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Your Top 15 Films, 2010-2015


Disco Stu

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I've seen maybe 95% of all the films listed in this thread, so the pool is enormous. Makes is almost impossible to pick just 15. But using my own 'best of' lists as a point-of-departure, I could perhaps boil it down to these (note that several of these could easily be substitued with titles in my 'honourable mentions'):

 

1. EX MACHINA
2. Le Quattro Volte
3. The Road
4. Lucy
5. Prometheus
6. Gravity
7. Inception
8. Interstellar
9. The Tree of Life
10. Des Hommes et des Dieux
11. Lost River
12. Hanna
13. It Follows
14. La Grande Belleza
15. Pain & Gain

 

Honourable mentions:

 

Looper, Tomboy, Godzilla, Your Beauty is Worth Nothing, the first two Hobbit movies, Star Wars: The Force Awakens, Mad Max: Fury Road, Nightcrawler, Im Keller, Faults, Frank, Under the Skin, Exodus: Gods and Kings, All is Lost, Boyhood, Edge of Tomorrow, The Last Days on Mars, Django Unchained, Le Passé, Europa Report, Paradies: Hoffnung, Paradies: Liebe, Lincoln, Mama, Amour, The Dark Knight Rises, We Need to Talk About Kevin, Dark Shadows, Laurence Anyways, Jane Eyre, Rise of the Planet of the Apes, Nader & Simin - A Separation, The Thing, Melancholia, Monsters, The Lovely Bones, Robin HOod, The Social Network, Dogtooth, A Single Man, The Hunter, Predators.

 

Phew...I could keep going. As always, it's a mix of traditional Hollywood blockbuster fare and more 'art'-oriented movies.

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6 minutes ago, Thor said:

 

 

Phew...I could keep going. 

 

That's what I keep saying, Thor, you like everything.

 

14 minutes ago, Disco Stu said:

Judging people by the movies or the music they like is shallow.

 

Hmm, I'd say, it's a good way to find out how shallow one is. ;)

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9 minutes ago, Alexcremers said:

 

That's what I keep saying, Thor, you like everything.

 

He, he....not really, but I do have an open mind and like to judge everything on its own terms.

 

For example, there are several films on Disco Stu's original list that I don't care for (sorry, Stu): Moonrise Kingdom, Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy, Inside Llewyn Davis, The Grand Budapest Hotel, Spotlight, Before Midnight and Selma. And I thought Wolf on Wall Street was overrated. But I'm in line with his remaining choices (haven't seen Brooklyn yet; it's number 4 on my current to-see-list).

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Ah, very good to hear, Thor! Remember, you have to be careful not to love everything:

 

What is an opinion worth when it comes from a man who loves everything? - Alex Cremers

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2 hours ago, Stefancos said:

Alex wasted away his credibility years ago. He's basically a grumpier, humorless version of...me now.

 

I hope he doesn't take himself seriously though, the dear...

 

You're not grumpy, Steef, you're... misunderstood.

You're right; recently, Alex has become one eighth of a vulva.

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1 hour ago, Alexcremers said:

Ah, very good to hear, Thor! Remember, you have to be careful not to love everything:

 

What is an opinion worth when it comes from a man who loves everything? - Alex Cremers

 

What is a man who continually quotes himself? - Koray Savas

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Anyway, I quickly made a rudimentary list and picked 15 favorites out. The rest listed as follow-ups.

 

01. The Tree Of Life (Terrence Malick, 2011)

02. 12 Years A Slave (Steve McQueen, 2013)

03. Interstellar (Christopher Nolan, 2014)

04. Biutiful (Alejandro González Iñárritu, 2010)

05. Inside Llewyn Davis (Joel Coen and Ethan Coen, 2013)

06. The Grand Budapest Hotel (Wes Anderson, 2014)

07. Midnight In Paris (Woody Allen, 2011)

08. 127 Hours (Danny Boyle, 2010)

