So what is it with Billy Bob Thorton? In 1996, he plays Karl Childers and wows the world in a role that made him a household name. Giving one of the greatest performances of all time. Honestly, he should've won Best Actor that year, but whatever. I understand his fear of being typecast or forever known as the sweet simpleton in Sling Blade, but instead of being typecast as someone kind, wise, and misunderstood, Billy Bob chooses instead to be forever typecast as the acerbic asshole he's pretty much played ever since. You seen his new show on Paramount? Landman, it's called. If you haven't, it's the same guy he played in Bad Santa, Bad News Bears, and The Badge, etc, etc, etc. This particular charmer came out in 2002, and was then promptly forgotten. Billy Bob plays an acerbic sheriff on the take in Louisiana (is there any other kind?). A drunken lout who laughs at dead, gay guys in the morgue. With a hairdo and sideburns right out of "In the Heat of the Night." You know the type, sweating rednecks and smirking peckerwoods. Maybe Billy Bob just feels comfortable playing this sort of guy from his past. He understands them on some level. Okay, but what's wrong with getting out of your comfort zone? Isn't that what most actors like to do from time to time? Remember Henry Fonda in "Once Upon a Time in the West"? That departure from his usual good guy persona was an absolute revelation. Seeing Fonda gun down that little kid in cold blood, his usually soothing blue eyes so hard and dead, gives me chills every time. But no, Billy Bob forever seeks out these roles where gets to be a cranky son of a bitch. A little bit mean, corrupt, and conniving. Mix in a misunderstood heart of gold, where he can halfway redeem himself at the end, and by God Billy Bob will own that role. All right, but it's the same performance every time. Comfortable as a pair of worn out old sneakers, yet nothing special to look at. It's like watching Stallone in "Copland." You wonder, now why didn't he stretch himself more often like that? We know by Billy Bob's performance in Sling Blade and Monster's Ball that he's a great actor. He could stretch himself if he wanted to. But clearly he's been happy playing these sorts of garrulous characters ever since he hung up Karl Childer's kaiser blade in the tool shed. Some folks call it a sling blade, but he calls it a kaiser blade. All right, then.

A friend of mine talked me into watching this again. Much to my disappointment, I must say. In fact, my original rating dropped from three and a half stars to just three. My friend isn't alone in his admiration about this film, however. Many claim it's the British version of Goodfellas. Ouch. If so, the British underworld is in a sad state of affairs, mate. Populated mostly by football hooligans who dwell in a constant state of arrested development. Living out their middle school days of glory, beating up anyone who looks at them crosswise. It's just "cunt this" or "cunt that." Cunt, cunt cunt! Say it long enough and I guess someone might be impressed with your lack of vocabulary. Anyway, as a film "Rise of the Foot Soldier" is solid entertainment meant for angry white boys and those with a fetish for anything gratuitous and ultra violent. Where beating up waiters and fast food managers is "Just a bit of good fun, innit? I found it interesting solely for the Rettondon murders it was based upon, and the life story behind the man narrating his life behind the scenes. Carlton Leach, a former hooligan and bar bouncer with violence and mayhem coursing through his veins. Right alongside the steroids and drugs that do nothing to improve his dreary disposition. An arsehole of epic proportions, and yet he's literally the least offensive individual in the whole movie. Making him the Unreliable Narrator of this tawdry tale, I suppose. Again, though, I'm not judging the film or the sorry individuals who it's based upon. It's the state of organized crime in the U.K. that grinds my gears. Going by the movies we're given as to their sorry state of affairs, Green Street Hooligans, The Firm (1989), Legend, and take your pick of any early Guy Ritchie film, and you're left with the impression that there's no such thing as "Organized" crime in that country. Business is conducted with fists, bricks, cricket bats, and broken bottles of beer. No finesse or code of conduct whatsoever is involved. It makes you appreciate our make believe gangsters like the Sopranos on a whole new level, now doesn't it? Keeping the violence and bloodshed limited to those who are in the game, while leaving poor waiters and pimply faced pizza managers out of the line of fire. As for my idiot friend who can't tell a masterpiece from an "meh" movie, forgive him for he knows not what he says. The bloody wanker.

Is it bad? Oh, yeah. Is it dumb? Most def. Is it at least funny? Depends on your sense of humor, mi amigo. If you loved Napoleon Dynamite, Fanboys, or The Sasquatch Gang, then I think it's safe to say you'll enjoy this idiotic romp through the woods, too. The three leads have great male chemistry and everything they do, no matter how ludicrous or silly, feels completely organic to their characters. There's a wholesomeness to the movie that seeps through in even the most raunchy of circumstances. Like Fanboys, nerdy male camaraderie is what this is all about and it stays true to form, even when it goes off the rails three quarters of the way through the film. But even if geek love aint your thang, it's worth the watch, if just to see Conan O 'Brien yell obscenities at his nere do well son. Priceless. Now, if only he'd done that on Late Night, he might still be on the air. Shut the fuck up, Andy, you stubby little motherfucker!

"How can you be so obtuse? Is it deliberate?"
-Andy Dufresne

A very good question to ask ourselves today. Don't you think?

Now, that's how it's done, Kevin Costner.

Like so many of you, I come from a background where alcoholism in the family formed my coming-of-age experience. On my father's side, it was a rampant disease that claimed more than its fair share of my relatives. My father, Aunt and Uncle to just name the past two generations. My dad was a binge drinker. Buying several bottles at once and then locking himself away in his bedroom and killing one bottle after another. Returning to our embrace only after his internal storm had passed, or it was necessary to call in reinforcements to come and "Take him away." Witnessing your beloved old man being restrained in a strait jacket, screaming obscenities and threats at your crying mother does something to your impressionable mind as a child. Changes how you look at your giant of a father. Suddenly he ain't so tall and terrific anymore. Therefore, on one level I can understand why some people might have thought Prohibition was a good thing. If you had asked me at ten years of age, should they outlaw those awful Party Stores, with those evil red dots that reminded me so much of my old man's beautiful blue eyes after a weekend long binge, I would have replied, "YES! PLEASE! FOR THE SAKE OF MY FAMILY AND MY OLD MAN, PLEASE OUTLAW BOOZE!" Never understanding that would only make my law abiding drunk of a father an outlaw in the process. At some point in time, I became aware that the bottle wasn't the cause of my father's fall from grace. It was the old man himself. His stubborn and selfish addiction that prioritized liquor over love. Blame the sinner, not the sin. "Prohibition" is another gem from the legendary documentarian Ken Burns. With a run- time over five hours, it contains every bit of information you could possibly want to know about this unfortunate era in American history. As so many of his documentaries try to impart upon us, "Those who forget their past are doomed to repeat it." We Americans are downright infamous for our stubborn unwillingness to learn from the past. Prohibition was nothing more than the moral majority imposing their self-righteous code of conduct on ALL of us, while ensuring the countries minorities didn't lose their usual subservient sense of inhibition around "good white people and law enforcement." Which of course is exactly how marijuana became such a notorious narcotic in the first place. Leading once again to a wide scale prohibition that has only managed to create huge criminal organizations around the globe that are more than happy to cater to our citizens' illegal libations. Will we ever learn? Not as long as we look down on any media that doesn't tell us exactly what we want to hear. As long as science is looked upon with nothing but skepticism and scorn from half of our population. The Great Depression ended up bringing Prohibition's end more than anything else. The need for more jobs and the taxable income from the sales generated by those manufacturers to help assist the millions of unemployed and homeless Americans at the time. I was unaware that before Prohibition, the US Government got nearly forty percent of its taxes from the sales of suds and spirits! No wonder it was completely unprepared then for the Depression. I know I'm simplifying a complex issue to one component, but this moralistic legislation was passed with no foresight whatsoever to the consequences that were to inevitably take place. That it lasted as long as it did without being repealed is a testament to the moral majority's grip on our political system and public subconscious. It took the ONE thing Americans won't tolerate to finally banish it for good. And that's an economic collapse that makes all other objections null and void. As James Carville has pointed out, time and again, yet somehow forgot this past election. "It's the economy, stupid!" What that says about us as a people, I'll leave for you to decide. But if you can't drink responsibly, then put the bottle aside, all right? Maybe when you grow the fuck up, you'll be better able to handle your booze.

Shrunken heads! Decapitation! Headless corpses! Floating skulls! The ten-year-old kid in me enjoyed this 1959 shlock fest immensely. In fact, I'm allowing the boy I was in 1972 to rate this movie for me tonight. My goodness, how I would have loved this back then! But somehow "The Four Skulls of Jonathan Drake" escaped my notice until tonight when I caught it on Prime. If only I had seen it my callow youth! I was a morbid little shit, digging on anything that featured the macabre. But then, what ten year old boy isn't? So, in honor of him, little Bryn Roar, I give Jonathan Drake a score it doesn't really deserve. Now go to bed, you little creep. You got school in the morning.

Probably my third review of this movie. Arguably the most rewatchable film ever made. It is for me anyway. I watch a lot of true crime shows. Especially those revolving around organized crime, i.e., The Mafia. Tonight it was a show about the Jimmy Burke crew that took down the Luftanza heist. At the time the biggest cash haul in American history. All made possible because of a low level street hood named Henry Hill. An associate of Jimmy Burke and Paul Vario. A capo for the Lucchese crime family, who Jimmy and Henry had to kick up to on every dollar they made. That included the 7 million dollar Luftanza heist. Anyway, as usual, whenever I see anything on TV about these particular individuals I end up swinging back around to the Scorsese movie that actually made these guys a household name. Not once in my many rewatches have I ever turned it off halfway through the movie, saying, "I can't sit through this again." Tonight was no exception. As much as I adore Godfather One and Two, I cannot say the same thing about them. They are undoubtedly the greatest gangster films ever made (in my mind, the greatest movies ever), but neither one is as rewatchable as Goodfellas. Maybe it's because "Fellas" is based on real life, while The Godfather is " based on real life individuals. The names here, though, haven't been changed to protect the "innocent." The gangsters in real life look remarkably like the actors that were chosen to play them in the movie. But here's the real reason why I think Goodfellas grabs you by the throat and refuses to let go until Henry Hill picks up his morning newspaper from some suburban driveway in Nebraska at the end of the movie. And it's how this story unfolds from the very beginning. The opening credits roll by like a fleeing Cadillac from a mob hit. The headliners of Goodfellas zooming by left to right. Robert DeNiro! Joey Pesci! Ray Liotta! Zoom!. Zoom! Zoom! Then the three of them rolling down the highway in their Caddy together, as Thump! Thump! Thump! is heard in the rear of the car. We in the audience (who haven't seen it before) assume it's a flat tire. Typical innocuous opening of a movie, right? Then the three men huddle around the trunk and you know, this aint no flat tire here. Suddenly you grip your Goobers and popcorn tighter. Liotta unlocks the trunk and the carnage begins. Stab! Stab! Stab! Bang! Bang! Bang! And if that isn't enough to make you spill your Sprite, Scorsese hits us with the opening salvo from Rags to Richs. 🎶Bum!Bum!Bum!Bum!Bum!Bum!Bum! 🎶You know I go from rags to richeesss!🎶 Genius. Pure genius. Hooks us every time, eh Marty? From that moment on, its off to the races, as the ultimate reality show, which is Henry Hill's life sucks us in till the very end. And its THAT beginning that guarantees we'll stick around to the conclusion. It doesn't hurt either that the movie ends almost as great as it begins. You just HAVE to stick around until the rat Henry Hill breaks the fourth wall and includes YOU into the conversation. Every riveting minute carried along by the best damn soundtrack you've ever heard. Shit, I think I'll watch it again...

"Certainty." Sometimes it takes the strangest things in life to adequately articulate what you've had trouble giving voice to in your walk as a Christian. Or Jew. Or Buddhist. Pick your faith, brother. For me, though, I've always balked at anyone or any church that professes to know with certainty the mind and will of God. That sort of arrogance is not only off-putting but telling in the extreme. The same can be said of politics, but for once I'll show some restraint and keep it to the topic at hand. "Certainty." Again, it's strange how something like a movie, in this instance Conclave, can give voice to how you've felt your entire life without understanding why or how to articulate it. Then Ralph Fiennes, starring as the Cardinal Dean in charge of the Conclave to elect the next Pope, gives a little commentary on the enemy of the Church and faith itself. And all is made clear! A movie, of all things! Not a sermon, song, or speech. A movie! A two minute pep talk, in this case. Warning his fellow Cardinals of the dangers of certainty. The certainty that allows no room for doubt or reservation. Ironic, coming from a priest, when most of them might suggest it's a sin to even have uncertainty in your heart. But as the Dean so wisely pointed out, even our Savior had doubts and uncertainty. A friend of mine belongs to a certain faith that tells their followers to put all doubt and questions on a shelf. To do otherwise, they're told, is a sin against God and church. They're hardly alone in this self serving admonition, now are they? How very convenient to say that to your parishioners who might suspect you of misconduct. Catholic leaders sure enough did that with their own pedophile priests. Begging and sometimes threatening members of their own congregations to let them deal with those sorts of things in-house. Again, they're hardly the only church guilty of such things. Put any man in a position of power and give him absolute obedience and you'll have created a monster. Believe anything they say, and...well, I promised not to go there this time, didn't I? The Dean's point was to remind his fellow Cardinals that the best of men are those who leave room in their hearts and minds for doubts and uncertainty. God gave us the free will to receive or reject Him and His message. The choice is ours. That's the basis of our faith. To still find a way to believe and follow Christ despite all our questions and doubt. To accept and believe without doubt or certainty is to relinquish your God given gifts for ration and reason. At the end of Conclave a new Pope is elected and we're left with some lovely symbolism before the end credits roll. Independence, light, and unbound joy. The very things that make up this thing we call Hope. May you relinquish your certainty to reason and rationally, my friends. While holding on steadfast to the faith that binds God and all good things together.

