Your Top Five Films for This Decade... so far?

[Tom Lowe]

1) The New World - Malick/Lubezki
2) In the Mood for Love - Wong/Doyle
3) The Fountain - Aronofsky/Libatique
4) Mulholland Drive - Lynch/Deming
5) Memento - Nolan/Pfister

Honorable mention: Der Untergang (The Fall) - Hirschbiegel/Klausmann

Am I forgetting anything?

[M Taylor]

I would personally only add 25th Hour - Lee/Prieto, but that's definitely a good list you got there.

[Bruce Allen]

I like your list. Mulholland Drive, Memento... ahh!

I thought "Nobody Knows" was amazing. Dir by Hirokazu Koreeda, DP was Yutaka Yamasaki. The performance the director got out of that kid (or created in the editing room?) was fantastic. Personally I found it deeply moving.

I'd say the Lord of the Rings trilogy deserves a slot.

"Lost in Translation" is a contentious choice but I loved it.

As far as my home continent goes... Hotel Rwanda I thought was excellent, but that's maybe because it was shot in SA and a guy I know from drama school had a big role in it. Recently I liked Blood Diamond very much. And Stander was enjoyable in a B-movie kinda way (but doesn't make a top 5 films list IMHO...).

American Splendor was a lot of fun too.

Requiem for a Dream was memorable. I actually haven't seen The Fountain (had major deadlines when it was on circuit, now I'm waiting for a good presentation before I see it)...

Adaptation and Eternal Sunshine were both memorable and quite touching in a way too.

Amelie was a wonderful breath of fresh air. In the Bedroom, The Piano Teacher and In The Son's Room were powerful. Spiderman 2 was a ton of fun.

More, more!

Bruce Allen
www.boacinema.com

[Tom Lowe]

Definitely see The Fountain, Bruce.

You know, i am thinking of hosting a little screening in the desert movie/camping trip in Joshua Tree this fall. I actually have a 720p copy of The Fountain that would be perfect for such an outing.

[jaadgy akanni]

I'm a guy, so some of my choices might appear kinda fruity to you real men...:biggrin:

1. Requiem For a Dream
2. Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind
3. Memento
4. Sin City
5. Collateral

[Tom Lowe]

hey man, my top rentals got me a "gay" rating on netflix, so i think you're ok.

[jaadgy akanni]

hey man, my top rentals got me a "gay" rating on netflix, so i think you're ok.

Now that I looked again, your list is actually a little fruitier than mine, so I'm ah-ight, hahaha.

Hey, can anyone of you tell me the title of a Hong Kong movie I saw sometime this decade. The Plot is these 2 hot chicks who are assassins. And there's a 3rd hot chick who's a police officer trying to catch them. If anyone of you knows what movie I'm talking about, let me know the title. I remember that after every hit these girl-assassins did, they'd play that Carpenters song "Close To You"

[Tom Lowe]

haha, fuck off you homo!

[jaadgy akanni]

haha, fuck off you homo!

ROFLAO!!! First time an insult makes me crack up so hard :-)

[Alexander Nikishin]

In chronological order....

My very "manly" list:

1. Eyes Wide Shut
2. Fight Club
3. In the Mood for Love
4. Kill Bill Vol. 2
5. 300

[Tom Lowe]

Ah.... Eyes Wide Shut.... definitely one I overlooked. I'm not saying anything... but yeah, good movie.

[Bruce Allen]

I thought Fight Club was 1999? But we will give it an honorable promotion to 2000 ;)

Yeah, totally forgot Eyes Wide Shut!

Bruce Allen
www.boacinema.com

[Tom Lowe]

btw, Bruce, while I have you here... can i make an "Ask Bruce Allen ANYTHING" thread? I have a bunch of HV20 ideas and questions I want to bounce off you.

tom

[Alexander Nikishin]

I thought Fight Club was 1999? But we will give it an honorable promotion to 2000 ;)

Ahhhh sooo, the five top films of THIS DECADE...

I was thinking along the lines of the past ten years.:waaa:

Let me re-think my tops.

[Emanuel A.]

iklimler - Climates

iklimler - Climates

iklimler - Climates

iklimler - Climates

iklimler - Climates

[Emanuel A.]

http://www.nbcfilm.com/iklimler/photos/cannes-carpetuclu.jpg
http://www.nbcfilm.com/iklimler/photos/cannes-carpetarka.jpg
Cannes 2006

http://www.divxplanet.com/film/images/1163774931_DivXPlanet_pic2.jpg

[Desert Rune]

1. Pan's Labyrinth
2. LOTR Trilogy
3. Bourne Trilogy
4. Mulholland Drive (this movie gave me nightmares)
5. Finding Nemo

OK I cheated with 9 movies.

