Sherlock, Jr.
The Power & The Glory
Duck Soup
The Palm Beach Story
The Ox Bow Incident
Shadow of a Doubt
The Big Heat
Beat The Devil
The Loved One
The Shooting
Prime Cut
Night Moves
Slap Shot
Renaldo & Clara
Pennies From Heaven
Stardust Memories
Crimes of Passion
Sonatine
The Last Seduction
Citizen Ruth
Henry Fool
Ghost Dog: Way of The Samurai
Dirty Pretty Things
The Devil’s Rejects
It makes me very happy to see all the love for Guillotine, They Live, Manos, Santo, and Doc Savage!
House of Frankenstein
Brainiac
Walking Tall
The Dolemite Films (R.I.P. Rudy Ray Moore)
Grizzly (a wonderfully entertaining Jaws ripoff)
Wolfman (1979, an Earl Owensby white trash drive-in “classic”)
The Sword & The Sorcerer
Commando
G.I. Joe: The Movie
Masked & Anonymous
88 Minutes
NOTHING SACRED -
Dr. Downer: I’ll tell you briefly what I think of newspaper men. The hand of God, reaching down into the mire, couldn’t elevate one of them to the depths of degradation!
THE MALTESE FALCON -
Sam Spade: I don’t mind a reasonable amount of trouble.
SULLIVAN’S TRAVELS -
LeBrand: It died in Pittsburgh.
Hadrian: Like a dog!
John L. Sullivan: Aw, what do they know in Pittsburgh…
Hadrian: They know what they like.
John L. Sullivan: If they knew what they liked, they wouldn’t live in Pittsburgh!
Policeman: How does the girl fit into the picture?
Sullivan: There’s always a girl in the picture. What’s the matter, don’t you go to the movies?
EMPEROR OF THE NORTH POLE -
A #1: Stay off the tracks. Forget it. Its a bum’s world for a bum. You’ll never be Emperor of the North Pole, kid. You had the juice, kid, but not the heart and they go together. You’re all gas and no feel, and nobody can teach you that, not even A-No.1. So stay off the train, she’ll throw you under for sure. Remember me for that. So long, kid.
COCKFIGHTER -
Frank Mansfield: She loves me, Omar.
THE MAN WITH TWO BRAINS -
Dr. Michael Hfuhruhurr: Get that cat outta here!
SHARK ATTACK 3: MEGALODON -
Cataline Stone: [sigh] I’m exhausted.
Ben Carpenter: Yeah, me too. But you know I’m really wired. What do you say I… take you home and eat your pussy.
MASKED & ANONYMOUS -
Jack Fate: Things fall apart, especially all the neat order of rules and laws. The way we look at the world is the way we really are. See it from a fair garden and everything looks cheerful. Climb to a higher plateau and you’ll see plunder and murder. Truth and beauty are in the eye of the beholder. I stopped trying to figure everything out a long time ago.
The Third Man was the very first film that came to mind.
Although I won’t pretend that The Man With Two Brains is the apex of cinema, I think it is a perfect model of its kind and, in terms of pure rewatchability, it is close to perfect in my eyes. Don Siegel’s Charley Varrick is another one that I hold up as an example of seamless genre filmmaking.
The first half is very solid, with one of the most unsettling murder scenes I have ever witnessed on film, but it devolved into standard slasher fare after the escape sequence.
El Santo y Blue Demon contra Los Monstrous, Fear of a Black Hat, any MST3K, The Man With Two Brains, Heartworn Highways, Petey Wheatstraw: The Devil’s Son-in-Law, The Big Lebowski, The Life Aquatic with Steve Zissou, Sleepy Hollow, Love & Death.
Bill Moseley was astounding in The Devil’s Rejects and deserved to be, at the very least, nominated for his work. Laura Dern’s turn in Citizen Ruth is another that was criminally shut-out, as was Julianne Moore for Safe. Edward G. Robinson and Warren Oates were never even nominated. Gary Oldman hasn’t been nominated yet. Cary Grant and Barbara Stanwyck never won the damn thing. Lee Marvin won for Cat Ballou rather than for, say, The Big Red One or Point Blank. Half of Katharine Hepburn’s haul came from performances that aren’t exactly among her best work. And the less said about the Directors division the better. But those snubbed by Oscar tend to get their revenge by being the films that are actually relevant to society.
