MC Yearly Consensus -- 2000

[Spinal]

I'm bringing it back. The time has come.

Submit your five favorite films from this year and in a week I will give you a top ten. IMDb dates will be used.

The point system is as follows

1st Place-5 points
2nd Place-4 points
3rd Place-3.5 points
4th Place-3 points
5th Place-2.5 points

There will be no restrictions on short films. You may edit your post freely up until the time that I lock the thread, which will be in about a week. I will give at least 24 hours warning before locking the thread.

I will start the next thread in a few days and do at least two threads a week.
Upcoming years: 1990, 1980, 1970 ... etc.

You may begin now.

IMDb power search (http://www.imdb.com/list)

[baby doll]

1. Platform (Jia Zhang-ke)
2. Werckmeister Harmonies (Bela Tarr)
3. Yi Yi (Edward Yang)
4. In the Mood for Love (Wong Kar-wai)
5. The Heart of the World (Guy Maddin)

[Spinal]

1. Dancer in the Dark
2. The Isle
3. Together
4. The Heart of the World
5. Requiem for a Dream

[Boner M]

1. Yi Yi (Yang)
2. George Washington (Green)
3. In the Mood For Love (Wong)
4. Eureka (Aoyama)
5. The House of Mirth (Davies)

I'm sure Werckmeister Harmonies would make the cut when I watch it again under better conditions.

[baby doll]

5. The House of Mirth (Davies)Have you read the book? Because I found the film a major disappointment after reading it. Incidentally, I loved Davies' The Neon Bible but haven't read the novel it's based on. (I still haven't seen The Terence Davies Trilogy, Distant Voices, Still Lives or The Long Day Closes.)

[Boner M]

Have you read the book? Because I found the film a major disappointment after reading it. Incidentally, I loved Davies' The Neon Bible but haven't read the novel it's based on. (I still haven't seen The Terence Davies Trilogy, Distant Voices, Still Lives or The Long Day Closes.)
Nah, I haven't read it though I've been meaning to check out some Wharton after Melville's prodding.

The Long Day Closes is my favorite Davies; need to give Distant Voices another go sometime. I have The Neon Bible available to me and really wanna see it.

[soitgoes...]

1. Dancer in the Dark (Lars von Trier)
2. Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon (Ang Lee)
3. Wonder Boys (Curtis Hanson)
4. The Heart of the World (Guy Maddin)
5. Yi Yi (Edward Yang)

[Rowland]

My wannabe cinephilia wasn't in full swing yet by 2000, so my list is embarrassingly anemic.

[Watashi]

1. Dancer in the Dark
2. You Can Count On Me
3. Memento
4. Almost Famous
5. In the Mood for Love

Eh.

[Torgo]

1. In The Mood For Love
2. Memento
3. Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon
4. Billy Elliot
5. American Psycho

I really need to see more from this year.

[Philosophe_rouge]

1. In the Mood for Love
2. House of Mirth
3. Battle Royale
4. Quills
5. Gladiator

[baby doll]

Nah, I haven't read it though I've been meaning to check out some Wharton after Melville's prodding.

The Long Day Closes is my favorite Davies; need to give Distant Voices another go sometime. I have The Neon Bible available to me and really wanna see it.I loved Wharton's novel, so seeing it reduced to a two-and-a-half hour film seemed insanely reductive. It's indicative of what's wrong with the film that Selden/Eric Stoltz's bachelor flat is so huge and luxurious that any sense of class difference between him and, say, Gus Trenor/Dan Aykroyd is completely lost.

[Li Lili]

1. Platform (Jia Zhangke)
2. Eureka (Shinji Aoyama)
3. Mysterious Object at Noon (Apichatpong Weerasethakul)
4. In the Mood for Love (WKW)
5. Virgin Stripped Bare by Her Bachelors (Hong sang-soo)

I would have added but know they won't make it (but they are excellent films : Durian Durian, Peppermint Candy, Devils on the Doorstep...).

[Sycophant]

When it comes to 2000, I'm like Rowland. I missed a lot that year and could count the number of films mentioned thus far that I've seen on one hand. And I think some of them kind of suck.

[Ivan Drago]

1. Unbreakable
2. In The Mood For Love
3. Requiem For A Dream
4. Quills
5. Remember The Titans

[Spinal]

When it comes to 2000, I'm like Rowland. I missed a lot that year and could count the number of films mentioned thus far that I've seen on one hand. And I think some of them kind of suck.

This does not bode well for the 1930's.

[baby doll]

This does not bode well for the 1930's.

I can name my top five for 1936 right now:

1. Sisters of the Gion (Kenji Mizoguchi)
2. Rose Hobart (Joseph Cornell)
3. Osaka Elegy (Kenji Mizoguchi)
4. Swing Time (George Stevens)
5. My Man Godfrey (Gregory La Cava)

[soitgoes...]

I can name my top five for 1936 right now:

1. Sisters of the Gion (Kenji Mizoguchi)
2. Rose Hobart (Joseph Cornell)
3. Osaka Elegy (Kenji Mizoguchi)
4. Swing Time (George Stevens)
5. My Man Godfrey (Gregory La Cava)
Super. Now all you have to do is refer to this post in September 2008 or whenever when we finally get to 1936.

[Grouchy]

1. In the Mood for Love
2. Requiem for a Dream
3. Battle Royale
4. Dancer in the Dark
5. La Comunidad [Common Wealth]

[Ezee E]

1. Requiem for a Dream
2. American Psycho
3. Memento
4. Shadow of the Vampire
5. Quills

[Sycophant]

If there's a year in which I've seen under ten films, I'll probably just sit it out.

[Rowland]

1. Memento
2. Traffic
3. Requiem for a Dream
4. Yi Yi
5. Unbreakable

Eh.

[Yxklyx]

1. Songs from the Second Floor (Roy Andersson)
2. The Heart of the World (Guy Maddin) [short]
3. Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon (Ang Lee)
4. Memento (Christopher Nolan)
5. Nurse Betty (Neil Labute)

[dreamdead]

1. Yi Yi (Yang)
2. Werckmeister Harmonies (Tarr)
3. In the Mood For Love (Wong)
4. Eureka (Aoyama)
5. The House of Mirth (Davies)

[Stay Puft]

1. The Vertical Ray of the Sun
2. Songs from the Second Floor
3. In the Mood for Love
4. Requiem for a Dream
5. Shadow of the Vampire

I'm terrible with these. I'm terrible with dates.

[origami_mustache]

1. Eureka
2. In the Mood For Love
3. Yi Yi
4. Werckmeister Harmonies
5. O Brother, Where Art Thou?

[Melville]

Nah, I haven't read it though I've been meaning to check out some Wharton after Melville's prodding.
I've never read anything by Wharton, so that probably wasn't me.

