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Llewellyn_Wells

What are the most Canon worthy films of this decade?

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After more time passes, which films do you think will show themselves as Canon worthy? Or which ones do you think are Canon worthy now? (I was originally going to ask just from the past few years, but went with the whole decade).

 

Here are just a couple 2010-present* films I could see great episodes on:

 

  1. Her
  2. Zero Dark Thirty
  3. 12 Years a Slave
  4. The Master
  5. Tree of Life
  6. Nightcrawler
  7. Moonrise Kingdom
  8. Black Swan
  9. Bridesmaids
  10. Django Unchained
  11. Inside Llewyn Davis

 

 

I've listed too many and stopped myself.

What do you think?

 

 

 

*edited for clarity!

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The Revenant

Kung Fury

Ridiculous 6...

 

Wait, what are we doing? 2006-2016? 2010-16? 11-16?

 

For reals: I agree with most of your suggestions, except maybe 'Moonrise Kingdom.' It's great but not Canon-worthy.

 

What I would add (2010 on) in no particular order:

 

Beasts of the Southern Wild

Samsara

The Babadook

The Act of Killing

The Social Network

A Girl Walks Home Alone At Night

 

 

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Wait, what are we doing? 2006-2016? 2010-16? 11-16?

 

 

 

 

I meant 2010-present.

 

And The Social Network is one of my favorite movies, I don't know how I forgot it!

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Act of Killing and Look of Silence definitely should be in. I'm not sure what would be canon worthy, but here's some I think are worth discussion, in addition to the ones mentioned above:

 

Under the Skin

A Separation

Snowpiercer

Drive

Melancholia

Frances Ha

This Is Not A Film

Holy Motors

We Need to Talk About Kevin

Magic Mike XXL (I'm serious about this)

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Honestly? Not including anything that's been included from this decade...

 

The Social Network

Boyhood

The Master

Drive

The Avengers (even though I kind of hate this film)

Tangerine

The Tree of Life

Beasts of the Southern Wild

Before Midnight

Django Unchained

Her

Nightcrawler

Gone Girl

Under the Skin

Exit Through the Gift Shop

The Act of Killing/The Look of Silence

The Lego Movie

The Wolf of Wall Street

It Follows

The Witch

 

I'm forgetting so many.

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Only one of these I can agree with is Beasts of the Southern Wild. I think that it's still too soon for the rest of them. And before we start talking about The Act of Killing, there's other documentaries that need to enter the conversation -- Titticut Follies, Grey Gardens or Salesman, Les Blank, the work of Shirley Clarke (Portrait of Jason), etc.

 

We Need to Talk About Kevin

Such an amazing piece of art, and so far, the best "school shooting" film we have (eat my shorts, Van Sant). One of the great films about guilt.

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Beasts of the Southern Wild is one of the very few I'd probably vote 'no' on, but dang these are really great picks. Major bases seem covered; I also liked:

 

Submarine

Dogtooth

Take Shelter

The World's End

Mother

Dear White People

Two Days, One Night

Blue Ruin

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Not mentioned yet:

 

Gravity

Spring Breakers (nobody dare question this)

Amour

Jodorowsky's Dune

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Not mentioned yet:

 

Gravity

Spring Breakers (nobody dare question this)

Amour

Jodorowsky's Dune

 

 

Jodorowsky's Dune is a really special movie to me. It's great in many ways, but it's a beautiful enough thing to just capture the weird charisma of Jodorowsky.

 

Haven't seen Amour or Spring Breakers yet. I'll put 'em on the list.

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If we talk about this specific decade, I think it's important that the canon movies reflect the zeitgeist of our times. Therefore, I'd say stuff like Melancholia or Nightcrawler don't have that much of a chance, since they could've been made 20 years ago and would be just as impactful. Therefore, I'd be more in favor of stuff like the Lego Movie, Her, The Social Network, and maybe Scott Pilgrim vs. The Rest Of The World.

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* I don't actually love all of the movies that have been recommended, but most are worthy of consideration.

 

It's probably worth including Mad Max: Fury Road and Grand Budapest Hotel, which are already in the Canon.

 

Some others worth consideration: The Artist, Inside Out.

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Uh, The Artist. Don't let me get started on this one...it's such a weird little movie to come out at the time, and it made a splash way too big for what it is. Of all the French indie movies to come out every year, how did just this one ending up getting all the prizes? I guess it's to film what an 80s one hit wonder is to music.

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probably Boyhood . . .

 

I still wonder about that one. I kind of get the feeling that it isn't leaving the mark that a lot of people thought it would. Still too early to call, probably, what its legacy will be.

