50 Greatest Tv Shows

http://www.empireonline.com/50greatesttv/default.asp?tv=50

Well, an interesting list. My first observation is the high level of "newer" shows to get in. Normally, these lists are skewed towards nostaligic faves, but most here are only a decade or so old. The only "classic stuff" to get in tended to be British comedy institutions - Monty Python, Blackadder, Faulty Towers. Aside from that and Quantum Leap, apparently there was no TV before 1980.

Despite my current love for Doctor Who, I never had a fear it wouldn't be on there, so wasn't particularly excited when it came up. The one I wanted to see - and by the time I got halfway down, I knew it wasn't there - was The Prisoner, a delightfully surreal 60s show about a man who resigns from his job, presumably as a spy. He is kidnapped and taken to The Village - think Disneyworld meets Big Brother, a paradise of happy people - from which he cannot escape, while the people in charge (his ex-bosses? The enemy? Someone else entirely? His own fractured psyche?) try to crack into his head. 17 episodes follow, stuffed with chess imagery, psychological bull and vagely philosophical delirium. Unlike Lost, whose rash authors promised that everything in the show would be explained, the Prisoner rarely falls into the trap of explaining anything. After its insanely brilliant final episode, creator-cum-lead Patrick McGoohan had to go into hiding for a few weeks, to escape fans who wanted answers.

There are always talks about it being remade by Hollywood - I believe it can be done, but I want somebody reliable to take care of it. Last I heard, David and Janet Peoples (Blade Runner, 12 Monkeys) were working on a script, and Christopher Nolan (master of the mindfrack, with Memento, Following and The Prestege under his belt) would direct. If the lineup stays like that, then they have my full consent. I'm less happy with reports that current remake plans involve an ITV six-part "a pacy, radical reinvention of the original show."

I was sad to see that given the snub. Empire's comments revealed the criteria on which they judged a good show (or was it public vote? in either case, that is what they praised...) was if it was edgy, ironic or down with the mood of the nation. What of Brideshead Revisited, a brilliant adaptation of the book, as well as a brilliant series in its own right. Slow paced, nostalgic, beautiful, multi-layered - it didn't stand a chance. Brideshead is just a good, timeless
period drama, told perfectly.

Enough on what didn't make it.

Battlestar Galactica should be lower. It's very good, at times completely brilliant, especially the
opening miniseries. But a lot of episodes are repetitive or filler, and there is no coherent sense that the plot is going anywhere. Surely place 14 should be reserved for something more consistant? On a personal note, one of my favourite characters, Gaius, is lumbered by having one of my least favourites following him around as a hallucination. It also suffers from being a remake of a camp 70s show, which sounds far more my style, than this gritty post-911 intensefest.

But kudos to them for casting Edward James Olsmos - most famous for robots-who-look-like-
humans classic Blade Runner - in the head role of Commander Adama, in what can only
be one of the greatest sci-fi in jokes ever. And with the start of the second series putting some of my other favourites in the front seat, I'm feeling a flush of love towards it.

In fact, my main problem is that it's one space above Firefly. As contrasts go, thats as direct as it gets, and Galactica just can't cut it. Firefly creates a world as vivid and human, without being so darn grim. There isn't a character, episode, script or scene that rings false in the whole thing.
Even the set design is gorgeous. It subverts genre cliches left right and center, and a more attractive bunch of characters you never will find. Most shows have at least one duff episode - Firefly was never allowed time for one.

I was also happy about Heroes. It didn't even need a second season - the first series was a perfect story arc, perfectly told. The style was gorgeous, the music attractive, and the plot moved at an ideal pace to fill the episodes - cutting the characters as they got dull, revealing
mysteries exactly when we needed to know them. Flashbacks, flashforwards, alternate universes - curse it, it was perfect.

I was very very suprised that Lost was there, and so high. I'm still watching - my sister has got Matthew Fox's signature, the Dharma bag, Dharma T-shirt, subscription to the magazine, going t the official convention this weekend - so I pretty much have to. That's not to say I'm not enjoying it - I almost died in series 2, series 3 was really entertaining, and now at the start of series 4, it's really picked up the pace. Things are happening every week - the introduction of flash forwards really gives it a sense of going somewhere. As I said above, one of the great strengths of The prisoner was it's stubbon refusal to even pretend it made total sense. Lost is at its best when intriguing, at its worse when it panders to fans and explaining the absurd.

The suprise comes not so much that it doesn't deserve to be there - it does, just lower than Heroes and Firefly - but that it's so high. I'm loving it, but I figured I was in a
minority. So how the hell did it get so high?

Band of Brothers should be far nearer the top - it beats virtually everything above it that I have seen.

Think of it as Saving Private Ryan in 13 hours, but based on real characters and real events. War films should always e based on reality. When you're watching it, you know that somewhere, someone went through that hell. It means the company can't demand suspension of disbelief as the same 13 misfits survive every scrape - life is ironic, good guys get killed, bad guys survive. When something unbelieveable, outrageous or heroic happens, you can't groan because it happened. Our central core of 25 characters or so drift in an out of view, as episodes focus on specific groups, as people are transferred or killed. By the last few episodes, you are about as desperate as they for them to survive. Practically perfect in every way, and probably wins my top spot for best TV show ever. Yes, take that Timelords, the very top.

