Best Film of Year - 21st Cent. Poll (discussion)

[Evil Twin]

I'll bump this up as this is the last week of the 2002 poll. If you see something you really want in the 2003 poll, now's the time to speak up.

 

[Bim]

I'll throw in some of my favorites from 2003:
- Identity
- Finding Nemo
- Pirates of the Caribbean: The Curse of the Black Pearl
- Down With Love
- Underworld
- Mystic River
- Kill Bill Vol. 1
- Big Fish
- The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King
- Cold Mountain
- X2
- The Last Samurai

 

[Evil Twin]

I'll throw in some of my favorites from 2003:
- Identity
- Finding Nemo
- Pirates of the Caribbean: The Curse of the Black Pearl
- Down With Love
- Underworld
- Mystic River
- Kill Bill Vol. 1
- Big Fish
- The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King
- Cold Mountain
- X2
- The Last Samurai

All but Down With Love, Underworld, and Cold Mountain made the draft list (post #24). Does anyone feel strongly enough that they'd seriously considering voting one of those for best of the year?

And, if so, what're the best choices to drop?

 

[Laderlappen]

I wont vote for it, but I think Love Actually deserves to be on the top 39.

 

[Evil Twin]

With The Last Samurai, Ong-Bak, and Zatiochi on the list, I'm thinking of dropping Twilight Samurai in favor of something else. I happen to think Twilight Samurai is superior to The Last Samurai, but it's not a serious candidate for my vote for best of the year and probably too obscure otherwise. I recommend it if you haven't seen it though.

I do like the idea of swapping in a romantic comedy with Down With Love and Love Actually being the contenders. I prefer Love Actually myself, but anybody seriously considering voting for either one?

 

[Evil Twin]

Latest Draft of 2003 Poll. I bumped The Dreamers and The Twilight Samurai in favor of Love Actually and Down With Love. Again, if there's something missing that you would vote for or strongly consider voting for, please chime in.

1. City of God
2. The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King
3. Pirates of the Caribbean: The Curse of the Black Pearl
4. Master and Commander: The Far Side of the World
5. Kill Bill: Vol. 1
6. Finding Nemo
7. The Matrix Reloaded
8. Lost in Translation
9. X2
10. Mystic River
11. Big Fish
12. Old Boy
13. American Splendor
14. The Station Agent
15. Whale Rider
16. Open Range
17. The Last Samurai
18. Hulk
19. The School of Rock
20. Identity
21. Old School
22. Once Upon a Time in Mexico
23. The Cooler
24. Dogville
25. Bad Santa
26. Elf
27. Monster
28. Seabiscuit
29. A Mighty Wind
30. The Triplets of Belleville
31. The Fog of War: Eleven Lessons from the Life of Robert S. McNamara
32. Down With Love
33. Ong-Bak
34. Love Actually
35. The Barbarian Invasions
36. Zatoichi
37. The House of Sand and Fog
38. In America
39. Daredevil


Other notable movies:

Cold Mountain
Terminator 3: The Rise of the Machines
The Matrix Revolutions
The Dreamers
21 Grams
Bruce Almighty
Matchstick Men
The Life of David Gale
Something's Gotta Give
Good Bye Lenin!
Elephant
Girl With a Pearl Earring
Swimming Pool
The Twilight Samurai
Open Water
Thirteen
Runaway Jury
The Italian Job
Underworld

 

[Evil Twin]

First Draft of 2004 Poll Choices

1. Million Dollar Baby
2. Finding Neverland
3. Ray
4. Sideways
5. The Aviator
6. Hotel Rwanda
7. Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind
8. The Incredibles
9. Spider-Man 2
10. The Bourne Supremacy
11. Shaun of the Dead
12. The Passion of the Christ
13. Fahreneit 9/11
14. Before Sunset
15. The Motorcycle Diaries
16. Super Size Me
17. Downfall
18. The Life Aquatic With Steve Zissou
19. The Sea Inside
20. Collateral
21. Born into Brothels: Calcutta's Red Light Kids
22. Kung Fu Hustle
23. Layer Cake
24. Napoleon Dynamite
25. Hellboy
26. Dawn of the Dead
27. Anchorman: The Legend of Ron Burgundy
28. Dodgeball: A True Underdog Story
29. Team America: World Police
30. Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban
31. Garden State
32. Troy
33. The Machinist
34. The Big Red One: The Reconstruction
35. Mean Girls
36. The Notebook
37. Howl's Moving Castle
38. House of Flying Daggers
39. Saw
40. Other

Other Notable Films

Maria Full of Grace
Bad Education
Closer
Kinsey
Vera Drake
The Polar Express
Shrek 2
The Phantom of the Opera
I Heart Huckabees
Night Watch
Friday Night Lights
High Tension

I'm probably missing something. So, comments and suggestions welcome.

