Create your own.
Opinions! We all have them. Find out what people really think with polls and surveys from Crowdsignal.
closed
Opinions! We all have them. Find out what people really think with polls and surveys from Crowdsignal.
This is the ultimate match-up. The best titles of the 2000s, the highest quality of filmmaking, but also opposite perspectives of human destiny.
There Will Be Blood— Everything good about a person’s life will ultimately eat at us and destroy us from within. Our loves, our ambitions, our passions, our provision for others, grinds at our very bones. While we might conquer all our enemies, we are destroyed in the end.
Eternal Sunshine— Although we may tire of our love and even hate the very ones we are passionate about, ultimately our core being cannot but surrender to our joy in another. Love is ultimately unconquered and conquers all, no matter what arrows we attempt to kill it with.
I chose Eternal Sunshine because while I am cynical by nature, I am a believer in Unconquered Love.
-Eugene OR
Choose love, not greed! ❤️
Tried to point out There Will Be Blood's superiority with some eloquence, but the English language is failing me today. Anyway, come on, there is no way these two films should be competing against each other. It's like if Citizen Kane would be competing against Gaslight in the 1940s edition. This choice should be just as easy for the majority of voters.
Finally—and this should seal it, really—this bit of dialog from the 2009 film In the Loop shows why Sunshine is better than Blood. (OK, maybe it doesn't actually do that, but it's hilarious and deserves the Massacre Theater treatment!)
Jamie McDonald: I went to see that film There Will Be Blood, right? I mean it's a fucking great title. If somebody says to you, "Do you fancy going to see a film?" "Well, I don't know, will there be blood?" There Will Be Blood, right? "I'm in, I'm in!" I mean that is a fucking great title for a film. I mean you couldn't have a better title for a film. Apart from, maybe, There Will Be Tits. You could have a cinema that just shows There Will Be Blood and There Will Be Tits, you don't need any other films! That's the end of cinema right there!
Malcolm Tucker: Is this fucking going anywhere?
Jamie McDonald: Yeah, yeah, I went see There Will Be Blood, and there wasn't any fucking blood!
Malcolm Tucker: There was some blood!
Jamie McDonald: Och, there was hardly any fucking blood.
There Will Be Blood is the quintessential masterpiece of modern cinema, the culmination of our most exciting auteur and the actor of a generation. Career best work from the two legends of the craft. I am a huge PTA nerd and Blood is no doubt an achievement unmatched by many in the history of the motion picture. BUT damnit the heart of ESotSM. The joyful laughter and bleeding tears in brings me with each watch are impossible to ignore here. Not to mention the damn near perfect filmmaking as well. A vote with my head would say Blood but I'm voting with my heart. Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind.
Eternal Sunshine may be my favorite movie of all time, and it also deserves to be in any conversation about the "best" movies of the 2000s.
But let's be honest. These are subjective assessments. I recognize the monumental achievement of There Will Be Blood and will not denigrate anyone who prefers it over Sunshine (or any of Madness 2019's other entries). I just don't connect with it personally. It doesn't move me. Subjective, I know, but there it is.
Perhaps I identify more with Sunshine's Joel, his desire to hold onto memories he too easily took for granted, with Clementine's choice to erase her memories rather than carry their painful burden, and the realization that even erasing memories only masks pain rather than eliminating it.
Blood tells us what it's like to be a megalomaniac who lives a miserable existence making other people miserable and creating nothing worthwhile or lasting—an American Ozymandias (and an accurate metaphor for predatory American capitalism). For all it's grand scope, it's storytelling on a small scale.
Sunshine identifies what is essentially and expansively Human in all of us. And I find that both a greater achievement and infinitely more satisfying.
When this tournament started, I knew I would accept only one outcome: for Mulholland Drive to win and be safe to view for the rest of time. It’s my favorite movie of this bracket and it just so appropriately deals with a character who has lost her memory...kind of like the way all of these amazing movies will be stricken from our collective consciousness (or at least in my idea of what madness is). When it lost to Eternal Sunshine, I was shocked and heartbroken. I, just like Rita, had forgotten all about the movie that shaped and defined my movie watching persona from the moment I watched it.
