Contentious C

It's not there yet. But, Joker came out 2+ months sooner and only just reached HBO. Take from that what you will. Pretty easy answer for "Last legitimately great film of the 2010s" though (1917 being the answer, not Joker, for those who might not have read my other posts closely, or at all). I guess I should see what would qualify as the *first* one... Looks like the first movie to really hold up was Winter's Bone (6/11/10). At least among US releases.

The Farewell would be in the vast sea of pretty-damn-good-but-not-transcendent stuff that is just off my list. But yeah, not that depressing; the conceit of the film really just serves as a way of seeing how everyone in the film draws down to one side of the issue or another. Anyway, more stuff... Also, fun fact: if you have a Roku TV or something similar, you can sign up for a free STARZ trial through Amazon and then still get a second free trial directly from the app on the device! Might work if some of the other streaming services have their own app, too; worth trying. STARZ Garbage Magic in the Moonlight After the Wedding Who We Are Now I Think We're Alone Now Aside from the Woody Allen movie, which is preposterously cast and even more preposterously written and I'll say no more on what a turd it was, all of those *looked* interesting on the surface. But After the Wedding is a remake of a Danish film, and I'm betting the original is better. Michelle Williams is pretty great in it, but that's like saying, "Pope wears dress and funny hat to work." The rest is good but inessential. Who We Are Now has Julianne Nicholson (the widow from The Outsider) and Emma Roberts doing the best work I've seen out of either of them, but it's one of those movies where the bomb has already gone off, so to speak, and we have to watch them put their lives together in a bleakly-shot, score-free, wobbly camera zone like about five thousand other films have done in the last 15 years. This isn't bad, but it adds literally nothing new, and the ending is fairly telegraphed. I Think We're Alone Now starts off like a kind of neat post-apocalyptic movie with Peter Dinklage in the main role, but as much as it tries to throw thinky kinds of curveballs at you, it's ultimately just dragged under by the weight of its own seriousness. It's well done, but there's a sad-sack dreariness to it that doesn't really work after the story begins developing. It tries to say something about how we actually live now with its conclusion, but falls flat in that regard. STARZ Keepers The Rider Seeking a Friend for the End of the World Imagine if John Cassavetes directed a faux-documentary (note: not a mockumentary) that threaded the needle between The Wrestler and My Own Private Idaho. That's The Rider. The cast members are all non-actors giving fictionalized performances of their real lives, which you wouldn't guess at all if you didn't already know or hadn't seen the casting list. The locations and cinematography are wonderful, as they're enormous and expansive but also serve to zero in even further on the isolation of the characters and the difficulty of their choices (thus the comparison I'm drawing to Private Idaho, which did a lot of the same thing). Million billion stars, as the man says. Seeking a Friend for the End of the World is one of my favorite films from the last 10 or 15 years, and easily one of the most underappreciated - or maybe I just have Keira Knightley goggles, since I could say the exact same thing about Never Let Me Go, which will end up in my top 10. But there's just nothing about this film that doesn't work. The first 20 minutes are ridiculously funny, but somewhere along the way it grows tendrils into your heart and just starts tugging for all it's worth so that the ending is both tragic and also perfectly sweet. It's not the best end-of-the-world movie from a decade obsessed with them, but it's easily the most rewatchable and relatable. War movie one-upsmanship Dunkirk 1917 (no idea if/where they're streaming free; I own both) Amazon had the blu-ray for Dunkirk on sale a while ago, so I just broke down and bought it. Jesus, this is a beautiful movie. I'm not sure Nolan has a *prettier* film in his catalog than this. The way the stories intertwine is a little disconcerting the first time the perspective shifts and you realize you're kind of being fucked with, but once it pays off, it pays off nicely. I'd have to agree with the consensus that this is his most empathic film. But, having said that, it's still only his second-best film of the decade, as well as the second-best war film of the decade. Nevertheless, that's still good company and an easy inclusion. I know 1917 got its share of love from everyone when it came out, but goddamn am I glad this was the last film I saw in the theaters before the shit hit the fan. I knew it'd be a high finisher when this project got mentioned; I'll probably rewatch it soon and see if it goes into my top 10 after all. As I've gotten older and more accustomed to watching stuff streaming (aka, piecemeal, because I can screw off and pause and do other stuff), this is the rare film that not only forbids that but rewards you for your diligence. I mean, really, I fucking dare you to take your eyes off this movie. Quit making funny voices, Christian Bale Vice (Hulu) I really want to like Adam McKay's work more, and a part of me wouldn't mind including The Big Short on my list, but there's just something about the 4th-wall-breaking and the tone of his stuff that I find unsatisfying. This was interesting because the oiliness and discomfort of all the goings-on are more up-front and in your face than they were in The Big Short, or, at the very least, they're distilled down to following the Cheneys, and so your stomach for tolerating awful crap just gets full faster. I don't know. I can see people voting for it, but I certainly won't be. If film is supposed to elicit an emotional reaction, this was not really the kind of reaction I had in mind. What the fuck!?!? Madeline's Madeline (Kanopy) Before even considering watching this, know it's not a film for everyone. Some would probably find it to be too experimental and possibly even a little too full of itself given the way it's presented, but sticking through, say, the first 30 minutes with an open mind begins to see a lot of threads draw together in a way that's highly disconcerting and just as compelling. This is another one that threads a careful needle, taking the barebones plot points of something like "The Rocking Horse Winner" and couching it in the theater troupe absurdism that will be familiar to anyone who's seen Barry, along with some heavy escapism and perspective work that reminded me a lot of The Diving Bell and the Butterfly, and it comes out the other side to tell a story about manipulation, exploitation, co-dependency, families, mental illness, power dynamics, and abuse. I mean, there's a *LOT* going on here, and nearly every minute of it is there to make you horribly uncomfortable with the behavior of the three main characters towards one another. Fully expect to pause this a handful of times, because, whew, it's hard to sit through. But, it's gutsy and ridiculously well-acted, and it perpetually blurs the lines between fantasy and reality, and the only comfort the viewer can take is in knowing that, yes, you are just watching a movie. I'm fully prepared to be the only person who votes for this.

