Happy Birthday, Walter Hill

Desert Island DVDs

Fandango Groovers has asked an important question: What are your Top 8 Desert Island DVDs? A lot of people have answered. Click that link; read their picks. Here are mine.

Unfaithful: I assume I'm alone on this island.

The Truman Show: Truman would be my confidant, my Wilson.  He would understand exactly what I was going through.  Unfortunately, repeated viewings of The Truman Show would surely lead towards insanity but there's something romantic about a delusional blogger stumbling around an island thinking he's on reality TV.

The Warriors: It's my favorite movie of all-time.  I had to have it.  That being said, I'd take my original cut over the Director's Cut because those cartoon interludes add nothing to the movie.

The Karate Kid: Part II: I will argue until the day I die (which won't be long if I'm on this island) that the second Karate Kid is the best of the (now) five Karate Kid movies.

Okinawa > Reseda.  Chozen > Johnny.  

Ice Blocks > Fence Painting.   

Freestyle: The Art of Rhyme: Choosing which documentary to bring was difficult.  I decided to choose my favorite hip-hop doc because there's tons of special features, bonus footage, and it'll give me my music fix while I'm waiting for death on this godforsaken island.

Do the Right Thing: I noticed that my "high-quality filmmaking" quota was a little low so I'm bringing Do the Right Thing.  It's cinegasmic, features some of my all-time favorite performances, and is just that damn good.

Back to the Future: Escapism at its best.  I'm also hoping that if I play this enough times in a row that my friend Luke will somehow psychically pick up on my coordinates.  He'll either come and save me or stick around and watch Back to the Future with me until one of us is forced to eat the other to fight off starvation.

Die Hard: It came down between this and Kill Bill Vol. 1 to satisfy my constant need for movie violence.  In the end, I knew I couldn't live without hearing "Yippie Ki-Yay, motherfucker."

Southern Comfort

In keeping with the military theme from my last post, I feel the moral obligation to share a film with you called Southern Comfort. Directed by Walter Hill (The Warriors), Comfort follows a Louisiana National Guard squad at odds with a group of territorial Cajuns. Set deep in rural swamplands, the soliders call on all of their military experience in an attempt to get home safely. But with the homefield advantage going to the French-speaking poachers, the group finds themselves underprepared. And now with the roughest gang of Cajuns on their tail, the band of good guys have to, in a sense, bop their way home.

Walter Hill knows how to direct a group. His other ensemble cast films, The Warriors and The Long Riders, each use their opening act carefully--familiarizing the audience with a large number of characters in a short amount of time. Connections are built quickly; they have to be because in each case, not everyone makes it back alive. In fact, not everyone makes it past the first acts. Comfort's characters are immeditely distinguishable. You've got the Leader, the Back Up Leader, the Guy Who Wants to Be Leader But Shouldn't, The Guy Who Doesn't Want to Be Leader But Should Be. Comic relief, badasses, good ol' boys. They're all here. And they all piece together well.



The action is good. The suspense is better. The Cajuns have booby-trapped the wetlands with bear traps and assorted other inhumane devices. The troops have guns but are low on bullets. And to top it all off, there's a power struggle within the ranks that pretty much guarantees a knife fight. Hill loves him some slow-motion accents but doesn't overdo it. There were numerous times where I audibly yelled (even though I was watching by myself) in genuine shock/excitement. Southern Comfort is cool. You're gonna like this one. And if you don't like it, skip Deliverance.

Excitement! Wonder! Internet!

For true film lovers, "Making Of" featurettes and official commentary tracks aren't always enough. Sometimes, you've just got to track down someone who actually worked on the film and ask them all the questions that've been bugging you. Months and months and months ago, Rob Rector and I got in contact through The Lamb and I've been recording podcasts with my favorite Hollywood celebrities ever since.

Rob started Natsukashi with the intent to explore the connection between Nostalgia and Film. Why did we like certain films when we were younger? What do we think about them now?

Here's the exciting part. Rob is currently taking requests from bloggers who want to record an episode. E-mail him, leave a comment, train a pigeon. However you want to do it, let Rob know that you're interested.

To get a sample of what these are like, here are some links to episodes that I recorded at Natsukashi.