1. In the Mood for Love
2. Requiem for a Dream
3. A Time for Drunken Horses
4. Werckmeister Harmonies
5. George Washington

Honorable mentions: The Heart of the World, Shadow of the Vampire, You Can Count on Me

[Mr. Valentine]

1. Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon
2. Unbreakable
3. In the Mood For Love
4. Battle Royale
5. Wonder Boys

[koji]

Thanks for doing this Spinal. The RT version, from some years ago, was a gold mine for films to watch. Just looking at the films listed here, I plan to netfix Yi Yi.

Audition is 1999 on IMDB.

My list will be up before too long.

[Mr. Valentine]

Audition played one canadian film festival in late 1999 but every other release was 2000 including it's native Japan in March 2000 so i'm considering it a 2000 release.

[koji]

Audition played one canadian film festival in late 1999 but every other release was 2000 including it's native Japan in March 2000 so i'm considering it a 2000 release.I was just providing information consistent with the rules in the first post.

[Spinal]

This consensus will use strict IMDb dates only. No debating.

[Rowland]

This consensus will use strict IMDb dates only. No debating.Hmm.

*updates list*

[chrisnu]

I'm bringing it back. The time has come.
:pritch:

1. You Can Count On Me
2. Requiem For A Dream
3. Songs from the Second Floor
4. Traffic
5. ivansxtc

[Mysterious Dude]

1. Requiem for a Dream
2. Traffic
3. El Bola
4. The Cell
5. Sexy Beast

[Weeping_Guitar]

1. Wonder Boys
2. Almost Famous
3. In the Mood For Love
4. Gladiator
5. High Fidelity

[baby doll]

I'm surprised how many people still remember Traffic. It seems to me that Soderbergh, who made his first feature in 1989, has been making first features ever since--each time he makes a movie, he starts again from zero. (The Ocean's films, which I haven't seen and which he clearly regards as impersonal, might be the exception that proves the rule.) And if we can divide his output into two general phases, his independent period (1989-96) and his studio period (1998-present), it's only gotten worse since he's making so many more films. King of the Hill might not be a masterpiece, but it feels complete on its own terms. But following Out of Sight (his first George Clooney caper movie, which is slick and entertaining in a mild sort of way but nothing special--a film born of professionalism rather than passion), he seems trapped in a perpetual apprentice mode, whether remaking works by Ken Loach and Andrei Tarkovsky (which is ironic since Tarkovsky seemed capable only of making the same movie again and again) or just experimenting ("Hey, what if I went to middle America and made a movie with people from the area?").

Regarding Traffic, nothing I've seen by Soderbergh indicates any kind of engagement with politics (admittedly, I haven't seen his HBO miniseries K Street), and seen in the context of Gaghan's Syriana, Traffic seems more his than Soderbergh's. For his part, Soderbergh's main motive for directing it seems to be the opportunity to make a Hollywood message movie in the vein of Exodus that tackles a Big Theme through several intersecting narratives (each one distinguished by a different color filter, which might seem experimental to people who only see Hollywood movies--and thinking back eight years, it did).

[BirdsAteMyFace]

1. Dancer in the Dark
2. Werckmeister Harmonies
3. In the Mood for Love
4. Amores perros
5. Requiem for a Dream

[Rowland]

Traffic was one of the first films that really spoke to me in the early phases of my burgeoning interest in cinema. Sure, the political ideology is probably all Gaghan (and it's one that I believe hits the nail on the head pertaining to the so-called drug war), but the film as cinema is all Soderbergh. Comparing Traffic to Syriana would be most instructive, I suspect, because Soderbergh's command of the medium makes his execution of Gaghan's material so much more engaging as art and drama.

That said, I haven't watched Traffic in half a decade, but I doubt the extent of my appreciation for it would be too drastically diminished if I were to revisit it today.

[Raiders]

1. Werckmeister Harmonies
2. George Washington
3. The House of Mirth
4. In the Mood for Love
5. Songs from the Second Floor

[Mr. Valentine]

This consensus will use strict IMDb dates only. No debating.


i missed that part, my bad. i updated.

[Boner M]

I've never read anything by Wharton, so that probably wasn't me.
*searches old forum*

Seems like I confused Wharton with Hawthorne. Quoth Raiders, "Stick with movies, boner".

[ledfloyd]

1. Wonder Boys (Hanson)
2. You Can Count On Me (Lonergan)
3. Werckmeister Harmonies (Tarr)
4. O Brother, Where Art Thou (Coens)
5. Almost Famous (Crowe)

i dunno if the order is perfect, but oh well.

runners up include High Fidelity, In the Mood for Love, Crouching Tiger Hidden Dragon, George Washington, and Battle Royale.

[Sycophant]

1. Dead or Alive 2: Birds
2. In the Mood for Love
3. Barking Dogs Never Bite
4. Crouching Tiger Hidden Dragon
5. George Washington

EDIT: Pulled out O Brother Where Art Thou for George Washington.

[Sycophant]

Think In the Mood for Love has a shot?

[soitgoes...]

Think In the Mood for Love has a shot?
Without a doubt.

[Derek]

My strongest top 5 of any year this decade, with only 2002 coming close.

1) Code Unknown (Michael Haneke)
2) Werckmeister Harmonies (Béla Tarr)
3) Yi Yi (Edward Yang)
4) In the Mood for Love (Wong Kar-Wai)
5) Eureka (Shinji Aoyama)

[Lucky]

1. Almost Famous
2. Requiem for a Dream
3. In the Mood for Love
4. Battle Royale
5. Snatch

[soitgoes...]

My strongest top 5 of any year this decade, with only 2002 coming close.
For me 2001>2000>2002. For top 10's I'd agree with you as 2000 and 2002 were incredibly deep years for film.

[MadMan]

1. Memento
2. Snatch
3. Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon
4. Unbreakable
5. American Psycho

Yeah I can't say I've seen a great deal from 2000, and only 15 films tops are ones I can say were actually good. Still I narrowed it down to five, and these five are ones I really love.

[transmogrifier]

1. Battle Royale
2. In the Mood for Love
3. Emperor's New Groove, The
4. Yi Yi: A One and a Two
5. Die Bad

Four Asian films. Interesting.

[Melville]

*searches old forum*

Seems like I confused Wharton with Hawthorne. Quoth Raiders, "Stick with movies, boner".
I never noticed that "Hawthorne" contains all the letters in "Wharton". Far out.

[Russ]

1. In the Mood for Love
2. Songs from the Second Floor
3. The Filth and the Fury
4. The Heart of the World
5. The Emperor's New Groove

[Eleven]

1. Memento
2. Werckmeister Harmonies
3. In the Mood for Love
4. Best in Show
5. George Washington

Still need to see some major stuff.

[Spinal]

Fun facts about the year 2000!

* Y2K passed without serious, widespread computer failures, as many experts and businesses had feared.

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v696/joel_harmon/lost-pilot-jack-775152.jpg

* The final original Peanuts comic strip was published, following the death of its creator, Charles Schulz.