[Jeff Carpenter]

Hey, can anyone of you tell me the title of a Hong Kong movie I saw sometime this decade. The Plot is these 2 hot chicks who are assassins. And there's a 3rd hot chick who's a police officer trying to catch them. If anyone of you knows what movie I'm talking about, let me know the title. I remember that after every hit these girl-assassins did, they'd play that Carpenters song "Close To You"

sounds like Corey Yuen's "So Close"

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0300620/

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/So_Close

[jaadgy akanni]

sounds like Corey Yuen's "So Close"

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0300620/

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/So_Close

Yep, that's the one. Thanks man. I'm gonna get it, to watch it on rainy days when I usually stay home, get high and chill. There's something about that movie-not just the hot chicks...I guess it's the simplicity of it-not a lot of FX, not a lot of dialogue, and yet, so well put together. Shiri (Korean film) is another one of those types of movies.

[Alexander Nikishin]

1. LOTR Return of the King
2. Sin City
3. In the Mood for Love
4. Kill Bill Vol. 2
5. 300

BTW Emanuel, I've been meaning to see Climates for a while now, I think I'll buy it off of eBay tonight! absolutely beautiful cinematography.

Have you ever seen Lars Von Trier's The Element of Crime (Forbrydelsens Element) Emanuel?

[Bruce Allen]

Ahhhh sooo, the five top films of THIS DECADE...

I was thinking along the lines of the past ten years.:waaa:

Let me re-think my tops.

Oh boy. Now we need another thread for past ten years.


btw, Bruce, while I have you here... can i make an "Ask Bruce Allen ANYTHING" thread? I have a bunch of HV20 ideas and questions I want to bounce off you.

tom

Haha, it'd be an honor... although I am already behind in the HV20 department... still need to post my latitude tests! I have no illusions of being in the same league of popularity as David Mullen, though ;)

Bruce Allen
www.boacinema.com

[Emanuel A.]

Oh boy. Now we need another thread for past ten years.



Haha, it'd be an honor... although I am already behind in the HV20 department... still need to post my latitude tests! (...) being in the same league of popularity as David Mullen, though ;)
I second that!

;-)

[Emanuel A.]

1. LOTR Return of the King
2. Sin City
3. In the Mood for Love
4. Kill Bill Vol. 2
5. 300

BTW Emanuel, I've been meaning to see Climates for a while now, I think I'll buy it off of eBay tonight! absolutely beautiful cinematography.

Have you ever seen Lars Von Trier's The Element of Crime (Forbrydelsens Element) Emanuel?

Since In the Mood for Love was shot in the last century, I'd take it away from this decade but not from my fav list, that's for sure!

Climates is a CineAlta 900 shot and Lars Von Trier's Europa aka Zentropa my fav movie ever, as well. The Element of Crime, LVT's 1st feature where he could have the help of Niels Vørsel (same scriptwiter than Europa/Zentropa) and when he had only 28 years old, it's a pretty style exercise and lesson of efficiency and narrative economy from one of the most interesting contemporary moviemakers. As matter of fact, I could have some touch with him before Breaking the Waves and with his company and Peter Aalbæk Jensen, his partner on Zentropa and producer, and I can just illustrate my finding(s) with a pic already posted here by Sanjin:

http://www.sanjinjukic.com/extras/LarsVT.jpg

It says a lot about who is this man and his craft's policy. Besides, two of his admirers are Spielberg (himself) and Soderberg (not so much surprising though) among many others. I suspect he would be a perfect RED ONE beta tester as famous european director as he actually is. As I could already tell to our good Jim. It would be an unbeatable IBC marketing move. Without mention Venezia/Berlin/Cannes or even Sundance.

[Alexander Nikishin]

Since In the Mood for Love was shot in the last century, I'd take it away from this decade but not from my fav list, that's for sure!

Emanuel, a century is 100 years, a decade, 10 years, In the Mood for Love was released in 2001, so it is within this decade. :bleh:


Climates is a CineAlta 900 shot and Lars Von Trier's Europa aka Zentropa my fav movie ever, as well.

I love Europa, when I first saw that film I didn't know who directed it, but as soon as the first 5 minutes passed I thought to myself, is this Lars Von Trier's work? He creates a certain ambiance and sense of pacing in all his films that I find to be genius.


It says a lot about who is this man and his craft's policy. Besides, two of his admirers are Spielberg (himself) and Soderberg (not so much surprising though) among many others. I suspect he would be a perfect RED ONE beta tester as famous european director as he actually is. As I could already tell to our good Jim. It would be an unbeatable IBC marketing move. Without mention Venezia/Berlin/Cannes or even Sundance.