This comment feels...somehow familiar...

Eh, not quite. There's the bit of following in the house as he goes from room to room, but the few moments we see there are "distant" since they're security footage. Plus, there's the bit in the hotel room, but again, we do get that degree of separation as everything happens through the ceiling mirror instead of in first-person. Otherwise, yeah, your point holds. I still don't know what I think of that movie, though. I watched it somewhere amongst these big lists of crap I've posted, and it sort of slipped through the cracks with regards to talking about it.

I can't really bring myself to ever award something just for being in-your-face, or challenging, or unflinching, or transgressive, or however you want to phrase it. Sticking the landing matters. And I don't think having Gina Gershon simulate fellatio on a chicken drumstick is sticking the landing. But, I watched more shit. I had no idea who Brady Corbet was, but now I'm sick of him The Childhood of a Leader Force Majeure Melancholia (all Hulu) The Captain (Showtime) The first movie was one this Corbet guy wrote and directed, apparently based on some Sartre work? You wouldn't know it by the quality. Imagine The Omen if it had no supernatural elements, no compelling characters, and a kid who isn't so much creepy as someone you want to push off the roof, Francis Urquhart-style. A few familiar faces here, but they're all completely wasted. It's mostly Berenice Bejo not-so-secretly despising the kid, but who could blame her, really? If you want to see this theme done right, check out We Need to Talk about Kevin, which is a film that would be just off my top 100 list. Put me in the category of people who don't really get why Force Majeure was anyone's cup of tea. If it had been a short film, say 40 minutes or less, it might have been really punchy and memorable. Instead, it's just 100% predictable "unhappy marriage" pap once the central event of the movie occurs. There's one bit that is riotously funny - something so over the top that it's supposed to play as comedy - but aside from that, not much about this says, "One of the best movies of the last 10 years." It's well acted enough, though, and pretty, what with all the snow and mountain shots. Otherwise, meh. Oh, also, Brady Corbet. I'd been dreading watching Melancholia, since I thought Antichrist was a needlessly opaque waste of my time -- Darren Aronofsky's mother! is a far more effective film covering more or less the same material -- and Nymphomaniac was the most self-indulgent, flaming dumpster fire I ever sat through. Like I said previously, I reserve film hate for Lars von Trier only, and it's mostly because I wasted almost 6 hours watching the full versions of Nymphomaniac. But, now I have to say it's more like film pity. Because, unfortunately, Melancholia is exactly as good as everyone says it is. It could end up in my top 20 if I don't see anything else slotting above it, but right now I have it pegged a little below that. Some of the imagery is hit-you-over-the-head obvious, but the stuff that's more subtly done is beautiful. The acting is off-the-charts great from practically everyone, and there are a ton of familiar faces here, so it's fun to see so many of them blow you away, even phone-it-in choads like Keifer Sutherland. Mostly, though, I just find myself wondering if von Trier is a fucking moron, or if he's just so goddamned bipolar that he can't help himself; willingly pissing on something this powerful and effective just because it's a "polished" movie is a special kind of solipsism that may be reserved only for film directors. Oh, and also Brady Corbet. And goddamnit, then I saw a whole movie with Bra--oh, no, sorry, The Captain stars Max Hubacker, who does look a lot like Brady Corbet. But, this was based on a real member of the Nazi army in WW2, and it's fairly interesting. Probably no place for it on my list, but I could see why someone would like it more than I did. It does a nice job of starting out fairly tightly wound around its central conceit, but as the absurdity of each development grows and grows, the outlandishness of everyone's behavior just death-spirals to match that absurdity. One of those "laugh at it because otherwise you'd cry" kind of films. Some big-box movies, some indie stuff Bohemian Rhapsody (HBO) Rocketman (Epix/Hulu) Tangerine (Hulu) Green