Archive for the ‘Lists’ Category

  • 16 Dec

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    Movies I Wanted to See in 2007 but…

    31

    I‘m still going through my list of movies from 2007 and in order to write up my top 10 of the year and I started to realized just how many movies I haven’t seen this year. You know, I’m quite happy with the number of movies I watched. I’m going to make my goal of 3 movies per week or 156 movies over the entire year. I guess if I wasn’t working through the backlog of old movies perhaps I would have seen all the following:

    • Away From Her
    • Once
    • The Hoax
    • Juno
    • Atonement
    • Control
    • Lars and the Real Girl
    • Southland Tales
    • Persepolis
    • The Diving Bell and the Butterfly
    • Talk to Me
    • La Vie En Rose
    • A Mighty Heart
    • The Savages
    • Waitress
    • Before the Devil Knows You’re Dead
    • The Namesake
    • Starting out in the Evening
    • Elizabeth: The Golden Age (or for that matter the 1998 Elizabeth)

    I did not include Sweeny Todd nor There Will Be Blood because I will definitely see them before January!

    So how many of these would be on your top 10 for the year?

    Feel free to check out all the trailers behind the cut.

    » Read the rest of the entry..

  • 13 Dec

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    Point Me Towards Some Good Overlooked Movies Please

    38

    Perils of GwendolineI was browsing through the Movie Patron forums and one of the posts there started me thinking. The post was a list of genres and each person is supposed to list a movie in each genre. I was thinking it would be cool to do something along those lines here but with a twist. Instead of just listing movies that you enjoy we instead list movies that you enjoy that you think others might overlook. I’ll start:

    * What can I say I have a soft spot in my heart for this Indiana Jones rip off.
    ** I will eventually get everyone to watch this movie!
    *** Okay so its not really a fantasy movie but it does deal with reincarnation.
    **** Yup, this movie is bad and I know it!

  • 12 Dec

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    Canada’s Top 10 of 2007

    22

    My Winnipeg StillLet the list-fests begin. Since Row Three has a Canadian majority on the writing staff, why not begin with something from our frozen wastelands. ‘Canada’s Top 10′ was established a few years ago by the Toronto International Film Festival Group to more or less act as a way to issue press release that yes (!) Canadians make films outside of Hollywood North American studio productions being filmed up here for tax purposes. What this means is that almost anything high-profile and Canadian (close to an oxymoron in cinema unfortunately) will make the list. Even the painfully unfunny Trailer Park Boys Movie made the grade last year (full disclosure, I’m a big fan of that show, so the movie was painfully disappointing in that it was poorer than even a bad TV episode, of which there were almost none.)

    But I digress. Like good little non-confrontational Canucks, the moderators of this list chose not to number or prioritize the films. So you can sort out what deserves to be at the top. I nominate Guy Maddin‘s fabulously vitriolic, absurdist, surreal and downright hilarious My Winnipeg to just barely edge out David Cronenberg‘s Eastern Promises, but I’ve got to confess that I’ve only seen three films on the list (I’ll bet that will be 3 more than your average Canadian though). Both Marina and myself are big fans of Bruce McDonanld‘s experimental split-screen Into The Night type film, The Tracey Fragments, that stars future A-list actress Ellen Page (To show how incestuous our film industry is, it is noteworthy that young Miss Page got her start on TV’s Trailer Park Boys mentioned above.

    Also, a huge shout out to Madame Tutli-Putli on the short films list, which is a must see for lovers of existential surrealism and stop motion animation. The two directors (Chris Lavis and Maciek Szczerbowski) responsible for this gorgeous 17 minute short film (Available for purchase from the National Film Board if you have a Canadian shipping address). With a single film, they have joined the ranks with Jan Svankmajer, Henry Selick and The Brothers Quay in terms of groundbreakingly good stop-motion.

