MC117 & MB801's Top 10 Thread(Yes, we need another)

[MovieBuff801]

Originally Posted by PG Cooper

You hack!




In all seriousness, I'm looking forward to this.

Consider it a form of flattery.

And, thanks.

[PG Cooper]

Where's the list man?

[MovieBuff801]

Edit: I'll start now.

The Top 20 Non-2012 Films I Saw In 2012

Like PG Cooper's list, brought together here are the best/my personal favorites of the films I watched last year for the first time that were released anytime before 2012. So, let's get started.

20. Hard Eight (Seen on 11/26/12)



P.T. Anderson, a brilliant filmmaker, disappointed me with his newest offering this past year, The Master, but I'm pleased to say that this is one of two other films from him appearing on this list. It also happens to be his very first film. In it, a mysterious man named Sydney (Phillip Baker Hall) enigmatically offers to drive down-and-out John (John C. Reilly) to Las Vegas so that John can earn enough money to pay for his mother's funeral. Sydney does this by showing John a few gambling tricks. Years later, we see Sydney and John's relationship continue to play out amidst an increasingly dangerous situation. Hard Eight can be described as a crime thriller in the most general sense, but Anderson never resorts to the usual tactics of the genre in order to tell this story. That is, not until he has to, and by then, he uses them to great effect. Instead, a lot of the tension comes from the situations he puts the characters in, and how they react to those situations, and a lot of the time, the suspense comes from the conversations and interactions of the characters. The acting is restrained, yet superb, with Phillip Baker Hall giving a phenomenal performance, and there's solid supporting work from Reilly and the likes of Gwyneth Paltrow and Samuel L. Jackson. While I do think the film ends a little abruptly, Hard Eight is still a film made with expert precision from a director who would blossom into a force to be reckoned with.

[Neverending]

Originally Posted by MovieBuff801

It also happens to be his very first film.

His first non-porn film.

[MovieBuff801]

Boogie Nights is the only film of his I've yet to see.

[Neverending]

Originally Posted by MovieBuff801

Boogie Nights is the only film of his I've yet to see.

That's not what I was referring to. He did a few porn films during his early days.

[MovieBuff801]

That's...interesting.

[Justin]

Originally Posted by Neverending

That's not what I was referring to. He did a few porn films during his early days.

I've never heard that.

[PG Cooper]

Me neither.

Great first choice.

[Dracula]

Originally Posted by Neverending

That's not what I was referring to. He did a few porn films during his early days.

Source?

[MovieBuff801]

Continuing on...

19. The Big Lebowski (Seen on 8/6/2012)



The Big Lebowski, on the whole, is one of those well-regarded films that lives up to the hype. Jeff Bridges plays The Dude, an easygoing slacker and expert bowler in Los Angeles who, along with his friend Walter, becomes entangled in a kidnapping plot after being recruited by a millionaire as the ransom couriers for his abducted wife. Everybody knows that this is a Coen Brothers comedy, and nearly every scene has their unique touch. A lot of this movie is just so wild, but the Coens always find the right balance between wild and wonderful, so that the movie ends up being continually funny and entertaining. A dream sequence involving an interesting use of bowling imagery is particularly funny. Jeff Bridges helps The Dude be an incredibally lovable and instantly memorable character, and he has great chemistry with John Goodman, who plays Walter. But getting back briefly to the plot...before seeing The Big Lebowski, I really had no solid idea what it was all about, so there was a certain joy I took in watching everything play out naturally. Easily one of my favorite Coen Bros. movies.

18. Hard Candy (Seen on 3/28/2012)



David Slade's Hard Candy is easily one of the more unsettling and unnerving films I've seen in a while. It's a film that takes place in one location, and sees a young girl named Hayley (Ellen Page) enact revenge on a suspected online predator (Patrick Wilson) in a very extreme fashion. The script is so direct about such uncomfortable and mature material, that most of the time, it's all you can do to not try and squirm in your seat. The dynamic between Hayley and Jeff is undeniably interesting, though. Based on what we know about Jeff, we should be appalled and disgusted at him as a human being, but given the extremeness of the torture that Hayley inflicts on him throughout the last two Acts, we're left with the question of who's really the villain here. Is it Jeff, who's a pedophile and quite possibly a killer, or is it Hayley, who's torturing this guy and seems to be doing so in a way that gets HER turned on in her own twisted way? That question really kept me thinking when I wasn't shocked by what I was seeing on-screen. Ellen Page is downright terrifying, playing against type. Overall, a hell of a film.