Book (Showtime) The Dark Tower (Showtime) Fruitvale Station (Tubi) Sorry to Bother You (Hulu) Why the Hell did everyone shit all over The Dark Tower so hard? I mean, it wasn't good - thoroughly mediocre - but I seem to recall one review calling it a "try to jump over a fence and land balls-first type of fiasco". It...wasn't that? It was just not as interesting or as well-structured as it should have been. Obviously not something to pick, but it's not exactly a *bottom* 100 movie, either. It needed 15 more minutes focused on world-building details and less time spent in NYC. Anyway, enough of that. Bohemian Rhapsody was as shitty as lots of people said it was. Take the Live Aid bit out of it, and it could have been in the running for Razzies. Rami Malek probably didn't have any business winning Best Actor, since this is maybe his 4th-best role anyway. Rocketman was significantly less of a disappointment, but I wouldn't call it a particularly compelling film at the end of the day. And damnit, why have "Benny and the Jets" in the film if Taron Egerton isn't going to do the falsettos? Tangerine was done by Sean Baker, who directed The Florida Project. But I didn't realize he also did Starlet, which was a fairly good little movie from some time ago. This one is a lot like Florida, except considerably more raw and less restrained - at times almost farcical, but that comes at the cost, I think, of it being relatable and emotionally impactful like his later film is. Plus, I found it more than a little difficult to relate to (in one case quite violent) transgender prostitutes. This does have James Ransone hamming it up as the sleaziest pimp you've ever seen, because of course James Ransone is going to play the sleaziest pimp you've ever seen. Green Book was a lot better than I thought it would be. Kind of shocked a Farrelly brother directed this, when it comes right down to it. But Ali and Mortensen were both really on top of their game, and it's hard to go that wrong when you have these guys carrying so much of the load. This falls into a bit of a stew with some other Best Picture winners - The Shape of Water and Spotlight, namely - where I could see myself including them, but I think all three lack something that make me feel like I *must* put them on my list. Fruitvale Station made me see exactly what J.T. was talking about. Easy top 50 pick. Michael B. Jordan was probably my favorite Michael Jordan before this; it's a lock now. Sorry to Bother You is just so far out-there and unconventional that I'll have to find a place for it. One of the great lines from Tangerine was "Los Angeles is a beautifully wrapped lie" - this movie is a similar kind of lie, so zany and ridiculous that it circles the globe and comes back to a lot of uncomfortable truths in the process, almost feeling like a sort of response to Get Out, though I imagine this was already in the works before Get Out debuted. Part of me wonders if Boots Riley has another movie like it in him; another part of me hopes he never makes another film just so this is left untouched.

Yeah, I'm not the least bit surprised there was a real story behind that. For me, the point of the dance *is* the tension, because really, how many other movies have ever done so much so well to make you doubt the reality of what you're seeing? Audition? Jacob's Ladder? I think it's probably better than the former and certainly better than the latter (pun not intended) at leaving things fuzzy without rendering everything unsatisfying. I mean, what else compares? Rosemary's Baby? Maybe there's some horror or thriller movie I've never seen that stacks up; feel free to educate me. It also reminds me a lot of The Lobster, too, in the sense that, when you reflect on it, your interpretation of what's just happened is based as much upon your state of mind as it's based upon the events you've seen. Any of the choices are real; any of them are unreal. All of them explain, and none of them do. I also agree that The Witch could have done without the actual witch; it ends up feeling deterministic and a little too straight-ahead. Probably why I like The Lighthouse better; that absence of something clearly defined opens more possibilities than it closes. The moment you explain how something supernatural works, it's now...natural. But, I feel like I'm giving away too much of what I plan on writing up with my list, so...