 

[Max J Power]

Kill Bill Volume 2 should be in the 2004 poll.

 

[Evil Twin]

Kill Bill Volume 2 should be in the 2004 poll.

Yeah, it should. I had it written down, but obviously I missed it.

 

[Evil Twin]

Mid month bump and revision. Second draft of 2004 poll choices for September.

1. Million Dollar Baby
2. Finding Neverland
3. Ray
4. Sideways
5. The Aviator
6. Hotel Rwanda
7. Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind
8. The Incredibles
9. Spider-Man 2
10. The Bourne Supremacy
11. Shaun of the Dead
12. The Passion of the Christ
13. Fahreneit 9/11
14. Before Sunset
15. The Motorcycle Diaries
16. Super Size Me
17. Downfall
18. The Life Aquatic With Steve Zissou
19. The Sea Inside
20. Collateral
21. Kill Bill Vol. 2
22. Kung Fu Hustle
23. Layer Cake
24. Napoleon Dynamite
25. Hellboy
26. Dawn of the Dead
27. Anchorman: The Legend of Ron Burgundy
28. Dodgeball: A True Underdog Story
29. Team America: World Police
30. Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban
31. Garden State
32. Troy
33. The Machinist
34. The Big Red One: The Reconstruction
35. Born into Brothels: Calcutta's Red Light Kids
36. The Notebook
37. Howl's Moving Castle
38. House of Flying Daggers
39. Saw
40. Other

Other Notable Films

Maria Full of Grace
Bad Education
Closer
Kinsey
Vera Drake
Mean Girls
The Polar Express
Shrek 2
The Phantom of the Opera
I Heart Huckabees
Night Watch
Friday Night Lights
High Tension

 

[Evil Twin]

I'm going to give this an end of the month bump. The new poll will go up on Tuesday, so if you see something that's missing that you'd strongly consider voting for, please speak up now.

 

[Evil Twin]

First draft of 2005 Poll

1. Crash
2. Batman Begins
3. Frank Miller's Sin City
4. Brokeback Mountain
5. Walk the Line
6. Capote
7. Good Night, and Good Luck
8. Wedding Crashers
9. The 40 Year Old Virgin
10. Match Point
11. A History of Violence
12. Cinderella Man
13. Munich
14. King Kong
15. Serenity
16. March of the Penguins
17. Grizzly Man
18. Murderball
19. The Constant Gardener
20. Brick
21. Memories of Murder
22. The New World
23. Hustle & Flow
24. Harsh Times
25. Hard Candy
26. Broken Flowers
27. Thank You for Smoking
28. Kiss Kiss Bang Bang
29. Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire
30. Star Wars: Episode III - Revenge of the Sith
31. War of the Worlds
32. Wallace & Gromit in the Curse of the Were-Rabbit
33. The Chronicles of Narnia: The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe
34. The Three Burials of Melquiades Estrada
35. The Squid and the Whale
36. The Descent
37. Pride & Prejudice
38. Millions
39. Tsotsi
40. OTHER

Other notable films:


Syriana
Memoirs of a Geisha
Kingdom of Heaven (because I was only considering the theatrical version)
Joyeaux Noel
Paradise Now
The Jacket
Lord of War
Danny the Dog
Constantine
Fantastic Four
Mr. & Mrs. Smith
In Her Shoes
Junebug
Land of the Dead
Enron: The Smartest Guys in the Room
The Wild Parrots of Telegraph Hill
Jarhead
Charlie and the Chocolate Factory
Tim Burton's Corpse Bride

I don't have a really good feel for 2005. Lots of good films. The best year for documentaries in the decade. But, not much I'd call great. Certainly not a huge gap between the other notables and some that made the list.

 

[Rac]

Memories of Murder is 2003, tho. It doesn't matter if t was released in the US in 2005, it's still a 2003 film.

You should take it and Wedding Crashers out and replace them with Jarhead and Lord of War for example.

Lords of Dogtown, London, La moustache, The Chumscrubber, The Proposition and The Weather Man are notable additions, imo.

