MC Yearly Consensus - 1997

[Spinal]

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. A minimum of three films must be listed. You may edit your post freely up until the time that the thread is locked, which will be in about a week. I will give at least 24 hours warning before tallying votes.

You may begin now.

IMDB Power Search (http://www.imdb.com/list)

[Philosophe_rouge]

I fail at the 90s

1. The Sweet Hereafter
2. Princess Mononoke
3. Jackie Brown

[Raiders]

1. The Sweet Hereafter (Egoyan)
2. Hana-bi (Kitano)
3. Princess Mononoke (Miyazaki)
4. The Butcher Boy (Jordan)
5. The Mirror (Panahi)

[Eleven]

1. Cure
2. Jackie Brown
3. Little Dieter Needs to Fly
4. Hana-bi
5. Fast, Cheap, and Out of Control

HMs: The Eel, Happy Together, A Taste of Cherry, Funny Games, LA Confidential.

[Spinal]

I fail at the 90s


I love how you fret over whittling down your ballot for 1948 and yet barely have enough films to scrape by from 1997. :)

1. The Sweet Hereafter
2. In the Company of Men
3. Funny Games
4. The Wings of the Dove
5. Lost Highway

[Philosophe_rouge]

I love how you fret over whittling down your ballot for 1948 and yet barely have enough films to scrape by from 1997. :)
I know, it's a strange, strange world. I've actually seen about the same amount of films from both years, but for most of the 90s the films are crappy stuff I saw when I was a kid... or just crappy films.

[Melville]

1. Lost Highway
2. The Sweet Hereafter
3. Princess Mononoke
4. The Ice Storm
5. In the Company of Men

HMs: Starship Troopers, The River, Funny Games, Boogie Nights

[Sycophant]

1. Hana-bi/Fireworks
2. Cure
3. Deconstructing Harry
4. The End of Evangelion
5. In the Company of Men

HMs: Happy Together, Starship Troopers, The Ice Storm, Little Dieter Needs To Fly

[dreamdead]

1. Hana-Bi
2. Cure
3. Happy Together
4. The Wings of the Dove
5. The Sweet Hereafter

HM: Little Dieter Needs to Fly, Princess Mononoke, In the Company of Men

It's interesting how much L.A. Confidential has fallen off the radar...

[Spinal]

4. The Wings of the Dove


High five!



It's interesting how much L.A. Confidential has fallen off the radar...

I've never been a fan.

[Boner M]

Strong auteur showing this year...

1. Lost Highway (Lynch)
2. The Sweet Hereafter (Egoyan)
3. A Taste of Cherry (Kiarostami)
4. The River (Tsai)
5. Henry Fool (Hartley)

6. Happy, Together (Wong)
7. Boogie Nights (Anderson)
8. Hana-Bi (Kitano)
9. The Game (Fincher)
10. Career Girls (Leigh)

[Raiders]

It's interesting how much L.A. Confidential has fallen off the radar...

I'm a fan, but this is just too good of a year.

[Spinal]

Top songs of 1997:

1. "Candle In The Wind 1997", Elton John
2. "Foolish Games/You Were Meant For Me", Jewel
3. "I'll Be Missing You", Puff Daddy and Faith Evans
4. "Un-Break My Heart", Toni Braxton
5. "Can't Nobody Hold Me Down", Puff Daddy
6. "I Believe I Can Fly", R. Kelly
7. "Don't Let Go (Love)", En Vogue
8. "Return Of The Mack", Mark Morrison
9. "How Do I Live", LeAnn Rimes
10. "Wannabe", Spice Girls

source: musicoutfitters.com

[Watashi]

1. The Sweet Hereafter
2. Boogie Nights
3. Princess Mononoke
4. Wag the Dog
5. Jackie Brown

I can't believe I'm the first to have PTA's film in the top 5. Ridiculous.

[Spinal]

I can't believe I'm the first to have PTA's film in the top 5. Ridiculous.

#6 for me.


6. Boogie Nights
7. Eve's Bayou
8. Contact
9. Welcome to Sarajevo
10. Life is Beautiful

[Stay Puft]

1. Hana-bi
2. Little Dieter Needs to Fly
3. Cure
4. Lost Highway
5. Bride of Resistor

[Spinal]

The following television programs debuted in 1997:

King of the Hill
Just Shoot Me!
The Practice
Buffy the Vampire Slayer
Teletubbies (UK)
Stargate SG-1
South Park
Ally McBeal
Dharma and Greg

* In this year, the U.S. television networks adopted a ratings system for their programming, similar to that used for motion pictures.

The top rated program in the Nielsen ratings for 1997:

ER

[Spinal]

Time Man of the Year for 1997:

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v696/joel_harmon/more/grove.jpg

Andrew Grove

[Russ]

1. Lost Highway
2. Kundun
3. Boogie Nights
4. Princess Mononoke
5. A Taste of Cherry

[dreamdead]

#7 Eve's Bayou

I keep meaning to rewatch this one. I remember being devastated by it, but I'm curious if I'd feel the same way today...

[MadMan]

I fail at the 90s

1. The Sweet Hereafter
2. Princess Mononoke
3. Jackie BrownI actually wish I had your problem. I've seen painfully very little from the 1920s and 30s, and not enough from the 40s and I'm even behind in 50s viewing.