09. Sicario (Denis Villeneuve, 2015)

10. Shutter Island (Martin Scorsese, 2010)

11. The Social Network (David Fincher, 2010)

12. Seven Psychopaths (Martin McDonagh, 2011)

13. Skyfall (Sam Mendes, 2012)

14. Birdman: or The Unexpected Virtue Of Ignorance (Alejandro González Iñárritu, 2014)

15. Ain't Them Bodies Saints (David Lowery, 2013)

 

Inception (Christopher Nolan, 2010)

The American (Anton Corbijn, 2010)

Black Swan (Darren Aronofsky, 2010)

Rango (Gore Verbinski, 2011)

Hanna (Joe Wright, 2011)

Contagion (Steven Soderbergh, 2011)

The Girl With The Dragon Tattoo (David Fincher, 2011)

The Cabin In The Woods (Drew Goddard, 2012)

The Master (Paul Thomas Anderson, 2012)

Jack Reacher (Christopher McQuarrie, 2012)

Frances Ha (Noah Baumbach, 2013)

Blue Jasmine (Woody Allen, 2013)

Her (Spike Jonze, 2013)

Whiplash (Damien Chazelle, 2014)

Wish I Was Here (Zach Braff, 2014)

Foxcatcher (Bennett Miller, 2014)

Gone Girl (David Fincher, 2014)

Mad Max: Fury Road (George Miller, 2015)

The Man From U.N.C.L.E. (Guy Ritchie, 2015)

The Hateful Eight (Quentin Tarantino, 2015)

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4 hours ago, Teddy 3000 said:

ADIEU AU LANGAGE

 

Cool choice. It's certainly one of the better and more accesible Godard movies in recent years ('accesible' is relative, of course, it's still wildly experimental). I liked it, although it wouldn't be a top contender.

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21 hours ago, TheUlyssesian said:

 

Margaret is a novel on film. I am glad you saw the longer version because that's much better than the theatrical cut. It is a great new york movie, a great coming of age movie and a great movie about a lost soul. The staggering crushing bludgeoning approach of adulthood as your teenage years come to an end is very well portrayed in that film.

 

Manchester by the Sea is a very good too although it is more Hollywood, more by the numbers in a way. It is also a very male story, a story of two men (uncle and nephew) connecting. So it is a valuable perspective from a film-maker who has previously only dabbled in female stories. He brings the same insight and gift with character work here.

 

 

Interesting that you call Manchester "more Hollywood and by the numbers in a way". I can't say I see where you're coming from on that, it felt very much in line with the frank emotional honesty of his other two films. This one did resonate with me the most of the three, I think it's maybe the most humane portrait of grief I've seen in a movie. All three of Lonergan's films, actually, have this really keen understanding of how amidst the deepest emotional pains, life and relationships seem to just somehow move on as ever but with new colors. This is a deeply sad film and yet doesn't feel like it's wallowing in it like a lot of movies on these subjects are prone to doing. Lee is bitter, frustrated, scared, angry, paralyzed, and yet his interactions and day-to-day living with Patrick are never drowned in that, these emotions are omnipresent but always tempered with the natural humor and common politeness and habits/procedures of making it through a day like any other. I found it quite something, I rarely see it dramatized this well.

 

This was actually one problem I do remember having with Margaret, was that the number of scenes that turned into shouting matches became unconvincing to me in the particular ways they escalated. Part of this would probably have to do with my frustrations with Margaret herself, and I find this interesting because I remember not being quite sure I really knew a "Margaret" in my own life. I found myself struggling at times to recognize her in my own experiences and anyone I knew and her situation was also so strange that it became harder for me to find my way into the intensity of the film's emotional pitch. I felt like I didn't fully understand the character and consequently didn't 100% buy into her plight, though I admired much about the film. But what's interesting is that from what I can gather through the various pieces and opinions I've read on the film, a lot of people who love it seem to really know that girl. She's a sister, mother, daughter, friend, or indeed themselves. So there must be some truth there.

 

But this is something that occurred to me because as I was watching Manchester, I did instantly feel like I knew Lee. I recognized him, I know people like him. In some ways I am him. And I've been reading criticisms about the ending and people being similarly frustrated with Lee, not understanding his decisions, wanting further closure. To me it was the perfect ending, it was exactly right. Anyway, this one's going to stick with me. 