1. Cockfighter (Hellman)
2. The Palm Beach Story (Sturges)
3. The Big Heat (Lang)
4. Performance (Roeg)
5. Brief Encounter (Lean)
6. Point Blank (Boorman)
7. Ride The High Country (Peckinpah)
8. I’m Not There (Haynes)
9. Rushmore (Anderson)
10. F for Fake (Welles)
11. Alice Doesn’t Live Here Anymore (Scorsese)
12. The Ruling Class (Medak)
13. The Long Goodbye (Altman)
14. Love & Death (Allen)
15. Grand Illusion (Renoir)
16. Sonatine (Kitano)
17. A Face In The Crowd (Kazan)
18. The Seventh Seal (Bergman)
19. Viridiana (Bunuel)
20. The Maltese Falcon (Huston)
One True Thing, Baby Boy (I thought Snoop Dog deserved an Oscar nomination for Best Supporting Actor. Really), Southland Tales, Club Dread, Walk Hard, and Stanley Kramer movies in general.
25. William Demarest, The Miracle of Morgan’s Creek
24. Spencer Tracy, The Last Hurrah
23. Laura Dern, Citizen Ruth
22. Julianne Moore, Safe
21. Katharine Hepburn, Bringing Up Baby
20. Richard Burton, 1984
19. Marlon Brando, Last Tango In Paris
18. Laura Linney, The Savages
17. Denzel Washington, Malcolm X
16. Cate Blanchett, Elizabeth
15. Gunnar Bjornstrand, Shame
14. Jason Robards, Long Day’s Journey Into Night
13. Ben Gazzara, The Killing of a Chinese Bookie
12. Toshiro Mifune, Seven Samurai
11. John Huston, Chinatown
10. Joel McCrea, Ride The High Country
9. Barbara Stanwyck, Double Indemnity
8. John Barrymore, Twentieth Century
7. Jimmy Stewart, Mr. Smith Goes To Washington
6. Buster Keaton, Our Hospitality
5. Robert DeNiro, The Deer Hunter
4. Gene Hackman, The Royal Tenenbaums
3. Ellen Burstyn, Alice Doesn’t Live Here Anymore
2. Don Cheadle, Devil In A Blue Dress
1. Warren Oates, Two-Lane Blacktop
For whatever it’s worth, I’ll back you up on The Missouri Breaks. Fascinating film, and beautifully photographed. As a former theatre nerd, I remain enamored by Brando’s loopy turn and actually consider it to be among his best.
Sorcerer has been on my “to see” list for years. I finally requested it through interlibrary loan, so hopefully I’ll get to see it over the holidays.
30 Rock, The Colbert Report, The Daily Show, and It’s Always Sunny In Philadelphia rule the day for me. BBC America, in general, is tremendous. I also have a lot of time for MST3K and Father Ted on dvd.
Classic movies you can't get on d.v.d. over 3 years ago
92 in the Shade and Hal Hartley’s Trust are another pair of criminal omissions.
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Movies That Should Be In the Criterion Collection over 3 years ago
Sherlock, Jr.
The Power & The Glory
Duck Soup
The Palm Beach Story
The Ox Bow Incident
Shadow of a Doubt
The Big Heat
Beat The Devil
The Loved One
The Shooting
Prime Cut
Night Moves
Slap Shot
Renaldo & Clara
Pennies From Heaven
Stardust Memories
Crimes of Passion
Sonatine
The Last Seduction
Citizen Ruth
Henry Fool
Ghost Dog: Way of The Samurai
Dirty Pretty Things
The Devil’s Rejects
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Movies That Should Be In the Criterion Collection over 3 years ago
I’d also love to see One-Eyed Jacks rescued from public domain purgatory. I guess I should add that one to my Criterion Wish List as well.
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Good Bad Films over 3 years ago
It makes me very happy to see all the love for Guillotine, They Live, Manos, Santo, and Doc Savage!
House of Frankenstein
Brainiac
Walking Tall
The Dolemite Films (R.I.P. Rudy Ray Moore)
Grizzly (a wonderfully entertaining Jaws ripoff)
Wolfman (1979, an Earl Owensby white trash drive-in “classic”)
The Sword & The Sorcerer
Commando
G.I. Joe: The Movie
Masked & Anonymous
88 Minutes
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What was the first Criterion movie you watched? over 3 years ago
The Ruling Class. Probably still my favorite Criterion front cover art work.
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Film quotes you love over 3 years ago
A handful of favorites….
NOTHING SACRED -
Dr. Downer: I’ll tell you briefly what I think of newspaper men. The hand of God, reaching down into the mire, couldn’t elevate one of them to the depths of degradation!
