Experiencing the joys of home ownership means also experiencing some of the not so joyful moments.You have to take the bad with the good.My furnace’s boiler cracked so I am now the proud owner of a shiny new furnace and someone else is the proud owner of more than $3,200 of my money.
Combine this with $1,200 to keep my vehicle on the road and another $600 for two other things I had to have done to equipment at my house and this has been a damn expensive month.
I probably shouldn’t complain.I’ve got the financial wherewithal to absorb this.(Save your money kids.)This would be a disaster for some folks.Still, any month where I end up spending $5,000 I didn’t expect to is not a good one.
My new furnace. Isn't it shiny? ("Shiny" as in the visual sense, not the Firefly sense.)
“There are two kinds of folks who sit around thinking about how to kill people: psychopaths and mystery writers.I’m the kind that pays better.” – Richard Castle, Castle
Back in March of 2011 I wrote a series of posts about the TV show Castle, which was then part way through its third season, as well as the two books that had been published at that point.I even included some videos of the cast together at Comic Con 2010 to show how much fun they have with each other.It is now time for an update.
In the time that has passed since I did my posts the show has completed four seasons, with the fifth having just aired its first episode.There have also been two more RichardCastle novels published, as well as a graphic novel “adaptation” of his first Derrick Storm novel.Another adaptation is on the way next month.
The ideal way to experience all sets of media is to watch Castle Season 1, then read the book Heat Wave, then watch Castle Season 2, then read the book Naked Heat, then watch Castle Season 3, etc.Rather than make you search for my original posts, I am re-doing them now in order to better present a flow or sequence to follow.I will separate each season into its own post, as well as tweak the text to improve it a little.The first two books already were separate entries, so I will not re-post those.I will have links to them, in the correct sequence, below.
Castle debuted as a Spring replacement on ABC in March of 2009.It only had time for a run of 10 episodes, but that was enough for ABC to see that it had something good.They brought it back for a full 24 episode run the next Fall and that’s when the show really hit its stride.It is now starting its fifth season.It airs Mondays at 10:00 PM on ABC.
The premise is that a popular crime novelist ends up helping a New York City police detective solve murder cases.At the same time he is using these experiences with her as the basis for a new series of crime novels starring a character based on her.There’s much more to it than that, but that is the 50,000 foot view.
This season is the one where the show hit its stride.The writers and actors know who the characters are and they are able to expand on them.The show plays up the growing attraction of the two leads.That really gets fun when Castle’s first Nikki Heat book is published.It’s titled Heat Wave.If you have not read the post on the book, please do so now.You can find it here.
At the start of this season none of the detectives have heard from Castle for months.They think he might still be out of town, but they walk past a bookstore display touting the release of Castle’s next book, Naked Heat, and that he will be there signing it.They get a call that a body has been found.They are the first cops on the scene, so they start to go through the apartment with guns drawn.They discover one person in the apartment with the body – Castle.
What does the TV show Castle have to do with the biggest convention in the world for celebrating all things science fiction, fantasy, superhero, comic book, etc.?Absolutely nothing.The show is a mainstream detective drama/comedy with none of those elements.
So why did they have the cast of the show at the 2011 convention?Because Nathan Fillion has a huge fan following from a prior science fiction show he did called Firefly.You may not have heard of it, but in the few short years since it went off the air it has probably amassed the third largest set of fans in the Comic Con community – behind only Star Trek and Star Wars.
Their appearance at the 2010 convention was a big hit so they returned in 2011.The following four videos are the complete 50 minute panel that the cast held at Comic Con 2011.Unfortunately, Stana Katic could not make it for this panel, but it does have Nathan Fillion (Castle), Jon Huertas (Esposito), Seamus Dever (Ryan), Molly Quinn (Alexis), and Tamala Jones (Lanie).
Heat Rises is the third book by “Richard Castle”, the fictional writer on the TV show Castle.The actual author of these books is speculated to be one of the real authors who have appeared on the show (i.e. Michael Connelly, James Patterson) or one of the show’s creators (i.e. Andrew Marlowe).Like the first two books, this one has events or plot points similar to things that have happened on the Castle TV show in the prior season.Thus we see the influence of these events on Castle’s writing because of what ends up in the book.