A Western set in Ireland? Is there nothing the Irish can't make better with a wee bit of blarney and a pint of bitter or two? Sure and begorra! 🍀🍻🍀

In honor of the late great Olivia Hussy. I was SIX freaking years old when my sister took me to see this the year it came out! She was supposed to take me to see "The One and Only Genuine Family Band". A G rated Disney picture. Instead, I'm subjected to young nubile love and Shakespeare at the incomprehensible age of six. Thankfully, I have no actual memories of the traumatic event. The story is one that's passed around the dinner table whenever my family gets together. Supposedly I giggled hysterically when a very naked Juliet dashed from her bed which she was sharing with her forbidden love, Romeo. My sis says the audience roared with laughter at the sound of my shrill giggles. We don't find it quite so funny anymore, now that we know Olivia Hussy was not only underage, but assured no nudity would be shown in the final edit. Years later I saw it on my own when auditioning for the role of Tybalt at a summer stock theater. But honestly, Shakespeare was never my thing (maybe that's why I didn't land the role). The movie itself is sumptuous and the casting perfect, but for me it's the music that sets it apart from all the other renditions. Olivia Hussy does make for the perfect Juliet I must say. A beauty so rare and pure that she was a few years later even more perfectly cast as Mother Mary in Jesus of Nazareth. An historic miniseries from the 70s that followed the life of Christ. Also, directed by that rascal Franko Zefferelli. In both instances, Olivia Hussy's face seems to glow with an ethereal light onscreen. Mere words do not do her beauty justice. But she was much more than a pretty face. She had an honesty about her that helped assure audiences would always believe her in any role she chose to play. Strangely enough, her career wasn't filled with too many memorable roles. Mary, Juliet, and the damsel in distress in Black Christmas are the only ones to spring to my mind. There's a story there I'm sure but I just don't know what it is. If you've never seen her preform, I strongly suggest this movie first. It's much less passive than those other two roles I mentioned. A beautiful young and talented actress at the start of her career. May she shine on in our movie memories evermore.

I decided to delete my earlier crass review in which I objectified the lovely and talented Jennifer Connely in a way she so didn't deserve. My apologies to her and anyone else I might have offended. Mea culpa.

Ensemble acting at its best. The only one better in my opinion being Glengarry Glen Ross. The stand out here, though, is Mickey Rourke, unrecognizable in his untarnished youth. Face like a Greek god. Everything about Diner feels like something out of your own past, even if your own life didn't resemble it at all! The honesty in the telling is so evident that right away you know its a memoir of the writers life. In this case the writer/director Barry Levinson. His Baltimore trilogy starts with his best foot forward, which is a bit unfortunate because the two movies that followed were pretty good too. Just nowhere as good as Diner. A place you feel cheated not being a part of somehow. I think I'll head down to my own greasy diner in town. See if they'll make me an order of fries and gravy.

If you can't reach 'em, scare the shit out of 'em. Sounds like Fox News to me.

Watching the raw unfiltered talent of Giovanni Ribisi and Steve Zahn on Display for 90 minutes is a reminder of what acting is all about. The energy is insane and the timing is ridiculously spot on. Zahn rattling off his lines while spastically bouncing off the concrete walls of the local Quick-E Mart. Ribisi trying to make some sense of the world and his place in it. Those two together are the essence of organic acting. Slipping effortlessly into the skin of their characters and making each line seem completely natural. Maybe Zahn would have been taken more seriously if he hadn't gotten so typecast for these kinds of manic roles later on. While Ribisi seems to play the same mentally constipated character ever since as well. Too bad, cause their abilities aren't limited to these kinds of roles. The rest of the cast of SubUrbia suffers by comparison and so does the movie in my opinion. But Linklater does know a thing or two about disaffected youths and this particular world they dwell in. I love the opening shots of the suburban landscape, played to the song A Town Without Pity in the background. The constant renewal and decay on display. Weedy lots and lush lawns often side by side. Not my favorite of Linklater films, but one I like to return to now and again to witness Ribisi and Zahn at the zenith of their youth. Can you believe this movie is almost thirty years old? Time sucks.

I've reviewed this movie before but had nothing original to say at the time. Then again, who does? I've read reviews that are both thorough and exhausting. Filled with facts, figures, and salacious innuendo. Some of the reviews were even enlightening. But most are straight out of Wikipedia or film school textbooks. Not that I blame anyone for wanting to seem worthy of their own praise. I mean, what can you say about a movie that many of us believe to be the absolute pinnacle of cinema? To be clear, I consider One and Two to be the complete storyline, which combined make up the greatest achievement in cinema. A perfect movie, the both of them. From beginning to end, just flawless. Acting, directing, casting, writing, set design, costume design, cinematography, music (oh my God, the music!), right down to Gordon Willis the cinematographer underexposing the film stock to give it that unique burnt brown and black aspect. The result of which made the entire shoot look like aging photographs on the wall. Grimy and gritty. Like organized crime in the city. The young and earnest Coppola sticking to his guns about the unconventional casting, and the studio heads at Paramount giving the virtually unknown director unheard of leeway in making this once in a lifetime film. Make no mistake though, "The Godfather" was made in the perfect decade. Any other era and the movie might have had Kirk Douglas as the Don and Anthony Perkins as Sonny Corleone. What??? How about Elvis Presley as Tom Hagen? Not a joke, I assure you. The only decent alternative to Coppola's casting I ever heard was James Cagney as Hyman Roth. Now THAT would have been interesting. Otherwise, what Francis Ford created in 72 and 74 cannot be improved upon in any way. As Tom Hanks so succinctly stated in "You've Got Mail," when asked why all men love this movie, he replied: "The Godfather is the I-Ching! The Godfather is the sum of all wisdom! The Godfather is the answer to any question! What should I pack on summer vacation? Leave the gun, take the cannoli. What day of the week is it? Monday, Tuesday, Thursday, Wednesday..." I can't begin to state how much I revere these two movies. They encapsulate the whole 70s era of Raging Bulls and Easy Riders style of filmmaking. When Art meant more than the bottom line in Hollywood. When original ideas like Star Wars could find their unlikely way to the Silver Screen. And young untested directors like Scorsese, Spielberg, and Lucas could end up helming some of the biggest blockbusters the world has ever seen. But for me The Godfather is about Story, first and foremost. Along with "Jaws," it's one of those rare Hollywood commodities that's actually better than the novel it was based upon. Much better, in fact. Think about that for a minute. How many movies can you describe that way? The fact that a movie is basically a Readers Digest condensed version of the real thing pretty much guarantees it can never live up to its source material. But "The Godfather" cuts through all the bluster and seedy sex of the novel and tells the story of the Corleones far better than Mario Puzo's bestseller. Of course, it didn't hurt that Puzo himself helped write the script. Finally able to tell his story without his publisher insisting on all that unnecessary pornography. We know now that Puzo's story was all based on real life mobsters and screen icons. Skeevy politicians and historic events. That's why it's so indelibly American! The Mafia might've originated in Italy, but it was Hollywood that made them into a true American art form that we love and loathe today. Cowboys, Indians, and Gangsters, oh my! That's our contribution to the soul of cinema. Outlaws and renegades. When their stories are told without artifice, they're the stuff American dreams are made of. Then, and only then, can they be enjoyed without the guilt of glamorizing the worst aspects of the human condition. To sum up my reverance for this movie I'll defer to the Godfather himself, who said, "Great men are not born great, they grow great..." Sono d'accordo, Don Vito! The same could be said for the saga of your family's American Empire.

So I'm watching this Feel Good movie from 1987, and guess what? I'm not feeling too good. Not because it's not funny and touching, cause it is. Even poignant, you might say. No, my ill mood has nothing to do with the movie itself. It's how this same film would be perceived had it been released at any point in the past eight years. Immediately, it would be tagged with that derogatory and dismissive term that no one seems to know how to defeat, much less debate. A four letter word. A word that says so much while not saying a gotdamn thing at all. You know the word. My guess is many of you use it on a daily basis. It slips off the tongue like the "N" word used to do back in the 60s and 70s. It defends your right to be racist, sexist, homophobic, and hateful all at the same time. WOKE! There, I said it. Or rather, wrote it. Either way it feels like retching. But tell me I'm wrong. If "Harry and the Henderson's" were released today Fox News would be calling it Woke and a whole lot worse. Trump would declare it Biden Bullshit. A wholesome family movie about a hunter and sportsman finding humanity in the strangest of places. Then taking stock in those assumptions he'd made over the years and becoming a better man for having met this gentle giant from the forest. Only an asshole could possibly take offense at the message of peace on earth, good will to even hairy men. But "Harry" wouldn't be alone, now would he? Using that same sense of self righteous logic that would cause many of us to disparage Harry, Bambi would soon join it behind the woodshed. Rudolph the Red Nosed Reindeer? Mega Woke! Off with his non conforming nose! Whatever. I'm shouting into the wind, and I know it. The election is over and many of those who should be worried the most couldn't be bothered to vote. It's the mood of the country and that "fuck you" attitude to anything progressive is here to stay for at least the next four years. Probably a whole lot longer as democracy takes a back seat to new age fascism. Those who want to vote otherwise in the future might find they no longer can. Movies like "Harry and the Henderson's" might even find their way to the same sort of book burning bonfires that so hellishly lit the night skies over Germany in the 30s and 40s. I hope I'm wrong. And if four years from now none of that takes place I'll gladly remove this review and beg your pardon for being so ridiculously paranoid. But if I'm right? Well, it'll probably be removed anyway with no help from me. Keep your head down, Harry. They'll be coming for you...

Have you ever witnessed a more bipolar film in your life? The first part is like stepping into a Norman Rockwell painting. To an America that only ever existed in one's rose colored memories. Yet it's exactly how most of us would like it to be. A place where the Golden Rule is the rule and not the exception. Where the only naughty aspects of life are in well placed innuendos and sly little winks. An America that only a pie eyed immigrant in love with the Statute of Liberty and all that she stands for could end up directing in Hollywood. Did Frank Capra ever make a movie that wasn't maudlin and patriotic? That first half of It's a Wonderful Life would make even Walt Disney declare "CORNY!" at the top of his lungs. And then everything turns on a dime, and It's a Wonderful Life becomes the greatest episode of The Twilight Zone ever. That scene. You know which one I mean. George Bailey after wishing he'd never been born. His angel Clarence granting him his wish. The mood of the film plummeting in a nanosecond. George is leaving his mother's house, the home he grew up in, and the bitter old lady calls him a liar and slams the door in his face. The camera zooms in on George's horrified eyes as he stares maniacally into the heart of our living rooms. Honestly, if he'd started laughing like Renfield in Dracula I wouldn't have been a bit surprised. It's an iconic moment in cinematic history, that slow zoom on Jimmy Stewart's face. It wouldn't surprise me a bit if the first time Rod Serling saw that scene it planted the idea for the Twilight Zone into his head. From there, George Baily finds his way from the neon hell of Pottersville to the Rockwellian heaven of Bedford Falls once again. A place where outrageous debts and malfeasance are forgiven by the good people that live there without anyone asking why. That in itself is a Twilight Zone moment, wouldn't you agree? Right down to the ghostly bell on the Christmas tree ringing in Clarence's promotion to Angel First Class. Attaboy, Clarence! Attaboy! 👼

When it comes to Christmas I totally agree with the main character in Feast of the Seven Fishes, that Christmas is a blank canvas that each of us fills with the yuletide memories we experience during our childhood. That's why the disparity of opinions on so many of the Christmas movies and specials. To you, Die Hard is a Christmas movie. To me, it's nothing more than a great action caper. Take "How the Grinch Stole Christmas" for example. For me, having experienced this animated special from its first airing in 1966, there's no comparison to the two movies that followed in 2000 and 2018. For me, those follow up adaptations fall completely short of the mark. Yet I understand how those of you who experienced those variations during your formative years see it completely different. It's that childhood lens that make those sorts of important decisions for us anyway. How can you explain it otherwise when those older than me prefer the animated specials from their youth? "Mr. Magoo's Christmas Carol" for example. But getting back to the original Grinch. It's the animation style that draws my eye and takes me right back to my childhood at the ripe old age of 62. I remember watching it and Rudolph the Red Nosed Reindeer completely entranced. My mother tells me I didn't move a muscle the entire time they were on. Sitting close enough to the television to feel the static electricity raise the hair on my arms. The colors so vibrant and crisp. Boris Karloff's grandfartherly voice lulling me into a trance. Christmas is indeed a blank canvas for each and every one of us. Whether it's Rudolph's red nose or a Red Rider bee bee gun. Zuzu's rose petals or the Wet Bandits on the prowl. Frosty's top hat or a tiny wooden drum that goes "pum pum pum!" The magic that fills your canvas is all that matters. Merry Christmas, you filthy animals⛄🌲🎅