Hey look, I've watched wayyyy too many movies yet again. Big Pile of Nopes and Probably Nots The Cave of Forgotten Dreams (IFC) Killer Joe (Hulu) Hara-Kiri: Death of a Samurai (Kanopy) Hotel Artemis (Amazon) Crimson Peak (HBO) Midnight Special (HBO) Loving (HBO) A bunch of these I actually watched a while ago but didn't mention. Crimson Peak is probably del Toro's worst film besides Mimic, which at least is a send-up of other horror movies; this one is just boring. And seeing Takashi Miike try to do a straight-ahead movie was a disappointing exercise. I mean, why remake *that*? I like both Midnight Special and Loving, and if this were 200 movies, they'd be on there, but neither one is quite outstanding enough. Cave actually has me beginning to believe Klaus Kinski's side of things, that Herzog actually can't make a great movie without him; it's interesting and should be a topic that's engrossing as Hell, but just...doesn't quite hit the mark. You wonder, though, if they'd been allowed to film today with 10 years' worth of improved tech, would the movie be better? Maybe. Hotel Artemis is not a waste of 90 minutes, but every single character is something you've seen before, just repurposed and retooled into a pile of two-dimensionally-portrayed action cutouts. It needed 10 more minutes and a real heart with some real stakes. And then there's Killer Joe, right at the center of the McConnaissance...and... what in the name of fuck. It's The Wizard of Oz and Rumpelstiltskin jammed into a Texas trailer park, and it's exactly as barking mad as that sounds. But, good movie? Noooooooo. I don't even know how anyone let William Friedkin, still coasting on a 40-year-old legacy, get a hold of this. Still Thinking Meek's Cutoff If Beale Street Could Talk Captain Fantastic (all Hulu) Wildlife (Showtime) Beale St. and Captain will probably make the tail ends of my list, because they were just good enough. The biggest problem with the former is that the narrative is left up to arguably the least interesting actor in the whole film. The rest is beautiful. Liked seeing Brian Tyree Henry in a role where there's some meat on its bones, rather than just him playing Big Jokey Bear like he's done pretty much every other time I've seen him. The latter is basically elements of Good Will Hunting and The Village filtered through Little Miss Sunshine, which shouldn't work - and is fairly preposterous and pretentious as a result - but it hangs together despite some plot holes. Takes some kind of movie to play grave robbing for comedy. Meek's Cutoff...I don't know. The acting is wonderful, the direction is better, but that ending. I mean, that's what an ending like that is *supposed* to do - make you dwell on it - but...hnnn. It's hard to feel like rewarding it. But even harder to ignore it or dismiss it out of hand, especially since it's the rare ending to a film that's honest. I'm actually not done watching Wildlife yet, but I'm halfway through and it's really well-done to this point. Probably something that would otherwise slip under the radar, but Carey Mulligan is pretty goddamned great in it. It's definitely worth a look. For my part, it honestly hits a little close to home, since it's so similar to what it was like watching my parents get divorced and go their separate ways at the exact same age. Definitely Making It The Cabin in the Woods Free Solo Booksmart (all Hulu) Nightcrawler (rental) I keep thinking to myself Michael Fassbender was the best actor of the 2010s, then I keep watching Jake Gyllenhaal and having to rethink this. And I really can't stand looking at his goofy goddamn face. I mean, I don't hate him - I reserve film hate for Lars von Trier only - but it's an instant dislike I have to overcome every time I see his name in the credits. But holy *shit* is Nightcrawler good. I just wish I'd watched this while it was still free on Netflix years ago. There are some things that keep it from being top-tier for the decade, like the way the music is, at times, a little jarring and hokey and disruptive, and I didn't care for Riz Ahmed or how his character was handled. But the rest is just aces. Having said that, if we're comparing best performances for Fassbender & Gyllenhaal against one another, I still prefer Shame to this by a wide margin. Cabin has probably been talked about enough for the last however long; it's fun and feels like an easy thing to slot into the bottom 10 because it deserves some recognition but isn't truly "great". But, I gotta say, if it *reeeeeeeally* wanted to be a parody of horror movies, it ought to have a shitty sequel by now, shouldn't it? Booksmart is one of the funniest movies I've watched recently, and, even though it's as formulaic as can be, it most certainly is not the Superbad for this generation, because it's a fuckload better than Superbad. Probably the best non-John Hughes teen movie; probably better than a chunk of those. Really well acted and well-executed, but it *is* a formula movie, so it's bottom-end of my list. Free Solo is the best documentary I've watched so far during this process; I expect there are better ones I'll get to soon, but if the point of a movie is to elicit feelings and reactions, then this is just a Hell of a movie. As difficult to watch as it is to look away, and knowing the ending does basically nothing to dampen how it feels.

