Zodiac; the best film of the past 10 years? If not, what is?

Frank Lee Midere

Anybody else still try to work out what was left off?

Frank Lee Midere

Scrooged!

Edit;

Or Twins!

MilanPan!c

Frank Lee Midere wrote: »

Anybody else still try to work out what was left off?

Ah sorry Frank!

I was just being prematurely sorry, as no matter how hard I tried I knew I'd almost immediately be hit with, "but what about 'x'".


Sorry for the confusion.

Saying that there is at least one loved movie I left off because I don't like it

Actually here's two:

The Last Temptation of Christ
Chocolat

I should have included Tucker as well... It was the "Matinee" of '88.

MilanPan!c

Frank Lee Midere wrote: »

Scrooged!

Edit;

Or Twins!

Nice!!

johnny_ultimate

Are we really having this argument? America's output is far from the defining statement on the new millenium's cinema thus. Don't get me wrong - there are a huge amount of exciting directors and films emerging from there every year (especially last year), and thanks to various social / cultural reasons we obviously see far, far more American cinema than we do other regions. And yes, they are one of the biggest film producing nations by a large margin, so in sheer bulk alone they technically dominate.

But artistically? Well, here's some films and directors whose output in the last decade at least matches or surpasses any of the films mentioned in the original pole - although for the record, I happily consider Eternal Sunshine, There Will Be Blood, Toy Story 3 and The Dark Knight among the best produced anywhere in the world during the last ten years or so.

Japan (which I'd happily agree has been struggling over the last few years)
Pretty much all the films of Hirokazua Kore-eda (particularly Nobody Knows, Still Walking, I Wish and Like Father Like Son). The closest thing we have to a spiritual successor to the great mid-century Japanese filmmakers.
Confessions / Memories of Matsuko
The delightful last two films of Mamoru Hosoda
Love Exposure (and depending on your preference, arguably other films from Sion Sono's insanely prolific output - LE is IMO a bonafide masterpiece though)
The films of Shuichi Okita
Rebuild of Evangelion (a personal favourite, likely not to everyone's taste)
(the likes of Spirited Away, Zatoichi, Audition etc... could perhaps be considered due to Western release delays, but definitely among the most important of the new millenia)

Korea
The films of Bong Joon-ho
The films of Park Chan-wook
The films of Kim Jee-woon
The films of Hang Song-soo
The films of Lee Chang-dong
Certain films from Kim Ki-duk (definitely Spring, Summer... and 3-Iron, after that we're into much more divisive territory)

I'd struggle to name six contemporary American directors as singular, ambitious and distinctive as these guys.

China
Selected films of Jonnie To (all over the place, but the likes of Exiled and Drug War are among the finest action efforts of recent times)
The films of Jia Zhanghe
Last Train Home (the country of production there is a bit difficult to settle on)
My knowledge of Chinese cinema is limited, so I'll leave it at that.

Iran
The films of Asghar Farhadi (A Separation and About Elly being two films I wouldn't hesitate to describe as effectively perfect)
The films of Abbas Kiaraostami (albeit more international these days)
The films of Jafar Panahi

Special mention to the films of Apichatpong Weerasethakul (Syndromes and a Century particularly, IMO)

France
Holy Motors
The Triplets of Belleville
Persepolis
I've Loved You So Long
The films of Claire Denis
The Diving Bell and the Butterfly
The films of the Dardenne Brothers
A Prophet / The Beat that my Heart Skipped
Enter the Void (equal parts utterly brilliant and absolutely terrible)
Plus many New Wavers - Rohmer, Charbol, Resnais etc... continuing to do their thing.

The films of Michael Haneke (which I'm leaving these independent of any particular country, albeit probably belong more in France than Austria these days. Regardless, Caché particularly is one of the decade's most astonishing achievements, and Amour and The White Ribbon aren't far behind)

I'm actually going to stop there, because my head is kinda spinning. Regardless, brilliant directors have also emerged from Eastern Europe, South America, Britain, Germany, Scandanavia, Canada, Greece, other Middle Eastern countries and many other countries. I'd be here all day naming them all, I'm sure many other posters here could happily add more names and titles to the discussion.

Even if you have to dig a bit to find the gems (distributors sure as hell don't make it easy sometimes), America has nothing close to a monopoly on the cinema of the 2000s, or maybe only in terms of multiplex screen space.

Nerdlingr

Frank Lee Midere wrote: »

Anybody else still try to work out what was left off?

It was "Taffin".