I haven't written a review in a while. Mostly due to the fact that I only watch Christmas movies in December, and I've already reviewed every decent Christmas movie on this site in years past. Thus, I turn to a sub-genre in this company of festive films; movies that have elements of Christmas within the plot that can occasionally give me something to write about this time of year. "84 Charing Cross Road" is one of those films. It has TWO Christmas events occurring within the allotted run time that make it one of the more relevant films in this crowded sub-genre. The two most important things in my life are books and movies. In that order. And when a movie comes along that incorporates both of those passions into one film you can be sure I've either already seen it or have it on my watchlist. What makes "84 Charing Cross Road" so extraordinarily special is the fact that it was all true. The book is a delight, but the movie, in its own rare way, might even be better. I say that because of the two leads. Anthony Hopkins and Anne Bancroft. Bancroft won the Best Actress Award for "The Miracle Worker" in 1962, but I think this was her best performance. She plays Helene Hanff, an impoverished book lover in dire need of quality used but affordable editions of great literature of yore. Bookstores in America either don't carry these dusty old tomes, or they want an arm and a leg for them. So, she turns to an antiquarian bookstore in England, where she hears books of this nature can be had without breaking the bank. The title of the movie (and book) is the actual address of one Marks & Co; one of those charming old bookstores you see in any ancient metropolis. But because it exists in the heart of the city where literature most flourished, its dark paneled walls and shelves seem somehow more distinguished and hallowed. This particular hole-in-the-wall establishment is managed by Frank Doel (played by Hopkins), and he goes to great lengths to make this acerbic New Yorker happy with the quality but cheap editions she's enquired about in her letters. They form a friendship in their back-and-forth missives across the Atlantic, and at some point, you realize this is going to be a tale of unrequited love. Much like the role Hopkins played in "Remains of the Day." Any other actor giving the sort of performance he delivers would have won the Oscar that year. But since he's already played this part before, I don't believe Hopkins even got nominated. Neither did Anne Bancroft, which was such an unforgivable sin that I haven't taken the Academy Awards seriously ever since (The British Acadamy got it right, btw. Both nominating Bancroft and giving her the award for Best Actress that year). When it played at my theater in the late 80's, it was mostly old ladies who attended the performances. Honestly, I wouldn't have even given it a second glance had it not been for my job as a projectionist. I had to preview every movie we played at our cinema to ensure its quality and continuity. Thank God for that! Without that weekly obligation, I would have missed many a wonderful film in my life. "84 Charing Cross Road" is about books and the people who cherish them. To alter a line from The Rainbow Connection, "The Readers, the Dreamers, and me." But please feel free to change the last line to suit yourself. We know that it's probably magic. 😉

Watched on Sunday December 1, 2024.

Let me preface this review by saying I love World War Two documentaries. I can see you now, shaking your head, and saying "So what? What's that got to do with the damn movie?" You see, watching all that old war footage I sometimes come across a dog faced G.I. sitting in his tent, foxhole, or maybe a beach head he and his platoon had just taken from the enemy, and reading a book. And when it comes to a book in someone's hands I'm just like your nosy mother, snooping around your bookshelves. I've just got to know what you're reading. And what were those G.I.'s reading? Well, if it wasn't Stars and Stripes or a comic book from home, it was "A Tree Grows in Brooklyn." Published in 1943, it was a sensation both in the States and abroad. From the halls of Motezuma to the shores of...well, you know what I mean. G.I.'s everywhere were reading Betty Smith's ode to the streets of Brooklyn she knew as a child. Anyway, that's how I first heard of the book. I knew it was a movie as well, but had never actually seen the whole thing until a few years ago. I'm not real fond of Hollywood movies back in the 30s, 40s, and 50s starring little kids. They were all so unrealistic, even the so-called street kids. With words coming out of their mouths that only an adult with censorship on his mind would put there. "Gee whiz, golly, and shucks!" A Tree Grows in Brooklyn isn't much better in that regard I'm afraid. The kids in the book are far more realistic. Swearing in the time honored way all kids do when their parents aren't about. I picked up a copy after seeing the book over and over in these old war docs. Wondering what all those G.I's found so interesting. It was escapism in the truest sense of the word. The kind that takes you back to a home you never had but wished you had. An America that was unspoiled just yet from the horrors of two World Wars and the Depression they sandwiched. The book and movie hit home for me in more ways than one. As a pie eyed dreamer myself I relate to the happy go lucky father Johnny Nolan. Early on we see his embittered wife Katy turn her back on Johnny and take away the one thing on earth that could kill the song in his heart. Her faith in him. After listening all those years to his promises and pipe dreams she no longer believes in him. And when Katy threatens to take their daughter out of school so she can help support the family while Katy gives birth to their third child, Johnny sets out on a tragic course that will prevent that from happening. Sacrificing himself in a way that his hard hearted wife never thought he was capable of doing. If only she had believed in him. Deep sigh. While not exactly a Christmas movie, I watch "A Tree" this time every year nonetheless. It does feature Christmas in Brooklyn quite nostalgically, and therefore finds its way in my yearly yuletide rotation. Like most adapted works from novels, "A Tree Grows in Brooklyn" is better served in its original telling. The truth, so much easier to discern there. The movie has its place however. The casting, faithful to the book. Watching it, my heart goes out to poor Johnny Nolan every time. A King in every Castle but his own.

In the eight year span between 1989 and 1998, Nora Ephron penned three of the greatest Rom/Coms ever written for the big screen. Respectively, "When Harry Met Sally", "Sleepless in Seattle", and "You've Got Mail." Some would point to the scintillating chemistry between Meg Ryan and her male co stars, but I honestly think the movies would have worked with any actors lucky enough to get the roles. Ephron understood BOTH sides of the relationship dynamic. That's why her Rom/Coms are so beloved by grumpy men like myself. For the most part I can't stand anything in this genre. Ridiculous premises based on cheesy romance novels. Knights in Shining Armor, and all that hooey. Nora knew damn good and well those guys don't exist. I try and watch all three of her greatest comedies this time of year. Nora must've loved Christmas, cause all three have that holiday in the plot somewhere. None more so than You've Got Mail. Which by the way is such a horrendous name that to this day it isn't taken as seriously as the other two classics. Which is a pity since it might be the strongest of the three. One man's opinion, but I stand by it. As always the soundtrack seems to be hand picked by Nora, song for song. I'd bet money on it. At least the last two movies, which she both directed. Her input is felt right down to the books on the shelves in The Store Around the Corner. Sound familiar? Of course it does. It's the third remake by that very name. Of the three, "Mail" is by far my favorite. And all three are simply wonderful. But this entry has Nora Ephron at the helm, and that makes all the difference. After one horrible marriage, I'll never tie the knot again with any woman. But I strongly feel as if the late Nora Ephron just might have been my soul mate. Alas and alak. What might have been😥

My least favorite of the major Peanuts television specials. The previous two had set the bar too high for measly old Thanksgiving to ever compete with. On the one hand it gets serious props for being the first animated special to include a black character. Then it goes and flushes all that good P.C. down the drain by segregating Franklin at one side of the table, while the other half is elbow to elbow with his white contemporaries. Even the dog won't eat with him! WTF! Sadly, back in the 70s we never noticed. Not white people anyway. Our brains were just hard wired that way. That whole "Races shouldn't mix" philosophy kept us blind to some societal ills. Obviously, CBS felt that way. I can't believe the artists took it upon themselves to draw it that way. Even so, I watch it every Thanksgiving. Like all the Peanuts specials, it takes me back to my childhood. My favorite part back then was when Woodstock practices cannibalism when he and his good pal Snoopy sit down for their own roasted turkey. For the love of God, Woodstock! Put down that drumstick! 🦃🦃🦃

"Here's a doobie for your walk."

Today is Thanksgiving for me. I celebrate the Monday before the actual event every year. Being a theater manager, Thanksgiving just so happens to be one of my busiest days of the year. Nothing else is open, you see. So once the turkey has been devoured you're left with three options: take a long nap, watch some football, or go to the movies. Just be nice to my staff, you hear me? It's not our fault everyone else had the same bright idea as you! Heading to the local movie house, thinking you'd have the place to yourself. We get the grouchiest customers on Thanksgiving and Christmas. Anyway, that's why I eat my bird on the Monday before. Thursday, I'll just have leftovers. I'll be too tired for anything more than a turkey sandwich anyway. That's my yearly tradition. So is watching Winter's Bone. Why? I guess because I watched it one year on this very day while preparing my feast. Since then it's become a tradition. Later on I'll watch "Nobody's Fool" with Paul Newman for the exact same reason. Funny how these traditions get started, isn't it? At least with "Nobody's Fool" there's an actual scene that takes place on Thanksgiving! "Winter's Bone" is the kind of dreary movie that takes place in a world of backwoods people too poor to be grateful for anything but a roof over their head. Which is exactly what the main protagonist is trying to maintain for the family of four her father left behind, before he was left for dead somewhere up in the hills. Her job is to find his remains and prove to the law he is in fact dead, so they won't take the land and home he used as collateral for his bond. The journey to that bitter conclusion is well spent every year I must say. I'm grateful I chose such a brilliant movie to watch while I prepare the sweet potatoes, casseroles, and turkey for the big dinner. May your actual turkey day be as satisfying as my own. Gobble! Gobble! 🦃

Does a Sasquatch fornicating in the forest make a sound? Spoiler alert! Why yes they do! 🙊🙉🙈

The 70s were something else. Black filmmakers and actors had a voice and presence like never before. Granted, much of what we saw back then was exploitative. But as we've learned since then, even those artistic endeavors are to be celebrated with the passage of time. But as far as Christmas movies goes, few films focused on how the holiday was celebrated by our black brothers and sisters. J.T. was an exception. Filmed in the down and dirty streets of Harlem, circa 1969, you get to see how life was lived in the most famous ghetto in America. Christmas, too. J.T. is a nere-do-well kid on the fast track to prison when he finds a one-eyed mangy alley cat. Like J.T., the cat hasn't a friend in the world, and the two connect on a two-of-a-kind level. J.T. learns empathy and the nameless cat experiences compassion for the first time in its life. I wish I could tell you the friendship lasts a long, long time, and that like 99% of Christmas movies, this one-hour film ends with all knots happily tied. But life in the ghetto ain't that easily swayed by Good Will to all men and alley cats. Truth is like that too. Just when you think everything is gonna work out all right, it spits in your eye. Still, there's plenty of hope to go around in the end. And sometimes hope is good enough. To all the alley cats and lonely little boys, wherever you might be, Merry Christmas.

Ok, so I never actually finished this, that's why the generous two star review. But I can't help wondering, did she ever realize that Hot Frosty was gay?

I've consumed far too many hours on the horror of World War2 and the hijinks of Hitler and his henchmen to ever feel comfortable watching a Christmas movie filmed in "The Fatherland." One thing I always wanted to ask those antisemite assholes back then, who were supposedly also "Good Christians", you do realize that the son of God was a Jew? Would He too have been herded into one of your cattle cars? That's an unfair question to pose to the ancestors whose great, great grandparents proudly wore the Nazi pin and had a framed picture of Uncle Adolph on their living room wall. But hey, that's the shit-stained legacy they left for you and future German generations to deal with. Endless suspicion and an aversion to the spoken German word. Still, it is a beautiful country. Maybe the prettiest in the world. The scenery alone helped me finish the movie.

My review is more of a commentary on the affable genius of Bing Crosby, than the movie that garnered him his only Best Actor award. As great as "Going My Way" is, I'm not sure it's even Bing's best performance. The knock on Crosby has always been that it looked too easy for him. That he just played himself in every role. Using that same criteria there are several other renowned performers who did the same thing without it being held against them. Jimmy Stewart, James Cagney. Paul Newman. John Wayne. That list just goes on and on, doesn't it? But none did it as effortlessly as ol' Bing. Whether he was crooning a melody or riffing with his longtime partner Bob Hope, Crosby always looked so relaxed. Not an ounce of tension in his entire body. Known mostly for his singing, his acting abilities have always been underestimated. Bing knew the secret that most successful crossover artists learned if they were ever going to draw in their audiences in like he did. And that is an earnest sense of self-deprecation. It makes the performer seem like the rest of us, at ease with being the butt of a joke, or coming out on the short end of the stick. Without any petulance or self-pity either. When he loses the girl in Holiday Inn, he takes it in good humor and leaves the room without looking pathetic or bitter. He's one of us! A good guy, in every sense of the word. At least one of his sons would argue with that, but I'm not talking about his personal life anyway. The road to judging any man on his family life is filled with cavernous potholes and detours to your own failures as a human being. Onscreen, Bing was the consummate performer. A carryover from the days when burlesque and radio were just as big as the feature film playing at your local Cinema. And while he only has one Best Actor award to his name, he still holds the record for most nominated feature songs as well as those that actually won the golden statue! His chemistry with his fellow performers is also noteworthy. Right up to the moment when he sang a duet with David Bowie on Bing's yearly Christmas Special. In the history of modern music has there ever been two more disparate singers performing together? And yet their unique voices melded beautifully on their now epic rendition of The Little Drummer Boy. That credit should go to Bing, who always complemented any performer he ever worked with. A true American icon who deserves more recognition and respect.

Despite its flaws The Money Pit is a very funny movie. I mean, belly laugh can't catch your breath funny movie. Filled with sight gags and slapstick, it rolls along so fast that it's over with before you know it. That's the great thing about physical comedy; it rarely fails to hold your attention throughout. The stunts required to make this movie would not be done any other way but by the use of CGI today. Making you realize that progress isn't always a step forward in the right direction. If this is Tom Hanks worst movie, as so many seem to think it is, then that just goes to show what an outstanding actor he really is.

