Best Movie of the 2010s, Round of 32: Regal Burlington 20 Region
Now that we are in the Round of 32, the writing gets easier (fewer movies to write about!) but the choosing gets harder (Parasite vs. Popstar WHYYYYYY?!) Our opinions matched up with the fan vote in all but one of these fights, but since there were only four matchups total, is that really that notable and impressive? I guess not…anyway this may be the one time people ever had to choose between Coco and The Wolf of Wall Street. The fun never ends!
BOYHOOD (2014)
ARRIVAL (2016)
Erin’s Pitch for Boyhood: Now that we are in the next round, instead of cold hard facts (lol) I’m going to stick to things like *~*vibes*~* because sometimes I just want a certain FEEL to a movie. This one is like going on a long car ride, and you’re looking out the window at the scenery flying by, just thinking about random memories.
Tom’s Pitch for Boyhood: It’s low key a travesty that Ethan Hawke doesn’t have an Oscar yet. He’s amazing, and he has such great chemistry with Richard Linklater to the point where I don’t think either of them gets the credit they deserve. Also there’s a part in this where they’re canvassing for the 2008 election and Ethan Hawke makes his son steal a McCain sign off of someone’s lawn because he’s “being patriotic.” That’s fun.
Erin’s Pitch for Arrival: My favorite thing about this movie is that by the end you don’t really care about the aliens being there or the sci-fi mess that’s been made. It comes down to the human aspect that we can all connect to, plus that reveal at the end!
Tom’s Pitch for Arrival: Messing with time is such a cliche thing in movies these days, but Arrival gave us a nice little twist on it. It’s so rewatchable and dreamlike, and it gives you just enough answers to keep you wondering about the bigger questions it asks. Despite a somewhat thin plot about a potential World War III, Arrival is the type of high-concept, meditative sci-fi story that I love.
Erin’s Choice: Even though I think Amy Adams deserved her Oscar with this role, I am going to go with Boyhood here!
Tom’s Choice: I just can’t get over the scope of Boyhood and how real it feels. Arrival is an amazing sci-fi movie, but I think more about Boyhood so I’m going with that.
The People’s Choice: Boyhood - 8 (42.1%), Arrival - 11 (57.9%). Amy Adams’ character in Arrival may not believe in beginnings and endings, but here at MPM, we do. Arrival’s run ends here and Boyhood moves on.
WINNER: BOYHOOD (2014)
POPSTAR: NEVER STOP NEVER STOPPING (2016)
PARASITE (2019)
Erin’s Pitch for Popstar: Seal fights wolves! 🦭 🥊 🐺 This may be my most watched movie at this point.
Tom’s Pitch for Popstar: There’s about ten things from this movie that I think of on a weekly basis. One of them is the fact that when Conner writes a proposal song for his girlfriend Ashley Wednesday as a publicity stunt, it has the same melody as the song where he talks about how ugly he thinks the Mona Lisa is, because Conner is such a one-note, uncreative writer. It’s those little flourishes of characterization that make me legitimately love this dumb, hysterical movie.
Erin’s Pitch for Parasite: The reaction to this movie as it plays is as follows: “What’s going on?….Oh wow….HAHA that’s really funny…I don’t think this is going to end well…WAIT…WAIT WAIT I’M SCARED…omg omgggg omg…😱😱😱…😮💡”
Tom’s Pitch for Parasite: I’m not sure I have the credibility to say anything more about this masterpiece that hasn’t already been said by someone smarter than me. If you haven’t seen it, you might have some preconceived notions about it being depressing, or tense, or scary, or something like that - and it is all of those, to a degree - but the movie is actually really funny at times and it’s a joy to watch. It has everything.
Erin’s Choice: It truly pains me to vote against Popstar, which is probably in my top three favorite movies of all time. But alas! Parasite reigns supreme here. Parasite is “Thriller, Also” and Popstar is unfortunately “Connquest.”
Tom’s Choice: I hate that Popstar ran into a buzzsaw this early. I had it pegged for a long run! Style Boyz 4 Life. But I pick Parasite. Sigh. At least we still have the Adam Levine hologram.