Transporter 2 and The Island came out in 2005 as well. Good brainless fun, I say.

Horror had stuff like Saw II, Wolf Creek, Frágiles and The Exorcism of Emily Rose.

 

[Evil Twin]

Memories of Murder is 2003, tho. It doesn't matter if t was released in the US in 2005, it's still a 2003 film.

You should take it and Wedding Crashers out and replace them with Jarhead and Lord of War for example.

Lords of Dogtown, London, La moustache, The Chumscrubber, The Proposition and The Weather Man are notable additions, imo.

Transporter 2 and The Island came out in 2005 as well. Good brainless fun, I say.

Horror had stuff like Saw II, Wolf Creek, Frágiles and The Exorcism of Emily Rose.

Re: Memories of Murder
It was missed on the 2003 and 2004 polls, so this was the last chance to include it. I think it's too significant a movie not to be on at least one of the polls, even though I know it won't win, so I included it here.

The Proposition is a definite miss on my part though. I'm not sure if I'd dump Wedding Crashers for it, it sags in the second half, IMO, but it's still one of the more popular comedies of recent years and the list isn't overflowing with comedy. Is there much support for Harsh Times out there? Or Hard Candy?

What needs to go?

As I said before, I don't really have a good feel for 2005. Not much greatness, IMO, and a lot of movies on the same level.

 

[Bim]

Isnt Millions from 2004?

What needs to go?

Personally, i think the following should be in the poll:
Syriana
Memoirs of a Geisha
Charlie and the Chocolate Factory
Tim Burton's Corpse Bride

What to take out? hmm... i would say The Descent, 40 Year Old Virgin (while fun, i wouldnt consider it among the best films of the year), The New World (again not a bad movie, but i dunno if i'd put it above the ones that are left out) and Weding Crashers (really funny, but i dunno if i'd include it). There's movies on that list i havent seen, so i cant say if they are candidates to get removed or not (like Wallace & Gromit in the Curse of the Were-Rabbit, The Three Burials of Melquiades Estrada and Hard Candy).

 

[Evil Twin]

Millions showed up at some film festivals in 2004, but wasn't released theatrically anywhere until 2005.

See http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0366777/releaseinfo

This is one of the years that I wish had more poll options. I don't know if The Descent is really worthy of being on the list, I haven't seen it, but I do know it's one of the most significant horror films of the year. I'm in agreement that neither 40 Year Old Virgin or Wedding Crashers are great films, but I'm also reluctant to put together a poll list without significant comedy content.

Pride & Prejudice is kind of a reach for this crowd, but does fulfill the basic rom com template. I'd certainly consider dumping it if nobody speaks up.

I kind of think I don't need Star Wars, Harry Potter, War of the Worlds, and Narnia, but which one or two to cut stumps me.

I probably could bump out Murderball, although I think it's better than most films on the poll, as likely the third most popular documentary.

I like Broken Flowers, although I wouldn't vote for it, but is there a Jarmusch following?

This is easily the toughest poll I've tried to put together.

 

[Rac]

I would definitely keep The Descent on the poll. My favorite horror film of the 00s.

 

[Laderlappen]

Isnt Millions from 2004?


Personally, i think the following should be in the poll:
Syriana
Memoirs of a Geisha
Charlie and the Chocolate Factory
Tim Burton's Corpse Bride

What to take out? hmm... i would say The Descent, 40 Year Old Virgin (while fun, i wouldnt consider it among the best films of the year), The New World (again not a bad movie, but i dunno if i'd put it above the ones that are left out) and Weding Crashers (really funny, but i dunno if i'd include it). There's movies on that list i havent seen, so i cant say if they are candidates to get removed or not (like Wallace & Gromit in the Curse of the Were-Rabbit, The Three Burials of Melquiades Estrada and Hard Candy).

Are you joking? Its great! Its my 2nd or 3rd of the year(cant make up my mind), its not even top 40 in yours?

 

[Evil Twin]

Here's what I'm thinking.

I could take out

Murderball
The New World
Hard Candy
Harsh Times
The Chronicles of Narnia: The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe
Pride & Prejudice

and add in

The Proposition
Lord of War
Lords of Dogtown
Syriana
Tim Burton's Corpse Bride
Memoirs of a Geisha

I suspect that I'm merely substituting movies that won't get a vote, although I expect The Proposition to get some votes, for other movies that won't get a vote.

Better? Worse?

