The Last Ten Films I've Seen: Novel Ideas

I was completely oblivious to the fact that Angelica Huston (pictured bottom) has written a new memoir called "A Story Lately Told," which she will be promoting on "Fresh Air with Terry Gross" tomorrow when I watched one of her very earliest film roles "A Walk with Love and Death" (1969).

Like "Oliver Twist" (1949), one of many filmations of the Charles Dickens novel, and "Ender's Game" (2013), the current film based on one of Orson Scott Card's signature science-fiction novel, which is number two on the top ten fiction books being sold in the Washington, DC-metro area list on "The Washington Post" (Card lives some six hours south of DC in Greensboro, NC), "A Walk with Love and Death" is based on a novel.

We got this idea from "Film Comment" magazine, the current issue has a photo of actor Oscar Isaac in the Coen Brothers' new film "Inside Llewyn Davis" on its cover, and "Oliver Twist" is one of many films being offered by the Criterion Collection.

Several of these films were also taped from Turners Classics Movies, which has an amazing lineup of films tonight, including "Elephant Man" (1980. dir-David Lynch).

Without further adieu, here are the last ten films I've seen as of Saturday:

1. "Oliver Twist" (1949. dir-David Lean)

2. "Ender's Game" (2013 dir-Gavin Hood)

3. "A Walk with Love and Death" (1969 dir-John Huston)

4. "Creature from the Black Lagoon" (1954 dir-Jack Arnold)

5. "Memories of Murder" (South Korea. 2003. dir-Joon-ho Bong)

6. "The Beat Generation (1959 dir-Charles F. Haas)

7. "The Defiant Ones" (1958 dir-Stanley Kramer)

8. "Caged" (1950. dir-John Cromwell)

9. "Mrs. Soffel" (1984. dir-Gillian Armstrong)

10. "Gravity" (2013. dir-Alfonso Cuaron)

SIDEBAR: For those in the DC-metro area, graphic novel writer Joe Sacco will be promoting his new work "The Great War...." at Politics and Prose, an independent bookstore in Washington, DC, on Wednesday at 7:00 p.m. Sacco's amazing work includes graphic novels on the Bosnian war and the West Bank in Israel.

http://www.npr.org/programs/fershair

http://www.politcs-prose.com

http://www.filmcomment.com

http://www.criterion.com

http://www.tcm.com

http://www.hatrack.com (Orson Scott Card's official web site)

The Last 10 Films I've Seen

In order, and without commentary (it was hard enough to download the images, and it is getting veyr, very late here, but I will add a five-star scale with the films), the films are:

1. Tree of Life (2011. Dir. Terence Malick. With Brad Pitt and Sean Penn. *****)

2. Power and the Passion (1957. Dir. Stanley Kramer. With Frank Sinatra, Cary Grant and Sophia Loren. **1/2)

3. Advise and Consent (1962. Dir- Otto Preminger. With Henry Fonda. ***1/2).

4. The Third Page (1999. Turkey. Dir- Zeki Demirkubuz. ****).

5. 11 Harrowhouse (1974, Dir- Aram Avakian. W/Charles Grodin and Candace Bergen. **1/2).

6. Of Time and the City (2008. doc. Dir- Terence Davies. ***1/2).

7. The Beyond (1981. Italy. Dir- Lucio Fulci ***).

8. Masculine/Feminine (1966. France. Dir- Jean-Luc Godard. *****).

9. The Phatom Carriage (1921. Sweden. Dir- Victor Sjostrom. ****).

10. Eraserhead (1977. Dir-David Lynch. ***1/2).

Quote of the Day- Alejandro Jodorowsky (Chilean Experimental Filmmaker)

Today, our quote of the day in our continuing look at 32 people from the 32 countries in The World Cup belongs to Chilean Experimental Filmmaker Alejandro Jodorowsky who shocked the world with his surreal western "EL Topo" in 1970.

According to the IMDB, he later wanted to film the science fiction novel "Dune" with Orson Welles in a leading role, but David Lynch beat him to it, and that version of "Dune" (which I believe has also been remade for tv) did not have Welles.

Jodorowsky also conducted the 2005 wedding between shock rocker Marilyn Manson and kinky film star Dita Ven Teese (well, we aren't fully certain which profession she's in). They divorced in 2007.