Mousewar

johnny_ultimate wrote: »

Are we really having this argument? America's output is far from the defining statement on the new millenium's cinema thus. Don't get me wrong - there are a huge amount of exciting directors and films emerging from there every year (especially last year), and thanks to various social / cultural reasons we obviously see far, far more American cinema than we do other regions. And yes, they are one of the biggest film producing nations by a large margin, so in sheer bulk alone they technically dominate.

But artistically? Well, here's some films and directors whose output in the last decade at least matches or surpasses any of the films mentioned in the original pole - although for the record, I happily consider Eternal Sunshine, There Will Be Blood, Toy Story 3 and The Dark Knight among the best produced anywhere in the world during the last ten years or so.

Japan (which I'd happily agree has been struggling over the last few years)
Pretty much all the films of Hirokazua Kore-eda (particularly Nobody Knows, Still Walking, I Wish and Like Father Like Son). The closest thing we have to a spiritual successor to the great mid-century Japanese filmmakers.
Confessions / Memories of Matsuko
The delightful last two films of Mamoru Hosoda
Love Exposure (and depending on your preference, arguably other films from Sion Sono's insanely prolific output - LE is IMO a bonafide masterpiece though)
The films of Shuichi Okita
Rebuild of Evangelion (a personal favourite, likely not to everyone's taste)
(the likes of Spirited Away, Zatoichi, Audition etc... could perhaps be considered due to Western release delays, but definitely among the most important of the new millenia)

Korea
The films of Bong Joon-ho
The films of Park Chan-wook
The films of Kim Jee-woon
The films of Hang Song-soo
The films of Lee Chang-dong
Certain films from Kim Ki-duk (definitely Spring, Summer... and 3-Iron, after that we're into much more divisive territory)

I'd struggle to name six contemporary American directors as singular, ambitious and distinctive as these guys.

China
Selected films of Jonnie To (all over the place, but the likes of Exiled and Drug War are among the finest action efforts of recent times)
The films of Jia Zhanghe
Last Train Home (the country of production there is a bit difficult to settle on)
My knowledge of Chinese cinema is limited, so I'll leave it at that.

Iran
The films of Asghar Farhadi (A Separation and About Elly being two films I wouldn't hesitate to describe as effectively perfect)
The films of Abbas Kiaraostami (albeit more international these days)
The films of Jafar Panahi

Special mention to the films of Apichatpong Weerasethakul (Syndromes and a Century particularly, IMO)

France
Holy Motors
The Triplets of Belleville
Persepolis
I've Loved You So Long
The films of Claire Denis
The Diving Bell and the Butterfly
The films of the Dardenne Brothers
A Prophet / The Beat that my Heart Skipped
Enter the Void (equal parts utterly brilliant and absolutely terrible)
Plus many New Wavers - Rohmer, Charbol, Resnais etc... continuing to do their thing.

The films of Michael Haneke (which I'm leaving these independent of any particular country, albeit probably belong more in France than Austria these days. Regardless, Caché particularly is one of the decade's most astonishing achievements, and Amour and The White Ribbon aren't far behind)

I'm actually going to stop there, because my head is kinda spinning. Regardless, brilliant directors have also emerged from Eastern Europe, South America, Britain, Germany, Scandanavia, Canada, Greece, other Middle Eastern countries and many other countries. I'd be here all day naming them all, I'm sure many other posters here could happily add more names and titles to the discussion.

Even if you have to dig a bit to find the gems (distributors sure as hell don't make it easy sometimes), America has nothing close to a monopoly on the cinema of the 2000s, or maybe only in terms of multiplex screen space.

Yeah, what he said.

MilanPan!c

I'll do one more year, as it's fun to see movies broken down like this.

1997 - 17(!) years ago

US

LA Confidential
Titanic
Boogie Nights
As Good As It Gets
Donnie Brasco
Goodwill Hunting (how much did those two affect movies? Amazing!)
Fast, Cheap and Out of Control
The Ice Storm (Love it)
Wag the Dog
Starship Troopers
Jackie Brown
Face/Off
Henry Fool (ahh Hal Hartley)
Gummo
Grosse Point Blank
Contact
Deconstructing Harry
Air Force One
Liar Liar
Cop Land
The Apostle
Waiting For Guffman
Spanish Prisoner
Lost Highway

Austria
Funny Games

Netherlands
Character (Worth a look!)

