The Lists Project

[backstreetsbackalright]

I'm perfectly content with either ruling for Kill Bill. Lord of the Rings, however, I still feel strongly should be separated as three films. It's not that I don't think it should be thought of as a unified whole, it's simply that for us to vote for it as a single film would wildly contradict existing practices on this list. What can I say, I still buy all my underwear at K-Mart....

[Michael]

Ok, here it goes:

Lord of the Rings - vote for each one of the three films separately: Fellowship of the Ring, The Two Towers and The Return of the King.

Kill Bill - vote for the two "volumes" separately: Vol. 1 and Vol. 2.

That's it.

[Michael]

2000s Films Voted So Far:

2046
3-Iron
8 Women
9 Souls
21 Grams
40 Shades of Blue
Adaptation
About Schmidt
All About Lily Chou-Chou
Almost Famous
Amelie
American Splendor
Amores Perros
Anatomy of Hell
Anything Else
Arabian Nights
Arbor Vitae
Artificial Intelligence: AI
Avalon
The Aviator
Bad Education
Bad Guy
Bad Santa
Bamboozled
The Barbarian Invasions
Battle Royale
Before Night Falls
Before Sunset
Best in Show
Birth
Birthday Girl
Blissfully Yours
The Bourne Identity
Breakfast on Pluto
Bright Future
Bright Leaves
Brokeback Mountain
Broken Flowers
The Brothers Grimm
Bubble
Bully
Cache (Hidden)
Cafe Lumiere
The Captive
Capote
Cast Away
Catch Me If You Can
Chicken Run
Chopper
The Chumscrubber
The Circle
Citizen Dog
City of God
Clean
Code Unknown
Coffee and Cigarettes
Come Into My World
Come Undone
Confessions of a Dangerous Mind
The Constant Gardener
Control Room
Copycat Killer
The Corpse Bride
Corpus Callosum
Cowards Bend the Knee
Crash
Crazy
Crimson Gold
Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon
Dancer in the Dark
The Dancer Upstair
Dear Wendy
The Decay of Fiction
demonlover
Destino
Devils on the Doorstep
Distance
Distant (Uzak)
Dogville
Dominion: A Prequel to The Exorcist
Donnie Darko
Doppelganger
Downfall
The Dreamers
Electric Dragon 80.000V
Elephant
Erin Brockovich
Esther Khan
Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind
Eureka
Everything is Illuminated
Fahrenheit 9/11
Faithless
Far from Heaven
The Fast Runner
Father and Son
Femme Fatale
Finding Nemo
The Five Obstructions
The Fog of War
Frequency
Frida
Friday Night (Vendredi Soir)
Garden State
George Washington
Gerry
Geuddae Geusaramdeul
Geuk Jang Jeon
Ghost in the Shell 2: Innocence
Ghost World
Gladiator
The Gleaners and I
A Good Lawyer's Wife
Good Morning, Night
Good Night, and Good Luck
Goodbye Dragon Inn
Gosford Park
Gozu
Grizzly Man
The Hand (from Eros)
Head-On
The Heart of the World
Hero
High Tension
A History of Violence
The Hitchhiker's Guide to Galaxy
The Holy Girl
The Hours
The House of Mirth
House of Sand and Fog
Hukkle
Hurt (video)
I Heart Huckabees
I'm Going Home
I'm Not Scared
Ichi the Killer
In America
In My Skin
In Praise of Love
In the Act
In the Bedroom
In the Cut