To date there have been four novels published under the author’s name of Richard Castle – the fictional character on the TV show Castle.When the show opened Richard Castle was the popular author of a series of thrillers that all had the main character of Derrick Storm.During the course of the show we have seen the Castle character write the four Nikki Heat novels, which are based on the Detective Beckett character.What about all those Derrick Storm novels that are supposed to already exist?The people involved with the show decided to do “adaptations” of these books in the graphic novel format.
Stana Katic hasn’t ever really gotten a chance to show her singing skills on her TV show Castle.Apparently one of her fans knows about them, though, because at an appearance at a European Film Festival one of the kids in the audience asked her if she could sing something for them.
Katic is a little embarrassed, but after a little hesitation she sings a song she wrote herself.It’s fun to see how she is a little shy at first, but then starts to get into it and sing with a little more passion.She seems genuinely appreciative of the applause of the crowd afterwards.
Here is the video.It is part of the larger question and answer session she was having.
Note: There are spoilers for Season 3 in this post, as well as a discussion of the status of the Castle/Beckett relationship at the end of Season 4 and the first episode of Season 5.
This season picks up right where last season left off.Beckett is being whisked into a hospital emergency room.She took a bullet to the chest from an unknown shooter at the end of Season 3.After a tense scene, she is going to survive (although it wasn’t ever really in doubt.)
What was in doubt was whether Beckett would remember Castle’s confession to her, just after she was shot, that he loved her and he couldn’t lose her.She says she doesn’t, but it is revealed in the first episode that she really did.Her therapist (Michael Dorn) tries to help her address this, as well as the trauma of almost being killed.
Frozen Heat is the fourth book by “Richard Castle”, the fictional writer on the TV show Castle.The actual author of these books is speculated to be one of the real authors who have appeared on the show (i.e. Michael Connelly, James Patterson) or one of the show’s creators (i.e. Andrew Marlowe).Like the first three books, this one has events or plot points similar to things that have happened on the Castle TV show in the prior season.This book tackles the equivalent of the big issue from the TV show – the murder of Nikki Heat’s mother.
The Ugly Truth is an R rated romantic comedy starring Katherine Heigl and Gerard Butler.If you’re one of those people who hates Heigl then this movie will not change your mind about her.If you’re one of those people who hates romantic comedies, this will also not change your mind.The movie holds little surprise for people who know how romantic comedies work, but what it does have is some refreshingly frank, funny dialogue and some great chemistry between the leads.And you know what?Sometimes it’s a good thing to know where a movie is going before you start to watch it precisely because it’s going to show you what you want to see.
The OH in Ohio is yet another in the line of somewhat offbeat independent films that seem to attract actress Parker Posey like a moth to a flame.Notice that I did not call this movie a comedy.While it was certainly marketed as a comedy, it probably has as much drama in it as it does laughs.The poor marketing, combined with the offbeat humor that is in this film, seems to be the biggest cause of dissatisfaction among viewers.They were expecting something like Wedding Crashers and instead got something like, well, I’m not sure what other movie this would be most like.
Wedding Crashers is not the kind of movie that anyone would mistake for highbrow.The Oscars did not come calling.It did win a number of People’s Choice, Teen Choice, and MTV Movie Awards, though.It also did pretty well at the box office, especially for an R rated comedy.This was due to a combination of a mostly appealing cast and some good humor.
What if you were given God’s powers?What would you do?Maybe you’d have fun for a while.Maybe you’d even turn evil.After all, Lord Acton famously wrote, “Power tends to corrupt, and absolute power corrupts absolutely.”On the other hand, Uncle Ben said, “With great power comes great responsibility.”Having God’s powers means having to deal with all the issues that come to him, too.This is the premise of the film Bruce Almighty.It’s a movie with some good laughs in it, but also a bit of a message.
Pleasantville was an unexpected pleasure for me.I had watched it figuring it might have some decent laughs, but that was it.As it turns out, it’s one of those rare movies that starts out as a comedy and turns into a drama part of the way through.The transition is very gradual, just as the characters in the movie are also gradually changing.The result is a movie that turned out to have a lot more depth than I expected it to, and I enjoyed that quite a bit.
