Box Office Theory Forum's Top 100 Warner Bros. Movies

[excel1]

22 hours ago, Eric Reyes said:

#6

Inception

1820 points, 27 lists

"Musn't be afraid to dream a little bigger, darling."

Box Office: 870.7M

Rotten Tomatoes: 87%

Metacritic: 74

Awards: 4 Academy Awards and 4 nominations, 1 Grammy Award nomination, 3 BAFTA Awards and 6 nominations, 4 Golden Globe Award nominations, 1 MTV Movie Award and 6 nominations

 

Its Legacy: When Christopher Nolan became Papa Nolan. Considered one of the greatest movies of the 2010s. Referenced in hip hop and pop tracks, as well as parodied on The Simpsons, South Park and Rick and Morty. Caused the "-ception" meme. Considered the most overrated movie of 2010 according to an informal Los Angeles Times poll. #51 on BBC's Best Films of the 21st Century. Gave Ken Watanabe a paycheck.

 

Commentary: This was the film where Christopehr Nolan became Papa Nolan. The ultimate chad director who could bring in the masses just on his name. While his Batman movies had the DC branding, all Inception had was Nolan, Leo, and a dream. And what a dream it was.

 

The film was perhaps a bit too convoluted on a first viewing, yet that weirdly meant audiences wanted to see it again and again. To analyze every detail, understand how the concept of extraction, inception, and dream layering even works, and what the hell was even going on. And it was thanks to the fact that, even if you don’t pay too close attention, it’s still a rollicking good heist adventure.

 

An incredible ensemble cast full of Papa Nolan’s reliable players. Incredible action set pieces. A fun, high-octane storyline that keeps people invested. And by all accounts, this has all of Nolan’s unique ideas and concepts as an auteur placed into one slick and cool package. Nolan's ideas of time, the metaphysical, and cinema itself are all in this package, and the director was given all the money to make his wacky ideas a reality. And in a world where "one for you, one for me" doesn't exist for directors anymore, this really does feel like a breath of fresh air. A swing for the fences tentpole blockbuster that doesn't try to sell you toys or build a franchise. Something legit risky and out there. And it largely works more often when it doesn't. We deserve more movies like this.

 

A lot of todays 20-28 crowd weren't able to properly follow this film during development and release. Nolan was coming off the film of the century in TDK, but was not a true household name yet. He had a couple of really smaller films, a super high quality popcorn blockbuster in BATMAN BEGINS, and then this insane "superhero crime epic" with one of the greatest performances in Hollywood history. Leo was the much larger draw of the with the general public heading into release.

 

Nobody had any fucking clue what this movie was about until the final weeks leading up the release. Yes, we knew it was about "dream stealers" but that's super vague and again, other than 2 Batman films, Nolan had directed a bunch of smaller tier stuff. The teaser just showed water tilting sideways in a glass, the hallway fight, and the dreidel type thing spinning. Go through the KJ thread and read the initial predictions, nobody knew what to expect.

 

Then were get the final trailers and see cities folding onto of each other, snowmobiles fleeing explosions, cities crumbling into the ocean...and we realize we are getting something completely unique & original, made by a filmmaker firmly in his prime given a seemingly unlimited budget. It was such a unique project. I distinctly remember a TV spot ending with the girl architect walking towards the bridge which builds itself and pops up in front of her she walks and thinking "WTF am I about to go see?".

 

The concept could have been so ridiculous and absurd and created an unintentionally horrific film, but instead it was an instant classic which over-performed expectations from day 1 and then held brilliantly. 

 

Nolan choosing such a creatively unique, commercially risky concept as TDK follow up and then utterly crushing it beyond belief solidified him as a mega draw. 

Edited August 20, 2023 by excel1

[PlatnumRoyce]

On 8/9/2023 at 8:49 PM, abracadabra1998 said:

No, Michael Clayton can’t be off the top 100. WHAT!

 

Criminally underrated, always has been, always will be

Michael Clayton feels properly rated to me. On release it was nominated for best picture ( 5 slots), director and actor, supporting actress and even supporting actor, screenplay and score. 

Despite the ranking on this list, Michael Clayton's clearly not been forgotten. Since 2010, Michael Clayton's total IMDB votes have risen from 58k to 171k while In the Valley of Elah (another 2007 oscar contender which has completely faded from the scene) went from 42k to 74k. Clayton has 100k letterboxd reviews. I'm sure there are better measurements but I've organically seen references to the film a few times in the past year. It hasn't kept a truly superlative rating but it's clearly a movie that's sticking around.

[excel1]

51 minutes ago, Eric Reyes said:

#2

The Dark Knight

2261 points, 30 lists

"Let's put a smile on that face!"

 

Its Legacy: Forced AMPAS to expand their Best Picture category from 5 to 10 nominees. Redefined what a superhero movie could and should be. The blueprint for many future superhero movie productions. Gave the late Heath Ledger a posthumous Oscar. The first feature film filmed with high-resolution IMAX cameras. The highest-grossing movie of 2008, the highest-grossing superhero movie, and the fourth-highest-grossing film of all time on its release. Considered one of the best films of the 2000s and of all time. Submitted into the National Film Registry in 2020. Gave Aaron Eckhart a paycheck.

 

The most influential film since 2000, and maybe even earlier if we started going backwards. This movie told all of entertainment to think outside the box, to take creative risks, to be different, to make films the break the formula film rules that all movie goers subconsciously know. For example, out of every big film I have seen on the big screen, and that is a LARGE number, the death of Rachel Dawes in the middle of the film remains by far the most visibly shocked I have seen a major audience in a tentpole film. I saw TDK 7 times and the first several all had just stunned silence when she is blown up. Audiences had been conditioned by the numerous superhero films over the years to think she would be saved at the last minute, or she would show up at the end and be OK, etc. But no. They actually blew up the damsel in distress- in the middle of the film! The entire first half of the film was tense, but when they actually killed Rachel, it was legitimate "shit just got real" moment where nobody knew what was going to happen moving forward. 

 

"Welcome to world without rules" was the initial tagline for the film and couldn't have been more accurate. The hero doesn't save the girl, she gets blown to bits. The hero doesn't save the city and get the glory, he instead takes the blame and becomes the villain while the true villain is the spotlight. The hero doesn't get any further towards personal happiness by the films end, instead he is even further away from it. We all actually love watching the primary villain, who is both hilarious AND terrifying. There is no giant doomsday set piece in the end, its just some people on 2 boats and we have to see if they will turn each other. Such a positive, inspiring message is buried within the morose, gritty substance of the film. This isn't just a standard popcorn superhero film, it's commentary about society nature and contemporary nurture, it's got something to say about the inherent human condition as well as contemporary results of 2000s foreign policy in America.

 

TDK was creativity unleashed. An all-time great artist thinking with zero restrictions. 'Game changer' is an overused term (especially with clearly 'of their time' films like Matrix), but it fits here perfectly. It was amusing to watch the years that followed where we get films clearly borrowing from TDK in terms of story or tone (or both) such as Skyfall (which is laughably obvious ripoff, but still awesome in its own right), Man of Steel, Godzilla, Star Trek 2, The Winter Soldier, among many others. 

Edited August 20, 2023 by excel1

[Fancyarcher]

Great list, but I wouldn't describe Mad Max as quite that niche of a franchise. Thunderdome was the 24th highest grossing movie of 1985. Doesn't sound like a lot now, but back then that was quite good for a franchise that started out very low budget in nature.

Edited August 20, 2023 by Fancyarcher

[Cap]

I consider this a personal victory. 

[4815162342]

We managed to avoid rating The Dark Knight #1, so there's a victory.

 

I like the film very much but definitely one of the most overpraised films of this century.

