366. The Apartment (1960)

Running Time: 125 minutes
Directed By: Billy Wilder
Written By: Billy Wilder, I.A.L. Diamond
Main Cast: Jack Lemmon, Shirley MacLaine, Fred MacMurray, Ray Walston, Jack Kruschen
Click here to view the trailer

WILDER WEEK: CHAPTER III

"That's the way it crumbles... cookie-wise."

So since I was going to be forced to break up the chronology of the Wilder movies anyway, I figured why not really mess it up and go in any order I felt like. Since I was chomping at the bit to relive "The Apartment", I just couldn't wait any longer...so here we are.

C.C. Baxter (Lemmon) works for the Consolidated Life Insurance Company of New York City, sitting at desk #861 and is pretty good at what he does. He's in good health, he's a bachelor and has a decent apartment, for which he pays $85 a month (it was $80 up until the landlady put in an air conditioner). And with the mention of the apartment, we come to the catalyst of this little tale. You see, C.C. Baxter (or "Buddy Boy" as he's commonly referred) has a primo apartment, one that certain executives at Consolidated Life like to use when they're "entertaining" women, behind their wives backs of course. Baxter has four clients: Mr. Dobisch (Walston), Mr. Kirkeby, Mr. Vanderhoff and Mr. Eichelberger, who, through the passing of a key around the office, schedule appointments with "buddy boy" whenever they have a hot date. Baxter departs the apartment, allowing the men to attend to their lady friends and slips in when they've finished. Baxter allows these activities to continue, because over and over he's promised a promotion at Consolidated Life, in exchange for the use of the apartment. Well, the day finally comes when Baxter is called up to the 27th floor, where personnel director Jeff Sheldrake (MacMurray) has his office. It seems that Sheldrake already knows about the scandal with the apartment, but instead of being angry, asks permission to use it himself. This request comes with the promise that when a position opens up, Baxter will be the man for the job. Enter Ms. Frank Kubelik (MacLaine), the elevator operator that Baxter is utterly smitten about. What Baxter doesn't know is that she'll be in his apartment soon enough...in the company of Mr. Sheldrake.

SPOILER ALERT!

Seriously folks, if you've never seen "The Apartment", you need to do yourself a favor and see it ASAP. "The Apartment" is ONE OF the first black & white movies I saw, at a time in my life when I pronounced myself as someone who "doesn't watch old movies". I was a snotty, ignorant punk, what can I say? I had happened upon the AFI 100 Years...100 Movies list and at one of my early attempts to expand my cinematic knowledge, had decided that I was not only going to watch them all, but purchase them all, so that I'd have them for future viewings. Of course, when I bought them, I'd watch them and when I got to #93 I was introduced, for the first time, to Jack Lemmon, Billy Wilder and this outstanding picture. I was approximately fifteen or so, so as I sat there watching, my interest continued to peak, more and more as the film rolled on. God, I hoped so hard that C.C. Baxter would get the girl, the promotion and a wonderful life, where he wouldn't have to eat a fried chicken TV dinner all alone in an empty apartment, an apartment where other, more selfish, less loyal men had had the company that Baxter so desired. I hoped that Fran Kubelik would see the error of her choice, kick Jeff Sheldrake to the curb and go running down the street toward C.C. Baxter. I watched in near horror, hoping that doctor could smack the life back into Fran Kubelik and felt for Baxter every time he had to lie for her; making her look better, while making himself look like the bad guy - to protect her. I watched and hoped that eventually "buddy boy" would tell these five adulterers to stop calling him "buddy boy", throw their fancy job back in their faces and keep his apartment key to himself. I wished for all these things and my imagination flowed as I was transported into the world of Jack Lemmon's Baxter.