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1 hour ago, mrbellamy said:

 

Interesting that you call Manchester "more Hollywood and by the numbers in a way". I can't say I see where you're coming from on that, it felt very much in line with the frank emotional honesty of his other two films. This one did resonate with me the most of the three, I think it's maybe the most humane portrait of grief I've seen in a movie. All three of Lonergan's films, actually, have this really keen understanding of how amidst the deepest emotional pains, life and relationships seem to just somehow move on as ever but with new colors. This is a deeply sad film and yet doesn't feel like it's wallowing in it like a lot of movies on these subjects are prone to doing. Lee is bitter, frustrated, scared, angry, paralyzed, and yet his interactions and day-to-day living with Patrick are never drowned in that, these emotions are omnipresent but always tempered with the natural humor and common politeness and habits/procedures of making it through a day like any other. I found it quite something, I rarely see it dramatized this well.

 

This was actually one problem I do remember having with Margaret, was that the number of scenes that turned into shouting matches became unconvincing to me in the particular ways they escalated. Part of this would probably have to do with my frustrations with Margaret herself, and I find this interesting because I remember not being quite sure I really knew a "Margaret" in my own life. I found myself struggling at times to recognize her in my own experiences and anyone I knew and her situation was also so strange that it became harder for me to find my way into the intensity of the film's emotional pitch. I felt like I didn't fully understand the character and consequently didn't 100% buy into her plight, though I admired much about the film. But what's interesting is that from what I can gather through the various pieces and opinions I've read on the film, a lot of people who love it seem to really know that girl. She's a sister, mother, daughter, friend, or indeed themselves. So there must be some truth there.

 

But this is something that occurred to me because as I was watching Manchester, I did instantly feel like I knew Lee. I recognized him, I know people like him. In some ways I am him. And I've been reading criticisms about the ending and people being similarly frustrated with Lee, not understanding his decisions, wanting further closure. To me it was the perfect ending, it was exactly right. Anyway, this one's going to stick with me. 

 

Feel weird about saying that but the lead character's name is not Margaret lol. Margaret is the poem she studies in school. Her name is Lisa.

I will say this, you do not need to know particular people like the characters you are watching. That is not how empathy works. That would very much limit the kind of characters you could empathize with. Empathy is more abstract, it relies perhaps not on knowledge or experience but imagination, of imagining yourself in that scenario to generate an intellectual and/or emotional response. 

 

While I also do not know anyone like Lisa, I can absolutely relate to the experience that on the cusp of adulthood, everything feels like it will go wrong, that  you are still finding your bearings, still wondering what you care about and what life can mean and should it even mean something. It is a shattering experience in many ways - finally growing up. That's why I say it is a great coming of age story.

 

--

 

On Manchester, structurally I found it very schematic. And its grief very manufactured. It was about a very specific grief. I daresay the more specific you make grief or a source of pain, the harder infact it can be to have empathy because it seems specific and not universal. As an exploration of grief, the movie did not work well for me. As I stated, it worked as a study of two hard men dealing with a situation and learning to work together. I actually found Patrick far more fascinating than Lee as again like Lisa he was at a point where he was just growing into manhood and all that comes with it. THAT is a universal experience, the uncertainty etc. that I can relate to.

 

The flashback structure also I found contrived. But even so, I still think it is a fantastic film. Lonenegren's characters have the complexity of characters in literature. That's quite a feat.

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51 minutes ago, TheUlyssesian said:

Feel weird about saying that but the lead character's name is not Margaret lol. Margaret is the poem she studies in school. Her name is Lisa.

 

:lol: of course you are absolutely right. I had forgotten that.

 

Probably didn't articulate myself very well, but I agree with your thoughts on empathy as an imaginative process, although I would say that it is informed by knowledge/experience of human behavior (how could it not?). When I say I might know someone like a character, I don't necessarily mean "That's so-and-so from down the street" but just recognizing authenticity. Again, I don't know or remember Margaret well enough to give much insight into my reactions to Lisa...I hate to reduce it to "unlikability" because that's a non-criticism and hasn't prevented me from reaching out to characters in understanding, but there was some resistance there, I think she's certainly a polarizing character. Really would like to see it again. 

