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

Both times we had to stop the movie after 20-30 minutes because they found the lead character so repellant.

What I like about HGL even more now after reading some of these reactions is how many people react to Poppy as though she actually just interacted with them in some form.

a day late and a baht short once again xp

And I think even the viewers who might disagree with the message would agree that Sally Hawkins as Poppy is incredible in it, one of the performances of the decade.

I agree that Hawkins was the best perf in the movie. The movie maybe doesn't explicitly advocate her brand of optimism, but it at least portrays it in a favorable light. A great accomplishment of the movie is that her resolute chirpy cheerfulness is shown to be neither shallow, false nor air-headed. Over the course of the movie, as we see Hawkins' character deal with various difficult situations, we begin to see it increasingly as a wise and almost heroic choice.

tuomas i know we already had this discussion and it is reprinted upthread but i really didnt see the film as an endorsement of poppys worldview - it wasnt any sort of manifesto - it was however a story w/some v well rendered characters

I think I said this in the OG thread, but I think the idea that it presents Poppy's lifestyle as perfectly valid way of existing in the world makes it some sort of "endorsement". In a more cynical movie someone so optimistic and naive would eventually be put down in a dramatic way for her foolishness, but the fact this never happens in Happy-Go-Lucky - even though you kinda expect it to happen with the driving instructor - certainly means the movie has a particular message. I don't think the message is "everybody should be this way, why can't the cynics see it?", rather than "this too a valid way of living, even if the cynics disagree".

(many x-posts)

what about 15-15-15-15-15-15-10?

nice weeklong format, 5 days is too short, 10 days is too long?

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

I liked it a lot. Note that I was not a big fan of About Schmidt at all -- I felt like it never found the right tone, that its reliance on such farcical elements (the waterbed, Dermot Mulroney's hair, Kathy Bates's boobs) meant that when it came time to milk the pathos (OMG Jack is so lonely), it didn't feel like it was earned. But Sideways strikes just the right balance between funny and sad/poignant because Giamatti's character is always both at once: what shifts in tone there are never seem abrupt. And some nice subtle choices, indeed. Even when things aren't going smoothly for Giamatti w/r/t Virginia Madsen's character, you always see a connection between the two, something that draws them to each other, that complicates any impulse we may have to think, "har har, wotta loser."

― jaymc (jaymc)

he piled it on a little thick with that whole "wine is a metaphor for life" crap

― s1ocki (slutsky)

But you always tell me that wine is a metaphor for life!

― adam... (nordicskilla)

A movie about wine snobs where wine was talked about the entire time - and it wasn't annoying! That's a feat unto itself. The masterpiece talk is strong, but this was much better than last year's critical darling.

― milozauckerman (miloaukerman)

Sideways
Alexander Payne
2004
United States
(216 points, 12 votes)

that's my plan, steve~

Oy.

I question the sanity of anyone who made it all the way through Napoleon Dynamite. The twenty minutes I watched were some of the worst "cinema" (I use the term very, very loosely) I've ever seen.

toumas while i find yr definition of cynicism hopelessly narrow i will concede that point, partially

But yeah, o.nate completely OTM about Poppy.

thread title creeping closer and closer to reality

Oof. Ugh. Gack.

I'll rep for Napoleon Dynamite, but it's the Animal Collective of movies, I'll admit.

I now think of Poppy as the UK equiv of Americans believing in Obamachange despite being smart ppl.

At least Sideways isn't as hateful as About Schmidt. Liked the comedy, knockout woman falling for socially impaired shlub not so much.

My ballot was filled with mainstream stuff, but Sideways and Napoleon Dynamite were nowhere near it. *vomit*

nd is hilar, i didnt come close to voting for it but it brings the lolz i will admit

I see Napolean Dynamite as a kind of cinematic equivalent of the abject art of Mike Kelley, et. al.

god plz don't let this thing get glutted with middlebrow slice-of-life

I'd like to know why people hate Napoleon Dynamite so much. Maybe you all had wonderful adolescences or something?

Although, Paul Giamatti is good to watch in almost anything. xxxxxp

Capturing the Friedmans = best film so far. Does anyone WATCH Napoleon Dynamite anymore?

rescreen

^ just checking, thought this might be a censored word on ILX

I see Napolean Dynamite as a kind of cinematic equivalent of the abject art of Mike Kelley, et. al.

I abject

Napoleon Dynamite is a really mean-spirited film dressed up as a bonkers comedy.

sideways is hilar, i didnt come close to voting for it but it brings the lolz i will admit

I adore The Piano Teacher and thought Dogville was great, so fuck the haters. The former, particularly, is a beautiful, horrible film. I think Andrew L was on the money about capturing that awful loneliness, and Huppert puts in such a good performance there.

"the Animal Collective of movies" - ***** - dog latin

haha napoleon dynamite silent majority

mean-spirited in what way?

xposts

mean-spirited in what way?

it's about ugly people

yay capturing the friedmans

my last minute strategic voting paid off

You people can't vote for one Bob Hope film in the '40s poll, but NapD is hilar

As far as the last two go, I'll cop to liking (or at least laughing at) ND way more than Sideways.

It never gives its oddball characters any dignity, instead it points and laughs at them just like the viewer does. (Not that everyone irl deserves to be given dignity, but why make a movie about those people?)

kids (under 12) i know love napoleon dynamite

lool morbs dont ever change

nappy dynamite? fuk u ilx

― the highest per-vote vag so far (history mayne), Wednesday, February 3, 2010 1:57 PM (4 minutes ago)

ND I thought was pretty funny in places whilst watching it, but made me feel a bit queasy afterwards. Those who bang on about it being a cult classic and so on are, as usual, more annoying than the actual film.

Dogville just voted worse than ND and Sideways. Starting to wonder how high Marley & Me will place.

napoleon himself is hilarious, the film is only alright

Ugh. Mainstream Oscar-approved indie ages worse than any genre.

I'm way behind because I just now saw this via iPhone, but the party scene in Morvern Callar (set to Aphex Twin) is beautiful and justifies it's placement here.

There were a few moments in ND that I liked, but mostly it just made me furious.

Sideways made me want to drink some wine whilst watching it, that's the best I can say.

I knew lots of people hated ND - and with good reason - but I didn't realise Sideways was particularly divisive. What's to hate?

well see individual lists? i wanna blame someone