React to the Village Voice 2003 Take Five Film Critic's Poll

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Let's talk about it on this thread.

― @d@ml (nordicskilla), Tuesday, 23 December 2003 23:10 (twenty years ago) link

Mystic River not making the top 10 is I guess a bit of a surprise.

― @d@ml (nordicskilla), Tuesday, 23 December 2003 23:10 (twenty years ago) link

Check the other categories on the sidebar.

― @d@ml (nordicskilla), Tuesday, 23 December 2003 23:11 (twenty years ago) link

Has anyone actually seen demonlover?

― @d@ml (nordicskilla), Tuesday, 23 December 2003 23:11 (twenty years ago) link

But overall, some good films, regardless of where they placed. It WAS a good year for movies, after all.

― @d@ml (nordicskilla), Tuesday, 23 December 2003 23:12 (twenty years ago) link

Dammit, year-end roundups means another month of breathless praise for Lost in Translation.

― miloauckerman (miloauckerman), Tuesday, 23 December 2003 23:21 (twenty years ago) link

Tis indeed a crying shame.

― @d@ml (nordicskilla), Tuesday, 23 December 2003 23:22 (twenty years ago) link

Haha! The Brown Bunny got voted number 5 best undistributed film. Where do I sign?

― @d@ml (nordicskilla), Tuesday, 23 December 2003 23:24 (twenty years ago) link

SWAT cruelly overlooked again.

― Dom Passantino (Dom Passantino), Tuesday, 23 December 2003 23:25 (twenty years ago) link

Alongside Keira Knightley's amazing acting range.

― Dom Passantino (Dom Passantino), Tuesday, 23 December 2003 23:26 (twenty years ago) link

range="rack"?

― @d@ml (nordicskilla), Tuesday, 23 December 2003 23:27 (twenty years ago) link

I hear SWAT is excellent. "Needs some sex scenes", I'm also told.

― @d@ml (nordicskilla), Tuesday, 23 December 2003 23:27 (twenty years ago) link

Interesting.

I would have ranked Gerry and Nemo much higher.

Friedmans, Kill Bill and Spider would have been substantially lower, in my fantasy world, also.

I like the demonlover nod. Yes, I have seen it.

― TEH ONE AN ONLEY DEANN GULBAREY (deangulberry), Tuesday, 23 December 2003 23:30 (twenty years ago) link

SWAT is the gayest film ever made, and even that can't save it from mediocrity. Watching it you believe that Samuel L Jackson's famed "coolness" in other films may actually have been the result of mirrors and lighting. You also come to realise that you've now watched 215 films starring Colin Farrell this year, and he's still irritating you in a way you quite can't put your finger on.

And I've said it before and I'll say it again: Knightley is Asda value brand Winslet.

― Dom Passantino (Dom Passantino), Tuesday, 23 December 2003 23:30 (twenty years ago) link

On a serious note, Nemo hasn't performed as well in year end polls as I would have expected. Is it a vain attempt at a Pixar backlash or wasn't it as good as I remembered? If I was to come up with a top 20 list right now it'd probably ranked at least #4.

― Dom Passantino (Dom Passantino), Tuesday, 23 December 2003 23:31 (twenty years ago) link

Maybe just since Nemo came out so early?

I wonder how well previous Pixar films did in "respectable" critic polls. I can't recall...

― TEH ONE AN ONLEY DEANN GULBAREY (deangulberry), Tuesday, 23 December 2003 23:33 (twenty years ago) link

Nemo is great, but the Toy Story films (AND Monsters, Inc.!!) were much better. Pixar make me cry, damn them.

DEANN, give me one good reason why I should go and see demonlover.

― @d@ml (nordicskilla), Tuesday, 23 December 2003 23:34 (twenty years ago) link

Because I liked it and I am smart and the Village Voice liked it and they are smart. Do you want to become smarter or not?

― TEH ONE AN ONLEY DEANN GULBAREY (deangulberry), Tuesday, 23 December 2003 23:36 (twenty years ago) link

This reminds me how few current movies I've seen this year. The highest ranked one I've seen is #25.