That said, 1997 is a year that doesn't get enough love. Maybe its because Titanic overshadowed everything. I donno. I'll get back to you on that flick when I have time to watch a four hour long love story :|

1. L.A. Confidential
2. Jackie Brown
3. Austin Powers: International Man of Mystery
4. Geri's Game
5. Men In Black

Overall what I've seen from 1997: http://www.criticker.com/?fl=3177&g=&country=&fy=1997&ty=1997&type=pers

[Spinal]

Sports Illustrated Sportsman of the Year for 1997:

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v696/joel_harmon/more/grove-1.jpg

Dean Smith

[Qrazy]

1. Princess Mononoke
2. Happy Together
3. Taste of Cherry
4. The Sweet Hereafter
5. Fast, Cheap and Out of Control

6. LA Confidential
7. Boogie Nights
8. Wag the Dog
9. La Vieille dame et les pigeons (Chomet)
10. In the Company of Men

HMs: Gattaca, Jackie Brown, Hana-bi, Titanic, Cure, Donnie Brasco... Mother and Son, Lost Highway

Reminds me that I really need to see Open Your Eyes and Insomnia since I've seen the Hollywood remakes.

An Ambiguous Report at the End of the World sounds amazing.

[Qrazy]

To anyone who cares Chomet's film (debut) is available on youtube and is quite a bit better than Geri's Game.

[Yxklyx]

1. Lost Highway (David Lynch)
2. The Sweet Hereafter (Atom Egoyan)
3. Men with Guns (John Sayles)
4. In the Company of Men (Neil LaBute)
5. Insomnia (Erik Skjoldbjærg)

6. Life is Beautiful (Roberto Benigni)
7. Gasman (Lynne Ramsay)
8. Cure (Kiyoshi Kurosawa)
9. Titanic (James Cameron)
10. T.R.A.N.S.I.T. (Piet Kroon)

[Qrazy]

Too much love for Lost Highway.

[soitgoes...]

1. Boogie Nights (Paul Thomas Anderson)
2. Men with Guns (John Sayles)
3. Funny Games (Michael Haneke)
4. Contact (Robert Zemeckis)
5. L.A. Confidential (Curtis Hanson)

[Russ]

Too much love for Lost Highway.
And yet you prefer Fast, Cheap and Out of Control? Don't get me wrong, I love Errol Morris, but that film was really much ado about nothing. The larger-than-life arthouse documentary approach that Morris applied provided the material with a nice aesthetic appeal, but did little to give weight to, or even thematically link, his diverse subjects. Lightweight fluff, pretty to look at: but little else.

[ledfloyd]

1. Jackie Brown
2. The Ice Storm
3. Good Will Hunting
4. LA Confidential
5. Princess Mononoke

[Qrazy]

And yet you prefer Fast, Cheap and Out of Control? Don't get me wrong, I love Errol Morris, but that film was really much ado about nothing. The larger-than-life arthouse documentary approach that Morris applied provided the material with a nice aesthetic appeal, but did little to give weight to, or even thematically link, his diverse subjects. Lightweight fluff, pretty to look at: but little else.

Um no, fluff is the last term I'd use to describe this film. The diversity of his subjects is just the point. Morris finds, exposes and hones directly in on the plethera of thematic links between all the disparate careers. It's an amazing film which delves profoundly into the links between commitment, complexity, systemization and discovery. His aesthetic and use of structure helps to bind together the narratively disparate but thematically complementary segments of the film. I have never seen another film tie together lion taming, gardening, mole rats, robotics and filmmaking more successfully than this one. ;) A fantastic score coupled with Richardson's wonderful DP'ing helps to cement the film's status as a canonical work of postmodern filmmaking.

I'd rank what I've seen as follows:

Fog of War > Fast Cheap and Out of Control > Thin Blue Line > A Brief History of Time

[Russ]

A fantastic score coupled with Richardson's wonderful DP'ing helps to cement the film's status as a canonical work of postmodern filmmaking.
Ok, I'll give you that one.


Fog of War > Fast Cheap and Out of Control > Thin Blue Line > A Brief History of Time
Vernon, Florida > all

[Qrazy]

Ok, I'll give you that one.


Vernon, Florida > all

Yeah I really need to get on the rest of his filmography considering how much I like him.

[Llopin]

1. Hana-bi (Kitano)
2. Mononoke Hime (Miyazaki)
3. Funny Games (Haneke)
4. Tren de Sombras (GuerÃ*n)
5. In the Company of Men (LaBute)

[EyesWideOpen]

1. Cure (Kurosawa)
2. Hana-Bi/Fireworks (Kitano)
3. Princess Mononoke (Miyazaki)
4. Jackie Brown (Tarantino)
5. L.A. Confidential (Hanson)

HM:

Amistad, Good Will Hunting, Grosse Pointe Blank, Jungle Emperor Leo, Perfect Blue

[Robby P]

1. Donnie Brasco
2. Little Dieter Needs to Fly
3. The Sweet Hereafter
4. Lost Highway
5. Jackie Brown

[monolith94]

1. End of Evangelion
2. In the Company of Men
3. The Fifth Element
4. Little Dieter Needs to Fly
5. L.A. Confidential

[Mysterious Dude]

1. In the Company of Men
2. Funny Games
3. Gattaca
4. Deconstructing Harry
5. Contact

6. Wag the Dog
7. The Fifth Element
8. L.A. Confidential
9. Children of Heaven
10. Abre los ojos

[Grouchy]

1. Hana-Bi
2. Lost Highway
3. Funny Games
4. Boogie Nights
5. Jackie Brown

[origami_mustache]

1. The River
2. Boogie Nights
3. Gummo
4. Happy Together
5. Funny Games

Cure
Jackie Brown
Lost Highway
Waiting For Guffman
Good Will Hunting

[soitgoes...]