 

The flashback structure worked for me. I found them well-placed, carefully expressed. And obviously I disagree about the grief feeling manufactured or that the extreme, specific nature of (I assume you mean) Lee's grief made it harder to emphathize. Imagination did its work in those developments.

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11 hours ago, Koray Savas said:

Anyway, I quickly made a rudimentary list and picked 15 favorites out. The rest listed as follow-ups.

 

01. The Tree Of Life (Terrence Malick, 2011)

02. 12 Years A Slave (Steve McQueen, 2013)

03. Interstellar (Christopher Nolan, 2014)

04. Biutiful (Alejandro González Iñárritu, 2010)

05. Inside Llewyn Davis (Joel Coen and Ethan Coen, 2013)

06. The Grand Budapest Hotel (Wes Anderson, 2014)

07. Midnight In Paris (Woody Allen, 2011)

08. 127 Hours (Danny Boyle, 2010)

09. Sicario (Denis Villeneuve, 2015)

10. Shutter Island (Martin Scorsese, 2010)

11. The Social Network (David Fincher, 2010)

12. Seven Psychopaths (Martin McDonagh, 2011)

13. Skyfall (Sam Mendes, 2012)

14. Birdman: or The Unexpected Virtue Of Ignorance (Alejandro González Iñárritu, 2014)

15. Ain't Them Bodies Saints (David Lowery, 2013)

 

Inception (Christopher Nolan, 2010)

The American (Anton Corbijn, 2010)

Black Swan (Darren Aronofsky, 2010)

Rango (Gore Verbinski, 2011)

Hanna (Joe Wright, 2011)

Contagion (Steven Soderbergh, 2011)

The Girl With The Dragon Tattoo (David Fincher, 2011)

The Cabin In The Woods (Drew Goddard, 2012)

The Master (Paul Thomas Anderson, 2012)

Jack Reacher (Christopher McQuarrie, 2012)

Frances Ha (Noah Baumbach, 2013)

Blue Jasmine (Woody Allen, 2013)

Her (Spike Jonze, 2013)

Whiplash (Damien Chazelle, 2014)

Wish I Was Here (Zach Braff, 2014)

Foxcatcher (Bennett Miller, 2014)

Gone Girl (David Fincher, 2014)

Mad Max: Fury Road (George Miller, 2015)

The Man From U.N.C.L.E. (Guy Ritchie, 2015)

The Hateful Eight (Quentin Tarantino, 2015)

 

Unlike Thor, you didn't list The Road. That's because it's from 2009, right?

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23 hours ago, Alexcremers said:

 

Man is known by the films he loves. - Alex Cremers

 

Find me any evidence that suggests that I "love" TPM. Either that, or, please - and with the very greatest of respect - never criticise another one of my posts again.

Put into context, it's not that good, but, compared with all these fascistic, empty, moribund, giant turds of so-called entertainment, such as MCU, or DCU, it's a damned masterpiece!

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1 - Interstellar
2 - The Tree of Life
3 - Her
4 - Birdman
5 - The Dark Knight Rises
6 - The Grand Budapest Hotel
7 - Inception
8 - The Avengers
9 - How To Train Your Dragon
10 - How To Train Your Dragon 2
11 - Moonrise Kingdom
12 - The Hateful Eight
13 - Gone Girl
14 - Whiplash
15 - Mad Max: Fury Road

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I love Moonrise, actually not too sure whether or not I like it or Grand Budapest more but I've rewatched the latter more. Most of them are pretty close, though I think Darjeeling Limited is still my favorite.

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1. Embrace of the Serpent

2. Nebraska

3. When Marnie was There

4. Her

5. How To Train Your Dragon (both)

6. The Tree of Life

7. The Hateful Eight

8. Inherent Vice

9. Wadjda

10. Under the Skin

11. The Cave of Forgotten Dreams

12. Hugo

13. The Boy and the Beast

14. Jurassic World

15. Mud

 

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2 hours ago, Disco Stu said:

So I'm the only who likes Moonrise more than Budapest? I mean both are in my top 5 but I think Moonrise instantly became my favorite Anderson as soon as I saw it.