Ah, the good old days when rich white men could go around in blackface, saying: "Racist? Me?" I jest of course. For all its toe tapping music, including the bestselling record of ALL TIME, White Christmas (Take that Elvis and The Beatles). Holiday Inn and its glorious Technicolor successor, White Christmas, are way too cringeworthy all these years later to lay any sort of claim to Best Christmas Movie Ever. Every time I watch it I wonder at their mindset. Did they honestly think it wasn't offensive? Those poor black actors having to watch what white people thought of them. The big white lips and nappy hair. It's like watching some asshole pretend he's retarded. I'm not aware if Bing Crosby or Fred Astaire regretted those choices. I can only assume in some small way they might even have felt they were paying some sort of homage to their black brothers and sisters. Whatever. Without those embarrassing moments in the movie Holiday Inn would easily rate five stars. The music is phenomenal, launching THREE great holiday standards that will live on as long as Christmas is celebrated. Holiday Inn. Happy Holidays. And of course, the greatest Christmas song of all time. White Christmas. Fred Astaire had the same great chemistry with Bing Crosby as Bob Hope. The two were magic together. Fred Astaire of course is synonymous with dance. His innate rhythm and lightning-fast feet belie the cliche that white men have no rhythm. Except for Gene Kelly, no one could move like Astaire. It's no coincidence that when he hung up his dancing shoes after Silk Stockings in 1957 that the Hollywood Musical pretty much retired with him. I've always hated that saying, "They don't make movies like they used to." No matter how true the statement might be. In this case, though, they literally don't make movies like this anymore. We can all do without the blackface routines, but good Lord I miss the kind of singing and dancing that went on with these musicals! It all seemed so organic back then, too. "La La Land" tried to replicate that magic, and they did a wonderful job, but don't fool yourself. Ryan Gosling is no Fred Astaire. Or Gene Kelly, or even Bing and Bob for that matter. May their legend live on.

Bill Furlong worries. About his daughters. Whether or not his employees working for him at his coal delivery service are giving his girls any "guff." The boy he passed on the road, gathering sticks to help keep his family warm. The hungry child he witnesses in the dead of dawn stealing milk from the cat's saucer. The jigsaw puzzle he asked Santa for as a boy, only to get a hot water bottle instead. The crows that gather about the town like undertakers. Measuring each passerby for the coffin they'll someday surely inhabit. In the middle of each night, he frets over "Small Things Like These." An introspective and passive man, Bill pretty much does as he's told. Much like everyone in the town of New Ross, Ireland. Watched over by another sort of crows, imperiously looking down upon the town from the crenelated heights of the Magdalene Laundry. The nuns there, know All. See All. Controlling the townspeople and the poor unwed mothers who've been sent there by embarrassed families who are more concerned about what the townspeople are saying about them than the welfare of their own daughters. Everyone is aware of the abuses going on behind those cloistered walls but looks the other way to keep in the nuns' good graces. It's Christmas in New Ross and Furlong stumbles upon one of these blighted creatures and everything changes from there. He's reminded of his own mother, when he was born out of wedlock, spit upon by the children of New Ross, and his heart goes out to her. Slowly his courage builds until one night he decides to do something about it... Small Things Like These, both the celebrated book and now the movie, are testaments to what this season SHOULD be all about. Not receiving but giving. One critic called it an "Anti-Christmas Carol" and I took instant umbrage with that description. If anything, Small Things Like These is exactly the sort of lessons Charles Dickens was going for when he wrote A Christmas Carol! There's a moment when Furlong's wife tells her softhearted husband that what happens "Over There" is none of our business. Which instantly triggered my memory of the line from Dicken's book, when the ghost Marley responds to the same sort of query from his partner Ebeneezer Scrooge. "Business! Mankind was my business!" The small acts of kindnesses that might mean so much more to someone less fortunate. A handful of change or a warm blanket perhaps. A full meal or just a kind smile in passing. Sometimes, though, greater courage is necessary to help those in need. In the end, that's what the moral of this story is all about. Damn the consequences and full steam ahead! I love Christmas movies and yet so very few of them get to the matter like A Christmas Carol or Small Things like These does. That Christmas isn't about what we got this year. It's about what we gave. The very symbol of the holiday, with the Christ child born in abject poverty, while all about Him that Holy night were the lowest of the low. Shepherds and the animals that watched over Him. His first crib, a dirty trough used as a manger. We've sanitized that moment in time with clean white robes and silken gold straw but make no mistake. Jesus was born for those He was meant to save. The downtrodden and destitute. The rich, Jesus said, have a better chance of passing through the eye of a needle than achieving heaven. In the end, Bill Furlong turns his back on the church and the town and decides to do the right thing. No matter the consequence. Sacrificing his and his own family's needs for those of someone else in far greater urgency. And that, Charlie Brown, is what Christmas is all about.

Tepid Xmas/rom/com, brightened by the unquenchable effervescence of forever young Justin Long. Although it is a little disconcerting to see him with wrinkles all of a sudden. He travels to Ireland with his wife for the holidays, where he tries to convince her that kids should be in their future. She's resistant to the idea, and he tries to prove he's ready for the responsibility by providing daycare to his in-law's kids while they're on vacation. The results are of course hilarious and equally disastrous. The end is as predictable as a bee-bee to the eye, but I won't ruin it for you anyway. Except for Justin, the cast is adorably Irish. Especially his sister-in-law Pauline. Hubba hubba! She's literally the grown-up version of the cartoon girl in Brave. Red hair, green eyes, and plenty of sass. I repeat, hubba hubba! 😋

I stumbled upon this little gem from 1984 the other night on Prime. Filmed for television, it certainly has that inferior quality about it, yet the acting (from the adult leads anyway) is top drawer stuff. In fact, Jane Fonda won a prime-time Emmy for best actress in a made for tv drama that year. She deserved it. She plays a backwoods hill woman from Kentucky during the war years. In the hills and hollers where she and her husband and children hail from, she's happy and content. Her only desire, to own her own home someday. She's certainly worked hard enough for it. Pinching and saving every dollar and dime her husband doesn't throw away on things they don't need. Played by real life hillbilly Levon Helm, he's the opposite of his wife Gertie Nevels in every way. He's tired of scraping for every dollar and sets off for Detroit, Michigan to work in the factories for some real money. Helm was getting typecast by the time this aired, having already played the father of a Coal Miner's Daughter. His accent is the real thing, and even though you can tell Fonda is not at all from the same holler, she perseveres until her accent is of no consequence whatsoever. She nails the role of a meek, supporting wife, even though life in the housing projects in Detroit is hell on earth for her. As the title of the movie implies, however, Gertie finds peace and prosperity by wood carving. Creating the birds and animals she grew up with in the green hills of Kentucky, she keeps the family afloat when her husband goes on strike with his union. So much for the money he promised Gertie would come rolling in! Whatever he makes goes for the rent and Pay-As-You-Go credit scams that make it impossible for factory workers to ever get ahead. Making matters worse is the death of child that will leave you breathless. I honestly had to close my eyes until that awful scene was over. It all comes to a boiling point when Gertie's husband spends every penny Gertie saved to bury their child, and Fonda then displays her acting skills that she'd been honing since she was a young girl. It's a scene that showcases her talent and makes the entire movie worth your while. The children are another story, I'm afraid, as it's all too apparent they're just pretending. Some might argue that's all acting is, Pretending. But if that was the case, I doubt Lettrboxed would even exist. It's moments like this that make cinema a true art form. The ending is satisfying if not rushed to fit in the two-hour time slot it had on ABC that year. Too bad it didn't get a theatrical worthy production. Then it wouldn't be Jane Fondas most forgotten role.

Grading on the very generous Christmas Curve, this 2022 holiday entry is "Simply Smashing, as the Brits would say. I consume a lot of these movies from the first of November to the 23rd of December, when my movie schedule is much too tight for the likes of these. Although, I must say, as far as Rom/Com/Christmas movies go, "This is Christmas" ranks right up there with "Love, Actually." It's no coincidence either that both films have a mostly British cast and settings. Make no mistake, the Brits do Christmas better than those of us across the Pond. That's debatable of course, but I prefer my Christmas movies with an inclusive message and no agenda whatsoever. Unless you're speaking of Christ's original agenda, which is Peace on earth. Good will to ALL men. Hallmark has done so much damage to this genre that I can hardly bear to sift through all the insufferable pablum to get to that occasional morsel of gold. It's no wonder then that "This is Christmas" has nothing to do with the Hallmark Channel, or any other American "Family" channel for that matter. Your first clue is that a few of the characters are gay. That's a Big No! No! for a Red White and Blue Christmas! The second clue is there are too many "Ugly" actors in this production. Actors like Timothy Spall, no matter how many times he's been nominated for Best Actor, would never get an audition, much less call back from Hallmark Studios. Not to fear! The leads are all attractive enough to satisfy even those superficial lovers of Hallmark movies. With just the right amount of stubble on the fellows. Seriously, what is that all about? The stubble? Never mind. I don't want to know. The story here is a refreshing bit of air. Like the fresh draught of air from your window on a commuter train. Awwww! Feel that on your face? The bracing cold air of a December morn, as you trundle off to work in London? The train compartment full of passengers you see every day, but never stop to chat up. Ad exec Adam looks about himself one day on the train and decides everyone there should get to know each other. He makes an announcement as such that clearly annoys his fellow passengers, but with the help of his inevitable love interest, Emma (of course), they wear down the Christmas Curmudgeons, and a good time is had by all at the end of the final reel. Along the way to this happy conclusion is some good old British scenery and romantic entanglements that should satisfy anyone with a sweet tooth for Christmas. I loved every minute of it. Maybe it was because I wasn't expecting much from it to begin with. Can you blame me? In the entire catalog of Christmas movies there are only a dozen or so truly great ones. Five Star titles, even less. The last new Christmas movie I enjoyed this much was Feast of the Seven Fishes, and if you haven't seen that one, by all means watch it First! Let the Season begin!

Imagine a much older and stooped Mary Poppins. Time and tempest having taken their toil on her rosy red cheeks. And you might just have poor old Vera Drake in mind. Still cheerful. Still boundlessley helpful. But also more timid and bowed. That's Vera Drake in a nutshell. Endlessly maternal, she is. Mothering everyone about her and dragging them to her tiny home for a bit of tea and conversation. Ah, the British and their tea! There's naught a problem in the world that can't be fixed with a hot cuppa! Well, maybe one or two, as seen here. Vera is witnessed in her day to day life, helping out an endless supply of people in one way or another. Mostly as a scullery maid. But also as a part time abortionist. Vera prefers to call it "helping young girls start their bleeding again." In other words, voiding the unwanted fetus from their wombs. Whether you think her her wrong or not, you can't accuse Vera of being uncaring. Neither is she an opportunist, using a young woman's unwanted pregnancy as a way to make a quid or two. No, Vera wouldn't dream of taking money for helping these girls. No reasons or ever given for Mrs. Drake's motives. Just that "she has to," in her own words. Imelda Staunton plays the titular role and she's completely deserving of the mountains of praise that's been said about her performance here. Just mesmerizing. Never does she come off as self righteous or indignant at her circumstances either. Indeed, if anything, she's devastated and embarrassed for what the scandal is doing to her family. Mike Leigh, the writer and director, has crafted a movie that doesn't preach or apologize for the controversial subject matter. Certainly that's what I was expecting. A movie about the horrors of men in power deciding what a woman can and cannot do with her own body. Instead, it's simply a story told straightforward and without guile. No agenda whatsoever. Nothing is expected of you the viewer to decide if Vera was right or wrong. Not even a reason as to this woman's motives, beyond simply helping someone else in need. Your judgement is neither expected nor desired in the end. Just your full and undivided attention, of which I had no problem supplying. English dramas have that effect on me for some reason. Mike Leigh's "All or Nothing" with Timothy Spall is another great example. A simple straightforward story told from the perspective of working class Brits. And though I've never set foot in the United Kingdom, I'm strangely nostalgic for their life over there. And considering my short attention span as I get older, I find that fascinating in and of itself. The cast of Vera Drake is populated by an wonderful assortment of actual English performers. No calender models need audition for a Mike Leigh movie! His actors have lived in faces. Wrinkles and crinkles and warts, oh my! Teeth like Austin Powers. The kind of face you meet on the subway or at your corner pub every day. The marvelous Daniel Mays for example. One look at this guy's rubbery mug and you know he aint gonna be mistaken for Brad Pitt or George Clooney. But he's the real deal, folks. As are everyone else in the cast. Don't expect a neat and tidy conclusion to the story you're about to see either. Vera Drake is no morality play with a lesson to be learned. Just a life lived. The good, the bad, and the ugly. And isn't that refreshing?