Okay, so who here has seen Men with Guns?

[Yum-Yum]

1. Romy and Michele's High School Reunion
2. Boogie Nights
3. Henry Fool
4. Nowhere
5. Gummo

[Kurosawa Fan]

Okay, so who here has seen Men with Guns?

It'll be near the top of my list.

[Raiders]

Okay, so who here has seen Men with Guns?

Me, and it was #6. Honestly. My second favorite Sayles film right after Lone Star.

[soitgoes...]

Well at least more than two people have seen it. Everyone else looking for recs, there you go. Men with Guns.

[Spinal]

Well at least more than two people have seen it. Everyone else looking for recs, there you go. Men with Guns.

The film is better than the title I trust.

[MadMan]

The film is better than the title I trust.I actually dig the title. After seeing The Brother From Another Planet and Lone Star I need to see more Sayles. He appears to be pretty awesome so far.

[Spinal]

I actually dig the title.

What about it do you like? It's sort of like Snakes on a Plane.

[Sven]

What about it do you like? It's sort of like Snakes on a Plane.

There's a very fine line between evocatively sparse and ridiculously blunt. I find Sayles's title falls into the former category, but that's after having experienced the weight of the film itself, which is a minimalist fable.

[Grouchy]

1. Hana-Bi
2. Lost Highway
3. Funny Games
4. Boogie Nights
5. Jackie Brown
I've decided I like Funny Games a lot, but on an enjoyment level...

1. Hana-Bi
2. Lost Highway
3. Boogie Nights
4. Jackie Brown
5. Funny Games

Men with Guns is an excellent title. If you guys heard some of the titles my pretentious film teachers give to their movies, you'd know what's a horrible title. I dunno... Like Being Dead / Like Being Dead. Or Llavallol. It's like they're trying to scare people from seeing them.

[soitgoes...]

The film is better than the title I trust.
What a strange comment.

[Spinal]

There's a very fine line between evocatively sparse and ridiculously blunt. I find Sayles's title falls into the former category, but that's after having experienced the weight of the film itself, which is a minimalist fable.

I dunno. I like Sayles, but that title falls into the 'utterly bland' category for me.

[Kurious Jorge v3.1]

1. Hana Bi (Kitano)
2. Insomnia (Skjoldbjærg)
3. The Game (Fincher)
4. Cure (Kurosawa)
5. Boogie Nights (Anderson)

[Sven]

I dunno. I like Sayles, but that title falls into the 'utterly bland' category for me.

Well, it doesn't help that, you know... "Guns" is a bit suggestive. But then, the film kiiiiinda does compare, if not explicitly, this notion of "Men" (ie, not women) being inseparable (ie, biologically connected) to their "Guns" (ie, the penis, ie, battle). I wouldn't say that the suggestion is unwanted by Sayles.

But at the same time, I do like its spare nature. There's something to be said about seeing something and calling it what it is. In this sense, I do suppose it is a lot like Snakes on a Plane, but I guess it's also a lot like Heart of the World, or The Cook, The Thief, His Wife and Her Lover, or The Bicycle Thief.

[Lazlo]

1. The Sweet Hereafter
2. Contact
3. Princess Mononoke
4. Funny Games
5. L.A. Confidential

[MadMan]

What about it do you like? It's sort of like Snakes on a Plane.It gets to the point. Plus I think it sort of sounds cool. I'd say I like SOAP's title because it reminds me of past cheesy B-movies, which is partly what SOAP was aiming for and why it mostly succeeds.

[Spinal]

Well, it doesn't help that, you know... "Guns" is a bit suggestive. But then, the film kiiiiinda does compare, if not explicitly, this notion of "Men" (ie, not women) being inseparable (ie, biologically connected) to their "Guns" (ie, the penis, ie, battle). I wouldn't say that the suggestion is unwanted by Sayles.

Clearly, he hasn't seen Transamerica.

[Kurosawa Fan]

1. Little Dieter Needs to Fly
2. Men With Guns
3. In the Company of Men
4. Boogie Nights
5. Wag the Dog

[Qrazy]

Well, it doesn't help that, you know... "Guns" is a bit suggestive. But then, the film kiiiiinda does compare, if not explicitly, this notion of "Men" (ie, not women) being inseparable (ie, biologically connected) to their "Guns" (ie, the penis, ie, battle). I wouldn't say that the suggestion is unwanted by Sayles.

But at the same time, I do like its spare nature. There's something to be said about seeing something and calling it what it is. In this sense, I do suppose it is a lot like Snakes on a Plane, but I guess it's also a lot like Heart of the World, or The Cook, The Thief, His Wife and Her Lover, or The Bicycle Thief.