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v696/joel_harmon/_641897_farewell300.jpg

* Elian Gonzalez returned to Cuba with his father, Juan Miguel Gonzalez, ending a protracted custody battle.

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v696/joel_harmon/elian5.jpg

* Republican candidate Texas Governor George W. Bush defeated Democratic Vice President Al Gore in the closest election in history, but the final outcome was not known for over a month because of disputed votes in Florida.

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v696/joel_harmon/bush-balancing.jpg

* Bill Clinton became the first sitting U.S. President to visit Vietnam following the end of the war.

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v696/joel_harmon/061206_clinton_hmed_5ahmedium. jpg

[MacGuffin]

1. Werckmeister Harmonies (Béla Tarr, Hungary)
2. Code inconnu: Récit incomplet de divers voyages (Michael Haneke, France)
3. Sincerely, Joe P. Bear [short] (Matt McCormick, USA)
4. American Psycho (Mary Harron, USA)
5. The Heart of the World [short] (Guy Maddin, Canada)

[Mysterious Dude]

Richard Nixon went to 'Nam in '69.

[Spinal]

Richard Nixon went to 'Nam in '69.

Edited. Happy?

[Mysterious Dude]

Edited. Happy?
I'll never be happy, Joel. Never.

[Silencio]

1. In the Mood for Love
2. Dancer in the Dark
3. Code Unknown
4. You Can Count On Me
5. Memento

[Velocipedist]

1. Werckmeister Harmonies (Béla Tarr)
2. In the Mood for Love (Wong Kar-Wai)
3. The Heart of the World (Guy Maddin)
4. The Nine Lives of Tomas Katz (Ben Hopkins)
5. Dancer in the Dark (Lars von Trier)

Honorable mentions:

6. Songs from the Second Floor (Roy Andersson)
7. Little Otik (Jan Svankmajer)

Yes, I'm new. But I've been reading you guys for months.

[origami_mustache]

Yes, I'm new. But I've been reading you guys for months.

welcome

[Raiders]

Yes, I'm new. But I've been reading you guys for months.


1. Werckmeister Harmonies (Béla Tarr)

You're doing good so far!

[Kurosawa Fan]

I guess this'll do:

1. In the Mood for Love
2. Almost Famous
3. High Fidelity
4. O Brother, Where Art Thou?
5. Traffic

[Raiders]

KF, always goin' the extra mile. Why give only five as requested when you can give ten?! It justs makes the heartbreak for Von Trier's film that much greater.

[Kurosawa Fan]

KF, always goin' the extra mile. Why give only five as requested when you can give ten?! It justs makes the heartbreak for Von Trier's film that much greater.

:lol:

Didn't these used to be top ten's at the old site? I could have sworn. It wasn't until I went through the thread looking at other people's lists that I realized I only needed 5 films.

Yeah, I kind of hate leaving those other five films off my list, but alas, most of them seem to have enough votes. I'm pulling for my underdogs.

[jesse]

Oof... the year before I started taking movies seriously. I could make a much better top five out of films I haven't seen yet but I'm pretty certain I would love...

01) In the Mood for Love
02) The House of Mirth
03) Hamlet
04) Nico and Danny (Krampack)
05) Frequency

Alt. Italian for Beginners

[MadMan]

1. Werckmeister Harmonies (Béla Tarr)
2. In the Mood for Love (Wong Kar-Wai)
3. The Heart of the World (Guy Maddin)
4. The Nine Lives of Tomas Katz (Ben Hopkins)
5. Dancer in the Dark (Lars von Trier)

Honorable mentions:

6. Songs from the Second Floor (Roy Andersson)
7. Little Otik (Jan Svankmajer)

Yes, I'm new. But I've been reading you guys for months.Cool. A hearty welcome to yah.

[megladon8]

A hearty welcome to Velocipedist!

I am still working on my list. This is super hard...2000 was actually a really good year.

[megladon8]

1.) American Psycho
2.) Unbreakable
3.) Memento
4.) Requiem for a Dream
5.) In the Mood for Love

[Yum-Yum]

1. Ginger Snaps
2. Requiem for a Dream
3. American Psycho
4. You Can Count on Me
5. Wonder Boys

[Velocipedist]

A hearty welcome to Velocipedist!

2000 was actually a really good year.

Thanks. I feel that 2000 was a good year, indeed, too. Given my 1, 3, 4, 6, 7 picks, I'd say it was a specifically good year for surreally-atmosphered (if you will) movies. 2 & 5 are not that light-aired either.

[Benny Profane]

1. You Can Count on Me
2. Unbreakable
3. Songs from the Second Floor
4. Wonder Boys
5. Amores Perros

[Gizmo]

1. Memento
2. Requiem for a Dream
3. American Psycho
4. Traffic
5. Almost Famous

[Izzy Black]

I'm surprised how many people still remember Traffic. It seems to me that Soderbergh, who made his first feature in 1989, has been making first features ever since--each time he makes a movie, he starts again from zero.

Are you saying we wouldn't remember Traffic because there is not a thematic cookie trail that leads us back to it? I remember Traffic for the very opposite reason. It sticks out like a sore thumb in Soderbergh's oeuvre. You know, just like all of his other films.


(The Ocean's films, which I haven't seen and which he clearly regards as impersonal, might be the exception that proves the rule.) And if we can divide his output into two general phases, his independent period (1989-96) and his studio period (1998-present), it's only gotten worse since he's making so many more films. King of the Hill might not be a masterpiece, but it feels complete on its own terms.

Bazarov has said the Ocean films are among his best, partly for the changing points-of-view and narrative perspectives, but I am not too crazy about them. The second film is specifically interesting, however, for its self-reflexivity and almost Godardian deconstruction of the Hollywood ensemble film.


But following Out of Sight (his first George Clooney caper movie, which is slick and entertaining in a mild sort of way but nothing special--a film born of professionalism rather than passion)

Out of Sight is not terribly ambitious, but it is an interesting film that explores the cinematic possibilities of personal intimacy.


he seems trapped in a perpetual apprentice mode, whether remaking works by Ken Loach and Andrei Tarkovsky (which is ironic since Tarkovsky seemed capable only of making the same movie again and again) or just experimenting ("Hey, what if I went to middle America and made a movie with people from the area?").

Which Ken Loach film did he remake? I am pretty sure none. (Although he samples his footage in The Limey.)


Regarding Traffic, nothing I've seen by Soderbergh indicates any kind of engagement with politics (admittedly, I haven't seen his HBO miniseries K Street), and seen in the context of Gaghan's Syriana, Traffic seems more his than Soderbergh's. For his part, Soderbergh's main motive for directing it seems to be the opportunity to make a Hollywood message movie in the vein of Exodus that tackles a Big Theme through several intersecting narratives (each one distinguished by a different color filter, which might seem experimental to people who only see Hollywood movies--and thinking back eight years, it did).

