People, they love blood. They love action. Not this talky, depressing, philosophical ILX 2014 Film Poll Thread - Voting closes Friday, Feb. 21st at Midnight EST.

Under the Skin 551 16 6
Boyhood 363 13 3
Stranger by the Lake 330 11 4
The Grand Budapest Hotel 327 12 2
We are the Best! 250 11
Nightcrawler 215 9 1
Stray Dogs 210 6 3
Two Days One Night 210 10
Exhibition 194 8
Goodbye to Language 190 8
Only Lovers Left Alive 189 9
Inherent Vice 185 9
Blue Ruin 166 9
Manakamana 158 7
Winter SLeep 155 6 1
Guardians of the Galaxy 150 7
Mister Turner 150 8
Norte, the End of History 139 4 2
Calvary 137 6
The Immigrant 134 5
The LEGO Movie 134 7
Birdman 130 6
National Gallery 126 5
The Babadook 110 6
The One I Love 106 5
Snowpiercer 101 4
Frank 100 5
Edge of Tomorrow 99 4 1
Citizenfour 97 4
Vic + Flo Saw a Bear 91 4
Love is Strange 90 4
Force Majeure 86 4
Gone Girl 77 4
The Strange Little Cat 77 3
Lucy 76 4
Ida 75 3
Leviathan 70 4
Captain America: The Winter Soldier 69 3
Life Itself 68 3
Maps to the Stars 67 4
Himizu 66
Nymphomaniac 62
Journey to the West 59
Like Father Like Son 58
The Wind Rises 58
Whiplash 58
Finding Vivian Maier 57
Borgman 57
Child's Pose 56
Regarding Susan Sontag 55
Abuse of Weakness 53
Night Moves 53
Palo Alto 51
Particle Fever 51
The Dog 50
THe Homesman 50
A Field in England 49
Ilo Ilo 49
Test 49
THe Tale of Princess Kaguya 48
'71 44
A Touch of Sin 43
A Coffee in Berlin 40
The Newburgh Sting 40
The President 40
Ernest and Celine 39
Happy Christmas 39
Interstellar 39
Watermark 39
A Girl Walks Home Alone at Night 37
Horse Money 37
Jodorowsky's Dune 37
Listen Up Philip 37
Young & Beautiful 37
Dear White People 36
N: The Madness of Reason 36
Pride 36
Storm Children: Book One 36
Teenage 36
The Naked Room 36
The Skeleton Twins 36
Timbuktu 36
The Double 35
The Wolf of Wall Street 34
Bad Hair 33
Chef 33
Don't Hug Me I'm Scared 2: Time 33
Mommy 33
Oculus 33
The Drop 33
THe Unknown Known 33
X-Men: Days of Future Past 33
Dawn of the Planet of the Apes 32
Inside Llewyn Davis 31
Adult World 30
Amour Fou 30
Guilty of Romance 30
Mr. Peabody and Sherman 30
Next o Her 30
Noah 30
A Most Wanted Man 28
Fifi Howls from Happiness 28
Jealousy 28
The Overnighters 28
The Pleasures of Being Out of Step 28
Tokyo Tribe 28
A Story of Children and Film 27
Locke 27
All This Mayhem 26
Gebo and the Shadow 26
Land Ho! 26
THe Hunger Games: Mockingjay - Part 1 25
The Iron Ministry 25
The STrange Colour of Your Body's Tears 25
What We Do in the Shadows 25
Big Eyes 24
Camille Claudel 1915 24
Coherence 24
Neighbors 24
The Great Beauty 24
The Humbling 24
Too Many Cooks 24
Welcome to New York 24
Archipelago 23
Beyond Clueless 23
Captivated: The Trials of Pamela Smart 23
Hard to be a God 23
La Juala de Oro 23
The Borderlands 23
The Normal Heart 23
Top Five 23
A Girl At My Door 22
A Spell to Ward Off the Darkness 22
Cherry Tobacco 22
Closed Curtain 22
From What is Before 22
Guidelines 22
Olive Kitteridge 22
Starred Up 22
The Boxtrolls 22
Venus in Fur 22
God Help the Girl 21
Maidan 21
The November Man 21
The Reaper 21
Wakolda 21
Actress 20
Deepsea Challege 3D 20
Out of Here 20
The Zero Theorem 20
12 Years a Slave 19
20,000 Days on Earth 19
Banksy Does New York 19
Heli 19
John Wick 19
Story of my Death 19
The Way He Looks 19
Of Horses and Men 18
Concerning Violence 17
Jauja 17
Begin Again 16
The Missing Picture 16
Tom at the Farm 16
Gideon's ARmy 15
Gloria 15
Godzilla 15
Mugshot 14
The Postman's White Nights 14
Altman 13
Beyond the Lights 13
Stations of the Cross 13
The Look of SIlene 13
The Past 13
The Lunchbook 12
They Have Escaped 12
In the Basement 11
Memphis 11
Mistaken for Strangers 11
La Sapienza 10
A Most Violent Year 10
Cold in July 10
Selma 10
Phoenix 9
The Man Whose Mind Exploded 9
Exodus: Gods and Kings 8
Level Five 7