Basically Breaking Bad in reverse. Ex con fresh out of prison gets tied down trying to fake his way being a father to his 16 and 11 year old sons. When all he really wants to do is ditch his kids once again and start over in Ireland. But lo and behold, Wild Bill finds he's pretty good at this Dad business! It all boils down to him sorting out his old neighborhood gang to get his eleven year old son out of debt and trouble. Think the ending of Coward of the County, and you get the picture. The finale is badass, wholesome, and entirely satisfying. Leaving me wondering, did I just see a Guy Ritchie movie or an episode of Ted Lasso? Either way, I was completely gobsmacked👍

The Purgatory that is Old Age. A lonely waiting room reserved for each of us when all is said and done. Counting down the last days of your life. Those with family have the luxury of being able to linger on with some dignity. Someone to talk to and who can help them get about. They're spared the loneliness of spinsters like poor Mrs. Ross. The helplessness that comes from being old and weak. Easy prey for those with no respect or empathy for our senior citizens. She hears things, Mrs. Ross does. Voices in the walls and pipes. Keeping her company and at times tormenting her. She worries, too. About everyone and everything except those who mean her real harm. Edith Evans gives an extraordinary performance as aging Mrs. Ross. A naked portrayal of what it is to be old and alone. Impoverished and indigent. I imagine people watching this have very different feelings about what they're witnessing onscreen, based on their own age and station in life. Those who are young might feel some sympathy for Mrs. Ross, but mostly just pity. "Oh, that poor old creature! Too bad she doesn't have any family to take care of her." Those of us who are closer to Mrs. Ross's age feel something else entirely, I assure you. In a word, Fear. A dread that what we're witnessing is just a Coming Soon preview for our own so-called "Golden Years." Will we be eating cat food out of a can? Maybe spending our days in the local library for company and comfort? Too afraid to talk to total strangers for fear they might do us harm? In "Whispers," old age and isolation are shown with the full weight and horror they deserve. It is a sad fact of life that the older you get, the more invisible you become. Therefore to be shunned, whether intentional or not. An uncomfortable reminder to the young and beautiful that nothing lasts forever. Time is the enemy, and you too will end up like dotty old Mrs. Ross someday. Hopefully not as lonely. But just as invisible, even if you're surrounded by family and friends. Talking to yourself and the faint whispers that keep you company. "Are you there? Are you there?"

Don't you just love it when you stumble upon a movie or miniseries that you've never heard of and discover it's the best damn thing you've seen since Walter White wiped out Todd's entire gang in the series finale of Breaking Bad? I honestly thought this was a new series on Netflix but was shocked to discover that it came out over six years ago on Showtime! This one completely slipped under my radar. Better late than never, though. Talk about your stellar cast! Each one a particular favorite of mine. Paul Dano! The inimitable Benicio Del Toro! Patrica Arquette! David Morse! And an actress I've had a particular crush on since she was a standup comedian and frequent guest on the David Letterman Show. Ms. Bonnie Hunt. Either Bonnie is incredibly picky about what kind of roles she'll play, or she's been criminally ignored by the casting agents in Hollywood. Here, she plays the New York State Inspector General heading up the investigation on the now infamous escape from the High Security Prision in upstate New York. It's a minor but important role that ends up tying all the loose ends in what has been compared to the fictional escape at Shawshank Prision. Rightly so. The case is fascinating. Two prison buddies, David Sweat and Richard Matt, discover there's an entire network of pipes, crawlspaces, and tunnels right behind their adjoining cells. While Matt calls all the shots planning the escape, Sweat puts in all the sweat. Quite literally. That should've been his first red flag in what turns out to be a complexly undependable and irrational partner for Sweat. Who could've guessed it? A man convicted of killing and dismembering his victim. Wow. Yet director Ben Stiller keeps you rooting for the bad guys almost throughout the series. At least until the pivotal episode when their crimes are played out to a dumbstruck audience. Forever squashing any thought these two dudes are anything like Andy Dufresne and Red Redding. No, there's no Zihuatanejo in these guys future. But the real villian here is the prison guard who helped these assholes escape. Joyce Tilly Mitchell, played to the bare bones by Patrica Arquette, in what has to be one of the bravest performances I've ever seen. Tilly is portrayed as a two-timing slut who can't keep her panties where they belong. Ready to drop them at these convicts' beck and call. It's important to the integrity of this story to reveal this woman as a serial adulterer, whose first marriage ended in horrific fashion when she talked her lover into taking a beating without defending himself, so she could get full custody of her kid in the divorce. Turns out he was the lucky one in this story. Getting as far away from Tilly's machinations as possible. Lyle, her clueless paramour, becomes Tilly's new cuckhold. Together they work at the Clinton Prison and everyone there tries to tell the poor clueless clod that his wife is sleeping with the convicts. He won't listen, and his fate is the one tragedy in this story I wish could be altered. Right up to the very end, though, he stands by this awful woman, and whatever comes next in his life is his own damn fault. Played by an actor I've never heard of before, Eric Lange, he stands out among one of the best casts I've ever seen. But make no mistake. There are no weak links here. If I have any complaints, it's the tawdry sex involved. But clearly, that's an integral part of the story, and Stiller doesn't flinch from the seedy task. In a word, that shit is Gross. I'm so glad they decided to flesh this fascinating story into an eight-part series. No way a two or even three-hour movie could do justice to all its revolving parts. If you're looking for your next binge, this is it. I wish I had parceled it out better, rather than take in all eight episodes in two nights. But like a great book you just can't put down, Escape at Dannemora is too good to turn away from halfway through.

First of all, little Lindsay has great taste in movies. Forbidden Planet? The Thing? Forget about it. Second, little Tommy is a pussy. What Lindsey saw in in him is beyond me. Third, for someone so smart Laurie Strode sure was an idiot. Not bad enough she refuses to finish Michael Myers off, but must she leave a weapon handy for him every time? Fourth, Annie's dad has got to be the dumbest cop in America. Blasted in the face with the smoke from his daughter's doobie, he doesn't smell a thing. Shit, I bet Cheech and Chong smelled that weed clear over in El Segundo. All joking aside, Halloween gets better every year I watch it on 10/31. Thank you, Mr. Carpenter! Giver of the two greatest horror movies ever made! All hail the Pumpkin King!!!🎃

"Curious thing about this document. It was never notarized..."
Lucy Van Pelt.

Sergio Leone had Ennio Morricone. Steven Spielberg had John Williams. And Charles Schultz had Vince Guaraldi. Does the latter make Good into Great? Methinks so. I was four years old when this Halloween Mainstay first aired in 1966. I'd be lying if I said I remembered it that first night, but it's no exaggeration I've watched it every year since. The funny things you notice after so many airings. First, almost every single gag is from an actual Peanuts comic strip. Published in your friendly neighborhood funny pages long before you were ever born. Truisms, almost each and every one. For example: "Never jump in a pile of leaves with a wet sucker." Wise words, indeed. Charlie Brown's little sister Sally is just Charlie Brown in drag. Linus and Charlie Brown both look like they suffer from alopecia, while Schroeder has a full head of hair. What's up with that, Sparky? Lucy is reading a TV Guide with herself on the front cover. No wonder she's such a Primadonna. Did Peppermint Patty bump off the original Patty? Or is that some sorta transgender thing in the process? While most cartoon humans have only four fingers on each hand, Peanuts characters have all five. No fingernails either. Weird. Who's the freaking Peanuts character dressed up as a ghost with a coonskin hat? That's what I wanna know. Whoever drew the night skies in this cartoon was a mad genius. Either that or Van Gogh from the dead. Truly transcendental. Those are the most sincere pumpkin patches I've ever seen. Is Jack Skellington the Great Pumpkin? Someone should ask Tim Burton. I learned more about World War One from the Peanuts cartoons than I ever did in school. Violet, Patty, and Lucy were the original Mean Girls. What this show needed was some of those crazy dance moves seen in the Christmas episode. That shit was trippy. Schroeder was kind of a dick, wasn't he? Snoopy sounds just like an Ewok. Linus's impenetrable faith is awe inspiring. And last but not least, Charlie Brown should've chucked every single rock in his Trick 'R Treat bag through those assholes' windows. Good grief 😑

Like so many people these days, I'm a big fan of True Crime Docs. Have been ever since I saw The Thin Blue Line in 1988 and started questioning everything. I'll admit when the Menendez trials were going on I was like most people at the time. Two rich white boys (despite the Hispanic father) killing their parents so they could get their hands on their inheritance sooner? Fry the self entitled sonsabitches. I didn't buy the abuse allegations at the time, and even if they were true, why kill the mom? They say it was because they felt threatened by BOTH parents; that their folks were going to kill them to keep them from ruining their sterling reputation. Hmmm. That part still doesn't ring completely true all these years later. What I do believe happened was this: After years and years of physical, mental, and sexual abuse, Lyle and Eric decided enough was enough and they were going to not only put a stop to it once and for all but keep their mother from refuting their testimony in a court of law afterwards. We already know she was one of those low-life deniers. Willing to let the abuse go on and on, as long as the truth didn't come out and ruin her fantasy life. Making her in many ways more despicable than her shitbag spouse. Sacrificing her own sons at the altar of the Good Life! What a bitch. She deserved to die right alongside her rapist husband. Of course, the Justice System doesn't see it that way, and that's why the Big Lie was necessary. That Lyle and Eric were scared for their lives. Yet they could have left at any time. In doing so, however, they would have fortified their inheritance. And by God, they had EARNED every penny of that dirty money. If I'm on the jury? No way I convict the brothers of first-degree murder, even if I knew that's exactly what they were guilty of. To me, it's justifiable homicide. The dad at least. Killing your rapist and the enabler who was supposed to protect you? Yep, I got no problem with that. If only the brothers had come at it that way. Pled guilty, and then told the judge and jury exactly why they pulled the triggers that night. Present it in a way that begs the question: What would you have done if you were in my shoes?

My ex-wife after one too many pink Jello Shots😵

So let me get this straight. A ten-year-old kid with a Super Soaker, Slip n' Slide and some water ballons could've singlehandedly ended this invasion by himself? Looks like they got the wrong Caulkin to star in this pic. Kevin McCallister would've mopped the floor with these E.T.s 💦👽💥

Ugh! These are the kinda white trash hillbillies that make me embarrassed to be a Southerner. Knowing most people watching this are going to assume we're all a bunch of mush-mouthed losers who think this sort of outlaw shit is romantic. Ugh! A respected woman in the Alabama penal institution throwing away a stellar career and reputation for a six foot nine murderer who was headed straight for death row until she helped him escape. Just so we're clear and make no mistake, this dude belonged behind bars. So she arms this dangerous criminal to the teeth and puts at risk every single person they came into contact with later on! Including her own law enforcement brethren. As if all that's not bad enough, watching a documentary that's disturbingly sympathetic to these two shitbirds, is listening to all the assholes they interviewed who think their friends were just misunderstood lovers. Romanticizing them like Bonnie and Clyde on the run. Newsflash! Bonnie and Clyde were cop-killing punks who had to be gunned down like rabid dogs before they could hurt anybody else! I declare, isn't redneck love just grand y'all? I repeat, Ugh!

When I was coming-of-age in the seventies, we didn't have the internet, cell phones, or even a corner Blockbuster to depend on for our entertainment needs. For that matter, no cable either. So that meant no HBO or even TCM to fall back on when the movie theatre in town was playing a dud. What I did have was a monthly periodical called Famous Monsters of Filmland. A magazine devoted to the nerds of our day. Monster Kids like myself. Young boys who grew up watching their local Horror Host on late night television. Every city, big or small, had one. Some goofball dressed up like Dracula usually. Painted blood running from his mouth. Spouting corny jokes and generally getting on your nerves every commercial break. Unless, of course, your community had one of the better Horror Hosts working back then. Chilly Billy for instance. Or maybe Svengoolie or Zacherley. Hosts at the top of their game. Later on in the 80 's, you had the Queen of Scream herself, Elvira running the show. After her, Joe Bob Briggs was the man. Still is, in some places. So knowledgeable is Joe Bob, he doesn't even have to don the corny makeup to play host. Just his bolo tie and shitkickers, and he's ready to roll film, bubba! But for me and mine in 69, we had a used car salesman to turn to during the Witching Hours. Direct from Burnside Dodge every Saturday night at one A.M. Trying to sell prepubescent boys on his "deal of a lifetime!" Some lemon that an eighty-year-old grandma had in her garage and only drove on Sundays. And for fifty dollars down we could drive it right off the lot tonight! Cause Burnside Dodge was open late every Saturday night when their show ran on channel 13. This geek with a vampire cloak would roam the Burnside Dodge lot, cracking dumb jokes to the unlucky customers who "Just wanted to look around damnit!" Worse, he'd make jokes at the expense of whatever movie was playing that night. Honestly, that was the modus-operandi of all Horror Hosts back then. Except for monster nerds like myself (and there were thousands of us back then. Tens of thousands!), no one took these old horror movies seriously. Local TV stations would get them for a song, and they'd play 'em late at night, when I guess ad space was the cheapest. Anyway, without these local channels playing classics like Frankenstein, Dracula, The Wolfman, and The Mummy, monster nerds like myself would only have our beloved Famous Monsters of Filmland magazines to keep us informed. I knew all about these movies long before I ever saw them on channel 13. But those were the classics. The ones even our straight laced fathers knew about. Any dad back then could tell you the plot of King Kong. But The Blob? Only dads like ourselves would have the lowdown on that kind of "B" movie. The Brain that Wouldn't Die. Them! Invaders from Mars. Cat People. Wasp Woman. And one of my all time favorites, The Incredible Shrinking Man. If not for FMOF and good old Burnside Dodge, I wouldn't have learned or gotten to see any of these movies until cable TV came to town. But by then, real girls had stolen my focus from the finer things in life. My Monster Mania had been tossed out in the trash, along with my priceless collection of comic books, monster models, and worst of all, my entire run of FMOF. The horror. The horror. I remind my mother at least once a year she threw away my future fortune when she tossed out my childhood in the trash that day. But I digress. The Blob was a common late night entry back then. It must've been good for ratings, cause Burnside Dodge hosted that movie as often as TCM runs "Bridge Over the River Kwai." I sat through it every time regardless. I had to. It was my favorite two-hour block on television back then. Come what may, I was there for the duration. Sitting six-inches from the screen of our Zenith black-and-white in the kid's room downstairs. Think the basement in Eric Foreman's house, and you get the idea. Far enough away from mom and dad to later on experiment with beer and babes. But only if we kept the sound waaaay down on our television or stereo! Make them come downstairs, and it was Big Trouble in Little China, as we called our airless dungeon on Steppe Drive. In retrospect, that rarely happened. Now I realize they didn't even want to know what we were up to down there. Mostly just watching old monster movies like The Blob. The dude from Bullitt and The Great Escape wearing some dorky, button-down shirt with the tail tucked into his jeans. Haircut like Richie Cunningham on a date. Supposedly a juvenile delinquent, too. What?!? Wear a getup like that in our school and you'd be called a Narc for the rest of your livelong life. So he's dating Helen Crump from the Andy Griffith Show, when this meteorite containing the Blob interrupts the Submarine Races on Lovers Lane. The two of 'em get the rest of the button-downed J.D's from Mayberry and they spend the next ninety minutes trying to convince the local cops they aren't high. When the cops give 'em the brush off anyway, Barney and Thelma Lou take matters into their own hands and freeze the big gumball once and for all. Whereupon a military helicopter gives the Blob a free ride all the way up to the North Pole, where it can become roomies with Thing One and Thing Two. In other words, Thing versions from '51 and '82. A big fat THE END comes rushing at you as the credits rolled, with an even bigger and fatter question mark??? Letting you know, it really isn't over at all. Insert maniacal laughter HERE. The fact that I always watched these movies with all the lights off in Little China, my face practically pressed into the picture tube, made all the more impression on my adolescent psyche. Convinced my mom was listening for Shenanigans at the top of the stairs. Ready to bust my one-man party and send me to bed with that direst of warnings: "Just wait till your father hears about this, young man!" The Blob is the quintessential Burnside Dodge Late Late Monster Mash Show. A 90 minute movie bulked out to two hours, with our Horror Host trying to sell used pick up trucks to kids who couldn't even see over the damn steering wheel. I can't for the life of me remember that dude's stage name, but he'd always sign off with a peace sign and a wolfman howl: "Keep on truckin', baby! Keep on truckin'!"