At this point, I have to give respect where it’s due: Eternal Sunshine did what I didn’t think was possible and it just so happens to be the most appropriate movie to win, being in a series all about erasing the memories of 63 films totaling over a hundred hours. If my beloved Mulholland Drive couldn’t make it to the finals, let the underdog who beat it win!
Apologies for the mistype in my comment, obviously meant 2000s not 90s!
Ludicrous these two are what it’s come down to. I love Eternal Sunshine and have voted for it, There Will Be Blood is unfathomably overrated for me, I just didn’t engage with it at all and was a start of the PTA decline for me, until Phantom Thread. However neither get anywhere near the full pinnacle of the 90s for me. The pinnacle is represented in the 3/4 play-off with Fellowship. Madness has made me mad again!
Yes, TWBB is a “better” movie in many calculable ways, an unsurpassed masterpiece of sight & sound, with a DDL performance that is a high point in an incredible career of high points.
But if I had only one movie left to share with someone I love, it would be ESotSM. It’s a perfect gem of human absurdity and the wonderful/awful ways our actions and emotions have unforeseen consequences.
TWBB is an incredible achievement, but ESotSM leaves me teary with heartbreak and hope every time. Every damn time I tell you.
My top movie of the 00's includes, amongst other things, the messiness of emotions and how painful, powerful, and deeply penetrating they are. Unfortunately that movie, Mulholland Drive, was eliminated two rounds ago by Eternal Sunshine. A movie I still haven't revisited since its theatrical release, but my main memory being, though good, it feeling a bit too predictable in structure. This in contrast as well to Gondry's follow up, The Science of Sleep, which felt like the emotional state of the protagonist leading you somewhere, but you weren't entirely sure where. Though I know I'm in the vast minority of that opinion. But maybe my memory is faulty.
And, like others, I prefer other Kaufman.
Anyhow, TWBB has grown on me over time, and leaves me with a sense of awe whenever I revisit it. Since I'd probably rank it as my second movie of the 00's, I guess I'm voting Blood.
“Constantly talking isn’t necessarily communicating”. It’s Spotless (since the real championship is for third place). I’ll keep my milkshake thank you very much.
All through this tournament I’ve used my painstakingly put together “Top 100 of the 2000’s” I made shortly after the end of that decade as my guiding light when stuck on a vote. Whenever I couldn’t make up my mind off the top of my head I’d check that list and whichever film I’d ranked highest, won. Until this final round. My top two of the decade actually were the same two as this years madness finalists: There Will Be Blood and Eternal Sunshine. I had Sunshine at #1 and Blood at #2 on my list, however, when it came time to vote this time, my finger pressed Blood. I think it was probably due to the fact that nearly a decade ago when I finished agonizing over said top 100 list I read it to my best friend who promptly said: Good list. You got the top two in the wrong order. And ever since then, in the back of my head it’s been eating at me, because you know what? He was right. Anyway, congratulations
Filmspotting nation on voting my two favorite films of the 2000s into the final and congratulations to Adam, Josh and Sam for putting together yet another fantastically ridiculous madness tournament!!
This tournament, more than any in the past, has been a series of wild swings for me. When I voted against an actor/director/movie in the past, I generally kept voting against them. I have been significantly less consistent this time out. I've voted for and against There Will Be Blood. I've voted for and against Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind. Both of these films are boldly, if not aggressively stylish, as well as distinctly innovative story experiences. My lode star this tournament and in these times has been to err on the side of hope whenever possible and that is the tiebreaker in this matchup. If only one of these films gets to exist, I want "Meet me in Montauk" to ring in my ears and keep me up at night more than "I drink your milkshake." I'm going with my heart and Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind.
Having seen TWBB once shortly after it came out, and having heard so many worshipful discussions of it on podcasts including yours, I stole a little time to rewatch it last year ... couldn't be bothered to finish it.
You don't excommunicate listeners, do you?