Moonrise Kingdom is a pretty good hodgepodge of everything that makes Anderson unique, but it's that blend that prevents it from going near the top of his output, for me. I much prefer Rushmore, The Royal Tenenbaums, The Darjeeling Limited, and Fantastic Mr. Fox.

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5 hours ago, Prerecorded Briefing said:

Oh how did I forget Under The Skin

 

It should tell you something.

 

We never forget the ones that are dear to us. - Alex Cremers

 

 

12 hours ago, Richard said:

 

Find me any evidence that suggests that I "love" TPM. Either that, or, please - and with the very greatest of respect - never criticise another one of my posts again.

Put into context, it's not that good, but, compared with all these fascistic, empty, moribund, giant turds of so-called entertainment, such as MCU, or DCU, it's a damned masterpiece!

 

Please feel free to criticise my posts any time, Richard. 

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5 hours ago, Koray Savas said:

Moonrise Kingdom is a pretty good hodgepodge of everything that makes Anderson unique, but it's that blend that prevents it from going near the top of his output, for me. I much prefer Rushmore, The Royal Tenenbaums, The Darjeeling Limited, and Fantastic Mr. Fox.

 

Precious b/s.

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9 hours ago, Disco Stu said:

So I'm the only who likes Moonrise more than Budapest? I mean both are in my top 5 but I think Moonrise instantly became my favorite Anderson as soon as I saw it.

 

Finally, a fellow brother! I prefer it too Budapest too. Budapest was good, but it was just a little too big and a little too much Anderson. It didn't quite nail that delicious balance that Moonrise has.

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I never liked Wes Anderson (there, that should please Alex!). I have issues with 'semi-quirk', as I call it, i.e. universes that are drawn up with realism (albeit stylized), yet where things are always a bit "off". All-out quirk in the style of Tim Burton I can enjoy, but not the Anderson kind. I have a number of things that 'grate' and that may cause a negative value judgement of a movie (for me) -- if it's too "hipster", if it's very centered on information-heavy dialogue, if it's ripe with apathy etc.

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5 hours ago, Alexcremers said:

 

It should tell you something.

 

We never forget the ones that are dear to us. - Alex Cremers

 

 

 

Please feel free to criticise my posts any time, Richard. 

 

That's the thing! I have no desire to criticize any posts. What right have I got to impose my judgement on someone else's tastes?

I know that, most of the time, JWfaners are like-minded, but occasionaly...we do disagree. :)

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2 minutes ago, Richard said:

 

That's the thing! I have no desire to criticize any posts.

 

Remember when you were ashamed of me and being a member of JWfan because I like Dan's Aja, Richard? Remember?! 

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Both MK, and GBH are great, but...THE ROYAL TENNANBAUMS outclasses both, easily.

 

 

6 minutes ago, Alexcremers said:

 

Remember when you were ashamed of me and being a member of JWfan because I like Dan's Aja, Richard? Remember?! 

 

WTF???! I'd NEVER disown anyone if they liked AJA (even if GAUCHO does beat it into the ground :)).

If I insulted you, then I am sorry.

I take it back; you are no longer one eighth of a vulva.

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1 hour ago, Koray Savas said:

Please explain to everyone exactly how my personal preference is bullshit.

 

Nobody talks about you. The selection of movies is a well of preciousness to me.

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Well this thread went places.  I'm planning on watching Beasts of the Southern Wild soon.  It's one of those "talked about" movies from recent years that I still need to see.  That and Steve Jobs, especially since the latter is on HBO which I already subscribe to.

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  • 9 months later...

How do you come up with a list like this? There would be massive number of movies I just can't think of if it's just off the top of my head. Do you go to some wiki page that lists every single movie of every year and create the list from there? 

 

Anyway, my favourite Wes Anderson is Fantastic Mr. Fox followed closely by Grand Budapest Hotel. I'm all down with his quirk. 

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