The People’s Choice: Popstar - 3 (13.0%), Parasite - 20 (87.0%). Popstar is fed to the wolves.
WINNER: PARASITE (2019)
COCO (2017)
THE WOLF OF WALL STREET (2013)
Erin’s Pitch for Coco: I swear if there isn’t a Coco ride the next time I’m in Disney World…also while I was rewatching this I wiki’d Frida Kahlo because she is in the movie…that brought the mood down a bit.
Tom’s Pitch for Coco: Pixar could’ve just won me over with the fact that Dante looks like my dog. (I swear, I’ll send a picture if you ask). But they had to go out and knock the whole movie - story, soundtrack, visuals, the whole nine - out of the park too. I’ve got some choice words for Ernesto de la Cruz if I ever meet him in the afterlife.
Erin’s Pitch for The Wolf of Wall Street: The problem with this movie is that when you’re talking to a guy and he says it’s one of his favorites, you have to ask a billion questions to find out if he gets it or if he wants to be Leo…buyer beware with the second option.
Tom’s Pitch for The Wolf of Wall Street: I think Jonah Hill is the king of scenes where he’s trying to come down off of drugs that make him act like an idiot. He’s got 2 of these in this bracket alone, between this and 21 Jump Street. The scene with him and Leo fighting over the phone is literal Mel Brooks slapstick. It’s such a ridiculous sequence, and is just one moment that proves how insane this movie is. It’s way more fun than it should be.
Erin’s Choice: I choose Coco for this one because it makes me feel: 🌈🥰✨💖
Tom’s Choice: Wolf is great but it’s cold and I feel dirty after watching it. Coco is a complete joy. I’m going with Coco.
The People’s Choice: Coco - 19 (73.1%), The Wolf of Wall Street - 7 (26.9%). Off to the Land of the Dead with you, Jordan Belfort.
WINNER: COCO (2017)
JOJO RABBIT (2019)
BOOKSMART (2019)
Erin’s Pitch for Jojo Rabbit: The ending of this movie is one of my favorites of all time. Really! It drives me crazy that the end scene is a popular scene that is shown now when people talk or write about Jojo Rabbit but I really can’t blame them.
Tom’s Pitch for Jojo Rabbit: I just love Scarlett Johansson in this movie. It’s one of her all-time best performances, particularly the scene where she pretends to be Jojo’s father at the dinner table. It’s such a fun, nuanced, creative performance by an actress whose character is the final thread holding Jojo from becoming a full-fledged Nazi. She crushes this role, and without her performance, the emotional blows aren’t nearly as effective and the movie isn’t as excellent as it is.
Erin’s Pitch for Booksmart: One of my favorite things about this movie is that pretty much every character is a caricature and turned up to 100 but everything is still so painfully relatable. Except Billie Lourd. I hope no one can relate to that character, because she is nuts!
Tom’s Pitch for Booksmart: There’s a video on YouTube titled “BOOKSMART || Billie Lourd as Gigi being iconic for 7 minutes straight.” She’s a completely chaotic force that pops up again and again throughout the movie without her schtick ever getting remotely old. But what sets Booksmart apart from other films of the genre is that the chaotic force is grounded in reality and insecurity and emotion, a true equal to the protagonists who deals with the same emotions as Molly and Amy, just in her own absurd way.
Erin’s Choice: If a movie can make me sit in a theater with the stench of poop covered by floral air freshener for two hours and I leave saying, “I loved that!” instead of “What was with the poop smell?” then I have to choose it. Jojo Rabbit wins!
Tom’s Choice: Jojo Rabbit wins this one because even though I could watch both of these movies every day of my life, only one of them has the unfortunately timely lesson that it’s never a good time to be a Nazi.
The People’s Choice: Jojo Rabbit - 20 (76.9%), Booksmart - 6 (23.1%). It’s Jojo vs. Coco in the Sweet 16!
WINNER: JOJO RABBIT (2019)
That’s it so far! Keep an eye on Instagram for the next region’s matchups! For now, we’ll leave you with the state of the Regal Burlington 20 region as it stands:
