Watched Let the Right One In (2008) last night, which doesn't actually count for our purposes, but wow. I just can't stop thinking about it. Exceptionally slow moving at first, but it really paid off in the second half.

For the sake of speed, unless he shows up today I think whom ever won October should pick the next theme. When he comes back we can give him another month of his choosing out of fairness though.

Well I believe thwhtguardian was the only one close behind me in his numbers for this month, so if his numbers didn't go higher today, then I would appear to be the winner.

My choice for this month's theme:

The Thousand Greatest Films of All Time

There are a lot of Top Movies of all Time lists out there, but for years now, I've been a fan of the list from They Shoot Pictures, Don't They?, as it has seldom ever steered me wrong. Your assignment is to watch and discuss films on this list, so long as they also meet this community's requirements of

1) Having a running time of 60 minutes or longer
2) Having been released prior to November 1st 2005.


Beyond that, have fun!

Went to a marathon at the Alamo Drafthouse in Austin yesterday, called "Dismember the Alamo".

here's my 'review' of it:

the show was a great time, despite a few glitches. Highlight was getting to share the marathon sitting next to my friends John and Rod!

Out of 6 films shown, I had never seen 5 of them, and the one I had seen is extremely re watchable, so in those terms, it was a howling success.

those glitches? well. . remember all that rain from Friday in Austin? it knocked out something pretty major at the Austin airport, and as a result cancelled all flights thru Sunday frown emoticon. . . so the special surprise guest was unable to make it -- even tho he had programmed some of the films. Unfortunately, the guest was supposed to be John Landis! ( frown emoticon ) . . so TOTALLY sucks that he couldn't make it in. . would have been spectacular to hear him in person.

Since Landis couldn't make it, that cut about 2 hours off the run time, as there were no Q&A or interviews between films. . so it actually ended at just around 10pm. . way earlier than I had been expecting, but still. . got home with no traffic and caught up on "the Leftovers" on HBO. .so worked out.

Not a lot of "gore" in these films, and really only one that could be called a "slasher" film.

what films did we see?

1) "Monsters Crash the Pajama Party". . a cheesy, terribly acted film about Sorority girls in a haunted house, with a mad doctor in the basement turning teenagers into Gorillas -- complete with creepers coming off the screen and running up and down the aisles of the theater smile emoticon

2) "Frankenhooker". . a 35mm print, of a film never shown in Austin. Also one I had never seen, and funnily enough, Showtime has been showing it (it was actually on when I got home!). Luckily I hadn't bothered watching it, since it plays MUCH better with a genre crowd watching it! If I had watched alone, I likely would have turned it off and put in something else.

3) "Screams of a Winter Night" - a very rarely seen (due to rights issues) tale of 10 (yes. . TEN!)..friends who go to a remote cabin, to tell ghost stories. . not very scary ones at that, either. Honestly, not a very good film, and the pay off makes absolutely no sense, and comes out of no-where. . . but filled with great atmosphere, and has the added "twist" that the ghost tales they are telling are performed by the same actors in the cabin. . so that was kinda unique. That one of the ladies looked like Jane Curtain was very distracting tho tongue emoticon. . . .

4) "Theater of Blood" -- starring Vincent Price and Diana Rigg (in bad cross-gender makeup!). Another one I'd not seen.
This is the one "slasher" film, and is so over the top campy, I think it's now my favorite Vincent Price film ever It's hard to top Price playing a campy hairdresser with a humongous afro quoting Shakespeare!
LOVED it. . . .



5) "An American Werewolf in London". . been a while since I've seen it, but holds up spectacularly well. Too bad Landis wasn't able to attend. .would have loved to hear his stories on this frown emoticon

6) the final "film" (and I use that term generously) was a filmed on video by twin 16year olds, never released feature called "Hallucinations"
It had a special taped introduction/apology from one of the directors (the other one has passed).
Zero character development (we really were never sure WHO the 3rd character was, or why he's sleeping on the floor of the twins room. . but apparently supposed to be an adopted kid? The most frightening thing about this one were the 16 year olds with spotty mustaches (and one of kid's suddenly got cleanshaven about 1/2 way thru and we apparently weren't supposed to notice???)
A slog to get thru, and I was actually a bit annoyed they showed it, since it was so brutally awful. . tho it did have some interesting moments -- such as a long, naked shower scene of one kid getting attacked by a giant penis monster (I said to John. . this is awful close to child porn! during that scene). . .and a scene where one of the characters poops out a butcher knife. why? HALLUCINATIONS!!!

eh. . it was a bad way to end it for me, because it was the weakest film. I probably wouldn' t have minded it if it were the 1st or 2nd one.

oh well. .it was still great fun, and I'll do it again next year! And they did give us all one free movie pass (and a promise we get first crack at tix for the special screening they will do when they can get Landis back in town).

