I don't normally frequent The Lounge (given my post count and joining date, it could be rightly said I don't frequent anywhere on 2+2), but Dominic's recent post on Andrew Vachss' Burke novels (where's the crime fiction thread, eh Dominic?) brought me over, and I'm a big film/tv/book fan, so seeing the powers that be want more posts, I thought I'd throw my 2 cents in. Hope no one minds a contribution from someone who isn't likely to be a regular.

That's an interesting list, Dominic. Half I would agree with - Amelie, In The Mood For Love, Mulholland Drive, Lost In Translation. Half I haven't seen - United 93, Once, City of God, Before Sunset (it's currently sitting in my watch-this-week pile, alongside Before Sunrise, Little Children, and Sunset Blvd). Sex and Lucia I don't see as quite so much of a classic as you seem to, and the LotR movies I can't stand, despite loving the books (the first is OK, mostly due to the evocative treatment of the Boromir's tragedy subplot, but for me the second and third went progressively more downhill, with the Frodo/Sam strand getting ever more cloying, Aragorn ever more wooden, and the pacing ever more jarring).

According to Flixster, my favorite movies of the 21st century include:

Hero: A theme both compelling and at odds with most of its genre, cinematography to rival Wong Kar Wai, cleverly cast, and a nicely overlaid meta-story about the nature of storytelling, that didn't distract from the main theme. I know for many Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon was too similar and better done, but I got a lot more out of Hero.

The Incredibles: More adult than most of Pixar's range, and boasting some really clever character work that's nothing to do with the animation (such as the way Syndrome wipes his nose on his way to his big entrance, or the sly look Edna gives when she knows she's trading on her wacky persona to mess with Helen's marriage), I found this fun (not funny, though it was that too) as hell. Nice use of the medium too, you could never tell this story this way using live action.

Almost Famous: OK, it's almost cliched to like this, but the performances were so good and the writing so strong that I don't mind being cliched here. Frances McDormand was robbed.

Children of Men: Wow this was well done. This is a director's film. Two scenes were world-class (both the long shots, the ambush and the 6-minute siege shot, despite the plotting weakness immediately after), and the tone was superbly executed (it's hard to make such quiet bleakness enjoyable - haven't seen it done so well since Requiem for a Dream, though The Bourne Supremacy gets a mention for the ending).

Kiss Kiss Bang Bang: Perhaps this wasn't mainstream enough to be a blockbuster, perhaps it did a bit too much, but I found it funnier than most comedies and more exciting than most thrillers that year. Val Kilmer got right back on the horse (factor in Spartan, and perhaps he's remembering he can act), Robert Downey Jr was pitch perfect, and Shane Black's script was so slick it's worth reading on its own (though in a couple of spots you remember that there's a reason voiceover isn't considered a good device).

Honorable mentions to A History of Violence, Oldboy, Batman Begins, Man on Fire, Training Day, and Requiem for a Dream (only because it wasn't enjoyable to watch, despite being so well done). I wonder what it says that this list would be halved in size if you'd excluded films made in 2000?

For some reason, I have felt compelled to watch United 93 about a dozen times, so I know it pretty well and am very impressed with it, more so each time I watch it. It's one of those films that will do well in time, as people are finally able to watch it, and appreciate it as they get separated from the actual event. I still tear up at the ending, BTW.

Now, although I've watched it to death, I had never turned on the director's commentary until yesterday. When I learned how Greengrass actually shot the film, I was even more impressed, as I know of no other film shot this way. What was done is this - For each of the locations where the film was shot, the various ATC centers, Herndon, Rome Air Defense, and the plane itself, the sequence was shot as one continuous take in real time with two cameras, the cameras reloading when necessary. That means for some of the locations, the takes are like an hour long. Not only that, most of the "actors" are not actors, they're professionals or people playing themselves, so they have to relive the worst day of their lives over and over. And the performances are by and large improvised, with guidelines given to the performers on what they have to do and when. In a way, this should never work, but somehow it does, with Greengrass then taking all these long shots and getting out what he needs to make a film unlike any other. (As a slight aside, it also explains some of the small discontinuities I've noticed, like planes changing direction on the scopes when they shouldn't, but every film has those problems, so no points off.)

I have been trying for some time to try and separate my feeling for the film because it's based on real events versus what it would be like if it were just a film. The more I watch it, the more I realize that he's made one of the greatest thrillers of all time, on par with the best of Hitchcock or the original Alien. The fact that it's real only makes it even better, as it's a terrific tribute to those lost that day, and will allow future generations to know just how terrifying it really was.