No, it's nothing like those latter three excellent titles.

[Ezee E]

1. Boogie Nights
2. Jackie Brown
3. Little Dieter Needs To Fly
4. L.A. Confidential
5. Funny Games

[Sven]

No, it's nothing like those latter three excellent titles.

Is this your real opinion?

[Dead & Messed Up]

1. Titanic
2. Boogie Nights
3. Jackie Brown
4. Princess Mononoke
5. Cube

[Ezee E]

Oh yeah, Titanic.

[Silencio]

1. Funny Games
2. The Sweet Hereafter
3. Jackie Brown
4. Boogie Nights
5. Princess Mononoke

Great year.

[Gizmo]

1. Life is Beautiful
2. Good Will Hunting
3. American History X
4. Lost Highway
5. Chasing Amy

[MadMan]

Oh yeah, Titanic.Heh I bet that it won't appear on many lists. Sadly Wag the Dog is though :|

[Kurious Jorge v3.1]

Am I the only one who thought The Game was great? weird!

[MadMan]

Am I the only one who thought The Game was great? weird!I really dug the fillm, but I don't remember it all that well. It does stand a small chance of appearing on the second half of my list though.

[Raiders]

Am I the only one who thought The Game was great? weird!

I agree. It is Fincher's second-best after Zodiac. Like the Sayles film though, it was a victim to there being too many great films from this year.

You can find my review here (http://matchcut.org/viewtopic.php?p=430671#430671) .

[Boner M]

The Game is very cool indeed. Maybe if it had a little less of Fincher's requisite grungy portent (which he thankfully abandoned for Zodiac) it could've been truly awesome. Still, the storytelling has an almost primal quality that is quite enthralling.

[Ezee E]

Yeah, The Game may be Fincher's worst, but it's a great movie no less.

[Spinal]

Eh, it's OK. The ending is beyond silly. And it's hard for me to get enthusiastic about something with that much Michael Douglas.

[Raiders]

Yeah, The Game may be Fincher's worst, but it's a great movie no less.

I fail to see how a rational person can call it worse than Panic Room.

[Sven]

I fail to see how a rational person can call it worse than Panic Room.

I think it's worse than Panic Room. [/case in point, har har]

[Raiders]

I think it's worse than Panic Room. [/case in point, har har]

Awww, you're no fun.

[Spinal]

I fail to see how a rational person can call it worse than Panic Room.

I don't see how a rational person can say that it is better than Se7en.

[Spinal]

I don't see how a rational person can say that it is better than Se7en.

*clicks link in Raiders' sig*

*sees that he also feels that Showgirls is better than Se7en*

*gains perspective*

[Ezee E]

*clicks link in Raiders' sig*

*sees that he also feels that Showgirls is better than Se7en*

*gains perspective*
REPPED FOR DA RAPE OF RAIDERS!

[Gizmo]

*clicks link in Raiders' sig*

*sees that he also feels that Showgirls is better than Se7en*

*gains perspective*


REPPED FOR DA RAPE OF RAIDERS!

there's another boner pun in here somewhere.

[Raiders]

*clicks link in Raiders' sig*

*sees that he also feels that Showgirls is better than Se7en*

*gains perspective*

http://www.steveaddison.net/wp-content/uploads/2006/09/flogging%20dead%20horse.jpg

[Kurosawa Fan]

Panic Room is Fincher's worst, but The Game is still silly. Spinal is spot on. The end of that movie was just plain bad.

[DavidSeven]

Se7en = Zodiac > The Game > Fight Club > Panic Room

It goes something like that.

[Ezee E]

http://www.steveaddison.net/wp-content/uploads/2006/09/flogging%20dead%20horse.jpg
Still hilarious.

[Kurosawa Fan]

Se7en = Zodiac > The Game > Fight Club > Panic Room

It goes something like that.

I'd definitely swap The Game and Fight Club, otherwise you'll get no argument from me.

[Raiders]

Still hilarious.

To you, I guess. The shelf life has long been gone for me.

[Spinal]

To you, I guess. The shelf life has long been gone for me.

It just happened to be a 1995 film on your list alongside Se7en. Otherwise I wouldn't have mentioned it.

[Qrazy]

Am I the only one who thought The Game was great? weird!

I wanted to like it but the unbelievability factor of the entire affair ended up imploding the proceedings upon themselves.

[Qrazy]

Yeah, The Game may be Fincher's worst, but it's a great movie no less.

Ehh, better than Panic Room which is still a fairly solid effort too.

[Qrazy]

Panic Room is Fincher's worst, but The Game is still silly. Spinal is spot on. The end of that movie was just plain bad.

What did you really see? It's all squibs! Squibs for the love of God! Squibs!

[Weeping_Guitar]

1. LA Confidential
2. Grosse Point Blank
3. Good Will Hunting
4. The Sweet Hereafter
5. Gattaca

[chrisnu]

Let's see...

1. Funny Games
2. Lost Highway
3. Boogie Nights
4. In the Company of Men
5. Wag the Dog

[Yxklyx]

Jody Foster naked in the tub with a glass of wine is better than anything The Game had to offer.

[ledfloyd]

I want to see the alternate ending of The Game where he decides to jump off of the wrong side of the building and dies.