If I were studying cinematography, I would probably watch this a few times every year. But time is scarce, and I can't emotionally connect to allegories. I also don't believe in any line that Eli/Paul Sunday says - it just looks like Paul Dano fell into a time machine and found himself talking to some oilmen.
I love highbrow, I love technical craft, I love slow build, but there is no one in this movie that I get the least bit curious about. Sorry. Eternal Sunshine wins my vote by forfeit.
As good and emotional as Eternal is, it doesn't leave you in awe as Blood does.
Just be rational, folks.
I am both astonished and elated that Eternal Sunshine made it to the finals. I think Charlie Kaufman may go down as one of the great screenwriters of our time, and Eternal Sunshine seems to me his most accessible work. Even if you take away the science fiction from the film, you are left with a wonderful romance...one that is difficult, confusing, complex, and ever-changing, much like our own romances. But I am also sad; sad that Eternal Sunshine has it has to go up against There Will Be Blood. Not because There Will Be Blood is a great movie, but I because I had hoped that almost any other film would make it to the finals. Sure, There Will Be Blood succeeds on a cinematic level, but it fails on a human level, the level on which Eternal Sunshine so gloriously succeeds. There is obviously much love for There Will Be Blood, but why? When will we stop glorifying the bully and the pulpit? When will humanity let go of God and Greed? Perhaps I wish for too much...so let me just ask of you...please vote against "I drink your milkshake."
My head says 'There Will Be Blood' but my heart says 'Eternal Sunshine'
Let me tell you the story of Sunshine, Blood.
It's a tale of hope and despair.
Blood - it was with this film that we saw the trajectory of humanity's demise.
Sunshine - the screenplay that healed the heartbroken.
The story of choosing a madness winner is this - a battle of authenticity.
The sweetness of Sunshine's hope for romance is compelling, it looks like Blood's on the ropes, but hold on, stops the presses.
Blood's Despair is coming back with a brutal central performance and a stern examination of the merits of self-determinism and greed that will speak to all of mankind's experience, not just the manic pixies in our midst.
Sunshine's Hope KO-ed by Blood's Despair.
Do The Right Thing Filmspotting listeners - vote Blood.
2 years ago when the March madness brackets were made up of pantheon films, I sent you guys a comment that I was trying to explain filmspotting madness to my son prior to picking the sweet sixteen; before I could tell him your rules or what films had advanced, he automatically said, “well, eternal sunshine is in there, I’m sure”. I’ve never forgotten how confident he was that “eternal sunshine” is so beloved that, of course, it would advance regardless of its competition.
Ok so it DID make the sweet sixteen but then was knocked out of the competition AND since then it has been replaced by “A Ghost Story” as my own favorite movie of all time. Still....champions whether they be movies or basketball teams gotta have heart to take it all the way. There is no doubt that “there will be blood” is a masterpiece of cinematic skill and craft but it doesn’t have one iota of the heart that “eternal sunshine” portrays. The heart wants what the heart wants; I am voting for the lovers, Joel and Clementine.
If I was make a ranking of films, I would place There Will Be Blood higher then Eternal Sunshine.
However, "THIS IS FILMSPOTTING MADNESS!" as G Butts once said.
If we accept the "thrown into the fires of Mt. Doom" framing, then re-watch appeal is bumped way up the list of analytic criteria. For me, this puts Eternal Sunshine safely in the claws of the Giant Eagles.
While I will mourn the loss of There Will Be Blood, it puts that title back up for grabs and will allow me to once again enjoy bowling and milkshakes
I was trying to find a link between the two films and I came up with the theme of abandonment. In Eternal Sunshine they're abandoning pain and heartache, whereas in Blood we have Plainview abandoning not just family but humanity altogether. I get the love for Eternal because it taps into something universal and does it beautifully, but Blood's scope is just so much bigger. It is an epic film with so much to chew on, an iconic performance & the most ambitious project from one of the greatest living filmmakers. To simplify, There Will Blood is a masterpiece. Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind is not.
This is too easy for me... way too easy. Sunshine all the way!