― o. nate (onate), Tuesday, 23 December 2003 23:39 (twenty years ago) link

I realised the other day that this is the first year I've seen 50 new movies at the cinema.

― Dom Passantino (Dom Passantino), Tuesday, 23 December 2003 23:42 (twenty years ago) link

I also didn't like American Splendor. Fuck this list.

― TEH ONE AN ONLEY DEANN GULBAREY (deangulberry), Tuesday, 23 December 2003 23:46 (twenty years ago) link

More: I'm willing to bet that the Film Comment list has Ichi and Balthazar *much* higher.

I always take issue with how critics will just haphazardly include movies in their lists regardless of their actual release date. For example, the Miike works from 2001-2003 in this year's list.

― TEH ONE AN ONLEY DEANN GULBAREY (deangulberry), Tuesday, 23 December 2003 23:49 (twenty years ago) link

It's missing... The Sin Eater!

― Dom Passantino (Dom Passantino), Tuesday, 23 December 2003 23:50 (twenty years ago) link

Worst injustice: Kill Bill charting 120+ places higher than CA: Full Throttle.

Demonlover had some fun stuff, but it was also incoherent and, once you parsed it out, not all that interesting. I would swap that with, say, Lilya 4-Ever. But I've only seen nine of the top 25.

― spittle (spittle), Tuesday, 23 December 2003 23:59 (twenty years ago) link

And Triplets of Belleville should be higher. And Carnage should at least be on the list somewhere.

― spittle (spittle), Wednesday, 24 December 2003 00:02 (twenty years ago) link

I'm just not feeling the Lost in Translation love, I guess. There are great visuals and great use of music but otherwise...meh.

X-post Triplets of Bellville would have been in my top five!

― El Diablo Robotico (Nicole), Wednesday, 24 December 2003 00:03 (twenty years ago) link

Yes Nicole, uber-MEH!!!

― @d@ml (nordicskilla), Wednesday, 24 December 2003 00:05 (twenty years ago) link

i just looked at this list and thought it was a pretty lame year myself. maybe i am jaded though.

― ryan (ryan), Wednesday, 24 December 2003 00:09 (twenty years ago) link

Because I liked it and I am smart and the Village Voice liked it and they are smart. Do you want to become smarter or not?

Yes, I want to become smart, just not in that way.

― @d@ml (nordicskilla), Wednesday, 24 December 2003 00:21 (twenty years ago) link

To each his own.

― TEH ONE AN ONLEY DEANN GULBAREY (deangulberry), Wednesday, 24 December 2003 00:23 (twenty years ago) link

Jeez. I'm on a different page here. I thought this year's top VV-collective ten films were as out there as their (mildly) infamous 2000 no-American-studio-films-allowed results, and I mean this in a good way. Pleased as hell to see the likes of Elephant, demonlover, The Son, The Fog of War and Unknown Pleasures in the TOP EFFING TEN, y'all.

I'm also rather surprised that Mystic, and even more shockingly Penn, both ended up off the ten "winners." And I think J. Rosenbaum including Cold Mountain on his personal top ten is as odd and surprising as Ebert including The Son on his.

― Eric H. (Eric H.), Wednesday, 24 December 2003 01:08 (twenty years ago) link

Oh, and Van Sant over Peter Jackson on one hand and Sofia Coppola on the other is a double "hell yeah!"

― Eric H. (Eric H.), Wednesday, 24 December 2003 01:09 (twenty years ago) link

The comments/one-liners section of the article seems a bit lackluster this year. C'mon, critics! Were there no drinks thrown in anyone's faces this year? Were are the intellectual fracasii?

― Eric H. (Eric H.), Wednesday, 24 December 2003 01:10 (twenty years ago) link

Rosenbaum's top 10 is certainly interesting -- "Down with Love" and "School of Rock" are both in the top 5 -- but I seem to remember his V.V. list is different than the one he publishes in the Reader. Last year, his #9 for V.V. was "Undercover Brother" (!); it didn't show up in his Reader list.