Soderbergh is fairly apolitical, but that doesn't hurt the film. It might hurt your auteristic reading of it, but that's about it. Soderbergh cannot be thematically connected to any film coherently. He's a polystylist (to borrow from Bordwell), and a decidedly postmodern artist. He invokes De Palma more than anyone, and he also moves in the studio tradition of Sydney Pollack, Michael Curtiz (who he has cited, which makes sense considering the dependency on Bazin's theory of visual authorship for 40s directors), Howard Hawks, and arguably even David Lean (in the sense of non-thematic, but cinematic trends), but with distinct vision and originality. The auterism of Soderbergh is manifested in the Bazinian idea of 'cinematographic specificity', where the original auteristic prospect was one of authorship through the mise-en-scene rather than through subject matter. Soderbergh is a student of cinema. He has surprisingly more control over his films than almost any Hollywood director out there, donning every technical task he can get his hands on, but yet lacks the thematic pretensions of a director, as say, Kevin Smith. I am sure many might consider the latter a more interesting 'auteur' in the now modernized sense, but Soderbergh is the only true cinematic maverick between the two. Smith is the struggling hack who can barely assemble an interesting visual. He needs a sketch comedy show. Soderbergh is interested in exploring different narrative, technique, texture, filmic identity, spatial elements, and duration with each and every film he makes. He's a stylist foremost, no doubt, but he doesn't abandon the story like De Palma. His aesthetic is not mere technical showiness, but a way to realize technical vision however the content demands, thus his visionary filter is a cinematic one, not a thematic one. He envisioned Solaris as a meditative, minimalist tone poem, but Traffic as an ostentatious, recklessly moving post-industrial commentary on the drug trade. Where Tarkovsky develops technique in the same fashion continually, Soderbergh has no problem taking a handheld with a zoom lens and extremely fast aperture for an overexposed film in Traffic, or invoking 40's era cinema and film noir with the characteristically extreme deep focus wide-angle lens and black and white photography in The Good German. Interestingly, Soderbergh could be a mature monostylist auteur if he wanted to, and with any one of the films he has made.

[DSNT]

1. In the Mood for Love
2. You Can Count On Me
3. Amores Perros
4. One Day in September
5. Requiem for a Dream

[eternity]

1. Almost Famous
2. Requiem for a Dream
3. O Brother, Where Art Thou
4. Best in Show
5. American Psycho

[Spinal]

What was on the radio in 2000?

Top 10 pop songs of 2000:

1. "Bye Bye Bye" - 'N Sync
2. "With Arms Wide Open" - Creed
3. "Bent" - Matchbox 20
4. "Jumpin', Jumpin'" - Destiny's Child
5. "It's Gonna Be Me" - 'N Sync
6. "I Try" - Macy Gray
7. "Kryptonite" - 3 Doors Down
8. "Independent Woman, Part 1" - Destiny's Child
9. "Come On Over (All I Want Is You)" - Christina Aguilera
10. "Show Me The Meaning Of Being Lonely" - Backstreet Boys

source: rockonthenet.com

[Grouchy]

What was on the radio in 2000?

Top 10 pop songs of 2000:

1. "Bye Bye Bye" - 'N Sync
2. "With Arms Wide Open" - Creed
3. "Bent" - Matchbox 20
4. "Jumpin', Jumpin'" - Destiny's Child
5. "It's Gonna Be Me" - 'N Sync
6. "I Try" - Macy Gray
7. "Kryptonite" - 3 Doors Down
8. "Independent Woman, Part 1" - Destiny's Child
9. "Come On Over (All I Want Is You)" - Christina Aguilera
10. "Show Me The Meaning Of Being Lonely" - Backstreet Boys

source: rockonthenet.com
These special features are cool, chico. Keep 'em coming.

[Ezee E]

Popular music was godawful in 2000.

[Kurious Jorge v3.1]

1. The Vertical Ray of the Sun
2. Werckmeister Harmonies
3. The Heart of the World
4. Yi Yi
5. In the Mood for Love

[Spinal]

The following television programs premiered in the year 2000:

Malcolm in the Middle
Survivor
Big Brother
The Weakest Link (UK)
CSI: Crime Scene Investigation
Curb Your Enthusiasm
Aqua Teen Hunger Force

The highest rated program for the year 2000:

Who Wants To Be A Millionaire?

[Stay Puft]

1. The Vertical Ray of the Sun

Finally! I was beginning to think I was the only one who had seen it.

:pritch:

(I know Llopin also likes it, but he's practically absent these days.)

[origami_mustache]

The following television programs premiered in the year 2000:

Aqua Teen Hunger Force


Didn't realize ATHF had been around that long.

[Kurosawa Fan]

What was on the radio in 2000?

Top 10 pop songs of 2000:

1. "Bye Bye Bye" - 'N Sync
2. "With Arms Wide Open" - Creed
3. "Bent" - Matchbox 20
4. "Jumpin', Jumpin'" - Destiny's Child
5. "It's Gonna Be Me" - 'N Sync
6. "I Try" - Macy Gray
7. "Kryptonite" - 3 Doors Down
8. "Independent Woman, Part 1" - Destiny's Child
9. "Come On Over (All I Want Is You)" - Christina Aguilera
10. "Show Me The Meaning Of Being Lonely" - Backstreet Boys

source: rockonthenet.com

I like 1990's songs better. :|

[Gizmo]

Popular music is godawful since 2000.

fixed.

[Spinal]

2000 in sports:

* World Series: New York Yankees win 4 games to 1 over the New York Mets.

* NBA Finals: Los Angeles Lakers win their first NBA title in twelve years, defeating the Indiana Pacers 4 games to 2.

* NCAA Men's Basketball Championship: Michigan State wins 89-76 over Florida.

* Tour de France: Lance Armstrong

* Super Bowl XXXIV: Saint Louis Rams win 23-16 over the Tennessee Titans.

* Oklahoma Sooners - college football championship.

* Champions' League: Real Madrid won 3-0 in the final against Valencia. This was Real Madrid's 8th European Cup title.

* Tiger Woods wins 3 out of 4 majors, with The Masters going to Vijay Singh.

* Stanley Cup:New Jersey Devils win 4 games to 2 over the Dallas Stars.

* Venus Williams wins both Wimbledon and the US Open.

* 2000 Summer Olympics held in Sydney, Australia.

* Tom Landry dies.

[Spinal]

You have 24 hours before this thread will be locked.

[dreamdead]

Finally! I was beginning to think I was the only one who had seen it.

:pritch:


I've seen it and considered including it, but I need another viewing to cement my opinion of it. It's a slight letdown structurally after the mindfuck that was Cyclo , and thus even though it's solid in every facet, I was a bit depressed that he turned in a subtle drama about familial relationships and dynamics rather than a genre-free-for-all. I think understanding Tran's aims would go a long way toward altering my opinion of the film on a second go-around.

[Benny Profane]

You have 24 hours before this thread will be locked.

PANIC!

[Spinal]

PANIC!

Unless, of course, Jack Bauer can find my location.

