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

the box doesn't really do the "collage approach to history," just tacks on kelly's obsession with belabored sci-fi explanations and watery time travel portals to a richard matheson story that SO didn't need them

btw: nice guesswork last night folks, but none of you came up with this one....

also lol Dan you liked Crash
So fucking what? That doesn't change the fact that "Donnie Darko" as I saw it, is a fucking waste of time and pretty much on par in the "so busy thinking it's clever that it isn't noticing that it is actually entirely fucking stupid and awful and an outright abortion of a film that is a crime against art" stakes as bullshit like "Magnolia" and "The Hours".

For whatever other faults "Crash" has, it was very explicit and upfront about its setup and characters; the decision to buy into the story being told is left up to the viewer but the work put into presenting what's going on has been done. Bullshit like "Donnie Darko" basically just says "if we just make everything monochrome and mopey, people who are looking to appear smart in order to cover up for feeling like everyone hates them will fill in enough blanks and finish off our story for us".

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v212/etienne_saint/4Months3Weeksand2Days.jpg

I knew it would be harrowing, but I wasn't expecting it to be so very tense. Kept me in its grip throughout and was brilliant at portraying a world in which just everyday living was made a pain in the arse at every turn, even without a friend's unwanted pregnancy to deal with.

― Alba

the voice review is right that it builds up this horrible sense of foreboding -- i could barely watch it sometimes -- but it isn't exactly 'graphic', bar one shot. in itself the long, static take thing i can take or leave, but for the kind of horrible negotiations this film is about, it's completely right.

― That one guy that hit it and quit it

that's what I liked about it, it's constantly setting up these red herrings that you think are going to come back into the plot, but they don't. You end up feeling jumpy and nervous, same as the characters have to permanently feel living in 1989 Romania - it's a nice little trick by the director I think, he puts you into the same mindspace as the people you're watching by making it seem like you're watching a thriller.

― Matt #2

i totally expected to dislike this, i thought it would be a slice of dardennes style miserablism but it is astonishing. such a different experience to the one i expected when i entered the cinema. the tension is built up incredibly subtly. the scene with the knife had me wriggling in my chair with anxiety.

― jed

pretty much the whole film had me wriggling in my chair with anxiety! like you i wasn't expecting much from this.

― That one guy that hit it and quit it

Rolling Romanian New Wave Thread

#22

4 Months, 3 Weeks and 2 Days
Cristian Mungiu
2007
Romania
(519 points, 22 votes, 1 first place)

*rolls eyes*

*shakes head*

*sighs loudly*

morbs do u ever say anything like it's your opinion rather than objective fact?

― zvookster, Wednesday, February 10, 2010 10:49 AM (6 minutes ago)

careful, don't blow on the house of cards

Ach, yeah, I guess the 'clearly' isn't within the film itself, but the box-set commentary/extras, and the critical/public reaction. Which is one of the reasons that the film gets away with it.

xposts to hm

haw i'm just about to watch this one on netflix!

I voted for Donnie Darko because it's a great mood piece but the more Kelly tries to explain it the worse it gets. David Lynch doesn't go around handing out Cliffnotes.

Wow okay I am totally floored that placed this high.

great double feature with Knocked Up

also multiple musical slow-down-speed-up setpieces set to entire songs.

^this stood out 2 me as p. obnoxious when i saw DD a second time

great double feature with Knocked Up

― ryan, Wednesday, February 10, 2010 4:59 PM (27 seconds ago) Bookmark

lol "i wish there'd been a scene where they go to vegas"

This is the movie Knocked Up could have been if Judd Apatow weren't such a pernicious pro-life propagandist

two sorta-surprise placings in a row (not much room left for more tho)

wow never even heard of this

guys here's something to think about what if jake's characters mom had gotten an abortion before the airplane engine in donnie darko??

That doesn't change the fact that "Donnie Darko" as I saw it, is a fucking waste of time and pretty much on par in the "so busy thinking it's clever that it isn't noticing that it is actually entirely fucking stupid and awful and an outright abortion of a film that is a crime against art" stakes as bullshit like "Magnolia" and "The Hours".