I love both PTA and Charlie Kaufman. Both films are incredibly personal to the filmmakers, both are dynamic and bold. Both are great. It's silly to say that either film isn't deserving, and it's a fitting Championship Round, because these two movies combine to make up the Filmspotting ethos.
"Eternal Sunshine" is like the "Before" movies on speed. "There Will Be Blood" is capital C "Cinema" at its finest from the great living filmmaker.
So it all comes down to which one means more to me, and that's got to be "There Will Be Blood." Where most people dislike the final act, I think it's the best stuff in the film. I love the scenery-chewing, the rage, and the ultimate sad loneliness of a man, eternally isolated because he can't help himself.
It's only Anderson's 4th best movie, and it is the best movie of the 2000's.
I would guess many, like me, have a tendency to skew towards films that we'd consider more serious and "important" when determining rankings for what films should be considered "Best". I'm resisting that impulse in voting for Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind. There Will Be Blood is a masterclass of craft, direction, writing, performance, production design, score - basically everything, and its thoughtfulness about the foundations of America's conscience cements its place in the canon of Great American Films. And yet, there've already been so many Great American Films. On the other hand, I can think of few other films like Eternal Sunshine, this perfect bittersweet concoction that balances whimsy, romance, melancholia, psychedelia, cynicism, and optimism in a hand-crafted and immersive presentation. It is wholly unique unto itself, and for that, it gets my vote.
Eternal Sunshine is going to win because it makes people feel something other than despair, but my vote is going to There Will Be Blood. Blood's depiction of unrestrained capitalist tendencies in America and the havok they wreak on our social institutions and on us individually is virtually unmatched in film. There are images in There Will Be Blood that are burned into my brain: the well blowout, the baptism, the final confrontation and so on. Daniel Day-Lewis's performance as unrepentant oilman Daniel Plainview is one of the great performances of modern cinema.
Eternal Sunshine is a great movie with a lot of heart. Crucially, unlike There Will Be Blood, it actually has women in it which is a big mark in its column. But to me, There Will Be Blood is definitely not only the best movie of the 2000s, but the best film of the 21st century so far.
Unlike many people here, "Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind" didn't do much for me, emotionally. It's a good film, but nowhere near the masterpiece that is "There Will Be Blood." Plus, there's no way Daniel Plainview, with the competition in him, would allow a movie like "Eternal Sunshine" to best him. He wouldn't abide it, and neither will I!
TWBB is a bonafide masterpiece - a commentary on religion and capitalism and how one is worshiped like the other. Maybe the best film of the past 45 years (maybe). However, using this draconian Filmspotting criteria of which film I want to live on forever, I want Eternal Sunshine - a film about memory and knowing relationships and life may turn out bad, but going through it anyway. Maybe the most humanistic film of the decade and probably my favorite. I want to remember and rewatch it over and over and over again.
Or...
One film featuring an amazing bowling scene, and another with the best Mark Ruffalo tighty-whitey-bouncing-on-a-bed scene. Tough one...
YES YES YES YES YES!
I love the Coens, but after two prior wins in Filmspottong Madness, I’m so ready for something else. My guess is that Eternal Sunshine, which is indeed the best movie of the decade, will get crushed by the overrated (hi haters!) There Will Be Blood, but the very fact that it made it this far gives me hope. Meet you guys in Montauk.
When Sunshine wins maybe instead of incinerating every movie that lost we can just have them wiped from our memories.
This is going to be a blood bath.
I DRINK YOUR MILKSHAKE! I DRINK IT UP!!!
There will be Blood was jaw drop good. Eternal Sunshine is a pleasant original rom-com.
If Jim Carry had a milkshake Daniel Day Lewis would take it.
There will be Blood is the best movie of the century to date.
I feel happy because the two finalists are among my favourite films of the 2000s , both are masterpieces. My vote goes to "Eternal.." , because it has had more impact on me over the years and it is my first recommendation to my friends in case they want to see a different movie that is easily understood and deals with universal topics like love , impulses and routine.