I think all of the films on this list that I've seen would be on my list too. That kinda makes me want to see the rest of them more then I already did:

Mulholland Drive: never got around to seeing it.
Once: never even heard of it...?
United 93: I've owned this for months and can't bring myself to watch it.
In the Mood for Love: was already in the top10 on my Netflix queue, now bumped to 1.

Very cool, with contributions like this, you'll be a very welcome presence in The Lounge!

Hero, Kiss Kiss Bang Bang, Children of Men and The Incredibles almost made my list...so did Memento and Brokeback Mountain.

And feel free to post something in my Andrew Vachss thread - I was always a little disappointed that didn't get very many views.

pretty amazing, isn't it? I haven't heard the commentary yet, so I'll have to check that out.

Once is incredible. Don't go expecting some masterpiece, though, because it is a tiny little wisp of a film...low-budget, with no stars...incredible music and performances, though...I absolutely love it.

Chairman of the Board is a masterpiece.

I've thought about this if I moved back to AZ. Most the people I took classes with there had little no background or exp in the industry or even screenwriting.

Zodiac
Fight Club(99 but close enough)

Dominic,

Great list. How do you feel about The Host?

I thought the Host was great fun with an incredible monster and an interesting group of characters.

I am not going to be a great contribution to the lounge.

sadface

nice list...why not tell us why you like them so much?

Dom, great list, I have to wonder why that Far From Heaven isn't on there. I finally got around to watching it, and after I was done, I had to ask myself why I didn't see it sooner. It just hits on many different levels with me and it is just brilliant overall. We really get to see that many of the problems that existed 50 years ago still exist today. On top of that, the writing is just sublime in it's simplicity and depth at the same time. No words or scenes are wasted, which is something that we so rarely see these days.

Also, Dom, go out and buy Hable Con Ella. It's magnificint and is what Almodovar is all about. He really explores what motivates us to love and just what motivates us as people

Oh, Hable Con Ella is Talk to Her! duh seen it. I admire Almodovar a lot more than I love him. Talk to Her is probably my favorite of his, though, and garnered consideration for my list. So did Far From Heaven.

I'm suprised nobody has mentioned Amores Perros.

I have a soft spot for interconnected story lines.

The movie is almost entirely a Mexican Pulp Fiction but it does a good job and is damn hard to stop watching.

I considered it briefly but it didn't get past the first cut!

I was just kidding. Sorry.

I really did hate those films though. 74 hours of go here, meet these people, fight that monster, crying repressed hobit homosexuality, go there, meet those people, fight this monster, crying repressed hobit homosexuality, etc.

Many folks feel the same about the movies... and the books.

My favorite critique on the books was "I don't feel like wading through four pages describing [censored] grassy knolls."

This is a good movie to mention. I don't like the comparison to Pulp Fiction that much, since I feel the characters in Amores Perros have more depth and I also think that Amores Perros actually deals with interesting themes. Pulp Fiction is much more about being cool and flashy, while Amores Perros uses time tricks like Pulp Fiction but in a tighter story with actual characters exploring a theme.

I love Lost in Translation and find the LOTR flicks a hoax. Often terrifically, epicly flaccid, I can see these easily being surpassed in the future. I feel these are very much a wonder of their time, not of all time. These will last until someone comes up with the money to do them again. And that money will be less and less as technology advances. I don't think I've been more disappointed in films in the last 20 years than these, besides any Matrix but the first. I find it hard to imagine that these movies would be more well regarded if their author weren't so subject to cult-like worship and if the technology and scope of the flicks weren't so compelling at the time of their production. I'm confident time will bear me out that the direction in these films was unexceptional and the raves for them were very firmly fixed in their time.

Sex and Lucia was pretty. Otherwise an utter disappointment. I'm confident this will appear on virtually nobody's list of bests, if not now, then almost immediately.

Capote and Brokeback Mountain were both incredible IMO and belong in the list.

The Lives of Others is definitely worthy of a spot on the list as well. It does such a great great job with pacing which is refreshing to see in today's hollywood of bang bang bang bang nonstop action.

i'm not sure that i totally agree with this, but i can definitely see where Blarg is coming from. I wouldn't be surprised if they ended up with a legacy like Ben-Hur--amazing for the time, but not good enough to survive the test of time all that well