CAYOM 2.0: A Five Year Retrospective

[Ezen Baklattan]

Thanks for the Stories From Eden mention, numbers. I felt pretty hopeless when it wasn't showing up on lists at all, but boom! #4 on Number's list. Surely if Numbers like it, I must have done something right!

[4815162342]

NUMBERS' TOP 50 FILMS OF CAYOM YEARS 1-5 (#10-6)

10. Rapture (Year 1)

Player: RySenkari

Rapture is Ry's masterpiece of the new CAYOM, and one of his best films of all time. It is a dark, involving, disturbing, and passionate drama/thriller about a teen who finds true love...and that true love is a psychotic killer. The tension and gloom slowly builds, piece by piece, as the darkness settles in, and when it climaxes it hits like atom bomb.

9. Wenan (Year 4)

Player: riczhang

Never have I been so glad to see a film originally supposed to be directed by Terrence Malick end up being directed by someone else. Modern Malick would have killed this film, made it some naturalistic fart machine of cinema instead of a thematic and expressive look at the eras of great migration into Australia. Paul Thomas Anderson does a great job and being expressive and sweeping while also knowing how to tighten things up and focus narrowly when called for.

8. Hired Guns (Year 1)

Player: Numbers

Now I will comment on the films of mine I chose. Hired Guns is Tarantino doing a Western in the line of the Leone and Eastwood (High Plains Drifter, Outlaw Josey Wales, etc) directed films of the 60s and 70s, taking a bit of a step back from his dialogue vomit and a bit more focus on atmosphere and visuals with a rock-hard protagonist played very capably by Michael Fassbender. The narrative winds and weaves its way along with occasional flashbacks slowly filling in details that reveal the true core of the story, which is a revenge tale buried inside a bounty-hunting quest set against the beginnings of the arrival of "agents of civilization" to the West. It's a thrilling story...and it's only 1/3 done.

7. Past Tense (Year 5)

Player: Uekacreator

One of Ueka's greatest films of all time popped up this year in CAYOM and its return did not disappoint me in the slightest. Richard Jenkins gives an incredibly moving performance as an elderly man slowly coping from the loss of his spouse and his vicarious living through the young love of a couple he meets on a vacation cruise. What I loved about the film back in the old CAYOM and still love now is that the main character's quest for healing and acceptance, it really only begins at the point the film ends, the footage Sofia Coppola wonderfully crafted for us is really him spinning in circles and looking for an escape, he only truly starts to heal as the film ambles towards the close.

6. Chronicle (Year 1)

Player: Frankenberry

Frank in the old CAYOM was brilliant at two genres: sci-fi and crime, so it is fitting that his non-linear ensemble crime piece from Year 1 shows up around here. Chronicle is a story about a group of criminals who executed a heist several years in the past, but then in the present, over the course of a week, are slowly picked off one by one by an unknown killer. The film jumps around back and forth between various days of that week, revealing key details while also unveiling more questions, always delivering goods while still keeping audiences guessing until the final minutes. A thrilling, engaging, smart chunk of cinema.

Edited December 19, 2012 by 4815162342

[Ezen Baklattan]

So the Top 5 probably has Eccentric Minds!

[Ezen Baklattan]

My Top 5 guess in no particular order.Appian WayFatal RendezvousThe Eccentric Minds Of Belmond LaneBlack As NightAnd The Band Played On

[4815162342]

NUMBERS' TOP 50 FILMS OF YEARS 1-5 (#5-1)

5. The Eccentric Minds of Belmond Lane (Year 5)

Player: Spaghetti

Spaghetti has probably made as good a Wes Anderson film as you might be able to create in the CAYOM world. It's fun, witty, and engaging with its eclectic cast of characters, all of whom are slightly screwed up yet still quite high-functioning in each of their own ways. Owen Wilson holds down the fort with his earnest ways and Emma Watson is radiant as the focused girl who finds a connection with him. Memorable and heartfelt without getting overly emotional or sappy.