THE MALTESE FALCON -
Sam Spade: I don’t mind a reasonable amount of trouble.
SULLIVAN’S TRAVELS -
LeBrand: It died in Pittsburgh.
Hadrian: Like a dog!
John L. Sullivan: Aw, what do they know in Pittsburgh…
Hadrian: They know what they like.
John L. Sullivan: If they knew what they liked, they wouldn’t live in Pittsburgh!
Policeman: How does the girl fit into the picture?
Sullivan: There’s always a girl in the picture. What’s the matter, don’t you go to the movies?
EMPEROR OF THE NORTH POLE -
A #1: Stay off the tracks. Forget it. Its a bum’s world for a bum. You’ll never be Emperor of the North Pole, kid. You had the juice, kid, but not the heart and they go together. You’re all gas and no feel, and nobody can teach you that, not even A-No.1. So stay off the train, she’ll throw you under for sure. Remember me for that. So long, kid.
COCKFIGHTER -
Frank Mansfield: She loves me, Omar.
THE MAN WITH TWO BRAINS -
Dr. Michael Hfuhruhurr: Get that cat outta here!
SHARK ATTACK 3: MEGALODON -
Cataline Stone: [sigh] I’m exhausted.
Ben Carpenter: Yeah, me too. But you know I’m really wired. What do you say I… take you home and eat your pussy.
MASKED & ANONYMOUS -
Jack Fate: Things fall apart, especially all the neat order of rules and laws. The way we look at the world is the way we really are. See it from a fair garden and everything looks cheerful. Climb to a higher plateau and you’ll see plunder and murder. Truth and beauty are in the eye of the beholder. I stopped trying to figure everything out a long time ago.
Go to Comment
When I say "A Perfect Film", What One Film Pops Into Your Head First? over 3 years ago
The Third Man was the very first film that came to mind.
Although I won’t pretend that The Man With Two Brains is the apex of cinema, I think it is a perfect model of its kind and, in terms of pure rewatchability, it is close to perfect in my eyes. Don Siegel’s Charley Varrick is another one that I hold up as an example of seamless genre filmmaking.
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Whats the scariest film ever or some of ur favorites over 3 years ago
The Beyond, Suspiria, The Devil’s Rejects, The Hills Have Eyes (original), The Thing (Carpenter), The Haunting (Robert Wise), and Martin.
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Rate The Last Film You Watched over 3 years ago
Rob Zombie’s Halloween
67/100
The first half is very solid, with one of the most unsettling murder scenes I have ever witnessed on film, but it devolved into standard slasher fare after the escape sequence.
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Age / Level of education? (An informal poll) over 3 years ago
29, SLIS grad student. I graduate in one month. Wahoo/Oh dear lord, I’m terrified out of my mind!
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Some Movies that always lifts You up are... over 3 years ago
El Santo y Blue Demon contra Los Monstrous, Fear of a Black Hat, any MST3K, The Man With Two Brains, Heartworn Highways, Petey Wheatstraw: The Devil’s Son-in-Law, The Big Lebowski, The Life Aquatic with Steve Zissou, Sleepy Hollow, Love & Death.
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What are the best Brian De Palma's films? over 3 years ago
1. The Phantom of The Paradise
2. Carrie
3. Sisters
4. The Fury
5. The Untouchables
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most overrated oscar performances or robberies over 3 years ago
A few random musings….
Bill Moseley was astounding in The Devil’s Rejects and deserved to be, at the very least, nominated for his work. Laura Dern’s turn in Citizen Ruth is another that was criminally shut-out, as was Julianne Moore for Safe. Edward G. Robinson and Warren Oates were never even nominated. Gary Oldman hasn’t been nominated yet. Cary Grant and Barbara Stanwyck never won the damn thing. Lee Marvin won for Cat Ballou rather than for, say, The Big Red One or Point Blank. Half of Katharine Hepburn’s haul came from performances that aren’t exactly among her best work. And the less said about the Directors division the better. But those snubbed by Oscar tend to get their revenge by being the films that are actually relevant to society.
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Age / Level of education? (An informal poll) over 3 years ago
Now I’ve got Liz Lemon’s “I’m 37. Please don’t make me go to Brooklyn!” plea stuck in my head for the rest of the day. Not that I’m complaining.
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Best of Animation over 3 years ago
Svankmajer
The Incredibles
Vampire Hunter D
Fantasia
South Park: Bigger, Longer & Uncut
Coonskin
Chicken Run
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YOUR FAVOURITE "ROAD MOVIE" ? over 3 years ago
Scarecrow w/ Hackman and Pacino. About Schmidt qualifies as a road movie, doesn’t it?