It is an intriguing concept however.

[Ezee E]

I want to see the alternate ending of The Game where he decides to jump off of the wrong side of the building and dies.

It is an intriguing concept however.
ha. Really? I'd like to see that too.

[ledfloyd]

ha. Really? I'd like to see that too.
it was a joke... :lol:

[Ezee E]

it was a joke... :lol:
There are other alternate endings on some biggie DVD version though.

[Spinal]

Eleven, I think we can count this one up tomorrow.

[Eleven]

Eleven, I think we can count this one up tomorrow.

And by we, I assume you mean me. ;) I definitely can, no problem.

[Spinal]

And by we, I assume you mean me.

Yes. Ye.

[BirdsAteMyFace]

1. Lost Highway
2. Hana-bi
3. Jackie Brown
4. Funny Games
5. The Sweet Hereafter

HM: Happy Together

[Eleven]

#10

http://img177.imageshack.us/img177/6479/curepl0.jpg

Cure

Director: Kiyoshi Kurosawa

Country: Japan

A wave of gruesome murders is sweeping Tokyo. The only connection is a bloody "X" carved into the neck of each of the victims. In each case the murderer is found near the victim and remembers nothing of the crime. Detective Takabe and psychiatrist Sakuma are called in to figure out the connection but their investigation goes nowhere. An odd, young man is arrested near the scene of the latest murder that has a strange effect on everyone who comes into contact with him. Detective Takabe starts a series of interrogations to determine the man's connection with the killings.

“As a filmmaker, Kurosawa is scarcely less economical. For a big effect, he punctuates a series of understated long shots with an abrupt iconic close-up. The image of spilled water advancing hypnotically across a hospital floor is worthy of Lang. The action is tactful, the style controlled. Kurosawa has a good eye—shooting a narrow street from above, so that it wraps the nighttime gloom with a ribbon of light—and a sure sense of timing…Cure sticks with you—it's a movie about the power of suggestion that casts a troubling spell on the viewer as well.� – J. Hoberman

[Eleven]

#9

http://img120.imageshack.us/img120/8675/laconfidentiallv7.jpg

L.A. Confidential

Director: Curtis Hanson

Country: USA

1950's Los Angeles is the seedy backdrop for this intricate noir-ish tale of police corruption and Hollywood sleaze. Three very different cops are all after the truth, each in their own style: Ed Exley, the golden boy of the police force, willing to do almost anything to get ahead, except sell out; Bud White, ready to break the rules to seek justice, but barely able to keep his raging violence under control; and Jack Vincennes, always looking for celebrity and a quick buck until his conscience drives him to join Exley and White down the one-way path to find the truth behind the dark world of L.A. crime.

Many of the events in the movie were based upon real events. These include the Bloody Christmas scene where drunken police officers brutally beat up Hispanic prisoners suspected of beating up two uniformed cops; the plot line of real-life gangster Mickey Cohen's arrest touching off a gang war for control of the rackets; the LAPD Goon Squad which would kidnap out-of-town gangsters, beat them up and threaten to kill them if they ever tried to come back to set up their operations; Lana Turner dating gangster Johnny Stompanato. In real life, Turner's daughter Cheryl Crane stabbed Stompanato to death after catching him beating her mother. After the success of the film, a pilot was made for an HBO TV series with Kiefer Sutherland as Jack Vincennes. But it was not picked up for series.

“The plot's not a conspiracy theory but a conspiracy actuality. Everything is a front concealing a cynical ruse where smart, vicious sociopaths are running a mean-spirited, lethal scam, taking over L.A. from the inside. In truth, there's probably too much plot, and even then it's been simplified from Ellroy's original, a text so thick with confusion that you needed to carry a compass to find the next page. But the screenplay, which Hanson wrote with Brian Helgeland, cross-pollinates clues and we watch as the wrong cop learns the right thing and we know, before the three cops do, that if they actually could put their spite aside, they could figure it out.� – Stephen Hunter

[Eleven]

#8

http://img259.imageshack.us/img259/6523/inthecompanyofmenik7.jpg

In the Company of Men

Director: Neil LaBute

Country: USA

Two business executives--one an avowed misogynist, the other recently emotionally wounded by his love interest--set out to exact revenge on the female gender by seeking out the most innocent, uncorrupted girl they can find and ruining her life.

Won the Independent Spirit Award for Best First Screenplay. It originally premiered as a play at Brigham Young University in 1993, where it received an award from the Association for Mormon Letters. According to LaBute, his script began with the line "Let's hurt somebody" and developed from there. Stacy Edwards (Christine) originally could not star because she was getting married at the time the movie was scheduled to start shooting. The producers pushed back the schedule to accommodate her. The film was shot on location entirely in Fort Wayne, Indiana, over a period of two weeks at the cost of $25,000.

“The sad fact is that Chad comes across as a self-perpetuating, impregnable myth, for better and for worse; Howard is a human being and a fumbler. There are still at least a couple more turns of the screw before we reach the end of this nasty parable about power. But the strength of LaBute's conception every step of the way is in forcing the issue of where we belong in this picture--with Chad, with Howard, or with Christine. Wherever we choose to settle, however provisionally, isn't going to be comfortable, but our discomfort can teach us something about the way we live.� – Jonathan Rosenbaum

[Qrazy]

What else has Neil Labute done that's worth a look?