    Without further digression, here are the Top 10 Lists for Features and Shorts:

    Feature Films
    * L’Âge des Ténèbres – Denys Arcand
    * Amal – Richie Mehta
    * Continental, Un Film Sans Fusil – Stéphane Lafleur
    * Eastern Promises – David Cronenberg
    * Fugitive Pieces – Jeremy Podeswa
    * My Winnipeg – Guy Maddin
    * A Promise to the Dead: The Exile Journey of Ariel Dorfman – Peter Raymont
    * The Tracey Fragments – Bruce McDonald
    * Up The Yangtze – Yung Chang
    * Young People Fucking – Martin Gero

    Short Films
    * Code 13 – Mathieu L. Denis
    * The Colony – Jeff Barnaby
    * Dust Bowl Ha! Ha! – Sébastien Pilote
    * Farmer’s Requiem – Ramses Madina
    * Les Grands – Chloé Leriche
    * I Have Seen the Future – Cam Christiansen
    * I Met the Walrus – Josh Raskin
    * Madame Tutli-Putli – Chris Lavis, Maciek Szczerbowski
    * POOL – Chris Chong Chan Fui
    * Terminus – Trevor Cawood

  • 03 Dec

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    Roger Ebert’s Best of 2006

    58

    Roger EbertGenerally, I wouldn’t post another person’s “Best of” list, but this one I find so interesting because a) it’s so much after the fact and b) it comes from a respected critic such as Roger Ebert (who, despite how much you agree with him, is just a walking encyclopedia of cinema). He’s a little slow to the draw due to a long period of hospitalization and some serious life-threatening surgeries over the last half of 2006, so it goes without saying that he didn’t get to catch a lot of the movies that he usually would have under normal circumstances. So, in a time when people are already polishing up their “Best of 2007″ lists, here is Roger Ebert’s list from 2006. I’m really happy to see Perfume: The Story of a Murderer on there, as it seems there are far too few of us that felt that strongly about the film. It also looks like it’s about time I check out Steven Soderbergh’s Bubble, eh?

    Thanks of Film Junk for the heads up.


    1. Pan’s Labyrinth
    2. Bubble
    3. Children of Men
    4. The Departed
    5. The Lives of Others
    6. United 93
    7. Flags of our Fathers / Letters from Iwo Jima
    8. Perfume: The Story of a Murderer
    9. Babel
    10. Man Push Cart

  • 28 Nov

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    Top 10 (or 12) Chase Sequences

    16

    Steve McQueen in “Bullit”

         Quite often in films, there is a chase sequence. Most of the time it involves a couple of cars – the bad guy trying to get away from the good; or vice-versa. Sometimes it is more than one car (Italian Job) and other times there aren’t even cars involved at all, but trucks, ships or something else entirely. Here are my ten (or 12) favorite chase sequences:

    12) Terminator 2: Judgement Day
    - – The T-1000 drives a semi truck off a bridge in an effort to kill John Connor who is frantically trying to escape on his little 100cc dirtbike through the dried up spillways of Los Angeles. Luckily Arnie saves the day on his Harley. Nothing overly special; just an exciting scene utilizing unique vehicles and characters in an equally unique environment. This is pure diesel power at 100 MPH.

    11) Face/Off
    - – When our hero and villain “face-off” in a couple of Scarabs on the open water. It’s just a fun boat chase with high intensity unrealistic action. Boats jumping and exploding: always a good thing.

    10) The Matrix Reloaded
    - – The high speed chase down the expressway is VERY fast and very intense with some pretty interesting characters that help make the chase that much more memorable. Major crash ups with a lot at stake. The only thing keeping this from being higher on the list is the obvious use of too much CGI. Had it been more “real”, it’d be higher on the list.

    9) Tomorrow Never Dies
    - – We’ve seen James Bond in car chases a hundred times with his unique cars and gadgets. Here though, 007 drives his car using a smal iPod-like device while laying on the floor in the back seat. Screaming around a parking garage shooting missiles and evading obstacles and booby traps is one of the more memorable Bond sequences ever.

    8 ) The Bourne Supremacy
    - – The way Greengrass is able to pull this off in such a believable manner is fascinating. It’s intense as hell because we have the camera inside the car as both vehicle and passenger take massively huge hits from oncoming and side traffic.