At the time it won the Oscar, Rain Man was the highest grossing Best Picture winner of all time.(It has since been surpassed by Forrest Gump and, of course, Titanic).Rain Man actually won four of the five major Oscars – Picture, Director, Actor, and Original Screenplay.It was nominated for four other Oscars.It was also the highest grossing movie of 1988.It’s not often that a film is both popular with movie audiences and critically acclaimed, but Rain Man was.
The movie A Fish Called Wanda opened in the U.S. to not much fanfare in July of 1988.By August it was getting such great word of mouth that its box office was increasing each week, not decreasing.By mid September it actually became the number one movie at the box office.When Awards season came around it received three Oscar nominations (including Best Director and Best Original Screenplay), and had a win for Kevin Kline as Best Supporting Actor – one of the very few times a comedic performance has won an Oscar.Over the years this movie has been named one of the top comedies ever made by such entities as the American Film Institute (AFI), Premiere magazine, Bravo, Total Film magazine, and Reader’s Digest.I consider it one of the funniest films I have ever seen.
I just got home from the local GM dealership.I own a Saturn, but when GM got rid of the brand they also got rid of the service, which was top notch.Now I have to use the regular GM service which is, let’s just say, nowhere near as good.
I tell them what work I need.They set up a 1:00 PM appointment.I ask if that will give them enough time for the work.They say yes.I say I’ll be waiting for it.They say no problem.When I get there I tell them to ignore a “Service Engine Soon” light.It has been coming on now and then for six years.When they do a regular oil change it goes away and doesn’t come back until another oil change is needed.A few years ago they spent a couple of hours trying to figure out what was causing the light and never came to a conclusion.So I go in today and tell them NOT to bother with the light because I don’t want to sit around for nothing.
Two hours later they come out.I figure they’re just about done with the work.Nope.They are there to tell me they think they’ve got the light tracked down to one of two things.What about the work I brought it in for, I ask.Oh, they haven’t started on any of that.In fact, they’ll now have to keep the vehicle overnight.And it will be around 900 to 1,000 dollars when all is said and done.
So since I need to get into my house, and since I need my house keys to do that, and since the house keys are on the same keychain as my car keys, I tell them I need to get the keys from my vehicle.Oh, it will be a little while.They’re working on another car, but when they are done with that, they can get the keys from mine.
All in all, I had held it together pretty well.At this point, though, I told them I wanted my keys and if I needed to go get them myself, I would.They brought them out pretty quickly.I’m now home and badly in need of a laugh.Because I’m not in the best mood to write a movie review, I figured I’d share this funny video with you all instead.You may have already seen it, but it’s funny enough to watch again, especially for the reactions of the people on the left.
If you’ve somehow managed to avoid ever hearing this song before, first, congratulations on achieving the near impossible, and second, it’s a song titled Call Me Maybe by Carly Rae Jepson.The man on the right is catching people unawares with his performance on chat sessions.
Porky’s was only the second R rated film I ever saw.My brothers-in-law took me to see Semi-Tough when I was 13, but it really wasn’t that bad in regards to content.Porky’s, on the other hand, was raunchy from beginning to end.I saw it at a drive in and my sister, my female cousin, and I all laughed our asses off.I’ve seen the film a couple of times since then, when I was more “mature”, and I still found it to be very funny.When American Pie came out and everyone was talking about the raunchy humor in it, I kept thinking to myself that those people really needed to see Porky’s if they wanted to see what raunchy humor was all about.
Private Benjamin was the first script ever written specifically for Goldie Hawn and it was also the first film she ever executive produced.She collaborated with Nancy Meyers (who co-wrote the screenplay) and the results were good.Not only was this film one of the biggest box office hits of 1980, it also received three Oscar nominations – Goldie Hawn for Best Actress, Eileen Brennan for Best Supporting Actress, and Meyers (and others) for Best Original Screenplay.In 2000 the American Film Institute (AFI) listed this as one of the 100 best American comedies, and in 2006 Premiere magazine listed it as one if the 50 best comedies of all time.