I wonder what classifies as "compelling", if those two don't. And compelling is especially tough within the horror genre, since they're so frequently films reliant upon the prestige (the magic trick step) to work at all; as good as Jordan Peele's movies are, that's easily their weak point. He has to fucking explain them to you. I'd go so far as to argue both of these are films that *refuse* to do that and that it makes them considerably stronger than they would be otherwise. The endings are already there, already unavoidable; they just ask the audience to focus and have an eye for detail. Needless to say they're both on my list, though I do have a sense, from having talked to people and from seeing them both, that which ever film is your first experience with Eggers is most likely the one you end up rating higher.

I'd rather include - in fact, almost certainly will include - the first time they made Wonder Woman, when it was Captain America: The First Avenger. I almost feel bad I've managed to find space for at least 8 superhero/comic book movies on my list so far. Once you really pump the brakes and re-examine them, "grading on a curve" really is the best way to explain the phenomenon. Star Wars Writ Large. Well, larger.

I only found Yesterday noteworthy for two reasons. 1. I knew Danny Boyle directed it, but 10 minutes in, I thought, "Why is he doing a Richard Curtis-style movie?" Then I saw the script credit at the end. Curtis must have been too busy. 2. I liked the way things played out with the other "rememberers". I figured there'd be some dark business, but it put the right spin on everything. Otherwise, it was as average as a Starbucks coffee.

Here's another slew of stuff I knocked out since the last reading, and some stuff I forgot about. All Netflix unless otherwise specified. Nope. The Ballad of Buster Scruggs Velvet Buzzsaw Only God Forgives Granted, I've only watched the first 30 minutes of the last movie, but it's safe to say it won't be on my list anywhere. It's one of the instances of "Ryan Gosling Stares at an Object Past the Camera", except it's one of the ones that fails as acting, whereas Blade Runner 2049 and Drive were both excellent. Velvet Buzzsaw was really engaging for the first 40 minutes and then turns into totally mediocre horror dreck. And if Buster had been as hilarious as the first five minutes or as well-shot/compelling as the last section the entire way through, it'd be on there. But it's all over the map, and not really the way it's intended to be. Excellent performance, Off-kilter Message Okja Dallas Buyers Club There's a lot to like about both of these, particularly the acting, but I think they both miss the mark badly on their wider themes. Okja seems to go all-in on weapons-grade anti-meat-eating, and hey, some part of me gets it, but I think it misses the point about people in modern society. It's not that people who work in animal husbandry or run meat processing plants are crueler than everyone else; it's that "everyone else" in Western society has the luxury of being so far removed from that daily sense of what it's like to snuff out another life, that these scenes can seem shocking. But make no mistake; if we had to revert to some 19th-century style agrarian life, where it was on individual families to slaughter their own animals again, well...the world wouldn't run out of bacon anytime soon. And Okja is more effective at convincing itself otherwise than it is at convincing an audience. Dallas Buyers Club is pretty darn good start to finish, but it also peddles some high-quality woo-woo that undercuts the things it's trying to say. Leave it to Hollywood. I guess one of these could sneak on, and I could see why someone would like them enough, but... eh. Still Percolating Finding Vivian Maier (IFC Channel) Enemy Silver Linings Playbook I think the first, a documentary about an eccentric photographer/hoarder who happened to also be a goddamned artistic grandmaster, is pretty good, but probably could have been done even better with someone else at the helm, but it's still pretty intriguing if not particularly well put together. The second movie is...very yellow? I don't know. I love Denis Villeneuve; I'll have at least 2 of his movies in my top 20 and possibly a couple more on the list after some rewatches. This could sneak on, I suppose, but...I don't know. A story about a douchebag doesn't take on greater meaning because you couch it in symbolism and name-drop Hegel and make things yellow - I think it just pushes you from douchebag, singular, to douchecanoe, plural. Luckily it's short, in case I feel like rewatching. Also, Sarah Gadon. Silver Linings Playbook is really good, especially in the first hour when they give Cooper & Lawrence more time to clash and crackle, but damn if it isn't David O. Russell's third-best movie of the decade, and Villeneuve might legit be the only director from the 2010s who deserves 3+ spots on a list like this. Heartbreakers, List-makers Only Lovers Left Alive (Starz) Blue Jay Portrait of a Lady on Fire (Hulu) I've been trying to find a way to watch Only Lovers for a while, since anything with Tom Hiddleston & Tilda Swinton is pretty much going to be my jam, but I don't like buying Blu-rays sight unseen unless I have no other choice. I'm glad this didn't let me down. The plot, such as it is, is pretty pedestrian, and there are a couple of minutes towards the end that seem a little out of place, but the rest of it is fun and stylish and electric and funny in ways a lot of films just can't muster. It seems clear that everyone who worked on this was having fun doing it, and it comes through nicely. I do kinda wish it had delved more into Adam's music, though. I suppose after asking whether there were two more entwined performances than those of the leads in Whiplash, I could have answered with Blue Jay, but there are only 3 speaking roles in the whole fucking movie, so I don't think it actually qualifies. But goddamn...Sarah Paulson is one of those actors I really want to like more, but I swear, every single time she does a more widely-seen role, I end up hating her for doing them. But then movies like this remind you why she's so good in the first place. Just an ocean of contradictions. And Mark Duplass pulls off one of the real high-wire acts you'll see, too, veering from clearly-faking-okayness to likeable to pathetic to furious to lovably goofy at the bat of an eye. And maybe the last one is recency bias, because I literally just finished watching it before writing this, but holy crap, is it ever just a beautiful-looking film. The lighting, the detail, the peeling paint on doors, the way cloth looks...it just looks *better* than so many other movies, more alive, less flat and distant. It could have been 2 hours of making armpit noises - instead of 20 seconds of it, watch it and you'll see what I mean - and it might still be worthy of inclusion just because it looks so good. Oh, and it's also really well acted and well-written. At first I thought the "wistful memory" bookends were going to be lame, especially considering how well the body of the story is executed and how well it closes out, but the ending of the film really hits hard and redeemed that choice in spades.