    7) Deja-Vu
    - – This chase isn’t even really a chase. But it’s easily the most original and innovative car “chase” I can think of. Denzel is chasing a guy that was there 102 hours ago using advanced, “see into the past” technology. It’s a total mind trip and exciting as hell. Especially given what is on the line. One of the best sequences of 2006.

    6) Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom
    - – The mine shaft chase on carts. So much fun, because they can’t steer and they can’t slow down. Some track missing? Tough luck, you’ll have to jump the tracks. With agents of death hot on their trail, Indy has to be as innovative as ever to get away. Did I mention they’re riding over molten lava?

    5) Raiders of the Lost Ark
    - – Once again Indy finds himself in a tight spot and must be innovative. And innovative he is in one of the most iconic images of the decade… maybe ever, as Indy goes UNDER the moving truck to come up safe on the back end. Yeah.

    4) The French Connection
    - – It’s been a while, but I remember the chase through NYC; weaving and dodging traffic and the narrow lanes beneath the L trains as Hackman tries desperately to keep up with the fast moving train in his Pontiac GTO. Some narrow misses and near death for a baby in a stroller made this one a chase to remember.

    3) Bullitt
    - – My dad told me to watch Bullitt for the car chase, so I did. Man, he was right. Through the streets of San Fran over those huge hills, Steve McQueen and his speed machine gets some serious air. Not the best chase ever, but it probably was at the time. And damn cool it is.

    2) Return of the Jedi
    - – To this day when I ride my parents’ 4-Wheeler through the woods at top speed I recite lines to myself from the speeder bike chase in Jedi. How fast do you think they’re going in that movie? 100? 200 mph? Maybe more? Impossible with all that foilage and those huge trees of Endor, but no less of a thrill.

    1) Ronin
    - – Wow. This sequence seems to just go on forever and the speed at which DeNiro drives through those narrow streets is absolutely gripping. I remember my teeth nearly breaking as I gritted my jaw together so tightly and I kept looking for the seat belt on my theater chair. The most exciting and well choreographed chase scene I’ve ever seen. Brilliant.

    Dubbed in the wrong language, but it’s of no consequence

    honorable mention must go to Ben-Hur. It’s not a chase sequence technically, because it is a race, not a chase. Still, it’s exciting and gruesome as hell. I still have seen nothing like it to this day. I would’ve paid top dollar back in the day to watch a chariot race like that.

  • 10 Nov

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    OFC Top 100

    5

    OFC banner

    The Online Film Community’s Top 100 project is complete and ready for viewing! Make sure you see them all.

    What:
    The OFC Top 100 was the brain child of our own Jonathan B. and was meant to be a nice alternative to other top 100 lists out there. We weren’t trying to show anyone up or make a “definitive” list. It was mostly just something fun that the online movie community could get together on and see what comes out. It was loads of fun and we’re happy it worked out so well and we’re thrilled on the turnout on the number of voters and sites participating.

    How:
    It started with just a nominations list by each of the many writers/blogggers/web masters of 100 titles that they’d like to nominate for the list; using whatever criteria they so choose. All titles that were nominated at least three times were then put on one large list of over 500 titles. From this larger nominations list, each writer chose 100 films, ranked them in order from 100-1 and then a point system was applied to each list (#100 = 1 point, #99 = 2 points, #98 = 3 points and so on). The film with the highest number of points after the tallying was completed became our #1 movie of all time, and the next largest point getter became #2 and so on and so on.