This one is surprisingly straightforward. Blood is almost like a scientifically perfect, incredibly well calculated masterpiece of a movie, but it just doesn't have the heart, the soul, the feelings, the memories that Eternal Sunshine has. It just has an oil man that likes milkshakes, and there's plenty of good milkshake in Montauk.
Let the Eternal Sun shine!
There Will Be Blood is a great movie, but doesn’t hold a candle to Eternal Sunshine in my heart. All these years later I can still remember the emotional impact Eternal sunshine had on me. It haunts me, it stays in my mind, and has ultimately shaped the way I look at the world and think about relationships. I’m sorry PTA but I just can’t imagine living in a world without Joel and Clementine.
Forget No Country, I can’t wait to vote for Llewyn next year! As for this, both if these movies rock, I don’t care who wins, but I vote Blood.
I refuse to live in a world where Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind does not exist. This movie was my beacon in dark times, the faint hope after heartbreak, the reality of love being fragile breaking me over and over again. I love movies. I love 95% of the movies that were in this exercise of agony you set up for us. But few movies are tattooed- literally- on me. Okay, the line is originally from Pope's poem Eloisa to Ableard, but still.
To paraphrase Ben Kinglsey's Itzak Stern- this movie is life.
This isn't to say There Will Be Blood is not a worthy film- nay, it is. I deeply respect what PTA was able to do with such a story, and there are not enough superlatives for Daniel Day Lewis as an actor. But I watch Eternal Sunshine over and over again. I've seen There Will Be Blood once. I am not compelled to watch it whenever I need beauty in sadness.
Eternal Sunshine is simply a singular film in cinema history. No one else could replicate what Gondry and Kaufman created, no one will ever be able to replicate any aspect of this film. It transcends it's art form. It's as close to perfect as we can ever hope for.
It's quite possibly tied as my favourite film of all time with The Umbrellas Of Cherbourg. I think that these two films tell everyone what kind of person I am.
Sunshine is the quintessential film of the decade because it perfectly mirrors the feeling of the post 9/11 USA. That is, irony and misanthropy masking a living, beating heart. Sadness, fear, inadequacies, all that terrible stuff we should have shed at some point in grad school or something—it's all there. But also hope that, somehow, against all odds. things will be all right. And a willingness to go through pain because it's worth it to maybe have the chance at love in the end. That and Mark Ruffalo and Kirsten Dunst in their underwear talking about The Clash.
My vote for the best of the 00's? Of course it is There Will Be Blood. With the overrated, but popular, No Country For Old Men unexpectedly eliminated, Blood's coronation is all but assured.
I knew when I saw the trailer that There Will Be Blood was going to a great film. I was no disappointed; the acting, the cinematography, the score and, of course, the direction by PTA are all peerless. Blood is a meditation on American self-determination, hucksterism, greed, love, religion, capitalism. It is the epic story of America and the simple story of a single oil man.
I could go on. Instead I will simply quote Daniel Plainview (with one of the best last lines ever, let alone 00's):
"I'm finished."
I just voted PTA over Gondry. What have I done? Can I take it back?
That’s madness for you, in both films and in every respect. I regret everything.
I have to keep reminding myself that this is what I wanted. I wanted "Eternal Sunshine" to win over "No Country". I wanted this . . . so why does it hurt so bad?
Clearly neither film should be in the final (whither Shaun Of The Dead, Children Of Men, Assassination of Jesse James, Pan's Labyrinth...), but this is quite straightforward for me. There Will Be Blood is a clinical piece of excellence; Eternal Sunshine is beautiful and unforgettable, and the best film of both its leads. Emotional truth and transcendence wins over clinical brilliance if I'm only allowed to live in a world with one of these ... especially this world.
There Will Be Blood is a flawless film, and so much more. A rare and true masterpiece, and for me olso a very moving movie. If you had ask me before the start of the madness, I would Have said I'm voting Blood all the way.
But in the end, I can't let go of an old love, One that have brought me pain and joy. It's not a perfect film, It's not the best film, But it's a film we should never forget. Let the Sunshine win.