[baby doll]

Soderbergh is fairly apolitical, but that doesn't hurt the film. It might hurt your auteristic reading of it, but that's about it. Soderbergh cannot be thematically connected to any film coherently. He's a polystylist (to borrow from Bordwell), and a decidedly postmodern artist. He invokes De Palma more than anyone, and he also moves in the studio tradition of Sydney Pollack, Michael Curtiz (who he has cited, which makes sense considering the dependency on Bazin's theory of visual authorship for 40s directors), Howard Hawks, and arguably even David Lean (in the sense of non-thematic, but cinematic trends), but with distinct vision and originality. The auterism of Soderbergh is manifested in the Bazinian idea of 'cinematographic specificity', where the original auteristic prospect was one of authorship through the mise-en-scene rather than through subject matter. Soderbergh is a student of cinema. He has surprisingly more control over his films than almost any Hollywood director out there, donning every technical task he can get his hands on, but yet lacks the thematic pretensions of a director, as say, Kevin Smith. I am sure many might consider the latter a more interesting 'auteur' in the now modernized sense, but Soderbergh is the only true cinematic maverick between the two. Smith is the struggling hack who can barely assemble an interesting visual. He needs a sketch comedy show. Soderbergh is interested in exploring different narrative, technique, texture, filmic identity, spatial elements, and duration with each and every film he makes. He's a stylist foremost, no doubt, but he doesn't abandon the story like De Palma. His aesthetic is not mere technical showiness, but a way to realize technical vision however the content demands, thus his visionary filter is a cinematic one, not a thematic one. He envisioned Solaris as a meditative, minimalist tone poem, but Traffic as an ostentatious, recklessly moving post-industrial commentary on the drug trade. Where Tarkovsky develops technique in the same fashion continually, Soderbergh has no problem taking a handheld with a zoom lens and extremely fast aperture for an overexposed film in Traffic, or invoking 40's era cinema and film noir with the characteristically extreme deep focus wide-angle lens and black and white photography in The Good German. Interestingly, Soderbergh could be a mature monostylist auteur if he wanted to, and with any one of the films he has made.In terms of being a polystylist, one might cite Godard in the 60s, but for all the differences between Le Petit soldat and Une femme est une femme, Pierrot le fou and Masculin féminin, Godard is pretty consistant in his concerns (America, cinema, Anna Karina). Soderbergh seems closer to some one like Curtis Hanson in that he's flexible enough to tackle a wide variety of genres, but without a set of personal concerns, one feels his stamp on the material only superficially (the colour filters in Traffic, for example). Yes, Soderbergh is a student of cinema, but where Godard makes the cinematic apparatus a primary concern in his work, Soderbergh strikes one as an ethusiastic but not particularly original film history buff.

[MadMan]

Unless, of course, Jack Bauer can find my location.Oh he will. And then he'll torture you while screaming "TELL ME WHERE THE BOMB IS!!!" Nobody fucks with teh Bauer. No one :eek:

[Izzy Black]

In terms of being a polystylist, one might cite Godard in the 60s, but for all the differences between Le Petit soldat and Une femme est une femme, Pierrot le fou and Masculin féminin, Godard is pretty consistant in his concerns (America, cinema, Anna Karina). Soderbergh seems closer to some one like Curtis Hanson in that he's flexible enough to tackle a wide variety of genres, but without a set of personal concerns, one feels his stamp on the material only superficially (the colour filters in Traffic, for example). Yes, Soderbergh is a student of cinema, but where Godard makes the cinematic apparatus a primary concern in his work, Soderbergh strikes one as an ethusiastic but not particularly original film history buff.

It is strange you should bring up 60's Godard as a comparable polystylist, when Godard is probably the most radically political filmmaker in mainstream cinema. A correct comparison would be an apolitical polystylist such as De Palma, as in this case there would certainly be a connection, but the Godard association is rather unsound. Early Godard embodies the traditional auteur, which suggests you misread or misunderstood my entire post. His aesthetic was not terribly polystylist either (though it is more so now). His postmodern deconstruction of narrative was pretty consistent -- indeed, he found new ways to turn convention on its head, but this was always in a consistent fashion of unconventional form, and often, repeating or developing on the same technical aesthetics. For example, the use of pastiche, black and white, handheld, jump cuts, fourth wall breaks, and his famous parallel tracking shot to emphasize flatness and bourgeois artificiality, all mark a consistent stylistic trend of effective technical methods. Soderbergh, on the other hand, might use completely unconventional form to self-reflexively deconstruct or experiment with narrative (Sex, Lies, & Videotape, Ocean's Twelve, Full Frontal or Bubble), or conventional form (though still progressively) to augment narrative (Solaris, Out of Sight, Traffic). The idea here is that Soderbergh is interested in many ideas rather than devoting his entire career to developing one single idea or adhering to one single concept (i.e. typical 60s Marxist rhetoric and avant-garde technique). Each of his films are interesting in their own right, and several of them can be broken down intellectually, although he has had his misses. You are looking for thematic auterism as a way to somehow give credence to the authority to explore a theme, but Soderbergh's auterism is of a different breed. He is the kind of filmmaker Lyotard, de Certeau, and other post-Marxist philosophers would like. Certainly Godard has a political statement to make, but an apolitical statement is no less interesting. It must be noted, however, Soderbergh is only apolitical in the auteristic sense, and like De Palma, he will do politics if he likes to (and of a discernable kind), but he is not interested in restricting himself to modernist styles of grand metanarratives.

[baby doll]

It is strange you should bring up 60's Godard as a comparable polystylist, when Godard is probably the most radically political filmmaker in mainstream cinema. A correct comparison would be an apolitical polystylist such as De Palma, as in this case there would certainly be a connection, but the Godard association is rather unsound. Early Godard embodies the traditional auteur, which suggests you misread or misunderstood my entire post. His aesthetic was not terribly polystylist either (though it is more so now). His postmodern deconstruction of narrative was pretty consistent -- indeed, he found new ways to turn convention on its head, but this was always in a consistent fashion of unconventional form, and often, repeating or developing on the same technical aesthetics. For example, the use of pastiche, black and white, handheld, jump cuts, fourth wall breaks, and his famous parallel tracking shot to emphasize flatness and bourgeois artificiality, all mark a consistent stylistic trend of effective technical methods. Soderbergh, on the other hand, might use completely unconventional form to self-reflexively deconstruct or experiment with narrative (Sex, Lies, & Videotape, Ocean's Twelve, Full Frontal or Bubble), or conventional form (though still progressively) to augment narrative (Solaris, Out of Sight, Traffic). The idea here is that Soderbergh is interested in many ideas rather than devoting his entire career to developing one single idea or adhering to one single concept (i.e. typical 60s Marxist rhetoric and avant-garde technique). Each of his films are interesting in their own right, and several of them can be broken down intellectually, although he has had his misses. You are looking for thematic auterism as a way to somehow give credence to the authority to explore a theme, but Soderbergh's auterism is of a different breed. He is the kind of filmmaker Lyotard, de Certeau, and other post-Marxist philosophers would like. Certainly Godard has a political statement to make, but an apolitical statement is no less interesting. It must be noted, however, Soderbergh is only apolitical in the auteristic sense, and like De Palma, he will do politics if he likes to (and of a discernable kind), but he is not interested in restricting himself to modernist styles of grand metanarratives.The connection between Godard in the 60's and Soderbergh is that each film Godard made during that period seemed to be an implicit rejection of the one that came before it--i.e., he followed Le Petit soldat, a somber work about the Algerian war in black and white, with Une femme est une femme, a light-hearted musical in colour and 'Scope. (Incidentally, I find his recent work to be fairly unified in style.) As far as his politics, I don't think it's remotely fair to pin-down Godard as a 60's Marxist, since Sympathy for the Devil after all contains a long sequence making fun of the Black Panthers; maybe he was for a time during his Groupe Dziga Vertov phase, but his late work mainly withdraws from politics altogether. And with regards to post-Marxist philosophers, I haven't seen anything in Soderbergh's work that would indicate that level of theoretical engagement.