    So thanks again to Jonathan on getting this all put together. It was loads of work and we all appreciate it and it seems to have turned out quite nicely. I’m pretty happy with the list as I scan the titles. A few titles left off that I’d like to have seen and some that shouldn’t be there, but it’s a nice alternative list with lots of great entries

    The List

    100 Nosferatu (Murnau, 1922)
    99 Cinema Paradiso (Tornatore, 1988)
    98 On the Waterfront (Kazan, 1954)
    97 Blue Velvet (Lynch, 1986)
    96 Reservoir Dogs (Tarantino, 1992)
    95 His Girl Friday (Hawks, 1940)
    94 Lord of the Rings, The: The Return of the King (Jackson, 2003)
    93 Toy Story (Lasseter, 1995)
    92 Notorious (Hitchcock, 1946)
    91 400 Blows, The (Truffaut, 1959)
    90 Ghostbusters (Reitman, 1984)

    89 8 ½ (Fellini, 1963)
    88 Aguirre, the Wrath of God (Herzog, 1972)
    87 Leon (Besson, 1994)
    86 Touch of Evil (Welles, 1958)
    85 Modern Times (Chaplin, 1936)
    84 Mr. Smith Goes to Washington (Capra, 1939)
    83 To Kill a Mockingbird (Mulligan, 1962)
    82 Manchurian Candidate, The (Frankenheimer, 1962)
    81 Terminator 2: Judgment Day (Cameron, 1992)

    80 North by Northwest (Hitchcock, 1959)
    79 King Kong (Cooper/Shoedsack, 1933)
    78 Manhattan (Allen, 1979)
    77 Ed Wood (Burton, 1994)
    76 American History X (Kaye, 1998)
    75 Maltese Falcon, The (Huston, 1941)
    74 Groundhog Day (Ramis, 1993)
    73 Conversation, The (Coppola, 1974)
    72 Bicycle Thief, The (De Sica, 1948)
    71 Graduate, The (Nichols, 1967)

    70 Network (Lumet, 1976)
    69 Halloween (Carpenter, 1978)
    68 Rules of the Game, The (Renoir, 1939)
    67 Do the Right Thing (S Lee, 1989)
    66 Heat (Mann, 1995)
    65 Lord of the Rings, The: The Fellowship of the Ring (Jackson, 2001)
    64 Aliens (Cameron, 1986)
    63 Silence of the Lambs, The (Demme, 1991)
    62 Incredibles, The (Bird, 2004)
    61 A Clockwork Orange (Kubrick, 1971)

    60 Apartment, The (Wilder, 1960)
    59 General, The (Keaton/Bruckman, 1927)
    58 Passion of Joan of Arc, The (Dreyer, 1928)
    57 Unforgiven (Eastwood, 1992)
    56 L.A. Confidential (Hanson, 1997)
    55 12 Angry Men (Lumet, 1957)
    54 Shining, The (Kubrick, 1980)
    53 M (Lang, 1931)
    52 Memento (Nolan, 2000)
    51 Bridge on River Kwai, The (Lean, 1957)

    50 Double Indemnity (Wilder, 1944)
    49 Big Lebowski, The (J. Coen, 1998)
    48 Sunset Blvd. (Wilder, 1950)
    47 This is Spinal Tap (Reiner, 1984)
    46 Run Lola Run (Tykwer, 1998)
    45 Goodfellas (Scorsese, 1990)
    44 E.T. (Spielberg, 1982)
    43 Singin’ in the Rain (Donen/Kelly, 1952)
    42 Searchers, The (Ford, 1956)
    41 Good, the Bad and the Ugly, The (Leone, 1966)

    40 Raging Bull (Scorsese, 1980)
    39 Once Upon a Time in the West (Leone, 1968)
    38 One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest (Forman, 1975)
    37 Princess Bride, The (Reiner, 1987)
    36 Usual Suspects, The (Singer, 1995)
    35 Monty Python and the Holy Grail (Gilliam/Jones, 1975)
    34 Fight Club (Fincher, 1999)
    33 Brazil (Gilliam, 1985)
    32 Annie Hall (W. Allen, 1977)
    31 Back to the Future (Zemeckis, 1985