Lars with a RED would be like Lubezki with available light, made for each other.

On another note....does anyone remember an old (Italian I believe) black & white film that stars a beautiful woman (blonde if memory serves me well) and her husband.

They take a trip on a boat and during the trip they meet a young man who competes with the husband for the woman's affection. The man takes a dip into the ocean to find a lost ring and when he does, the young man swoops on the woman. It was very beautifully shot and I haven't been able to find it's name since.

Another awesome foreign film is "Beau travail". If you haven't seen it check it out.

[krd]

It says a lot about who is this man and his craft's policy. Besides, two of his admirers are Spielberg (himself) and Soderberg (not so much surprising though) among many others. I suspect he would be a perfect RED ONE beta tester as famous european director as he actually is. As I could already tell to our good Jim. It would be an unbeatable IBC marketing move. Without mention Venezia/Berlin/Cannes or even Sundance.

You might want to think twice about using Lars as a Red beta tester. He began his assault on what Europeans call the "cinema of quality" some years ago with hand-held video (before that was popular) and then further degrading the footage in post ("Breaking the Waves"). Now he puts the camera on a computerized device which randomly sets its position, so that framing choices are arbitrary, no human or intelligent intervention.

Meanwhile, he was working to obliterate the dramatic/literary basis of filmmaking, with intentionally tedious and offensive non-naturalistic works shot in bare studios with chalk lines.

This is a long way from Zentropa, though some might argue the seeds of destruction were already there....

[Jeremy Hughes]

1. Revenge of the Sith
2. The Matrix Revolutions
3. Click
4. The Time Machine
5. What the (bleep) do we know?!

Coffee and Cigarettes would be number 6 if I had one.

[Jeff Carpenter]

On another note....does anyone remember an old (Italian I believe) black & white film that stars a beautiful woman (blonde if memory serves me well) and her husband.

They take a trip on a boat and during the trip they meet a young man who competes with the husband for the woman's affection. The man takes a dip into the ocean to find a lost ring and when he does, the young man swoops on the woman. It was very beautifully shot and I haven't been able to find it's name since.

Might it be Polanski's debut feature film "Knife in the Water"?

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0056291/
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Knife_in_the_Water_%28film%29)

[Jason Murphy]

Here's my list (at least as I see it today), with a number of honorable mentions. Kind of a difficult list to put together, because no one film jumped out and screamed "I'm #1!" at me. Also I'm not including movies that were released in 1999, so no Eyes Wide Shut, which would be up there otherwise.

Beau Travail (Claire Denis, 2000)
The God of Day Had Gone Down Upon Him (Stan Brakhage, 2000)
Eureka (Shinji Aoyama, 2000)
The Son (Jean-Pierre & Luc Dardenne, 2002)
The Intruder (Claire Denis, 2004)

And the honorable mentions (of which there are far too many)...

In the Mood for Love (Wong Kar-wai, 2000)
Spider (David Cronenberg, 2002)
Mulholland Dr. (David Lynch, 2001)
Yi Yi (Edward Yang, 2000)
Werckmeister Harmonies (Bela Tarr, 2000)
Colossal Youth (Pedro Costa, 2006)
Morvern Callar (Lynne Ramsay, 2002)
Platform/The World (Jia Zhangke, 2000/2004)
Threnody (Nathaniel Dorsky, 2004)
Three Times (Hou Hsiao-hsien, 2005)
Elephant (Gus Van Sant, 2003)
Goodbye Dragon Inn (Tsai Ming-liang, 2003)
The Captive (Chantal Akerman, 2000)
Blissfully Yours/Syndromes and a Century (Apichatpong Weerasethakul, 2002/2006)
Distance (Hirokazu Kore-eda, 2001)
The New World (Terrance Malick, 2005)
Devils on the Doorstep (Jiang Wen, 2000)
Punch Drunk Love (P.T. Anderson, 2002)
Solaris (Steven Soderbergh, 2002)
Zodiac (David Fincher, 2007)

I realized I could pretty easily make this list out of movies from 2000 alone. That was a good year for movies.

[jaadgy akanni]

Punch Drunk Love (P.T. Anderson, 2002)
Solaris (Steven Soderbergh, 2002)
Zodiac (David Fincher, 2007)


Love those last 3. You've got great taste :-)

[Sean]

Gotta go with the movies that I continue to watch over and over:

1) 28 Days Later + 28 Weeks Later
2) The Ring
3) A.I.
4) Solaris (Soderbergh's)
5) Brokeback Mountain

[Tom Lowe]

Jason, I am embarrassed to say I have not seen any of your top five. Do you think you could do a little writeup on them with maybe one or two photos from each?