This opinion is going to be unpopular and probably odd for this stage of the madness, but this is an easy choice for me. Blood takes this with a bowling pin to the head over, and over again to the head of Sunshine. Daniel Plainview would not allow anyone to beat him, ever. Sunshine does not have the hold over my memory like Blood. Have watched Blood 5-6 times and have not yet even revisited Sunshine and don’t plan to any time soon.
This is a great final match, both of these are worthy winners and I'd be happy with either being the sole survivor. Congratulations to Filmspotting nation for not voting No Country for Old Men AKA "Fargo Jr" into an undeserving championship match, particularly when its big brother is already the only film of the 90s left standing.
This is my favorite Final Match of any of the Madness Finals so far. Both contenders are incredibly deserving of representing the first decade of this new millennium.
On one side we have the towering beheamoth that is There Will Be Blood. It’s a testament to the relentlessness and selfdestruction of Western Expansionism and Capitalism as personified by the greatest living actor of our time—Daniel Day-Lewis. And it’s written and directed by THE director who most successfully infuses his films with an encyclopedic knowledge of cinema’s past triumphs—PTA. Don’t forget the outrageously good soundtrack too. It is stylistically formal, the story is old fashioned, the setting is the Wild West minus the cowboys, and the mood is somber, philosophical even. We have an antihero at best, no one really to root for. If There Will Be Blood were a painting it would be 17 feet high, 26 feet wide, protected by a velvet rope and hanging in the MET in a room all by itself.
And on the other side we have the most inventive screenwriter of the decade, Charlie Kaufman, and his most romantic film. Kaufman had 3 films in this year’s bracket!! (Honestly though I like both Synechdoche and Adaptation a bit better than Eternal, though neither is as rewatchable as Eternal). The script is fun, intellectual, and full of the type of second-guessing and fleeting motivations that confuse and bombard our minds more and more these days. And Gondry is the perfect director to shape Kaufman’s often slightly sociopathic yet hyper interesting characters into likeable flawed real humans. Kaufman’s writing plus Gondry’s background in magical realism gives us a film that portrays the only other landscape that historically matters to us more than The Western Frontier: the Internal Landscape, the landscape of Memory, of Time, and of Love Lost or Found. The film is as philosophical as Blood, and more relatable because of the central romance. It has the energy and magic of a reticent hummingbird flitting around on the other side of a window, pausing in midair heart beating 1000 times per second. And don’t forget the spectacular casting: Carrey in maybe his best role ever, Frodo turned nerdy selfish villain, Rose from the Titanic reborn!
That said, though it runs on oil and does not uplift us or bring much joy, There Will Be Blood does not get enough credit in our memories for the masterful smileless satisfaction it provides in its countless perfect subtle moments. Yes, Eternal is more relatable, and on the surface more inventive. But Blood is a symphony. Just go on YouTube and rewatch the scene “I will bless the well.” The purposeful framing of every moment, the layered poignancy and power asserted in the phrase, “a proud daughter of these hills.”
Eternal might give us fireworks, but Blood carries as much meaning in its silences as it does in its explosions. Daniel Plainview drinks all our milkshakes.
Consolation prize: following the logic of Eternal Sunshine’s ending, if we’re truly meant to have this story in our lives, after Madness destroys it, the film will inexplicably be remade. You’re welcome.
This was an easy one for me but consider me one of the shocked that this is not Country vs. Blood. In some small way, this is definitely the more interesting match up. I love Eternal Sunshine if the Spotless Mind and thinks if there is any movie that reserves to represent the decade, it's this movie.
Also, maybe filmspotting should just do a blood vs. country poll just to settle it once and for all.
Ahhh I’m so happy this wasn’t a ‘No Country’ vs ‘Blood’ finale. This is so much more interesting a match up. I love the Coens but I’m with Michael in thinking that they have made better films. PTA for the championship for me but both Sunshine and Blood are both worthy winners. Filmspotting Madmess delivers a fascinating final!
I'm pleasantly shocked that No Country was upset in this round, not because I don't love that film (it's definitely top five Coens for me) but because I officially decided Eternal Sunshine is my favorite movie awhile back and I'm sticking with that declaration for the purposes of this contest.
