Top Ten Films of...

[KilgoreTrout]

Thanks for sharing your perfect 10s, Lawrence, lots of favorites represented there. I am a bit surprised to see just 5 foreign language titles and none after 1964, no docs, and exclusively substantially budgeted studio movies aside from Night of the Living Dead. I'd usually chalk that up to a lack of exposure but with ~14,000 films seen that seems less likely. I'm curious, is it merely that the vast majority of those views are of American studio fare and you haven't seen nearly as much foreign, indie, or doc titles or is it a matter of preference and you find your tastes just align more with Hollywood films?

[LawrenceA]

Thanks for sharing your perfect 10s, Lawrence, lots of favorites represented there. I am a bit surprised to see just 5 foreign language titles and none after 1964, no docs, and exclusively substantially budgeted studio movies aside from Night of the Living Dead. I'd usually chalk that up to a lack of exposure but with ~14,000 films seen that seems less likely. I'm curious, is it merely that the vast majority of those views are of American studio fare and you haven't seen nearly as much foreign, indie, or doc titles or is it a matter of preference and you find your tastes just align more with Hollywood films?

 

It's complicated, and probably doesn't make much sense when analyzed in any depth. Most of the 10/10's I've given are for films that I saw when younger (naturally excluding the few from the past decade and a half). I can't really quantify what earns a 10/10 for me. It falls back to the old adage of "I know it when I know it". It's really a feeling, a deep emotional response that leaves me a little dazed and thinking intensely about what I just watched. Some of the films, like Halloween, Conan or Predator, I find to be text-book perfect examples of their particular genres. 

 

Many of the foreign films, or lower-budgeted, less-widely-available titles, I didn't have access to until the last 15 years or so, during which I've been perhaps pickier about what I give a 10/10 to. I've given a 10/10 to 75 movies, but I've given a 9/10 to 283 movies. And the difference between a 9 and a 10 score (similar to an A vs A+ grade) can be very minor, and possibly a matter of the mood I was in when watching it, or the venue, or the copy I watched, etc. Even while typing out my 10/10 list, I thought to myself ,"You gave that a 10/10?"

 

I was debating with myself the other day, after considering the list, and the fact that I've watched several hundred movies since I've awarded the last 10/10, if I can enjoy a movie at that level any more. I may be waiting for a reaction, either intellectual or emotional, that I am no longer capable of experiencing.

[LawrenceA]

Or I just have bad taste in movies, take your pick. 

[shutoo]

​favorites of 2000

 

O Brother, Where Art Thou?

​State and Main

Best in Show

​Miss Congeniality

High Fidelity

​Small Time Crooks

Cast Away

[Bogie56]

My Top Ten Films of 2000

 

1.  Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon

2.  Dancer In the Dark

3.  Traffic

4.  O Brother, Where Art Thou?

5.  Dora-Heita

6.  Sexy Beast

7.  You Can Count On Me

8.  Requiem For a Dream

9.  Innocence

10. The Gleaners and I

[KilgoreTrout]

It's complicated, and probably doesn't make much sense when analyzed in any depth. Most of the 10/10's I've given are for films that I saw when younger (naturally excluding the few from the past decade and a half). I can't really quantify what earns a 10/10 for me. It falls back to the old adage of "I know it when I know it". It's really a feeling, a deep emotional response that leaves me a little dazed and thinking intensely about what I just watched. Some of the films, like Halloween, Conan or Predator, I find to be text-book perfect examples of their particular genres. 

 

Many of the foreign films, or lower-budgeted, less-widely-available titles, I didn't have access to until the last 15 years or so, during which I've been perhaps pickier about what I give a 10/10 to. I've given a 10/10 to 75 movies, but I've given a 9/10 to 283 movies. And the difference between a 9 and a 10 score (similar to an A vs A+ grade) can be very minor, and possibly a matter of the mood I was in when watching it, or the venue, or the copy I watched, etc. Even while typing out my 10/10 list, I thought to myself ,"You gave that a 10/10?"