OTM alert

y'all probably like requiem for a dream, too

"if we just make everything monochrome and mopey, people who are looking to appear smart in order to cover up for feeling like everyone hates them will fill in enough blanks and finish off our story for us".

casting entirely hypothetical aspersions onto people who enjoy a particular cultural artifact is um really lazy criticism sorry

What if Richard Kelly's mom got an abortion before he directed Southland Tales?

i found 'three months, two weeks' or whatever it's called very gripping, but it hasn't stayed with me too much.

y'all probably like requiem for a dream, too

marlon wayans' finest dramatic effort, maybe jared leto's too if i dare say

Yay 4 Months! I was thinking earlier this morning that it was probably out of the running.

requiem for a dream wasn't very gripping, but marlon wayans weeping over his mama has really stuck with me

tv is evil
inspirational speakers can be kiddie diddlers
being a young person is a time of great sadness

morbs do u ever say anything like it's your opinion rather than objective fact?

These are all our opinions, Einstein.

Armond White correct: Romania overrated.

I hated Magnolia, Crash, Requiem for a Dream, and the Hours and don't see what any of those films have in common with Donnie Darko (which tbf doesn't have much in common with ANY other films at all, its such a weird mishmash)

Sort of like that the tensest scene of 4/3/2 is an otherwise jovial family dinner.

highly recommend 4 months 3 wks 2 days, it's pretty incredible and kinda doesn't end up where you think it will. the armond white review linked in the romanian new wave thread is one of those reviews which reveals him as the subhuman he is fwiw.

David Lynch doesn't go around handing out Cliffnotes.

true. tbh there are not very many directors who i really want to hear explain their movies to me.

(that's for us to do.)

obv it would get tedious if we all had to make this clear every time, but i said ever. over the course of a whole thread you just come off as childish to me.

Decaderious resolution for the '10s: Move beyond Armond.

"Requiem For A Dream" >>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>> "Donnie Darko"

I hated Magnolia, Crash, Requiem for a Dream, and the Hours and don't see what any of those films have in common with Donnie Darko (which tbf doesn't have much in common with ANY other films at all, its such a weird mishmash)

I'm not really sure how "so busy thinking it's clever that it isn't noticing that it is actually entirely fucking stupid and awful and an outright abortion of a film that is a crime against art" and "if we just make everything monochrome and mopey, people who are looking to appear smart in order to cover up for feeling like everyone hates them will fill in enough blanks and finish off our story for us" were ambiguous in my original post.

stoked for 4m3w2d, one of the most visceral film experiences i've ever had.

Pleased we've mostly made it through this thread without worrying our pretty little heads about Crash.

Anamaria Marinca as Otilia best performance of the decade

Dan, you saw a diff movie than the DD ppl voted for is my understanding.

I did note that after my rant!

xpost I don't think you can boil Donnie Darko down to one message the way you can with Crash ("we are all a bit racist") or Requiem ("don't do drugz") - it's not fundamentally about the dark underbelly, blah blah blah. It's the collision of diverse genres and ideas that makes it interesting.

okay, i admit, i just hate teenagers

I hereby detract what I wrote about The Departed.

Dorian OTM - I dunno Dan those aren't really criticisms so much as their just ad hominem attacks. I don't really agree with the characterization of the film as "monochrome and mopey" for example - there are tons of jokes!

*retract, rather.

You absolutely can boil down the director's cut of "Donnie Darko": "your family and friends will be better off if you kill yourself". That core message is the main reason I find it so abhorrent.

lol what happened to yr inner goth Dan!

but yeah Kelly has ... issues. DD cut, Southland Tales, the Box - these are things to avoid

i dunno i think that's a good healthy message to send out to people watching the director's cut of "Donnie Darko"

Well, seeing as you seem to find people who like it hideously abhorrent too, I'm surprised you don't agree with that message. At least we'd all be dead.

xpost, ha

If more people killed themselves, there would be less of an audience for Avatar.