[Alexander Nikishin]

Might it be Polanski's debut feature film "Knife in the Water"?

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0056291/
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Knife_in_the_Water_%28film%29)

Yes, you're a genius Jeff, thanks!

I've been wanting to watch that film again for a long time now!

[Curran Giddens]

It looks like I may have to get my netflix subscription going again. There are lots of movies listed here that I have not seen.... I used to rent movies based on some "other factors" and not for the cinematography.

[Friedrich Moser]

Lars Von Trier's Europa aka Zentropa my fav movie ever.

I saw this film when I was studying (German) literature in Salzburg. At that time I wondered a lot about how contemporary literature would have to be told. After having seen the opening sequence of LvT's Europa, I knew: like this.

I am sorry but thinking of the first decade of this century there's no particular film that I would consider gorgeous. Maybe I'm spoiled, though, because of the nineties: Europa, Three Colours-Blue (my fav!), Matrix I, Un lugar en el mundo, Kafka, Tous les matins du monde... I don't know but I think before the FX-invasion the story-telling used to be better. Or is it just that I had been more often to the movies?

Oh yes, one film seen in cinema two years ago blew me away: Darwin's Nightmare. Very very intense! Oscar nominee, European Film Award. Another great one I bought the DVD was War Photographer, Oscar nominee, too.

Cheers, Friedrich

[Desert Rune]

So how about best 5 movies you've seen released since 2000?

2000:
Chocolat
Wonder Boys
Billy Elliot
Dancer in the Dark
Memento

2001:
Mullholland Drive
LoTR: Fellowship of the Ring
Moulin Rouge
Gosford Park
Amelie

2002:
The Pianist
Far from Heaven
City of God
Minority Report
The Bourne Identity

2003:
Finding Nemo
Return of the King
Mystic River
Master and Commander
Bad Santa

2004:
Finding Neverland
Hotel Rwanda
Before Sunset
The Incredibles
Shaun of the Dead

2005:
Batman Begins
Crash
March of the Penguins
A History of Violence
Revenge of the Sith

2006:
Pan's Labyrinth
Children of Men
Idiocracy
Casino Royale
Happy Feet

2007:
Transformers
Ratatouille
Bourne Ultimatum
Hot Fuzz
Zodiac

Yeah, you can tell I'm not really into obscure art films. I find them too boring.

[Justin Anderson]

Trying to narrow down a list, but I really love
Eternal Sunshine
Lost in Translation
Sideways
Spiderman 2
Pan's Labrynth
Good Night, and Good luck
Memento

[Sean]

Damn, wish I'd remembered to add Eternal Sunshine to my list. ;-)

[Jason Murphy]

Jason, I am embarrassed to say I have not seen any of your top five. Do you think you could do a little writeup on them with maybe one or two photos from each?

Don't be embarrassed at all. I must have been in a really perverse mood when I posted that top 5 list this morning; they're some pretty damn obscure movies. But with the possible exception of The Intruder (which I love to death, but is probably not quite as strong as some of the honorable mentions), I think I stand by them as my top 5 since 2000. Writeups forthcoming...

[Jason Murphy]

The Intruder (Claire Denis, 2004)

Inspired by a French philosopher's essay on identity and heart transplants, The Intruder, which is about as elliptical a movie as you can get and still have a narrative, follows Louis (Michel Subor), an older man, likely ex-KGB, as he travels from his hideaway on the Franco-Swiss border to South East Asia for an illegal black market heart transplant, and from there to Tahiti, where he searches for an illegitimate son he fathered there many years earlier. All the while being stalked both by his own guilt and an enigmatic Russian woman (Ekaterina Golubeva) who wants him to answer for the crimes in his past. In retrospect, not quite sure it's top 5 material since it kind of dissipates towards the end, but it's still amazing.

It's got gorgeous cinematography by Agnes Godard, and an incredible looping driving score by Stuart Staples of the Tindersticks. It's available on DVD from Wellspring.

http://www.reduser.net/forum/uploaded/1679_1187063413.jpg
Louis.

http://www.reduser.net/forum/uploaded/1679_1187063449.jpg
His daughter in-law.

http://www.reduser.net/forum/uploaded/1679_1187063498.jpg
His angel of death.

http://www.reduser.net/forum/uploaded/1679_1187063553.jpg
The open sea...

