Another year, another list of Craig's favorite movies. As with any list I put together, I'm sort of underwhelmed. I look at it and see a bunch of "obvious" choices. But what am I expecting? It's my list. I made it. And the films on it are the ones that best represent me. I'm never going to be able to look at it and think, "Wow, he really surprised me there!" And if you've been reading this site for any significant amount of time, I'm sure they won't surprise you either. Oh well. I can't lie. Cinematically, this is who I am. Here are my 31 and 32 lists.
Inspired by the wonderful and friendly Brian Saur, last year I put together a list of the Top 10 older films I had discovered over the course of 2014. In a quest to find something to write about this time of year (when most of my cinema intake is re-watches of Holiday Classics) I've decided to be inspired by Brian again. Hopefully he doesn't sue me or something!
Since the wonderful rep houses of Los Angeles are a bit of a drive away, all but one of these films was either streamed or played off of a disc. The upside for you guys is that means all but one of these movies can easily be tracked down and devoured. I highly recommend you do that. Hopefully one day the film at the top of this list will one day be as easy to track down as the ones that follow it. Enjoy!
Well I'm 32 now. It's that precarious year where you can either become "that cool older guy" or "that creepy older guy" to kids in their 20's. So far I think I'm still in the former category, but I wouldn't rightly know since I've been busy watching nearly nine movies per week. Speaking of movies...
Last year I took 'Becca'lise's suggestion and commemorated my 31st birthday by posting a list of my 31 favorite films. Since I'm extremely unoriginal, I have decided to do it all over again this year! The catch is that I'm not allowed to repeat any films from the previous list. I've also limited myself to one film per filmmaker. Combine this with last year's list and you will have a pretty good snapshot of what my cinematic brain looks like. Pretty predictable, but as I said earlier - I'm unoriginal!
Also - these are not listed in any sort of meaningful order FYI.
1.Il Sorpasso
2.Twin Peaks: Fire Walk With Me
3.Young Frankenstein
4.The Departed
5.Yoyo
6.A Clockwork Orange
7.Rosemary’s Baby
8.The Black Cat
9.Red Desert
10.King of Kong: A Fistful of Quarters
11.Dead Ringers
12.The Right Stuff
13.E.T. The Extra-Terrestrial
14.A Serious Man
15.Zero Dark Thirty
16.There Will Be Blood
17.Do The Right Thing
18.Hannah And Her Sisters
19.Something Wild
20.Blow Out
21.Kill Bill: The Whole Bloody Affair
22.Apocalypse Now
23.Z
24.To Be Or Not To Be
25.The Red Shoes
26.The Long Goodbye
27.Pan’s Labyrinth
28.The Iron Giant
29.Scott Pilgrim vs. The World
30.Zodiac
31.The Exorcist
32.Rear Window
As you're well aware, we here at This Cinematic Life are huge fans of Karina Longworth and her wonderful podcast - "You Must Remember This". 'Becca'lise even wrote a glowing piece on it a few months back. Well, now that the World War II based "Star Wars" season is over, Longworth has decided to turn her focus towards one of Craig's favorite topics - the late 1960's! More specifically, this season will be focused on the Manson Murders and all of the various Hollywood players who intersected with both perpetrators and victims. The first episode, which serves as a sort of crash-course in the world of late 60's Hollywood, can be found right now either HERE or via your preferred podcatcher app.
Since episodes only drop weekly, Craig has put together a list of some of his favorite films from/about this period. Hopefully these will help you to get by between weekly fixes and give you some insight into this extremely weird and bi-polar period in tinseltown history.
Let me start by saying that it doesn't take much to get me crying over a movie. I just like to think that I'm very in-touch with my emotions! Something that I really respond to in a movie death or otherwise tragic scene is a well-place music cue, a callback to an earlier song that amplifies the importance of the moment and gives us a sense of history with the character. Here are some of my favorites. Major spoilers ahead!
Pan's Labyrinth - Ofelia's Lullaby
Young Ofelia has been completing tasks assigned to her by a magical faun, proving herself a princess against the backdrop of the brutal aftermath of the Spanish Civil War. She is eventually shot by her vicious stepfather, and as she lies dying, we hear her lullaby in both the score and in the gentle hum of her friend who cradles her as she dies.
West Side Story - "Somewhere"
Romeo and Juliet in New York. As Tony AKA Romeo lies dying, his Juliet holds him and sings a line from an earlier song: "Hold my hand and we're halfway there, hold my hand and I'll take you there, somehow, someday..." They never got to that place. The score takes over the rest of the song and closes out the film as the makeshift funeral procession carries out his body.