 

I was debating with myself the other day, after considering the list, and the fact that I've watched several hundred movies since I've awarded the last 10/10, if I can enjoy a movie at that level any more. I may be waiting for a reaction, either intellectual or emotional, that I am no longer capable of experiencing.

Thanks for the explanation, I was worried it would sound critical rather than just genuinely curious and appreciate your response. It does make sense and I think I even experience a bit of the same phenomenon to a lesser extent (I give about 240 movies a 10/10). It doesn't happen to privilege Hollywood movies in my case, but I was much more open to give perfect scores many years ago than I am now and a vast majority of my 10s were movies I saw more than a decade ago. In fact I've so often downgraded movies I'd previously given a 10/10 that I'm sometimes hesitant to rewatch a favorite I haven't seen in a long time for fear I will no longer hold in it as high regard.

[LawrenceA]

Thanks for the explanation, I was worried it would sound critical rather than just genuinely curious and appreciate your response. It does make sense and I think I even experience a bit of the same phenomenon to a lesser extent (I give about 240 movies a 10/10). It doesn't happen to privilege Hollywood movies in my case, but I was much more open to give perfect scores many years ago than I am now and a vast majority of my 10s were movies I saw more than a decade ago. In fact I've so often downgraded movies I'd previously given a 10/10 that I'm sometimes hesitant to rewatch a favorite I haven't seen in a long time for fear I will no longer hold in it as high regard.

 

I have that same experience with rewatching, films losing some of their appeal on review. It happens most frequently with English-language, mostly Hollywood movies, though. I find that the foreign-language films I rewatch I tend to like as much if not more on repeat viewing. 

 

There have been some movies that I loved on first watch (1987's The Lost Boys) that I later came to find fairly awful, although that one has some period-detail charm. Then there are others, like the recently mentioned 12 Monkeys that I was blown away by in the theater, and then when I rewatched it several years later, I thought it was terrible. I rewatched it again a few years after that, and I liked it again, but not as much as that first viewing.

[Bogie56]

Talk of best year of the decade made me curious about how my ratings break down. Thanks to IMDb, where I rate all of the films that I've seen, I'm able to sift through the data and bring up some real numbers.

 

I've seen 13,793 movies in total. Out of those, I've only awarded 75 a 10/10 rating, the highest possible. Inversely, I've only given a 1/10, the lowest, to a scant 31 films.

 

Of those 75 10/10 scores, the decade breakdown is as follows:

 

1920's = 1

1930's = 4

1940's = 2

1950's = 6

1960's = 8

1970's = 17

1980's = 15

1990's = 11

2000's = 10

2010's = 1

 

Only one year from the 90's had more than one 10/10, and that was 1999: Fight Club and Magnolia.

 

I started keeping a film diary when I was 12 and adopted the four star rating system that Leonard Maltin and just about every TV Guide was using at the time.  It is interesting to look back and see what type of film a 12 year-old might give 4 stars.  Horror of Dracula (1958) was my first 4 star film in the diary.  It was followed by Help! (1965) and The Brides of Dracula (1960).  I've since revisited just about all of these films to reassess them.  Taras Bulba (1962) went from 4 stars in 1969 down to 1 star in 1982 which was a period when I was probably the most harsh critic.  I currently have just 55 feature films that I have given 4 stars.  There are probably 3 times as many with 3 1/2 stars.  Here are my 4 star films:

 

1920's

The General (1927)

 

1930's

A Night at the Opera (1935)

Modern Times (1936)

Gone With the Wind (1939)

The Wizard of Oz (1939)

 

1940's

The Grapes of Wrath (1940)

Citizen Kane (1941)

The Maltese Falcon (1941)

Casablanca (1942)

The Magnificent Ambersons (1942)

Children of Paradise (1945)

The Treasure of the Sierra Madre (1948)

The Third Man (1949)

 

1950's

Sunset Blvd. (1950)

A Christmas Carol (1951)

The Tragedy of Othello, the Moor of Venice (1952)

On the Waterfront (1954)

Seven Samurai (1954)

Pather Panchali (1955)

