The (Now-Overrated) ILX Top 100 Films of the 2000s Poll Results

Tipsy, how are we not supposed to side emotionally with Nicole Kidman in the end?

oh, we do. or i did. i actually laughed out loud.

but it's a cautionary story -- giving people uncontested power over other people will produce abuse and exploitation pretty much anywhere, and "civilized" people can find high-minded rationalizations for the worst kinds of behavior. all of which in turn sets the stage for anger and cycles of revenge.

which is why you don't structure a society to allow those kinds of things. if you want to protect yourself against the massacre, you build a social infrastructure that protects everyone. it's basically a case for social democracy in the form of a fable.

tbh, i hesitated to vote because i started the decade being a big cinema geek, but if i watched the same obscure/foreign/arty/whatever films at the end of the decade, many of them i see differently and don't like any more. and there are a lot of films where i recognize they have a style and are well crafted and of interest to a lot of people whose POV i respect, and yet my personal taste is, i hate them! (MULHOLLAND DRIVE)

I dunno if she was being polite, but Terry Gross seemed to be impressed by Team America.

I watched some South Park episodes with commentary on. One of the dudes had bought his mom a Prius, and the other was very concerned with indulgent child-rearing. They are apparently pals with Penn Jillete, who convinced them to be atheists or something, but it was after the Dawkins episode was finished.

I agree they are self-satisfied jerks but I found it hard to detect a proper libertarian lean other than their being self-satisfied jerks.

oops but excuse me, we can start a thing about david lynch later, not now. sorry. let's wait.

and there are a lot of films where i recognize they have a style and are well crafted and of interest to a lot of people whose POV i respect, and yet my personal taste is, i hate them! (MULHOLLAND DRIVE)

Daria otm!

I've read Joyce, Musil, Mann, Pynchon, taken a crack at Gaddis, and so fucking help me, those LOTR books are impenetrable.

― Inculcate a spirit of serfdom in children (Alfred, Lord Sotosyn), Friday, February 5, 2010 12:07 AM

I really think you need to be a kid. or more accurately, a kid 20 or 30 years ago

Kids these days with their Harry Potters and shit.

I am also prepared to hate on mulholland drive when the time comes

tbh, i hesitated to vote because i started the decade being a big cinema geek, but if i watched the same obscure/foreign/arty/whatever films at the end of the decade, many of them i see differently and don't like any more. and there are a lot of films where i recognize they have a style and are well crafted and of interest to a lot of people whose POV i respect, and yet my personal taste is, i hate them! (MULHOLLAND DRIVE)

― kicker conspiracy (b. favre ha ha) (daria-g), Friday, February 5, 2010 12:08 AM (58 seconds ago) Bookmark

haha yeah this is s.thing like my trajectory.

peter jackson's finnegan's wake

sorry, had a meeting....

the LOTR books may well be awful! i read them at age 12 because there was a family vacation in which we drove halfway across the midwest (boring) and then i had to spend several days at my grandma's house (boring) with nothing to do other than read LOTR (only books i had with me) or fight with my younger bratty cousins. at the time i had no sense for good writing vs bad writing.

lolz can't wait til Mulholland Dr places in the top 10

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I'm looking forward to that discussion about Mulholland Drive, because I loved it.

Speaking of which, I'm a little surprised there isn't more commentary about what people like about these movies instead of what they hate

I voted Almost Famous at #1. I just found it incredibly entertaining and watched it over and over again throughout high school. It also had a huge impact/resonance with me w/r/t music and music writing.

(I was surprised it's so hated on ILX, but then I remembered that ILX often hates thing that are inoffensive, fun and enjoyable.)

its so easy to laugh, its so easy to hate ;_;

+ earnest

I hated Almost Famous the first time I saw it, but decided to watch it a second time one night. It clicked for me. I don't know if I take any message away from it, but I definitely think it's a fine movie for what it is.

yeah, earnest things don't bother me (in music or in films) as long as that's not the only aesthetic happening

xxp - uh, it's kinda offensive from a feminist viewpoint.

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v212/etienne_saint/tripletsbellville.jpg

i loved it. the opening is fantastic, but i think it would have been wearying and distracting if the entire film had maintained that pace. as it was, i felt like i was missing out on the intricacies of much of the animation as things moved along.

― lauren

When the frenetic, fast-paced "short" segues into the deliberate main style of the movie it's just too delicious, like mmm settle in, get yr hot drink ready! Like sliding into a bubble-bath or something. The slow pace lets you really examine everything, in a way i can't remember doing since looking at picture books as a kid.

― Tracer Hand

It's an outstandingly conceived and designed film, right down to the very smallest of details. I have to admit to feeling slightly so whatish at the end though, even though it certainly never bored me. I suppose I was a bit nonplussed at the amount of effort that gone in to producing something with no real emotional content.

― chap

#73

The Triplets of Belleville
Sylvain Chomet
2003
France
(253 points, 10 votes)

cartoons count?

Almost Famous was the first time a movie's overwhelmingly positive reviews smothered me.

Triplets of Belleville

how is it offensive from a feminist viewpoint?

Daria - exactly. There are a lot of movies posted so far that are not my thing at all but I can understand why they appealed to other ppl. It's more the ppl who are saying that certain movies are awful or completely unwatchable when they're clearly not that bewilders me and makes me think they have shitty taste or be joyless bores. ;)

How is it offensive to feminists? I'm assuming you're reading a glorification of groupism into it, or something like that, which seems like a willful misreading of the film to me.

If anything, the Francis McDormand character's perspective is hugely privileged throughout the film, and the Kate Hudson narrative ends in total devastation and repudiation.

I don't remember much about it, but it did strike me at the time that you might have to be a heterosexual male to really appreciate AF

well, geez, look at her choice of sunglasses! and that faux French accent!

lately if i get about 20-30 min into a film and it seems unwatchable, i just don't watch it anymore. i suspect a lot of films named so far, i wouldn't care for, i don't know though..

I don't remember much about it, but it did strike me at the time that you might have to be a heterosexual male to really appreciate AF

it's one of my mom's all time favorite movies so maybe she (?) has some secrets she's been hiding from me.

lolz

I'm curious if saharel actually has a position here or is just challopsying.

sarahel*

triplets is another one from my shortlist that i ended up cutting. but i really like it. the sequences with the triplets in particular -- their musical performances, their frog dinner preparations -- are great and imaginative and really a window on this other askew world.

Yeah, it's not like Cameron Crowe invented the concept of groupies just to fit into his film. Kate Hudson's character aside (who had a multitude of problems), the rest of the groupies portrayed in the film seemed very aware of themselves and knew exactly what they were doing at all times. They weren't a bunch of starstruck teenyboppers.

I'm assuming you're reading a glorification of groupism into it,

uh, because that's a large part of the movie - the rosy nostalgia for that era, the hooker with the heart of gold, that is still devastated because, well, she's a ho. Of course the mom's character is privileged - she's a mother.

okay, finally caught up.

Master and Commander was my number 8. Absolutely adore that film. I also don't know what the guy upthread means about the story being muddled because of fitting too much in, because the story is ridiculously simple.

still wondering in what world the good girl is more interesting than school of rock, personally

I got quoted on In Bruges. It was my number 39. Really enjoy that film.

And School of Rock is the best mus-o film of the decade probably.

I'm a little surprised there isn't more commentary about what people like about these movies instead of what they hate

well... I've only seen (and liked) the following:

77. The Squid & The Whale simply one of the best "family drama" type movies of the last decade, one where all the characters are interesting/believable and avoids predictability in favor of a more sustained tone of discomfort and hurt and angst. it just seemed very emotionally honest.
79. Team America: World Police like I said, I have issues with the politics and racism, but the design/execution is amazing and there are tons of great jokes.
81. The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring I've discussed this enough, I think. the best of the trilogy, one that encapsulates the feeling of loss that pervades Tolkien's work, as well as his love of simple joys and the wonder of nature. breathtaking landscapes all the way through, plus ridiculous aping of the best elements of the Bakshi version, the perfect Gandalf, and a fair amount of decent action.
83. Harold and Kumar Go to White Castle stoners be lovin stoner comedies. Morbz rightly points out that the funniest thing in the whole movie is Kumar dreaming of marrying his bag of weed (which then turns into a loveless marriage involving beatings, etc.) should've ranked higher tbh.
93. Sideways eh, this was okay. "Like" is probably too strong a word.
96. High Fidelity ditto

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Well, of course there's going to be rosy nostalgia. It's essentially Crowe's autobiography, and he's the director.

xp honestly don't wanna do a close reading of the film, but i think that one can acknowledge some glorification of something bad (see drug use in like almost every film ever) while still not totally subscribing to the view that those things are good

this is dumbassery tho: "Of course the mom's character is privileged - she's a mother."

Wtf are you talking about? So all mothers in all films have their perspectives privileged????

uh, because that's a large part of the movie - the rosy nostalgia for that era, the hooker with the heart of gold, that is still devastated because, well, she's a ho. Of course the mom's character is privileged - she's a mother.

yeahhhhh I don't think she's devastated because 'she's a ho'

Man, it killed me when the dog landed on the other side of the Atlantic and was still chewing that caramel!

I'm a little surprised there isn't more commentary about what people like about these movies instead of what they hate

Man Who Enjoys Thing Informed He Is Wrong

i mean i like the good girl, and i'm glad that it got made, and it seemed like there was a dearth of solid, offbeat, grown-up american films at that time iirc, but some small nmber of frames from school of rock is more interesting than it imo

i liked the omniscient narration on et tu mama, and the window on rural mexico, and the energy of the young guys