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Thread: 2008 - Top 20 countdown followed by the matchie® awards!!!

  1. #51
    neurotic subjectivist B-side's Avatar
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    Heh. Cloverfield was in my top 10. I enjoyed Indy IV, too.:P
    Last 5 Viewed
    Riddick (David Twohy | 2013 | USA/UK)
    Night Across the Street (Raoul Ruiz | 2012 | Chile/France)*
    Pain & Gain (Michael Bay | 2013 | USA)*
    You're Next (Adam Wingard | 2011 | USA)
    Little Odessa (James Gray | 1994 | USA)*

    *recommended *highly recommended

    “It isn't easy to accept that suffering can also be beautiful... it's difficult. It's something you can only understand if you dig deeply into yourself.” -- Rainer Werner Fassbinder

    twitter | next projection | criticker | frames within frames

  2. #52
    Oh, man. Wanted was awful.

    Still haven't seen The Happening. Despite everyone telling me it's shit, I'm still gonna have to fix that.

  3. #53
    neurotic subjectivist B-side's Avatar
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    Quote Quoting Sycophant (view post)
    Oh, man. Wanted was awful.

    Still haven't seen The Happening. Despite everyone telling me it's shit, I'm still gonna have to fix that.
    It's the type of shit you have fun laughing at, though. And really, that can be more fun than watching something middling/mediocre.
    Last 5 Viewed
    Riddick (David Twohy | 2013 | USA/UK)
    Night Across the Street (Raoul Ruiz | 2012 | Chile/France)*
    Pain & Gain (Michael Bay | 2013 | USA)*
    You're Next (Adam Wingard | 2011 | USA)
    Little Odessa (James Gray | 1994 | USA)*

    *recommended *highly recommended

    “It isn't easy to accept that suffering can also be beautiful... it's difficult. It's something you can only understand if you dig deeply into yourself.” -- Rainer Werner Fassbinder

    twitter | next projection | criticker | frames within frames

  4. #54
    dissolved into molecules lovejuice's Avatar
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    wow, i haven't seen any of these. very surprise slumdog millionaire survives getting put in this category.
    "Over analysis is like the oil of the Match-Cut machine." KK2.0

  5. #55
    Does not read Sutter Cane The Mike's Avatar
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    Heh, I own and (at least somewhat) enjoy 6 of those 10. Self High-Five!
    The Mike

    It's very very horrible, sir. It's one of those things we wish we could disinvent.

    From Midnight, With Love - My Midnight Movie Blog of Justice!

  6. #56
    pushing too many pencils Rowland's Avatar
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    Rambo [45]
    Diary of the Dead [39]
    Cloverfield [61]
    Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull [44]
    Wanted [46]
    The Happening [25]

    I watched the first half of Hancock before my rental DVD began to glitch out on me... I was never inspired enough to rent out the second half. *shrug*
    Letterboxd rating scale:
    The Long Riders (Hill) ***
    Furious 7 (Wan) **½
    Hard Times (Hill) ****½
    Another 48 Hrs. (Hill) ***
    /48 Hrs./ (Hill) ***½
    The Extraordinary Adventures of Adèle Blanc-Sec (Besson) ***
    /Unknown/ (Collet-Serra) ***½
    Animal (Simmons) **

  7. #57
    Alone again, naturally eternity's Avatar
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    One of the best films of 2008 ends up on the site's collective worst list.

    See more bad fucking films, please. Like Twilight, or something.

  8. #58
    i am the great went ledfloyd's Avatar
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    Indy 4 was great.

  9. #59
    Those films deserved those pictures... I tell myself. That's how you know this thread is successful, I start feeling bad for movies.

    As much as I am forgiving of The Happening, looking at that still, that lion scene is so retarded.

    Diary of the Dead - 7
    Cloverfield - 4.5
    Wanted - 3
    Indy IV - 4.5
    The Happening - 4.5
    The Act of Killing (Oppenheimer 13) - A
    Stranger by the Lake (Giraudie 12) - B
    American Hustle (Russell 13) - C+
    The Wolf of Wall Street (Scorsese 13) - C+
    Passion (De Palma 12) - B

  10. #60
    Quote Quoting Derek (view post)
    Téchiné's film is indeed great, but I won't say I prefer it to films I haven't seen for fear of sounding like a giant ass. Congrats on facing that fear head on Mr. Howard's Frost/Nixon > Murnau's City Girl.
    Starting with two movies I definitely have seen, Frost/Nixon, though far from great, was a skillfully made Hollywood entertainment, and City Girl was a dreadful bore. The story eventually reaches a crisis, but it takes the better part of an hour getting there.

    As for Let the Right One In, the point isn't whether or not it's a good film, but that it's getting so much exposure simply because it's about vampires.

