/Thriller Film
  • Saturn Award for Best Supporting Actor (David Carradine) and Supporting Actress (Daryl Hannah)
  • American Choreography Award for Outstanding Fight Choreography
  • Golden Schmoes Award for Best Director (Quentin Tarantino)
  • Golden Schmoes Award for Best Actress (Uma Thurman) and Supporting Actor (Carradine)
  • Hollywood Film Award for Editor of the Year (Sally Menke)


As for Up, it won...

  • Academy Award for Best Score (Michael Giacchino)
  • Academy Award for Best Animated Feature Film
  • BAFTA Anthony Asquith Award for Film Music (Giacchino)
  • BAFTA Film Award for Best Animated Film
  • AFI Award for Movie of the Year
  • Annie Award for Best Animated Feature and Best Director (Pete Docter)
  • Cannes Film Festival Palm Dog (Dug)



Trivia




Kill Bill Vol. 2



Did you know that...
  • Tarantino originally wrote the character of Bill for Warren Beatty? However, as he developed the role and turned him into a martial arts expert, he rewrote it for David Carradine.
  • Harvey Weinstein was the one who suggested that Tarantino split the film?
  • Uma Thurman was injured in a car crash while filming the scene in which she drives to Bill? Even though she expressed she was uncomfortable driving the car and asked for a stunt driver, Tarantino insisted. This resulted in a rift between them that lasted until recent years.




I forgot the opening line.
34. Kill Bill Vol. 2 : I've decided that I watch Quentin Tarantino movies too many times, except for Pulp Fiction and Reservoir Dogs of which no amount of viewings could be deemed as "too much" - but as for the Kill Bill films and Basterds, Django and Hateful Eight - I've seen them an almost endless amount of times. Is it quality that has boosted the appeal of rewatching to this extent? To some degree, probably. He doesn't really tell great stories, but the composition of the scenes in these films are as hypnotic as cinema can get, and a mere conversation in a Tarantino film can transfix me over and over again. Kill Bill Vol. 2 was for me a satisfying conclusion to what was once going to be one long 4-hour film. It was no-nonsense compared to Vol. 1 with interesting choices throughout. Uma's bride never just fought each one of her foes in an epic battle to the death - events and surprises intrude and make things interesting. I hang out for that complete version, but it seems the man is determined not to give it to us. I didn't vote for Kill Bill Vol. 2, but admit that all of Tarantino's films bar Death Proof (which I still thought was good) are up there with the best of the decade.

33. Up : To prepare for this countdown I watched a lot of Pixar films, and Up was amongst them. The first 5 minutes almost had me weeping - sensitive soul I am. I'd love to watch an audience watching that opening. Then off we go on the usual funny and entertaining film that they ordinarily deliver. I thought the cute kid was great, he still gives me a grin just thinking back. I also wonder what the world would really be like if we could have a device that externalizes our dog's thoughts? They'd probably start getting on our nerves. Anyway, happy to tick this off the list in time for the countdown - I only have Monsters Inc to go I think. No votes for me here either.

Seen 56/68
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Trivia




Up



Did you know that...
  • director and co-writer Pete Docter has noted the film reflects his friendship with Disney veterans Frank Thomas, Ollie Johnston, and Joe Grant? All three died before the film's release and the film is dedicated to them.
  • early concepts for the film featured a floating city on an alien planet populated with muppet-like creatures?
  • there was a real estate incident in 2006 in Seattle, where a woman called Edith Macefield refused to sell her house for $1 million to make way for a commercial development? Any similarities were coincidental, since the film had started development in 2004 and Macefield ultimately passed away in 2008. In 2009, Disney publicists attached balloons to the roof of the Macefield house as a promotional tie-in.




You and me both. Guessing is hard enough but I liked the clues before they became poems.
Serious question, what kind of hints do you prefer?