Our top 10's of 2000 - Time to throw down - Page 12

Yeah, Yi Yi was one I was glad people mentioned as it ended up very high on my list.

I just love that kid especially, although the father and daughter were both excellent as well.

Just as the ending neared I could see

Spoiler:

that kid's speech coming, it just felt so natural for it to end that way.

A very well constructed film.

I am going to try and catch Panic at the Keystone Cinema before it ends it's run. I awesome we all agree on that being a 2000 film based on it's crazy release problems. Did it really play on cable in 2000? I don't have Cinemax and I don't remember if actually got played on cable, but if so then it would certainly have to go as a 2000 film, but totally non-Oscar eligible.

Okay, we are back.

Panic 2.5/4
At times it's very good, especially every single moment that Neve and Macy are on screen together. But at other times it feels awkward and sophmoric. It trips on it's own feet.

It's a great story, sometimes good script, direction is off a bit, and it's hard to be sure if it's due to the direction or not, but the acting seems rather stiff and goofy at times.

It does have a few very nice moments though. Certainly worth renting at least, and I would bet some of you would just love this film simply for the story that it is.

The House of Mirth 3.5/4
Period pieces often bore people and I can understand that. However, this is a good one and if you can enjoy this sort of turn-of-the-century aristocratic love story then you should see this film.

It's wonderfully acted and well-directed. The story moves along well with only a few slight gaps that might leave some viewers a little confused over character motivation. But trust me, it all makes sense.

Gillian Anderson will surprise you for sure. She is strong in this role. I also thought Anthony LaPaglia was great in his part. Not a top 10 film, but darn good. If I was a Sense and Sensibility type of viewer then I would buy this DVD. As it stands it was a good rental and a film that I wouldn't mind watching a bit of again some day.

Well, once Cast Away comes out for rent next week I will probably do another totaling. Then I will wait out Pollock I suppose into mid-July at which point I will probably do my final total and consider that a stopping point for our "recent" thoughts on 2000 films.

After that I would think we would be getting into an area of reflection upon 2000 films instead.

And that sort of stuff would still be welcomed here, or perhaps I could start a new thread and archive stuff from this one. Maybe a webpage with all the top films and our thoughts on each listed there. I don't know yet, I need to work that all out.

Cast Away
I remember people complaining about the end of this film as being the problem, but I guess I didn't see that. The package got picked up when they locate the island, or at least that's what I figured. That is if that is what people thought was dumb. Otherwise it made perfect sense.

It played beautifully as Hanks journey through life and strife and I thought he stayed reserved enough, especially at the end when it could have gone too far. Not quite top 10 material for me but only because the other 10 are so strong. I felt extremely satisified with what it had to offer and I see why Hanks got his Oscar nomination.

Also, I have watched Almost Famous, CTHD, Traffic, Erin B, Requiem, and Before Night Falls all within a month now, all 2nd times or more except for BNF, and those viewings really reinforced my feelings regarding my top 10. I feel even better about my list now than I did before.

I'm watching O Brother right now and it's as strong as I thought on first viewing. Such a beautiful picture and a great bit of storytelling blended with a wonderful soundtrack.

I only have Pollock left to catch now basically.

This was a bit how I felt when I watched In the Mood for Love. Some pacings and styles work better/worse for different people. I couldn't knock Mood because it had direction, characters, style, but it just didn't bring it home for me. So I can understand where you are coming from.

So Rob, I guess I shouldn't mention that I will be watching You Can Count on Me tonight. I loved this film and expect to enjoy just as much this time. BTW, over the last month or so I've been letting my mom catch all these great films that she didn't get to see. I have her over for movie night. It's one of the rewards for the home theater effort, I'm sure many of you have similar experiences.

Anyway, if you missed it make sure to rent or buy You Can Count on Me. It may not be for everyone, but I think it's quality filmmaking. Perhaps it won't get you but I doubt you will think it's a "bad" film. I thought it was warm and wonderful.

Oh, and I will be retotaling this weekend for sure.

I'm moving YCCoM up my list a bit. I think I undervalued it even as high as I had it originally.

Actually Rob, I was going for the "I have it early" angle.

You didn't like YCCoM?!? Why you SOB, I oughta...


Anyway, about those totals this weekend. Well, see there was Tomb Raider, and then dinner, and some bills to pay and uh...
Tonight, I promise (not that anyone probably gives a hoot at this point)

Okay, here is the 2nd to last totalling. Remember that the totals only represent films that opened for at least a week in NY/LA in 2000. This totalling does NOT include any films not meeting that criteria (In the Mood, Memento, Amores). I am so very, very thankful that this seems to all be worked out in Jason's thread for 2001. After going through this thread checking totals I had to relive all that debating on release year... it sure did suck.

