Tag, You're It: The 12 Movie Meme

I don't only like to play pretend. If it were up to me a set dollar amount would directly deposit into my checking account on a per-word-written basis here at Scarlett Cinema (and hell, at Seen too). But I am very good at dealing with the now, and thus I present to you another would-be best of list, though a slightly different one from the norm. What follows stems from Lazy Eye Theatre's "12 Movie Meme" list, now in its umpteen incarnation from Critic Kerpius, M.D. Yes, I have been tagged (thank you, Knife In The Head). Follow the links above to read more about this great imaginary opportunity to program 12 movies at the New Beverly Cinema. Before you do, read my list, just below, which I have cleverly outlined in terms of my favorite "location" movies. It's self-explanatory, keep reading...





Movies of the West/Southwest
Charlie Varrick (1973)
Duel in the Sun (1946)
Ace in the Hole (aka The Big Carnival, 1951)

I planned to begin and end this category with only one film, Don Siegel's Charlie Varrick, which I loved when I caught it at Film Forum over two years ago. It took a picture of familiar landscape that I haven't seen represented before or since in the movies. As a former Coloradoan, those wide skies and rolling purple shadows over the dry land were uncanny. It turns out, however, Varrick was mostly shot in Carson Valley, Nevada. Veritable neighbors to Colorado in my book. But I couldn't possibly talk about movies set in the West-Southwest and not include two of my other favorites, King Vidor's Duel in the Sun (shot mostly in Arizona and California) and Billy Wilder's Ace in the Hole (shot mostly in New Mexico and California). So maybe neither are known outstandingly for their landscape, but for their commentary on racial conflict and American consumer culture, respectively; but the scenery is there, and when we catch a glimpse, it's a sober coloring compared to the confines of a studio set.



L.A. Movies
Collateral (2004)
Detour (1945)

I like these both because you get the sense that this is actually what L.A. looks like. That might be more so for Edgar Ulmer's Detour, with his high-noon sunlight bleaching out the b-roll of city streets. Though Mann's Collateral makes that flat twinkling skyline every bit as spooky as I remember it in person.




New York Movies
Escape from New York (1981)
Ghost Busters (1984)
Little Fugitive (1953)

Both Escape and Ghost Busters have got some amazing special effects, Carpenter's Escape in particular--the crash landing on top of the World Trade Center, and the model skyline itself is sublime, blackened by years of abandonment. Eerie, but stunning. And for how much I love Ghost Busters (Ray: "We're the Ghost Busters." Louis: "Who does your taxes?"), upon watching it again, just last Sunday in fact, cinematographer László Kovács' photography paints some of my favorite pictures of New York on film. Which is to say nothing of the original music by Elmer Bernstein that is an elegant and fun capture of the city's cadence. And Little Fugitive closes in on a smaller corner of this gigantic city, on little Joey's (Richie Andrusco) Brooklyn neighborhood and 1950s Coney Island. It is a wonderful time capsule of urban, working class culture in an area that is quickly becoming a second playground for Manhattan's upper-middle class.




Movies of the South
George Washington (2000)
Cookie's Fortune (1999)

Robert Altman's Cookie's Fortune is, I believe, the most underrated of his movies. I mean, people really get to hating it when it's brought up, but I can never fully understand why. Is it because of the hilarious quirks of its southern characters? The talented ensemble cast that even gives the usually made-up and muted Liv Tyler a moment to act? Altman's understated interest in American subculture? No matter the criticisms, Cookie's is a cheerful laugh. As for David Gordon Green's George Washington, that's on the opposite spectrum of cheerfulness in southern culture and atmosphere. George is downright haunting, but one to watch when in a ponderous mood.



Movies of Paris/France
To Be and To Have (2002)
L'Atalante (1934)

What is it about French cinema that inspires so much joyful curiosity? As I approach my first trip to Paris this fall, I feel one in the same with country girl Juliette (Dita Parlo) as she jumps ship to discover the magical labyrinth of the Paris city streets. And it was a small victory to discover a film shot in south-central France called To Be and To Have some years ago in the cramped quarters of New York's Cinema Village. The documentary tiptoes through the classroom of a teacher and his students in the rural town, treating us to a picture that displays the delicate mechanics of learning and listening. Affection simmers to the brim as the students and their teacher exchange tender goodbyes.

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I'm tagging:

Andrea at Spinster Aunt
Rob and Matt at Termite Art
The happy couple at Tits and Gore
The other happy couple at Tativille
Barry at Everthing Else Is Rim Light

Silent Cinema Favorites

While I once again take a breather to gather my upcoming posts, here's a plug for dear Spinster Aunt's wonderful list of favorite silent films! "Silent Movies For People Who Don't Like Silent Movies", is how our humble literati sister chooses to put it, more precisely. But no matter how you say it, this silent cinema list takes the anxiety out of watching "old" movies, just watch and enjoy, Spinster says. Now those are words of a true cinephile!

And here's a still-photo shout-out to one of my favorite silent comedy shorts, Laurel and Hardy's Big Business (1929).

MORE Sad News! Isaac Hayes dead at 65!!!

What in the world...???

Yesterday's NY Times has reported that Isaac Hayes-- the iconic soul singer who rose to great prominence for penning, performing, and winning an Oscar for the theme song to the movie, Shaft, and was the embodiment of 1970s cool-- has died at age 65.

In addition to crooning his way up the charts, Hayes had also amassed a formidable list of credits as an actor over the years, making guest appearances in television series such as Stargate SG-1 and Girlfriends, performing as the voice of the character Chef in the animated show South Park, and making cameos in films such as Hustle and Flow, Chelsea Walls, Reindeer Games, and the 2000 remake of Shaft.

Hayes' death coming on the heels of Bernie Mac's recent demise is also particularly conspicuous, as the two will now appear posthumously alongside Samuel L. Jackson in the Malcolm D. Lee film, Soul Men, this fall (set for a Novemeber 14th release date).

Sad Saturday Morning News: G'bye, Bernie

I woke up this morning to the headline reading comedian Bernie Mac died, and I am in shock once again that someone so consistently pleasant to watch left the world so young; he was 50.

In recent years I have grown increasingly familiar and fond of his show (now running in syndication), The Bernie Mac Show, which was hands-down as hilarious as some of my own favorite sit-coms, 30 Rock, The Office and Everybody Hates Chris, in particular. What I like so much about The Bernie Mac Show is how it took your run of the mill family situations and kept them that way, finding its biggest laughs not in exaggerated hyperbole of these sorts mundane conflicts, but in Bernie's own sense of irreverence toward them. In reality, it wasn't one of the kids stealing a cookie from the jar that riled him, but the fact that they could have fun at his own expense, diminishing the power he thought he held over them.

Some of my favorite moments are when uncle Bernie runs surveillance on his kids to find out if they are talking smack behind his back; or when uncle Bernie sends Vanessa's baby sister with her on a date to keep eye; and of course, any time we cut away from the narrative to find Bernie addressing us directly into the camera, "Listen up, America..."

So good-bye to Bernie--gone but not forgotten.

Oh, No He Didn't.

He did! He really did!

See more funny videos at Funny or Die