BOT's Top 100 Films of the 2010s: The Countdown | List complete

[Jake Gittes]

Number 64

Spoiler

 

"We are alone. No matter what they tell you, we women are always alone."

196 points, 15 lists

directed by Alfonso Cuarón | Mexico, US | 2018

 

The Pitch: The life of a live-in maid of a middle class Mexican family in the early 1970s.

 

Top 5 Placements: 2
Metacritic: 96
Box Office: N/A
Awards: 3 Academy Awards for Best Alfonso Cuarón
BOT History: #6, Top Movies of 2018; 2 BOFFY awards, including Best Director
Critic Opinion: "There’s a lot of love in ROMA, and, as is the way with love, it doesn’t always arrive in ways that are equal, or reciprocated, or even endure. His first film to be set in his homeland since Y Tu Mama Tambien in 2001 is Alfonso Cuarón’s most personal film, and his most honest. It may even be his best." - Fionnuala Halligan, ScreenDaily

"Cuarón has made his most personal film to date, and the blend of the humane and the artistic within nearly every scene is breathtaking. It’s a masterful achievement in filmmaking as an empathy machine, a way for us to spend time in a place, in an era, and with characters we never would otherwise." - Brian Tallerico, RogerEbert.com
BOT Sez: "Fantastic and powerful all around. It's an incredibly intimate and personal film told at such a large scale that really resonated with me. It's hard not to get invested in the life of this family thanks to the brilliant writing and direction of Cuaron. Sometimes, just watching people live their lives can be just as interesting as your typical summer blockbuster." - @Rorschach
Commentary: From Netflix to blockbuster to Netflix again. (Will the pattern continue?) With the clout afforded to him by the enormous success of Gravity, Alfonso Cuarón wrote, produced, directed, shot and co-edited a black-and-white love letter to his family's former housekeeper, observing one tumultous year in the life of a protagonist inspired by her. As much of a meticulous technical showcase, relative to its more grounded subject matter, as the director's earlier more fantastical films, it brought him near-universal acclaim and a host of awards, even further cementing his reputation.

 

 

 

 

[filmlover]

1 hour ago, The Panda said:

Side banter topic while we wait for entries: What movies this decade made you cry or resulted in a profound emotional reaction this decade?

A handful but Inside Out stands out more than most. Bing Bong:

 

 

Also, in Room when Brie and Jacob are reunited in the police car. Even with the trailer giving away that they got out that scene was still extremely emotional.

[Ethan Hunt]

Damn it's been a while since something that was on my list showed up. Gotta go back to Beale Street to find something

[Jake Gittes]

Number 63

Spoiler

 

 

"What's done is done when we say it's done."

196 points, 24 lists

directed by Christopher McQuarrie | US | 2018

 

The Pitch: Ethan Hunt and his team race against time to save the world.

 

Top 12 Placements: 1
Metacritic: 86
Box Office: $791m WW
Awards: Saturn Award for Best Action or Adventure Film; Critics' Choice Award for Best Action Movie
BOT History: #1, Top Movies of 2018; 4 BOFFY nominations
Critic Opinion: "OK, McQuarrie may not have De Palma’s sweat-drop precision, John Woo’s craziness or the impish wit of Brad Bird, but his mastery of logistics here is easily sufficient to make it the blockbuster of the summer." - Tim Robey, The Telegraph

"McQuarrie has proven himself such a keen purveyor of large-scale cinema that not only solidifies Fallout as a benchmark for the franchise, but a bona fide manifesto for breathtaking, high-stakes action–a mission that the genre as a whole would do well to accept." - Conor O'Donnell, The Film Stage
BOT Sez: "It's probably the best in the franchise. As a thriller, it's not as adept as the first, and maybe it doesn't lean quite as much into the personal stakes as MI3, but it's suitably ahead in most other aspects. The whole Paris stretch is incredible. The halo jump, the multiple chases in the streets, and the bathroom scene are all edge of your seat stuff, and while the climax doesn't quite reach that high of Paris, it's a more than worthy finale. It's a little long, and the number of who's on whose side will make your head spin a bit, but it's a fairly breezy 2hr and 27 minutes unlike other recent spy films of similar length.