― jaymc (jaymc), Wednesday, 24 December 2003 01:22 (twenty years ago) link

swat was good!

i don't have time to look at this list now, more thoughts later

just remember:

swat was good!

― s1utsky (slutsky), Wednesday, 24 December 2003 02:24 (twenty years ago) link

True... his Reader list is always very consciously molded to fit what films actually played in Chicago that calendar year (hence Thin Red Line and Rushmore going onto his '99 list due to their Oscar-grubbing platform releases). Undercover Brother did show up on his list for Film Comment along with 25th Hour, I think.

― Eric H. (Eric H.), Wednesday, 24 December 2003 02:25 (twenty years ago) link

One more obvservation: The Hunted appears to have been mostly a sensation amongst the online cinephiles (seriously, if there was such an equivalent poll, The Hunted would be surely top 20 material).

― Eric H. (Eric H.), Wednesday, 24 December 2003 02:27 (twenty years ago) link

haven't seen very many of the top finishers, but my faves of of the top 20 or so are Man W/O a Past and City of God.

demonlover was terrible. it was Very Serious and Edgy and pretty boring. porno/espionage plot good mainly for having people wear great clothes in chilly interiors; a dress that hung off connie nielsen's shoulder hit with harder force than seeing her chained to a bedframe in bondage gear and electrocuted. (maybe that means it was great)

― g--ff (gcannon), Wednesday, 24 December 2003 03:15 (twenty years ago) link

by the way, undercover brother my ass

― s1utsky (slutsky), Wednesday, 24 December 2003 03:32 (twenty years ago) link

Not even if you paid me.

― @d@ml (nordicskilla), Wednesday, 24 December 2003 03:35 (twenty years ago) link

g--ff, thanks for confirming the POINT OF THE MOVIE that tsex distracts you from what is really the social impact of any medium. perhaps you should rewatch or rethink about demonlover.

― TEH ONE AN ONLEY DEANN GULBAREY (deangulberry), Wednesday, 24 December 2003 05:48 (twenty years ago) link

oh no now i don't have to. sweet!

― g--ff (gcannon), Wednesday, 24 December 2003 05:56 (twenty years ago) link

now you can spend more time watching sitcoms! awesome!

― TEH ONE AN ONLEY DEANN GULBAREY (deangulberry), Wednesday, 24 December 2003 06:22 (twenty years ago) link

nice to see love for platform, since i can't think of a greater film made in recent years.

― amateur!st (amateurist), Wednesday, 24 December 2003 14:27 (twenty years ago) link

jesus, how awful does robert altman's new film look? does he think there are hordes of fans asking "what milieu will bobby take on next?"

― amateur!st (amateurist), Wednesday, 24 December 2003 14:38 (twenty years ago) link

hahaha! it could not look worse!

platform is really great

― s1utsky (slutsky), Wednesday, 24 December 2003 16:34 (twenty years ago) link

As my taste usually aligns with (my occasional email chum) Ed Gonzalez, I'm going to give The Company a chance. And I can not wait to catch Platform.

― Eric H. (Eric H.), Wednesday, 24 December 2003 17:36 (twenty years ago) link

I really don't understand the criticisms against Lost in Translation; I guess people were expecting something more narrative driven or funny if they don't like it. It was an impressionistic film, it had horrible marketing that made it look like a Bill Murray yuck-fest, it was probably the most lovely looking film I saw all year.

Finding Nemo was excellent! It should have been way up there. Where is Pieces of April? Am I the only person in the world who loved this film?

No fair adding Fog of War, it won't even open in most cities until February. I hate that shit. And who has even seen Cold Mountain? It's like they hold these films away from the common plebes and heap awards and accolades on them in order to force you to want to see them when they finally open. Bullshit!

― anthony kyle monday (akmonday), Wednesday, 24 December 2003 19:21 (twenty years ago) link

I wasn't expecting it to be a yuck-fest or narrative-driven.

I just expected it to be good.