I just watched this last night. 3 things struck me about it. 1. Ryan Gosling is a far better comedic actor than I would have guessed; he should probably do more things that venture that direction. 2. Shane Black has written himself into a category he shares with Quentin Tarantino - not because this film was good (I mean, it was, but not as good as EVA is claiming), but because this felt back-dated primarily to get away with a lot of jokes that wouldn't fly if it were set today, much like Tarantino seems to like the Civil War era to drop as many n-bombs as possible. There's also the shared category of, "They only know how to write one type of movie", I suppose, but QT can write, say, one-and-a-half types of movie, so, he squeaks his way past, depending on how generous you feel. 3. If this were a Top 100 Unappreciated films of the last decade, it'd be a top 10 or top 5 candidate. Top 100 Best? Ehhhhhhhhhh.

I bought some things, rented this and that, and signed up for some crap and have opinions on a slew of films I never saw before. Not on the list, not ever. Knives Out (rented) Joker (rented) Silence (Crackle? Tubi? One of those) I might go so far as to say Knives Out was the best of these three, and that isn't really saying a whole lot. Most of the fun was seeing Chris Evans hamming it up and Ana de Armas being charming as Hell. The rest was...good? But excellent cinema? No. Rian Johnson may be the most overhyped director of the last 15 years; at the very least, he should quit navel-gazing and hand his scripts off to someone else, instead of writing & directing, but alas, that isn't going to happen. Silence was 2h45min I wish I had back. There was nothing about it that felt like a new or necessary addition; it was just Extruded Scorsese. I guess I'll have more "theme parks" on my list than Marty's films. And Joker...ugh. I liked the first half of this better when I saw it the first two times, when it was Taxi Driver and/or The King of Comedy. Also, why the Hell is Joker portrayed as a gullible half-wit for such a big chunk of the movie, and why is murder the only thing that somehow helps him wise up to the world? I mean, really? It's just...ugh. The whole "I have a condition" thing is not only kind of insulting, it also guts the notion of who the Joker is supposed to be. Arthur Fleck as a bright guy who keeps getting screwed by people who have no moral compass? Sure. Arthur Fleck as a decent guy who tries to keep his decency at all costs until he breaks? That works too. But this Tourette's-lite wilting flower who's so easily duped repeatedly? Egad. It's a total failure to actually get the character right in any meaningful way whatsoever. And, had this movie been any less popular than it was, had it been not about Joker (I mean, let's face, it *isn't* about Joker with the crap job it did, but...), I think it could have been to mental health issues what The Silence of the Lambs was to transgendered folk. Nicole Kidman Does Not Make This List Queen of the Desert Rabbit Hole (both IFC channel) The first one Werner Herzog doing a biopic, which was sort of a "what the fuck?" moment, but it's fairly average as far as those go -- and people familiar with Gertrude Bell have said it doesn't do her justice either. Nice, pretty, and totally inessential. Rabbit Hole is definitely the better movie, but it's an exemplar of the BoJack Horseman joke about Aaron Eckhart, and it's weird (though not surprising) to see Miles Teller (in his first film role, no less) act circles around Nicole Kidman in their scenes together. If I can't think of anything else to add... Fast Color (Hulu) Boyhood Two Days, One Night (both IFC) Upgrade (HBO) I kind of liked Upgrade for just being goofy, frenetic, stupid fun, and a part of me almost wants to sneak this into a top 100. I figured 91-100 are basically statement picks anyway, so that's how I plan on using them, and I could see sticking it there. But, let's face