 

I personally think it's a solid, good movie, but I don't think I'd put it in the Canon. It's not "just a gimmick," but I felt like it only had some really powerful material for a few tiny scattered moments in the runtime.

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I still wonder about that one. I kind of get the feeling that it isn't leaving the mark that a lot of people thought it would. Still too early to call, probably, what its legacy will be.

 

I personally think it's a solid, good movie, but I don't think I'd put it in the Canon. It's not "just a gimmick," but I felt like it only had some really powerful material for a few tiny scattered moments in the runtime.

Agreed. Assuming its Canonicity would be based in the whole aging thing, there's the argument to be made that the whole schtick was already done by Paul Almond & Michael Apted in the 7up documentary series or François Truffaut in his Antoine Doinel films. The only thing that sets Boyhood aside is that it was conceived of as a document of aging instead of just sort of falling into that by means of circumstance, as well as it being compiled into one film with one film's runtime. But how much does that distinction matter?

 

It will be interesting to see how Boyhood itself ages in the coming years, whether it remains kind of temporally floaty and timeless or becomes a more vivid document of American culture thru the 2000's and 10's

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I still wonder about that one. I kind of get the feeling that it isn't leaving the mark that a lot of people thought it would. Still too early to call, probably, what its legacy will be.

 

I personally think it's a solid, good movie, but I don't think I'd put it in the Canon. It's not "just a gimmick," but I felt like it only had some really powerful material for a few tiny scattered moments in the runtime.

I did not feel Boyhood at all. And I'm generally pretty receptive to Linklater's output, so it was pretty disappointing to me. Recognizing the limitations that Linklater was working with, there really wasn't a plot and not a whole lot to mark development in the movie, aside from the fact that the actors physically age throughout. It felt like the movie *relied* on that device, rather than developing something from it. Moreover, all of Amy's criticisms of Everybody Wants Some!!! resonated with me in Boyhood. There were only two characters of significance (Mason and Dad) and everyone else (i.e. female characters) was just window dressing. I found it especially surprising that Arquette won the supporting actress oscar for a role that was so woefully underdeveloped.

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I did not feel Boyhood at all. And I'm generally pretty receptive to Linklater's output, so it was pretty disappointing to me. Recognizing the limitations that Linklater was working with, there really wasn't a plot and not a whole lot to mark development in the movie, aside from the fact that the actors physically age throughout. It felt like the movie *relied* on that device, rather than developing something from it. Moreover, all of Amy's criticisms of Everybody Wants Some!!! resonated with me in Boyhood. There were only two characters of significance (Mason and Dad) and everyone else (i.e. female characters) was just window dressing. I found it especially surprising that Arquette won the supporting actress oscar for a role that was so woefully underdeveloped.

 

As someone who merely liked Boyhood on first viewing, my experience is that it gets better with each outing. You just start to notice more things and find more significance in seemingly arbitrary places. Having seen it a dozen times, I totally see why it's hailed so thoroughly. What it comes down to is that you're jamming twelve years of life into two and a half hours. Linklater really makes it all count. Also, what a scary thought: You can condense the full scope of one's childhood into less than three hours, but in three hours, you've watched someone's entire life unfold. Gotta love it.

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Random thought just occurred to me, but it's pretty telling that Birdman hardly gets mentioned in these type of discussions...

 

I can't stand Birdman. And I'm far from alone on that. It's the film equivalent of the "cool" professor in a leather jacket trying to "blow your mind" with reality. And probably to cheat on his wife with a student.

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There were only two characters of significance (Mason and Dad) and everyone else (i.e. female characters) was just window dressing. I found it especially surprising that Arquette won the supporting actress oscar for a role that was so woefully underdeveloped.

 

This doesn't strike me as true at all.

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I can't stand Birdman. And I'm far from alone on that. It's the film equivalent of the "cool" professor in a leather jacket trying to "blow your mind" with reality. And probably to cheat on his wife with a student.

 

Ha! That's a killer analogy.

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There were only two characters of significance (Mason and Dad) and everyone else (i.e. female characters) was just window dressing.

 

 

if you saw Patricia Aquette's character as window dressing, and not someone who has her own well executed story arc and progression as a character, I think you should watch it again. You might just be trying to find problems at this point.

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I can't stand Birdman. And I'm far from alone on that. It's the film equivalent of the "cool" professor in a leather jacket trying to "blow your mind" with reality. And probably to cheat on his wife with a student.

 

Jup, my feelings as well.... somehow that film always reminds me of that SNL high school theatre scene....

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Because nobody's mentioned it yet: What about Cloud Atlas? I loved it when I watched it in the cinema. Having been ignorant about everything surrounding it, I was blown away by it.

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