It has a worthy opponent in There Will Be Blood, and I'm sure this final face-off will be a close one. Blood is my second or third favorite film in this contest. But this vote was an easy one. Joel and Clementine all the way.
I'm not the first to say this, and I probably won't be the last, but this is a surprisingly easy championship match-up. Really, it's no contest: Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind should walk away with this.
And just for the record, this is not a matter of head vs. heart. Yes, Eternal Sunshine is the more emotionally satisfying experience, but I'd argue that it's also more inventive and accomplished. Eternal Sunshine is a visual feast, full of effects that are equally clever and poignant, and Charlie Kaufman's script sticks the landing in a way that PTA's fails to do. Daniel Day-Lewis's performance is clearly a tour de force, but for all of Blood's bluster, it's simply not the cinematic equal of what Kaufman and Michel Gondry were able to pull off in Eternal Sunshine.
I DRINK YOUR MEMORY LOSS! I DRINK IT UP! (Please say this on the show using your best Daniel Plainview voice thanks)
This is the perfect finals for the best the decade because it pairs two masterpieces that are masterpiecey in different ways. For Eternal, I suspect (like myself) it hits people close to the heart, affecting you in different ways depending on where you are in life. I first saw this movie when I was 16 back in 2004, and it moved me in a completely different way than when I watch it now in my early 30s.
There Will Be Blood, on the other hand, is like the Empire State Building. It's an immortal, mammoth beauty. While it may not move you as deeply as Eternal Sunshine, it's an objectively important piece of art that makes everyone who sees it say, " Oh wow. That's impressive."
Holy cats, is this an April Fools joke? I cannot believe that No Country is out of the final two! Looking forward to hearing Adam and Josh fall over in a heap on the floor in the next episode!
I’m honestly surprised Eternal Sunshine made it this far, and that commenters would choose it easily over There Will Be Blood! I feel the opposite — Blood astonishes me every time I watch it, while I remember Sunshine as an interesting curio. It’s not even my favorite Charlie Kaufman story. Blood doesn’t evoke the same sort of poignant warm fuzzies, but I’d hope we’re not voting on that measure. Blood’s got the performance of the current century (and one of the best of all time) and one of our greatest filmmakers at the height of his powers. Many scenes are viscerally etched in my memory forever. It’s just in another class entirely from Sunshine.
As any comment reader might have picked up, Eternal Sunshine has been my dark horse to win this thing since day 1 -- only seriously threatened by Before Sunset. And honestly, I didn't think we'd make it this far. But here we are: a come-uppance of sorts for Charlie Kaufman, after his early defeat in the Directors' championship that would see the Coens go all the way**.
I love There Will Be Blood, more even than No Country. It may well be my favorite PTA film; maybe even my favorite "dark drama" of the decade. It's perfect; a blameless vestal if you want the obvious quote. But this contest has never been about perfection, it's been about what you couldn't live without. I can live without perfect. Give me Clementine and Joel fumbling along a snow-covered beach til it all fades to white.
** I know Charlie Kaufman didn't direct Eternal Sunshine, and Gondry deserves a helluva lot of credit for the magic he worked here. But I think it's fair to say Charlie's stamp is still the most prominent?
Couldn't we have made this something difficult like Eternal Sunshine vs Children of Men?
Eternal over Blood all day every day
Surprisingly easy choice. I respect Blood, but I love Eternal Sunshine.
Same thought process as last week. Blood is probably "better", but Sunshine touches my heart...
Also, gotta go for the underdog...
And Blood's path was just too easy.
Peace and tranquility have been restored to the Filmspotting universe. I know this because the right two films ended up in the final match.
Sidenote: I'd like the main criterion for how to vote to change for next year. Instead of the loser goes kablooey, I think we should think of it like this: Which film would you rather take with you to a desert isle as your only movie to watch until you are rescued. If you are rescued.
That way, it's more personal, and we avoid letting that dreaded "I" word creep into our thinking.