Okay, so here's the Top 100 from that list. I've bolded the ones I've seen. I've also put a + if I think the film should be higher on the list, a - if I think it should be a lower, and a ? if I am unsure/feel I need to see it again.



1 1 Citizen Kane Welles, Orson 1941 USA 119 -
2 2 Vertigo Hitchcock, Alfred 1958 USA 128 -
3 3 2001: A Space Odyssey Kubrick, Stanley 1968 UK 139 -
4 4 Tokyo Story Ozu, Yasujiro 1953 Japan 134
5 5 Rules of the Game, The Renoir, Jean 1939 France 113 ?
6 6 8 1/2 Fellini, Federico 1963 Italy 135 -
7 7 Godfather, The Coppola, Francis Ford 1972 USA 175
8 8 Sunrise Murnau, F.W. 1927 USA 110
9 10 Seven Samurai Kurosawa, Akira 1954 Japan 200
10 9 Searchers, The Ford, John 1956 USA 119
11 11 Battleship Potemkin Eisenstein, Sergei 1925 USSR 71
12 12 Apocalypse Now Coppola, Francis Ford 1979 USA 150
13 13 Bicycle Thieves De Sica, Vittorio 1948 Italy 90 -
14 14 Breathless Godard, Jean-Luc 1960 France 89
15 15 Passion of Joan of Arc, The Dreyer, Carl Theodor 1928 France 110
16 16 Singin' in the Rain Donen & Kelly 1952 USA 102 -
17 17 Atalante, L' Vigo, Jean 1934 France 89
18 27 Man with a Movie Camera, The Vertov, Dziga 1929 USSR 80
19 19 Taxi Driver Scorsese, Martin 1976 USA 113
20 18 Rashomon Kurosawa, Akira 1950 Japan 88
21 20 Godfather Part II, The Coppola, Francis Ford 1974 USA 200 -
22 21 Raging Bull Scorsese, Martin 1980 USA 128
23 24 Persona Bergman, Ingmar 1966 Sweden 81 -
24 22 Lawrence of Arabia Lean, David 1962 UK 216
25 23 400 Blows, The Truffaut, Francois 1959 France 99
26 25 Andrei Rublev Tarkovsky, Andrei 1966 USSR 185
27 26 Mirror, The Tarkovsky, Andrei 1974 USSR 108
28 29 City Lights Chaplin, Charles 1931 USA 86
29 30 Psycho Hitchcock, Alfred 1960 USA 109
30 31 Dolce vita, La Fellini, Federico 1960 Italy 175 +
31 28 Avventura, L' Antonioni, Michelangelo 1960 Italy 145
32 32 Some Like it Hot Wilder, Billy 1959 USA 119 +
33 33 Ordet Dreyer, Carl Theodor 1955 Denmark 125
34 34 Touch of Evil Welles, Orson 1958 USA 108
35 36 General, The Keaton & Bruckman 1926 USA 74 ?
36 35 Au hasard Balthazar Bresson, Robert 1966 France 95
37 45 Blade Runner Scott, Ridley 1982 USA 118 -
38 38 Contempt Godard, Jean-Luc 1963 France 103
39 37 Casablanca Curtiz, Michael 1942 USA 102 ?
40 40 Sunset Blvd. Wilder, Billy 1950 USA 110 -
41 41 Metropolis Lang, Fritz 1927 Germany 153
42 39 Grande illusion, La Renoir, Jean 1937 France 117
43 44 Night of the Hunter, The Laughton, Charles 1955 USA 93
44 42 Modern Times Chaplin, Charles 1936 USA 89 +
45 46 Rear Window Hitchcock, Alfred 1954 USA 112 -
46 47 Playtime Tati, Jacques 1967 France 108
47 43 Third Man, The Reed, Carol 1949 UK 104 +
48 49 M Lang, Fritz 1931 Germany 99 -
49 64 Shoah Lanzmann, Claude 1985 France 566
50 53 Barry Lyndon Kubrick, Stanley 1975 UK 183
51 56 Fanny and Alexander Bergman, Ingmar 1982 Sweden 189
52 52 Dr. Strangelove or: How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love the Bomb Kubrick, Stanley 1964 UK 93 -
53 50 Chinatown Polanski, Roman 1974 USA 131 -
54 55 Stalker Tarkovsky, Andrei 1979 USSR 160 -
55 58 In the Mood for Love Wong Kar-wai 2000 Hong Kong 97
56 54 Enfants du paradis, Les Carne, Marcel 1945 France 195