it, it's pretty much Death Wish with prettier visuals. And I can think of better, similar films to use those picks on. Fast Color is touching and lovely and thought-provoking, but it also doesn't really seem to *be* about anything that shows up on its surface. Sure, it's about grief, and motherhood, and racism, and trauma, but why does that have to come in a super-powers wrapper? Who the Hell knows; I'm not sure Julia Hart knows. Two Days, One Night felt a little too tightly focused on Marion Cotillard in a "Flair carrying a broomstick" kind of way; my favorite scene in the whole movie was when everyone is gathered for the vote, so I guess I just wasn't blown away by the one-woman performance. Plus, there's at least one plot element 2/3s of the way through that gets glossed over and moved on from far too quickly. Boyhood was great at times, particularly the first hour and the last couple of acts, and the rest of the time felt like a gimmick. I'm not really sure why this got *quite* so much hype for Best Picture that year, though, granted, I haven't seen Birdman yet. But I have seen three of the other nominees (Budapest, Imitation Game, Whiplash), and I would have chosen any of them over it. But I guess Boyhood could sneak on. Back-end contenders Kumiko, the Treasure Hunter (Kanopy) The Black Power Mixtape 1967-1975 (IFC) Two different films, I'm not sure there are, but they both feel a little light with respect to the depth of their subject matter. There are certainly powerful moments in both, but I came away from each one thinking I wanted more, or that I hadn't been shown something that would have helped pull them together just a little bit better. That said, the former film is a wonderful little meditation on loneliness, isolation, and the impersonal nature of modern society - you know, all that shit we took for granted until 6 weeks ago. And the latter film has one of my favorite cuts I've ever seen in a movie: one narrator talks about African-Americans coming back from Vietnam and falling into the same old traps in the early 70s...and right on cue, it shifts gears, and Lewis Farrakhan shows up for the first time in the film. Lead Pipe Locks 45 Years (IFC) The Florida Project (Kanopy) Whiplash I'll skip pimping something like Parasite, which I did see for the first time, because I don't have anything remotely original to say about how fantastic it was. But, as for the rest of these...I keep wanting to find a way to slot Logan in my top 20, but then I keep seeing films like these, and I realize I just can't bring myself to do it. Plus, it'll end up in a fair spot due to the Kid A effect - i.e., it's not actually that fucking amazing, but literally everyone has seen it and has an opinion -- so it's not like I really have to worry about putting it 30th or just outside. Actually, none of these are really top 20 yet, but if nothing else comes up, these will get bumped upward before the submission date. Locks for the list no matter what. Charlotte Rampling has to have the worst luck in the world, because she found a role that was perfect for her and totally deserved an Oscar for 45 Years, but of course that was Brie Larson's year, so, wasn't happening. The Florida Project is one of those movies that probably shouldn't have worked, but it did. I really hope the many first-time actors in it get a chance to have careers as actors moving forward. And Whiplash...Jesus tapdancing Christ. I didn't really want to rent it, but it was streaming nowhere, so I just bought instead, and I'm so glad I did. It's like Good Will Hunting filtered through a funhouse mirror, and I'd really have to sit down and think whether there are two superior acting performances that feed off each other so much and so well as Teller & Simmons did. Hepburn and O'Toole in The Lion in Winter? Maybe? I'll save the rest of what I've been thinking for writing up my list down the road. But, if you haven't, WATCH THESE.