Les Miserables - "Bring Him Home"
After the bloody battle at the barricade, Inspector Javert surveys the aftermath, the fatalities. He is shaken by the sight of one casualty in particular: young Gavroche. He pauses to pin his own medal on the boy's jacket, as the score plays the melody from "Bring Him Home," a song earlier sung by Jean Valjean pleading with God to bring back his daughter's love interest safely. In the stage show this melody is heard when the audience sees the dead bodies of Gavroche and revolutionary leader Enjolras. These boys, none of them, will be brought home.
The King and I - "Something Wonderful"
As the King of Siam lies dying (of heartbreak?), his son makes proclamations nearby as he prepares to assume the throne. As the old world dies to make way for the new, the King, surrounded by Miss Anna and his right-hand servant, breathes his last breath. The score plays the melody from "Something Wonderful," a song sung earlier by his wife about loving him in spite of his stubbornness and imperfections.
La Vie En Rose - "Non, je ne regrette rien"
Singer Edith Piaf had a difficult life full of some triumphs and lots of heartbreak. Her final moments are intercut with shots of her childhood and her performing on stage "Non, je ne regrette rien": I regret nothing.
If you're ever in Paris, do yourself a favor and visit Librairie du Cinéma du Panthéon Ciné Reflet
After recently re-organizing our shelves to incorporate all the new books we received for the holidays, I was reminded of just how many film books we own. Books on filmmakers, books on film movements, screenplays, criticism, history, etc. And though I would never sell off a single one of them, I started to wonder: Which ones are the most essential? Which ones would I recommend to a budding cinephile just starting out. Well here you have it!
Disclaimer: Some of these books are no longer in print. Click any of the titles and be taken to an Amazon page where you can buy either a new or used copy of the book in question. Some might be available digitally but I honestly didn't look into that.
There are plenty of Film History text books out there to buy, but of course then you end up paying text book prices. Forget all of that and just buy this one. Cousins writes in a simple, personal and easy to read style that goes down smooth. He also makes a point to hit on cinemas of the developing world which might have been excluded in more Western oriented texts.
Though I don't agree with several of the opinions voiced in both of these volumes, they're absolutely essential. These are works you have to reckon with. If you are going to write a piece that runs contrary to either of these texts, you best bring your A-game. The arguments in both are extremely well thought out, well reasoned and impeccably written. Read these as an exercise to challenge your thinking. Butt heads with them. Wrestle with them. Like sparring with Bruce Lee, you will certainly come out bruised on the other end, but you will also have learned something.
These books comprise volumes one and two of what will eventually become a trilogy of books dedicated to exploring the Cold War through cinema. Drawing from films both great and small, Hoberman explores the fascinating ways in which film culture and political culture were inextricably intertwined during this tense time in world history. If you like these, keep an eye out for the third volume (tentatively titled Found Illusions) which is certain to be just as essential.
Having cut his teeth at Entertainment Weekly, Harris is in full command of a compulsively readable style. But don't let the magazine pedigree fool you into thinking that either of these tomes is mere toilet reading. Read back to back these books form an epic saga of two distinctly different generations coming into their own. Some "characters" from one even pop up in the other. Absolutely riveting stuff and it's all extremely well researched and true.
Who the Devil Made It? and Who the Hell's in It? by Peter Bogdanovich
As an actor, programmer, screenwriter, director and cinephile, Peter Bogdanovich was in the entertainment industry long before he became an "overnight sensation" with his second film The Last Picture Show. During those early years he made a point to seek out several of the actors and filmmakers of Hollywood's Golden Age and got them to sit down for interviews of varying lengths. Though many of these personalities are now considered icons, at the time many of them were either forgotten or dismissed as old fashioned. God bless Peter Bogdanovich for getting them on the record before it was too late.
Conversations with Wilder by Cameron Crowe
In keeping with the Bogdanovich books, these two are also interview based. But instead of a litany of subjects, each of these books picks a single target and really zeroes in on them. Oh and the interviewers aren't slouches either! You can really feel the admiration Crowe and Truffaut have for their subjects. It's also nice to see the old masters sporadically return the compliment and send back a little love as well.
The Films of Akira Kurosawa by Donald Richie
We all have certain filmmakers we feel strong connections towards. Something about them just speaks to us. We GET them. Richard Brody and Donald Richie really GET Godard and Kurosawa. These books are without a doubt the definitive takes on these two filmmakers. The insights go extremely deep and help to illuminate things that you would never notice on a first or even thirtieth viewing.