Demolition Man (feat. Glenn Shadix, actor)
BeetleJuice (feat. Glenn Shadix, actor)
The Warriors (feat. Irwin Keys, actor)
Return from Witch Mountain
The 5,000 Fingers of Dr. T

And here's an episode that Whitney recorded a few months back.

Peter Pan (feat. Edmond Gaynes, actor)

Three Scenes I Love: Deleted Scenes

High Fidelity

My life is [______this______] much better now.

I just found out that this scene even existed. Somehow, I skipped the deleted scenes but watched all the Making Of special features. It's my second favorite movie but apparently I've been less than interested in seeing the cutting room floor scraps. That is, until I absorbed Nick Hornby's book.

A betrayed wife attempts to screw over her cheating hubby by selling his lutra-rare record collection for fifty bucks. This was one of the best scenes in the book! How could this not make it into the movie? Well, it looks like it almost made it into movie. Not only did the scene get shot, it featured Beverly D'Angelo! I don't think the scene deserved to be cut -- you be the judge.

The Boondock Saints

This one's for my friend Laura (the one who made my amazing banner). She showed me this scene one night and we both larfed and larfed. The interesting thing about Laura is that her favorite movies include Pride & Prejudice, Little Women, Gosford Park, and Ever After. Then, from straight out of left-field, she also loved The Boondock Saints. One of the most violent, sin-packed 110 minutes ever films. I love it, but I was surprised that she did too.

I can understand why this scene was cut. It doesn't really move the story along and sorta takes the film in an unneeded direction as far as subplots go, but it's so damn funny. Really funny. I know it's long, but stick with it to the end, it's worth watching. I don't know who this woman is, but she cracks me up. Wonder if she'll be in the sequel...

The Warriors

I can't understand why the High Fidelity scene was cut. I understand why the Boondock Saints scene was cut but wish it wasn't. I love this scene because it's NOT in the movie. One of The Warriors' best qualities is how tight the film remains. As mentioned in my second-ever blog post, way back in April, the use of a limited time-frame (in this case, around twelve or so hours) greatly strengthens the suspense of heroes journey. They've got to make it home now. Every gang in the city is looking for them and they've got to move.

I was really disappointed when I read Sol Yurick's book for a number of reasons. It still used the limited time-frame, which made the suspense effective, but the way the movie just starts amist the action, creates a pace which doesn't slow down until the end of the film. Thie book starts off with talking. It's a "Here, let me explain everything to you and then we'll start the movie" sort of thing. This scene would have done the same thing to the movie. I'm always happy to find out more about my favorite movie but when I saw this scene, I knew right away that Walter Hill made the right choice. Actually, there are quite a few deleted scenes from The Warriors floating around the internet, and not one of them, in my opinion, belong in the movie. And that feels good.

And those are three scenes I love.

My Top 100 Favorite Movies (in Order!)