 

[Evil Twin]

I probably should go over some of my criteria. I'm trying to find films that have strong followings. Not necessarily films that everybody agrees are pretty good, but films that I think are likely to generate strong feelings of love. Hence, why I can't see dropping A History of Violence even though I know some people absolutely hate it and it probably doesn't have as high a Rotten Tomatoes score as some that aren't going to make the list.

I think genre diversity is one of the ways that I can indirectly try to find what people's passions are. Obviously, we're superhero film fans on this board, but I'm sure we all have other genres we love, drama, horror, comedy, etc. Basically, the wide net approach, which I think has worked out pretty well. I've been surprised at some of the films that received votes and I'm glad that the OTHER option hasn't been resorted to heavily.

 

[Laderlappen]

^It has 87 on RT which is pretty high. It should have, it is a pretty good film: Not a masterpiece but in my top 10 of the year.

 

[Evil Twin]

First Draft of 2006 List

1. The Lives of Others
2. Pan's Labyrinth
3. Cars
4. Happy Feet
5. The Departed
6. Babel
7. Letters from Iwo Jima
8. Little Miss Sunshine
9. The Queen
10. The Last King of Scotland
11. Half Nelson
12. Little Children
13. The Devil Wears Prada
14. Notes on a Scandal
15. Volver
16. Dreamgirls
17. United 93
18. Borat: Cultural Learnings of America for Make Benefit Glorious Nation of Kazakhstan
19. Children of Men
20. The Prestige
21. The Illusionist
22. The Good Shepherd
23. Apocalypto
24. Flags of Our Fathers
25. An Inconvenient Truth
26. Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man's Chest
27. Superman Returns
28. X-Men: The Last Stand
29. 300
30. Casino Royale
31. Inside Man
32. The Fountain
33. Stranger than Fiction
34. Talladega Nights: The Ballad of Ricky Bobby
35. Perfume: The Story of a Murderer
36. Rescue Dawn
37. A Scanner Darkly
38. The Pursuit of Happyness
39. Idiocracy
40. OTHER

(Saving for 2007: Black Book, The Host, & Once)

I'll add some alternatives later.

So, comments? What's missing?

 

[Evil Twin]

Notable alternatives to the 2006 list:

The Painted Veil
Blood Diamond
Venus
Marie Antoinette
The Good German
Click
Jesus Camp
Monster House
The Da Vinci Code
Lucky Number Slevin
Mission: Impossible III
Crank
Snakes on a Plane
Rocky Balboa
Clerks II
Smokin' Aces
Miami Vice
Alpha Dog
Over the Hedge
Scoop
Fearless
Black Snake Moan

Anything that should be substituted in? If so, what should go?

 

[Evil Twin]

First Draft 2007 List

1. No Country for Old Men
2. There Will Be Blood
3. Juno
4. Atonement
5. Michael Clayton
6. Ratatouille
7. Persepolis
8. Into the Wild
9. The Diving Bell and the Butterfly
10. Eastern Promises
11. Once
12. Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street
13. I'm Not There
14. The Assassination of Jesse James by the Coward Robert Ford
15. Zodiac
16. 3:10 to Yuma
17. Gone Baby Gone
18. The Host
19. Black Book
20. American Gangster
21. Lars and the Real Girl
22. Charlie Wilson's War
23. The Bourne Ultimatum
24. Transformers
25. Pirates of the Caribbean: At World's End
26. La Vie en Rose
27. The Savages
28. Across the Universe
29. Away From Her
30. In the Valley of Elah
31. Hot Fuzz
32. Superbad
33. Knocked Up
34. The Simpsons Movie
35. Grindhouse
36. The Darjeeling Limited
37. The Mist
38. I Am Legend
39. Superman Returns
40. OTHER

Other Notables

The Orphanage
Stardust
Sunshine
Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix
Ghost Rider
Fantastic Four: Rise of the Silver Surfer
Beowulf
Mr. Brooks
The Kingdom
Hairspray
Sicko
Before the Devil Knows You're Dead
The Kite Runner
4 Months, 3 Weeks and 2 Days
Lust, Caution
Lake of Fire
The King of Kong: A Fistful of Quarters
In the Shadow of the Moon
No End in Sight
Taxi to the Dark Side

A couple weak ones in the list, but top to bottom the best year of the '00s, IMO. I'm probably missing a couple, but first draft...

 

[Kane52630]

i think we should just restart this and make a new thread