It's a great film, end of story. It's one that always takes me back to that first viewing and refills me with all the feelings I felt so long ago. I guess you'd call that a timeless classic, but I'll skip the fancy talk and just call it a definite must see film, one that everybody should see and one that is almost immune to feeble excuses of dislike. If you can't watch this and love Jack Lemmon's performance, get lost in the sometimes outrageous but always interesting, heartwarming and brilliant plot, then there's a problem and chances are it's not a problem with the film. Even if I continued typing for hours upon hours, I couldn't shower this film with enough praise, so I might as well quit now.

RATING: 10/10  So I'm four films in and nothing has yet to dip below a '7' and I already have two '10' films on my hands. WOW! Is this going to be a season to remember or what? Next up in "Wider Week": Probably "Ace in the Hole".

MOVIES WATCHED: 605
MOVIES LEFT TO WATCH: 396

January 31, 2013  6:41pm

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927. Buffalo 66 (1998)

Running Time: 110 minutes
Directed By: Vincent Gallo
Written By: Vincent Gallo, Alison Bagnall
Main Cast: Vincent Gallo, Christina Ricci, Anjelica Huston, Ben Gazzara, Kevin Corrigan

SPANNING TIME

"I'm asking you to come there and make me look good. Alright? And if you make a fool out of me, I swear to God, I'll kill you right there. Boom! Right in front of Mommy and Daddy. And I'll tell you something else, you make me look bad... I will never ever talk to you again, ever. But if you do a good job, well, then you can be my best friend. My best friend that I've ever had. You hear me?"

I'm going to start trying - with the key word here being "trying" - to include a quote, underneath the subtitle, of each review. I feel that a quote gives you readers a chance to get an even bigger taste of what the movie is all about, in addition to my review and plot synopsis. Needing something to watch until I get my next Billy Wilder movie (although I DO have "Ace in the Hole" and "The Apartment" in my possession, so I may just end up watching the Wilder movies out of order...stay tuned) I took to my DVD shelf and plucked off an old favorite.

Billy Brown (Gallo) has just been released from prison. Through back story, we learn that Billy was actually innocent. When he placed a $10,000 bet on the Buffalo Bills to win the SuperBowl, he didn't count on kicker Scott Wood missing the game winning field goal. When the bookie comes calling, Billy doesn't have the ten large to cover his bet, so in exchange the bookie asks Billy to take the blame for a crime a friend of his committed, or else "horrible things will happen to Billy and his family". Billy confesses to a crime he didn't commit and five years later finds himself released and in urgent need of a bathroom. While Billy was away, he had a friend, Goon (Corrigan), mail packages and letters to his parents and orchestrated a cover story so that his parents would just think he was away with a new job, instead of rotting away in prison. He also made up a pretend wife and threw in every detail he could think of to make himself look good in his parents eyes. When Billy finally finds a bathroom, he also finds a girl, Layla (Ricci), good looking enough to be his wife, so he kidnaps her and tells her his story. Despite being less than "nice" with her, Layla agrees to do the favor for Billy, accompanying him to his parents house and pretending to be Billy's wife, Wendy Balsam. It's becomes easy to see why Billy wanted to make himself look good in his parents eyes, as they're not very loving toward him and basically ignore him, even after not seeing him for five years. Once Billy and Layla leave Billy's parents' home, they make a few stops: Billy swings by the old bowling alley to roll a few frames, at Denny's they get beverages and run into the real Wendy Balsam and then it's off to a hotel, where Billy plans to wait until 2am, at which time he plans to murder Scott Wood, the clumsy field goal kicker who, through a series of unfortunate events, sent Billy to prison.

This is yet another one of those famed "movies my big brother showed me". Regular blog readers may recall my dislike for writing about movies that I previously enjoyed, before my journey. It's always hard for me to write about films that I've loved for so long, because in most instances I've forgotten the original reasons why I fell in love with them and it all comes down to a reason of "I just like them and that's that". But, of course, I'll try to commit my thoughts to the blog, as always.