[Izzy Black]

The connection between Godard in the 60's and Soderbergh is that each film Godard made during that period seemed to be an implicit rejection of the one that came before it--i.e., he followed Le Petit soldat, a somber work about the Algerian war in black and white, with Une femme est une femme, a light-hearted musical in colour and 'Scope. (Incidentally, I find his recent work to be fairly unified in style.)

His earlier work is definitely polystylistic, but it is political and technically familiar. He made dozens of films in the 60s, and stylistically or thematically they seem to sprawl, but you can see recurring subtext and techniques with montage and camera movement in most of them.


As far as his politics, I don't think it's remotely fair to pin-down Godard as a 60's Marxist, since Sympathy for the Devil after all contains a long sequence making fun of the Black Panthers; maybe he was for a time during his Groupe Dziga Vertov phase, but his late work mainly withdraws from politics altogether.

I am talking 60s Godard. That does not mean he sided with all 60s Marxists. He was decidedly Marxist, and still is considerably. He is by self-description. I could not imagine understanding his cinema without this philosophy.


And with regards to post-Marxist philosophers, I haven't seen anything in Soderbergh's work that would indicate that level of theoretical engagement.

That's the point. His films are a product of postmodern theory. A theory that accounts for multiplicity, contradictions, complacency, and break from metanarratives. Again, you are looking for political trends, which says nothing about Soderbergh's artistry. Each of his films are interesting in their own right.

[koji]

1. Best in Show (Guest)
2. Sexy Beast (Jonathan Glazer)
3. Werckmeister Harmonies (Bella Tarr)
4. Songs from the Second Floor (Roy Anderson)
5. With a Friend Like Harry (Moll)

Apologizes to:
Amores Perros (Alejandro González Iñarritu)
Memento (Nolan)
In the Mood for Love (Wong Kar-wai)
Requiem for a Dream (Darren Aronofsky)
Yi Yi (Eward Yang)
Code Unkown (Hanake)

[Spinal]

My 6 - 10 ...

6. The Princess and the Warrior
7. The King is Alive
8. Memento
9. Amores Perros
10. With a Friend Like Harry

[Rowland]

My 6-10:

6. Battle Royale
7. Crouching Tiger: Hidden Dragon
8. Bring It On
9. Charlie's Angels
10. Scarlet Diva

[Spinal]

10. Scarlet Diva

Nice. :)

[Yxklyx]

Won't get to Yi-Yi in time.

6-10

06. Together (Lukas Moodysson)
07. Little Otik (Jan Svankmajer)
08. Dancer in the Dark (Lars von Trier)
09. In the Mood for Love (Kar Wai Wong)
10. Sexy Beast (Jonathan Glazer)

[Rowland]

Nice. :)Yeah, I like the scuzzy humanism she brings to her work, even if it's just a blatant vanity project like Scarlet Diva was. Still, she really bared herself with it in a way that felt almost embarrassingly honest, which I admired.

[Spinal]

Yeah, I like the scuzzy humanism she brings to her work, even if it's just a blatant vanity project like Scarlet Diva was. Still, she really bared herself with it in a way that felt almost embarrassingly honest, which I admired.

I like the film too. Naturally it's narcissistic, but I don't really mind because I find her every bit as compelling as she does.

[Raiders]

6-10:

6. Together
7. Code Unknown
8. The Gleaners & I
9. Seance
10. Under the Sand

[MadMan]

6-10:

6. O Brother Where Art Thou?
7. Gladiator
8. Cast Away
9. The Whole Nine Yards
10. Thirteen Days

[chrisnu]

6-10:

O Brother, Where Art Thou?
Nurse Betty
Best in Show
Unbreakable
Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon

[Lazlo]

1. The Princess and the Warrior
2. Traffic
3. High Fidelity
4. You Can Count on Me
5. Memento

[Sycophant]

6-10

6. O Brother Where Art Thou?
7. The Emperor's New Groove
8. Battle Royale
9. Seance
10. Versus

(I have this horrible feeling that Yi Yi would be here if I'd actually seen it.)

[Rowland]

(I have this horrible feeling that Yi Yi would be here if I'd actually seen it.)I feel this potential for over a dozen of the movies in this thread that I haven't seen. :lol:

[Derek]

6-10

6. Hamlet (Michael Almereyda)
7. Vertical Ray of the Sun (Anh Hung Tran)
8. Wonder Boys (Curtis Hanson)
9. The Heart of the World (Guy Maddin)
10. Almost Famous (Cameron Crowe)

[Melville]

6-10

6. The Heart of the World
7. You Can Count on Me
8. Shadow of the Vampire
9. Best in Show
10. Chuck & Buck

[Velocipedist]

Are we officially doing 10 or is it just a fad?

[Sycophant]

Are we officially doing 10 or is it just a fad?It was never announced that we are. I think we've all just got a list-making problem.

[Spinal]

Are we officially doing 10 or is it just a fad?

Just for kicks. :)

[Spinal]

I think we've all just got a list-making problem.

1. I don't have a problem.
2. I can quit anytime.
3. Speak for yourself.

[MadMan]

1. I don't have a problem.
2. I can quit anytime.
3. Speak for yourself.I think we're due for an intervention here.


STRAP HIM DOWN TO THE CHAIR!!!

http://www-tc.pbs.org/wgbh/cultureshock/flashpoints/theater/images/clockwork_big.jpg?mii=1

This is for your own good man....

[origami_mustache]

6. George Washington
7. Code Unknown
8. Requiem For a Dream
9. Traffic
10. Amores perros

I'd include Heart of the World, but I'm limiting myself to features for the hell of it.

[soitgoes...]