    30 Die Hard (McTiernan, 1988)
    29 Third Man, The (Reed, 1949)
    28 Matrix, The (Wachowski/Wachowski, 1999)
    27 Wizard of Oz, The (Fleming, 1939)
    26 Schindler’s List (Spielberg, 1993)
    25 Eternal Sunshine of theSpotless Mind (Gondry, 2004)
    24 Lawrence of Arabia (Lean, 1962)
    23 Fargo (Joel and Ethan Coen, 1996)
    22 It’s a Wonderful Life (Capra, 1946)
    21 Apocalypse Now (Coppola, (1979)

    20 Seven Samurai (Kurosawa, 1954)
    19 Vertigo (Hitchcock, 1958)
    18 Psycho (Hitchcock, 1960)
    17 Rear Window (Hitchcock, 1954)
    16 Shawshank Redemption, The (Darabont, 1994)
    15 Taxi Driver (Scorsese, 1976)
    14 2001: A Space Odyssey (Kubrick, 1968)
    13 Star Wars Episode IV: A New Hope (Lucas, 1977)
    12 Chinatown (Polanski, 1974)
    11 Pulp Fiction (Tarantino, 1994)

    10 Alien (R. Scott, 1979)
    9 Star Wars Episode V: The Empire Strikes Back (Kershner, 1980)
    8 Godfather Part II, The (Coppola, 1974)
    7 Jaws (Spielberg, 1975)
    6 Blade Runner (R. Scott, 1982)
    5 Casablanca (Curtiz, 1942)
    4 Raiders of the Lost Ark (Spielberg, 1981)
    3 Dr. Strangelove or: How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love the Bomb (Kubrick, 1964)
    2 Citizen Kane (Welles, 1941)
    1 Godfather, The (Coppola, 1972)

    Voters and participants – THANK YOU GUYS AND GALS!
    Adam Kempenaar – Film Spotting
    Adam Bonin – Throwing Things
    Adam Ross – DVD Panache
    Alex Vo – Rotten Tomatoes
    Andrew Dykstra – Movie Patron
    Andrew James – Movie Patron | Row Three
    Anne Thompson – Variety | Thompson on Hollywood
    Brendan Connelly – Film Ick
    Collin Smith – That Movie Site
    Damian Arlyn – Windmills of My Mind
    Dan Eisenberg – Cinemathematics
    Daniel Johnson – Film Babble
    Dennis Cozzalio – Sergio Leone and the Infield Fly Rule
    Domenic Lanza – Cinema Fusion
    Edward Copeland – Eddie on Film
    Gareth Watkins – Film Rotation
    Goran S – Y Kant Goran Rite?
    Ivan G. Shreve, Jr. – Salon
    Jack Denault – That Movie Site
    James Davie – That Movie Site
    Jared Vega – Cinema Fusion
    Jay Cheel – Film Junk | The Documentary Blog
    Jeff Warner – That Movie Site
    Jeffrey M. Anderson – Combustible Celluloid
    Jennifer Yamato – Rotten Tomatoes
    Jim – Talking Moviezz
    John Allison – Film Grotto | Row Three
    John Campea – The Movie Blog
    Jonathan B. – Cinema Fusion | Row Three
    Kevin Carr – Film School Rejects
    Kurt Halfyard – Twitch | Row Three
    Marina – Mad About Movies | Row Three
    Martin – Film Ick
    Matt Gamble – Cinema Fusion
    Matt Holmes – Obsessed With Film
    Mediamelt – Film Rotation
    Misael Soto – Movie Patron
    Nathaniel R – Film Experience
    Neil Miller – Film School Rejects
    Orrin Konheim - The Sophomore Critic
    Pat Piper – Lazy Eye Theatre
    Peter Nellhaus – Coffee Coffee and More Coffee
    Peter Schiretta – Slashfilm
    Roger McDorman – A Drinking Song
    Ross Miller – Movie Patron, MovieWorld
    Sean Dwyer – Film Junk
    Serena Whitney – JoBlo
    Shane Thompson – That Movie Site
    Sledge – Film Ick
    Steve Bland – Cinema Fusion
    Ted Pigeon – The Cinematic Art
    Tim Bennett – That Movie Site
    Tim Footman – Cultural Snow
    Vic Holtreman – Screen Rant

     

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