"Buffalo 66" is unique, original, contains a great cast, despite it's less than impressive budget and has Vincent Gallo all over it - a man who doesn't look like that appealing a human being in real life, but who knocks it out of the park in his directorial debut. If you check out the history of Gallo and his actions & comments he's made toward such people as Roger Ebert and even Christina Ricci, he seems like...well, an asshole. But this blogger, when reviewing a film, is less concerned with the person and more concerned with the artist and it's not hard to see that Gallo is a talented individual, who made bold choices that paid off when it came to "Buffalo 66". The film isn't conventional, by any means. It uses unique, original shots, quirky dialogue that somehow, within the confines of this film, comes off as sounding very original and unforced and contains a plot that is both funny and sad. Literally, with a few slight turns of the screws, you could turn this film into a full blown comedy or a full blown drama, but as it is, it's both. From the opening scene of Billy Brown being released from prison, the film sucks you in and uses the hook of a man trying to find a bathroom to get us all invested...as we've all been there. A hook so simple serves as the bridge to get us invested in the rest of the picture and scene after scene we're sucked into Billy's world; hating him, loving him and, near the end, ready to cry for him.

RATING: 10/10  You know, call that a short review, but that may be one of the best paragraphs I've ever written on a movie, so call this review a success. "Buffalo 66" will undoubtedly make the next TOP 20, but in all honesty, I could see it being toppled for the #1 spot.

MOVIES WATCHED: 604
MOVIES LEFT TO WATCH: 397

January 30, 2013  6:45pm

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179. The Lost Weekend (1945)

Running Time: 101 minutes
Directed By: Billy Wilder
Written By: Charles Brackett, Billy Wilder, from novel by Charles R. Jackson
Main Cast: Ray Milland, Jane Wyman, Phillip Terry, Howard Da Silva, Doris Dowling
Click here to view the trailer

WILDER WEEK: CHAPTER II

"That's the nice young man who drinks."

Rolling on with my return, we come to the second installment of the "Wilder Week" festivities and "The Lost Weekend", starring Ray Milland as Don Birnam - a role that won Milland an Academy Award and rightfully so.

The film begins by zooming in on a Manhattan apartment, as the Birnam brothers, Don (Milland) and Wick (Terry), are busy packing for a weekend getaway. It seems as though Don has had a rough go of it lately and Wick means to take him away for a nice, long four day weekend. Don is an alcoholic, which we get clues to from the get go, via a whiskey bottle dangling from the end of a rope, hanging out the window of their apartment - one of Don's many clever hiding spots. Right away we also meet Helen St. James (Wyman), Don's loyal girlfriend - a girl for whom he actually gave up the bottle for once. Before the Birnam's can catch their 3:15 train, Don urges Wick and Helen out of the apartment, so that he can finish packing and take a nap. When the ruse works, of course Don takes the time to quench his never ending thirst. Don finds $10 in the apartment and uses the dough to buy two bottles of cheap Rye and then heads over to Nat's Bar to buy as many shots as he can, urging the bartender to tell him when it's 5:45 (the time that Wick and Helen are due back at the apartment) and spends the next few hours collecting wet circles on the bar, shot after shot. When Don is too far gone to make it back to the apartment prior to Wick and Helen's arrival, he is abandoned by a fed up Wick and dodges a worried Helen. Therefore, Don is left alone for the weekend, free to drown in the throes of his addiction. What will happen when the bottle runs dry, the money is gone and those little pink elephants start to do their wicked dance?'

