The MoFo Top 100 of the 2010s Countdown

A Separation - a movie that I saw back in 2011 or 2012 and thought was really good, but is in the general type of drama that doesn't register as a personal favorite, with some exceptions.

Jojo Rabbit - I didn't see it back then, and with limited time available in life, I can never muster up in the interest to go see it. For all of the polarization on it, I suspect it'd just end up in the neutral to mildly positive category for me.

The VVitch has been on my vvatchlist for a vvhile just didn't get to it before ballot deadline. Love Anya Taylor-Joy so I vvill eventually vvatch it. Same goes for Anomalisa.

A Separation is great film and on my top 200 of the 2010's list, didn't make my ballot.


Seen 7/12
Ballot 2/25

__________________
Entertainment Log
Letterboxd profile

A Separation was my number 8. It's one of the most realistic movies I've ever seen. Never seen Jojo Rabbit.


So, I'm still at a 50%. Seen 6/12.

I haven’t seen A Separation.

Jojo Rabbit was fine, reading Yoda’s post above has me agreeing with his assessment.

Jojo Rabbit izt zo owereided! Such a thoughtless approach to the subject is commercializing it—Nazism with a can of coca-cola in the background. "Nazism was bad. But funny." An offensive mix of the worst features of the cinema of Roberto Benigni, Wes Anderson, and Steven Spielberg, insulting aesthetic feelings and reason. A heartwarming fairy tale/comic just in time for Hollywood galas that once again proves what Godard said about movies and the Holocaust.

... I kinda liked it, though.

A Separation is very good but it's been 11 years, so I can't say anything more.

__________________
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.

yes you do!

__________________
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

I'm thrilled with both of today's countdown movies! A Separation and JoJo Rabbit are two excellent movies that came very, very close to making my ballot. So I'm glad to see them make the countdown.

I wrote this for the Personal Recommendation Hall of Fame VI

A Separation (2011)

Actually, I didn't think I'd like this as I haven't really loved any Iranian films in the past. But I was impressed with this one. What impressed me most was just how believable the film was. I was so engrossed in it that I wasn't even aware I was reading subtitles, it felt that real, like I was looking through a window into someone's life as it unraveled.

A Separation is a character driven movie where the written dialog flows naturally and is endemic to the various personalities of the characters. The character's actions match the actors demeanor and disposition. This movie is so well cast that I'd believed these are real people in a real situation.

The cinematography is grounded, always effective without trying to be fancy or self aware. Same for the editing, straight forward and well balanced. This is a near perfect movie. I was engaged and rooted for the father. His daughter brought to the life the pain that the events had caused. I thought his wife was a selfish bitch, expertly acted and written. The zonkers religious lady and her pain in the ass loser husband also were perfectly written characters as they got me really involved in the story and they never became caricatures but remained real.

Seen both, loved both, but none of them were on my list. I think both were on my initial 60+ list, but cut them out eventually. I might've clung to Jojo a bit longer, but I don't think they were part of my last cuts. If I were to say something about Jojo is that...



I should probably rewatch A Separation, to be honest. I gave it on Letterboxd, but its a bit of a blur right now.


Anyway, this is where I'm at so far...

Seen: 10/12

__________________

Firstly, to our Wonderful, Wonderful Host @SpelingError and the Magician Behind the Curtain @Yoda, The Ayatollahs of Rock n Rollas,




My One Pointer




En kongelig affære aka A Royal Affair (2019)

To steal the description from IMDb: In 1767, British Princess Caroline (Alicia Vikander from Ex Machina) is betrothed to mad King Christian VII of Denmark, who truly shined for me (Mikkel Boe Følsgaard.) in his cinematic debut. He was still in theater school when he got the gig.
Enters German Dr. Johann Struensee (Mads Mikkelsen), a quietly idealistic man who quickly becomes the King's companion and, soon, something more to Princess Caroline. As well as assisting Caroline and his endeared friendship with Christian in pulling Denmark from the oppressive suffocation of the Church and present proclamations into a country of enlightenment.