[Jason Murphy]

The God of Day Had Gone Down Upon Him (Stan Brakhage, 2000)

Brakhage (1933-2003) was probably the greatest filmmaker to come out of the American experimental/avant-garde film scene, and The God of Day was the last major photographic work of his 400-odd film career (he hand-painted many abstract films onto 16mm leader from the 1980's on, since he couldn't afford filmstock and lab fees). It's non-narrative, silent, and gorgeously shot on 16mm Kodachrome on a Bolex on the Pacific Northwest coast. It's an intricately edited movie made up mainly of images of the ocean, waves, coastal landscapes and light reflected off water. At the time he shot the movie, Brakhage already had struggles with the cancer that eventually killed him by this time (likely caused by some of the paint dyes he had used in his work), and it's pretty easy to read the film as a lyric meditation on approaching death (and darkness, visual or otherwise).

The God of Day isn't available on DVD (16mm only; it's played here and there occasionally), but some of Brakhage's other films are out on the Criterion Collections "By Brakhage" set. It's excellent stuff, which I would highly recommend to the adventurous viewer.

Edit: More tomorrow. Need sleep.

[Eddie]

Here is my list of personal favorites. Seems like no features really blew me away this decade, but with the coming of RED I am sure this is gonna change

1. Origins of Aids
2. Grizzly Man
3. Domestic Violence
4. Sicko
5. Darwins Nightmare

Some stills

[Eddie]

btw documentaries seem to be a good option if you don´t want to seem neither gay nor childish...

[Alexander Nikishin]

I have another, "Guess which film" set of questions...

So two other films I haven't been able to remeber....

Both of them are Asian films, the first I can only recall a snippet of..... There is an Asian boy who lies on the floor stuck in paint he poured on himself after sniffing glue and passing out, he wakes up to the sight of a floundering goldfish puckering for air. His mother walks in and embraces him.

The second film is about a bicycle taxi man, (Vietnamese I believe) who falls in love with a prostitute he regularly taxis about.

Any takers?

Another good foreign film I haven't seen mentioned here is The French film, "The Eighth Day" which deals with a young man with down syndrome and a stressed out business man looking to rekindle a relationship with his ex-wife.

Also, has anyone seen Danny Boyle's Sunshine? If so, how was it?

[Eddie]

I can´t really figure out if 300 was gay or manly... hhmmm interesting question. What do you think alexander?

[Alexander Nikishin]

A little bit of both. :)

[krd]

I have another, "Guess which film" set of questions... The second film is about a bicycle taxi man, (Vietnamese I believe) who falls in love with a prostitute he regularly taxis about.

That's an easy one: Cyclo, dir. Tran Anh Hung.

[krd]

Don't know about anyone else, but it seems harder and harder to judge quality, or even fix long-term preferences: too much flux in the medium, and a destruction of standards and formal understandings, and to quote one of those impenetrable French philosopher/oracles, modern culture has been thoroughly aesthetisized, so is art any longer possible?

Anyway, here are a handful of semi-obscure and very obscure films, all of which either shocked, altered perception for the length of their running time, or elicited what seemed like genuine emotion, and none previously mentioned. Whether they're any good is another question! I'm cheating a little, going back 10 years or so, rather than 7.

Audition -- Takashi Miike
The Orphan of Anyang -- Chao Wang
American Job -- Chris Smith
The Swamp & The Holy Girl -- both Lucretia Martel
L'humanite -- Bruno Dumont
The Power of Kangwong Province - Song-soo Hong
La Promesse - Jean Pierre & Luc Dardennes

[PaulClements]

I'm suprised that no one has included The MotorCycle Diaries

[Curran Giddens]

I'm suprised that no one has included The MotorCycle Diaries

That is an excellent movie. One of my last rentals from netflix before I cancelled my membership. It would be good to watch it again right before seeing "The Argentine" and "Guerrilla" when they come out.

[Jason Murphy]

I have another, "Guess which film" set of questions...

Both of them are Asian films, the first I can only recall a snippet of..... There is an Asian boy who lies on the floor stuck in paint he poured on himself after sniffing glue and passing out, he wakes up to the sight of a floundering goldfish puckering for air. His mother walks in and embraces him.

The second film is about a bicycle taxi man, (Vietnamese I believe) who falls in love with a prostitute he regularly taxis about.

Also, has anyone seen Danny Boyle's Sunshine? If so, how was it?

I actually think you may be describing the same movie, Cyclo. It may not be, of course, but I certainly remember a scene where the boy pours blue paint all over himself and lies on the floor gasping before passing out. Forget whether mom or a goldfish is involved.

Also, saw Sunshine. It's got a really good first half before getting really stupid in the second half. That said, there's something to be said for a movie which has a sense of the vast and the awe-inspiring, no matter how stupid it gets in the second half. And Alwin Kuchler is a fantastic cinematographer (he also shot Morvern Callar, one of my favorite films of the past decade).