The story for When Harry Met Sally had a hodgepodge of sources.It originally grew out of a disagreement eventual director Rob Reiner and eventual screenwriter Nora Ephron had about whether men and women could be good friends without sex getting in the way.Many of their points ended up coming out of Harry’s and Sally’s mouths.This is fitting because those characters were loosely based on the two of them.No, they didn’t have a romance, but Reiner was dark and depressed sometimes and Ephron was upbeat and very precise when she ordered things.Reiner, lead actor Billy Crystal (Harry), and lead actress Meg Ryan (Sally) also contributed quite a few ideas that made it on the screen.The result is one of the very best romantic comedies ever made.
“YES!...YES!...YES!...YES!...YES!...YES!...Oh God!...YES!” – Sally Albright, When Harry Met Sally…
Hollywood seems to be kind of uptight about showing an orgasm at the end of a sex scene, but they have no problem throwing in an orgasm if it’s humorous, especially if it’s one where there are witnesses.The pinnacle of these kinds of scenes is, of course, Meg Ryan in When Harry Met Sally.When later movies had a funny orgasm gag they were invariably accused of ripping off When Harry Met Sally.The thing is, it was hardly the first movie to have a scene like that in it.
The oldest movie I can think of is 1973’s Sleeper.I saw it on broadcast TV way back when I was too young to even understand what those big silver balls that people were rubbing were doing to them.It was only years later that I remembered that and realized that rubbing them were probably giving them orgasms.It’s been far too long since I saw that film for me to review it, though, and I could be wrong about whether there was an actual orgasm scene. Another film that predated When Harry Met Sally that had a scene like this is 1981’s Modern Problems, but it’s not good enough for me to recommend.
I’m going to do something a little different with this category header.I'm listing all the movies I'm going to review ahead of time.I am doing this so you can see which movies I thought of.If you can think of a movie older than 1980’s Private Benjamin, or even other movies with funny orgasm scenes that I may have forgotten, please let me know in the comments.If I’ve seen the film and like it enough to recommend, I may end up reviewing it.
American Pie and Amelie have been previously posted, but I did not refer to the scenes in my reviews.In American Pie Tara Reid’s character is receiving pleasure from her boyfriend.Her parents call her down to dinner, but she doesn’t hear them.Her father goes up to her room, but just as he is about to open her door and catch her, she yells out, “I’m coming!”, and he figures she means down to dinner so he leaves.In Amelie the title character imagines how many people are having sex in Paris at that very moment.This is followed by a very quick montage of a bunch of couples in the throws of orgasm.It comes back to Amelie, she smiles and then says, “Fifteen”.
As I post the reviews, I will come back and change the movie titles into links to the posts:
Meanwhile, this video is very fitting for the topic of funny orgasms.I saw it way back before there ever was a Youtube.I figured it had to be there now, because pretty much every video seems to end up there sooner or later.I had a hell of a time finding it, though.I hope you like it.(Don't worry; there's nothing explicit in it. Watch it all the way to the end.There’s a big payoff, so to speak.)
I debated with myself over whether I should recommend this movie or not.While I felt it was not as good an overall movie as the first film, there were scenes within it that were more fun than anything we saw in the original.I finally decided I would recommend it, although mostly for people who are fans of the 80s action heroes that appear in it.Both Bruce Willis and Arnold Schwarzenegger have larger roles in this film, and this leads to one of my favorite scenes in the movie.On the other hand, Jet Li’s role is reduced to being no larger than these two.I will explain below.
This month I finally achieved a goal I had been working towards for 14 years – seeing every single film on the IMDB Top 250 since the end of 1998 (currently 524 different films).Long before I started using the 1,001 movies and Oscar nominees lists, I printed off the IMDB Top 250 at the end of 1998.Back then it wasn’t so top heavy with new movies and had a lot more classics on it.I used it as suggestions for movies to see now and then.I kept printing it off at the end of each subsequent year.Around 2005 I had seen pretty much all the films…except for one entry from the 1999 list that had never been released in the U.S. – the 1998 Yugoslavian screwball comedy Crna macka, beli macor aka Black Cat, White Cat.