Series ranking: 2 > 6 > 1 > 5 > 4 > 3 > 2" - @MrPink
Commentary: Skyfall is replaced as our current record holder re: the number of lists by another big-scale, Nolan-indebted spy action tentpole, which also carries the second lowest average point score in the top 100. Our second and last Tom Cruise starrer, Fallout presented itself as the ultimate argument yet for the greatness, value and necessity of Tom Cruise Ethan Hunt, a kind of maniacal confidence and persistence that paid off, among other things, in the film finally breaking its franchise's 18-year-old domestic gross record. 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Edited April 14, 2020 by Jake Gittes

[Cap]

1 hour ago, The Panda said:

Side banter topic while we wait for entries: What movies this decade made you cry or resulted in a profound emotional reaction this decade?

 

Captain Marvel

No Man’s Land

Coco

[Ethan Hunt]

When Jake confirms that there's no Ghost Protocol to be found Ethan cries

[lorddemaxus]

2 hours ago, The Panda said:

Side banter topic while we wait for entries: What movies this decade made you cry or resulted in a profound emotional reaction this decade?

 

For me I’d have to say

 

Silence

The Farewell

Life of Pi

Star Wars: The Last Jedi

Inside Out

True Grit

Okja

The Revenant

Mad Max: Fury Road

Short Term 12

Amour

The Tree of Life

Arrival

Little Women

Beasts of the Southern Wild

Fruitvale Station

Popstar: Never Stop Never Stopping

Margaret 

Manchester By the Sea

Her

The Tale of Princess Kaguya

Magic Mike XXL

The Tree of Life

Creed

They Shall Not Grow Old

Crimson Peak

Before Beale Street Could Talk

Suspiria

Her Smell

Your Name

Both Fred Rogers movies

Interstellar

Life of Pi (blew my mind back when I watched it in cinemas and is the movie that got me into movies in the first place)

[Jake Gittes]

Number 62

Spoiler

 

"Life isn't some cartoon musical where you sing a little song and all your insipid dreams magically come true. So let it go."

198 points, 22 lists

directed by Byron Howard & Rich Moore | US | 2016

 

The Pitch: In a city of anthropomorphic animals, a rabbit police officer and a fox con artist uncover a criminal conspiracy.

 

Top 12 Placements: 1
Metacritic: 78
Box Office: $1.023 billion WW
Awards: Academy Award for Best Animated Feature
BOT History: #3, Top Movies of 2016; BOFFY Awards for Best Original Screenplay and Best Animated Film
Critic Opinion: "The genius of Zootopia is that it works on two levels: It’s a timely and clever examination of the prejudices endemic to society, and also an entertaining, funny adventure about furry creatures engaged in solving a mystery." - Jen Chaney, The Washington Post

"Where Zootopia surpasses Big Hero 6, and any number of entertaining second-tier studio cartoons, is the way it ties a typical kid-movie message about believing in yourself—Zootopia is a place where “anyone can be anything”—to the real-world obstacles that can prevent self-confidence from prevailing on its own. By investigating the mechanics of long-held cartoon assumptions (both about the harmoniousness of some cartoon animals, and the characteristics of others), Disney is encouraging viewers young and old to see the world differently and more thoughtfully. It turns out slyness isn’t just a fox thing." - Jesse Hassenger, The AV Club
BOT Sez: "Honestly, Zootopia has more mature themes and handles them better than most actual Oscar contenders I've seen.  The movie floored me, it is one of Disney's best movies period.  This is golden aged Pixar level quality.  The film is quirky, funny, emotional, smart, layered, and gorgeous to look at.  The film comes packed with a message and themes that honestly adults need to hear more than the children it's aimed at.  I am hoping and praying this becomes a Disney staple that kids watch and re-watch, because it could make this world a better place for it. Every few years you get a movie that flips a mirror on the audience, to expose their own behavior, and does it perfectly.  Zootopia does just that (and the message isn't the only reason the movie is great, it's just that it is literally the driving force behind the film).  And honestly, with all of the directions American politics have gone lately (especially with Trump), this movie manages to expose the hatefulness out of fear that has been driving so much of it.  It has the punch of a great documentary about diversity while being an entertaining Disney film that anyone can watch and enjoy." - @The Panda
"Take me seriously when I say this; Zootopia is a deconstruction of the American Dream, and what we can do to repair it. You've heard it before; America is the big cultural melting pot where all men are created equal and there is opportunity for everyone. The same way that's shown not to be true in Zootopia, that universal message is losing it's meaning every single day when we look down upon those different from us. But if we all get rid of those labels, we can make the American Dream alive once again. It's probably one of the most powerful messages I've seen come from an animated film in years, let alone a talking animal one. And it's executed so perfectly as well. It's not completely shoved in your face to the point where it becomes preachy (like this review might be :P), but it's not tossed aside completely to the point where it loses it's meaning amid the rest of the film." - @Alpha
Commentary: Staying in blockbuster territory, we get today's dose of animation in the form of the Disney sensation that combined cute animals, a noir-inflected plot, a massive onscreen world to play around in and timely, rug-pulling social commentary. A word-of-mouth hit that played for weeks and weeks, it became only the second original film to cross $1 billion worldwide after Avatar, and largely dominated Best Animated Film awards. But is it the last 2016 WDAS release to appear here?