There's actually not much wrong with "The Lost Weekend". While it's not particularly a personal favorite of mine, as I tend to find it a tad on the boring side (just a tad), it's not hard for me to admit how almost flawless the picture really is. The film is perfectly segmented into individually great pieces and each and every scene is essential to the film as a whole, with no wasted motions. The film makes it snappy when laying the original groundwork, introducing the characters and establishing the addiction of Don Birnam. We quickly establish that Don will do nearly anything to taste the sweet Rye on his lips, as we see by the bottle hanging out the window. Then we get into the "lost weekend" that the title suggests, as Don is left alone, forced to battle his addiction with a sum of $10 and whatever money he can scrape up hocking his possessions. We spend a time in Nat's Bar, as Don goes over his history and how he once kicked the habit for a new addiction - Helen. We get a great scene at a nightclub, where Don is forced to steal a woman's purse in order to pay his bar tab and I'll stop there because there's really no need to spoil anything. My point is that the film provides great scene after great scene and really my complaint of a boring picture is, even by my own admission, unjustified.

THE BOOK makes note of it and I'd have to concur, that no film has ever tackled the subject of addiction quite as effectively as "The Lost Weekend". When I first started this journey, my perception of older films were that they were a little bit like that overly happy next door neighbor who always had a smile and a wave for you. It was my perception that older movies were more artificial than newer offerings and failed to be really real and provide real emotions. I've been smartened up as I've made my way down this cinematic path and no film could prove my former opinion more wrong than "The Lost Weekend", where shit gets really real, really fast. In my life, I've rarely drank and the farthest my drug use has gone is nicotine and caffeine. However, "The Lost Weekend" will actually let you feel what it's like to have an addiction, to realize what it's like to need something so badly that you go a little insane when you don't get it. At times, the picture is uncomfortable and the scene with the bat and mouse is downright scary, as you realize Don has sunk further than he's ever been. Of course Ray Milland deserved the Oscar this year, he poured out all of his talent and all of his heart to bring us the Don Birnam character.

However, like I said, the film is a scoche on the slow side and honestly, the only actor or actress worth mentioning from the entire production IS Ray Milland. Jane Wyman annoyed me more than she charmed me and made me almost realize why the Don Birnam character drank - with a dame like that I'd get sloshed too. I liked Phillip Terry, but he just wasn't in it enough and the same goes for Frank Faylen ("Bim"), with a great few minutes of screen time. Also, speaking of Helen, I feel like her relationship with Don wasn't established enough. I had a really hard time buying that this girl's affections would be powerful enough to get Don to crawl out of the bottle...temporarily.

RATING: 7/10  That's playing it safe with the rating. Although, really, I can understand anyone who'd go so far as to give it a '10', as it does have those flawless qualities. Next up in "Wilder Week": "Sunset Blvd."...but expect some filler between now and then, because I won't have "Sunset Blvd." until Friday.

MOVIES WATCHED: 603
MOVIES LEFT TO WATCH: 398

January 30, 2013  2:10am

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172. Double Indemnity (1944)

Running Time: 108 minutes
Directed By: Billy Wilder
Written By: Billy Wilder, Raymond Chandler, from the novel Double Indemnity in Three of a Kind by James M. Cain
Main Cast: Fred MacMurray, Barbara Stanwyck, Edward G. Robinson, Porter Hall, Jean Heather
Click here to view the trailer

WILDER WEEK: CHAPTER I

"How could I have known that murder could sometimes smell like honeysuckle?"

Well I'm back, but let's not make a big hoopla about it. I've been in and out since the start of this project and I'm sure there will be a few more breaks before I finally end my journey through the "1001 Movies You Must See Before You Die" book. With 400 movies left to go, I kick off the sixth season (set of 100 movies) with "Wilder Week", as announced prior to my departure; a week (or two) that I'm certainly looking forward to. So, let's not dilly-dally - the lights are going down, so please turn off your cell phones, as Mr. MacMurray is about to enter stage left...