The Great MoviesI, II & III by Roger Ebert
The problem inherent to weekly reviewing of new movies is a lack of perspective. You have to make your judgement on the spot and stick to it. What if a great new angle on the film comes to you after discussing it with a friend? Or what if you go through some sort of experience that changes your perspective on an aspect of the story? What if that film goes on to start a revolution? I think this is what inspired Roger Ebert to start The Great Movie series. These collections of essays allowed him to go back, dive deep and really get at what makes a movie particularly "great". Guaranteed to drastically expand your Netflix queue.
New Queer Cinema by B. Ruby Rich
I actually did a whole post several years ago where I highlighted some of the more commercial resources available to anyone interested in learning about Queer Filmmakers and the various ways LGBT characters are/have-been portrayed in cinema. Obviously both of these important texts are mentioned there. Rather than plagiarize myself, I'm just going to link to that post HERE.
Shock Value by John Waters
As you've likely heard, "directors are storytellers". Perhaps that is why autobiographies by filmmakers make for such riveting reading. I picked these two filmmakers in particular because in addition to having fun stories about the makings of their various films, they also have stories that are just fascinating in general. I also suggest listening to clips of these men speaking beforehand so that as you can hear their wonderfully unique voices in your head as you read.
Make Your Own Damn Movie by Lloyd Kaufman
As someone who went to film school, I can assure you that the only real way to learn how to make a film is to actually do it. What a book CAN do is provide you with encouragement. Both of these books have that in spades. They're also funny and filled with all sorts of little tips and tricks on how to creatively solve problems and keep costs down. The rest is up to you.
As you might have noticed, there are no books here that pertain to women in film and/or feminist film theory. Believe me I am well aware of this. Unfortunately, there is presently only one such book in our collection that isn't a biography (Karen Ward Mahar's Women Filmmakers in Early Hollywood) and alas I have not read it yet. I've of course heard wonderful things about Molly Haskell's From Reverence to Rape and really have really dug the large portions of Carol J. Clover's Men, Women and Chainsaws that I have read. As you can see, a great film library is a constant work in progress.
What essentials did I leave out? What are some of your favorites? Let us know in the comments!
We recently started a film club with our friends, and at our last meeting we watched Mel Brooks's The Producers, starring Zero Mostel and Gene Wilder. I've seen it a bunch of times, but I was super excited to watch it again with a few people who hadn't seen it before. If you haven't seen it before, it's currently streaming on Netflix. It's such a great film, and here's why!
10. Estelle Winwood as "Hold Me, Touch Me"...she's so raunchy and hysterical.
9. "Will the dancing Hitlers please wait in the wings? We are only seeing singing Hitlers."
8. Dick Shawn as "LSD" and his furry thigh-high boots. Fierce!
7. The audience reactions. Priceless.
6. Franz Liebkind announcing good news to his pigeons and singing "America the Beautiful" in his panicked German accent.
5. Director Roger De Bris's grand entrance in full gown, minus wig.
4. "Goddag på dig!" Oh, sexy, useless Ulla.
3. "Springtime for Hitler," the most audacious and offensive (and fabulous?) musical ever. The birds-eye Busby-Berkeley-esque swastika is a thing to behold.
2. Carmen Ghia, the "personal assistant" of De Bris. I love his makeup, his beard, his slinky black outfit. I think he's a hoot!
1. The absolute genius of Gene Wilder. He really commits to this neurotic character and during his fits, his face goes bright red. He had us rolling: "MY BLANKET! MY BLUE BLANKET!" What a gem he is, and such a good balance with Zero Mostel. Bravo, gentlemen!
Well the results are in and it makes for a pretty nice spread. Hand-drawn, computer and stop motion animation all seem to be getting love. And despite what some of you might have predicted - it's not all Disney! Foreign animation even got to make the cut - and not just the Japanese variety either! Sure there were a couple of directors who were able to get multiple films represented, but once you see which films we are talking about, I'm sure you'll be able to understand.
As is often the case with these things, a proliferation of ties occurred. When multiple films receive the same number of votes they are listed alphabetically. As always you can find everyone's individual ballots at the end of the post. Lots of great special guest contributors with really awesome picks that are totally worth checking out even if they didn't make the final list. Be sure to click the parenthetical next to their name to see all the awesome stuff that brought them to our attention!
Valentine's Day is tomorrow! In honor of this lovey-dovey holiday, I thought I'd share my favorite romance films. Comedies, dramas, new discoveries, old favorites, and guilty pleasures, they're all here, and they're all ones I personally really love. And isn't that what this day is all about?
Before Sunrise (1995)/Before Sunset (2004)/Before Midnight (2013)
