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

I liked PDL fine, but there wasn't much recontextualizing going on. Dude is all pudding pudding pudding, straight up.

by saying "look at how bad most stuff coming from Dreamworks is" is

Find where I said that, xxxp. I don't even fucking know what studio puts out what mosdt of the time, that's a bad habit music obsessives carry over from labels.

I wan't saying "b-b-but for a studio movie"... I was just pandering to the lowered cultural standards which Armond White frequently points out; I won't make that mistake again.

lolz but wrong re: sandler xpost

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

this movie was so fucking sweet btw

― jhøshea

I liked the "verticality" of this (for lack of a better word) -- lots of scenes with the actors (esp. Viggo, with his hair tightly slicked back) standing ramrod straight, shots bookended by walls or slyly-framed architecture. I'm thinking especially of the scene between Mueller-Stahl & the barber behind the restaurant -- AM-S standing on the platform in the background, barber in the foreground, both framed by the lines of the buildings and the walls -- and especially the scene in the bathhouse. It infused everything a sense of tension and enclosure that gave the movie most of its juice.

I'm a softie, tho -- thinking about the plot might make me sad, and the ending was a bit of a whoopie cushion, but I liked everyone in it (even Watts, tho she didn't have much to do after the 1st 30 minutes), liked that the treachery was mostly left unexplained until the aftermath, and had no problem w/ the voiceover (it lent the scene w/ the girl singing right before Viggo paid her a little after-the-fact oomph) or the TWIST.

― David R.

i loved this

when i watch movies i'm not comparing them to other movies on a scale of one to fucking ten, although if i had to choose a grade i'd give this one a V for VIGGO

i agree with all of lauren's posts and i think the fact that it's even possible to observe what she observed shows what a fully imagined world cronenberg creates. the loose ends aren't in the plot, they're in little provocations and niggles that are just irreducibly there, and set my imagination off. he draws my attention to things that other directors don't - the sound of a tattoo needle; jumping up to get the balloon in the netting; the unsatisfying physicality of a useless motorcycle kickstarter - even if the story itself is no great shakes on paper. i like that he decided to do a genre piece and bring that sensibility, rather than do another freakazoid gristle gun hallucination.

- Tracer Hand

Cronenberg's Eastern Promises Spoiler Thread

#51

Eastern Promises
David Cronenberg
2007
Canada/United Kingdom
(348 points, 16 votes)

don't read that thread if you don't want to get spoiled. it just happens to be the only 'eastern promises' thread i could find.

u know i liked a lot about eastern promises but now it's time for me to roll my damn eyes

Seriously the defense of b-b-b-but for a big budget studio pic it's great is so lame.

lol auteur theory

although if i had to choose a grade i'd give this one a V for VIGGO

<3<3<3

is 'a history of violence' going to place?

Okay that was unexpected.

if Promises did, then History must do. I imagine it will be really high up as well.

is 'a history of violence' going to place?

― vincent gallogina (J0rdan S.), Monday, February 8, 2010 11:29 AM (11 seconds ago)

I hope so, because i thought it was better than eastern promises.

yeah 'a history of violence' was in my top 10

this film was a top ten for me, i thought viggo was pretty amazing. vincent cassel was almost equally as good. much, much better than a history of violence imo (which i also really liked.)

I couldn't finish History of Violence, but loved Eastern Promises.

Yeah, tipsy, come back: we need you to clarify.

well i just think munich is too successful as an exciting revenge thriller to be successful as a moral contemplation of vengeance. to work, the audience has to feel the moral conflict, not just have it embodied by bana getting sweaty or brow-furrowed. the scene where they're trying to disarm the bomb is tense, but so are all the action scenes. they're tense for the same reasons any well-made bomb-disarming or assassination scenes are tense. nothing about the film seemed very deeply felt to me (including the sense of israel's perennial insecurity). i felt told, but not shown. culminating in the closing shot of the world trade center, which i thought was unbelievably cheap and manipulative.

Really really really wish Munich hadn't popped up on a srsly busy day at work for me. :(

didn't vote for this, but anything with viggo fine with me

is INLAND EMPIRE going to place

inevitably

(i've said this before, but i think the twin towers shot in gangs of new york was better-earned than the one in munich)

PDL is just appalling

^^^this

Eastern Promises is okay, kinda ho-hum for Cronenberg tho

william hurt hurted it

Before Sunset nearly made my top 40, but in the end I had to leave it out. I agree with the people who said that it does a nice job of updating the youthful romanticism of Before Sunrise with a more adult perspective without totally undermining the original movie, or replacing romance with cynicism. I saw both of the movies roughly around the time they came out, so growing up 9 years between them really gives a nice perspective to both of them. I really, really liked Before Sunrise in my teens/early 20s, but I haven't rewatched it in years, maybe out for the fear that it wouldn't feel as magical anymore. But I do want to hold on to the memory of that magical feeling, even if nowadays I probably relate much more to Hawke and Delpy in Sunset than in Sunrise. The relationship between the two movies, and the characters in them, nicely sums up how I've grown up between them... I'm certainly more mature now, and obviously some of the things I thought and did when I was younger feel naive now, but I don't want to dismiss them as mere youthful foolishness, because I still remember how important things felt back then, and I can still relate to that feeling even if I wouldn't do things the same way now as I did back then.

has anyone suggested breaking this thread up into parts? it's kinda a bitch to have to open the whole thing when you've missed 5 minutes.

bookmark

get one bookmark

oh I probably should have thought of doing that

(i've said this before, but i think the twin towers shot in gangs of new york was better-earned than the one in munich)

This is so so challops, right?