Over the years I continued to watch the new films that showed up on each year ending list, while trying to find a copy of this one film. I finally tracked down an all regions Korean import DVD at the end of 2011.Since I knew there would be new entries from the 2011 year end list to see, I set this movie aside.I finally completed the last of the new entries from 2011 by seeing A Separation yesterday.Right after doing that I sat down to watch Black Cat, White Cat and finally completed my 14 year long quest.Sure, there will be some new movies on the 2012 year end list, but I will stay caught up on them as I go along.
For anyone interested in seeing my combined and weighted 14 year IMDB Top 250 list of 524 films, you can find it at my Lists from Chip site here.
There were some big questions going into this fourth movie in the Bourne franchise.The biggest was whether people would go see a Bourne movie that didn’t star Matt Damon.Results on that are still mixed as I write this.It’s not doing anywhere near the box office of the last Bourne movie, but that had a built in audience.It is tracking roughly like the first Bourne movie where people had to be convinced Matt Damon could be an action star.One place where this fourth film is far better than the prior one is the fact that movie audiences can actually see what the hell is happening in the action sequences.For that and other reasons, I consider this the second best of the Bourne movies.
As a genre, horror movies don’t do much for me.They have to be really outstanding for me to recommend them to others.One of the things I do like is the occasional horror movie that mixes comedy into it.This is probably because I am a fan of dark comedy.An American Werewolf in London is one of those films.It takes the overused concept of the werewolf movie and turns it on its ear.The movie still contains plenty of gore for the people who watch horror movies for that, though.
American Dreamz pissed off a large part of the country when it was released in 2006.It is a dark comedy and deeply biting satire of then President George W. Bush, then very popular TV show American Idol, and then not-far-removed-from-9/11 terrorists.That angered Republicans, TV sheep, and people who felt it was too soon to show terrorists in movies, even if it was to make fun of them.As you probably can guess, I was not one of the people offended by this film; in fact, I really enjoyed it.It draws some great parallels between how we elect a President and how people vote for a TV competition winner, including the importance of image over reality.As the tagline for the film says, “Imagine a country where more people vote for a pop idol than vote for their next President.”
Return with me, if you will, to the mid 1980s.This is a time when men could have facial hair without being considered “gay” (as so many youngsters on this film’s IMDB board refer to the characters), when cycling was pretty much an unknown sport, and when the big bad Soviet Union was still a ready made antagonist for any American competitor.The movie I speak of is American Flyers – the first film in which I ever saw Kevin Costner.He did this movie two years before the film that made him a star – 1987’s The Untouchables.
American Graffiti is probably the first “nostalgia” movie ever made about the early rock and roll era.Even though it is set in 1962, it is really an ode to the 1950s when teens spent their evenings riding up and down the strip in their cars, listening to rock and roll on the radio.Originally the studio didn’t even want to release the film, sitting on it for six months and requiring director George Lucas to cut some scenes, but when they finally did it became very popular.It also received five Oscar nominations, including Best Picture.(After Lucas became big from Star Wars, American Graffiti was re-released in Lucas’ original version.)
I was somewhat surprised when I heard another American Pie movie with the entire original cast was going to be coming out.There had been four direct to video spin-offs that had seemed to suck dry whatever had been left in the tank for the franchise.I wondered if this movie would be a big embarrassment for everyone involved.As it turns out, it is the second best of the four theatrical movies.
After the success of American Pie, and the even bigger box office success of American Pie 2, the fact that a third movie was going to be made wasn’t that big a surprise.While the second movie returned everyone from the first one, the third concentrates on just a few of the characters.I feel that this allowed the third movie to be a little bit better than the second one because they didn’t have to waste time ensuring a dozen or so people all got screen time.
After the success of 1999’s American Pie, a sequel was inevitable.Almost as inevitable is that the sequel would try to repeat the jokes that worked the best in the first film.Some of them worked (i.e. actually going to Band Camp) and some of them didn’t.The biggest difference between this film and the original is that this sequel concentrated more on the male characters.While all the young actresses from American Pie are also in this sequel, all except Alyson Hannigan have smaller roles.This sequel is not as funny as the first one, but it still has enough laughs for me to recommend it.
