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

Killin' it old skool:

http://www.webalice.it/dobrow/alfie.jpg

since when do all little girls look like ed asner

― strongohulkingtonsghost, Thursday, February 11, 2010 3:34 PM (18 seconds ago)

I don't know, but that would make for an entertaining episode of To Catch a Predator.

remember when he said "do NOT go in there!" and talked with his butt

― harbl, Thursday, February 11, 2010 5:51 PM (11 minutes ago) Bookmark Suggest Ban Permalink

^^ best post on the thread

also loling hard at the adamrl post about culture

FFS OMAR I WANT TO EAT DINNER AND GO TO BED

yeah dude i need to leave for my commute

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v212/etienne_saint/childrenofmen.png

'Children of Men', the new Alfonso Cuaron sci-fi flick

I just saw this movie. It was fucking brilliant. I loved almost every second of this movie, even the ones I saw coming (like the "twist" after the thing with JMoore, who by the way was used perfectly in this movie, Pete OTM).

Both Clive Owen and Michael Caine have this supreme EASE with whatever they're doing on screen, it's kind of terrifying. And God, SO FUCKING HARROWING.

― The Android Cat (Dan Perry

Dan and everyone else OTM. "Harrowing" is the best word to describe those action sequences. Plus, I love how arbitrary the series of events are: companions you think are going to help Owen are rubbed off sudddenly, wrenchingly, while characters you assume are peripheral suddenly step in. I also admire how Owen isn't given any cute character tags other than that he once had a kid who died young: he's a smarter-than-average guy suddenly thrust into a situation beyond his control.

― Alfred, Lord Sotosyn

First impression: This movie was the best movie I've seen all year, new or old.

Second thoughts: Well, yes, there are certain flaws.

Resolution: Grafts everything I liked about War of the Worlds (panic, confusion, brutality, relentlessness) with practically everything I liked about Titanic (same as above, only with unapologetic sentimentality), and it's a goddamned miracle that something of that sort could be so widely and rightly beloved.

My worst fears about it (i.e. the cinematography being so ostentatious that it grabs you by the lapels and shouts "I. AM. CINEMALANGUAGE.") were wiped away once I'd realized one shot had been going on for five, six minutes without my knowing it. Which certainly puts it above the one epic shot in The Black Dahlia.

― Eric H.

the long tracking shots are unreal. the action sequences are great because, while they owe a slight debt to Saving Private Ryan, they aren't indulgent; they aren't Michael Bay'd to death. ― don weinerI liked it fine, but based on all the rave reviews I was expecting something a little "smarter"/science fictionier. I wish there had been more focus on the infertility plot line, instead it was just a red herring to set up the one pregnant woman as the Macguffin, the treasure/secret code/whatever that has to be protected. Basically it was a fairly well-made action movie, and not much more. And that's ok.

Why was Julianne Moore so clean while everyone else was so grubby?

― n/a

Because she's Julianne Moore. I think it's in all her contracts.

― tracerhand

I'm eager to see it again.

― Dr Morbius

This film is incredible.

One of the things I loved was how unobtrosive the long uncut scenes were. They weren't showy so they managed to bring a sense of immediacy and naturalness to the film. I was increasingly drawn into this film. It was so physical and the narrative was a simple alegory, but the details were beautiful.

― Fluffy Bear Hearts Rainbows

i just saw it tonight and can't wait to see it again; to me it felt like an action version of an octavia butler novel or something. i also LOVE dystopic/ apocalytpic films, even bad ones, so i'm just really happy when one comes out and it's like pretty subtle (i.e. any other filmmaker would have focused on the drunken owen pouring his bottle into his hands to sterilize them like ten times more, made it obv. that this was a big choice for him).

arguments upthread about the religious symbolism seem bunk for the most part, though the more i chew on it the more they might be true, at least a *little* bit (this isn't frickin 'stephen king's the stand' by any means which i watched on sci-fi channel last night thinking it was a bio-disaster film until i realized it was basically a 'left behind' movie) when i read on imdb where the title comes from:

"Lord, thou hast been our refuge: from one generation to another. Before the mountains were brought forth, or ever the earth and the world were made: thou art God from everlasting, and world without end. Thou turnest man to destruction: again thou sayest, Come again, ye children of men. For a thousand years in thy sight are but as yesterday: Seeing that is past as a watch in the night."