MacMurray is Walter Neff, a successful insurance salesman, who knows his trade and makes a decent living at it, living in Los Angeles. Neff plays his business by the books...that is until he meets Mrs. Phyllis Dietrichson (Stanwyck). During a visit to a "fake Spanish mansion", where Neff plans to meet with Mr. Dietrichson (Hall) about renewing his auto insurance, Neff encounters Phyllis and is totally captivated by her, such as most men are by the dames that exist only in film noir movies. Mrs. Dietrichson presents herself wrapped in a towel, following a sunbath, clutching a pair of sunglasses, long blonde hair flowing over her shoulders and sporting a sparkly anklet, the entire package making Neff swoon. He keeps his cool, however, and gets down to the business at hand. After a little flirtatious chit-chatting, Phyllis asks Neff about taking out an accidental insurance policy on her husband and is curious to know whether or not that can be done without his knowledge. Neff smells a rat and gets out quick, but not before accusing Phyllis of plotting murder against Mr. Dietrichson. Later, Neff can't stop thinking of Phyllis, seeing her shiny anklet in his mind's eye and smelling the honeysuckle that surrounded her neighborhood. He meets up with her again and this time, the plot is laid out on the table: Phyllis wants to off Mr. Dietrichson and during a night filled with lust, in Neff's apartment, the two plot it together, piece by piece. You see, Neff knows the questions that will be asked and the suspicions that will be aroused when Mr. Dietrichson suddenly, "accidentally" dies, following the taking out of a $50,000 accidental policy, one that will pay out double indemnity if Mr. Dietrichson is killed during an accident aboard a train. Therefore, he goes into the plot prepared, covering all his bases and making sure that when all is said and done, he and Phyllis are financially secure and free and clear of the gas chamber. But, as you may have guessed, since it is a film noir, not everything goes as planned.

SPOILER ALERT!

I wouldn't go so far as to call it the perfect film noir, but there's not much to dislike here. It's a movie that I'd dub an "obviously good film", or a movie that you just KNOW you're going to like, before you even press "play". From the moment the gunshot wounded Walter Neff stumbles into the offices of the Pacific All Risk Insurance Company, the questions and plot guessing immediately, unavoidably start popping into your head and even when the deed is done and there's forty-five minutes left, you just know that you haven't seen the last twist or turn. The movie is your textbook example of film-noir and usually I'd be turned off by all the cliches - the token dame appearing at the top of the stairs, the voiceover narration, the flashbacks, the amateur sleuth work - but here I was able to embrace everything about this piece and accept and enjoy it all. As far as the cast go, I'd say they all did a fine job, but I'd give my biggest hat tip to Edward G. Robinson, someone who made a career out of being the bad guy, but also knows just what to do to pull of the good guy persona too. I fell in love with Robinson (heterosexually speaking) in "The Stranger" and it was good to see him pop up again. Barbara Stanwyck never looked so good and even managed to shake the frumpy persona that she executed in "Stella Dallas". That image of her appearing at the top of the stairs, her first appearance in the picture, is flawless and you'll never look at her the same again. And then there's MacMurray, a perfectly acceptable and very talented leading man. He and Stanwyck had marvelous chemistry and the lust that they were able to create between the two characters was marvelous in establishing heated, noir-ish moments. It always astounds me how much sexual chemistry and intensity existed in old film-noir pictures - pictures where nudity and anything but elusive flirting was absolutely forbidden. "Double Indemnity" is undeniably sexy, easily watchable, enjoyable and houses a fine cast. Like I said, I wouldn't call it the perfect film-noir, as I've seen better even from THE BOOK, but it's really good and deserves a watch.

One last note though, I do believe that the suspense factor could've been kicked up another few notches. For example, during the car ride to the train station, what if the Dietrichson's had been stopped by a cop? Or what if Mr. Dietrichson had suddenly decided that he wanted to sit in the back seat, citing more leg room for his broken limb as the reason? It seems to me that while the actual plot was carried out well, I think it could've been done better and even if they were simply staying true to James M. Cain's novel, who says they can't make a few creative adjustments...everyone else does. In fact, the only time the film ever really capitalized on sheer suspense is when Keyes and Phyllis nearly run into one another at Neff's apartment. The lack of suspense is definitely my one big nitpick.

