Filed under: Uncategorized
The Big Heat |Fritz Lang, 1953|
“Prisons are buldging with dummies who wonder how they got there.”
Mean Creek |Jacob Aaron Estes, 2004|
“If you could snap your fingers & he’d drop dead in his tracks, would you do it?”
Limelight |Charlie Chaplin, 1952|
“That’s all any of us are: amateurs. We don’t live long enough to be anything else.”
Max & Mary |Adam Elliot, 2009|
“Max hoped Mary would write again. He’d always wanted a friend. A friend that wasn’t invisible, a pet, or rubber figurine.”
Black Narcissus |Michael Powell & Emeric Pressburger, 1947|
“Remember, the superior of all is the servant of all.”
I Am a Fugitive from a Chain Gang |Mervyn LeRoy, 1932|
“How do you live?”
“I steal!”
Last Year at Marienbad |Alain Resnais, 1961|
“You never seem to be waiting for me, but we kept meeting at every turn of the paths. Behind every bush, at the foot of each statue, near every pond. It is as if it had been only you & I in all that garden.
Moulin Rouge! |Baz Luhrmann, 2001|
“The greatest thing you’ll ever learn is just to love & be loved in return.”
The Night of the Hunter |Charles Laughton, 1955|
“Lord, you sure knew what you were doing when you brung me to this very cell at this very time. A man with ten thousand dollars hid somewhere, & a widder in the makin’.”
Fantastic Mr. Fox |Wes Anderson, 2009|
“Why a fox? Why not a horse, or a beetle, or a bald eagle? I’m saying this more as, like, existentialism, you know? Who am I? And how can a fox ever be happy without, you’ll forgive the expression, a chicken in its teeth?”
“I don’t know what you’re talking about, but it sounds illegal.”
Filed under: Uncategorized
Pontypool |Bruce McDonald, 2008|
“Sydney Briar is alive.”
Where the Wild Things Are |Spike Jonze, 2009|
“Let the wild rumpus start!”
In the Mood for Love |Kar Wai Wong, 2000|
“Feelings can creep up just like that. I thought I was in control.”
Love in the Afternoon |Billy Wilder, 1957|
“In Paris people eat better, and in Paris people make love, well, perhaps not better, but certainly more often.”
Volver |Pedro Almodovar, 2006|
“There are all sorts of things that I should know, but they aren’t telling me.”
Moon |Duncan Jones, 2009|
“I hope that Earth is everything you remember it to be.”
The Great Dictator |Charlie Chaplin, 1940|
“We’ve just discovered the most wonderful, the most marvelous poisinous gas. It will kill everybody.”
The King of Comedy |Martin Scorsese, 1982|
“Why not me? Why not? A guy can get anything he wants as long as he pays the price. What’s wrong with that? Stranger things have happened.”
Abre los Ojos |Alejandro Amenabar, 1997|
Sherlock Jr. |Buster Keaton, 1924|
Filed under: Uncategorized
1990
1) Edward Scissorhands (Tim Burton)
2) Miller’s Crossing (Coen Bros.)
3) Jacob’s Ladder (Adrian Lyne)
4) Total Recall (Paul Verhoeven)
5) Cry-Baby (John Waters)
6) Goodfellas (Martin Scorsese)
7) Misery (Rob Reiner)
8 ) The Godfather Part III (Francis Ford Coppola)
9) Trust (Hal Hartley)
10) The Grifters (Stephen Frears)
1991
1) The Fisher King (Terry Gilliam)
2) The Double Life of Veronique (Krzysztof Kielowski)
3) JFK (Oliver Stone)
4) Terminator 2: Judgment Day (James Cameron)
5) Barton Fink (Coen Bros.)