China
The Opium War
Frozen
Keep Cool

Canada
The Sweet Hereafter
Love and Death on Long Island
In the Company of Men
Cube

Italy
Life Is Beautiful

Ireland
The Boxer

HK
Happy Together (WKW's best)
Too Many Ways To Be No. 1 (One of the best movies of the 90s)
Lawyer Lawyer
Full Alert
Made In Hong Kong
Once Upon A Time in China and America
Young and Dangerous 4
Alls Well, Ends Well 1997
Mr Nice Guy
Legend of the Wolf

Norway
Insomnia

UK
Full Monty
Career Girls
Nil By Mouth

Japan
Princess Mononoke (amazing!)
Hana-Bi (amazing!)
The Eel
Cure
End of Eva
Perfect Blue
Moonlight Serenade
Paradise Lost
Moe no Suzaku (Great!)
Tokyo Lullaby
The Fire Within
Postman Blues

Iran
Taste of Cherry

France
Fifth Element
Ma Vie En Rose
The Banned Woman
Korea
The Contact
After Sex
Green Fish
The Serpent's Kiss


Great great year for HK and Japan.


I'm sure I missed a lot.

FlashD

Mousewar wrote: »

You mean it's the most popular? Yeah, we all know that.
Bladerunner, yes. The Shining, yes. The rest are all (enjoyable) blockbuster hokum.

The concept of movie 'blockbuster' didn't come to be until the 90's when marketing and consumer targeting became more advanced.

In the 80's all the movies I mentioned (Bladerunner, Indy, Terminator, Predator, Ghostbusters, Back to the Future, Aliens, the Shining, Empire Strikes Back, Batman and so on) were considered original and unique upon release. Nobody was to know that many of these would go on to become huge popular franchises.

......but you would have known all this had you grown up in the 80's.

MilanPan!c

johnny_ultimate wrote: »

Are we really having this argument? America's output is far from the defining statement on the new millenium's cinema thus. Don't get me wrong - there are a huge amount of exciting directors and films emerging from there every year (especially last year), and thanks to various social / cultural reasons we obviously see far, far more American cinema than we do other regions. And yes, they are one of the biggest film producing nations by a large margin, so in sheer bulk alone they technically dominate.

But artistically? Well, here's some films and directors whose output in the last decade at least matches or surpasses any of the films mentioned in the original pole - although for the record, I happily consider Eternal Sunshine, There Will Be Blood, Toy Story 3 and The Dark Knight among the best produced anywhere in the world during the last ten years or so.

Japan (which I'd happily agree has been struggling over the last few years)
Pretty much all the films of Hirokazua Kore-eda (particularly Nobody Knows, Still Walking, I Wish and Like Father Like Son). The closest thing we have to a spiritual successor to the great mid-century Japanese filmmakers.
Confessions / Memories of Matsuko
The delightful last two films of Mamoru Hosoda
Love Exposure (and depending on your preference, arguably other films from Sion Sono's insanely prolific output - LE is IMO a bonafide masterpiece though)
The films of Shuichi Okita
Rebuild of Evangelion (a personal favourite, likely not to everyone's taste)
(the likes of Spirited Away, Zatoichi, Audition etc... could perhaps be considered due to Western release delays, but definitely among the most important of the new millenia)

Korea
The films of Bong Joon-ho
The films of Park Chan-wook
The films of Kim Jee-woon
The films of Hang Song-soo
The films of Lee Chang-dong
Certain films from Kim Ki-duk (definitely Spring, Summer... and 3-Iron, after that we're into much more divisive territory)

I'd struggle to name six contemporary American directors as singular, ambitious and distinctive as these guys.

China
Selected films of Jonnie To (all over the place, but the likes of Exiled and Drug War are among the finest action efforts of recent times)
The films of Jia Zhanghe
Last Train Home (the country of production there is a bit difficult to settle on)
My knowledge of Chinese cinema is limited, so I'll leave it at that.

Iran
The films of Asghar Farhadi (A Separation and About Elly being two films I wouldn't hesitate to describe as effectively perfect)
The films of Abbas Kiaraostami (albeit more international these days)
The films of Jafar Panahi

Special mention to the films of Apichatpong Weerasethakul (Syndromes and a Century particularly, IMO)

France
Holy Motors
The Triplets of Belleville
Persepolis
I've Loved You So Long
The films of Claire Denis
The Diving Bell and the Butterfly
The films of the Dardenne Brothers
A Prophet / The Beat that my Heart Skipped
Enter the Void (equal parts utterly brilliant and absolutely terrible)
Plus many New Wavers - Rohmer, Charbol, Resnais etc... continuing to do their thing.