― miloauckerman (miloauckerman), Wednesday, 24 December 2003 19:38 (twenty years ago) link

slutsky, did you actually see s.w.a.t.?

― cozen (Cozen), Wednesday, 24 December 2003 20:08 (twenty years ago) link

I'm surprised that there were no votes for The Cooler at all; but: is it actually even out yet? Still, I saw it at a film fest, surely at least one of the voters must have, too?

Also, disappointed that Robot Stories didn't even get one mention. Oh well.

― Sean Carruthers (SeanC), Thursday, 25 December 2003 15:08 (twenty years ago) link

it's so weird that some people put "au hasard balthazar." i suppose in a sense it's fair, because a new print did open commercially in new york this year, but that opens the floodgates really.

of all the films on the list i've only seen 19. how about you?

― amateur!st (amateurist), Thursday, 25 December 2003 15:17 (twenty years ago) link

yeah i saw swat!

― s1utsky (slutsky), Thursday, 25 December 2003 16:57 (twenty years ago) link

i just saw kill bill. nothing in it that excited me. guess i felt that for once i should see a film that "everyone is talking about."

― amateur!st (amateurist), Thursday, 25 December 2003 18:44 (twenty years ago) link

yeah, i saw s.w.a.t. too.

― cozen (Cozen), Thursday, 25 December 2003 18:49 (twenty years ago) link

Yeah, agreed on the Balthazar thing, especially since based on the evidence of this poll it makes, say, A Mighty Wind appear to be a superior film... which I think is something of a paradigm shift.

― Eric H. (Eric H.), Friday, 26 December 2003 00:19 (twenty years ago) link

haha yeah i know including balthazar is stacking the deck; the films that could hold up against it, like in all of film history, probably don't number greater than a dozen.

― amateur!st (amateurist), Friday, 26 December 2003 00:25 (twenty years ago) link

ok now i sound like enrique; suffice to say it's a great great film whose place in the canon is assured to such an extent that including it in a poll like this seems rather pointless.

― amateur!st (amateurist), Friday, 26 December 2003 00:26 (twenty years ago) link

im gonna watch Au Hasard Balthazar tonight - i got it out of the local library. excited.

― jed (jed_e_3), Friday, 26 December 2003 01:16 (twenty years ago) link

the films that could hold up against it, like in all of film history, probably don't number greater than a dozen.
------
ok now i sound like enrique

Sounding like Enrique doesn't sound half bad.

― Eric H. (Eric H.), Friday, 26 December 2003 01:30 (twenty years ago) link

This list sucks. I have nothing more to say except this - since when have yearly film polls ever gotten satisfactory results? Show me one that's more than five years old that doesn't look extremely embarrassing today.

― Girolamo Savonarola, Friday, 26 December 2003 01:38 (twenty years ago) link

I haven't had time to see a lot, but demonlover was terrible! Too long, intrigue not comprehensible/interesting, a few intense moments & some great fashion, but that's all. I think Assayas is overrated..

The Son I admired, as I did Spider though. I get the feeling it was not at all a good year!

― daria g (daria g), Friday, 26 December 2003 08:28 (twenty years ago) link

of all the films on the list i've only seen 19. how about you?

I've seen 26 of these, a couple in 2002 for whatever that says about this list.

Also, Stuck on You higher than Balthazar?!?!? COME THE FUCK ON.

― TEH ONE AN ONLEY DEANN GULBAREY (deangulberry), Friday, 26 December 2003 08:38 (twenty years ago) link

Where the hell is "Punch Drunk Love"?

― jed (jed_e_3), Friday, 26 December 2003 14:46 (twenty years ago) link

#6... last year, that is.

― Eric H. (Eric H.), Friday, 26 December 2003 15:12 (twenty years ago) link

Also, Stuck on You higher than Balthazar?!?!? COME THE FUCK ON.

Also, Whale Rider higher than Stuck on You?!?!? COME THE FUCK ON.

― Eric H. (Eric H.), Friday, 26 December 2003 15:15 (twenty years ago) link

ah cheers Eric - was a UK Release this year. Oops.