[Tom Lowe]

I saw Sunshine yesterday and enjoyed it. I like that girl Rose Byrne, who also played in Troy opposite Pitt. Her career really seems to fly under the radar, but her acting seems first rate, plus she's gorgeous. :)

http://www.independentcritics.com/images/sunshine%20SPLASH%20rose%20byrne.jpg

[Sean]

btw documentaries seem to be a good option if you don´t want to seem neither gay nor childish...

What strange comments from a community that includes artists and professionals in film.

[Desert Rune]

That's an easy one: Cyclo, dir. Tran Anh Hung.The second scene also sounds like Three Seasons.


Also, has anyone seen Danny Boyle's Sunshine? If so, how was it?Mind-blowingly dumb. First, Boyle respects the audience enough in the first half of the movie to give one of the best sci-fi opening acts with genuine tension and awe-inspiring cinematography. It's preposterous enough to accept the plot of sending a crew of eight with a stellar bomb to re-ignite the sun. But the "guy goes crazy" plot and the ending was so preposterous, I had enough to think we were being jerked around.

[Curran Giddens]

What strange comments from a community that includes artists and professionals in film.

http://www.reduser.net/forum/showthread.php?t=3447

You must have missed the joke....

[Curran Giddens]

I saw Sunshine yesterday and enjoyed it. I like that girl Rose Byrne, who also played in Troy opposite Pitt. Her career really seems to fly under the radar, but her acting seems first rate, plus she's gorgeous. :)

Wow! She is gorgeous! Now, where was that code to get 20% off my first 3 months of netflix....

[Jason Murphy]

Beau Travail (dir. Claire Denis, dp. Agnes Godard, 2000)

Loosely based on Herman Melville's novella Billy Budd, Beau Travail details a dispute between two French Legionnaires stationed in Djibouti. Master Sergeant Galoup (played by the great Denis Lavant) finds his position among his unit, and in the eyes of his commander (Michel Subor) increasingly upstaged by a new recruit, Sentain (Gregoire Colin). Jealous, Galoup tries to find a way to destroy Sentain.

The movie is incredibly beautiful and somewhat elliptical. Having grown up in that part of the world (Oman for me), I have to say that it does an exceptional job of capturing the feel of the place, the underlying tension between expats and locals, and the deep sense of cultural displacement by those who find themselves suddenly taken out of that environment. So I'm a bit biased. But it's an amazing movie pretty much anyway you look at it.

It's available on DVD from New Yorker. Warning to Tom, though: since there are a lot of buff shirtless soldiers running around in the movie, and some homoerotic undertones, you may want to keep an eye on your Netflix recommendations after queuing this up. Just sayin'.

http://www.reduser.net/forum/uploaded/1679_1187121128.jpg

http://www.reduser.net/forum/uploaded/1679_1187121162.jpg

http://www.reduser.net/forum/uploaded/1679_1187121111.jpg

http://www.reduser.net/forum/uploaded/1679_1187121215.jpg

[Tom Lowe]

LMAO! don't worry I've added a bunch of John Wayne flicks to my queue, so I should be rejoining the hetro ranks on netflix soon.... if all goes according to plan. :)

Thanks for these writeups. All of your recommendations to me so far have been awesome, so I will check all of these out.

[Alexander Nikishin]

That's an easy one: Cyclo, dir. Tran Anh Hung.

Buzz, wrong :bleh:


The second scene also sounds like Three Seasons.

Ding ding ding! thank you, that's an awesome film.

Seems to be some mixed reviews on Sunshine. I love Danny Boyle's work though and the Cinematography alone makes it a must see for me, here's to different strokes for different folks I guess?

So no one remebers a film where there's a scene with a young asian boy with blue paint poured over himself lying on the floor while staring at a goldish flopping around? I remeber the scene to be the exact way I described it.

Also, here's another foreign film I've forgotten the name of.....

The film follows a young indian boy and his gang of homeless glue huffing hoodlums. They regularly hang out by a train station and pee on the tracks for fun. The boy does odd jobs for money and keeps a stash behind some bricks near the railway. One day his stash is stolen. The young boy also kills an Indian pimp to save a young girl he has fallen in love with. Anyone?

Thanks for the help everyone. :biggrin:

[Alexander Nikishin]

Audition -- Takashi Miike

Audition's an awesome film as well.

Ever since seeing it, I subconsciously find my Japanese girlfriend to be quite capable of sinister things. :unsure:

[krd]

So no one remebers a film where there's a scene with a young asian boy with blue paint poured over himself lying on the floor while staring at a goldish flopping around? I remeber the scene to be the exact way I described it.

