DUSTY BOOKS and PICTURES: MOVIES

MOVIES

"In one of my dreams I was standing on Sunset Boulevard, where the trees are, and I was waiting for a Yellow cab to take me to lunch. But no Yellow Cab came by; all the automobiles that drove by me were of 1916 vintage. And I said to myself, 'It's no good standing here waiting for a Yellow Cab because this is a 1916 dream!' So I walked to lunch instead." - Alfred Hitchcock

In the last few years, movies have become my hobby, and writing about them has become one of my favorite diversions. While I'm still pretty new at it, I enjoy this much more than trying to review music, and I think I'm a bit better at it. I'm definitely not a film student; I prefer entertainment to art because I am extremely lowbrow. Narrative drive is a big deal to me, as is what I call the "moment of recognition" and the all-important force of the Great Ending. I like movies that are primarily visual more than movies that are driven by dialogue, and I generally prefer movies that can make their point without stretching on to 140-odd minutes.

My moviemaking hero is Alfred Hitchcock; other directors I admire a great deal include Stanley Kubrick, Woody Allen, Billy Wilder, Steven Spielberg, Francois Truffaut, and Orson Welles. My favorite actors are Peter Sellers and Cary Grant, and in the non-dead category, Morgan Freeman. My favorite actress is Ingrid Bergman, who is too cool for words. My favorite movie of all time when I am talking to a film snob is L.A. STORY, a brilliant brilliant Steve Martin film. My favorite movie of all time otherwise is the simply astonishing THE GRADUATE. I honestly can't choose between them.

Below you will find perhaps the most exhaustive and strange undertaking on this stupid webpage, my capsule reviews of every movie I can remember seeing and having an opinion on. Before you scream that I have no life, keep in mind that this took a long, long time to compile and write, and it was a lot of fun. Within that list you will find links to full-length reviews of some (and hopefully most, eventually) of the movies. I'm not knowledgeable enough yet to write about anything larger than individual titles to any great effect, but I do have a page of lists of favorite movies of each decade and other dumb shit like that, plus some pages devoted to my favorite directors.

Cartoons are another big passion of mine, reawakened in the last few years by the delightful film THE INCREDIBLES. I'm into both classic animation and modern animation that's not a collection of cheap shots and has broad appeal (not a fan of Adult Swim or -- eek -- anime). While I love the great Warner Bros. shorts, my field is really the work of the Disney studio through Walt's death. They have a monopoly on the list of all-time best cartoons in my opinion; their shorts were masterful, and their animated features are some of the best films of all time, though I must say I equally admire a trio of remarkable British feature cartoons -- ANIMAL FARM, YELLOW SUBMARINE, and especially WATERSHIP DOWN. I believe that, thanks in part to my new religion, Pixar, animation is finally moving forward in North America to be seen as an artform instead of a kiddie genre. THE INCREDIBLES is, in my view, the most sophisticated animated film made to date, and along with another recent work of magic, THE TRIPLETS OF BELLEVILLE, it gives a tantalizing view of what could be the future of the form. Some minor animation stuff is below.

Also below is a section on TV. I don't watch a lot of TV but I did when I was younger, and much of it was Nick at Nite, which may explain why my favorite show ever is "Get Smart". #2 is "The Twilight Zone" and there are a lot of others I really dig (and will write more about in the future), but despite the fact that it just barely makes my top ten, "The Simpsons" has certainly had a bigger impact on me than any other television series, and as petty as it sounds, its long and painful decline has for some time been a source of frustration for me. I will say that if "The Simpsons" had ended its run in 1996 then "Get Smart" would probably be #2.

So anyway, here is the stuff. Thanks, this was fun.

MY MOVIE GUIDE: capsules & full reviews

ALFRED HITCHCOCK page
INDEX OF FULL-LENGTH REVIEWS
MY FAVORITE MOVIES & other lists
ANIMATION PAGES coming soon

LIVE ACTION SHORTS
LANDMARKS OF EARLY FILM DVD review

OTHER MOVIE WRITING
REACTION TO RECENT REVIEWS
EBERT vs. ROSENBAUM re BERGMAN
NO MORE DISNEY CHEAPQUELS
NEW AFI LIST
IMDB 250 / PIXAR / SUMMER MOVIE COMMENTS
SOME GENERAL COMMENTS ON RECENT FILMS & REVIEWS
MOVIE TYPEFACES
MIKE NELSON VS. MOVIES
PLANS TO WEED THROUGH IMDB 250
2007 OSCARS + MOVIE THEATERS
CRISPIN GLOVER @ SUNDANCE
FALL MOVIE PREVIEW '06
MEL vs. WOODY
WORLD TRADE CENTER
CRITICS VS. ANIMATION
GET RICH SLOWLY
SUMMER MOVIE PREVIEW
TOM CRUISE'S BANKABILITY
UNITED 93: ARE WE READY?
2006 MOVIE PREVIEW
LIVING IN A BUBBLE: IS THIS THE END OF THEATRICAL RELEASING?
OSCAR NOMINATIONS: WHY DO I CARE?
DISNEY BUYS PIXAR
MY YEAR IN MOVIES 2005
MY FEELINGS ABOUT ROGER EBERT
MOVIE TRAILER REVIEWS - JULY 2005
A GENERAL COMPLAINT ABOUT FILM LISTS
THE (Supposed) END OF MGM
MOVIE TRAILER REVIEWS - JAN. 2005
SCARY MOVIES, IMPRESSIONABLE YOUTH AND WATERSHIP DOWN

TELEVISION

"I hate television. I hate it as much as I hate peanuts. But I can't stop eating peanuts." - Orson Welles

MY TV PAGE: the shows I like & such
TWILIGHT ZONE page (w/ capsule reviews)
MYSTERY SCIENCE THEATER 3000 page (currently just an essay)
SIMPSONS page (w/ reviews & essays)
(more to come)

BLOG ENTRIES
Kids in the Hall Pilot DVD
The X-Files: Season Three DVD
The X-Files: Season Two DVD
Moonlighting: Season Five DVD
The X-Files: Season One DVD
My So-Called Life DVD rerelease
music changes in TV on DVD
Penn & Teller: Bullshit! jumps shark
Get Smart DVD review / Moonlighting: Season Four DVD / Kids in the Hall: Season Five DVD
Get Smart good clean fun?
initial reaction to Get Smart DVD
THE PRISONER on DVD + Daria
Kids in the Hall: Season Four DVD
Moonlighting: Season Three DVD
I don't hate Star Trek or anything
Bill Maher's show
M-word
more on FCC
Chris Carter's "Millennium"
when men were men
limits to freedom
parentstv
federal censorship commission
gigantic Star Trek thing
broken TV & all about cable
so much sex
fair and balanced

"I only take Viagra when I'm with more than one woman." - Jack Nicholson