01. The Warriors
02. High Fidelity
03. Do the Right Thing
04. Dangerous Minds
05. The Karate Kid Part II
06. Matinee
07. Back to the Future
08. Born in East L.A.
09. Freestyle: The Art of Rhyme
10. The Birdcage11. Tootsie
12. Jurassic Park
13. The Truman Show
13a. The Seven-Up Series
(I wasn't sure a series could count)
14. Style Wars
15. Halloween
16. Unfaithful
17. Scratch
18. Superbad
19. Assault on Precinct 13
20. Dogtown and Z-Boys 21. Strangers on a Train
22. Imitation of Life
23. The Hudsucker Proxy
24. Escape to Witch Mountain
25. The Palm Beach Story
26. Say Anything
27. Kill Bill Vol. 1
28. Notting Hill
29. Marathon Man
30. Home Alone II: Lost in New York31. Old Boy
32. Hackers
33. Dark Days
34. Airplane!
35. Escape from Alcatraz
36. Waiting for Guffman
37. Dog Day Afternoon
38. Rear Window
39. Best in Show
40. Reservoir Dogs41. The Freshman
42. The 400 Blows
43. Clueless
44. Duck Soup
45. Dazed and Confused
46. Life Stinks
47. The Boondock Saints
48. Coming to America
49. Take the Money and Run
50. The Godfather51. For Love or Money
52. Return to Oz
53. Dirty Harry
54. Demolition Man
55. Boyz n the Hood
56. The Bicycle Thief
57. Matilda
58. Empire Records
59. The Wood
60. 18761. The Descent
62. 3 Ninjas
63. Cinemania
64. Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles 2: The Secret of the Ooze
65. Fast Times at Ridgemont High
66. Night of the Living Dead
67. Battle Royale
68. Manhattan Murder Mystery
69. The Sandlot
70. The Gauntlet
71. With Honors
72. The Taking of Pelham One Two Three
73. The Great Escape
74. Tortilla Soup
75. The Player
76. Hannah and Her Sisters
77. The Fugitive
78. The Orphanage
79. Rock the Bells
80. The Conversation81. Fargo
82. In America
83. Monster Camp
84. The Discreet Charm of the Bourgeoisie
85. Kramer vs. Kramer
86. The Brave Little Toaster
87. Groundhog Day
88. Stand by Me
89. The People Under the Stairs
90. El Crimen Del Padre Amaro91. All About My Mother
92. That Thing You Do
93. Stroszek
94. Taxi Driver
95. Love Actually
96. Labyrinth
97. Brown Sugar
98. Streets of Fire
99. Daddy's Little Girls
100. Meet the FeeblesThere you have it. My Top 100 Favorite Films of All-Time.
It took over a week to put the list together.
Even if you don't like my choices or my rankings,
you've got to give me props for putting them in order!

What do you think?

The 12 Movies Meme

Lazy Eye Theatre is hosting the 12 MOVIES MEME. I had the honor of being selected in the first group of writers. Here's the mission: Diablo Cody got to program 12 movies at the New Beverly Cinema. If she can do it, we can do it.

List your programming schedule. Which 12 movies and why. Then nominate 5 other writers to contribute their lists. My selections will be at the bottom of this blog. Read on to see if you made the cut.

Here's my schedule. Feedback and poll question voting is a must. One simple question: which nights would you attend and which ones would you skip? Thanks in advance for all your comments.

Monday-Tuesday
Peter Jackson Double-Feature
Meet the Feebles [Link] - Muppets on Crack creation starts this off.
Dead Alive [Link] - The most entertaining zombie film of all time.Wanna fight about it?



Wednesday-Thursday
Gael Garcia Bernal Double-Feature
The Motorcycle Diaries [Link] - A young Che Guevara, years before he led the Cuban Revolution, and his friend travel through South America.
El Crimen del Padre Amaro [Link] - A Catholic priest has an affair with a teenage girl. This one'll knock you on your ass.


Friday-Saturday
The Raddest Cult Films Ever Made Double Feature
Assault on Precinct 13 [Link] - Awesome premise, incredible synth music, and one of John Carpenter's best films.
The Warriors [Link] - My favorite movie of all time. The coolest, most quotable cult film to date.


Sunday-Monday
Bring Your Kids Double Feature
Escape to Witch Mountain [Link] - My favorite kids movie. Magical tweens outwit an evil millionaire and his bald henchman.
Rad [Link] - This one is CULT. The kiddies might not get through this one, but it's worth showing because it's so hard to get ahold of these days.


Tuesday-Wednesday
Hip-Hop Documentary Double Feature
Style Wars [Link] - Mind-blowingly amazing doc about the Golden Years of Graffiti.
Freestyle: The Art of Rhyme [Link] - The movie contains: Dope emcees spitting off the dome hotness. If that made any sense to you, watch this movie now.


Thursday-Friday
The Hottest Double Feature
High Fidelity [Link] - John Cusack.
Unfaithful [Link] - Diane Lane.

There's the schedule. Which nights would you attend?
Which ones would you skip? Why?

Also, my official selections for contributors are:
Whitney @ DearJesus
Daniel G. @ Get A Film
Ross Williams @ What I Watched Last Night
The Mad Hatter @ The Dark of the Matinee
Keith @ The Kinetoscope Parlor

1. When you finish your post, let me know so I can let Lazy Eye Theatre know.
2. If you don't want to do it, let me know so I can ask someone else.