As for futbol, Chile faces Spain tomorrow which along with the Portugal-Brazil game is expected to be one of the more exciting first round games. Today, Slovakia stunned Italy 3-2 with two goals from Robert Wittek (25th min. and 73rd min.) and another one from Kamil Kopunek in the 89th minute. We presume Slovak tennis sensation Daniela Hantuchova (see earlier entry) is quite happy!

"El Topo," which was a midnight movie phenom in its day, is available from Netflix. The film was a favorite of the recently deceased Dennis Hopper, who assuredly would have loved this quote from Jodorowsky:

"I ask of film what most Americans ask of psychedelic drugs."

Top Ten Films of 1990- "Goodfellas" is My Choice for Best Film

I am continuing my series which looks at the Best Films of each year that started a decade from 1950-2000.

Today, we look at the Best Films of 1990, which in cinematic terms was a fairly tepid one though it produced some great films from Martin Scorsese, The Coen Brothers, Pedro Almodovar and David Lynch.

I first saw "Goodfellas" (pictured here) at an outdoor cinema on the island of Buyukada, off the coast of Istanbul, Turkey. A friend of mine who I ran into at the cinema left during intermission (in Turkey to this day, they insert a ten-minute intermission to all films which can at times be a bit awkward) because he thought the film was 'too violent.'

But, irregardless of what the guy (I believe his name was Ali or Ahmet) thought the film by Scorsese is a genuine masterpiece which complements his other superlative films like "Raging Bull" (my choice for the best film of 1980) and "Taxi Driver."

My choice for the best foreign-language film is the Iranian classic "Close-Up" by Abbas Kiarostami, which merits a second look (alas, my Netflix que is full!). Kiarostami has also directed great films like "Ten," and he helped define the surprising film movement in Iran. With the recent arrest of Jafar Panahi (director of "Offsides"), Iran is alas still not a place where artistic expression, especially ones with political overtones, come easily.

Two films which lead to the NC-17 rating came out in 1990, including Almodovar's "Tie Me Up! Tie Me Down!" and Philip Kaufman's "Henry and June." Both films were also as good as they were provocative and hence both make my top ten:


1. "Goodfellas" (Martin Scorsese)

2. "Miller's Crossing" (Coen Bros.)

3. "Close-Up" (Iran. Abbas Kiarostami)

4. "The Grifters" (Stephen Frears)

5. "Tie Me Up! Tie Me Down!" (Spain. Pedro Almodovar)

6. "Wild at Heart" (David Lynch)

7."Edward Scissorhands" (Tim Burton)

8. "Europa, Europa" (Germany. Agnieszka Holland)

9. "Henry and June" (Philip Kaufman)

10. "Trust" (Hal Hartley)

Other films of merit from 1990 include the indie film "Metropolitan," "The Godfather III," "Dances With Wolves" and "Misery."

My choice for the Best Films of 2000 will be listed on our sister blog "Politics, Culture and Other Wastes of Time."

My Top 10 Favorite Films of Dennis Hopper

Alas, life has been difficult for Dennis Hopper, the iconic character actor hippie-turned-Republican who voted for Barack Obama also known for his photography skills and art collection as he has been going through a divorce and dealing with what is reported to be terminal prostate cancer.

But, since May 17 is his 74th birthday, I thought I would post my ten favorite films of his. This is a new pet project I am starting with this entry which focuses on my favorite films (note- not the same as best films) of a given movie star.

On my other blog, I will be focusing on my ten favorite films of Henry Fonda (1905-1982) who would have turned 105 on Sunday.

I was surprised to see that Hopper has actually been in more films than Henry Fonda (he co-starred with his offspring Peter Fonda in "Easy Rider"), but when one considers that Hopper has acted mostly in supporting roles that makes sense.