[ChipDerby]

Great top 3

[MrPink]

i just punched myself in the nuts

[Jake Gittes]

3 minutes ago, MrPink said:

i just punched myself in the nuts

 

Would you say you didn't sign up for this

[MrPink]

1 minute ago, Jake Gittes said:

 

Would you say you didn't sign up for this

 

I would say, go beat your street ass

[excel1]

53 minutes ago, 4815162342 said:

We managed to avoid rating The Dark Knight #1, so there's a victory.

 

definitely one of the most overpraised films of this century.

 

whoa whoa whoa 

[4815162342]

30 minutes ago, excel1 said:

 

whoa whoa whoa 

 

It's an immensely entertaining and thrilling ride but several segments of the film are held together by duct tape and chewing gum.

 

Makes most superhero films look like child's play, but it's not one of the titans of WB

[SchumacherFTW]

2 hours ago, 4815162342 said:

We managed to avoid rating The Dark Knight #1, so there's a victory.

 

I like the film very much but definitely one of the most overpraised films of this century.

Funny, I feel the same way about Fury Road, I just do not get it

[Kalo]

On 8/11/2023 at 8:57 PM, Eric Reyes said:

#34

Blade Runner 2049

967 points, 19 lists

"Pain reminds you the joy you felt was real. More joy, then! Do not be afraid."

Box Office: 267.7M

Rotten Tomatoes: 88%

Metacritic: 81

Awards: 2 Academy Awards and 3 nominations, 1 Critics Choice Award and 6 nominations, 2 BAFTA Awards and 6 nominations, 1 Saturn Award and 8 nominations

 

Its Legacy: Considered one of Denis Villenueve's best films and a modern cult classic. Spawned three short films. Helped inspire the anime series Blade Runner: Black Lotus in 2021. A sequel series, Blade Runner 2099, is in development at Amazon Studios with Ridley Scott executive producing. Gave Dave Bautista a paycheck.

 

Commentary: It seemed like an utterly baffling choice by all accounts to make a sequel to Blade Runner. Even ignoring the financial risks, which were all sadly proven true, how can you top, or at least match, perfection? Ridley Scott’s Blade Runner was an ahead of its time masterpiece of science fiction filmmaking. The film that inspired the cyberpunk genre, the film that gave us so many other amazing feats of science fiction storytelling within all forms of media. You can’t make a sequel and expect it to leave the same impact.

 

Well Denis Villenueve said “bet” and made it. And to everybody’s surprise, we got a sequel that was as good, if not better than its iconic predecessor and made us all love the original even more. An incredible cast, gorgeous cinematography, which gave icon Roger Deakins his first ever Oscar, meticulously crafted production values, and plenty of the depth and drama and political intrigue that made the 1982 classic so wonderful and loved by fans.

 

Still, like the first Blade Runner, this movie was ahead of its time and is only now developing the epic fan following it deserves. Will its upcoming TV series from Amazon suffer the same fate? Only time will tell I suppose.

 

Too low, should be in top 5.

[Chaz]

Who the fuck put Green Lantern: Beware My Power over Subzero?

[excel1]

I thought Fury Road sucked. 

[excel1]

2 hours ago, 4815162342 said:

 

It's an immensely entertaining and thrilling ride but several segments of the film are held together by duct tape and chewing gum.

 

meh what similarly sized budget film doesn't have the occasional suspension of disbelief requirement?

 

2 hours ago, 4815162342 said:

 

Makes most superhero films look like child's play, but it's not one of the titans of WB

 

Most? other than Batman Begins, what else is even comparable?

 

[JustLurking]

I'm pretty surprised fury road won, love this film to bits though. I simply cannot wait for Furiosa.

[Human]

1 hour ago, Chaz said:

Who the fuck put Green Lantern: Beware My Power over Subzero?

Me.

[WorkingonaName]

Fury road is the weakest Mad Max movie.