That's Cyclo! If Three Seasons has the same prostitute/driver conceit, it stole it from the earlier and better Cyclo. No buzzers, please.


Also, here's another foreign film I've forgotten the name of..... The film follows a young indian boy and his gang of homeless glue huffing hoodlums. They regularly hang out by a train station and pee on the tracks for fun. The boy does odd jobs for money and keeps a stash behind some bricks near the railway. One day his stash is stolen. The young boy also kills an Indian pimp to save a young girl he has fallen in love with. Anyone?

Salaam Bombay, dir. Mira Nair. She in turn stole the plot from the far better Brazilian film, Pixote. Trust me! Not infallible, but almost.


Audition's an awesome film as well. Ever since seeing it, I subconsciously find my Japanese girlfriend to be quite capable of sinister things.

It was based on a novel of the same name, which in turn was based on the author's affair with the actress Miho Nakaido, who is (or was?) married to the indie filmmaker, Hal Hartley. You see her around in NY. What I wonder is, how many people know??? You'll be pleased to learn that Hal is still alive (and has both feet).

[Fix]

Good thread! Strange that nobody has mention it yet. I have to add The Departed to all these great movies. This flick is, in my opinion, Martin Scorsese's biggest hit since Goodfellas from the 1990's. The timing between the shoots and the clever posing is almost.. to good, and the dialogs... Truly a masterpiece.

[Desert Rune]

So no one remebers a film where there's a scene with a young asian boy with blue paint poured over himself lying on the floor while staring at a goldish flopping around? I remeber the scene to be the exact way I described it.
The Scent of Green Papaya? :bleh:

[Eddie]

A Fish Called Wanda...:detective2:

[Alexander Nikishin]

That's Cyclo! If Three Seasons has the same prostitute/driver conceit, it stole it from the earlier and better Cyclo. No buzzers, please.

You're probably right krd. I've seen Cyclo but not for some time now, I'm sure you're right though, thanks!

[Alexander Nikishin]

The Scent of Green Papaya? :bleh:

Is it any good btw?

[Jason Murphy]

So no one remebers a film where there's a scene with a young asian boy with blue paint poured over himself lying on the floor while staring at a goldish flopping around? I remeber the scene to be the exact way I described it.

Cyclo. Definitely Cyclo. Scent of the Green Papaya is pretty good, not great, but Tran Anh Hung's third film, Vertical Ray of the Sun, is really wonderful. Great cinematography by Mark Li Ping-Bin, too.

[Tom Lowe]

Vertical Ray is on my to-see list.

[Keith Alan Morris]

1. Beijing Bicycle - if you havent seen it, see it NOW! brilliant!
2. Beijing Bicycle
3. Evil by Michael Hafstrom - like fight club in a boarding school - but better!
4. Eternal Sunshine
5. tie - Rushmore / the Departed

and dont forget nic cage was perfect in Raising Arizona...

[Fix]

and dont forget nic cage was perfect in Raising Arizona...

Nic Cage was hilarious in Raising Arizona, a very funny movie indeed! don't forget John Goodman smashing the car roof when he realized they forgot the kid :blink: .

[Weston Ford]

The Village
The New World
Lord of the Rings
Kill Bill
Unbreakable

and probably the Fountain.

[Thor Wixom]

Wow, no one has mentioned "The Science of Sleep"?

Goodness. I must be off the deep end.

How about worst movies of the last decade that the studios thought everyone should like?

-Thor

[Yannick Hagman]

-Lilja for 4-ever
-Lost in Translation
-Donnie Darko
-The Dreamers
-L.A. Crash
-21 Grams
-Elephant
-Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind
-Festen
-American History X

Sorry.

[Adam C Lubkin]

Wow, no one has mentioned "The Science of Sleep"?
-Thor

I also don't understand why "The Science of Sleep" doesn't get more love (not necessarily on this list, but on the boards in general). The cinematography on it is also worthy of mention - just about perfect IMHO, especially in the way it serves the story and never calls attention to itself.

[Tom Lowe]

I don't think anything coming out this year will make my decade list.

[Cüneyt Kaya]

1:goyas ghosts
2:chopper
3:oldboy
4:Adam's Apples
5:hero

[Nils J. Nesse]

The lists are always fun..

1. The New World (Terrence Malick, 2005)
2. Mulholland Drive (David Lynch, 2001)
3. Grizzly Man (Werner Herzog, 2005)
4. Hable Con Ella (Pedro Almodóvar, 2002)
5. Stellet Licht (Carlos Reygadas, 2007)

[John V]

What is it with all these artsy films? Please help me...