6) Beauty and the Beast (Gary Trousdale, Kirk Wise)
7) Delicatessen (Jean-Pierre Jeunet)
8 ) Silence of the Lambs (Jonathon Demme)
9) The Commitments (Alan Parker)
10) Naked Lunch (David Cronenberg)
1992
1) Chaplin (Richard Attenborough)
2) Husbands and Wives (Woody Allen)
3) Batman Returns (Tim Burton)
4) Wayne’s World (Penelope Spheeris)
5) Army of Darkness (Sam Raimi)
6) Reservoir Dogs (Quentin Tarantino)
7) Bram Stoker’s Dracula (Francis Ford Coppola)
8 ) Aladdin (Ron Clements, John Musker)
9) The Crying Game (Neil Jordan)
10) Malcom X (Spike Lee)
1993
1) Nightmare Before Christmas (Henry Selick)
2) Jurassic Park (Steven Spielberg)
3) Short Cuts (Robert Altman)
4) Dazed and Confused (Richard Linklater)
5) Manhattan Murder Mystery (Woody Allen)
6) Groundhog Day (Harold Ramis)
7) What’s Eating Gilbert Grape? (Lasse Hallstrom)
8 ) The Secret Garden (Agnieszka Holland)
9) The Age of Innocence (Martin Scorsese)
10) Swing Kids (Thomas Carter)
1994
1) Ed Wood (Tim Burton)
2) Bullets Over Broadway (Woody Allen)
3) The Lion King (Roger Allers, Rob Minkoff)
4) Quiz Show (Robert Redford)
5) Forrest Gump (Robert Zemeckis)
6) Leon the Professional (Luc Besson)
7) Pulp Fiction (Quentin Tarantino)
8 ) Serial Mom (John Waters)
9) Little Women (Gillian Armstrong)
10) Interview with the Vampire (Neil Jordan)
1995
1) Before Sunrise (Richard Linklater)
2) Dead Man (Jim Jarmusch)
3) Toy Story (John Lasseter)
4) Seven (David Fincher)
5) Casino (Martin Scorsese)
6) Safe (Todd Haynes)
7) Twelve Monkeys (Terry Gilliam)
8 ) Heat (Michael Mann)
9) Tommy Boy (Peter Segal)
10) The Usual Suspects (Bryan Singer)
1996
1) Fargo (Coen Bros.)
2) That Thing You Do! (Tom Hanks)
3) Mars Attacks! (Tim Burton)
4) Primal Fear (Gregory Hoblit)
5) Sling Blade (Billy Bob Thorton)
6) Bottle Rocket (Wes Anderson)
7) Jerry Maguire (Cameron Crowe)
8 ) The People Vs. Larry Flynt (Milos Forman)
9) The Crucible (Nicholas Hytner)
10) The Birdcage (Mike Nichols)
1997
1) Good Will Hunting (Gus Van Sant)
2) Gattaca (Andrew Niccol)
3) Donnie Brasco (Mike Newell)
4) The Ice Storm (Ang Lee)
5) The Sweet Hereafter (Atom Egoyan)
6) The Game (David Fincher)
7) As Good as it Gets (James L. Brooks)
8 ) L.A. Confidential (Curtis Hanson)
9) Men in Black (Barry Sonnenfeld)
10) Face/Off (John Woo)
1998
1) The Truman Show (Peter Weir)
2) Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas (Terry Gilliam)
3) The Big Lebowski (Coen Bros.)
4) Dark City (Alex Proyas)
5) American History X (Tony Kaye)
6) Rushmore (Wes Anderson)
7) Saving Private Ryan (Steven Spielberg)
8 ) A Simple Plan (Sam Raimi)
9) Rounders (John Dahl)
10) Pleasantville (Gary Ross)
1999
1) Sleepy Hollow (Tim Burton)
2) Fight Club (David Fincher)
3) The Virgin Suicides (Sofia Coppola)
4) Being John Malkovich (Spike Jonze)
5) Toy Story 2 (John Lasseter)
6) Ghost Dog: Way of the Samurai (Jim Jarmusch)
7) Eyes Wide Shut (Stanley Kubrick)
8 ) The Iron Giant (Brad Bird)
9) The Sixth Sense (M. Night Shyamalan)
10) The Insider (Michael Mann)
Filed under: Uncategorized
2000
1) Almost Famous (Cameron Crowe)
2) Wonder Boys (Curtis Hanson)
3) O Brother, Where Art Thou? (Coen Bros.)