― Michael J McGonigal

I thought it made complete sense that the annoying Ballard/Moorcock/prog-loving guy you knew in college would grow up to be a self-styled Last Man On Earth who barricaded himself in Battersea with whatever art he could pillage. The only way that scene could have been improved was if he was blasting King Crimson all over London and not just inside his lair.

― Elvis Telecom

#2

Children of Men
Alfonso Cuarón
2006
United States/United Kingdom
(1401 points, 50 votes, 5 first place)

fucked up

i think COM is great. is it loved everywhere else, or does it join zodiac in the "ilx canon"?

wow y'all really liked this huh...to netflix i'ma goin

i mean, i don't know if i'd call it my #1 or #2, but man was i knocked out by it when i first saw it. really really excellently realized movie.

That would have been my number one if I had voted.

i think the "escape from the farmhouse" scene stands out more than even the other two big set pieces. just superb mise-en-scene, cinematography, sound. really creative.

it's fucking immense, the worst thing about it is the title tbqf

i dunno why i never saw it, actually! as mentioned up thread, i'd have gloomy post-apocalypse movies pumped directly into a vein if possible.

should have been called kids

also the trailer wasn't edited or done well. but the film itself? massive, fucking awesome.

ilx canon in my experience

also i think i was just so deadened by crappy sorta-hollywood sci-fi at that point that i passed

Pretty sure that was #2, glad to see it here.

"the worst thing about it is the title tbqf"

Well that and the slightly suspect politics.

in my top 10, glad to see it made the semifinals

also the trailer wasn't edited or done well. but the film itself? massive, fucking awesome.

this is so true - was ready to totally hate on/avoid this film based on the trailer. got dragged to it by some other sci-fi nerd friend and was blown away. really excellent and dservedly placed so high, I think.

only film w/michael caine in it that's actually good

^ not seen Muppet Christmas Carol then?

slightly suspect politics.

care to elaborate? I don't necessarily disagree I'm just not sure what you're thinking of...

Good point re the trailer. I didn't end up seeing this until it came out on DVD because the trailer made it look horrible.

It's not that good.

great opening scene in this too

slightly suspect politics.

care to elaborate? I don't necessarily disagree I'm just not sure what you're thinking of...

― Wrinkles, I'll see you on the other side (Shakey Mo Collier), Thursday, February 11, 2010 5:44 PM (18 seconds ago) Bookmark

well, kinda the opposite scenario of knocked up, innit

It's not that good.

― abcfsk, Thursday, February 11, 2010 5:45 PM (2 seconds ago)

please elaborate.

I just spent three hours catching up with this thread (busy w/ work for the last two days - ugh). Christ, what a marathon. Glad to drop in in just in time to see my #1 (& everyone else, apparently) bask in its well-deserved glory.

would like to see a version of this where the girl chooses to have an abortion.

needed more abortions

aargggh xp

so Knocked Up is #1 then eh

the ending is a bit hammer over you over the head iirc

slightly suspect politics.

care to elaborate? I don't necessarily disagree I'm just not sure what you're thinking of...

― Wrinkles, I'll see you on the other side (Shakey Mo Collier), Thursday, February 11, 2010 11:44 PM (1 minute ago) Bookmark Suggest Ban Permalink

"slightly" is the clue, in other words a position that sounds like something but i can't be arsed explaining it

"care to elaborate? I don't necessarily disagree I'm just not sure what you're thinking of..."

I could probably have done it better 4 years ago, but basically making the mother-to-be an African woman (protected by a white dude, no less) the mother of the future world so to speak is kind of dodgy. I mean its ham-handed at best and insulting at worst.

who didn't have an abortion let's not forget

Yeah also that.

pretty integral to the plot though

her being African, I mean

It's a decent movie and maybe top 10-15 of 2006, but it just felt clunky to me, pummel the audience, hammer you over the head, but didn't worry about the flow or tempo of it.

xp except that wasn't the case in the original book so. . .

gotta be honest i wasn't insulted that she was african

I mean its ham-handed at best and insulting at worst.

lol yeah when they did the big reveal of her in the preview I rolled my eyes for precisely this reason

Human life is pretty cheap in this film. Maybe race would bother me if I watched it again.

we all come from africa, guys

Profound.