    More generally, movies that represent the real world are more interesting and resonant (that is, when they're well made, like Téchiné's film or Jia Zhang-ke's Still Life) than movies that have nothing to do with it. Whether or not Let the Right One In is a better movie than Twilight, both are movies about other movies, rather than any lived experience.
    Just because...
    The Fabelmans (Steven Spielberg, 2022) mild
    Petite maman (Céline Sciamma, 2021) mild
    The Banshees of Inisherin (Martin McDonagh, 2022) mild

    The last book I read was...
    The Complete Short Stories by Mark Twain


    The (New) World

  11. #61
    Quote Quoting ledfloyd (view post)
    Indy 4 was great.
    It didn't suck as much as Spielberg's last three movies, but that hardly makes it great. Munich was at least ambitious (too bad Speilberg's style was so ridiculously heavy-handed, as in the sex scene with Eric Bana doing a slo mo hair flip that sends beads of sweat arching gracefully towards the camera, and Spielberg's usual daddy issues are especially gratuitous and tacked on here, with Mathieu Amalric betraying Bana because his father likes the other boy better), where Indiana Jones 4 is the sort of film he could direct with two hands tied behind his back. It's fun and silly and entirely forgettable.
    Just because...
    The Fabelmans (Steven Spielberg, 2022) mild
    Petite maman (Céline Sciamma, 2021) mild
    The Banshees of Inisherin (Martin McDonagh, 2022) mild

    The last book I read was...
    The Complete Short Stories by Mark Twain


    The (New) World

  12. #62
    sleepy soitgoes...'s Avatar
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    Quote Quoting baby doll (view post)
    As for Let the Right One In, the point isn't whether or not it's a good film, but that it's getting so much exposure simply because it's about vampires.
    No. The exposure is because it is a very good film. People didn't vote for it just because it was about vampires.

    Quote Quoting baby doll (view post)
    More generally, movies that represent the real world are more interesting and resonant (that is, when they're well made, like Téchiné's film or Jia Zhang-ke's Still Life) than movies that have nothing to do with it.
    Really? Is this true for everybody or just you?
    Quote Quoting baby doll (view post)
    Whether or not Letter the Right One In is a better movie than Twilight, both are movies about other movies, rather than any lived experience.
    Why does film have to be grounded in what only you find interesting? For a lot of people, film is a form of escapism. Should there only be dramas?

    Have you even seen Let the Right One in? Or is this yet another film that you have dismissed without watching?

  13. #63
    Quote Quoting baby doll (view post)
    As for Let the Right One In, the point isn't whether or not it's a good film, but that it's getting so much exposure simply because it's about vampires.
    'Simply' because it's about vampires? Or how about its ridiculous festival buzz? Or being one of the best-reviewed films of the year? There have been tons of vampire films in recent years that haven't received the exposure that LtROI has, just as there have been successful films in the past about AIDS.

  14. #64
    Quote Quoting soitgoes... (view post)
    No. The exposure is because it is a very good film. People didn't vote for it just because it was about vampires.
    But there are lots of very good European films that don't get any exposure in the States at all (Téchiné's being one of them), so while I'm sure Let the Right One In is a good film, I can't imagine that it's that much better than virtually every other non-English language film released in North America last year. The issue isn't how good the film is, but will a large audience turn out for a film about a particular subject. Because Twilight was a huge hit, and Let the Right One In is an art house hit, we know people will go to see a movie about vampires.

    Really? Is this true for everybody or just you?
    Why does film have to be grounded in what only you find interesting? For a lot of people, film is a form of escapism. Should there only be dramas?
    For one thing, engagement doesn't preclude comedy. For instance, the driving instructor in Happy-Go-Lucky reflects the views of a lot of people regarding race and multiculturalism, and the movie is absolutely hysterical.

    An interesting subject isn't everything (storytelling and style count for a lot, too), but it helps. In another thread, I made the point that Frost/Nixon is a better directed film than Changeling (in addition to being a more attractively designed and photographed one) because Howard treats his material with a lighter touch than Eastwood, but that doesn't make it a better film, because the true story Eastwood's film is based on is a lot more dramatic than the very minor historical event that Howard's film dramatizes.

    Have you even seen Let the Right One in? Or is this yet another film that you have dismissed without watching?
    But I'm not dismissing the film. I'm talking about why this film, good or bad, is getting so much attention for a non-English language film, and why other films, as good or better, don't get a fraction of the attention.
    Just because...
    The Fabelmans (Steven Spielberg, 2022) mild
    Petite maman (Céline Sciamma, 2021) mild
    The Banshees of Inisherin (Martin McDonagh, 2022) mild

    The last book I read was...
    The Complete Short Stories by Mark Twain


    The (New) World

  15. #65
    Quote Quoting Boner M (view post)
    'Simply' because it's about vampires? Or how about its ridiculous festival buzz? Or being one of the best-reviewed films of the year? There have been tons of vampire films in recent years that haven't received the exposure that LtROI has, just as there have been successful films in the past about AIDS.
    One only has to look at Still Life, which got ridiculous festival buzz (it won the top prize at Venice), and got great reviews across the board, but didn't do well at the box office in North America. That Let the Right One In became a hit isn't simply because it's about vampires (I apologize for the poor phrasing), but that it is about vampires makes it easier for a distributor to sell it to an audience than a film about the Three Gorges Dam, which most North Americans probably have never even heard of.
    Just because...
    The Fabelmans (Steven Spielberg, 2022) mild
    Petite maman (Céline Sciamma, 2021) mild
    The Banshees of Inisherin (Martin McDonagh, 2022) mild