4) Memento (Christopher Nolan)
5) High Fidelity (Stephen Frears)
6) Unbreakable (M. Night Shyamalan)
7) The Emporer’s New Groove (Mark Dindal)
8 ) Ginger Snaps (John Fawcett)
9) Dancer in the Dark (Lars Von Trier)
10) Gladiator (Ridley Scott)
2001
1) Amelie (Jean-Pierre Jeunet)
2) Vanilla Sky (Cameron Crowe)
3) Artificial Intelligence (Stephen Spielberg)
4) Monsters, Inc. (Pete Docter)
5) The Royal Tenenbaums (Wes Anderson)
6) The Others (Alejandro Amenabar)
7) Mulholland Drive (David Lynch)
8 ) Spirited Away (Hayao Miyazaki)
9) Donnie Darko (Richard Kelly)
10) Blow (Ted Demme)
2002
1) Adaptation (Spike Jonze)
2) The Pianist (Roman Polanski)
3) Road to Perdition (Sam Mendes)
4) About a Boy (Chris & Paul Weitz)
5) Confessions of a Dangerous Mind (George Clooney)
6) 25th Hour (Spike Lee)
7) Minority Report (Steven Spielberg)
8 ) Dirty Pretty Things (Stephen Frears)
9) The Mothman Prophecies (Mark Pellington)
10) Catch Me if You Can (Steven Spielberg)
2003
1) Big Fish (Tim Burton)
2) Lost in Translation (Sofia Coppolla)
3) All the Real Girls (David Gordon Green)
4) Pirates of the Caribbean: The Curse of the Black Pearl (Gore Verbinski)
5) Shattered Glass (Billy Ray)
6) Mystic River (Clint Eastwood)
7) Kill Bill Vol. 1 (Quentin Tarantino)
8 ) Finding Nemo (Andrew Stanton)
9) Matchstick Men (Ridley Scott)
10) Peter Pan (P.J. Hogan)
2004
1) Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind (Michael Gondry)
2) Finding Neverland (Marc Forster)
3) Before Sunset (Richard Linklater)
4) Shaun of the Dead (Edgar Wright)
5) The Aviator (Martin Scorsese)
6) The Incredibles (Brad Bird)
7) Kill Bill Vol. 2 (Quentin Tarantino)
8 ) A Very Long Engagement (Jean-Pierre Jeunet)
9) Mean Creek (Jacob Aaron Estes)
10) Hotel Rwanda (Terry George)
2005
1) Match Point (Woody Allen)
2) Brick (Rian Johnson)
3) Good Night, and Good Luck (George Clooney)
4) Kiss Kiss, Bang Bang (Shane Black)
5) Downfall (Oliver Hirschbiegel)
6) Hustle & Flow (Craig Brewer)
7) Thank You for Smoking (Jason Reitman)
8 ) The Brothers Grimm (Terry Gilliam)
9) The Jacket (John Maybury)
10) The New World (Terrence Malick)
2006
1) Pan’s Labyrinth (Guillermo del Toro)
2) Children of Men (Alfonso Cuaron)
3) The Departed (Martin Scorsese)
4) A Scanner Darkly (Richard Linklater)
5) The Science of Sleep (Michael Gondry)
6) Half Nelson (Ryan Fleck)
7) The Prestige (Christopher Nolan)
8 ) A Guide to Recognizing Your Saints (Dito Montiel)
9) Marie Antoinette (Sofia Coppolla)
10) Brand Upon the Brain! (Guy Maddin)
2007
1) Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street (Tim Burton)
2) Zodiac (David Fincher)
3) Lars and the Real Girl (Craig Gillespie)
4) I’m Not There (Todd Haynes)
5) The Diving Bell and the Butterfly (Julian Schnabel)
6) Once (John Carney)
7) There Will Be Blood (Paul Thomas Anderson)
8 ) The Assassination of Jesse James (Andrew Dominik)
9) Across the Universe (Julie Taymore)
10) The Nines (John August)
2008
1) The Curious Case of Benjamin Button (David Fincher)
2) The Wrestler (Darren Aronofsky)
3) WALL-E (Andrew Stanton)
4) Let the Right One In (Tomas Alfredson)
5) Vicky Cristina Barcelona (Woody Allen)
6) In Bruges (Martin McDonagh)
7) Happy-Go-Lucky (Mike Leigh)
8 ) Burn After Reading (Coen Bros.)