First of all, every negative thing ever uttered about this movie is undoubtedly true. And yet...it's still strangely compelling. And not because "It's so bad, it's good," either. The reason why so many of us return to this movie, even with all the godawful dialogue and faulty reasoning, is because it taps into something dark and foreboding in our conscious. A sense of impending doom that lets us as a human race know our time on earth is not infinite but measured like the sands in an hourglass. Remember that scene in The Wizard of Oz? The Wicked Witch leaves an hourglass in Dorothy's cell, letting her know just how much time she has left on earth. That red sand, slipping away so soft and fast. As a kid and beyond, that scene really shook me up. Now as a 62 year old man I know why. My own sand is running out these days. The end draws nigh. But perhaps the world and all who live in it won't be that far behind me. That's the gravity this movie holds over some of us. That deep sense of dread that all is not right with our world. Whether it'll be another Chicxulub asteroid that kills off all manner of mammals, or a virus with no possible cure or vaccine. A more likely scenario the way we're going is Nuclear Armageddon. That ticking time bomb has never been closer to midnight than it is right now. Or maybe it's not the END we instinctively fear. But a calamity like Civil War and the breakdown of society. I for one fear this coming election more than any of those other possibilities. Whatever the result it won't bring us closer as a nation. Those days of so called Unity are gone forever. But the real divorce happens AFTER the election is called. That's when the clock strikes twelve for Democracy, and America turns into the fabled pumpkin. God, I hope I'm just being a foolish old man. But that's the kind of deep-set fear I'm talking about that inhabits every one of us to some degree. I just think those of us who return to this awful movie, time and time again, feel it maybe more than others. Asteroid, deadly virus, nuclear holocaust, terrorist attack, global meltdown, civil war, or the very trees, grass, and wind telling us to stick our head into a running lawn mower. Whatever the outcome, It's your intuition telling you that time is running out. And enjoy it while you can...

Not to be confused with THE Sting or the singer by that title. Either of which makes better use of the name. An alien arachnid named Sting. Yawn. 😴

I find it fascinating to watch the human race's deepest fears and superstitions played out in this 90 minute American folk tale. Set so authentically in the puritanical beginnings of this country. The very thing which gave these devout Pilgrims so much comfort also led them down some very dark hallways as well. The Holy Bible. As a Christian myself, I know there is great danger in the so called Good Book. Make no mistake, greater Good exists there! But also great danger. Only those with wisdom and discernment are capable of separating the wheat from the chaff. Whatever it is you seek, you shall find it there. Good and evil alike. Weak minds often interpret their own immoral actions as just and righteous by the scriptures themselves. The Antebellum South could point to chapter and verse on how slavery was actually commanded by God. A righteous and noble thing, they argued in the halls of Congress! No surprise then that those same devout citizens, convinced God was on their side, started a Civil War to prove they were right. Irrational fears and superstitions were often seen as signs from God by these self righteous people. Or the devil, as the case may be. 2015's The Witch has only gotten more disturbing with time. Relevatory, too. A horror film made even more horrifying by the thought that otherwise good and decent people were driven to banish and oftentimes kill their own offspring, for fear they were witches or possessed of the devil. Of course, The Witch up-ends all that supposition by daring to suppose, what if our forebears were right all along? That perhaps the Salem Witches were indeed real. That America in its puritanical beginnings was one big wasteland of witches and warlocks. Flying around on brooms and drinking the blood of innocent babes. The thought of which is only fun in the flights of fantasy. To contemplate otherwise is to court madness and damnation. The Witch is one of those rare horror movies where I can't look away. The settings, the pious Pilgrims, the language, and the very land itself. So fearsome it was back then! Forests so thick and wild you could get lost just by stepping into them. Trees with canopies the size of city blocks. Native Indians vastly outnumbering the inept settlers, and ready to kill the white devils the instant they wandered too far from their settlements. Bears so big they could blot out the sun. Cougars and wolves taking their fair share, too. Rivers so wild and deep that to set foot in them was certain death. Blizzards and wildfires and storms much more violent than anything these pale Europeans had ever experienced before. So much to fear, and yet they turned to their own faith to create monsters that were never there to begin with. And if killing your own offspring isn't the most horrible thing imaginable, I don't know what is. Well, how bout try this on for size? Letting those same puritanical pinheads tell you who to vote for in November. Madness, I say. Sheer madness.

Horror is too subjective to ever really say The Greatest Horror Movies ever made. No, it's nothing more than opinion. Here's my list though. I hate CGI, so nothing too modern makes my cut. Once I got near fifty, I was scraping the bottom of the barrel. The horror genre has fewer excellent movies than any other in film. Lots of fun but mediocre fare once you get past that number. It all depends on your point of view of course. My top five I feel are pretty solid though.

1. The Exorcist
2. The Thing
3. The Shining
4. Halloween
5. Alien
6. Night of the Living Dead
7. Invasion of the Body Snatchers
8. Jaws
9. The Blair Witch Project
10. Psycho

...plus 40 more. View the full list on Letterboxd.

As Jean Shepherd wrote in A Christmas Story, "Christmas! The one day of the year in which the whole Kid Year revolves!"
58 years later and it still is the one day in which this kid's year revolves. These are my favorite Christmas films ranked, though by no means my only Christmas movies. Just the ones I HAVE to watch before the Big Day arrives.

• A Christmas Story
• It's a Wonderful Life
• Scrooge
• Home Alone
• National Lampoon's Christmas Vacation
• The Homecoming: A Christmas Story
• Love Actually
• The Nativity Story
• The Bishop's Wife
• Miracle on 34th Street

...plus 25 more. View the full list on Letterboxd.

I was fortunate enough to grow up during the greatest decade of film. The studios were willing to experiment like never before or since. Corporate was still a dirty wood in Hollywood, and directors were the new stars. Except for disco, the music was better than ever and so were the soundtracks. Cars had not yet lost their sense of style either. Comic books cost less than a quarter. Baseball card packs even less. And if you were smart enough to take care of both of them? Well, lets just say, a week's allowance back then could have made you a future millionaire. But hey, you didn't need to know the future to know that Godfather (One AND Two!), Apocalypse Now, Star Wars, Taxi Driver, Halloween, and Alien were still going to be some of the greatest movies ever made a hundred years from now! For those of us who came of age back then, it's been a sad and discouraging trip ever since. Except for the clothes, the 70s were arguably the best decade ever. But as far as film goes? Sorry, fellow cinephiles. No argument whatsoever will be entertained by those of us who grew up back then. Compiled off the top of my head, so please don't judge the placement. Some at the bottom deserve better. No doubt I'm forgetting so many more that should've made my list. Thanks for looking.

• The Godfather
• The Godfather Part II
• Star Wars
• Apocalypse Now
• Taxi Driver
• Alien
• Chinatown
• One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest
• Annie Hall
• The French Connection

...plus 65 more. View the full list on Letterboxd.

Kudos to Stephen M. who gave me the idea for movies from the year I was born. The tag line of course is from American Graffiti. Only listed films I've seen and enjoyed, although some I haven't gotten round to reviewing just yet. In no particular order and excluding way more than I'd like...

• Lawrence of Arabia
• To Kill a Mockingbird
• Cape Fear
• Days of Wine and Roses
• Gigot
• The Longest Day
• Lolita
• The Man Who Shot Liberty Valance
• Lonely are the Brave
• Requiem for a Heavyweight

...plus 20 more. View the full list on Letterboxd.

My list is meant more for the investigative side of journalism. Hence the absence of journalistic movies like Citizen Kane, Network, and Broadcast News. I love movies like Spotlight, where the heroes are newspaper men and women. Digging the truth out of the dirt no matter how painful it is to hear. My mind tends to wander in most movies, but never in this genre. I find this stuff fascinating. Most of these are probably pretty well known by most members of Letterboxd, except perhaps "Shattered Glass." If you haven't seen it yet I urge you to do so. If I could add the last season of The Wire, I'd do so, when the storyline revolved around the inner workings of a Baltimore newspaper on its last legs.

• Spotlight
• All the President's Men
• Shattered Glass
• The Post
• Capote
• Ace in the Hole
• Good Night, and Good Luck.
• The Paper
• Absence of Malice
• Veronica Guerin

Some good, some truly awful. All disturbing and not for the eyes and ears of anyone under the age of seventeen, much less ten years old!

• Cannibal Holocaust
• The Texas Chain Saw Massacre
• The Exorcist
• I Spit on Your Grave
• The Last House on the Left
• The Blair Witch Project
• Last Tango in Paris
• Faces of Death
• A Clockwork Orange
• Audition

My favorite 007 movies. I clearly prefer Sean Connery, but the only other actors worth a damn in this role are Roger Moore and Daniel Craig. My ratings don't necessarily reflect my rankings. It's no surprise the series ran out of steam when they ran out of original James Bond stories, written by the spymaster himself, Ian Fleming.

1. Goldfinger
2. Thunderball
3. You Only Live Twice
4. On Her Majesty's Secret Service
5. Dr. No
6. From Russia with Love
7. Casino Royale
8. Live and Let Die
9. The Spy Who Loved Me
10. For Your Eyes Only

...plus 1 more. View the full list on Letterboxd.

As someone who'd rather read a good book than go to a good movie, this list for me was longer than I anticipated. Some might disagree with me, especially on Shawshank Redemption, but while I don't think many of these films are necessarily BETTER than the book, I do believe many of them are just as good. Both Godfather and Jaws in my opinion are better movies than books, hands down. Several movies on the list had other titles as books, again like Shawshank, while others started out as short stories. Feel free to disagree with any of my choices or include your own;)

• The Godfather
• Jaws
• Schindler's List
• Fantastic Mr. Fox
• No Country for Old Men
• Forrest Gump
• Psycho
• The Shawshank Redemption
• The Thing
• Jackie Brown

...plus 22 more. View the full list on Letterboxd.

If you don't like these fright films then you and I have nothing to say to each other when it comes to the horror genre. In no particular order. Note, no films with CGI can be found on this list. At least I don't think so. Many great films like Rosemary's Baby and Texas Chainsaw Massacre don't make my cut, but not because they're not favorite horror films for me. They are, but I understand why many people dislike them. But as far as a Litmus test goes, that shows if our taste in the macabre is the same, these particular movies are not up for debate with me.

• The Thing
• Frankenstein
• Bride of Frankenstein
• The Shining
• The Exorcist
• Jaws
• Alien
• Let the Right One In
• Night of the Living Dead
• Dawn of the Dead

...plus 10 more. View the full list on Letterboxd.

In no particular order, here is my list of what I consider the greatest acting performances of all time. At least those that I've seen. The movies themselves are secondary in this regard. List is currently in progress...

• Sling Blade

  Billy Bob Thornton disappears and Karl Childers takes over every facet of his body and personality. With little to no makeup, Thornton transforms completely into another man. Its almost scary to watch. In my opinion the greatest acting performance of all time.

• Raging Bull

  Robert DeNiro earned this Best Actor nomination and win by putting his body through hell to play the actual raging bull, Jake LaMotta.

• In Cold Blood

  Robert Blake bore an eerie resemblance to the killer Perry Smith in Truman Capote's In Cold Blood. But even without that advantage he had this guy down cold. Blake's own life bore the same hardships and heartaches of Richard Perry's. Clearly Blake understood this man better the killer's own mother.

• One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest

  Seriously, could any actor have pulled off R.P. McMurphy like the great Jack Nicholson? No, I think not. Jack IS R.P. McMurphy!