Gubke, I'm asking again, did my ballot get counted? I'm pushing this because, if I understand the weighting system, I gave 21 points to Guilty of Romance. And I know another voter gave it 22, so...

Just checking. Maybe I don't understand the weighting. Help me out.

Maps to the Stars edging out Himizu is atrocious

Contenderizer: Massive mea culpa here. I'm not entirely sure what happened because I remember entering it in (because A Touch of Sin was number 1) but pulling up the google docs spreadsheet for the tabulation it isn't there (I'm using a new laptop and Windows for the first time in over a decade and I've had a number of problems with paragraphs of other writings being deleted etc so I can only blame myself for not noticing). This has repercussions for a number of the films that placed, not least of which putting Stray Dogs above Two Days One Night. Massive apologies to you and to everyone else. I'll do the numbers again and post the Official List.

While I'm at it, Morbs, I can add your full ballot if the one you posted here is correct. I can still only see the top 12 Letterboxd entries on mine. Maybe this computer won't let me scroll down the image for some reason.

Again huge apologies to everyone.

Also it hasn't been talked about but Actress is an amazing documentary. I didn't vote for it because I put money towards it and the director put money towards a doc I'm producing so I felt conflicted but everyone should make the effort to see it.

And finally, The Homesman is severely underrated here.

eh, shit happens, gubke. was just confuzzed.

lol, now i feel bad for bringing it up. do post the adjusted totals, though. i want to feel that i matter.

you do matter! There are a number of differences here, which might have also had to do with some other excel foul-ups.

Alright everyone, here it is. The OFFICIAL ILX 2014 TOP 40 FILM POLL.

40. Lucy (76 pts)
39. Gone Girl (77 pts)
38. Himizu (80 pts)
37. A Touch of Sin (83 pts)
36. Like Father, Like Son (84 pts)
35. A Field in England (85 pts)
34. Force Majeure (86 pts)
33. Love is Strange (90 pts)
32. Vic + Flo Saw a Bear (91 pts)
31. CITIZENFOUR (97 pts)
30. Edge of Tomorrow (99 pts)
29. Snowpiercer (101 pts)
28. Borgman (103 pts)
27. The One I Love (106 pts)
26. Frank (109 pts)
25. The Babadook (110 pts)
24. The Strange Little Cat (119 pts)
23. Mr. Turner (129 pts)
21. (Tie) The LEGO Movie (134 pts)
21. (Tie) The Immigrant (134 pts)
20. Calvary (137 pts)
19. Norte, The End of History (139 pts)
18. Birdman or (The Unexpected Virtue of Ignorance) (140 pts)
17. National Gallery (141 pts)
16. Guardians of the Galaxy (150 pts)
15. Blue Ruin (166 pts)
14. Manakamana (172 pts)
13. Winter Sleep (183 pts)
12. Inherent Vice (185 pts)
11. Only Lovers Left Alive (189 pts)
10. Goodbye to Language 3D (190 pts)
9. Nightcrawler (194 pts)
8. Exhibition (216 pts)
7. Two Days, One Night (226 pts)
6. Stray Dogs (243 pts)
5. We Are The Best! (263 pts)
4. Stranger By The Lake (330 pts)
3. The Grand Budapest Hotel (357 pts)
2. Boyhood (363 pts)
1. Under the Skin (581 pts)

Himizu, hooray!!

Also, good to see Like Father, Like Son and Borgman.