    The last book I read was...
    The Complete Short Stories by Mark Twain


    The (New) World

  16. #66
    Quote Quoting baby doll (view post)
    One only has to look at Still Life, which got ridiculous festival buzz (it won the top prize at Venice), and got great reviews across the board, but didn't do well at the box office in North America. That Let the Right One In became a hit isn't simply because it's about vampires (I apologize for the poor phrasing), but that it is about vampires makes it easier for a distributor to sell it to an audience than a film about the Three Gorges Dam, which most North Americans probably have never even heard of.
    Well, Up The Yangtze is about the Three Georges Dam as well, and that did respectable arthouse business. I don't think Still Life had such a marginal appeal because of it's content, but rather because of its form.

  17. #67
    Quote Quoting Boner M (view post)
    Well, Up The Yangtze is about the Three Georges Dam as well, and that did respectable arthouse business. I don't think Still Life had such a marginal appeal because of it's content, but rather because of its form.
    Maybe you're right about Jia's film, since Claire Denis' Trouble Every Day (a vampire movie I like a great deal) faired even worse commercially than her films usually do. On the other hand, the cover art on the Chinese-label DVD of Denis' film that I bought second hand in Halifax makes it look like a sexed-up gore fest (which is only partially true).
    Just because...
    The Fabelmans (Steven Spielberg, 2022) mild
    Petite maman (Céline Sciamma, 2021) mild
    The Banshees of Inisherin (Martin McDonagh, 2022) mild

    The last book I read was...
    The Complete Short Stories by Mark Twain


    The (New) World

  18. #68
    Too much responsibility Kurosawa Fan's Avatar
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    Wow. Two quotes for the horrible films. Finally, recognition!!!

  19. #69
    Winston* Classic Winston*'s Avatar
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    You conversing with your alias isn't convincing anyone, boner. This rouse is no longer amusing. IMO you should stop posting as baby doll forever.

  20. #70
    Quote Quoting Winston* (view post)
    You conversing with your alias isn't convincing anyone, boner. This rouse is no longer amusing. IMO you should stop posting as baby doll forever.
    Pfft. Israfel is my only alias here.

  21. #71
    The Pan Qrazy's Avatar
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    Quote Quoting baby doll (view post)
    Starting with two movies I definitely have seen, Frost/Nixon, though far from great, was a skillfully made Hollywood entertainment, and City Girl was a dreadful bore. The story eventually reaches a crisis, but it takes the better part of an hour getting there.

    As for Let the Right One In, the point isn't whether or not it's a good film, but that it's getting so much exposure simply because it's about vampires.

    More generally, movies that represent the real world are more interesting and resonant (that is, when they're well made, like Téchiné's film or Jia Zhang-ke's Still Life) than movies that have nothing to do with it. Whether or not Let the Right One In is a better movie than Twilight, both are movies about other movies, rather than any lived experience.
    Your argument failed here.
    The Princess and the Pilot - B-
    Playtime (rewatch) - A
    The Hobbit - C-
    The Comedy - D+
    Kings of the Road - C+
    The Odd Couple - B
    Red Rock West - C-
    The Hunger Games - D-
    Prometheus - C
    Tangled - C+

  22. #72
    Screenwriter Duncan's Avatar
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    Quote Quoting baby doll (view post)
    More generally, movies that represent the real world are more interesting and resonant than movies that have nothing to do with it.
    Wrong.
    Wishful thinking, perhaps; but that is just another possible definition of the featherless biped.

  23. #73
    Screenwriter Fezzik's Avatar
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    While I actually liked Hancock overall, I do agree that the third act felt like a completely different movie.

    It seemed to take a turn for the suck after the 'celebration dinner' scene.

  24. #74
    Screenwriter Fezzik's Avatar
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    Quote Quoting baby doll (view post)
    One only has to look at Still Life, which got ridiculous festival buzz (it won the top prize at Venice), and got great reviews across the board, but didn't do well at the box office in North America. That Let the Right One In became a hit isn't simply because it's about vampires (I apologize for the poor phrasing), but that it is about vampires makes it easier for a distributor to sell it to an audience than a film about the Three Gorges Dam, which most North Americans probably have never even heard of.
    You remind me of the self-absorbed cinemaphile at work who condescends to all of us because we actually have the gall to occasionally watch films because they're fun.

    The fact that In the Mood For Love is his favorite movie doesn't bother me. I mean, I'm sure it sucked, even though I haven't seen it yet, but to each their own. The fact that we can see up his nostrils while he talks about it, however, does.

    Well, that and the fact that he felt compelled to spell the director's name for us, since we are obviously so unsophisticated that we'd flub it up if he didn't tell us.

  25. #75
    Replacing Luck Since 1984 Dukefrukem's Avatar
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    awesome thread and great bottom 10... i agree with them all.. the Happening was so bad it pissed me off... i was angry after watching it... mainly because I blind bought it... ON BLU-RAY!
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