• Midnight Cowboy

  A Dustin Hoffman performance that inspired a Muppet Character. Ever wonder where they got the idea for Rizzo the Rat? That's Ratzo Rizzo from Midnight Cowboy. Hoffman plays a street person who guides newcomer Joe Buck to the NYC scene. Teaching him in the ins and outs of being homeless in the biggest city on earth. One of my favorite acting performances. Hard to see Hoffman as anyone else once you witness his performance.

• Monster

  Not a big fan of this movie, but Charlize Theron gives one of the greatest performances of all time, portraying real life serial killer, Aileen Wournos. With very little makeup they transform one of the most beautiful women on earth into the Blair Fucking Witch. Wow.

• The Silence of the Lambs

  Anthony Hopkins as Hannibal the Cannibal Lector. Say no more.

• The Godfather

  Marlon Brando gives the greatest performance of his already illustrious career, playing Mafia don, Vito Corleone. Truly one of the greatest performances of all time. The fact that he was still a young man when he auditioned for this part astounds me.

• The Godfather Part II

  Al Pacino takes up where Brando left off, making The Godfather Saga the best actors movie of all time. His performance as reluctant head of the Corleone family, Michael Corleone, should have garnered him Best Actor that year, but he was robbed once again.

• Sophie's Choice

  Meryl Streep shows why she is the greatest female actor Hollywood ever produced. Her performance as tragic Sophie, A Holocaust survivor, who was forced to make an impossible decision, remains one of the most heart wrenching displays of acting I've ever seen.

...plus 30 more. View the full list on Letterboxd.

These are the four movies I look to to determine if a fellow cinephile has anything in common with me. My litmus test so to speak. While "The Godfather" is my favorite movie, I realize not everyone likes gangster melodramas. Many movies are like this. They belong to a genre that might not be for every film lover. But THESE movies on my list should in fact be loved by every so called cinephile. And if you don't, we simply can't be friends:(

• The Apartment
• Marty
• 12 Angry Men
• Fargo

I love sports themed movies. Baseball and boxing being my go to movies in this genre. So many great ones to choose from. Not so with golf. It just doesn't translate as well to film. None rank up there with movies like Rocky, Raging Bull, The Natural or Field of Dreams. But if you're into the sport as much as I am, then they're very enjoyable.

• Caddyshack

  Not long on actual golf, but still the best of the lot.

• The Greatest Game Ever Played

  Based on the best sports book ever written, in my opinion. Movie doesn't quite live up to the actual feat by Francis Ouimet, but probably the most rewatchable of the lot. Shia Lobeof does a great job.

• Tin Cup

  Kevin Costner kills as hardheaded Roy McAvoy. Still, no golfer worth his salt would EVER give up a US Open by not taking a damn drop!

• Happy Gilmore

  Stupid silly, but funny as shit. The actual golf is some of the dumbest potrayed in any golf movie.

• The Legend of Bagger Vance

  Terrible casting. This movie cries out for Morgan Freeman. In fairness, Will Smith is great, but just too young to really pull it off. He aint nearly as bad as Matt Damon is though. Worst swing ever for a golf movie. Great golf overall though. A true golf movie.

• Bobby Jones: Stroke of Genius

  Only a golf fan would enjoy this movie about one of the greatest golf legends. Good golf sequences. Jim Caviesel has a good swing. Very much like Bobby himself.

• Follow the Sun

  Glenn Ford as the great Ben Hogan. Servicable golf. Not very accurate though.

• A Gentleman's Game

  Coming of age on a golf course. The book is much better.

• Tommy's Honour

  Again, only golf fans need apply. I loved it.

• The Caddy

  Best thing about this movie is the real golf pros starring at the time. Ben Hogan, Byron Nelson are in the movie. A real treat for die hards. Surprisingly, Dean and Jerry have two of the best golf swings from movie stars. Funny movie, too.

In no particular order

• Miss Potter
• My Left Foot: The Story of Christy Brown
• Lust for Life
• An American in Paris
• Mona Lisa Smile
• The Elephant Man
• Chaplin
• American Splendor
• Ghost World
• An Angel at My Table

I tried to keep my list to a top ten but it was impossible. Not really ranked either. Just off the top of my head.

• Chinatown
• L.A. Confidential
• La La Land
• Sunset Boulevard
• The Big Lebowski
• Swingers
• The Player
• Jackie Brown
• Heat
• Fast Times at Ridgemont High

...plus 10 more. View the full list on Letterboxd.

This is a work in progress. Still culling through my favorites. Not sure some of these, like Napoleon Dynamite and Ferris Beuler truly belong in this category. Don't pay too much attention to the rankings. After the top ten it was pretty much stream of concious.

1. Stand by Me
2. Breaking Away
3. Summer of '42
4. The Outsiders
5. Hope and Glory
6. Little Fugitive
7. American Graffiti
8. Brighton Beach Memoirs
9. The Breakfast Club
10. Brooklyn

...plus 41 more. View the full list on Letterboxd.

1. 12 Angry Men
2. The Grapes of Wrath
3. The Ox-Bow Incident
4. Fail Safe
5. Mister Roberts
6. Once Upon a Time in the West
7. My Darling Clementine
8. On Golden Pond
9. Young Mr. Lincoln
10. The Wrong Man

1. The Big Lebowski
2. Fargo
3. O Brother, Where Art Thou?
4. Raising Arizona
5. When Harry Met Sally...
6. Notting Hill
7. Marty
8. Planes, Trains and Automobiles
9. Caddyshack
10. Waking Ned Devine

...plus 6 more. View the full list on Letterboxd.

Not ranked; just off the top of my head. If it was ranked I'd have to put "Asphalt Jungle" in the top five.

• The Killing
• Reservoir Dogs
• The Sting
• Jackie Brown
• Rififi
• The Usual Suspects
• Heat
• Thief
• Dog Day Afternoon
• The Town

...plus 20 more. View the full list on Letterboxd.

Im pretty sure Alien had some cgi but my main reason for putting it on my list, at number one no less, is the Alien itself. Nothing CGI about it. CGI is the kiss of death to any horror movie aspiring to be anything more than a future bargain bin movie at Walmart. CGI effects might fool the brain better than practical effects, but viscerouly they have no emotional impact.

• Alien
• The Thing
• King Kong
• Frankenstein
• An American Werewolf in London
• The Incredible Shrinking Man
• Jaws
• Dawn of the Dead
• Nosferatu
• Forbidden Planet

1. Rocky
2. Rudy
3. The Karate Kid
4. Seabiscuit
5. Hoosiers
6. Breaking Away
7. Cinderella Man
8. The Bad News Bears
9. Moneyball
10. The Set-Up

When compiling my list I ranked those directors I tend to watch the most. Usually the ones with the most films I love under their belts. Only those with at least two favorite movies of mine made the cut. While Tarantino is my favorite director, I believe Steven Speilberg is the greatest filmmaker of all time. Ozu is hands down my favorite foriegn director.

1. Pulp Fiction

   I actually enjoy QT's Kill Bill franchise the most, but Pulp is definitely his masterpiece. I remember when it opened at my theatre on Hilton Head, and how at first I didn't know what to make of it. It was the first film I'd ever seen where the director was the star of the show. Now I can't get enough of QT's films. I love each and every one.
   #2-Kill Bill 1 and 2
   #3-Reservoir Dogs
   #4-Inglorious Basterds
   #5-Django
   #6-Once Upon a Time in Hollywood
   #7-Jackie Brown
   #8-Death Proof
   #9-The Hateful Eight

2. Schindler's List

   Arguably the greatest director of all time. And this is his finest film.
   #2-Raiders of the Lost Ark
   #3-Jaws
   #4-Saving Private Ryan
   #5-ET
   #6-Close Encounters of the Third Kind
   #7-Sugarland Express
   #8-Catch Me if You Can
   #9-Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom
   #10-Empire of the Sun
   #11-Duel
   #12-Lincoln

3. The Big Lebowski

   The Cohen brothers definately have the kind of sense of humor I find the most funny. Also wonderful, "Fargo", "O' Brother Where art Thou?" , and "Raising Arizona." Outside of the comedy genre, No Country for Old Men, Miller's Crossing.

4. GoodFellas

   Martin Scorsece. Ranked for me would be Goodfellas, Raging Bull, Casino, Taxi Driver, Departed, The Irishman, and Mean Streets

5. The Apartment

   Billy Wilder is my favorite old school director. He excelled in any genre but comedy was his forte.
   #2-Sunset Boulevard
   #3-Some Like it Hot
   #4-Stalag 17
   #5-The Seven Year Itch
   #6-Ace in the Hole

6. Rear Window

   It's Hitchcock, baby. Nuff said.
   #2-Psycho
   #3-The birds
   #4-Vertigo
   #5-Strangers on a Train
   #6-North by Northwest

7. Modern Times

   Charlie Chaplin was a true genius and is one of the only directors of the silent era whose work remains relevant and funny as hell.
   #2-City Lights
   #3-Modern Times
   #4-The Great Dictator
   #5-Limelight
   #6-The Circus
   #7-Gold Rush
   #8-The Kid

8. Tokyo Story

   Yazujiro Ozu is without a doubt my favorite foreign film director. His movies remind me of the British kitchen sink dramas of the 50s and 60s. Movies about what happens within the walls of ones on home. Simple dramas that on the face of it sound quite dull but are anything but.
   #2-Tokyo Twilight
   #3-Good Morning
   #4-I was Born, but...
   #5-Good Morning
   #6-Record of a Tenement Gentleman

9. The Searchers

   John Ford. The Spielberg of his day. So many great movies. My other favorites of his are "The Quiet Man", "Mr Roberts" and "The Man Who Killed Liberty Valance."

10. The Godfather

    My favorite movie, period. Other Coppola movies ranked...
    #2-Godfather Part Two
    #3-Apocolypse Now
    #4-The Conversation

...plus 90 more. View the full list on Letterboxd.

Like most film fans, I tend to watch those documentaries that focus on a subject I already find interesting. Thus, famous docs like "March of the Penguins" and "An Inconvienant Truth" don't even make my cut, although I do plan to see them someday. I also steer clear of documentarians that have an axe to grind. Like Michael Moore and that dispicable Dinesh D'Souza. They cannot be trusted to tell the Truth. Last on my list is Lionel Rogosin's "On The Bowery", which isn't a true documentary. Otherwise it would be further up my list. "Cocaine Cowboys" is my favorite doc, but Ken Burns Civil War series is the cream of the crop here.

1. Cocaine Cowboys

   The most fascinating documentary I've ever seen. Watched it dozens of times. The one I end up recommening the most. Love the show Narcos on Netflix? Then this is right up your alley.

2. The Civil War

   Before this doc I never had any real interest in the Civil War, but Ken Burns brings the whole thing alive without the benifit of any actual film footage! I think its the greatest documerntary of all time.

3. The War

   I've been a history buff on WW2 snce I was a little kid and started playing with my GI Joes. One of those few times in history when the line between Good and Evil was so clearly defined. This time we were the good guys. This is my favorite of the WW2 docs.

4. The World at War

   The most detailed of any WW2 doc. A bit dry at times but it shines when discussing the Russian campaign.

5. Hearts and Minds
6. The Vietnam War

   Wow. Everything you need to know about the Vietnam War is here. Like his Civil War doc, Ken Burns leaves no stone unturned.

7. Won't You Be My Neighbor?

   What a wonderful human being. If everyone could be more like Fred Rogers the world would be a paradise.

8. Shoah

   Hard to watch. But a film everyone should see just so we never forget it could all (and does) happen again.

9. Harlan County U.S.A.

   A great documentarian can make any subject fascinating. And this one does, showing the drama played out in a coal mining community in Harlan County Kentucky during a coal miners strike. He makes you care what happens to these people very few of us have anything in common with.

10. Baseball

    Not Ken Burns best but anyone who loves the sport of Baseball will also love this highly indepth history of the game.

...plus 20 more. View the full list on Letterboxd.

Forever Adapting List. Some movies are more well known than others. "Marty" and "The Apartment" might be familiar to most movie buffs but maybe not so to the younger generations. Will be constantly adding to this list as the mood or memory strikes me.

• Breaking Away
• Little Fugitive
• Hope and Glory
• Shadowlands
• Tyrannosaur
• The Last Picture Show
• Paper Moon
• Fanboys
• Bernie
• Waiting for Guffman

...plus 137 more. View the full list on Letterboxd.

• Rocky

I first discovered this British genre after I'd already seen a few great examples on TCM over the years (God bless John Osborne). I didnt know there was a name for this genre (British dramas focusing on the mundane problems of blue collar Brits. In other words, dramas that tend to take place around the kitchen sink), all I knew was I enjoyed watching life play itself out around ordinary people with ordinary problems. The fact they were British gave them a bit more flavoring. Tony Richardson was the king of this Genre.

1. Saturday Night and Sunday Morning
2. A Taste of Honey
3. The Loneliness of the Long Distance Runner
4. Look Back in Anger
5. The L-Shaped Room
6. Kes
7. This Sporting Life
8. Alfie
9. The Entertainer
10. Georgy Girl

...plus 1 more. View the full list on Letterboxd.

Movies so BAD, they're good.

1. Plan 9 from Outer Space
2. The Room
3. Dolemite
4. Robot Monster
5. Jaws 3-D
6. The Terror of Tiny Town
7. Mommie Dearest
8. Jack and Jill
9. Santa Claus Conquers the Martians
10. Bride of the Monster

...plus 6 more. View the full list on Letterboxd.