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favorite films? over 3 years ago
In no particular order…
1. Cockfighter (Hellman)
2. The Palm Beach Story (Sturges)
3. The Big Heat (Lang)
4. Performance (Roeg)
5. Brief Encounter (Lean)
6. Point Blank (Boorman)
7. Ride The High Country (Peckinpah)
8. I’m Not There (Haynes)
9. Rushmore (Anderson)
10. F for Fake (Welles)
11. Alice Doesn’t Live Here Anymore (Scorsese)
12. The Ruling Class (Medak)
13. The Long Goodbye (Altman)
14. Love & Death (Allen)
15. Grand Illusion (Renoir)
16. Sonatine (Kitano)
17. A Face In The Crowd (Kazan)
18. The Seventh Seal (Bergman)
19. Viridiana (Bunuel)
20. The Maltese Falcon (Huston)
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Your Favorite Films of This Summer 2008 over 3 years ago
Tropic Thunder took me by surprise and now I’m the guy who is constantly trying to convince his friends in the MFA program to give it a fair shot.
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The longest movie you've ever sat through over 3 years ago
Bertolucci’s 1900. Loved every minute of it.
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Films you love but most people hate. over 3 years ago
One True Thing, Baby Boy (I thought Snoop Dog deserved an Oscar nomination for Best Supporting Actor. Really), Southland Tales, Club Dread, Walk Hard, and Stanley Kramer movies in general.
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My Top 25 Performances of All Time over 3 years ago
My twenty five cents, in no particular order….
25. William Demarest, The Miracle of Morgan’s Creek
24. Spencer Tracy, The Last Hurrah
23. Laura Dern, Citizen Ruth
22. Julianne Moore, Safe
21. Katharine Hepburn, Bringing Up Baby
20. Richard Burton, 1984
19. Marlon Brando, Last Tango In Paris
18. Laura Linney, The Savages
17. Denzel Washington, Malcolm X
16. Cate Blanchett, Elizabeth
15. Gunnar Bjornstrand, Shame
14. Jason Robards, Long Day’s Journey Into Night
13. Ben Gazzara, The Killing of a Chinese Bookie
12. Toshiro Mifune, Seven Samurai
11. John Huston, Chinatown
10. Joel McCrea, Ride The High Country
9. Barbara Stanwyck, Double Indemnity
8. John Barrymore, Twentieth Century
7. Jimmy Stewart, Mr. Smith Goes To Washington
6. Buster Keaton, Our Hospitality
5. Robert DeNiro, The Deer Hunter
4. Gene Hackman, The Royal Tenenbaums
3. Ellen Burstyn, Alice Doesn’t Live Here Anymore
2. Don Cheadle, Devil In A Blue Dress
1. Warren Oates, Two-Lane Blacktop
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Films you love but most people hate. over 3 years ago
For whatever it’s worth, I’ll back you up on The Missouri Breaks. Fascinating film, and beautifully photographed. As a former theatre nerd, I remain enamored by Brando’s loopy turn and actually consider it to be among his best.
Sorcerer has been on my “to see” list for years. I finally requested it through interlibrary loan, so hopefully I’ll get to see it over the holidays.
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Movie's you just don't like. over 3 years ago
Second on Fight Club.
Adaptation, 21 Grams, The Boondock Saints, and The Shining.
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My Top 25 Performances of All Time over 3 years ago
“I’m Maury Dann!”
Torn was The Devil in that movie!
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What are you watching now? over 3 years ago
Winter Kills. Just as good the fourth time around!
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TV SHOWS over 3 years ago
30 Rock, The Colbert Report, The Daily Show, and It’s Always Sunny In Philadelphia rule the day for me. BBC America, in general, is tremendous. I also have a lot of time for MST3K and Father Ted on dvd.
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TV SHOWS over 3 years ago
Oh, and Arrested Development forever!
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Which Film Critics Do You Read? over 3 years ago
I love the good folks over at The Onion’s A.V. Club. I’ve also been a mark for Pauline Kael’s work since I was in high school.
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Worst Criterion DVDs over 3 years ago
6 Short Films By W.C. Fields. Love the shorts, hate the total absence of extras.
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If you had to pick ONE film as your favorite... over 3 years ago
At this particular moment in time, I’d have to say either Cockfighter or The Palm Beach Story.
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