1. Antoine runs towards the sea in Truffaut's The 400 Blows (1959)
2. Somewhat surprisingly, the body count of Hard Boiled (1992) only comes in at 230. Tequila takes quite a few of those out in the hospital shoot-out sequence. From the days when Woo and Yun-Fat were both untouchable.
3. John walks through the school halls in Elephant (2003). Van Sant finally delivers a great film.
More here.
1. Rita Hayworth
Put the blame on Mame boys, put the blame on Mame...
2. Eric Stolz
Will play massive head deformity guy, 18th century romantic poet, or pedophile. Not sexy in all these roles obviously.
3. Damian Lewis
Possibly least flattering picture of anyone, ever, over at IMDB and really cheesy photos on the fan site. Still, me and my sis think he's cute.
1. ¿Quien sabe? (aka A Bullet for the General) Damiano Damiani (1967)
The great Klaus Kinski, one-eyebrowed Mexican revolutionaries, Gian Maria Volonté, and advice about grocery shopping.
2. La Resa dei conti (aka The Big Gundown) Sergio Sollima (1966)
Ennio Morricone, Lee Van Cleef and the other Sergio.
3. Se sei vivo spara (aka Django, Kill!) Giulio Questi (1967)
Features "humiliation, torture, vampire bats, a crucifiction, and an army of homosexual outlaws".
1. The Harder They Come (1973) - Various
Choice cuts from Jimmy Cliff, Toots & the Maytals, & Desmond Dekker
2. City of God (2003) Antonio & Ed Cortes Pinto
Jazz-Funk-Latin-Soul-tastic
3. Purple Rain (1984) Prince & The Revolution
Definitive 80's full on electro-purple pomp-opera Prince
1. Tillsammans (Together), Lukas Moodysson (2000)
No presents allowed, but Franco dies, Abba features extensively on the soundtrack, and everyone plays football in the snow.
2. Scrooge, Brian Desmond Hurst (1951)
"I'm too old and beyond hope! Go and redeem some younger, more promising creature, and leave me to keep Christmas in my own way!"
3. Slavoj Zizek: The Reality of the Virtual, Ben Wright (2004)
Zizek docu on stuff we belive in, including Father Christmas & democracy
1. O Lucky Man! Lindsay Anderson (1973)
Travis: "But what will happen to me? Will I come out the same as I went in?" Professor Miller: "Not the same. Better."
2. Invasion of the Body Snatchers, Philip Kaufman (1978)
Tramp/Dog Hybrid
3. The Fly, Kurt Neumann (1958)
"Help me! Help me!"
1. Sans soleil, Chris Marker (1983)
memories and letters from Japan, Africa, South America, San Francisco, Iceland, Paris.
2. Bande à part, Jean-Luc Godard (1964)
“if the world was becoming a dream of if a dream was becoming the world.”
3. Adaptation, Spike Jonze (2002)
"And God help you if you use voice-over in your work, my friends. God help you. That’s flaccid, sloppy writing. Any idiot can write a voice-over narration to explain the thoughts of a character."
1. L'Enfant sauvage (aka The Wild Boy), François Truffaut (1970)
- Truffaut plays Dr. Itard in the story of Victor, the Wild Boy of Aveyron
2. Jeder für sich und Gott gegen alle (aka The Enigma of Kaspar Hauser), Werner Herzog (1974)
The strange and tragic life of Kaspar Hauser
3. Mononoke-hime (aka Princess Mononoke), Hayao Miyazaki (1997)
Princess Mononoke, raised by wolves, leads the forest in a war against an iron mining town
So if I've only got a choice of 3, it's got to be:
1. The Third Man, Carol Reed (1949)
- Harry Lime, cinemas most compelling villain, haunts Holly Martins and occupied Vienna
2. The Servant, Joseph Losey (1963)
Class, power and perversion played out in London
3. Great Expectations, David Lean (1946)
- Estella and Miss Havisham made flesh
I’m having a bit of a mini theme thing – first it was time travel, then Killing Bill, and now a couple of romances. First up was Tuesday’s night in with The Cooler.
William H. Macy plays Bernie Lootz, a professional loser and loner. Alex Baldwin (taking a welcome break from crappy children’s films) is Lootz’s friend and employer - Shelly Kaplow, manager of the old school Shangri La casino and delusional nostalgic. Shelly has previously smashed in Lootz kneecap over a gambling debt and now takes advantage of his ‘friends’ chronic unluckiness by employing him as a cooler – basically Lootz is so sorry that his physical proximity is enough to stop a punters lucky streak dead. Lootz luck changes dramatically when he falls in love with the beautiful Natalie (Maria Bello), and this doesn't go down well with the boss.
The film has a very fifty’s feel to it – mainly through the old fashioned themes and characters, mostly because of the muted pastel colour scenes.
I enjoyed it but the themes are handled a little obviously (the TV nature show speech/metaphor is almost embarrassing). The only film I’ve seen where a pregnant woman gets kicked in the stomach though.
Regular readers will have noticed that the Top 10 section of the blog has been a bit of a redundant category. In fact, it's been a complete failure. This is mainly because I’ve struggled to come up with 10 films I'd actually want to watch in any given category. So from now on the Top 10’s will be lists of Lucky 3's – which gives me a chance to prune rather than embellish. To kick off the new regime – movies set in Las Vegas that are really worth watching:
1. Casino, Scorsese (1995)
– Brilliant title sequence, Ace and Ginger in one of the best mob movies ever made.
2. Fear and loathing in Las Vegas, Gilliam (1998)
- Johnny Depp & Benicio Del Toro go gonzo in this great re-enactment of Hunter S. Thompson’s journey into the heart of darkness.
3. Leaving Las Vegas, Figgis (1995)
- Bittersweet story about an alcoholic’s cunning plan to drink himself to death.
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