Films of the 2000s Rankdown

[~Tom~]

7 hours ago, *Diana said:

Blame Mr. *Diana. I was on thin ice after the Howl's Moving Castle situation.

Let’s all raise a toast to Mr Diana if Spirited Away ends up winning! 

[Alex95]

6. Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind

8.57/20

Watch Trailer

@Deeee - 1/20

@*Chris - 3/20

@*Diana - 8/20

@FrogLenzen - 9/20

@Steven_ - 9/20

@~Tom~ - 15/20

Public - 15/20

 

@.Rei - 6/20

@totes4totes - 8/20

@*Wallace - 8/20

@Alex95 - 14/20

@#jeah - 15/20

@Elliott - 16/20

 

Dee

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How happy is the blameless vestal's lot!

The world forgetting, by the world forgot.

Eternal sunshine of the spotless mind!

Each pray'r accepted, and each wish resign'd;

 

I really do not have words for what this film means to me. It is quite literally tattooed on my arm. I was really, really nervous in the final rounds that pettiness was going to cost me my favorite film of all-time, but I am so thankful you all let me have my wish come true here. 

 

There is so much I want to say that I think if I actually let myself go, I would end up writing an entire essay. Essentially this is what happens every time I am given any opportunity to talk about Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind. 

 

Are there perfect performances? YES. Kate Winslet gives her career-defining performance here as the incredibly complex Clementine Kruczynski, who might be my favorite cinematic character of all-time. Jim Carrey as Joel Barish is so incredibly raw and broken. You have an iconic soundtrack from Jon Brion. An incredible screenplay from Charlie Kaufman, my favorite film writer of all-time. The film spans the genres of psychological drama, science fiction, romance, comedy. The directors utilize a non-linear narrative and creative editing tools to create a film whose visuals and narrative are so tightly intertwined. All of the ingredients are there for a perfect film.

 

But more importantly, this is a film that forces you to feel, and feel deeply, the pain of heartbreak, the pain of loss, and the profound beauty of stopping and being grateful for the memories that we fear we will lose to the back of our mind. As humans, we often place far too much emphasis on outcomes and forget to appreciate the journey. We are afraid of pain. We reject pain. We associate pain and heartbreak with regret. But Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind teaches us to instead hold tightly to the beauty of the agonies and pains of life. Because they are likely accompanied by joys of the same height. 

 

Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind is such a deeply human story that has never been told so uniquely and powerfully, in my opinion. This is filmmaking at its best, using all of the filmmaking tools available to explore human nature, memory, life, love, longing, pain, and regret in an innovative fashion. This is at its core a "what if?" story that reminds us that though you might lose memories, which is really f*cking painful, you cannot forget somebody you love, even if they start to become a ghostly remnant of your mind. 

 

Every time I revisit this film, I learn something new. I feel something new. My heart yearns, aches, repairs, re-breaks, reforms, all while watching this movie. This is a film that has embedded itself so deeply in my core. Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind is my favorite movie ever made and I do not know if that will ever change.

 

Chris

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The film is one of my all-time favourite, after all these years, and I am actually surprised by its ranking as I thought that I would have ranked it in second place but as the years went by, I grew more fond of the film that took the 2nd place than Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless. Despite all of this, it certainly remains one of my personal favourite and I am pleased that it is in the Top 20!

It is hard to imagine a world when none of us have never seen the film but if you require a quick refresher: It was released in 2004 where it tells us the story about love between two individuals while discussing mental health, loss of memory, and even grief to some degree. 

One of the element that truly stands out for me is the performances in this film from Jim Carrey to Kate Winslet to Kirsten Dunst to Elijah Wood - all of their performances are worthy of praises. But the film wouldn't be what it is without the standout performance of Jim Carrey as Joel Barish, which remains me one of my favourite role of his, as his character gives us thought-provoking scenes and moments in the film as he is heartbroken by Clementine, portrayed by Kate Winslet.  While Jim Carrey is absolutely brilliant as Joel, I most likely would have never seen the film had it not been from Kate Winslet's participation in the project, as we all know she is one of my all-time favourite. This role of hers is truly Kate at her best as she gives so much emotional depth and rawness to her characterization of Clementine.  

After all these years, "Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind" remains an exceptional movie through its unique storytelling, powerful performances, and thought-provoking themes that explore the complexities of love, memory, heartbreak and mental health.

 

Diana

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Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind made it the end! Which is a beautiful thing! I love this movie. There is something so effortlessly good about it? I do not know if that makes sense but it was just a film I watched that felt effortless. The acting and chemistry between the cast made me sometimes forget it was just a movie I was watching.  Kate Winslet and Kirsten Dunst in particular, my goodness! They are absolutely fantastic in this film. Kate gave me chills. the 92 percent on rotten tomatoes is a very fair praise for the movie. It is just so good. I also love Mark Ruffalo so this movie is a underrated gem of mine!