In the Dark
In the Mood for Love
The Incredibles
Insomnia
Intimacy
Intolerable Cruelty
Irreversible
It's All About Love
Jackass: The Movie
Japon
Kandahar
Kill Bill: Vol. 1
Kill Bill: Vol. 2
Kings and Queen
Kong Que (Peacock)
L' Enfant
L' Intrus
La Cienaga
La Commune
Last Days
Last Resort
Le Pont des Arts
A Letter from an Unknown Woman
The Life Aquatic with Steve Zissou
Life Show
Lifeline
Lilja 4-ever
Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring
Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King
Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers
Lost in Translation
The Machinist
The Magdalene Sisters
Malena
The Man Who Wasn't There
The Man Without a Past
Maria Full of Grace
Match Point
Meet the Parents
Melinda and Melinda
Memento
Memories of Murder
A Mighty Wind
Millenium Mambo
Million Dollar Baby
Minority Report
Monsters, Inc.
Moolaade
Morvern Callar
Moulin Rouge
MPD Psycho
Mulholland Dr.
Munich
Mysterious Object at Noon
Mysterious Skin
Mystic River
Napoleon Dynamite
Nine Queens
No Direction Home: Bob Dylan
Nobody Knows
Notre Musique
Nuan
O Brother, Where Art Thou?
Oldboy
On the Occasion of Remembering the Turning Gate
Outerborough
Palindromes
Panic Room
Perfect Education 5: Amazing Story
The Phantom Museum
The Pianist
The Piano Teacher
Pirates of the Caribbean: Curse of the Black Pearl
Platform
Playing "In The Company of Men"
Porn Theatre
Pride and Prejudice
Pulse (Kairo)
Punch Drunk Love
Requiem for a Dream
The Return
River and Tides
Road to Perdition
The Royal Tenenbaums
The Rules of Attraction
Russian Ark
Sabu
The Saddest Music in the World
Saraband
The Sea Inside
Secret Things
Series 7: The Contenders
Sex and Lucia
Sexy Beast
Shakespeare Behind Bars
Shaolin Soccer
Shaun of the Dead
Shrek 2
Sideways
Sisters in Law
Small Time Crooks
A Snake of June
Snatch
Solaris
The Son
Son Frere
The Son's Room
Songs from the Second Floor
South of the Clouds
Spider
Spirited Away
Spring, Summer, Fall, Winter and Spring
Springtime in a Small Town
The Squid and the Whale
The Station Agent
Storytelling
Suicide Circle
The Sun (Solntse)
Swimming Pool
Sympathy for Lady Vengeance
Sympathy for Mr. Vengeance
Syriana
Take Care of My Cat
Tale of Two Sisters
Talk to Her
The Tao of Steve
Team America: World Police
Tears of the Black Tiger
Ten
Thirteen
Three Times
Time of the Wolf
Timecode
To Be and To Have
Traffic
The Trilogy
The Triplets of Belleville
Tropical Malady
Twentynine Palms
Unbreakable
Unknown Pleasures
Va Savoir
Vertical Ray of the Sun
A Very Long Engagement
Vibrator
Vrigins Stripped Bare by Her Bachelors
The Visitation
Waking Life
Wallace & Gromit: The Curse of the Were-Rabbit
Waterdrops on Burning Rocks
The Weeping Meadow
The Werckmeister Harmonies
What Time is it There?
Where the Truth Lies
Wild Side
William Eggleston in the Real World
Winged Migration
Wonder Boys
The World
Y Tu Mama Tambien
Ydessa, the Bears and etc.
Yi Yi