So apparently the Hawk became a mortician. I guess if I decide to go off on a Nicolas-Cage-like bender to kill myself, I'd better do it in Miami.

I don't know if "team leader" is high on his list of pluses if you watched the Doc & Darryl 30 for 30. Unless he was leading them to the nightclub bathroom for toots 3 nights a week.

So, Norm MacDonald?

According to some crap I saw on Amazon - and now confirmed - it looks like 2 DF books. Peace Talks, then Battle Ground in September.

I think I've crossed about a dozen movies & rewatches off my absurdly long list - getting to 100 will be a snap and I'll probably have to jettison a lot of things I like. But, if this is a pimping thread, then I've only seen one movie so far that actually deserves it: in part because it's gone nearly without mention and in part because it's just that fucking good. Phoenix, dir: Christian Petzold, 2014 This bit of German mind-fuckery almost doesn't even feel like a film; aside from the numerous sets and locations, it has all the intimacy and tension of something on stage. It's, to say the least, slow and a little bit preposterous to begin with, but, as it develops, little bits and pieces of story fall into your lap and a sense of dread and worry starts gnawing at you. For the last 25 minutes or so, the emotional intensity of the story hits a different gear. It's difficult to know exactly what's going to happen, and it feels like all the possible choices are terrible, but this comes through with what might be the greatest ending I have ever seen in any film. It's a Mother of All Gut Punches along the lines of Roy Batty's coda in Blade Runner: just beautiful and ironic and perfectly executed. Nina Hoss probably put on one of the three or four greatest acting performances I've seen from this decade. I've left a lot of space in my list so far - I've been slotting in things I want to include at the 5's and then building around those as a way of assembling the list a little cleaner and quicker - but this isn't likely to go lower than # 30 for me. It might angle higher if some of the stuff I get around to watching doesn't hit me like this did. And you can watch this! It's definitely available on The Criterion Channel and on IFC Films Unlimited (easy enough to get a 30-day free trial if you have Amazon Prime), maybe elsewhere, too.

So ESO is doing a free weekend. I wasted 2 hours downloading a ridiculous trove of bullshit and played it for precisely 2 minutes before deleting. I suppose I should have figured it would more or less control like Morrowind, but after turning 2 corners with lame-ass WASD and having that first conversation after you wash up wherever, I just had to hit eject. There's no way I can play a keyboard/mouse first-person game anymore. It's a frustrating engine when they already had controllers worked out, and I'm too used to the top-down third-person style in Path of Exile anyway, if I'd bother playing anything of the sort. The character creation was fun, though; first time I made a cool-looking Khajiit lady. And since my first few names were taken, *of course* I named her Thunder Cracky.

My first intro to Bill was (ugh) a Hootie & the Blowfish cover of "Use Me". But, between my irrational appreciation for Notting Hill and my ex-girlfriend's tendency to sing his songs while we walked around in Baltimore, he's tied to shitloads of things I miss. And now he gets to be on the list, too. Fuck 2020.

Since it's all but certain things like documentaries will get short shrift in the main body of ballots, it'd be interesting to peel through the various genres of films and do a re-ordering that only includes that genre. Like, top however-many of Docs, etc. Probably a lot of work. But, I bet you'd get a handful of us willing to slice and dice the data that way and repost. Protip: don't give J.T. the horror stuff or he'll sneak Hereditary on top even if it's not actually # 1...

Vincent Adultman was too busy to attend the party; he was brainstorming ideas for the new business factory he's opening with Harry Fondle.

Cripes, The Other Guys was this decade? That has a slim chance of sneaking on. Shows you A) how different things feel these days and B) how much the movie industry has somehow shifted. 2010 was a heck of a year, though; probably going to be highly represented in my top 20. Guess it's good to know docs are part of this process, too. Won't You Be My Neighbor? will definitely be somewhere on my list, though this effectively doubles the number of things I need to watch or rewatch.

Not dying from ridiculous heights was definitely the case in Morrowind. You could be super-douchey in that game and enchant a piece of clothing or shoulder pad or some such garbage with the minimum of a skill called Feather, and you would never take damage from falling ever again. I would usually have a couple of things maxed out with Jump as well, so I'd take like 3 bounds for every one of the cantos in Vivec City (when it didn't crash the game, at least).

Yeah, that's what the Home Workout app I have had on my phone for 2+ years (and not used) is suggesting as well. Too bad I live on the second floo--oh wait, I fucking hate my loud-ass downstairs neighbors, so fuck them.