[Raiders]

What else has Neil Labute done that's worth a look?

Nurse Betty, which is my favorite of the four I have seen. The Wicker Man is worth a look for its amazing awfulness and Cage's no-holds-barred, camptastic performance.

[Duncan]

I almost never like "so-bad-it's-good" movies, but The Wicker Man is seriously hilarious. The last half especially.

[DavidSeven]

LA Confidential and In the Company of Men are both masterfully executed. Two of the best from that decade.

Neil Labute's The Shape of Things is pretty solid. I'd definitely recommend it.

[Eleven]

#7

http://img149.imageshack.us/img149/4163/funnygamesom8.jpg

Funny Games

Director: Michael Haneke

Country: Austria

Two psychotic young men take a mother, father, and son hostage in their vacation cabin and force them to play sadistic "games" with one another for their own amusement.

Paul says the line "We haven't even reached feature film length, yet" at exactly the 90-minute mark of the movie.

“The airtight simplicity of Funny Games' set-up is echoed in the purity of its style, as Haneke uses a static camera (one shot is held for 10 minutes) and natural sound to casually heighten the tension and dread.…There's perversity in paying admission to get harshly scolded, and Funny Games is not for the squeamish, but this may be one time to step up and take the licking you deserve.� – Scott Tobias

[Spinal]

What else has Neil Labute done that's worth a look?

I think that Your Friends and Neighbors is his next best film. Haven't seen the TV version of Bash, but the play is great.

[Eleven]

#6

http://img87.imageshack.us/img87/2972/princessmononokeeg7.jpg

Princess Mononoke

Director: Hayao Miyazaki

Country: Japan

A prince is infected with an incurable disease by a possessed boar/god. He is to die unless he can find a cure to rid the curse from his body. It seems that his only hope is to travel to the far east. When he arrives to get help from the deer god, he finds himself in the middle of a battle between the animal inhabitants of the forest and an iron mining town that is exploiting and killing the forest. Leading the forest animals in the battle is a human raised by wolves, Princess Mononoke.

Miyazaki personally corrected or redrew more than 80,000 of the film's 144,000 animation cels. Disney/Miramax, which released the film in North America, was contractually obligated not to edit any footage out for its North American release. They asked to, but were refused. Although they kept their end of the bargain in not editing the film, they did release it into far fewer theaters than promised and expressed surprise that it had made little money at the box office. Hayao Miyazaki had intended to this be his final film before retiring. Its great success led him to do another, Spirited Away.

“The drama is underlaid with Miyazaki's deep humanism, which avoids easy moral simplifications. There is a remarkable scene where San and Ashitaka, who have fallen in love, agree that neither can really lead the life of the other, and so they must grant each other freedom, and only meet occasionally. You won't find many Hollywood love stories (animated or otherwise) so philosophical.� – Roger Ebert

[Eleven]

#5

http://img135.imageshack.us/img135/8192/losthighwaylh3.jpg

Lost Highway

Director: David Lynch

Country: USA

After a bizarre encounter at a party, a jazz saxophonist is framed for the murder of his wife and sent to prison, where he inexplicably morphs into a young mechanic and begins leading a new life.

In a recent interview, director Lynch confessed that Lost Highway and Twin Peaks take place in the same world. Last film appearances by Richard Pryor and Jack Nance. The house that Fred Madison lives in, along with most of the furniture in it, belongs to, and was designed by David Lynch. Lynch said he has only recently realized what subconsciously inspired the film: the O.J. Simpson trial. He said that the trial was a major influence on his mind during the stage of writing this script, which deals with a man who killed his wife. Curiously enough, Lynch cast Robert Blake to play the Mystery Man, who is a major character in the film - years later, Blake would be put on trial for killing his own wife. After Gene Siskel and Roger Ebert gave the film a negative review on their show, Lynch issued a new poster calling the thumbs-down verdict "two more reasons to see Lost Highway." Asked for his opinion, Gene Siskel said, "I found it petty."

“You can say that a lot of Lost Highway is internal. It's Fred's story. It's not a dream: It's realistic, though according to Fred's logic. But I don't want to say too much. The reason is: I love mysteries. To fall into a mystery and its danger ... everything becomes so intense in those moments. When most mysteries are solved, I feel tremendously let down. So I want things to feel solved up to a point, but there's got to be a certain percentage left over to keep the dream going.� – David Lynch

[Yxklyx]

Neil Labute's The Shape of Things is pretty solid. I'd definitely recommend it.

ditto

didn't care much for Your Friends & Neighbors, but Nurse Betty is excellent.

[Spinal]

In a recent interview, director Lynch confessed that Lost Highway and Twin Peaks take place in the same world.

I'm not sure what this means since none of the characters or locations overlap as far as I can remember. So they all take place in Lynch-land? :confused:

[Eleven]

I'm not sure what this means since none of the characters or locations overlap as far as I can remember. So they all take place in Lynch-land? :confused:

Yeah, me neither, I just thought I'd throw it out there.

[Qrazy]

I'm not sure what this means since none of the characters or locations overlap as far as I can remember. So they all take place in Lynch-land? :confused:

Iphone??? AAAAAGHGHAGHAHGAGHAHGGHAHGHAHG h!!!!!!!!!!!