 

 

 

 

[charlie Jatinder]

2 hours ago, The Panda said:

Side banter topic while we wait for entries: What movies this decade made you cry or resulted in a profound emotional reaction this decade?

1. Neerja: film about real life story of a young air hostess who lost her life saving many others in airplane hijack. that would have made place in Top 100 IMO.

2. Sarabjit (I still don't know why): Story of a Punjabi guy who crossed Indo-Pak border while drunk and for 24 years he was in Pakistan jail. Her sister tries to get him free. The case was very popular in India. The film was critically panned but I got connection some how and cried during a scene when sister meet her brother after years.

3. Endgame (during the film there were couple of scenes got me teary not including Iron Man scene. That I felt forced)

4. Baahubali 2 (whole sequence Kattapa kill Baahubali & post that)

 

Other than that, GoT many many many scenes.

 

Edited April 14, 2020 by charlie Jatinder

[Jake Gittes]

Number 61

Spoiler

 

 

"Is it just me or it's getting crazier out there?"

199 points, 12 lists

directed by Todd Phillips | US | 2019

 

The Pitch: A failed, victimized stand-up comedian descends into madness in 1981 Gotham City.

 

Top 5 Placements: 2

Top 12 Placements: 5

Metacritic: 59

Box Office: $1.072 billion WW

Awards: Golden Lion - Venice Film Festival; Academy Award for Best Actor and Original Score, out of 11 nominations

BOT History: #3, Top Movies of 2019; 7 BOFFY nominations

Critic Opinion: "Featuring a riveting, fully realized, and Oscar-worthy performance by Joaquin Phoenix, Joker would work just as well as an engrossing character study without any of its DC Comics trappings; that it just so happens to be a brilliant Batman-universe movie is icing on the Batfan cake. You will likely leave Joker feeling like I did: unsettled and ready to debate the film for years to come." - Jim Vejvoda, IGN

"Subtlety is not Phillips’s strong point. What he does have is an eye for a well-chosen location, an ear for a provocative line of dialogue and a finger on the pulse of very marketable, confrontational (if also “cynical”) entertainment. Add to this an incendiary central performance by Phoenix and Joker looks set to have the last laugh." - Mark Kermode, The Observer

"Our near intimacy with Arthur also allows for an intensive study in the eccentric architecture of Phoenix’s torso: hunched shoulders, pale skin clinging to a barrel ribcage on an emaciated frame, long arms that seem to protrude Ingres-like from the wrong angles. Phoenix is a full-body actor, and Phillips highlights him as such, making room for a number of dance idylls that include slow sways, spastic soft shoes interrupted by pelvic thrusting, and gnarled tai chi reveries. In fact, the film operates under the belief that anything that works once will go over even better the tenth time, and this repetition of effects blunts impact. [...] The face-off between Joker and Franklin, between outsider animus and insider smugness, embodies the tension at the heart of Joker—a film that takes on the nigh-impossible task of smuggling transgressive underground danger into a contemporary, risk-averse multiplex tentpole package. Most of the time this danger finds expression through the hoariest clichés of encroaching mental illness, including diary-of-a-madman composition books filled with a looping, loony, misspelled scrawl and creepo collage art. Some true triumphal madness is achieved during the last act Walpurgisnacht in the streets of Gotham, but it’s mitigated by the logic of cinematic universe-building, and the knowledge that order must and will be restored." - Nick Pinkerton, 4Columns

