update on aughties classics

Editor’s Note: (Not that anything on this blog is proofread.) After an extended hiatus, I am again shifting gears from photo equipment back to movie reviews. Only half-intentionally, I have gradually shifted my photographic musings to my Flickr photostream, which is really a blog with pictures. Just thought it’d be simpler to keep the two subjects separate.


It has been less than 4-1/2 years, and so this is probably premature, but let’s check up on the progress of my predictions in the post I called aughties classics.

While some of the movies called out in that original post moved out of the Top 100 and one has moved into it, they are all still in the Top 250. Rather than look at what happened to their absolute rank (which is distorted by late-Aughties temporary hits), it’s perhaps more instructive to look at changes in their relative rankings (rank with respect to the other eighteen hits from the early aughties). Most have moved down the list in tandem. These are the exceptions:

City of God (relative rank #4 to #2)
Memento (#5 to #4)
Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind (#7 to #9)
Requiem for a Dream (#12 to #10)
Sin City (#15 to #12)

In January 2006, I predicted four titles would make it to Classic status: Amelie, Eternal Sunshine, Requiem for a Dream, and Gladiator. Amelie and Requiem are holding on strong, and I still believe those predictions will pan out. Meanwhile, Gladiator is also showing strength, having moved up in absolute rank from #150 to #98. Eternal Sunshine, though, is weakening. However it still has an absolute ranking of #58, and that still means lots of people consider it one of the best movies they’ve ever watched. So, all in all, I’m still pretty confident in those predictions.

I’m doing much less well in the ones I predicted would not make it to classic status. City of God (#17 absolute rank) and Memento (#27) are doing better than ever, and I think it’s pretty clear I’ll be proven wrong on those. Sin City also moved up in relative ranking, but down in absolute rank to only #94, so it is still far from assured Classic status.

And then there’s Lord of the Rings. While slipping in the absolute rankings from the Top 20s to the Top 30s, they are still showing remarkable strength after almost a decade. In retrospect, it’s not hard to understand their staying power, being after all the definitive production of the greatest cult-classic novel of all time. Are they as good as the Godfathers? I don’t think so, but will it be as much of a classic as the similar-ranking Star Wars Trilogy? Sure, why not?

I have watched both of the Top 100 Early Aughties films I had not yet seen when I wrote the original post: Crash and The Downfall. Since then, Crash has indeed (drumroll…) crashed to #216, and is already a footnote in movie history. The Downfall is still holding on at #79. A very good movie, but if I have to give a thumbs up or down on classic status, I say the name is as good a predictor as any.

Since the beginning of 2006, nine newer movies have broken into the Top 100.

#10 - The Dark Knight (2008)
#46 – WALL-E (2008)
#50 – The Departed (2006)
#56 – The Lives of Others (2006)
#68 – Pan’s Labyrinth (2006)
#71 – The Prestige (2006)
#72 – Inglourious Basterds (2009)
#81 – Up (2009)
#90 – Gran Torino (2008)
#97 – Avatar (2009)
#100 – Slumdog Millionaire (2008)

I think all of these are very good films (with the exception of Inglourious Basterds which arrives from Netflix today). Given that most of my predictions are so far not showing obvious signs of success, I guess I’ll have to be a little more charitable this time around. Instead of calling out the few I think will achieve Classic status, let me just extrapolate from their current rankings.

Judging from rankings, Avatar and Slumdog seem to be on their way out. While both were very good films in their own way, I'm guessing they will ultimately be seen as conventional movie-making with lots of eye candy.

Conversely, as much as I hate to say it, The Dark Knight is probably here to stay. Am I the only one who thinks Batman Begins was a better movie?

I also predict The Prestige will not make it, if for no other reason that I think it’s by far the least interesting of any of the movies I’ve mentioned in this post. It was nominated for no major Academy Awards, and won no major awards at all. Frankly, I’m puzzled as to why it’s ranked as high as it is.

Everything else has a shot.

And that’s about all I have to say in update to my Aughties Classics predictions. I’m thinking next I should post my predictions for IMDb’s Top 100 Movies Released Before 2010 list. Not that that exists, per se, but think of it as the 100 top-ranked movies released before 2010 as compiled in, say, the year 2030.

And then, if you ask really nicely, maybe I’ll give you my personal All-Time Top 100 List.

Finally, I plan to start mini-reviewing in earnest again now that I'm signed up with Netflix once more. Now that I look at it, I haven't posted a true mini-review in over four years. Lots to catch up on.