― jed (jed_e_3), Friday, 26 December 2003 16:10 (twenty years ago) link

It just occured to me that Balthazar was somewhat higher on the poll in 1999... of the BEST FILMS OF THE CENTURY!!!

― Eric H. (Eric H.), Saturday, 27 December 2003 05:59 (twenty years ago) link

two weeks pass...

The fraternal twin of the Village Voice poll, sometimes a bit better, sometimes a bit worse, but basically the same: Film Comment's Year-End Poll. Mystic River rebounds to #2... other than that, not much difference. Apparently, they consider Gerry a 2002 film.

― Eric H. (Eric H.), Wednesday, 14 January 2004 13:04 (twenty years ago) link

so weird that nine of the top ten films are american

― amateur!st (amateurist), Wednesday, 14 January 2004 16:31 (twenty years ago) link

Eight. But yes, very strange especially for Film Comment. Even stranger is the collection of U.S. titles in the "undistributed" pile. What does that say?

― Eric H. (Eric H.), Wednesday, 14 January 2004 19:53 (twenty years ago) link

lots of votes for Brown Bunny!

― ryan (ryan), Wednesday, 14 January 2004 23:20 (twenty years ago) link

American Splendor could be lower on that list.

― dean! (deangulberry), Wednesday, 14 January 2004 23:22 (twenty years ago) link

ten months pass...

This was mentioned on another thread, and I thought "hey, the Take Six poll results should be served in just about one month from now," so does anyone have any thoughts on what might show up this time around? It's difficult to predict what the results of the poll will reflect in terms of the collective mood of critics... My guesses:

Domestic releases that look poised to take #1:
Sideways
Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind
Before Sunset (the smart money may very well be on this puppy)
I Do Huckabees
Dogville (OK, not exactly "domestic," but whatever)

Furrign fillmes raid the top ten:
Bad Education
Blissfully Yours
Crimson Gold
Goodbye Dragon Inn
Distant

A few "renegade" votes for:
She Hate Me
The Passion
Anatomy of Hell
America's Heart & Soul
The Notebook

― Eric H. (Eric H.), Sunday, 21 November 2004 23:25 (nineteen years ago) link

that list upthrea is soooo lasy yaer

― latebloomer (latebloomer), Monday, 22 November 2004 00:39 (nineteen years ago) link

"I DO HUCKABEES"

― I'm serious ... Ti-i-i-i-im (deangulberry), Monday, 22 November 2004 00:57 (nineteen years ago) link

eternal sunshine by a mile i bet, unless something else with enough broad critical appeal is about to come out. before sunset top 5.

― ryan (ryan), Monday, 22 November 2004 01:08 (nineteen years ago) link

this is kinda depressing

― s1ocki (slutsky), Monday, 22 November 2004 01:14 (nineteen years ago) link

I think it's been a great year for film. That is, non-US film.

― Remy (x Jeremy), Monday, 22 November 2004 01:15 (nineteen years ago) link

My hunch is that KBv.2 scores significantly below v.1... but that's mostly because I sort of think '04 seems to have a stronger slate than last year.

― Eric H. (Eric H.), Monday, 22 November 2004 01:51 (nineteen years ago) link

i agree, but mostly because i think v1 was way better

― s1ocki (slutsky), Monday, 22 November 2004 01:51 (nineteen years ago) link

That too.

― Eric H. (Eric H.), Monday, 22 November 2004 02:06 (nineteen years ago) link

six months pass...

Domestic releases that look poised to take #1:
Sideways
Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind
Before Sunset (the smart money may very well be on this puppy)
I Do Huckabees
Dogville (OK, not exactly "domestic," but whatever)

Furrign fillmes raid the top ten:
Bad Education
Blissfully Yours
Crimson Gold
Goodbye Dragon Inn
Distant

Those were pretty good guesses.

― L'Histoire d'Eric H. (Eric H.), Thursday, 9 June 2005 18:00 (nineteen years ago) link

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