Here are top ten films for Hopper, and our thoughts are with him in his fight with prostate cancer:

1. "Apocalypse Now" (1979. Dir-Francis Ford Coppola)
2. "Easy Rider" (pictured). (1969. Dir-Dennis Hopper)
3. "The American Friend" (Germany. 1977. Dir- Wim Wenders)
4. "Blue Velvet" (1986. Dir-David Lynch)
5. "Rebel Without a Cause" (1955. Dir-Nick Ray)
6. "Cool Hand Luke" (1968. Dir-Stuart Rosenberg)
7. "Rumble Fish" (1983. Dir- Coppola).
8. "Straight to Hell" (UK. 1987. Dir-Alex Cox)
9. "The Pick-up Artist" (1987. Dir- James Toback)
10. "Red Rock West" (1993. Dir- John Dahl)

Film Comment Readers Pick Films of the Decade

The readers of the esteemed cinephile journal "Film Comment" (which includes me) voted on the best films of the decade and the magazine published the final results.

The current issue has a great cover article about the new Paul Greengrass film "The Green Zone," which stars Matt Damon by the magazine's editor Gavin Smith.

My Film of the Decade "Cache," a 2005 French film by Austrian director Michael Haneke came in 13th.

Here are the Top Ten:

1. "Mullholland Drive" (2001, dir. David Lynch-pictured)

2. "In the Mood for Love" (2000, dir. Wong Kar Wai/Hong Kong)

3. "There Will Be Blood" (2007, dir. PT Anderson)

4. "Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind" (2004, dir. Michel Gondry)

5. "Talk to Her" (2002, dir. Pedro Almodovar, Spain)

6. "The Royal Tenenbaums" (2001, dir. Wes Anderson)

7. "A History of Violence" (2005, dir. David Cronenberg)

8. "The New World" (2005, dir. Terence Malick)

9. "Zodiac" (2007, dir. David Fincher)

10. Yi Yi (2000, dir. Edward Wang, Japan).


"Yi Yi" is the only film on the list that I have not seen!

My Top 25 Films of The Decade (second draft)

The French film "Cache/Hidden" from Austrian director Michael Haneke is actually my favorite film of the 2000s, but more people are familiar with "Sideways." Haneke's film was ranked 16th in the recent "Film Comment" critic's poll for best films of the decade. David Lynch's "Mulholland Drive" was the magazine's top pick.

Here is the rest of my list, updated from an earlier December entry:


1. "Cache/Hidden" (France)
2. "Sideways"
3. "Distant" (Turkey)
4. "Lilya 4-ever" (Sweden)
5. "A History of Violence"
6. "Little Children"
7. "A.I."
8. "The Darjeeling Limited"
9. "Talk to Her" (Spain)
10. "Ten" (Iran)
11. "City of God" (Brazil)
12. "Lost in Translation"
13. "Almost Famous"
14. "The Magdalene Sisters" (Ireland)
15. "Up in the Air"
16. "Edge of Heaven" (Turkey/Germany)
17. "The Pianist"
18. "Borat"
19. "Before Sunset"
20. "Waltz with Bashir" (Israel)
21. "Downfall" (Germany)
22. "y tu mama tambien" (Mexico)
23. "Three Times" (Taiwan)
24. "I'm Not There"
25. "Into the Wild"

David Lynch_ the 1,000th Person I'm Following on Twitter

Film director/artist David Lynch just became the 1,000th person I'm following on Twitter. I must profess that following newsmakers and celebrities is a very fascinating affiar. Though the likes of Conan O'Brien have perhaps rightfully made fun of people like me.

Lynch's 2000 film "Mulholland Drive" was just named 'Film of the Decade' by "Film Comment" magazine. My own personal favorite film of the decade "Cache/Hidden," a French film from Austrian director Michael Haneke finished 16th on that list. I will be posting a final update of the list I submitted for the magazine's reader poll here, perhaps as soon as tomorrow.

Reporter Jordan Green, of the Greensboro, NC, weekly newspaper "Yes Weekly!" had a great column in last week's edition about Twitter. Green stated that the recent tragedy in Haiti has made Twitter the most important outlet for news and information. I couln't agree more, though one pitfall of Twitter came about this week when tweeters said that Johnny Depp died from a fatal car crash in France (he didn't!).

I also hope to post a list of my favorite people to follow on Twitter. Though I have not made my mind up yet, I am leaning towards placing singer Amanda Palmer of Dresden Dolls fame on top of the list. She just has a way of expressing herself which is perfectly suited for Twitter. The rest of us can only hope to achieve that occasionally- I'm afraid!