Some of you may have noticed that I haven’t been posting most every day like I had been doing.The reason is that I just haven’t been on the computer much the last couple of weeks.It’s summer, I’m out and about, and the thought of sitting down and writing movie reviews just hasn’t had that much appeal for me lately.I think it was July of last year that I had a similar lull.
I wanted to let you know that I do plan to continue posting, but that those posts may follow a pattern like what you’ve seen recently – maybe every two, or even three days instead of daily.While I could try to dash off quick reviews, I don’t think I’d be satisfied with what I was posting, so I’d probably end up taking the time to write a full review anyway.
Because I haven’t been on the computer I unfortunately also haven’t been visiting your sites.It’s now been more than a week since I made my rounds.With the current number of blogs I read and comment on, it takes me a steady six hours to catch up on all of them on a weekly basis.And I’m a fast reader and fast typist.
I will continue to post on “American” movies (my current category), and I also still have reviews of The Bourne Legacy and The Expendables 2 to finish out the Big Summer Movies category.I do intend to get caught up on your posts as well.And at some point I will pick up my pace and get back to the old frequency.
The movie American Splendor is based on the series of graphic novels of the same name written by Harvey Pekar, as well as the graphic novel “Our Cancer Year” co-written by Harvey Pekar and Joyce Brabner.As you will see in this movie, they are husband and wife.These graphic novels are not about superheroes, but about Harvey’s life as a VA Hospital file clerk.This film gets almost as “meta” as the movie Adaptation (2002).It is simultaneously a “who is Harvey Pekar” movie, a commentary on underground comics, a commentary on the nature of fame, and an example of how an ordinary life can be just as extraordinary as anyone else’s.Oh, and it’s also about making sure you pick the right kind of jellybean.
“You have me at a loss.You know my name but who are you?Just another American who saw too many movies as a child?Another orphan of a bankrupt culture who thinks he's John Wayne?Rambo?Marshal Dillon?” – Hans Gruber, Die Hard
The word American is in quotes in this category’s title because the next set of movies I will be recommending are not necessarily ones made by Americans, but rather ones that have the word “American” in their titles.
I just saw the movie American Reunion, and the Olympics have been going on, so I decided it was time I did this category.(It was one of the original 75-80 that I brainstormed in December of 2010 before starting this blog.)
Besides, the only “Canadian” movie I knew was Canadian Bacon.(Sorry CS, Bonjour Tristesse, and others.)
One piece of trivia that spans movies, so the best place to mention it is here:Mena Suvari had come to people’s notice in 1999 for two movies – American Beauty and American Pie.She had a third movie coming out that same year and to capitalize on her connection to it the studio changed its title to American Virgin.I recommend just sticking with the first two for your viewing pleasure.
As I post the reviews, I will come back and post the links to them here:
I admit that when I heard that the Total Recall remake was going to exclude the entire Martian storyline of the original that raised a warning flag for me.It was with some hesitancy that I went to see this latest version.The good news is, the settings on Earth still function to create “haves” and “have nots” for the plot, just like the original.This version of the film has some great action sequences.In fact, the action scenes and the future world that was created for this film are the reasons to go see the movie.
View from trail between Hunters Cliff and Hunters Beach
How would you like to get away from most of the crowds in AcadiaNational Park, but still do a hike that combines walking alongside a gentle stream, two traverses of smaller mountains, enjoying the view from cliffs right over the ocean, and a walk along a secluded beach?This post describes such a hike.It is a loop hike, so only one vehicle is needed.If you do not want to do the entire hike, I will mention a few places where you can cut it short.
Many people who visit AcadiaNational Park in Maine either drive or hike to the summit of CadillacMountain, which is the highest mountain in the park.The second highest mountain, however, is almost unvisited in comparison.That is SargentMountain.It can only be reached by hiking, and even then it’s not straightforward.On its southeastern shoulder is PenobscotMountain. This post describes a loop hike that traverses SargentMountain and summits PenobscotMountain.
I happened to run across this tribute to Rita Hayworth and figured I’d share it with everyone.The person who put this together definitely spent some time on it.For those of you who may not know anything more about her than her name, she was a popular actress and dancer in the 1940s and 1950s.She was also one of the great screen beauties.