The films of Michael Haneke (which I'm leaving these independent of any particular country, albeit probably belong more in France than Austria these days. Regardless, Caché particularly is one of the decade's most astonishing achievements, and Amour and The White Ribbon aren't far behind)

I'm actually going to stop there, because my head is kinda spinning. Regardless, brilliant directors have also emerged from Eastern Europe, South America, Britain, Germany, Scandanavia, Canada, Greece, other Middle Eastern countries and many other countries. I'd be here all day naming them all, I'm sure many other posters here could happily add more names and titles to the discussion.

Even if you have to dig a bit to find the gems (distributors sure as hell don't make it easy sometimes), America has nothing close to a monopoly on the cinema of the 2000s, or maybe only in terms of multiplex screen space.

The problem with this is that it's more a comment on individual directors/films then the entire film industry of the country on a yearly basis.

I like pretty much everything you've listed, and love some of it to bits, but ... One a yearly basis, comparing the entire output of countries... Three amazing Korean films or 10 great Japanese films in a year don't make either a better country for film than the US in a given year.

Again, on my 1997 list my favourite films are from HK, Japan and the US. But... As a country the US dominates. Based purely on numbers and average quality.

Mickeroo

Nerdlingr wrote: »

It was "Taffin".

I now consider all arguments to the contrary to be null and void.

Mousewar

FlashD wrote: »

The concept of movie 'blockbuster' didn't come to be until the 90's when marketing and consumer targeting became more advanced.

In the 80's all the movies I mentioned (Bladerunner, Indy, Terminator, Predator, Ghostbusters, Back to the Future, Aliens, the Shining, Empire Strikes Back, Batman and so on) were considered original and unique upon release. Nobody was to know that many of these would go on to become huge popular franchises.

......but you would have known all this had you grown up in the 80's.

Well all that seems completely wrong. The modern concept of the Blockbuster has its origin with Jaws in 1975. That's why I mentioned Speilberg. It took off from there and exploded in the 80s.

Zubeneschamali

FlashD wrote: »

In the 80's all the movies I mentioned (Bladerunner, Indy, Terminator, Predator, Ghostbusters, Back to the Future, Aliens, the Shining, Empire Strikes Back, Batman and so on) were considered original and unique upon release.

I saw nearly all of them in the cinema when released (I didn't see The Shining. In fact, I never have seen The Shining), and none of them were original back then.

Bladerunner, the Shining, Batman are adaptations - Empire Strikes Back and Aliens are sequels, Terminator settled a lawsuit for ripping off Harlan Ellison, Aliens was a sequel of Alien, which settled a lawsuit for ripping off AE Van Vogt, Predator is just a sequence of clichés, Indy is a deliberate mishmash of 30s serial adventures...

Liger vs Tigon

No way, The Dark Knight Rises is the best movie of the last 10 years.

e_e

Just watched Russian Ark there, certainly deserving of a mention and more impressive than a lot of what's been mentioned in this thread.

FlashD

Zubeneschamali wrote: »

I saw nearly all of them in the cinema when released (I didn't see The Shining. In fact, I never have seen The Shining), and none of them were original back then.

Bladerunner, the Shining, Batman are adaptations - Empire Strikes Back and Aliens are sequels, Terminator settled a lawsuit for ripping off Harlan Ellison, Aliens was a sequel of Alien, which settled a lawsuit for ripping off AE Van Vogt, Predator is just a sequence of clichés, Indy is a deliberate mishmash of 30s serial adventures...

In that case you could say nothing is ever original. It's a fine line, as all pieces of art and film throughout history are inspired and influenced by something somewhere else. Nothing that has ever existed is totally unique.

In my opinion they were original. Thank you for your input.

krudler

FlashD wrote: »

The concept of movie 'blockbuster' didn't come to be until the 90's when marketing and consumer targeting became more advanced.

In the 80's all the movies I mentioned (Bladerunner, Indy, Terminator, Predator, Ghostbusters, Back to the Future, Aliens, the Shining, Empire Strikes Back, Batman and so on) were considered original and unique upon release. Nobody was to know that many of these would go on to become huge popular franchises.

......but you would have known all this had you grown up in the 80's.

The modern blockbuster has been around since the 70's. Jaws, Star Wars, The Exorcist etc. All blockbusters, people lining around the block (it's literally where the name came from) to see a movie based on marketing and word of mouth.

MilanPan!c

krudler wrote: »

The modern blockbuster has been around since the 70's. Jaws, Star Wars, The Exorcist etc. All blockbusters, people lining around the block (it's literally where the name came from) to see a movie based on marketing and word of mouth.