57 61 Apartment, The Wilder, Billy 1960 USA 125
58 48 Ugetsu monogatari Mizoguchi, Kenji 1953 Japan 96
59 51 Pather Panchali Ray, Satyajit 1955 India 112
60 57 Battle of Algiers, The Pontecorvo, Gillo 1965 Algeria 123
61 60 Once Upon a Time in the West Leone, Sergio 1968 Italy 165
62 59 Late Spring Ozu, Yasujiro 1949 Japan 108
63 62 North by Northwest Hitchcock, Alfred 1959 USA 136
64 65 Leopard, The Visconti, Luchino 1963 Italy 205
65 68 Wild Strawberries Bergman, Ingmar 1957 Sweden 90
66 73 Mulholland Dr. Lynch, David 2001 France 147
67 66 Strada, La Fellini, Federico 1954 Italy 115
68 63 Gold Rush, The Chaplin, Charles 1925 USA 82 -
69 74 Rio Bravo Hawks, Howard 1959 USA 141
70 69 Pierrot le fou Godard, Jean-Luc 1965 France 110
71 67 Wild Bunch, The Peckinpah, Sam 1969 USA 144
72 70 Seventh Seal, The Bergman, Ingmar 1957 Sweden 96 +
73 72 Gertrud Dreyer, Carl Theodor 1964 Denmark 116
74 76 Viridiana Bunuel, Luis 1961 Spain 90
75 71 Pickpocket Bresson, Robert 1959 France 75
76 77 Amarcord Fellini, Federico 1973 Italy 127
77 75 Voyage in Italy Rossellini, Roberto 1953 Italy 97
78 80 Blue Velvet Lynch, David 1986 USA 120
79 79 Conformist, The Bertolucci, Bernardo 1970 Italy 107
80 82 Jules et Jim Truffaut, Francois 1961 France 104
81 78 Close-Up Kiarostami, Abbas 1990 Iran 98
82 81 Nashville Altman, Robert 1975 USA 159
83 96 Last Year at Marienbad Resnais, Alain 1961 France 94
84 91 GoodFellas Scorsese, Martin 1990 USA 146 -
85 113 Sans soleil Marker, Chris 1983 France 100
86 84 Magnificent Ambersons, The Welles, Orson 1942 USA 88
87 89 It's a Wonderful Life Capra, Frank 1946 USA 129
88 85 Man Escaped, A Bresson, Robert 1956 France 102
89 101 Brighter Summer Day, A Yang, Edward 1991 Taiwan 237
90 83 Jeanne Dielman, 23 Quai du Commerce, 1080 Bruxelles Akerman, Chantal 1975 Belgium 201
91 90 Satantango Tarr, Bela 1994 Hungary 450
92 93 Clockwork Orange, A Kubrick, Stanley 1971 UK 137
93 86 Sansho the Bailiff Mizoguchi, Kenji 1954 Japan 125
94 87 Aguirre: The Wrath of God Herzog, Werner 1972 West Germany 94
95 103 Pulp Fiction Tarantino, Quentin 1994 USA 154 -
96 88 Intolerance Griffith, D.W. 1916 USA 178
97 100 Man Who Shot Liberty Valance, The Ford, John 1962 USA 119
98 99 Jetee, La Marker, Chris 1962 France 27
99 92 Annie Hall Allen, Woody 1977 USA 94
100 94 Greed

Out of that 1,000 films on that list - I've seen probably around 250 to 300 of those films and most of them at least 2-3 times over and I'm a movie junkie and I spent a lot of my time during the 1980 to 2000 watching 10-15 movies a week and now in my retirement years - I'm up to 20 movies a week. If I had to take the list that Shaxper has created - I would bold about 50 percent of them of the ones that I've seen and believe me when I was between the ages of 25 to 40 - I have attended well over 40-50 Movie Festivals including 2-3 of them from TCM and others in San Francisco, New York City, Chicago, and a half of dozens cities and had a ball attending them. Next year, I will be going to Los Angeles, Denver, and four other cities all mainly on the west coast and watch old movies from various filmgoers that you have to be a member of.