Through the sublime talents of not only the three leads but throughout this exceedingly orchestrated Period Piece by Director Nikolaj Arcel, quoting: my creative team and I was fired up by the idea of bringing the Scandinavian historical drama into the new century. We wanted to achieve this by adhering to a self-imposed rule; we didn't want to "show" history, didn't want to dwell pointlessly on the big official events, the fancy dresses, and hairdos, or the way the food was served. Rather, we wanted people to simply experience the story through the eyes of the characters, taking the 1760s for granted.
And he f@ckin nails it.

Hence, this is why I made it my One Pointer and the reason I love and participate in them. Along with getting a kick out of the insane, hilarious ones like Nude Nuns With Big Guns (2010) - I f@ckin LOVE that!
It is a moment in the sun for those unique hidden gems that are the Island of Misfit Toys to me. They need love too. And this is mine.

At #15




100. The Raid: Redemption (2011, Gareth Evans) 79 points

And that sh#t is NON-STOP!!! So, yeah, F@ckin LOVE this flick!! Nuff said lol


Have Seen



95. Ajeossi aka The Man From Nowhere (2010, Lee Jeong-beom) 81 points

Tae-Sik Cha: You live only for tomorrow.
Man-seok: What?
Tae-Sik Cha: The ones that live for tomorrow get f@cked by the ones living for today.
Man-seok: What are you babbling about?
Tae-Sik Cha: I only live for today. I'll show you just how f@cked up that can be.

Won Bin, as Tae-Sik Cha, does an excellent job as the "quiet" stranger that owns a pawnshop and is drawn into the violent repercussions of the little girl's mother stealing from the wrong people. The basis of the friendship between Tae-Sik Cha and the young girl, Jeong So-mi (Sae-Ron Kim), is quite genuine and, at times, quite touching. Giving a great balance to the well-executed violence that erupts as Tae-Sik goes after the "bad guys" while dodging the Police, who are also after the bad guys and believe him to be associated with them.
Almost, nearly made my List.




94. Captain America: Civil War (2016, Anthony Russo and John Russo) 81 points

The Honeymoon is over. There's trouble in Paradise. There is a Warrior Mentality of Constant Conflict. There doesn't really need to be a villain. Our Super Heroes will just as easily battle one another, and they do a pretty good job of pulling it off here.
Glad to see it here.



Movies Seen 3 out of 10 (30%)
1. Upper Fifty
2. Upper Fifty
3. Lower Thirty if at all
4. Will be a Surprise
5. Mid Pack
6. Mid Pack
7. Upper Fifty
8. Upper Fifty (hopefully)
9. Unlikely
10. Upper Twenty
11. Mid Pack
12. Probably Not
13. Upper Fifty
14. Upper Fifty
15. The Raid (2011) #100
16. Mid, maybe Upper Fifty
17. Mid Pack
18. Upper Fifty
19. Mid to Upper Pack
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%)[

It is very early in the game still, but for those that pay attention that kind of things, Jojo Rabbit is the film with the lowest RT score on the list, as of now, with 80%. Only two more are below 90% (The Descendants and The Raid).

And on a similar note, two of the films on the list are at 100% on RT: World of Tomorrow and The Man from Nowhere.

SpelingError already included an excerpt to my JoJo Rabbit review, (love that idea too)

But I can't resist posting another excerpt from my JoJo Rabbit review

Yes, I thoroughly enjoyed this movie! Especially the first 20 minutes...I don't think I've laughed more at a movie than in the first act of Jojo Rabbit. I do wish the film would've kept the same tone instead it gets more serious with the Jewish girl under the stairs, and that in and of itself worked, but it's old hat and has been done before.

Roman Griffin Davis was just perfect as the 10 year old, would be Nazi, who can't even kill a little bunny (and I don't blame him either!). He was really good here. I don't even care that he had an English accent he was perfect in his role and well this is a satire comedy.

Sam Rockwell, nailed it! I loved his sympathetic one eyed Nazi character who acts as a mentor to young Jojo. The last scene he was in was so well done that it makes me want to watch Moon again. Oh BTW those aren't Americans who are machine gunning the captive Nazis, hope you all knew that.

Scarlett Johansson, she was great as the loving but tough German mom. I wish she had more screen time and I don't think she needed to come to such an ending...

BTW hope everyone also knows that the vast majority of Germans during WWII were NOT Nazis and that includes the German Army too.