Anyway, as of today our 66 participants ranked the films as following:

By Total Points (10 for 1, 9 for 2,... 1 for 10)
336 - Traffic
321 - CTHD
283 - Almost Famous
279 - Requiem for a Dream
169 - High Fidelity

144 - You Can Count on Me
139 - Gladiator
124 - Dancer in the Dark
119 - Wonder Boys
117 - Oh Brother, WAT?

95 - Erin B
53 - American Psycho
52 - Unbreakable
52 - Best in Show
51 - The Contender

49 - The Virgin Suicides
48 - Yi Yi
48 - Cast Away
44 - Chicken Run
39 - Way of the Gun

37 - Croupier
36 - Quills
32 - X-Men
32 - Nurse Betty
32 - 13 Days

Top 10 Appearances
46 - Traffic
44 - CTHD
43 - Almost Famous
36 - Requiem for a Dream
36 - High Fidelity

24 - Gladiator
23 - Oh Brother
21 - Wonder Boys
20 - You Can Count on Me
20 - Erin B

Best Average Rank (5 appearances minimum)
8.0 - Yi Yi
7.8 - Requiem
7.3 - Traffic
7.3 - CTHD
7.3 - Dancer in the Dark

7.2 - You Can Count
6.6 - Almost Famous
6.5 - Unbreakable
6.5 - Way of the Gun
6.2 - Croupier

5.8 - Billy Elliot
5.8 - Gladiator
5.7 - Wonder Boys
5.3 - American Psycho
5.3 - 13 Days


What does it all mean? I guess you can decide that for yourself. Roughly it looks like we think Traffic was the best picture (as a group) and that Almost Famous was robbed in not getting nominated over Chocolat.

Only 5 films made more than 50% of our lists.

Yi Yi, Requiem and Dancer could have benefitted from being seen by more people it would appear.

And speaking of Dancer, somewhere Al is smiling as Dancer is firmly entrenched in the top 10 at number 8.

Once Pollock streets I am giving it a week or so to get rented and then I am doing a FINAL tally. Comments will still be welcome, along with list changes, but I won't be totalling anymore after that point.

And while I'm here let me just say thanks to all who have been a part of it and followed the rules (most of you ) and appreciated my efforts to get a consistent structure. I'd like to think all the pain felt in this thread has gone toward making Jason's thread all the better.

Now it's in B&W, we can officially begin bitching about how the Academy screwed some films, as if you needed this list to do that.

You know guys, wouldn't it have been nice to have these lists about 8 months ago as a sort of roadmap to what we were in for. There's definately some things I would have passed on at the theater and others I would have made time to get to.

Of course it's never that easy. But like the AFI is a good beginning list for catching all that's great in American film, I think our list gives you a primer look at 2000 in film. Sure, no one will 100% agree, but I got to think that if you watched our top 25 you would do a lot better than just some random 25.

And in 4 years when we all have appointed Chocolat as the unappreciated genius that it is we can look back on these lists and laugh at how wrong we were.

Brook, it's about a month till Pollock streets I think, so you have some time.

Yeah, Panic is a 2000 film, however it lost it's Academy eligibility when in desperation for money and unable to distribute it, it was sold to Pay TV first (Cinemax maybe, I forget). If you play on TV first, you are Academy ineligable.

I finally saw Unbreakable and enjoyed it quite a bit. As I have said before, the "twist" to 6th Sense never fooled me after the first 5 minutes of the film due to the filmmaking technique and the trailers for the film "I see dead people". So 6th didn't blow me away, but I did respect the performances and filmmaking technique.

The same can be said with Unbreakable, although I was a bit more fooled this time as I had less ideas where it was going till it was there. But again it's the overall presentation and performances that make it interesting.

I love M.Night's somber presentation, very mellow, slightly sad. I found it to be a very interesting journey and a nice spin on the standard comic book.

With Pollock out tomorrow and 13 Days just released, I am given this thread about another week or so and then I will be doing the FINAL totaling for our 2000 lists.

At that point my suggestion will be that we trim out all discussion and then archive the thread for future reference.

I realize that people's thoughts change and that not everyone gets a chance to see everything, but I would say that the end of July is pushing it for wrapping up our feelings on the previous year's films, at least from a "current" opinion standpoint. I think it's better that we capture a snapshot of what we just thought about the current year's films rather than having an ever changing and on-going set of lists.

Plus, most of us have moved our focus onto the 2001 film thread which is rolling along.