9) Wendy and Lucy (Kelly Reichardt)
10) A Christmas Tale (Arnaud Desplechin)
Filed under: Uncategorized
A Hard Day’s Night |Richard Lester, 1964|
“God knows what you’ve unleashed on the unsuspecting South. It will be wine, women, & song all the way with Ringo once he gets the taste for it.”
Inglourious Basterds |Quentin Tarantino, 2009|
“You probably heard we ain’t in the prisoner takin’ business, we in the killin’ Nazi business. And cousin, business is a-boomin’!”
Ikiru |Akira Kurosawa, 1952|
“How tragic that man can never realize how beautiful life is until he is face to face with death.”
Goodbye Solo |Ramin Bahrani, 2008|
Spoorloos |George Sluizer, 1988|
“You see, Mr. Hoffman, for me dying isn’t the worst thing.”
Stalker |Andrei Tarkovsky, 1979|
“It is so quiet out here. It’s the quietest place in the world.”
Wild Strawberries |Ingmar Bergman, 1957|
“If I have been feeling worried or sad during the day, I have a habit of recalling scenes from childhood to calm me. So it was this evening.”
Trick ‘r Treat |Michael Dougherty, 2008|
Invasion of the Body Snatchers |Don Siegel, 1956|
“There’s no emotion. None. Just the pretense of it. The words, the gesture, the tone of voice, everything else is the same, but not the feeling.”
The Seventh Seal |Ingmar Bergman, 1957|
“I want to confess as best I can, but my heart is void. The void is a mirror. I see my face & feel loathing & horror. My indifference to men has shut me out. I now live in a world of ghosts, a prisoner in my dreams.”
Filed under: Uncategorized
12 Angry Men |Sidney Lumet, 1957|
“I don’t really know what the truth is. I don’t suppose anybody will ever really know. Nine of us now seem to feel that the defendant is innocent, but we may just be gambling on probabilities – we may be wrong. We may be trying to let a guilty man go free, I don’t know. Nobody really can. But we have reasonable doubt, & that’s something that’s very valuable in our system. No jury can declare a man guilty unless it’s sure. We nine can’t understand how you three are all still so sure. Maybe you can tell us.”
How to Steal a Million |William Wyler, 1966|
“I want you to take a long look at the trees, the blue sky, & the river, all of which I personally loathe. Which is why a juicy stretch in a French prison doesn’t bother me at all.”
Kill Bill |Quentin Tarantino, 2003/2004|
“Looked dead, didn’t I? But it wasn’t from lack of trying, I can tell you that. Actually, Bill’s last bullet put me in a coma – a coma I was to lie in for four years. When I woke up, I went into what the movie advertisements referred to as a ‘roaring rampage of revenge’. I roared. And I rampaged. And I got bloody satisfaction. I’ve killed a hell of a lot of people to get to this point, but I have only one more. The last one. The one I’m driving to right now. The only one left. And when I arrive at my destination, I am gonna kill Bill.”
Pink Floyd: The Wall |Alan Parker, 1982|
“Is there anybody out there?”
To Kill a Mockingbird |Robert Mulligan, 1962|
“You never really understand a person until you consider things from his point of view. Until you climb inside of his skin & walk around in it.”
The Adventures of Baron Munchausen |Terry Gilliam, 1989|
“Your reality, sir, is lies & balderdash & I’m delighted to say I have no grasp of it whatsoever.”
Groundhog Day |Harold Ramis, 1993|
“I was in the Virgin Islands once. I met a girl. We ate lobster, drank pina coladas. At sunset, we made love like sea otters. That was a pretty good day. Why couldn’t I get that day over & over & over…”
A Streetcar Named Desire |Elia Kazan, 1951|
“You know what luck is? Luck is believing you’re lucky, that’s all. To hold a front position in this rat race, you’ve got to believe you’re lucky.”