RATING: 7.5/10  We'll play it safe and go with the '7.5', but honestly I could see that rising or lowering in time...with the odds of it rising being greater. Not a bad first post back, as I didn't feel all that rusty and think I got my point across well. Next up in "Wilder Week": "The Lost Weekend".

MOVIES WATCHED: 602
MOVIES LEFT TO WATCH: 399

January 28, 2013  12:22am

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November and December 2012 Recap and 2012: The Year In Review

Well, I finally made it on to the blog to present the recaps for the final two months of 2012 and as a bonus, for making you wait, I'll present a Year in Review column. That's right folks, two columns for the price of one! You can't beat it!

1001 Movies You Must See Before You Die - As seen in November 2012
1) The Actress (1992 - Stanley Kwan) 2/10 - This one had a ton of potential and after rereading my review, maybe I was just too tired to appreciate it. I don't know though, the execution just wasn't there and I can't envision myself enjoying it even if I'd been well rested.
2) Salvador (1986 - Oliver Stone) 4.5/10 - Stone did absolutely nothing for me.
3) Fargo (1996 - Joel Coen) 10/10 - TOP 20 selection!
4) JFK (1991 - Oliver Stone) 6.5/10 - The best of the Oliver Stone picks, but still not that great. I went a little too gaga on it at first, but IT IS very interesting, so there's that.
5) Natural Born Killers (1994 - Oliver Stone) 5/10 - Again, a ton of potential gone down the toilet. Woody Harrelson was fantastic and this should have made him a much bigger star than he currently is. The opening 5-10 minutes was also pure gold. The rest...not so much.
6) Hotel Terminus: The Life and Times of Klaus Barbie (1988 - Marcel Ophuls) 3.5/10 - Rarely interesting and just too long.
7) Grave of the Fireflies (1988 - Isao Takahata) 7/10 - TOP 20 selection!
8) The Time to Live and the Time to Die (1985 - Hsiao-hsien Hou) 3/10
9) A City of Sadness (1989 - Hsiao-hsien Hou) 4/10
10) Brazil (1985 - Terry Gilliam) 8/10 - TOP 20 selection!
11) Come and See (1985 - Elem Klimov) 5.5/10 - I'd really like to watch this one again someday, because I really feel I short changed it.
12) The Puppetmaster (1993 - Hsiao-hsien Hou) 2/10 - All of these Hou films were just the absolute opposite of what I look for in movies and didn't appeal to me in the least.
13) Diner (1982 - Barry Levinson) 5.5/10 - My initial '6.5' was a little too high. Nothing extremely special about "Diner" and it's inclusion is a mystery, because this is, by no means, a MUST SEE.
14) The Natural (1984 - Barry Levinson) 6/10 - Perhaps...PERHAPS the biggest disappointment of 2012, as I really had high hopes for the baseball movie with Robert Redford and it just didn't deliver.
15) Good Morning, Vietnam (1987 - Barry Levinson) 3/10
16) Rain Man (1988 - Barry Levinson) 9/10 - TOP 20 selection!
17) The Last Battle (1983 - Luc Besson) 7.5/10 - TOP 20 selection!
18) It's a Wonderful Life (1946 - Frank Capra) 7/10 - TOP 20 selection!
19) Ceddo (1977 - Ousmane Sembene) 1/10 - Blah!
20) Paris, Texas (1984 - Wim Wenders) 8/10 - TOP 20 selection!
21) Mishima: A Life in Four Chapters (1985 - Paul Schrader) 5.5/10 - A BEAUTIFUL film, but one that I just couldn't get into. "Kyoko's House" is still easily the best segment of the movie.
22) Tootsie (1982 - Sydney Pollack) 6.5/10 - Just a hair away from being a '7' and nearly took a "Ten Worth Mentioning" spot.
23) Glory (1989 - Edward Zwick) 7/10 - Went WAAY overboard on this one initially. Still, it came just as close as "Tootsie" to nabbing a "Ten Worth Mentioning" spot...good stuff here, with Broderick showing he's more than just Ferris.
24) Out of Africe (1985 - Sydney Pollack) 2/10 - Again, I say "BLAH!"
25) The Unbelievable Truth (1989 - Hal Hartley) 6/10 - Very mediocre film. Sometimes funny, sometimes interesting, somewhat interesting characters...nothing extremely special about it though.
26) Deewaar (1975 - Yash Chopra) 7/10 - Another one that was seriously contemplated for a "Ten Worth Mentioning" spot, but just came up a little short. Very good Bollywood film and it'd work really well as an introduction to the genre.
27) The Man in Grey (1943 - Leslie Arliss) 3.5/10 - Nothing film here, but that Margaret Lockwood...she was great!