I enjoy a good cry better than most guys and these are the ones that always leave me red-eyed and emotionally exhausted. Thought I'd have trouble thinking of fifty films in this genre but it was easy in fact. Left quite a few good ones off. Almost embarrased to put The Notebook on here but damnit, it belongs on any Tearjerker List. My top 14 are the hardest on my Kleenex box though. Top four and I'm useless the next day.

1. Shadowlands
2. Schindler's List
3. Million Dollar Baby
4. The Green Mile
5. The Yearling
6. Old Yeller
7. Philadelphia
8. Grave of the Fireflies
9. Umberto D.
10. The Passion of the Christ

...plus 40 more. View the full list on Letterboxd.

Not usually one of my favorite genres, thus I had to work harder than most of my lists. But the ones I do like tend to be some of my favorite movies period. If I had to choose two actors above all the rest in this genre it would be Tom Hanks and Meg Ryan.

1. Annie Hall
2. Sleepless in Seattle
3. When Harry Met Sally...
4. You've Got Mail
5. The Big Sick
6. Say Anything...
7. Notting Hill
8. Marty
9. The Apartment
10. Bringing Up Baby

...plus 20 more. View the full list on Letterboxd.

My favorite genre these days. Sooo many great films I'm sure I left many of them off my list. I didn't rank them but the top ten are a etty close bet. Others near the bottom should be further up the list.

1. The Godfather
2. The Godfather Part II
3. GoodFellas
4. Pulp Fiction
5. Reservoir Dogs
6. Once Upon a Time... in Hollywood
7. L.A. Confidential
8. Road to Perdition
9. The Departed
10. Heat

...plus 90 more. View the full list on Letterboxd.

What a hard list to compile! Comedy is such a relative genre. What one guy finds funny, so many others may not. First twenty are pretty solid for me but it soon falls apart after that. That's why I didn't rank them. Just an impossible task. Tried to keep it to 100 so I left a ton off. Next to horror the hardest genre to get right for a film maker. There are a lot of great funny movies, but suprisingly few which would be considered critically acclaimed. Its a difficult task juggling the need to be funny while telling a complete story. My list contains my favorites, not neccesarily the greatest comedies though. The king of comedy directors, though, has to be the Cohen Brothers with six movies on my list. I left off the great Charlie Chaplin, who would have dominated this list. He deserves his own list later on.

1. Planes, Trains and Automobiles
2. The Big Lebowski
3. Fargo
4. O Brother, Where Art Thou?
5. Napoleon Dynamite
6. Office Space
7. The Graduate
8. Jojo Rabbit
9. Young Frankenstein
10. The Apartment

...plus 91 more. View the full list on Letterboxd.

So much I haven't seen but these are my favorite thus far.

1. Cinema Paradiso
2. Tokyo Story
3. Parasite
4. Bicycle Thieves
5. Elevator to the Gallows
6. Rififi
7. Shoplifters
8. Diabolique
9. Rashomon
10. Seven Samurai

...plus 40 more. View the full list on Letterboxd.

Not neccessarily in order of greatness, just my personal favorites. Left off most of the Holocaust movies, which I feel is a genre unto itself now. But there's no way I can make a greatest war films list without Schindler's List at #1. So many more war films I would love to see, like "The Human Condition" trilogy set in Japan during WW2.

1. Schindler's List
2. Saving Private Ryan
3. Inglourious Basterds
4. Apocalypse Now
5. 1917
6. The Enemy Below
7. Das Boot
8. The Dirty Dozen
9. Paths of Glory
10. The Longest Day

...plus 50 more. View the full list on Letterboxd.

Film noir is a hard category for me to quantify. While there is a standard definition for Noir movies, bleak urban landscapes populated mostly with greedy, corrupt individuals; high doses of cynicism and a fatalistic mindset throughout, shot with deep shadows and usually in black & white, I've always thought of the genre as more of a "gut feeling." For most film fans, "Vertigo" is one of the greatest examples of this genre, but not for me. Just a gut feeling it doesn't truly there. Here are my favorite examples of the genre ranked. Billy Wilder and Hitchcock are my favored directors here. My ratings for the movies themselves aren't always reflective of my choices.

1. The Asphalt Jungle
2. Nightmare Alley
3. The Killing
4. Kiss Me Deadly
5. The Night of the Hunter
6. Sunset Boulevard
7. Double Indemnity
8. Chinatown
9. Out of the Past
10. The Naked City

...plus 15 more. View the full list on Letterboxd.

Growing up, horror movies, westerns, war movies, and the occasional Disney film were all I gave a crap about. But horror movies reigned supreme for me! And though I still love the occasional horror movie today at the ripe old age of 58, they tend to be the worst kind of drek. In my opinion, Horror is the hardest genre to get right. At least 90% of all horror movies are just plain awful. No imagination on the filmmaker's part, and no respect for their audience either. You can't just throw around some blood and call it a day. Way down on my list is Texas Chainsaw Massacre. Not because I think its the worst of the lot. But because it represents the kind of horror movie lazy film-makers tend to make in this genre nowadays. Movies lacking in imagination and any sense of right and wrong. Just shock and awe.

1. The Exorcist

   The only truly scarey movie on my list. At least for me. Can't watch it alone.

2. The Thing

   This is the movie I point to when pointing out, at least in the horror genre, that practical effects are far superior tp CGI. One of those rare remakes that are better than the original. Gets better with each viewing.

3. Night of the Living Dead

   Romero made a movie that utilized the first elements of the horror genre. The Living Dead. Whether you're talking about Nosferatu, Frankenstein, or Dracula, they were all Living Dead. But Romero revived this precept and made it his own.

4. Invasion of the Body Snatchers

   Not a movie about the Red Scare, as some would have you believe. But a truly original idea in a genre usually lacking in that. One of the real classics.

5. Jaws

   Yes, it's Horror. Eaten alive? That's Horror in its purest sense.

6. Alien

   Some would argue that Alien is science fiction, but they're wrong.

7. The Shining

   Another great score. Maybe the best ever for a horror movie. I love the book much more than the movie, but Kubrick got three things right with his film version. One, the score, of course. Two, the locales. The Overlook really does feel isolated and on top of the world almost. Three, the maze. A better plot device than Stephen King's roque court, which Kubrick removed entirely from the movie. Unfortunately, the one thing Kubrick got wrong was the love Jack Torrance felt for his family. Especially his son. The most frightening element in The Shining is the way the hotel possesses Jack and drives him to murder his loved ones! Kubrick went straight for the throat and made Jack insane almost from the very begining. A shame, otherwise a great movie.

8. The Silence of the Lambs

   Is it truly horror? Debateable. But if its going to make any list it needs to be in the top twenty at least.

9. Halloween

   Like Jaws, Halloween proves how important the right score is to a movie. Especially to a horror movie.

10. Frankenstein

    Its impact isn't the same as in 1931, or even when I was a kid in the sixties and seventies, but cinematically it's THE most important horror movie ever made. The genisis of the genre itself.

...plus 94 more. View the full list on Letterboxd.

My current top 25 for the time being. Like my most cinephiles my picks are conatantly changing or swapping slots. Except for the first two. Those have stayed the same for me since I first saw them back in the seventies.

1. The Godfather
2. The Godfather Part II
3. The Shawshank Redemption
4. Schindler's List
5. Rocky
6. Jaws
7. Cinema Paradiso
8. Raiders of the Lost Ark
9. Pulp Fiction
10. GoodFellas

...plus 15 more. View the full list on Letterboxd.

My early love of comedy started off with the Three Stooges, which led to further slapstick with the great Jerry Lewis. As I grew older I outgrew Jerry but have recently begun to rediscover his genius. I have to admit, the French were right about him. His earlier works with Dean Martin are still my favorites but his later solo works show how his genius had grown. Unfortunatly, the truth every comediane must learn is Funny has an expiration date for everyone, and as time went on Jerry's antics no longer seemed funny, only desperate. Comedy is for the young. But that's why film is important! We can always revisit young Jerry and see what was so damn funny back then.

1. The Nutty Professor
2. Artists and Models
3. The Bellboy
4. The Stooge
5. Sailor Beware
6. That's My Boy
7. Scared Stiff
8. The Ladies Man
9. The Disorderly Orderly
10. The Caddy

...plus 15 more. View the full list on Letterboxd.

Billy Wilder is my favorite old school director. The man was fluent in so many genres. Drama. Comedy. Crime Noir. War. Romance. Whatever he tried his hand at. I added "Sabrina" and "Private Life of Sherlock Holmes" even though I havent seen them yet. I have no doubt Ill love them when I do.

1. The Apartment
2. Some Like It Hot
3. Sunset Boulevard
4. Stalag 17
5. The Seven Year Itch
6. The Lost Weekend
7. Double Indemnity
8. Ace in the Hole
9. Witness for the Prosecution
10. The Fortune Cookie

...plus 5 more. View the full list on Letterboxd.

I grew up on Disney animation and that will always be good enough for me. Every animated movie or cartoon short today owes everything to Walt Disney. The man, not the company.

1. Pinocchio
2. Toy Story
3. Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs
4. Peter Pan
5. Dumbo
6. Fantasia
7. One Hundred and One Dalmatians
8. Lady and the Tramp
9. The Sword in the Stone
10. Up

...plus 10 more. View the full list on Letterboxd.

As a kid and even as a teenager, back in the sixties and seventies, these low budget horror films were my favorite in the genre. Didn't have to think too hard about the plot or meaning. Just plain fun. As I've gotten older its harder for me to be so forgiving. But we all have to start from somewhere, right? Not necessarily from first to worst, here's my list of B horror movies. The ones that DIDN'T make the cut to my favorite list anyway!

1. The Little Shop of Horrors
2. Them!
3. The Blob
4. The Wasp Woman
5. The Tingler
6. Sssssss
7. A Bucket of Blood
8. Invaders from Mars
9. Blacula
10. Plan 9 from Outer Space

...plus 50 more. View the full list on Letterboxd.

My favorite Charlie Chaplin movies. The only true cinematic genius. I left off his shorts here because there's so many I haven't seen. Nor have I seen his last movie either, A King in New York.

1. Modern Times
2. The Great Dictator
3. City Lights
4. The Gold Rush
5. Limelight
6. The Circus
7. The Kid
8. Monsieur Verdoux

I love a good football movie but there aren't too many to choose from.

• Rudy
• Friday Night Lights
• The Longest Yard
• Brian's Song
• All the Right Moves
• North Dallas Forty
• Remember the Titans
• Invincible
• Any Given Sunday
• Draft Day

...plus 1 more. View the full list on Letterboxd.

My Top Twenty baseball movies.

1. The Natural
2. Moneyball
3. Bull Durham
4. Field of Dreams
5. The Bad News Bears
6. Eight Men Out
7. The Pride of the Yankees
8. The Bingo Long Traveling All-Stars & Motor Kings
9. Major League
10. A League of Their Own

...plus 10 more. View the full list on Letterboxd.

My Favorite sports movies ranked. Have a feeling I've forgotten some

1. Rocky
2. Rudy
3. The Natural
4. Breaking Away
5. Moneyball
6. Million Dollar Baby
7. Raging Bull
8. Bull Durham
9. Field of Dreams
10. The Karate Kid

...plus 40 more. View the full list on Letterboxd.

Maybe the most important sub-genre of Crime Movies. One with many, many great films to choose from. Unlike other lists I've seen like this, my list contains no movies where organized crime or mobsters don't play front and center. Therefore, you won't find Pulp Fiction, John Wick, or Riffifi anywhere on my list. Those movies and others like them belong on my Crime Dramas list.

1. The Godfather
2. The Godfather Part II
3. GoodFellas
4. Road to Perdition
5. The Irishman
6. Casino
7. The Untouchables
8. Miller's Crossing
9. The Departed
10. The Godfather Part III

...plus 21 more. View the full list on Letterboxd.

The sports genre is one of my favorite and my favorite sub- genre in that are boxing movies. Inspired by "Rocky" at the age of fourteen, and the glory days of boxing when Ali, Fraizer, and Foreman, dominated the scene, I joined an after school boxing club when I got into high school. The ultimate goal was to someday get into the Golden Gloves Tournament. I did okay for awhile, compiling a record of 7 wins and 3 losses before giving it up. My last fight I got hit so hard in the kidney it killed any desire to take the sport any further. It also gave me an appreciation for the sport that exists to this day.

1. Rocky
2. Million Dollar Baby
3. Raging Bull
4. The Set-Up
5. Cinderella Man
6. The Fighter
7. Somebody Up There Likes Me
8. Fat City
9. Requiem for a Heavyweight
10. Unforgivable Blackness: The Rise and Fall of Jack Johnson

...plus 8 more. View the full list on Letterboxd.

My top ranked westerns. One of my favorite genres.

1. Rio Bravo
2. The Searchers
3. Unforgiven
4. Shane
5. Lonesome Dove
6. The Good, the Bad and the Ugly
7. True Grit
8. The Ox-Bow Incident
9. A Fistful of Dollars
10. High Noon

...plus 42 more. View the full list on Letterboxd.

My all time favorite director. So many questions I'd like to ask him. Even his worst movie is still great.

1. Kill Bill: Vol. 1
2. Kill Bill: Vol. 2
3. Pulp Fiction
4. Once Upon a Time... in Hollywood
5. Reservoir Dogs
6. Django Unchained
7. Inglourious Basterds
8. Jackie Brown
9. Death Proof
10. The Hateful Eight