Night and Fog (1956) short

Bridge on the River Kwai (1957)

Paths of Glory (1957)

A Night to Remember (1958)

Touch of Evil (1958)

 

1960's

The Hustler (1961)

Lawrence of Arabia (1962)

The Longest Day (1962)

From Russia With Love (1963)

The Great Escape (1963)

Over There 1914-1918 (1963)

Dr. Strangelove (1964)

Persona (1966)

The Sand Pebbles (1966)

Belle de Jour (1967)

In Cold Blood (1967)

2001: A Space Odyssey (1968)

Fellini Satyricon (1969)

The Wild Bunch (1969)

 

1970's

The Conformist (1970)

A Clockwork Orange (1971)

The Godfather (1972)

Last Tango In Paris (1972)

Slaughterhouse-Five (1972)

Day For Night (1973)

The Three Musketeers (1973)

Chinatown (1974)

The Godfather Part II (1974)

Barry Lyndon (1975)

Apocalypse Now (1979)

 

1980's

Raging Bull (1980)

Das Boot (1981)

Amadeus (1984)

 

1990's

Goodfellas (1990)

Saving Private Ryan (1998)

 

2000's

 

2010's

The Social Network (2010)

Wild Tales (2014)

[LawrenceA]

For what it's worth, here are my foreign-language 9/10 rated films. I thought it odd that I don't have any from the 1930's. If I included foreign-made silents, the list would be much longer.:

 

1950's

Rashomon  (1950)

Ikiru (1952)

Tokyo Story  (1953)

Samurai 1: Musashi Miyamoto  (1954)

Wild Strawberries  (1957)

 

1960's

La Dolce Vita  (1960)

Yojimbo  (1961)

Harakiri  (1962)

8 1/2  (1963)

Onibaba  (1964)

Au Hasard Balthazar  (1966)

The Battle of Algiers  (1966)

The Sword of Doom  (1966)

Viy  (1967)

Shame  (1968)

 

1970's

The Conformist  (1970)

The Discreet Charm of the Bourgeoisie  (1972)

Lone Wolf & Cub: Sword of Vengeance  (1972)

Lone Wolf & Cub: Baby Cart at the River Styx  (1972)

 

1980's

Das Boot  (1981)

Come and See  (1985)

My Life as a Dog  (1985)

Ran  (1985)

Akira  (1988)

 

1990's

Cyrano de Bergerac  (1990)

La Femme Nikita  (1990)

Hard Boiled  (1992)

 

2000's

Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon  (2000)

Amelie  (2001)

Oldboy  (2003)

Pan's Labyrinth  (2006)

Let the Right One In  (2008)

 

2010's

The Raid 2  (2014)

[shutoo]

I'm not a huge fan of foreign films, but was surprised that some weren't on your favorites list:  ​The Seventh Seal, Day for Night,  Two Women, The 400 Blows, Mon Oncle and Diabolique.​..(last two are personal favorites)

[LawrenceA]

I'm not a huge fan of foreign films, but was surprised that some weren't on your favorites list:  ​The Seventh Seal, Day for Night,  Two Women, The 400 Blows, Mon Oncle and Diabolique.​..(last two are personal favorites)

 

A couple of those are on my Best-of-their-year lists: The Seventh Seal and Mon Oncle. I liked Diabolique and Two Women fine. I wasn't thrilled by The 400 Blows, and I've never been terribly fond of behind-the-scenes movies about movie-making, so Day for Night wasn't a favorite, either.

 

There are a lot of other foreign films that I like a lot, stuff like La Strada, Late Spring, A Man Escaped, Grand Illusion, Rififi. Most of the movies by Ingmar Bergman, Fellini, Bresson, Renoir, Wong Kar-wai, Ozu, Ichikawa, Wajda, Almodovar, I like. The only highly-acclaimed directors whose work I'm not crazy about are Truffaut and Godard, although I still like some of their's too, like Shoot the Piano Player, Jules and Jim, Weekend, My Life to Live.