[Nils J. Nesse]

We are artists, we are not accountants. :)

[Tom Lowe]

Nesse, can you tell us more about Stellet Licht?

Glad to see New World at #1. :)

[Brian Broz]

I can't rate them in order, but here are my top 5 (that I can remember):

Requiem for a Dream
City of God
28 Days Later
Death Proof
The Last King of Scotland

Worthy mentions are Layer Cake, Kill Bill 1&2, Hot Fuzz, Maria Full of Grace, Fight Club, Babel.

[Craig W. Bickerstaff]

Munich
Ratatouille
The Prestige
Big Fish
Catch Me If you can

[Michael "Dorkman" Scott]

Films I loved in the past decade:

Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring
Children of Men
Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind
Kill Bill vol. 1
Chicago

Honorable mention:

V for Vendetta
Pirates of the Caribbean: Curse of the Black Pearl
Stardust
Batman Begins
Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon

Films I thought were awful yet everyone else seems to love them:

Pan's Labyrinth
The Matrix Reloaded/Revolutions
Revenge of the Sith
Crash
The Aviator

[David Mullen ASC]

Some of the movies starting in 2000 that I enjoyed or thought were interesting:

Gladiator
Girl on the Bridge
O Brother Where Art Thou?
In the Mood for Love
Yi-Yi
Memento
A.I.
The Others
Moulin Rouge!
Mulholland Drive
The Man Who Wasn't There
Amelie
Lord of the Rings
Lost in Translation
Master & Commander
The Fog of War
Bad Santa
Black Hawk Down
Minority Report
24-Hour Party People
Spirited Away
The Quiet American
Solaris
Adaptation
Catch Me if You Can
City of God
Songs from the Second Floor
The Barbarian Invasions
Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind
Shawn of the Dead
The Incredibles
Bad Education
2046
Munich
The New World
Cache
Tristram Shandy

[jaadgy akanni]

Doctor Detroit
Howard The Duck
Action Jackson
In The Army Now
Last American Virgin

HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!!!!

[Michael "Dorkman" Scott]

Doctor Detroit
Howard The Duck
Action Jackson
In The Army Now
Last American Virgin

HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!!!!

*psst*

Wrong decade.

[jaadgy akanni]

*psst*

Wrong decade.

I know, I've seen these in the past 5 years, though. My older brother turned me on to them, and the funny thing is I actually enjoyed them, perhaps 'cause they're so wonderfully bad.

[Nils J. Nesse]

Nesse, can you tell us more about Stellet Licht?


It's a very slow, contemplative film, about simple people living simple lives. All the dialogue is spoken in a language called Plautdietsch (is this what the Amish in the US speak?). The plot is more or less "borrowed" from Dreyer's "Ordet" (but it's not a very plot driven film). And, the cinematography is fantastic. That opening shot....

If you love the great Malick, there's a good chance you'll love this.

And, I'd love to see what Carlos Reygadas could do with a Red. :)

[Tom Lowe]

David, are you a fan of Miyazaki's other works, like Porco Rosso, Nausicaa, Mononoke, etc?

[Jason Murphy]

It's a very slow, contemplative film, about simple people living simple lives. All the dialogue is spoken in a language called Plautdietsch (is this what the Amish in the US speak?). The plot is more or less "borrowed" from Dreyer's "Ordet" (but it's not a very plot driven film). And, the cinematography is fantastic. That opening shot....

If you love the great Malick, there's a good chance you'll love this.

And, I'd love to see what Carlos Reygadas could do with a Red. :)

Saw 'Stellet Licht' last month at the NYFF. The plot is actually very different from 'Ordet' until the last scene, which basically lifts 'Ordet's' great final scene wholesale, and to little effect. There's no motivation for it in either a narrative or theological sense, and any sense of the miraculous that was crucially built up in 'Ordet' is utterly lacking here.

That said, I really loved it up until the ending, which more or less utterly ruined it. The anamorphic cinematography is fantastic; the sound design is quite lovely and there are a few scenes (such as one of children bathing in a lake) that are as beautiful as anything out there. And, yes, the opening shot is amazing. The casting and the performances are also uniformly strong. Unfortunately, it's hard to describe how completely the ending wrecks the movie.

Still worth watching for the cinematography, though, especially if you can find it playing in 35mm somewhere.

[Craig W. Bickerstaff]

I love how this film went from name 5 films from this decade 2000 - 2010 (which is this decade) to 5 films from 1997 - 2007 or 2007 give or take 10 years only to finish with name films.

[Tom Lowe]

haha, well I think In the Mood still qualifies since its US release was 2000.