Decade Retrospective

[Boz]

source

[bobbyreed]

Everything but Spirited Away (only saw the first half-hour or so), 4 Months, Mr. Lazarescu, and Far from Heaven. Meh.

[RNL]

Haven't seen: Yi yi, Talk to Her, Y tu mamá también, 4 Months, 3 Weeks & 2 Days, The Death of Mr Lazarescu

[Capo]

I haven't seen Yi Yi, The Hurt Locker, Lazarescu.

[RNL]

Of the other 15 on the list on the site, I haven't seen Moulin Rouge, Summer Hours or The Queen.

Oh it's a top 250. This might be a good viewing guide.

[Capo]

Not if they've got The Queen in there!

[RNL]

Well I've wanted to see that for ages anyway. But if it's just a list of the most critically acclaimed films then they're all probably at least worth watching.

[Capo]

And Million Dollar Baby!

[RNL]

I'm not saying I expect to like them all, anymore than I'd expect to like every film on any broad list like that.

Though I don't dislike that film anymore.

But it's easy for films to pass you by. I remember buzz surrounding many of the films lower down the list when they first came out, but for whatever reason I never saw them and forgot about them. As a guide to what 'the critical community' considers the best films of the past decade this is very helpful.

I just counted how many I've seen from each page.

1. 42/50
2. 35/50
3. 32/50
4. 33/50
5. 28/50

= 170/250

[Capo]

I be messin'.

[RNL]

I'll definitely not enjoy Once.

I've been putting off watching that for three years.

[Capo]

How come? It's pretty whimsical from what I remember but it's got a quiet pleasantness to it.

[RNL]

I dunno. I'm deeply prejudiced against it for some reason. Its status as the crown jewel of the Irish film industry since it won the Oscar annoys me. It swept the Irish Film & Television Awards after its nomination despite the fact that it was utterly ignored by them when it originally came out. And I don't like The Frames.

[RNL]

I'm aware that on those grounds my distaste should be directed at the IFTAs and not the film, but that's not how prejudice works.

[Capo]

Tell us of your non-dislike of the Eastwood film...

[RNL]

Well, my dislike of it was more a principled disdain for contemporary 'classical narrative' cinema in general, which is not something I feel or subscribe to at all anymore.

Eternal Sunshine was better than Sideways or Million Dollar Baby to me, at the time of that year's MFA awards, because it was so much weirder and more 'philosophical'. I do still prefer it, but not as a matter of principle or 'theory' or anything anymore.

I'd need to see MDB again to evaluate it fairly. Much like Vera Drake, the same year.

[Capo]

I'd be interested in what you (and I) would make of Munich these days...

[Capo]

Staying more on the general topic at hand, what are people's favourite films of the last ten years?

Favourite American film?
Favourite filmmaker?
Best new talent?
Performance?
Etc.

[RNL]

Yeah, I've wanted to watch it again for ages. It was my third film of the day. I'd seen Syriana and MirrorMask in the Dublin Festival and then waited around for two hours to see Munich. I was grumpy and weary and it was four years ago.

[quentincompson]

Favorite American Film Mulholland Drive, if it doesn't completely count then I guess 'R Xmas.

Filmmaker Tsai but Jia,Weerasethakul and Kore-eda are really close. All Asians hmm..

PerformanceChen Shiang-chyi Goodbye Dragon Inn All of her performances are great!

And I watched Munich the other night. Didn't think it was bad but it wasn't good either. I thought it had very little character or thematic development for a film of such length. There were a few philosophic conversations but they just seemed like typical shit from Hollywood trying to understand issues that are way over their head, put in the film only to make it seem more thoughtful and serious. The violence was too repetive to be moving. It could have been more effective if the scenes weren't as rushed and less dramatized.