It's not where the name came from.

The word was used before Jaws to describe a massive success in the arts, but the word came into vogue with cinema around Jaws. Specifically.

popepaisley1

just re-watched synecdoche new york. the untimely death of hoffman got me thinking about this film. after finishing it all i want to do is watch it again. so many layers

Mardy Bum

popepaisley1 wrote: »

just re-watched synecdoche new york. the untimely death of hoffman got me thinking about this film. after finishing it all i want to do is watch it again. so many layers

My favourite film by a long shot. Hoffman and Kauffman is one of the greatest pairings ever likely to be seen in cinema. Kauffman is an extraordinary artist whose films carry a Beckettian influence which translates wonderfully in film. Synecdoche New York shares many similarities with Waiting for Godot and I'm sure Hoffman could have acted in both wonderfully.

keith_d99

Hi all,
There was a German movie mentioned on this. Can't remember the name of it - was on Netflix. Was a revenge movie as far as I remember.

Anybody know the movie I'm thinking about??

wytch

Last ten years. Best is first. Second next. The rest no order.
Brotherhood (Korean)
A Prophet
Downfall
The Chorus
Crash
Mountain Patrol
Black book
The lives of others
The worlds fastest Indian
No country for old men
North face
Wall-e
Redbelt
Let the right one in
Gran Torino
The cove
The kings speech
A separation

Photo-Sniper

wytch wrote: »

Last ten years. Best is first. Second next. The rest no order.
Brotherhood (Korean)
A Prophet
Downfall
The Chorus
Crash
Mountain Patrol
Black book
The lives of others
The worlds fastest Indian
No country for old men
North face
Wall-e
Redbelt
Let the right one in
Gran Torino
The cove
The kings speech
A separation

The original by Tomas Alfredson is for me in the top 3 best films of the last 10 years for sure. An absolutely stunning masterpiece in every way possible.


Actually cringing at some of the choices in here. The Batmans are the best films of the last 10 years LOL. Not even close.

Adamantium

Master and Commander: Far Side of the World




It was a flickering glimpse of the kind of summer blockbusters we could have if we jacked the average cinema-goer's IQ up by about 50%

No needless romance, contrived drama, just wonderful storytelling and incredible likable cast.
I could have watched a ten film series with Paul Bettany and Russell Crowe sailing the world's oceans.

Felt like I was at the ass end of the world with them on the ship, amazing sense of time and place. It was 200 million dollar blockbuster for adults, a real oddity. Hard to believe it got made.

I urge anybody who hasn't seen it to do so, the name had put me off for along time (odd, i know)
Watched it on Christmas day last year.

losthorizon

e_e wrote: »

Just watched Russian Ark there, certainly deserving of a mention and more impressive than a lot of what's been mentioned in this thread.

Russian Ark is probably the worst film I have ever had the misfortune to see. Yes it was one or two shots and that was a technical trick but it was as boring as hell. I bet that that film is being inflicted on inmates in Guantanamo Bay as we speak.

Hitchcock did it better with Rope.

Dermighty

The Wolf Of Wall Street.

e_e

losthorizon wrote: »

Russian Ark is probably the worst film I have ever had the misfortune to see. Yes it was one or two shots and that was a technical trick but it was as boring as hell. I bet that that film is being inflicted on inmates in Guantanamo Bay as we speak.

Hitchcock did it better with Rope.

I'd reserve "worst" for a film not as aesthetically pleasing as this. Can't argue with your subjective response but I found it a pleasure to watch.

Zubeneschamali

Zubeneschamali wrote: »

I saw nearly all of them in the cinema when released (I didn't see The Shining. In fact, I never have seen The Shining), and none of them were original back then.

Bladerunner, the Shining, Batman are adaptations - Empire Strikes Back and Aliens are sequels, Terminator settled a lawsuit for ripping off Harlan Ellison, Aliens was a sequel of Alien, which settled a lawsuit for ripping off AE Van Vogt, Predator is just a sequence of clichés, Indy is a deliberate mishmash of 30s serial adventures...

The fact that Cameron settled with Ellison means nothing. Ellison is infamous for the fact that he will sue anybody whom he can, he's taken a number of ridiculous nuiseance suits over the years and seems to honk that a number of common ideas belong to him.

The Wild Bunch

Shutter Island

IvaBigWun

I rewatched The Prestige last night. What a film! I regret leaving one or two films off the poll and thats definitely one of them.

Alas the poll only allows 25 options

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=o4gHCmTQDVI