 

Derek

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This is one that I saw a million years ago and liked but I was really worried that I would hate it on rewatch. It seemed like it might feel dated or age poorly or something, idk I was just concerned. Fortunately I still like it! It’s YET ANOTHER manic pixie dreamgirl movie. Wow why are all the movies in our Top 20 about MPDGs, we really should have tried harder to avoid that. But this is a good one. Probably the best one. 

 

The movie starts kind of rough (on purpose) because it starts by showing the worst parts of the relationship. They both come across as annoying and vapid. And at first it’s like… I CANNOT WATCH A MOVIE ABOUT THESE LOSERS but then you see that you’re going back in time. You see the good parts and the characters get fleshed out. And by the end I can admit that the movie became something more than just about these two people. I use the word “profound” a lot as my benchmark, like is the movie profound or not. Does the movie reach beyond itself at all. And this one does! The morality of deleting memories, whether you would ever want to, what it would mean to really delete someone from your life, if it’s even possible, if certain things are predetermined. And something that helped this movie immensely was the plot about the workers in the memory store. The whole Kirsten Dunst narrative. It helped ground the movie and not let things get too carried away with the lead Mr. and Ms. Quirky-pants characters. And it outlined the real questions of the movie. Overall it’s not one that usually comes to mind as a big TOP FAVORITE of mine personally, but it definitely holds up and I have no qualms with this in the Top 20 of the decade. Basically, this movie actually achieves whatever the f*ck 500 Days was trying to do.

 

Steven

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Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind was the first movie I watched when our Top 20 was determined. After watching it, I was a bit underwhelmed and predicted this would get a low ranking from me. I thought it was good, but I wasn't blown away by it. I knew the film was popular and has been considered to be one of the best films of the 2000s, but I wouldn't consider this one of the best movies I've ever seen. However, I was even more underwhelmed by many movies I watched afterwards, which helps Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind rank at #9 for me. I thought Jim Carrey and Kate Winslet were great in the film, and I liked their dynamic together. The premise was also pretty interesting. I thought the film fell a bit flat with the time spent on the Lacuna employees in Joel’s apartment. Perhaps necessary for the story, but less screen time on them would’ve been preferable. The film was at its best when the focus was primarily on Joel and Clementine. But overall, I thought it was a solid movie. I wouldn't consider it one of my favorite movies, but I ended up liking it better than several of the other movies here.

 

Tom

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Another favorite of mine, but I'm ranking it lower because it could a threat among this group of rankers. One of the few romance films to move me emotionally. I love both Jim Carrey and Kate Winslet in it and could relate to Joel at times. Like it much more than my parents, who turned it off before it was finished!

 

Rei

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This was one of the film heat I wish I could have rewatched it cause my memory is very fuzzy about it. I do remember that I loved the film and found the whole scrip super smart and refreshing. I know Jim and Kate's characters end up getting together again after having their memory erased but after reading the plot of the movie again, I have no recollection of any of the supporting characters. I need to rewatch this again soon but I know that it would rank this high or higher. 

 

Megan

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I sucker punched myself in the emotions when I decided to double-feature my screening of Suzume by opening it with this. What a DUMB EMOTIONAL MOVE FROM ME. This is what happens when you forget how emotional one movie is and don't realize the other movie is going to make you cry because you thought it was just a love story with a chair!!!!! But on Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind, first I want to say that this is my favorite Kate Winslet performance. And that's saying a lot because she plays a killer lesbian with Melanie Lynskey in her debut Heavenly Creatures. Kate Winslet is deliberately playing against type and it works! This is also my favorite Jim Carrey performance but I like him less than Kate Winslet in general.

 

On a side note. I love that like Mark Hamill before him and Daniel Radcliffe after him, that after playing an iconic lead character in an iconic franchise, that Elijah Wood decided to play weirdos and creeps for pretty much the rest of his career.

 

The way this movie just hits all the right emotionally devastating buttons. When you feel the same kind of righteousness that Joel does when he decides that if Clementine could wipe their relationship from her memory he could do the same even if it's a bad idea to the despair when he realizes in his memories that he really doesn't want to lose her. Or the way that Elijah Wood's character unwittingly puts Clementine in like emotional torment by recreating the beats of her relationship with Joel. Ugh, it's just so good. What feels the most real though is that not only can you understand why this couple got together, but you can also understand what drove them apart. Even at the end when they get their second chance it's not done with the sense that this time it's going to work but rather that loving each other even if it ends in heartbreak is still worth experiencing and remembering.