4. Fatal Rendezvous (Year 3)

Player: Numbers

Fatal Rendezvous is probably the film of mine that I am the most personally attached to since the plot is loosely adapted from the information packet of a mock murder trial I was part of in college. Robert Downey Jr. and Aaron Eckhart are perfectly cast as the leads, two friends in the movie business whose plan to murder their business partner quickly goes downhill. Shane Black and Jonathan Nolan's collaboration on the screenplay hits the right balance between energetic thrills and dark humor and Black gives it his all as the director.

3. Appian Way (Year 2)

Player: Frankenberry

Frank's best film in the new CAYOM is a period crime drama focused on the relationship between a pair of brothers with a family criminal legacy looming over their shoulders and waiting to catch up to them. When it does, it happens in a mess of bullets, blood, and tragedy. Matthew Goode is stoic and steely as older brother Nate and Jeff Daniels is devilish as mob leader Vincent. When it comes to crime dramas in CAYOM, it's hard to get much better than this.

2. And the Band Played On (Year 1)

Player: Numbers

Without a doubt my most epic and ambitious film so far in the new CAYOM (though that will likely change with The Rise and Fall of Julius Caesar), And the Band Played On is a massive nearly 3-hour ensemble drama following the lives of a number of people during the first severak years of the AIDS epidemic in America. George Clooney's direction definitely doesn't hold back when going for the political and thematic points, but he also keeps it restrained and focused by zeroing in on how the people themselves progress and evolve over those years, or become claimed by the epidemic in more ways than one. Clooney's supporting turn as the antagonistic, ambitious Robert Gallo is effective and stirring as he plays against type as volatile egomaniac of a scientist. From Mathieu Amalric to Stanley Tucci the massive ensemble gives it 100%.

1. Black as Night (Year 3)

Player: Uekacreator

You know how I said it's hard for a crime drama in CAYOM to be much better than Appian Way? Well Black as Night shows you how to achieve such a feat. A lengthy, drawn-out, slow-burn of a period crime piece, Black as Night is a tale of revenge served cold, delayed years and going after what the target loves most: his prestige, his money, and his family. Leonardo DiCaprio smoothly glides through the film, presenting many faces and many rationales as he worms his way into the heart of the story, keeping the audience guessing as to whether he is a hero or just another villain. In the end, he's both, and the film is far richer for it.

Edited December 20, 2012 by 4815162342

[The Dark Alfred]

Well the top 2 is familiar lol That could well remain the top 2 of Year 1-10 as well. I'm surprised that you ranked Fatal that high, I personally prefer even Red Rabbit, not to mention The Good Die Young or Hired Guns.

Edited December 20, 2012 by Alfred Unchained

[The Creator]

Black as Night may go down as my most acclaimed film of this CAYOM, having now appeared at number 1 on two lists of the Years 1-5. From an unbiased point of view, it would be in my top 5 as well.

[4815162342]

Well the top 2 is familiar lol That could well remain the top 2 of Year 1-10 as well. I'm surprised that you ranked Fatal that high, I personally prefer even Red Rabbit, not to mention The Good Die Young or Hired Guns.

Considering you really liked Hired Guns you'll be pleased to know that Tarantino will be delivering another Fassbender Western in Year 7.

[The Dark Alfred]

Damn, I have to reschedule my project for Y7 then lol I already have the best Reacher film (dir.: Affleck) and the Winter War in December. Are you thinking a December release? Can you give away the title?

[The Creator]

INTERESTING FACTS ABOUT THE TOP MOVIES OF YEARS 1-5

These are facts taken from an analysis of the Critical Consensus and the Best Picture nominees/winners of each year.