[Neverending]

I was disappointed with Hard Candy because it's too simplistic and one-sided. It's a "torture porn" movie pretending to be a psychological thriller. Hopefully, someday, someone will make a proper film that deals with this subject matter.

[MovieBuff801]

Both characters get moments where they each get us to sympathize with them or at least see their logic. But by the end, I agree that it's too cut-and-dry.

[Neverending]

Originally Posted by MovieBuff801

Both characters get moments where they each get us to sympathize with them or at least see their logic. But by the end, I agree that it's too cut-and-dry.

That isn't the main issue with the movie. It's the misguided use of pedophilia. People tend to forget, mostly because of Dateline NBC, that pedophilia deals with sexual attraction to children. Being attracted to teenagers is a different ballpark. That's called ephebophilia and it has to do with a man's primal desire to procreate. Why do you think men are attracted to younger women? Because they are fertile. Being attracted to, say, a 16 year old is simply taking it to the next level. The movie could have explored all these psychological issues, and even the moral dilemma, but instead, they cast Ellen Page, make her look like a 10-year-old, and then proceed to make torture porn. It's just... lazy filmmaking. They took the easy route instead of making a truly challenging film. I mean, even a movie that actually dealt with real pedophilia would have been more interesting than what they ultimately made.

[PG Cooper]

Great choices. Love, LOVE, The Big Lebowski.

[Neverending]

Originally Posted by PG Cooper

Love, LOVE, The Big Lebowski.

That's the movie that got me into The Coen Bros. I'll always think of it fondly since it's the one that introduced me into their world.

[PG Cooper]

Originally Posted by Neverending

That's the movie that got me into The Coen Bros. I'll always think of it fondly since it's the one that introduced me into their world.

I wanna say it was the first Coen brothers film I saw. I liked it the first time I saw it, but it was after subsequent viewings that I really saw the film's brilliance. Still my favourite Coen brothers film.

[MovieBuff801]

Originally Posted by Neverending

That isn't the main issue with the movie. It's the misguided use of pedophilia. People tend to forget, mostly because of Dateline NBC, that pedophilia deals with sexual attraction to children. Being attracted to teenagers is a different ballpark. That's called ephebophilia and it has to do with a man's primal desire to procreate. Why do you think men are attracted to younger women? Because they are fertile. Being attracted to, say, a 16 year old is simply taking it to the next level. The movie could have explored all these psychological issues, and even the moral dilemma, but instead, they cast Ellen Page, make her look like a 10-year-old, and then proceed to make torture porn. It's just... lazy filmmaking. They took the easy route instead of making a truly challenging film. I mean, even a movie that actually dealt with real pedophilia would have been more interesting than what they ultimately made.

Pedophilia isn't really something I want to delve that deep into, to be quite honest, so I don't care that this movie took the "safe route" as you say. All I care about is that they delivered an effective thriller.

[Dracula]

Originally Posted by Neverending

Being attracted to teenagers is a different ballpark. That's called ephebophilia and it has to do with a man's primal desire to procreate. Why do you think men are attracted to younger women? Because they are fertile. Being attracted to, say, a 16 year old is simply taking it to the next level.

Nah, men are attracted to younger women because their tit**es don't sag.

[Justin]

The Big Lebowski is still one of my favorite films. Glad you liked it.

[Nilade]

I loved The Big Lebowski. Raising Arizona is a great visual comedy as well.

[Doomsday]

One of these days I'll have to post a photo of the bumper sticker on my car. It's a Lebowski quote that isn't recognized too often, but every couple of months someone will roll their window down and throw some quotes at me or I'll see someone behind me take a photo with their phone.

[JBond]

Big Lebowski's overrated. There, I said it.

[MovieBuff801]

Originally Posted by JBond

Big Lebowski's overrated. There, I said it.

VIDEO-CLick to Watch!:

[JBond]

Moviebuff, shut up! You're out of your element!