The MoFo Top 100 Neo-noir Countdown

AWARDS?


The Nice Guys received several nominations and awards. These are some of the most notable:

• Three (3) Empire Award nominations, including Best Screenplay
• Three (3) IGN Summer Movie Award nominations, including a win for Best Comedy
• Two (2) Critics Choice Award nominations, including Best Comedy
• Two (2) Jupiter Award nominations, including Best International Film
• One (1) Saturn Award nomination for Best Action/Adventure Film

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I don't have a good explanation why Night Moves wasn't on my ballot. Either it was because I only watched it once or because so many of the great 70s neo-noirs were just wiped from my mind when I was making my ballot.

The Nice Guys... Haven't seen it. I thought it was supposed to be pure buddy cop parody (or comedic subversion). I'm realizing the only Shane Black movies (counting both directed and written) I've seen only... The Monster Squad (a few times when I was really young) and Last Action Hero (and only once after it came to home video, was not a fan. No one was a fan). I guess I probably saw, like, 5 minutes of one of the Lethal Weapons on TV once.

Night Moves is another one of those movies I've been meaning to see, but haven't yet.


I liked Nice Guys, but didn't consider in Neo Noir. It probably wouldn't have cracked the top 25. It is very funny though.

I haven't seen Night Moves but it looks good.
I have seen The Nice Guys. Loved Russel Crowe and Ryan Goslings chemistry. Found the scene, where the little boy finds the beautiful woman dead from a car crash laid out like a pin-up, unpleasant, disturbing and pandering. It was not on my list.

During the last several days, I saw #49. Get Carter and #46. A Simple Plan. Liked them both.
#40. Night Moves been on my to watch list for many years. Maybe, it is a high time for it. In the preliminary thread period, I've watched mostly 1940-59 movies to catch up and postponed Night Moves again.

Aside of these films, I'm more and more confused during the last rounds what other stuff made the list so high. Don't even want to mention the title at #39. Ugh again.

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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.

Coming in at #8

45. The Grifters Grew up loving a great conman film starting in my wee youth with The Sting and ran wild with the premise. So, in my mid-twenties, sitting in the theater multiple times when this came out became a serious favorite. With an underbelly vibe and cruel violence when cons are found out, The Grifters remains taut with tension and drama, from the illicit relationship between mother (Anjelica Huston) and son (John Cusack) grifters and the intrusive addition of Annette Benning's sexually charged huntress of a good thing.
It's been a solid two decades since seeing this heavily watched neo-noir, and had I had time for a rewatch, this would have been a whole lot longer. One of a few instant inclusions on my list

44. Blade Runner 2049 I was far more impressed than my initially doubtful first time I saw this. It took a second one to sit back and enjoy it, and my enjoyment grew on the following couple of rewatches. For me, they retained both the enigmatic elements and the visual brilliance of the original, and this was an excellent continuation storyline.

43. To Live and Die in L.A. Creates an almost Anti Cops and Robbers film as our lead cop is really more corrupt and dangerous than the bad guy that he's willing to commit crime after crime to pursue.
Freidkin's willingness to explore police corruption when everyone else celebrated Cowboy Tactics in a grand style without repercussions during the eighties was an intriguing and worthwhile choice.

Coming in at #13


42. Kiss Kiss Bang Bang (2005) I am very much a fan of Shane Black's comedic, nuanced neo-noir, with fourth-wall-breaking, beautifully delivered, sharp-witted dialogue featuring Kilmer and Downey. Michelle Monaghan is all kinds of wonderful. I can watch this again and again.

Coming in at #21

Inherent Vice (2014) To quote from Thief's post, Matt Zoller Seitz, from RogerEbert.com, said: Mostly it's a long, shaggy, knockabout comedy about eccentrics who pursue their own appetites and manias and indulge their private demons while remaining oblivious to their effect on others. And it works BEAUTIFULLY for me.

Coming in at #20


39. The Nice Guys And speaking of Black, I'd be remiss if I didn't include this heavily rewatched bumbling detective work amusingly displayed by Ryan Gosling with Russell Crowe's stoic Enforcer and the real brains, Gosling's daughter played by Angourie Rice.




Seen 32 out of 62 (51.61%)
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
6. The Grifters (1990) #45
7.
8. Mystic River (2003) #68
9.
10.
11.
12.
13. Kiss Kiss Bang Bang (2005) #42
14. Mother (2009) #67
15.
16.
17.
18.
19.
20. The Nice Guys (2016) #39
21. Inherent Vice (2014) #41
22.
23.
24.Basic Instinct (1992) #70
25. Things to do in Denver When You're Dead (1995) One-Pointer

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What I actually said to win MovieGal's heart:
- I might not be a real King of Kinkiness, but I make good pancakes

~Mr Minio

2 for 2 today. Night Moves was a blind date of sorts. Knew next to nothing about it before watching it. But hey, Gene Hackman. I'm having a hard time remembering a bad flick the man was in. Heartbreakers? Or maybe the one that convinced him to retire from acting 20 years ago, Welcome to Mooseport? Anyway NM is what people should think of when anyone mentions neo-noir.

I knew more about The Nice Guys before watching it but it still turned out to be a pleasant surprise. I've always enjoyed films with a loosey goosey feel to them before sudden, inexplicable violence intrudes on the fun times. That's one thing about this movie. It was set in the 70's and it artfully captures that vibe.

40 of 62 seen so far.

No it wouldn't. Hollywood is busily making followups to the most underwhelming or downright craptacular films. So why can't they do the same with perfectly sequel worthy pictures like this one?

At this point I feel really good about my Noir ballot, in that all but maybe two will show. Here in Neo Noir....notsomuch. The varying "definitions" make this one near impossible to call, past the twenty or so top ones that just must be there. I hope. I could see as many as five of my Neo Noirs not making the cut (not even counting my already revealed one-pointer).

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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

I usually only end up with like 9 or 10 films from each of my ballots making it onto countdowns, but I've already had 8 show up so far for this one. There are 5 more that I think are definitely locks and another 6 or 7 that could make it. I am starting to get worried that my #1 didn't make the cut, though.

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Yeah, I think I've said it a dozen times here and in the preliminary thread, but the ambiguity of the definition has been the most challenging aspect of the countdown for me, and I suppose the most frustrating aspect to those purists that are more familiar with the style (something that will probably be heightened by today's reveals )

Like I said a couple of days ago, all things considered, I think we've done a solid job so far in terms of raising awareness to many legit neo-noirs that a lot of us, me included, hadn't heard of before. For example, I had never heard of Blast of Silence, and maybe I would've never heard of it if it hadn't been for this countdown, but it has jumped to the top of my watchlist. Same goes to The Hot Spot, and several others, so I'm grateful for that.

Bottom line, I would really love to take a look at that "twenty or so top ones" list of yours at some point, so feel free to share it in the end, so we can see what made it/what not, and people can pick up ideas of what to watch as well.