[LawrenceA]

TOP TEN FAVORITE FILMS OF 2001

 

1)  The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring

2)  Mulholland Dr.

3)  The Royal Tenenbaums

4)  Amelie

5)  Wet Hot American Summer

6)  The Man Who Wasn't There

7)  Donnie Darko

8)  A.I.: Artificial Intelligence

9)  A Beautiful Mind

10)  Training Day

 

Runner-ups:  Black Hawk Down, The Devil's Backbone, In the Bedroom, Ali, and Das Experiment.

 

 

TEN WORST FILMS OF 2001 (overall)

 

1)  Hip Hop Locos (The worst movie I have ever seen.)

2)  Biker Zombies from Detroit

3)  Mayhem Motel

4)  Knight Chills

5)  Hellgate: The House That Screamed 2

6)  Planet Blood

7)  Nutcracker

8)  Octopus 2: River of Fear

9)  Blackwoods

10)  August Underground

 

TEN WORST FILMS OF 2001 (wide release)

 

1)  Soul Survivors

2)  Valentine

3)  Ghosts of Mars

4)  The Body

5)  See Spot Run

6)  Town & Country

7)  Formula 51

8)  Dr. Dolittle 2

9)  What's the Worst That Could Happen?

10)  Driven

 

 

TOP TEN BOX OFFICE OF 2001

 

1)  Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone

2)  The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring

3)  Monsters, Inc.

4)  Shrek

5)  Ocean's Eleven

6)  Pearl Harbor

7)  The Mummy Returns

8)  Jurassic Park III

9)  Planet of the Apes

10)  Hannibal

[JamesStewartFan95]

Top 10 2001

1. Gosford Park

2. Hedwig and the Angry Inch

3. Black Hawk Down

4. The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring

5. A Beautiful Mind

6. Monster’s Inc.

7. Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone

8. Amelie

9. The Royal Tenenbaums

10. Atanajurat: The Fast Runner

 

Honorable Mentions: Bridget Jones’ Diary, Donnie Darko, Monster’s Ball, Ocean’s 11

 

Guilty Pleasures: Atlantis: The Lost Empire; Zoolander

[LawrenceA]

If my runner-ups list was longer, Gosford Park, Hedwig and the Angry Inch, and Monster's Ball would be on there.

 

I haven't seen Monsters Inc or Atanajurat: The Fast Runner.

[JamesStewartFan95]

If my runner-ups list was longer, Gosford Park, Hedwig and the Angry Inch, and Monster's Ball would be on there.

 

I haven't seen Monsters Inc or Atanajurat: The Fast Runner.

 

I'm a bit of a Pixar fan, so that's why I put Monster's Inc. on there. But I would recommend it, even though it's not on par with something like Toy Story or Up. I enjoy it.

[CinemaInternational]

2001, in other words, a big step up from 2000.... In point of principle, the 2000s are my least favorite film decade (due to 2000, 2005, and 2009 being dank, underwelming years that I wouldn't hesitate to call perhaps the worst movie years ever), but 2001 is a pretty strong year.

 

1. Mulholland Drive

2. Gosford Park

3. In the Bedroom

4. Moulin Rouge! (Possibly the most polarizing film of this new century, even in my case, it took a while into the film for me to warm to it.)

5. The Royal Tenenbaums

6. Spirited Away

7. Iris

8. Amelie

9. Ghost World

10. The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Rings

 

Of note: Last Orders (this one barely missed the top 10), A Beautiful Mind, Bridget Jones's Diary, The Man Who Wasn't There, The Cat's Meow, Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone, Monsters Inc., Training Day, The Majestic, The Others, Life as a House, Charlotte Gray, The Curse of the Jade Scorpion

 

Guilty pleasure: Legally Blonde

 

Minor but pleasant: Serendipity, Mostly Martha, The Princess Diaries (although any film with a good Julie Andrews performance is a welcome sight)

 

Awfully chilly for a Disney film: Atlantis:The Lost Empire (the score is wonderful though, as are some of the setpieces)

 

Went over my head: Waking Life

 