Horse Feathers |Norman Z. McLeod, 1932|
“You know, you’ve got the brain of a four year-old child. And I bet he was glad to get rid of it.”
What’s Up, Doc? |Peter Bogdanovich, 1972|
Judy: “Love means never having to say you’re sorry.”
Howard: “That’s the dumbest thing I’ve ever heard.”
For those of you who haven’t seen.
Honestly, I can’t even handle how amazing this looks.
Filed under: film
First time director Marc Webb takes us on a refreshingly realistic look at the make and break of a modern day relationship, jumping back and forth through time to examine various stages of the relationship, removed almost entirely from their chronological sequence. This is a clever and unique way of dissecting each day the couple spends together in order to ultimately find the cause of failure.
We are introduced to the characters by an omniscient narrator describing Tom (played brilliantly by Joseph Gordon-Levitt) as a man who will not find contentment until he finds “the one”, and Summer (played by Zooey Deschanel) as quite the opposite: a realist who thinks of love in the same respect as Santa Clause; a fantasy passed down to each generation in order to make life seem a little less bleak. This setting the relationship off to a rocky start, and reveals itself as an issue throughout. The most obvious instance being Tom’s fantastical dance sequence through the streets after a first night with Summer. Aided by random pedestrians, an animated blue bird, and even a self reflection of Han Solo in a car window, it further reinforces Summer’s view of love as fantasy and Tom’s clearly skewed depiction of reality.
Though neither character is particularly likeable, both contain very realistic and relatable qualities. Tom is needy and often smothering, while Summer is cold and distant.. an uncommonly portrayed role-reversal between the ideas of male and female, but succeeds at being relatable and more importantly, understandable by our own personal experiences, whether or not we were on the giving or receiving end. They aren’t perfect nor do they pretend to be, and that gives the film an air of truth as well as an unbiased view of their relationship as a whole.
Break up over pancakes aside, you first witness their love spiral downward when the film shows a playful date at Ikea on Day 31 where the couple is laughing, flirting, and venturing into each section of the store, playing a game of house. Then one at the same store suffering on Day 238. Tom attempts to reinact Day 31, but with no response from Summer. Just a simple glance is all she’ll give. This is where you realize that hoping for a happy ending for the couple is useless. Tom is increasingly needy and Summer is increasingly uninterested, showing there truly hasn’t been a change for either of them since their first meet.
Accepting this fate alone makes the film rewarding. No matter how much you want to believe they are meant for each other. No matter how much you desire happiness for them, you’re ultimately relieved it worked out the way it did. (500) Days of Summer is the least romantic romantic-comedy of the summer, and it works precisely because it refutes everything romantic films stand for.
Filed under: film
500 Days of Summer |Marc Webb, 2009|
“Tom, I know you think she was the one, but I don’t. I think you should look back, and not just at the good stuff.”
Spirited Away |Hayao Miyazaki, 2001|
“What’s going on in here?”
“Something you wouldn’t recognize. It’s called love.”
The Shop Around the Corner |Ernst Lubitsch, 1940|
“Oh, my Dear Friend, my heart was trembling as I walked into the post office, and there you were, lying in Box 237. I took you out of your envelope and read you, read you right there.”
La Belle et la Bete |Jean Cocteau, 1946|
Tell No One |Guillaume Canet, 2009|
Laura |Otto Preminger, 1944|
“I shall never forget the weekend Laura died. A silver sun burned through the sky like a huge magnifying glass. It was the hottest Sunday in my recollection. I felt as if I were the only human being left in New York. I had just begun Laura’s story when another of those detectives came to see me. I had him wait.”
The Graduate |Mike Nichols, 1967|
“Mrs. Robinson, if you don’t mind my saying so, this conversation is getting a little strange.”
Public Enemies |Michael Mann, 2009|
“We’re having too good a time today. We ain’t thinking about tomorrow.”
Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince |David Yates, 2009|
“In my life, I have seen things that are truly horrific. Now I know you will see worse.”
Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf? |Mike Nichols, 1966|
“Martha, in my mind, you’re buried in cement right up to the neck. No, up to the nose. It’s much quieter.”