[Eleven]

#3 (tie)

http://img187.imageshack.us/img187/5251/boogienightsrx3.jpg

Boogie Nights

Director: Paul Thomas Anderson

Country: USA

Eddie is an aspiring actor who gets discovered by Jack Horner, a porn director who considers his job an art form. Eddie then changes his name to Dirk Diggler and gets involved in the lifestyle and relationships of the pornography industry of the late-1970s.

Vincent Gallo turned down the role of Dirk Diggler; Gwyneth Paltrow turned down the role of Rollergirl; Warren Beatty and Sydney Pollack turned down the role of Jack Horner. The name "Amber Waves" was used once before for a fictional porn star: in an episode of the TV series "Night Court." The character "Buck Swope" gets his last name from the Robert Downey Sr. film Putney Swope, a favorite of director Paul Thomas Anderson. The song "The Touch," performed by Dirk Diggler, is originally from The Transformers: The Movie. A picture of Elliott Gould can be seen throughout the film in the background (notably in the first shot of the X-rated film).

“By taking on the porn industry, Anderson has chosen a subject that could easily be mined for cheap laughs. But while it's very funny, Boogie Nights taps into something much deeper with its on-target depiction of the shifting political and social tides of the '70s and '80s and thoughtful relationships between characters. It's a deeply satisfying movie.� – Keith Phipps

[Raiders]

More importantly, does knowing they take place in the same world really change anything? Seems like a statement made only to please himself.

[Qrazy]

I watched about half of Putney Swope in a class in high school... such a mindfuck.

[Qrazy]

More importantly, does knowing they take place in the same world really change anything? Seems like a statement made only to please himself.

*Lynch then proceeded to masturbate with a pine cone*

[Spinal]

More importantly, does knowing they take place in the same world really change anything? Seems like a statement made only to please himself.

Or to get a journalist off his back. Yeah, I don't see how it makes a difference.

[Eleven]

#3 (tie)

http://img183.imageshack.us/img183/6897/hanabivv2.jpg

HANA-BI / Fireworks

Director: Takeshi Kitano

Country: Japan

Nishi is a cop whose wife is slowly dying of leukemia. One of his partners gets shot on the job and is confined to a wheel chair for the rest of his life and becomes suicidal. Nishi, feeling guilt over his partner’s accident, tries to help him in any way he can. At the same time, Nishi leaves the police force to spend more time with his dying wife. However, in order to do the right things for those he loves, Nishi must do wrong things.

Won the Golden Lion at the Venice Film Festival. The paintings that appear throughout the movie were painted by Takeshi Kitano himself after his near-fatal motorcycle accident in August 1994. The girl playing with the kite, featured in the final scenes of the film, is Takeshi Kitano's real-life daughter, Shoko Kitano. The Japanese title translates into 'Fireworks", but if you look further into the basis of the Japanese character for 'fireworks', you will see that it is composed of two smaller words-- 'fire' and 'flower'. And like the linguistic basis of the title, the story and style of Hana-Bi is the synthesis of two opposing images, one being an agent of destruction, and the other a symbol of birth and renewal.

“Despite the melodramatic qualities of the story, Hana-Bi is the prototypical Takeshi Kitano film, a bizarre dance of silence and violence. The most noticeable feature of Hana-Bi is Takeshi's penchant for long, serene static shots that suddenly explode into brutal violence, a technique he first developed in Violent Cop. Instead of glamorizing acts of violence, Takeshi prefers to provide an inescapable perspective on the shock of violence, from the point of view of an unblinking camera. These spontaneous bursts of violence are constantly counterpointed by the tranquil images of Horibe's paintings, and some subtle yet slapstick humor, an extension of Takeshi's many years as a comedian.� – Anthony Leong

[Grouchy]

More importantly, does knowing they take place in the same world really change anything? Seems like a statement made only to please himself.
Huh, I think he means the universe of Lost Highway shares a lot with Twin Peaks, same way Mulholland Dr. seems closer to INLAND EMPIRE. Tarantino has said similar stuff about Reservoir Dogs, Pulp Fiction and Jackie Brown being set in one "world", while From Dusk Till Dawn and Kill Bill are in a second, more fantastic one.

Let's not get so pissed now.

[Raiders]

Huh, I think he means the universe of Lost Highway shares a lot with Twin Peaks, same way Mulholland Dr. seems closer to INLAND EMPIRE. Tarantino has said similar stuff about Reservoir Dogs, Pulp Fiction and Jackie Brown being set in one "world", while From Dusk Till Dawn and Kill Bill are in a second, more fantastic one.

Let's not get so pissed now.

Who's pissed? I was simply implying it doesn't really mean anything to my viewing of the film/TV series, and that it was simply an aside made by Lynch that probably only has bearing in his creative process/mind.

[Eleven]

Yeah, I guess "confessed" is a weird word to choose, but I just got it off of IMDB and it's also other places.

Okay, here's more interesting stuff: Lost Highway has been adapted as an opera (or as CD notes call it, "Musiktheater") by composer Olga Neuwirth with the libretto by 2004 Nobel Prize for Literature winner Elfriede Jelinek. It premiered in Graz, Austria in 2003, and in America in Oberlin, Ohio and NYC in Feb 2007.