[denti alligator]

I don't mean to be snobbish--maybe I do--but this list looks sad. I would vote for maybe 4 of these (yes, I counted), and many of them would make my worst-of list. I mean, this looks like an NBC poll, not a criterionforum poll.

[Michael]

denti, this is still early. Two lists were submitted so far. That "voted for" list will appear a lot different by the end of January.

[denti alligator]

Ok, I'll stop huffing and puffing.
So maybe there are 6 I might vote for....

[toiletduck!]

And I notice a lack of any of the LoTR trilogy... maybe all that fuss was for naught?

-Toilet Dcuk

Edit: Once upon a time, that is...

[bufordsharkley]

I don't mean to be snobbish--maybe I do--but this list looks sad. I would vote for maybe 4 of these (yes, I counted), and many of them would make my worst-of list. I mean, this looks like an NBC poll, not a criterionforum poll.

I'll just say it-- one of the two lists submitted was mine. The thing is, though, that the presence all but 15-20 of the films on my list ashame me.

I've only seen perhaps 110 or so films made from 2000 on. A forced selection of 50 can lead to ugliness. And this was very ugly indeed.

...I made a top 100 film list just a couple of months ago. No films from 2000 on. Only one or two were close.

I'm not making excuses-- just saying that ugliness is inevitable here. I put down "FREQUENCY," yes. But desperation made me do it-- trust me, I realize that FREQUENCY, and some other selections I was led to, could only be called mediocre by a grand stroke of generosity.

[yoshimori]

'for your consideration' - as they say this time of year in my part of the world:

Japanese films in my top 20: Mohou han [Copycat Killer], All about Lily Chou-chou, Kaïro [Pulse], Suicide Circle, Distance, Bright Future

Other asian films: Tropical Malady, Vertical Ray of the Sun, Tears of the Black Tiger, The President's Last Bang

European films: Esther Khan, Kings and Queen, Leo Stars in "In the Company of Men", Caché [Hidden], Father and Son, Morvern Callar

and American films: Elephant, "The Heart of the World", Bamboozled, Palindromes

I, personally, prefer this list - plus the 30 others in my top 50 - to my favorites in the 30s and 40s, and maybe even the 80s and 50s. And we're just over half done!

[Michael]

Many new additions to the "voted-for" list above.

Up to now:

myself, burfordsharkley, yoshimori, colinr0380

[zedz]

Given the desperation expressed above, I'll follow yoshimori's lead and suggest checking out any or all of the following, in no particular order:

Asia (some fantastic directors in peak form)

Yi-Yi (Edward Yang, 2000)
The Virgin Stripped Bare by Her Bachelors (Hong Sang-soo, 2000)
What Time Is It There? (Tsai Ming-liang, 2001)
Goodbye, Dragon Inn (Tsai Ming-liang, 2003)
On the Occasion of Remembering the Turning Gate (Hong Sang-soo, 2002)
Eureka (Aoyama Shinji, 2000)
Unknown Pleasures (Jia Zhang-ke, 2002)
The World (Jia Zhang-ke, 2004)
Take Care of My Cat (Jeong Jae-eun, 2001)
Vibrator (Hiroki Ryuichi, 2003)
Memories of Murder (Bong Joon-ho, 2003)
Electric Dragon 80,000V (Sogo Ishii, 2001)

Europe (ditto)

Hukkle (Gyorgy Palfi, 2002)
Uzak (Nuri Bilge Ceylan, 2002)
Lifeline (Victor Erice, 2002) (from Ten Minutes Older)
I'm Going Home (Manoel de Oliveira, 2001)
The Son (The Dardennes, 2002)
Werckmeister Harmonies (Bela Tarr, 2000)
L'Intrus (Claire Denis, 2004)
Demonlover (Olivier Assayas, 2002)
Vendredi Soir (Claire Denis, 2002)

Documentaries

Etre et Avoir (Nicolas Philibert, 2002)
Bright Leaves (Ross McElwee, 2003)
Crazy (Heddy Honigmann, 2000)
Grizzly Man (Werner Herzog, 2005)
Sisters in Law (Florence Ayisi / Kim Longinotto, 2005)

Shorts and Experimental

Come Into My World (Michel Gondry, 2002)
The Heart of the World (Guy Maddin, 2000)
The Decay of Fiction (Pat O'Neill, 2002)
Outerborough (Bill Morrison, 2005)

Not a lot of action on the U.S front (though I'm surprised nobody's voted for Donnie Darko yet - has the director's remix put everybody off?), but you should check out 40 Shades of Blue (Ira Sachs, 2005). And the miserably overlooked Terence Davies has The House of Mirth in contention - let's not embarrass ourselves further by leaving him off yet another list (this would make four in a row)!

It's been a great decade for cinema, but the greats aren't going to land in your lap.

[Andre Jurieu]

... though I'm surprised nobody's voted for Donnie Darko yet - has the director's remix put everybody off?

No, the original version was enough to put me off.

[toiletduck!]

Where's the uncomfortable stretching my collar with a finger smiley?

Or the taking a poop on Donnie Darko smiley? Y'know, whichever comes first.

Another shout out for Vertical Ray of the Sun...