And just to forestall any “disco sucks” comments – unless all of your dancing has been done in honkytonks, you’ve been dancing to disco music most of your life.Disco never went away; record companies just changed its name to “dance music” and the places that played it were renamed from “discotheques” to “dance clubs”.
By the way, the video above doesn’t include any clips from her most famous performance in Gilda.Play the video below and see what raised the blood pressure of your dads or granddads.
I saw Gilda back in the late 1980s and let’s just say that I’ve had an appreciation for opera gloves ever since, whether it was in Pretty Woman (1990) or Shopgirl (2005).Hmmm, perhaps this could be a future movie category?
Last month I did my first ever monthly status of the movies I had seen.It was also a half year status, but I said I would likely do these kinds of posts monthly from now on.I received a few questions on the films last month so I will attempt to add a few things this month that people might be interested in (i.e. years, recommendations).
The two main lists that I am taking movie suggestions from right now are the 1,001 Movies You Must See Before You Die list and a list I put together of every Oscar Best Picture nominee.You can see those lists by clicking on these titles:1,001 Movies; Oscar Nominees.
So far in 2012 I have seen 242 movies that were new to me.Among those 242 films, 90 were from the 1,001 Movies list and 39 were Best Picture nominees.(Some movies were in both lists.)In fact, there are a total of 207 movies among the 494 Best Picture nominees that are also in the 1,001 Movies list.After this month I have now seen all but four of them and three of those are not available via Netflix.The remaining one (Reds) just arrived today.
Question: what film holds the record for the shortest titled movie to ever be nominated for the Best Picture Oscar?If you answered “Z” then, well, you probably read the title of this post.While it didn’t win the big prize, it did win Best Foreign Language Film, as well as Best Editing.Z is based on the Vasilis Vasilikos novel of the same name.(There is a 2012 film from India also based on the same novel.Its title is Shanghai.)The film Z is a political thriller based on real events in Greece in the 1960s.In fact, the opening of the film has the following statement: “Any resemblance to actual events, to persons living or dead, is not the result of chance. It is DELIBERATE.”
The 2011 film X seems to be labeled as an “erotic thriller” in almost every description I’ve read of it.My guess is that the marketing folks figured sex sells and this would be the best way to attract attention to it.The fact that some reviewers have re-used this term makes me wonder if they watched more than the first ten minutes of it, or if they have gotten so jaded about violence that the only thing that stood out for them was the opening sex scene.In my opinion, anyone watching this film hoping for titillation will be mostly disappointed.It’s a dark, violent look at the underworld in an Australian city.
I didn’t see the movie W. when it came out in 2008.By that time I had had enough of George W. Bush and the last thing I wanted to do was watch a movie about him.When I was planning this One Letter Titles category, though, it was an obvious movie to watch to see if I found it good enough to recommend.It was probably a good thing that a few years had passed because it allowed me to be able to watch this film with a little bit of detachment.It’s also a good thing that Director Oliver Stone decided that this wasn’t his chance to take two hours of potshots at Bush, but instead decided to craft a movie that is a relatively even handed look at George W. Bush and his relationship with his father George H.W. Bush.
The movie O tells the story of O – wait, let me rephrase that – O tells Shakespeare’s Othello story in a modern day high school setting.This film has nothing to do with the novel by Pauline Reage.O was the third such film for Julia Stiles in a three year span.She had first done The Taming of the Shrew (as 1999’s 10 Things I Hate About You) then Hamlet in 2000.After O came out she became known as the “Shakespeare girl” for a while.Perhaps this bothered her because she has not done a Shakespeare adaptation since.This film was easily the most controversial of the three.
Fritz Lang’s 1931 film M is a landmark in movie history.While he directed other films that are classics (most notably 1927’s Metropolis) this is the film that I consider to be his very best.It also features the greatest career role for lead actor Peter Lorre – and this is a man who was in almost 100 films, including The Maltese Falcon and Casablanca.M isn’t just some dusty, dated film that is only watched now because of its place in history, though.It is every bit as relevant and chilling today as it was back when it first came out more than eighty years ago.