[Eleven]

#2

http://img120.imageshack.us/img120/4894/jackiebrownbk0.jpg

Jackie Brown

Director: Quentin Tarantino

Country: USA

Forty-four-year-old flight attendant Jackie Brown gets caught with gun dealer Ordell Robbie's money and to get the ATF off her back she sets up Ordell with her new friend, a bail bondsman named Max Cherry. But what the ATF doesn't know, is that they are part of her wild plan to get Ordell's half million dollars and get off scott free. However, she has to do it under the noses of Ordell, the ATF man, and a local cop. What she doesn't know is Ordell's blonde beach bunny wants the money for herself as does Ordell's ex-con friend.

Tarantino's list for casting Max Cherry was Paul Newman, Gene Hackman, John Saxon and Robert Forster. Early in the film Ordell tells Louis that "he's as serious as a heart attack." De Niro used the same line in The Fan when threatening another character. The suit that Jackie buys is the same that Mia Wallace wears in Pulp Fiction. It was Samuel L. Jackson's idea to give his character the long hair and the braided goatee. The casting director’s name was Jaki Brown.

“These moments are about how a filmmaker pours all the reasons he wants to make movies into a performer's face. There's an ardent devotion to them that goes beyond fan worship and that I would not have thought Tarantino capable of. He wanted to give Grier a role worthy of her, and he has.” – Charles Taylor

[Raiders]

:|

Really? It's good, but #2? At least this means we'll have the correct #1.

[Spinal]

:|

Really? It's good, but #2? #1.

Yeah, that's a little silly.

[Eleven]

Really? It's good, but #2?

The final tally may prove interesting in this regard. But consensus is consensus.


#1

http://img87.imageshack.us/img87/3225/sweethereaftermr7.jpg

The Sweet Hereafter

Director: Atom Egoyan

Country: Canada

A lawyer, pursued by the demons of losing a daughter to drugs, comes to a Canadian town where twenty children have died in a school bus accident. He wants the parents to sue, to determine who was at fault, and to focus their anger on making those at fault pay. Told partly in flashbacks to the days leading up to the accident, we also follow the attorney from family to family, coaxing them to join the suit. One young teen survives, crippled. She has become the lame child left behind in "The Pied Piper of Hamlin," which she reads aloud to a child the night before the accident. Her testimony is pivotal, and her relationship with her own father leads to what she says.

Russell Banks, the author of the novel on which the movie is based, makes a cameo as the doctor in the hospital scene with Sarah Polley. As indicated on Egoyan's commentary track on the DVD, many people ask about the odd mask worn by the note-taker during the deposition scene. This is a stenographer's mask, an item which is used in real-life for the stenographer to record her own voice during the deposition.

“Elegiac and yet straightforward as haiku, The Sweet Hereafter is a study of the piercing, intersecting angles of grief rendered in miniature -- a reminder of how, although we all know the basic characteristics of sorrow, when you look closely, you see a network of feelings as individual and mysterious, and as unchartable, as ice crystals.� – Stephanie Zecharek

[DavidSeven]

Well, at least the #1 is on the money.

[Eleven]

Results
1. The Sweet Hereafter 55.5
2. Jackie Brown 45.5
3t. HANA-BI/Fireworks 45
3t. Boogie Nights 45
5. Lost Highway 44.5
6. Princess Mononoke 41.5
7. Funny Games 38
8. In the Company of Men 30
9. LA Confidential 26
10. Cure 24.5

Almost there
Little Dieter Needs to Fly (23) was the only film that could have made the top ten with another vote.

[Kurosawa Fan]

At least this means we'll have the correct #1.


Well, at least the #1 is on the money.

This event is so rare, I felt we all needed to bask in it a bit more.

[Winston*]

Good choice Match Cut.

http://i14.photobucket.com/albums/a332/colpot/thumbsup.gif

[Spinal]

2. Jackie Brown 45.5
3t. HANA-BI/Fireworks 45
3t. Boogie Nights 45
5. Lost Highway 44.5
6. Princess Mononoke 41.5


Whoa.

[DavidSeven]

This event is so rare, I felt we all needed to bask in it a bit more.

Egoyan has always represented the anomaly between me and Raiders.

[Eleven]

Whoa.

Exactly. BirdsAteMyFace's last vote rearranged #2-#6.

[Raiders]

Egoyan has always represented the anomaly between me and Raiders.

What about In a Lonely Place and Days of Being Wild? C'mon, give yourself some credit. You aren't always wrong.

[Ezee E]

Damn that's close.

Pretty damn good year when it's all said and done though for the indieworld.

[BirdsAteMyFace]

Exactly. BirdsAteMyFace's last vote rearranged #2-#6.:)

[ledfloyd]

Sweet Hereafter was meh.

LA Confidential should've been higher.

[Philosophe_rouge]

The Sweet Hereafter is incredible... I never get tired of it, and it's still one of the most haunting films I've ever seen.

[balmakboor]

5. The Mirror (Panahi)

You're the first person I've ever seen mention this, besides myself.

Rep to you.

[Qrazy]

You're the first person I've ever seen mention this, besides myself.

Rep to you.

I thought The White Balloon was great so I guess it's time to check out the rest of his films.