BOT Sez: "Everything outside of the script is pretty incredible. Joaquin gives a performance up there with Freddie Quell and Theodore Twombly, and the cinematography and production design give the world this real nice texture, one that feels so tangible as though you could reach out and touch it. The score's great too, something that (along with the cinematography) is something that most of these funnybook movies really lack in. Just wish the script was a little tighter and had something more to say." - @TMP

"Saw this. Well what do you know … Todd Phillips ... has nothing to offer here except ... drama … he even ... seems interested in Arthur as a human being ... and a man ... that ... has something to say." - @Jake Gittes

Commentary: The movie that launched a thousand headache-inducing arguments, many of them before it was even released, and one whose fire-and-brimstone, throat-grabbing approach ultimately, well, either convinced you or didn't. This is the film with the second-highest average point score on the list yet (behind Dangal), and one that attained its placement on the list in no small part due to the fact that over half of the folks who voted for it put it in their top 12, almost like some dangerous outcasts asserting themselves in the socie... oh... oh god...

 

 

 

[MrPink]

 

 

[lorddemaxus]

1 hour ago, filmlover said:

A handful but Inside Out stands out more than most. Bing Bong:

 

 

Also, in Room when Brie and Jacob are reunited in the police car. Even with the trailer giving away that they got out that scene was still extremely emotional.

Inside Out's one I forgot. And it's not the Bing Bong scene that I found emotional (I found it emotionally manipulative and annoying if anything) but it's the end of the movie when Riley runs away. It felt so real to me (I mean I never ran away like she did but I could easily empathise with her) and the part where she returns home and her parents hug her was such a cathartic moment.

[lorddemaxus]

4 hours ago, CoolioD1 said:

#68: green book

And somehow the actual #68 was worse than this.

[MrPink]

3 hours ago, The Panda said:

Side banter topic while we wait for entries: What movies this decade made you cry or resulted in a profound emotional reaction this decade?

 

For me I’d have to say

 

Silence

The Farewell

Life of Pi

Star Wars: The Last Jedi

Inside Out

True Grit

Okja

The Revenant

Mad Max: Fury Road

Short Term 12

Amour

The Tree of Life

Arrival

Little Women

Beasts of the Southern Wild

Fruitvale Station

Popstar: Never Stop Never Stopping

 

Little Women

Gravity

Manchester by the Sea

Interstellar

Dunkirk

Leave No Trace 

Creed

Uncle Drew 🥜

Call Me By Your Name

Coco

 

 

[WrathOfHan]

S O C I E T Y

[Plain Old Tele]

INTERSTELLAR made me cry in rage, does that count?

[MrPink]

1 minute ago, Plain Old Tele said:

INTERSTELLAR made me cry in rage, does that count?

 

The Big Show Show did the same for me so I suppose it's fair. 

[Cap]

50 minutes ago, Plain Old Tele said:

INTERSTELLAR made me cry in rage, does that count?

Tears are tears. 

[Madhuvan]

It's sad that only one hindi movie made into the list which is actually not that good. 

 

I recommended so many movies to the forum. 

 

Andhadhun 

Raazi

Pink

Udta Punjab

Kapoor and Sons

And many more.. 

[terrestrial]

3 hours ago, Plain Old Tele said:

INTERSTELLAR made me cry in rage, does that count?

Is that the one where a watch plays a big role, father and daughter connection?

Son reacted that way too in the cinema (he was with his friends, who liked/loved the movie), as he knows me, he advised strongly against watching the movie. If that is the movie, he argued something about the missing logic... will drive me nuts. 

I am so bad with names, for whatever reason I think I mostly mix the title up with Inception and another movie that does not even sound remotely similar