Stylish and entertaining, but a bit hollow: Ocean's Eleven

 

OK, but leaves a bitter taste behind: Human Nature

 

Forgotten from childhood: Recess: School's Out

[Bogie56]

My top Ten Films of 2001

 

1.  The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring

2.  A Beautiful Mind

3.  Amelie

4.  The Score

5.  Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone

6.  Y Tu Mama También

7.  In the Bedroom

8.  Mulholland Dr.

9.  Gosford Park

10.  Enemy at the Gates

[LawrenceA]

2001, in other words, a big step up from 2000.... In point of principle, the 2000s are my least favorite film decade (due to 2000, 2005, and 2009 being dank, underwelming years that I wouldn't hesitate to call perhaps the worst movie years ever), but 2001 is a pretty strong year.

 

I certainly agree on 2009. I don't hesitate to call it my least favorite year of any that we covered in these threads (1930-present). When I compiled my top ten list, I had to finish it with a film that I wasn't that thrilled with the first time I saw it, the choices were so weak. And that's with 320 movies seen from that year!

 

Edit: I went back and looked at my 2009 list and realized one of them (The Hurt Locker) is technically a 2008 movie. So I had to find another movie for my top ten! This whole top ten of each year process began when I was compiling copies of all of my top ten movie choices from 1930-present in order to eventually have a long marathon of them all. Having to change up my 2009 list means that I have another one to order, since the movie I picked to fill the gap is one that I didn't have a copy of. Oh well, shopping can be cathartic.

[CinemaInternational]

I certainly agree on 2009. I don't hesitate to call it my least favorite year of any that we covered in these threads (1930-present). When I compiled my top ten list, I had to finish it with a film that I wasn't that thrilled with the first time I saw it, the choices were so weak. And that's with 320 movies seen from that year!

I was just looking over what 2009 films I have seen, and what I see isn't pretty. I only have seen a small smattering , and I don't really have a really strong attachment to many of the year's better ventures. I'd say Fantastic Mr. Fox was the best of that dreary year (The Hurt Locker, unfortunately, had its premiere at a film festival in 2008, so even the Best Picture winner couldn't qualify that year)

 

2005 might be even harder for me though. With 2009, I can at least make a top 10 (albeit barely since of the few I've seen,only 16 cut the mustard, and 5 of them only barely make it.). I can't really do that with 2005. I was young still at the time and could not see many of the hyped films, but looking back they are an uninviting group. Of the films, I have yet to see, I only am looking forward to Munich, Cinderella Man, The New World, Memoirs of a Geisha, The Upside of Anger, and Walk the Line. And of the ones I have seen, there are only 5 I am truly enamored with, and only 8 others that are passable enough. The Oscar winner for Best Picture that year, Crash, is truly horrid. The film I had been pegging as the year's best (a moving, life-affirming Irish drama about paraplegics called Rory O'Shea Was Here) was released overseas under a different title (Inside I'm Dancing) in 2004, and thus is ineligible for 2005. So the title will instead be going to either Capote or Pride and Prejudice (or maybe Junebug)

[LawrenceA]

2005 might be even harder for me though. With 2009, I can at least make a top 10 (albeit barely since of the few I've seen,only 16 cut the mustard, and 5 of them only barely make it.). I can't really do that with 2005. I was young still at the time and could not see many of the hyped films, but looking back they are an uninviting group. Of the films, I have yet to see, I only am looking forward to Munich, Cinderella Man, The New World, Memoirs of a Geisha, The Upside of Anger, and Walk the Line. And of the ones I have seen, there are only 5 I am truly enamored with, and only 8 others that are passable enough. The Oscar winner for Best Picture that year, Crash, is truly horrid. The film I had been pegging as the year's best (a moving, life-affirming Irish drama about paraplegics called Rory O'Shea Was Here) was released overseas under a different title (Inside I'm Dancing) in 2004, and thus is ineligible for 2005. So the title will instead be going to either Capote or Pride and Prejudice (or maybe Junebug)

 

I was looking over all of my 2000-2009 choices, and I had to switch around my 2005 list, too, thanks to uncertain release dates. My 05 list is filled with genre/popcorn movies, like Batman Begins, Serenity, V for Vendetta, Sin City. But I also have more serious fare, like The Constant Gardner, Match Point, Brokeback Mountain, and a couple that you mentioned, The New World and Munich. And one movie that I was surprised with how much I liked it, Hustle & Flow. I won't say which one made my #1 spot till we get to that point in a few weeks, but I will say that one of the posters said that he felt it was one of the worst movies he ever saw in the theater!