You would think A Separation to rank higher but as Thursday mentioned regarding the "non-english language" countdown (Foreigners!) it didn't rank too high there either - and I recall being a bit surprised then too. I promise not to be surprised again when the film doesn't rank high on the Dramas from Asia Countdown in 2033. But hey, I think it's a great film and good chance it would have squeaked in my top 50.


Jojo Rabbit was okay. Yoda's post works well to describe my thoughts, or experience, kind of saving it for a bit then finally watching it and thinking well that was whatever and forgetting it a few days later.


Nada from my list so far.

__________________
"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."

That's kinda how I feel about it.

I don't think, for me.
I generally do not like long-form as a rule and every single time I break my well-earned rule and watch one, I get burned. And then I get angry and regretful. How could I have wasted so many hours of my life? And I actually do not WANT to spend 40, 50, 60+ hours with a story or group of characters, in general (marvel sidesteps this by having "episodes" that exist as standalone movies and do not necessarily have to be resolved in the next one or the one after that).
People tell me all the time, "Well, look, you just gotta get through the first season", or even "You just gotta get through the first TWO seasons", and I'm like, "What?!!! Are you f*cking kidding me?! Spend 10-20+ hours of my life just to get to the part where it gets good and then I am in for several more seasons?!!! You must be out of your f*cking mind."
If you haven't hooked me in 5 hours, I'm out. And, honestly, that number is down to 2 now. I will give a show 2 hours. If I'm not hooked in two hours, no, I am not watching your endless second act for the next several weeks of my life.

And for today;
I have only seen one





89. Jojo Rabbit (2019, Taika Waititi) 84 points

Yorki: There are bigger things to worry about than Jews, Jojo. There are Russians somewhere out there. They're worse than anyone. I heard they eat babies and have sex with dogs. I mean like that's bad, right?
Jojo: Sex with dogs?
Yorki: Yeah. The Englishmen do it too. We have to stop them before they eat us and screw all our dogs.

And then they danced.
Yayyyy

I thought this would hit MUCH higher, but more than happy to be in that exclusive club for this film.
Loved the wit. The heartwarming moments throughout. The quirky atmosphere of the entire cast and just, well, pretty much everything from Jojo hyping himself up with his imaginary best friend, Hitler, to the final scene put a big smile on my face, along with the placard at the very end:

"Let everything happen to you
Beauty and terror
Just keep going
No feeling is final."

There's amusing poetry in Taika Waititi's work, and this poetry does this heart of mine all kinds of delight. Hence, hitting the number two spot on my List.




Movies Seen 4 out of 12 (33.33%)
1. Upper Fifty
2. Jojo Rabbit (2012) #89
3. Lower Thirty if at all
4. Will be a Surprise
5. Mid Pack
6. Mid Pack
7. Upper Fifty
8. Upper Fifty (hopefully)
9. Unlikely
10. Upper Twenty
11. Mid Pack
12. Probably Not
13. Upper Fifty
14. Upper Fifty
15. The Raid (2011) #100
16. Mid, maybe Upper Fifty
17. Mid Pack
18. Upper Fifty
19. Mid to Upper Pack
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%)

Looks like I was on the right track. Guess I should have thought a little harder about this one.


I saw A Separation earlier this year. I think it was good, but it didn't stick to me.


Jojo Rabbit was my *checks notes* #11.

I watched World of tomorrow and it was much better than I had expected. It wouldn't have made my list due to my bias against short films, but I have to admit it was pretty great.

Contextually, I actually don't know which of the two series you're responding to.

I would need to rewatch it* to see if I could see what might derail someone tonally.

*: not inconceivable, though it's tough with the ever mounting of pile of movies I've never seen that I need to see.

I was sure John Dumbear and Captain T. didn’t win for those guesses. I would never have guessed Separation and Jo Jo Rabbit.
Separation I have never seen or heard of. It’s getting a lot of love so I guess I should take a look
I saw Jo Jo Rabbit and enjoyed the biplay between the comic Hitler and Jo Jo. I didn’t find it offensive the way I did Roberto Benigni’s Life is Beautiful. I like that addresses the need to hide ones real thoughts or very self in such an extreme authoritarian regime. I wasn’t on my list. Partly because I forgot about it.
6/12 seen
2/12 picked