1001 Movies You Must See Before You Die - As seen in December 2012
1) Gallipoli (1981 - Peter Weir) 6/10 - Started and ended great, but unfortunately for "Gallipoli", movies have a middle.
2) Sunless (1983 - Chris Marker) 1/10 - Didn't get it and thus we start the finale of the last 100 and perhaps the worst string of film I've watched for THE BOOK, thus far.
3) Heaven and Earth Magic (1962 - Harry Smith) 1/10
4) The Mad Masters (1955 - Jean Rouch) 2/10
5) The Battle of San Pietro (1945 - John Huston) 1/10
6) Ferris Bueller's Day Off (1986 - John Hughes) 7/10 - Another one that was seriously considered for one of those "Ten Worth Mentioning" spots, but came up a little short.

2012: THE YEAR IN REVIEW

A HABITUAL LIST MAKER REEXAMINES HIS YEAR IN MOVIES...WITH THE USE OF LISTS

**All lists are in no particular order**

TOP 10 Discoveries of 2012:
1. Contempt (1963)
2. The Lives of Others (2006)
3. 3-Iron (2004)
4. Mildred Pierce (1945)
5. Head-On (2004)
6. The Stranger (1946)
7. Amores perros (2000)
8. Barry Lydon (1975)
9. Dear Diary (1994)
10. The Vanishing (1988)

TOP 10 Re-Discoveries of 2012:
1. Sleuth (1972)
2. Kill Bill: Volume 1 (2003)
3. Memento (2000)
4. The Lord of the Rings (2001, 2002, 2003)
5. Se7en (1995)
6. The Royal Tenenbaums (2001)
7. Drugstore Cowboy (1989)
8. Stranger Than Paradise (1984)
9. A Fish Called Wanda (1988)
10. Rain Man (1988)

TOP 10 Disappointments of 2012:
1. Down by Law (1986)
2. Persona (1966)
3. Hour of the Wolf (1968)
4. The Postman Always Rings Twice (1946)
5. The Killers (1946)
6. Dancer in the Dark (2000)
7. The Third Man (1949)
8. Touch of Evil (1958)
9. Seconds (1966)
10. The Natural (1984)

Top 5 Actors That Grabbed My Attention in 2012:
1. Michael Caine
2. Robert Mitchum
3. Michael Palin
4. Gunnar Bjornstrand
5. Tommy Lee Jones

Top 5 Actresses That Grabbed My Attention in 2012:
1. Ava Gardner
2. Julianne Moore
3. Jane Russell
4. Margaret Lockwood
5. Isabelle Huppert

Top 5 Directors That Grabbed My Attention in 2012:
1. Stanley Kubrick
2. Nanni Moretti
3. Wes Anderson
4. John Frankenheimer
5. Darren Aronofsky

Well that about does 'er. If I had to guesstimate, I'd say February is when you'll see me back here working my way through the "1001 Movies You Must See Before You Die" book. Until then (or whenever I get back here) be well and hopefully you have enough reading material to keep you busy here at the "1001 Movies I (Apparently) Must See Before I Die" blog.

January 4, 2013  11:34am

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