 

Edit: The more I consider it, I think I'll be re-ordering my top ten, and dropping my previous #1 for 05 to the #2 spot. I just can't let some problems with the ending go.

[JamesStewartFan95]

I was just looking over what 2009 films I have seen, and what I see isn't pretty. I only have seen a small smattering , and I don't really have a really strong attachment to many of the year's better ventures. I'd say Fantastic Mr. Fox was the best of that dreary year (The Hurt Locker, unfortunately, had its premiere at a film festival in 2008, so even the Best Picture winner couldn't qualify that year)

 

Did you see Up, and if so, did it live up to the hype?

[CinemaInternational]

Did you see Up, and if so, did it live up to the hype?

Yes I did see Up, and it will be making the top 10 for 2009.

 

I was looking over all of my 2000-2009 choices, and I had to switch around my 2005 list, too, thanks to uncertain release dates. My 05 list is filled with genre/popcorn movies, like Batman Begins, Serenity, V for Vendetta, Sin City. But I also have more serious fare, like The Constant Gardner, Match Point, Brokeback Mountain, and a couple that you mentioned, The New World and Munich. And one movie that I was surprised with how much I liked it, Hustle & Flow. I won't say which one made my #1 spot till we get to that point in a few weeks, but I will say that one of the posters said that he felt it was one of the worst movies he ever saw in the theater!

Mm, yes, Munich and The New World, I will make a point to see very soon in time for the poll. Constant Gardener and Match Point will be on my list as well.

[KilgoreTrout]

The Best Films of 2001

 

1. In the Mood for Love

2. Domestic Violence

3. Waking Life

4. Mulholland Drive

5. In the Bedroom

6. The Princess and the Warrior

7. The Royal Tenenbaums

8. Vanilla Sky

9. What Time Is It There?

10. Memento

 

HM: Monster's Ball, Amores Perros, Ghost World, Black Hawk Down, The Man Who Wasn't There, The Grey Zone, Wit, Ocean's 11, Tape, Y Tu Mama Tambien, Dreamwork, Invincible, The Caveman's Valentine, Chingoo, A Huey P Newton Story, AI: Artificial Intelligence, Gosford Park, The Pledge

 

Worst:

 

1.) Freddy Got Fingered

2.) 3000 Miles to Graceland

3.) Pootie Tang

4.) What's the Worst That Could Happen?

5.) Don't Say a Word

6.) Pearl Harbor

7.) Scary Movie 2

8.) Joe Dirt

9.) Along Came a Spider

10.) I Am Sam

[shutoo]

2001 favorites

 

​Monsters Inc,

Gosford Park

​Legally Blonde

Oceans 11

​Bridget Jones Diary

Iris

​The Majestic

A Beautiful Mind

 

(pretty chick-flicky list  )

[LawrenceA]

2001 favorites

 

​Monsters Inc,

Gosford Park

​Legally Blonde

Oceans 11

​Bridget Jones Diary

Iris

​The Majestic

A Beautiful Mind

 

 

I like most of those. I haven't seen the previously mentioned Monsters Inc nor Legally Blonde. I enjoyed Iris and Bridget Jones.

 

The Majestic was my least favorite, but I didn't think it was awful. One thing I clearly recall was that it was released post 9/11, and they used the tragedy subtly in the advertising, saying that this was the movie America needs at this traumatic time. It was still a flop. Pre-9/11, it had been marketed as a funny, light Jim Carrey movie. After 9/11, it became this glowing piece of Americana with a slightly solemn halo about it.