And a Touch of Sin making it.

Thanks for the extra work in correcting etc.

Who voted for beyond clueless? I loved it but thought it was 2015

well thx, you didn't have to add my full ballot but it's your thing.

Hinizu, yeah. A Touch of Sin is not a 2014 film by any stretch of the imagination.

still waiting for that Chinese release

Morbius - you don't have much of an imagination.

guilty with an explanation

(xposts) I'm not a festival person, but I saw Beyond Clueless at last spring's Hot Docs festival--assumed it had gone into limited release somewhere since then.

woot! thanks, gubke. esp happy to have been of service to the strange little cat, borgman, himizu, a touch of sin and a field in england. even if the latter two weren't actually 2013 films ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

A Field opened in US in '14

(it's just that no one liked it)

you all just fail movies then

Channel 4 showed "A Field in England" on TV in 2013

there were no rules, remember

A Touch of Sin didn't get to the non-NY/LA cities until February or March of '14. I couldn't see it until this year so I considered voting for it but I'm stringent about my rules.

what was everyones problem with 'leviathan' again? i thought it was a fucking masterpiece. a lot in common with one of my own faves of the year, 'calvary'.

I think most people just got seasick or something.

ah

the leviathan was a metaphor for massive metaphors.

the problem with Leaviathan => it wasn't as good as Winter Sleep

Quite liked 3/4 of Force Majeure, and then it went on for another twenty minutes after I'd already gotten the point before adding an eye-roller of an ending. The film also contains what is probably my favourite cinematic special effect in years, if not decades.

it was amazing i thought but the ending is ambiguous & slightly annoying. i prefer to think of it as giving the father a too-easy way out - a deliberately & falsely macho redemption that mirrors how his cowardice is whitewashed & downplayed by himself and those around him, but of course it can easily be read as 'we all act selfishly sometimes!' which isn't the point the movie had been making until then

truly terrifying ski lifts

yeah the shots of the resort at night

this movie also featured the most terrifying drone attack in all cinema ever

Also, skiing is definitely the most beautifully cinematic of all sports, for me, and this was way better than Hot Dog The Movie.

the bit where he 'rescues' his wife is enough of a false redemption bit though

the bus bit definitely feels extraneous

gah idk

Agreed. Honestly expected the film to end with the whole family standing in the snow just after the "rescue."

it even faded there iirc. might as well have been return of the king. (i was projecting and i reeeeeeeally wanted to go home.) but yes, pretty, weird. that one scene in the middle with the loud music was a theater staff favorite.

this was way better than Hot Dog The Movie

Now you've gone too far.

Agreed. Honestly expected the film to end with the whole family standing in the snow just after the "rescue."

― The New Gay Sadness (cryptosicko), Wednesday, April 29, 2015 1:38 AM (11 hours ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

seriously

can anyone think of a good explanation for the ending

"Liking 3/4" of movies is my thing.

It wasn't necessary & the film might have ended better earlier but I don't see anything wrong with it aside from that? It was a good scene in a film of good scenes imo (w/o spoiling too much, i did like the feel of the final few minutes)

Also she wasn't acting selfishly, she was acting sensibly & protectively which is consistent

Anyway loved this film & look forward to voting for it in next years poll

Also yes great to see skiing in something other than a fucking bond film

yeah the very closing scene was a nicely-judged bunuel homage

very despondent despite the release

can anyone think of a good explanation for the ending

― carles the jekyll (imago), Wednesday, April 29, 2015 8:28 AM (53 minutes ago)

I haven't read any reviews so I don't know if it's been criticsplained, but it seems clear that everything after the snow avalanche was the human avalanche, everybody getting caught up in a massive release of potentially destructive energy that peters out at the end as it reaches the bottom of the hill. I liked the structure and the parallels, unsubtle as it was.

That's a good way of putting it, WilliamC. Also thought it was suggesting that the bourgeoisie have a very strong survival instinct, whatever tensions and cracks there might be in the nuclear family unit (whereas the prole bus driver is more reckless, driving into danger).

Could also be read as a tribute to the Italian Job.

Both Force Majeure and Play are a bit too long, so I can understand wanting to excise the tonally very different last sequence of FM, but if I was going to be prune anything it would be some of the stuff with the other couple, which felt more schematic to me.