 

I make it no secret that I am a big fan of romance novels and rom-coms. But what I love even more are the stories where the romance is entwined with pain. There's a reason Once is like my favorite musical. Or why Blue Valentine just hits so well. Or why Her is also one of my favorite movies. And all those movies feel like the fit the same emotional blueprint of Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind. Which despite its wacky sci-fi premise, is just about as human as it can be when it comes to gripping the emotions of a lost romance.

 

Alex

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MVP: Jim Carrey

Favorite Scene: They meet again for the first time.

 

Oop yeah I've got some issues and like 90% of them are with the Kirsten Dunst/Mark Ruffalo/Tom Wilkinson plotline. Holy shit what a boring and completely pointless waste of time. Okay so I guess it's important in the end for Kirsten Dunst to leak all the documents. But the journey was definitely not worth the ending because what a snooze and it completely took away from how beautiful and heartbreaking the Jim Carrey/Kate Winslet storyline is. Ranking this 14 was tough and feels really low for a movie I honestly love a lot despite what you may think. It's a gorgeous movie. I don't have much to add about Carrey and Winslet's storyline that hasn't already been said so eloquently by our rankers. It is so unbelievably heartbreaking, but also beautiful and makes me feel so many things. But Kirsten Dunst having a sordid romance with Tom Wilkinson and having to eternal sunshine herself because she's so heartbroken? Elijah Wood manipulating Kate Winslet with the tea he has on her? Mark Ruffalo being terrible at his job? Just...mess for me.

 

[FrogLenzen]

I’m gooped tbh 

[FrogLenzen]

Had the public way way way way way way way off 

[FrogLenzen]

The public had 500 days higher  ya got me, gals 

[~Tom~]

A pleasant surprise! I really like ESOTSM but didn’t want it winning.

[~Tom~]

Also I’m now the only ranker with my top 2 remaining! Though I don’t expect that to last much longer.  

[Deeee]

26 minutes ago, Alex95 said:

@~Tom~ - 15/20

@Alex95 - 14/20

@#jeah - 15/20

@Elliott - 16/20

[Deeee]

Should have left Elliott’s vote out, I feel the Karen rising…

 

[Deeee]

Me seeing those four rankings:

 

[*Wallace]

Aww I'm kinda sad to see Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind miss the Top 5.  Especially as there are so many movies still in my Bottom 10 left.  

 

This was a movie I really enjoyed watching the trailer and looking into much more than I would have imagined. But yeah the movie looks really good and emotional... and this coming in 6th is still really good.  

[Deeee]

All I wanted was a Top 5 ranking!!!

 

[Deeee]

Okay done complaining. That was a shock boot.

[*Wallace]

Poor @Deeee going into meltdown mode now.  

[Alex95]

Eternal Sunshine was my winner prediction 

[FrogLenzen]

I thought this would be fighting for the runner-up position. #6 is wild 

[Deeee]

2 minutes ago, Alex95 said:

Eternal Sunshine was my winner prediction 

I thought it was a lock for third, which I was totally okay with.

[Deeee]

Just now, FrogLenzen said:

I thought this would be fighting for the runner-up position. #6 is wild 

SIXTH

 

[Deeee]

Really supper happy ESOTSM made it this far, even if I think it deserved third. My two winner picks are still in, let’s see what happens!!!

 

@Alex95 might I suggest that you do two updates tomorrow and three on Friday? If there aren’t any huge objections? I feel like leaving only two for the last day will kill the buzz since it’s pretty easy to discern the winner at that point LOL.

[Alex95]

1 minute ago, Deeee said:

Really supper happy ESOTSM made it this far, even if I think it deserved third. My two winner picks are still in, let’s see what happens!!!

 

@Alex95 might I suggest that you do two updates tomorrow and three on Friday? If there aren’t any huge objections? I feel like leaving only two for the last day will kill the buzz since it’s pretty easy to discern the winner at that point LOL.

Idc whatever the people want. I’m leaving for the weekend literally the second my work day ends so all three updates would be crammed in the morning/early afternoon. So that’s the only thing there.

[Deeee]

12 minutes ago, *Wallace said:

Poor @Deeee going into meltdown mode now.  

Just going through it over here!

 

[FrogLenzen]

 

[FrogLenzen]

live footage of the public putting together their rankings:

[*Wallace]

Me with my #3, 7, 15, 16 and 19 remaining!   Look at me slaying the game!

[FrogLenzen]

Steven and Tom sitting Wallace down to ask about what he put at #19