Nothing in Gangs is earned. Stolen, if had at all.

Before Sunset nearly made my top 40, but in the end I had to leave it out. I agree with the people who said that it does a nice job of updating the youthful romanticism of Before Sunrise with a more adult perspective without totally undermining the original movie, or replacing romance with cynicism. I saw both of the movies roughly around the time they came out, so growing up 9 years between them really gives a nice perspective to both of them. I really, really liked Before Sunrise in my teens/early 20s, but I haven't rewatched it in years, maybe out for the fear that it wouldn't feel as magical anymore. But I do want to hold on to the memory of that magical feeling, even if nowadays I probably relate much more to Hawke and Delpy in Sunset than in Sunrise. The relationship between the two movies, and the characters in them, nicely sums up how I've grown up between them... I'm certainly more mature now, and obviously some of the things I thought and did when I was younger feel naive now, but I don't want to dismiss them as mere youthful foolishness, because I still remember how important things felt back then, and I can still relate to that feeling even if I wouldn't do things the same way now as I did back then.

― Tuomas, Monday, February 8, 2010 2:34 PM (4 minutes ago) Bookmark Suggest Ban Permalink

well said. i really feel quite the same.

xp Guys guys both shots suck, okay.

bottom half of the list:

100 Morvern Callar dir: Lynne Ramsay (2002/UK/204 points/13 votes)
099 The Piano Teacher dir: Michael Haneke (2001/Austria/France/208/9)
098 Dogville dir: Lars von Trier (2003/Denmark/208.5/13)
097 Happy-Go-Lucky dir: Mike Leigh (2008/UK/210.5/11)
096 High Fidelty dir: Stephen Frears (2000/US/214/10)
095 Capturing the Friedmans dir: Andrew Jarecki (2003/US/215/13/1)
094 Napleon Dynamite dir: Jared Hess (2004/US/215.5/10)
093 Sideways dir: Alexander Payne (2004/US/215/12)
092 Tropical Malady dir: Apichatpong Weerasethakul (2004/Thailand/219/8/1)
091 Talk to Her dir: Pedro Almodóvar (2002/Spain/220/10)
- ? -
090 Together dir: Lukas Moodysson (2000/Sweden/220.5 points/9 votes/1 1st place)
089 The Lives of Others dir: Florian Henckel von Donnersmarck (2006/Germany/221/12/1)
088 Memories of Murder dir: Bong Joon-Ho (2003/South Korea/222/10)
087 Minority Report dir: Steven Speilburg (2002/US/225.5/14)
086 All the Real Girls dir: David Gordon Green (2003/US/224.5/12)
085 Almost Famous dir: Cameron Crowe (2000/US/225/11/1)
084 Finding Nemo dir: Andrew Stanton & Lee Unkirch (2003/US/226.5/13)
083 Harold and Kumar Go to White Castle dir: Danny Leiner (2004/US/231/13)
082 Master and Commander: The Far Side of the World dir: Peter Weir (2003/US/231.5/13)
081 The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring dir: Peter Jackson (2001/NZ/US/236/11)
- ? -
080 The Diving Bell and the Butterfly dir: Julian Schnabel (2007/France/237 points/10 votes)
079 Team America: World Police dir: Trey Parker (2004/237.5/8)
078 28 Days Later dir: Danny Boyle (2002/UK/239/12)
077 The Squid & the Whale dir: Noah Baumbach (2005/US/242/13/1)
076 In the Loop dir: Armando Iannucci (2009/UK/246.5/13)
075 Y tu mamá también dir: Alfonso Cuarón (2001/Mexico/250.5/12)
074 In Bruges dir: Martin McDonagh (2008/UK/251/44)
073 The Triplets of Belleville dir: Sylvain Chomet (2003/France/253/10)
072 Amelie dir: Jean-Pierre Jeunet (2001/France/259.5/14)
071 25th Hour dir: Spike Lee (2002/US/261/12/1)
- ? -
070 Ratatouille dir: Brad Bird (2007/US/263 points/13 votes)
069 Far From Heaven dir: Todd Haynes (2002/US/266/13)
068 Elephant dir: Gus van Sant (2003/US/267/12/1)
067 Synecdoche, New York dir: Charlie Kaufman (2008/US/267.5/13)
066 A.I. Artificial Intelligence dir: Steven Speilberg (2001/US/274/17)
065 Kung Fu Hustle dir: Stephen Chow (2004/Hong Kong/278.5/16/1)
064 Kings and Queen dir: Arnaud Desplechin (282/France/10)
063 Wet Hot American Summer dir: David Wain (2001/US/289/15)
062 Borat dir: Larry Charles (2006/UK/US/295/16/1)
061 Audition dir: Takashi Miike (2000/Japan/296/14/1)
- ? -
060 Sexy Beast dir: Jonathan Glazer (2001/UK/298.5 points/15 votes/1 1st place vote)
059 The Host dir: Bong Joon-Ho (2006/South Korea/305/13)
058 You Can Count On Me dir: Kenneth Lonergan (2000/US/408/12)
057 Brick dir: Rian Johnson (2005/US/309.5/12/1)
056 Yi Yi: A One and a Two dir: Edward Yang (2000/Tawain/313/12)
055 Munich dir: Steven Speilberg (2005/US/319/15)
054 Miami Vice dir: Michael Mann (2006/US/338/12)
053 Before Sunset dir: Richard Linklater (2004/US/343/13)
052 Punch-Drunk Love dir: Paul Thomas Anderson (2002/US/347/13)
051 Eastern Promises dir: David Cronenberg (2007/Canada/348/16)

lamp otm

This is so so challops, right?

pretty much, but i do think it works thematically in g.o.n.y. because in that context it's really about the way the city is constantly decaying, rebuilding, renewing, crumbling, etc. it puts it in the context of new york, which i prefer to munich's strained analogy.

and i'm 5/50 in the lower half.

2/50

so if i'm reading that right, it looks like so far kung fu hustle, borat and eastern promises are tied for most ballot appearances at 16.

I'm 13/50!

3/50 for me and all three were in my top 10.

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

pretty damn good, a must-see unless you HATED Velvet Goldmine (or Dylan); like that, its ambition exceeds his grasp, and hooray. Cate and the young kid are most mesmerizing. Billy the Kid (Gere) and Heath-Charlotte plot least rewarding. Looks, sounds great -- see it on the biggest screen possible (assuming that's even an option in yr town).

Malkmus sings for Blanchett!

― Dr Morbius

i liked this as much as i expected to, which was a lot. i didn't like it more than i expected to, which is mildly disappointing. but only mildly. (and i actually liked the richard gere sequence fine; the heath ledger segments were the ones i thought droned on a bit, finely decorated tho they were.) i can't really imagine the effect on dylan novices (much less dylan-haters, but i guess they're not going to see it anyway).

looked great, all of it. sounded great too of course.

― tipsy mothra

Y'know I didn't want to overpraise this movie just because so many boneheaded people find it incredibly demanding (and it's just not that demanding unless your only yardstick is "Air Bud", I mean people who can handle "Last Year At Marienbad" are not going to break a sweat here) . . . but I do need to say in this movie's defense that, even though it's a mess, it stays with you for a long time afterwards. I felt it really lingered in the mind; it's not *just* bricolage, there's a real emotional impact that it transmits, and Blanchett's performance is the reason.

― Drew Daniel

I don't really know much about Dylan, most of the songs in this I was hearing for the first time, but I had read the autobiography at least and it was interesting to see how things I knew about him got translated into these other characters.

This movie is amazing by the way, I loved how it deconstructs the Rock biopic, which is always about this layering of times, which is always in love with eras and costumes and a mangled nostalgia and sort of made that analogous to the Dylan who constructs the present from a past that telescopes further and further into the past, It's just obsessed with that overlap montage and flashback that makes up the crescendos of these movies and makes a whole movie that surfs along on this. It finds its own poetry of pastiche too, the Christian Bale bits aren't really funny the way they seem to be, they're stranger and reminded me a lot of Superstar. In face out of any director Haynes' remakes camp as something more personal and moving, all that jumbled gibberish that the Moore/Baez character spouts (perfect casting, so perfect) isn't really ridiculous.

Sorry, I just watched it.

― Take You Down (I know, right?)

Cate Blanchett to play Bob Dylan in an upcoming film.

#50

I'm Not There
Todd Haynes
2007
United States
(359 points, 14 votes, 1 first place)

Ahahahaha. Oh, that's rich.

Eastern Promises is the first of my top 10 to appear. My favorite movie from one of my favorite directors. Has the same kind of dream-state quality as History of Violence, but seems more fleshed out, realistic, and coherent. Viggo Mortensen gives what has to be one of the great performances of the decade.

UGH. I can't deal with this thread at work anymore. I go away for 15 minutes and there are 100+ new answers.

Serious question: any chance of a second thread? Because this one is turning into a potential browser crasher.

i watched about 1/3 of this and.. it wasn't what i expected, sort of glossy and phony, but is that the point?

I had a discussion with a friend about this movie and Velvet Goldmine. He's a big Dylan fan (I'm less familiar) and we're vice versa in terms of 70s glam rock. He found I'm Not There annoying, and I found Velvet Goldmine annoying - which made me wonder whether Haynes intended these to frustrate fans of the various musicians.

xpost meaning 'i'm not there' btw

films i voted: yi yi, miami vice

I sincerely hope EP is better than AHoV, because otherwise, it would not be very good, because AHoV isn't. Very good, I mean.

i've been trying to avoid supplying any hatorade since i didn't get around to submitting a ballot but I'm Not There is like an unfunny Rutles, ugh. still curious where this will wind up going but yeesh.