My 6 7 8 9 & 10:
6. Happy Times (Zhang Yimou)
7. You Can Count on Me (Kenneth Lonergan)
8. Almost Famous (Cameron Crowe)
9. Best in Show (Christopher Guest)
10. The Gleaners and I (Agnès Varda)

[Spinal]

Results sometime today.

[Spinal]

#10

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v696/joel_harmon/Second_floor.jpg

Songs From the Second Floor

Director: Roy Andersson

Country: Sweden

This dark comedy, constructed as a surreal poem rather than a straightforward narrative, presents a series of disconnected vignettes that together critique capitalist society.

Nominated for the Golden Palm at Cannes and winner of the Jury Prize.

"Like an Ingmar Bergman movie as realized by Monty Python: It's seriously gloomy about the loss of spirituality in the world, but at the same time rudely, sometimes hilariously, absurd." -- Liam Lacey

[Spinal]

#9

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v696/joel_harmon/almostfamous1.jpg

Almost Famous

Director: Cameron Crowe

Country: USA

A comedy-drama about a teenage journalist writing for Creem and Rolling Stone magazines while covering the rock band Stillwater, and his efforts to get his first cover story published. The film is semi-autobiographical, as Crowe himself was a teenage writer for Rolling Stone.

Academy Award winner for Best Original Screenplay. Also received nominations for performances by Kate Hudson and Frances McDormand.

"Oh, what a lovely film. I was almost hugging myself while I watched it. Almost Famous is funny and touching in so many different ways." -- Roger Ebert

[Sycophant]

Maybe I saw it five years too late, but Crowe's Almost Famous was severely underwhelming. I liked Vanilla Sky a lot more.

Songs from the Second Floor sounds like something I should see.

[Spinal]

#8

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v696/joel_harmon/americanpsycho460.jpg

American Psycho

Director: Mary Harron

Country: USA

Patrick Bateman, a young, well-to-do man working on Wall Street at his father's company kills for no reason at all. As his life progresses, his hatred for the world becomes more and more intense.

As a promotion for the movie, one could register to receive e-mails "from" Patrick Bateman, supposedly to his therapist.

"At the heart of the film is a star-making performance by the handsome Welsh actor Christian Bale (adopting an impeccably snooty pseudo-preppie American accent) that softens the novel's portrait of a serial-killing Wall Street hotshot just enough to force us to identify with this ultimate narcissist." -- Stephen Holden

[Velocipedist]

I hope I'm not intruding in this rundown.

#10 - Yay! My #6. Not that it generated any points.
#9 - Meh.
#8 - Decent.

[Spinal]

#7

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v696/joel_harmon/dancer.jpg

Dancer in the Dark

Director: Lars von Trier

Country: Denmark

Selma works day and night to save her son from the same disease she suffers from, a disease that inevitably will make her blind. Her salvation is her passion for music, specifically, the all-singing, all-dancing numbers found in classic Hollywood musicals.

Dancer in the Dark won the Golden Palm at Cannes, while Bjork was awarded Best Actress. The song 'I've Seen it All' was nominated for an Academy Award and was performed at the ceremony by Bjork, wearing her famous swan dress.

"Dancer in the Dark is the best film by a director that has several masterpieces under his belt already ... It sums up our cinematic experience better than nearly any film does, and could hold its place as the best film of the new millennium for quite some time." -- Jeremy Heilman

[Raiders]

The last two are a little unfortunate, but expected.

EDIT: Make that three.

[Spinal]

#6

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v696/joel_harmon/69199143_ph4.jpg

You Can Count on Me

Director: Kenneth Lonergan

Country: USA

A single mother's life is thrown into turmoil after her struggling, rarely-seen younger brother returns to town.

You Can Count on Me earned Academy Award nominations for Best Original Screenplay and Best Actress (Laura Linney). It also won Independent Spirit Awards for Best First Feature and Best Screenplay.

"Satisfying in every respect, it's a piece of blue-collar chamber music, never treating the characters cheaply, allowing them a complex entwinement of emotions." -- Jay Carr

[Spinal]

EDIT: Make that three.

I will break you.

[Velocipedist]

I still can't predict the #1 (out of the two or three favourites); it's a much more spread out year than 1990 or 1980.

[Spinal]

#5

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v696/joel_harmon/yiyi.jpg

Yi Yi

Director: Edward Yang

Country: Taiwan

Each member of a middle class family in Taipei (seen through three generations) asks hard questions about life's meaning as they live through everyday quandaries.

Yi Yi earned Edward Yang the Best Director prize at Cannes. In 2002, Sight and Sound named it one of the best 10 films of the past 25 years.

"A five-course meal of a movie, with drinks, for mature moviegoers for whom most films have come to resemble brainless carnival rides, not works of art." -- Michael Atkinson

[Spinal]

#4

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v696/joel_harmon/memento.jpg

Memento

Director: Christopher Nolan

Country: USA

In flashbacks, each one earlier in time than what we've just seen, Leonard looks for his wife's killer. As a result of a blow to the head, he has no short-term memory and compensates for his disability by taking Polaroids and tattooing important facts on his body.

Memento earned Academy Award nominations for Best Editing and Best Original Screenplay. It also received a standing ovation at its premiere at the Venice Film Festival.

"Memento is a thriller for people who are sick of thrillers, a puzzle movie in which the puzzle is actually worth the time and effort to solve." -- Mark Caro

[MadMan]

I'll actually be using this list to note which films from this year I should try and rent.

PS: Sadly I've only seen American Psycho off this list (so far). But yeah I'm glad I blind bought it on DVD. It and Frailty are currently my favorite horror flicks from the past 10 years.

PPS: Posted before Memento was included on the list. That movie is currently in my crappy, really incomplete Top 20 list that if posted here would be torn to shreds. Heh.

[Velocipedist]

#3 - Requiem
#2 - Harmonies
#1 - Mood.

Right?

[Raiders]

#3 - Requiem
#2 - Harmonies
#1 - Mood.

Right?

I'm thinking Tarr will be #3.

[dreamdead]

Pretty quality list so far. I need to see Songs From the Second Floor one of these days.

Still think Nolan's best film will end up being Memento, so I'm cool with that selection.

Yay for Yi Yi! One of my best first-watches of last year. It's unfortunate that Yang passed away just as critical acclaim was starting to celebrate him. I can't wait until A Bright Summer Day and Taipei Stories and a few others get R1 release.

[Spinal]

#3

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v696/joel_harmon/Werkmeister1.jpg

Werckmeister Harmonies

Director: Béla Tarr (with co-director Ágnes Hranitzky)

Country: Hungary

Composed of only 39 languidly paced shots, Werckmeister Harmonies describes the aimlessness and anomie of a small town on the Hungarian plain that falls under the fascist influence of a sinister traveling circus lugging the immense body of a whale in its tow.

The film is based on the novel The Melancholy of Resistance by László Krasznahorkai. During shooting, the temperature sometimes dropped to -15 degrees Celsius.

