Counting Down the Zeroes 2004: Undertow

This will be appearing in Film For the Soul's Counting Down the Zeroes project Saturday, August 1st. Enjoy.When I think of the great opening scenes in film history I think of Argento’s Suspiria, Scorsese’s Raging Bull, Leone’s Once Upon a Time in the West, and of course, the greatest of them all, Orson Welles’ Touch of Evil. In addition to those masterpiece openings, I would add the more modern addition of David Gordon Green’s opening to his brilliant 2004 thriller Undertow. In six minutes Green...

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Revisiting 1999: The Top 10 Films of the Year, an Introduction

Hallelujah! The top 10 is near!Here's what I've covered so far:Intro: My Year at "Film School"The (sorta) Forgettable FilmsThe Films That Just Don't Hold UpWhen Bad Movies Happen to Good DirectorsThe Forgotten Gems of 1999:The War Zone (Tim Roth)Sunshine (István Szabó)Beyond the Mat (Barry W. Blaustein)Galaxy Quest (Dean Parisot)Mumford (Lawrence Kasdan)Bowfinger (Frank Oz)Cookie's Fortune (Robert Altman)Sleepy Hollow (Tim Burton)The Iron Giant (Brad Bird)October Sky (Joe Johnston)Election (Alexander...

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Question of the Day: Brian DePalma, innovative auteur or lazy aper?

I've always struggled with DePalma's films. I can probably count on one hand the films of his I really, really enjoy -- and the funny thing is I only enjoy them because I count myself lucky enough to understand his references. I've always wrestled with DePalma's place in the pantheon of filmmakers. On one hand I like that his allusions are for cinephiles, filmgoers who will feel like part of a special club for "getting" the reference. It's kind of like how I feel when I see a Judd Apatow film....

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My Top 10: 2003

It’s time to submit your top 10 for Film for the Soul’s Counting Down the Zeroes project. So head on over to Film for the Soul and submit your list in the comments section here. Then Ibetolis (the blog’s author and organizer of this massively impressive project) will place the lists on the Counting Down the Zeroes blog, which acts as an archive for all of the reviews and lists associated with this fun project. My list comes after the jump...This list wraps-up the year 2003 and looking back on...

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Question of the Day: How Do You Define Quality?

Yesterdays post got me thinking about Quality. Yes, "capital q" Quality. For those of you that don't know me, I enjoy my philosophy from time to time, and one of the best books I've been re-introduced to over the last year is Robert Pirsig's Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance. There is a section in that book (and really the whole book is a mediation on the Quality) that got me thinking about yesterdays question about assigning star ratings/grades to films. Troy mentioned in the comments...

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Question of the Day: Assigning Films Stars/Grades, Good or Bad?

In lieu of movie reviews for the next month I am going to throw random crap at the wall and see what sticks in regards to piquing people's interest. I was thinking today about just how to review movies, and it got me thinking: I have never really put stars or grades at the end of my reviews, despite the fact that I inventory all of the films I see every year with a grading system, organizing each film on a spreadsheet in order of "A" films to "F" films. So, my question to you is this: Do you prefer...

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Revisiting 1999: The Forgotten Films --- Election (Alexander Payne)

Here's what I've covered so far:Intro: My Year at "Film School"The (sorta)Forgettable FilmsThe Films That Just Don't Hold UpWhen Bad Movies Happen to Good DirectorsThe Forgotten Gems of 1999:The War Zone (Tim Roth)Sunshine (István Szabó)Beyond the Mat (Barry W. Blaustein)Galaxy Quest (Dean Parisot)Mumford (Lawrence Kasdan)Bowfinger (Frank Oz)Cookie's Fortune (Robert Altman)Sleepy Hollow (Tim Burton)The Iron Giant (Brad Bird)October Sky (Joe Johnston)Alexander Payne’s Election is proof that 1999...

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Your Summer Quiz is Due at SLIFR

Another brilliant quiz has been constructed by Dennis Cozzalio of the brilliant movie blog Sergio Leone and the Infield Fly Rule. Head here to the take the quiz. My answers come after the jump...1) Second-favorite Stanley Kubrick film. 2001: A Space Odyssey2) Most significant/important/interesting trend in movies over the past decade, for good or evil.The length of films – it’s both good and bad. It’ good because in this hyperkinetic, ADD society we live in I find it interesting that some of the most popular movies every year are 140+ minutes...

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Blog Pimpin': Decisions at Sundown (Created by Joseph 'Jon' Lanthier)

There's a new blog I'd like to promote, and not just because I'll be contributing to it every now and then. Two of the best bloggers in the 'sphere, Ed Howard of Only the Cinema and Joseph 'Jon' Lanthier of The Powerstrip, are also writing (no doubt better pieces than I could hope to produce) for the blog. What kind of blog you ask? Well, Jon created a blog called Decisions at Sundown (great Budd Boetticher/Randolph Scott movie by the way), a blog dedicated entirely to the Western. I realize...

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Directors Were So Much Cooler Back in the Day...

Just look at how awesome Nicholas Ray and Fritz Lang are. Directors really need to start rocking the eye patch/monocle look...or, like Lang, the eye patch under the monocle!Oh, and what they say is pretty interesting, too.The following clips are taken from the brilliant documentary A Personal Journey with Martin Scrosese Through American Movies. Enjoy.Click here to watch videoClick here to watch video...

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What the Bloody Hell, Part 2

Last month I said "what the bloody hell" to the fact that The Descent 2 was set to be released later this year. Now, thanks to my brother Troy's blog, I've see there's going to be an American version of Let the Right One In coming out. Argh. Troy pretty much says everything that needs to be said with his post here. All I can say is that I totally agree with Troy -- this seemed inevitable as the Twilight craze was bound to suck this brilliant, ambiguous Swedish horror film up into the vacuum...

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Lazy Blogger Repost: Investigating the Detective Novel through a Postmodern Lens

This is another post titled "lazy blogger repost" because as I mentioned in my last repost I have a lot of stuff going on right now, and really it won't be until late August where I will be able to post new material on a semi-daily basis. I'll still be doing the Revisiting 1999 project (I have one "forgotten film" left to do) and I'll post my submissions for Counting Down the Zeroes on here, but the mix of wedding preparation, work, and grad school are making it really hard to go see new movies....

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