And while zedz is talking Ming-Liang, I think The Wayward Cloud doesn't get nearly the props that it deserves. Although, campaigning for something that new is tricky at best, but if you do find a screening nearby, by all means, go!

Oh, and The Death of Mr. Lazarescu as well!

-Toilet Dcuk

[backstreetsbackalright]

... though I'm surprised nobody's voted for Donnie Darko yet - has the director's remix put everybody off?

No, the original version was enough to put me off.

Say word. In fairness, I didn't make it all the way to the end, but that's only because I couldn't convince myself that I cared to press on.

[Andre Jurieu]

And while zedz is talking Ming-Liang, I think The Wayward Cloud doesn't get nearly the props that it deserves. Although, campaigning for something that new is tricky at best, but if you do find a screening nearby, by all means, go!

Now that recommendation I will lend my (worthless) support towards! It will certainly make my Top 50. Come on, how can you go wrong with a musical involving drought, watermelon, and porno?

[backstreetsbackalright]

Thanks for the tips, zedz. My 00s rental list has expanded with your help. Decay Of Fiction sounds wonderful. Any idea where one might see this?

To the list of For Your Considerations, I would add Chantal Akerman's From The Other Side and The Captive, Agnas Vardas' The Gleaners & I, and Lonergan's You Can Count On Me.

[zedz]

Thanks for the tips, zedz. My 00s rental list has expanded with your help. Decay Of Fiction sounds wonderful. Any idea where one might see this?

I saw it on film. I think it's been released as a hideously expensive DVD-ROM (which seems to have performance anxiety on lots of computers), but I don't know if this even includes the original film as a film.

I must say I'm surprised by the hostility towards Donnie Darko - I seem to recall lots of passionate squeals of complaint around these parts when the recut version was released. Present company excepted, I guess! Anyway, I reckon you can create a credible list for the 00s while ignoring US features entirely, so I welcome the indifference.

Wayward Cloud is typically good Tsai, but it's down my list from his previous two features (and Lee Kang-sheng's ultra-Tsai The Missing).

Gleaners is great, and the Criterion-sanctioned Varda seems to be the only woman director who can reliably penetrate these lists. If we're following the imdb rule, then Varda's superb Cinevardaphoto is also eligible (Ydessa, the Bears & etc. on its own is currently in my top 50).

And a strong seconder for yoshimori's suggestion of Distance, which I've only just noticed among his picks (and only just seen). Putting this list together I realised just how strong Japanese cinema has been in the past five years.

[backstreetsbackalright]

Revisiting the topic of miniseries (refer to pages 6 and 9), it seems as though not too many of these have made the list, and then it seems to be ones that were watched more on film/home video than on the telly. So... The Blue Planet? Or do we even consider that a miniseries, as such? Please advise.

[Michael]

Sorry for not responding sooner. On my drive up north to NY, my brand new car broke down, leaving me and my dog stranded for 3 days in Lumberton, NC (where Blue Velvet was filmed). Anyway, The Blue Planet is perfectly acceptable.

[Michael]

Happy New Year!

A quick reminder:

The deadline for the 2000s list is January 31st.

Up to now:

myself, ptmd, colinr0380, yoshimori, bufordsharkley

[Michael]

You have 12 days to submit your '00s list.

The "voted-for" list on the previous page is now updated.

[Michael]

Up to now:

myself, bufordsharkley, yoshimori, colinr0380, ptmd, kieslowski_67, kambei, henryfoool

If you think I didn't receive your list or your name is missing from above, then please let me know right away. Thanks.

[Michael]

The deadline for the 2000s list is a week from today. The "voted for" list on the previous page has many new titles added.

[Michael]

I no longer wish to continue with the next round once the 2000s list is finished so if anyone want to take over my position starting with the next round, then please step forward. Thanks.

[denti alligator]

I no longer wish to continue with the next round once the 2000s list is finished so if anyone want to take over my position starting with the next round, then please step forward. Thanks.

I'd be happy to do the Silent Era and the 1930s, so long as someone takes over after that. Also, I'd want to avoid a "best films of all time" list. And we'd make the lists due every 3 months. Silent Era lists due by end of May.