Most points won by a film in the Critical Consensus: 175 by The Good Die Young (Year 4)

Least points for a number one film on the CC: 67 by My Life to Waste (67)

Closest gap between number one and number 2 on the CC: 1 point (between My Life to Waste and Eternal Sleep/U.S.S. Seawolf in Year 2; and between The Shark Mutiny and Dawn of Oblivion in Year 5)

Largest gap between number one and number 2 on the CC: 14 points (between Black as Night and Genesis in Year 3)

Highest ranking on the CC for a film that also won BP in its year: 1st place (by Rapture (Year 1), Black as Night (Year 3), and The Good Die Young (Year 4))

Lowest ranking on the CC for a film that also won BP in its year: 4th place (by Appian Way (Year 2), and The Eccentric Minds of Belmond Lane (Year 5))

Most number one mentions on the CC by a single film: 3 (by Genesis in Year 3)

Only films to top the CC without a single number one mention: My Life to Waste (Year 2), and The Shark Mutiny (Year 5)

Lowest placement on the CC of a film nominated for BP in its given year: 8th (by And the Band Played On (Year 1) and The Summer Story (Year 3))

Only year where all 5 of the BP nominees were also the top 5 films on the CC: Year 4 (Alesia, The Glass Castle, The Good Die Young, The Road Home, and Wenan were all nominated for BP and were all ranked in the top 5 on the CC of Year 4)

Film with the highest placement on the CC not to be nominated for BP: My Life to Waste (Year 2) (ranked first on the CC but wasn't nominated for Best Picture)

Year with the largest number of number one mentions on the CC: Year 4 (no film had more than 1 top placement on the CC. 8 different films had a number one mention.)

Most lists submitted to the CC: 8 (in Year 4 and Year 5)

Least lists submitted to the CC: 3 (in Year 2)

Player with the most number ones on the CC: Numbers (with 2 - Year 4, Year 5)

And now a breakdown of the CC versus the BP noms for each year.

YEAR 1

Critical Consensus

1. Rapture - 97**

2. The Wings of Icarus - 93*

3. The End of the Universe - 83

4. The Morrow - 74*

5. Hired Guns - 72*

6. Chronicle - 69

7. Barren World - 65

8. And the Band Played On - 64*

9. The Chrysalids - 58

10. Call of Duty - 55

* = BP nom

** = BP winner

YEAR 2

Critical Consensus

1. My Life to Waste - 67

2. Eternal Sleep - 66*

2. U.S.S. Seawolf - 66*

4. Appian Way - 65**

5. The Few - 62*

6. Trader Haters - 57*

7. The Seafarer - 52

8. StarCraft - 44

9. S-L-A-V-E - 41

10. Dragon Age: Darkness Over Ferelden - 34

YEAR 3

Critical Consensus

1. Black As Night - 158**

2. Genesis - 144*

3. Dodge City - 136*

3. The Morrow II - 136

5. The Coming Storm - 131*

6. Fatal Rendezvous - 127

7. Prodigy - 123

8. The Summer Story - 117*

9. Red Rabbit - 103

10. El Libertador - 93

YEAR 4

Critical Consensus

1. The Good Die Young - 175**

2. The Road Home - 171*

3. The Glass Castle - 158*

4. Alesia - 156*

5. Wenan - 155*

6. Sylvarius - 130

7. Spark - 126

8. Citizen Hughes - 119

9. Nirvana - 116

10. The Flowers of Arvika - 108

YEAR 5

Critical Consensus

1. The Shark Mutiny - 166*

2. Dawn of Oblivion - 165*

3. Empty Hearth - 163

4. The Eccentric Minds of Belmond Lane - 158**

5. Past Tense - 156

6. The Dogs of Babel - 130*

7. Oro - 126*

8. The Next Dimension - 113

9. Hindenburg - 105

10. Celia, A Slave - 81

[The Dark Alfred]

Great job. I honestly feel like that I needed 5 years to get to my best. From Year 6-10 I expect to be appearing more regularly, expect Year 6 to be a strong year for me.

Edited December 20, 2012 by Alfred Unchained

[4815162342]

Damn, I have to reschedule my project for Y7 then lol I already have the best Reacher film (dir.: Affleck) and the Winter War in December. Are you thinking a December release? Can you give away the title?

All my Year 7 plans are stated in my post on Page 1 of the Studio Plans thread.

[The Dark Alfred]

Got it. Looking forward to JC, if it's true that it's going to be better than Alesia we're in for a treat.