"Bela Tarr's Werckmeister Harmonies (2000) is maddening if you are not in sympathy with it, mesmerizing if you are. If you have not walked out after 20 or 30 minutes, you will thereafter not be able to move from your seat." -- Roger Ebert

[Spinal]

#3 - Requiem
#2 - Harmonies
#1 - Mood.

Right?

Suspense killer.

[Velocipedist]

Suspense killer.

I was wrong.

[MadMan]

I just remembered that a DVD copy of Werckmeister Harmonies is at my hometown library. I'll have to check it out whenever I get back there for a visit. Or over the summer when I'm home for good. I've been holding off because the film appears to be very strange and I'm not sure what to think of it exactly.

[Spinal]

#2

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v696/joel_harmon/requiem2.jpg

Requiem for a Dream

Director: Darren Aronofsky

Country: USA

The film shows the direct and indirect effects that drugs and various addictions have on the lives of four different people living in Brooklyn, and then portrays their downward spirals from the hopes of blossoming dreams into the helpless state of moral and physical decay.

Ellen Burstyn earned an Academy Award nomination for Best Actress. She won the Independent Spirit Award, with the film's cinematography being recognized as well.

"Requiem is like a Chuck Jones video starring Cool Herk, in which the scratch rhythms on the soundtrack are mirrored by editing so nimble and fast it's like old-school turntable scratching ... Mr. Aronofsky's style could probably best be described as cyberpulp, a tangle of images with comic panel acuity that he is downloading from his subconscious. " -- Elvis Mitchell

[Spinal]

I was wrong.

I hope you've learned your lesson.

[Spinal]

#1

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v696/joel_harmon/img_menu.jpg

In the Mood for Love

Director: Wong Kar-wai

Country: Hong Kong

With their spouses often away, Chow and Li-zhen spend most of their time together as friends. Soon, they are shocked to discover that their spouses are having an affair. Hurt and angry, they find comfort in their growing friendship even as they resolve not to be like their unfaithful mates.

Tony Leung was awarded Best Actor at Cannes and the film also won the Technical Grand Prize. Wong was influenced by Hitchcock's Vertigo while making this film, and has compared Tony Leung's character to Jimmy Stewart's.

"This film raises its fascination with enveloping atmosphere and suppressed emotion to a ravishing, almost hypnotic level." -- Kenneth Turan

[Yxklyx]

Were these tabulated electronically? I demand a hand recount!

[Spinal]

1. In the Mood for Love 112.5
2. Requiem for a Dream 58.5
3. Werckmeister Harmonies 52
4. Memento 42.5
5. Yi Yi 32
6. You Can Count on Me 31
7. Dancer in the Dark 29.5
8. American Psycho 26.5
9. Almost Famous 26
10. Songs From the Second Floor 25.5

Near misses:
The Heart of the World 25
Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon 22.5
Unbreakable 22.5
Wonder Boys 21.5
Traffic 20.5

[Spinal]

Were these tabulated electronically? I demand a hand recount!

*counts hands*

I have two.

[Yxklyx]

The consensus we did at the other site is here:

http://www.yxklyx.com/me/movies/depository.html

2000 used US release dates:

1. Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon (A. Lee)
2. Requiem for a Dream (D. Aronofsky)
3. Almost Famous (C. Crowe)
4. Traffic (S. Soderbergh)
5. High Fidelity (S. Frears)
6. Wonder Boys (C. Hanson)
7. You Can Count on Me (K. Lonergan)
8. O’ Brother, Where Art Thou? (Coen Bros.)
9. Unbreakable (M.N. Shyamalan)
10. Gladiator (R. Scott)

[dreamdead]

Huh, yeah, Lee's film was a 2000 film. That absence was mostly due to it being in desperate need to be revisited. Loved it in the theatres, still regard it pretty highly.

The Heart of the World is now on my radar. And hopefully people don't feel that Yi Yi's inclusion is a knee-jerk reaction to his death. Interesting shift from the admittedly more populist approach that Yxklyx provided...

[Velocipedist]

Pretty nifty, all this; especially seeing 'the roots'.

[Grouchy]

The consensus we did at the other site is here:

http://www.yxklyx.com/me/movies/depository.html

2000 used US release dates:

1. Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon (A. Lee)
2. Requiem for a Dream (D. Aronofsky)
3. Almost Famous (C. Crowe)
4. Traffic (S. Soderbergh)
5. High Fidelity (S. Frears)
6. Wonder Boys (C. Hanson)
7. You Can Count on Me (K. Lonergan)
8. O’ Brother, Where Art Thou? (Coen Bros.)
9. Unbreakable (M.N. Shyamalan)
10. Gladiator (R. Scott)
Wow, this one is incredibly better. What the hell happened? Where is the Wong movie, after all? The only good thing about that other list is O Brother.

6. Code Unknown
7. O Brother where art thou?
8. Unbreakable
9. Memento
10. Amores Perros

[Ezee E]

I till need to see You Can Count On Me.

[MadMan]

I can dig In The Mood For Love as #1, even if I rank other films above it from that year. It barely misses my Top 10 of the 2000s, which is a list I'll post as soon as I finish the commentary for it by the year 2020 :P

[Yxklyx]

Wow, this one is incredibly better. What the hell happened? Where is the Wong movie, after all? The only good thing about that other list is O Brother.

As I said we did US release dates for 1997 and beyond. In the Mood for Love came in 10th in 2001 in that one.

[Sycophant]

I'm annoyed with myself for seeing as few of these as I have. Werckmeister Harmonies and Songs from the Second Floor are imperatives now.

I'm still scared of watching Requiem for a Dream. I've owned it for about five years now. :P

[Rowland]

Isn't the R1 DVD for Werckmeister Harmonies supposed to be of incredibly poor quality? That has been my deterrent from seeing it.

[koji]

Wow, this one is incredibly better. What the hell happened? Where is the Wong movie, after all? The only good thing about that other list is O Brother.

The first list was in 2004, I think. At that time, many of the non-US films were not available on DVD, such as Werckmeister Harmonies and Songs from the Second Floor, but even those that were available, had not been widely seen. And time is, of course, makes the better work stand out.

[Kurious Jorge v3.1]

Isn't the R1 DVD for Werckmeister Harmonies supposed to be of incredibly poor quality? That has been my deterrent from seeing it.

Yes it is poor quality.

[Boner M]

Where the hell is George Washington? I thought that film was well-loved here; didn't even make the top 15.

[Rowland]

Where the hell is George Washington? I thought that film was well-loved here; didn't even make the top 15.Good. That movie is so overrated. Or so says me circa six years ago. :P

[Spinal]

Where the hell is George Washington? I thought that film was well-loved here; didn't even make the top 15.

15.5 pts.

[origami_mustache]

my personal top ten only matched 40% :sad:

[Raiders]

my personal top ten only matched 40% :sad:

I only got 30%, but both You Can Count on Me and Yi yi are very close.

[ledfloyd]

pretty good list. memento is way too high. and i need songs from teh second floor i guess.