But does the Simpsons deserve to be at the top? Maybe. It has universal appeal (it'd
be unfair to put a genre piece at the top, because it doesn't represent majority rules) and it is
something of an institution. But it'd be nice to have something suprising at the top, so you don't sit through 49 posts to get to one inevitable winner. My money was actually on the Sopranos - both my sister and I managed to whittle down to the top 3.

Being a fan of crime/gangster films, I note I haven't caught a single one of the equivalent TV shows - no Sopranos, The Wire, 24, the Shield e.t.c. Perhaps this should be my guide to the ones I should have seen? Other things I still want to see are Deadwood and Twin Peaks.

So, what do you think? Whats missing? What's OK?


In other news, I today ambled back to a favourite podcast of yore - Watching the Directors - to discover they have posted on Terry Gilliam. At last, hurrah!

I never liked Jane Austen. Not a fact I'm proud of - people automatically assume you're just a bit too dumb to have understood it properly. Particularly Pride and Predjudice. I was just terminally uninterested. Her style is dense and unattractive; her characters are charming, but I hate her moralistic attitude to plots. Inevitably, the good girl gets a good rich guy, while vice is punished. This is most obvious in Mansfield Park, where chance alone saves Fanny from misfortune, in a horrific kink of fate. I have warmed to some of her books - particularly Emma; Northanger Abbey, Sense and Sensibility and Mansfield Park were all OK. But we have never got on that well.

Hey, I love Dostoyevsky! Crime and Punishment was awesome! Does that make up for my slip of critical judgement regarding the grand dame of women's fiction? Because I have a worse confession to make.

When the new P+P movie was released, I joined the literary world in its uproar. What is the point, when the BBC drama was so faithful? And Keira Knightly as Elizabeth Bennet? Really?! Even for a book I didn't much esteem, I could see this would be a bad idea.

And do you know what? I loved it! It's wrong on so many levels, to hate a book then love the film; to love young-thing Keira Knightly as a great literary heroine. But suddenly, I cared like I had never cared before. When wild-child Lydia eloped, I experienced the full scope of the tragedy, instead of vaguely comprehending that this was a socially terrible thing. I didn't groan when everything suddenly went OK at the end. I really felt for Elizabeth, as she comprehended the depth of her mistake. I even noticed the "witty and sharp social commentary" that everyone had been appreciating all these years.

Maybe it's just the magic of "Team Wright" - after all, I had the most fun loathing Atonement, until the Knightly-Wright and Marinelli on the music converted it into a perfect movie. After which I retroactively admitted to a grudging respect for the book, in the best Sherlock and Moriaty fashion. Gorgeous music. Gorgeous direction. But at the center, Miss Knightly's performance is what made it sparkle.

Please forget I just said that, seriously. I feel dirty. I never hated her in Pirates of the Caribbean or Bend it Like Beckham. In the former I was indifferent; in the latter, too busy hating everything else. This film even makes her beautiful. And that's in the company of Rosamund Pike and Carey Mulligan (she makes my top five envy list, along with ooooh...Kate Bush, Emily duRavin, Monica Belluci, Sophia Loren and Uma Thurman but only in Pulp Fiction. That's six. Hang on...)

All in all, my lengthy feud with the aforementioned authoress has ended. I've gained a respect for her finest and most famous, even if it was only through the movie. Now we need to get the team together for Twelth Night, and that'll be all my literary infamias dealt with.

In other news, I perused "the best 25 movies you've never seen" with a sort of faint interest, desperately hoping I would have seen some. One. The final one! Thank you Heavenly Creatures, all is forgiven! I've also found at least one film I have to see - Time after Time. Malcom McDowell as H.G. Wells + Time Travel vs. Jack the Ripper in San Fransisco? Four of my favourite phrases in that sentence (Jack the Ripper is the odd one out)

I made up for it, however, by smugly noting I have seen ALL EIGHT of their eight great heists. And still had time to complain Rififi chez les Hommes wasn't there. How's that for film buff cred? It probably says something about me that I devoured all save The Italian Job in the last two years.

And finally, I watched History of Violence. It was a present from a friend for Christmas. probably because it has the word "violence" in the title. I've started realising that when Friend 5 recommends me something, she really means it is disturbing and too violent for her. i just have this reputation, and it's honestly only partly true, as defended elsewhere. I enjoyed it very much. The script was suprisingly witty, and eponymous bloodshed satisfyingly unpleasant. It reminded me of M. Night Shyamalan's direction at times - the story focused on the family implosion, the subtle colours, the way the plot moved about, and the beautiful ending. The last few minutes justify the asking price - perfectly done.

Contains Moderate Angst

I've worked out my ideal job! It's blindingly obvious, and also blindingly brilliant? Why not gun for one of the 11 jobs at my beloved Board of Film Classification? Even though I know there are downsides to sitting in a room watching films all day....wait, what am I saying? What downsides? The only possible downsides are eye strain and being forced to watch something you'd never choose yourself - a brilliant way to find new things.

At the moment, everything is very Future in my life. Jobs, university, not starving to death at university (it'll be fine, I can cook pasta and soup. I'll alternate...). Hopefully, my future will look something like this. On the face of it, the unbelieveable combination of Classical Studies with Film Studies sounds like the pansiest of pansy options available. It's not. Golf Management is the pansiest of pansy options available. I'm not going to uni for a piece of paper to allow me to work - I have always wanted it to be three years of in-depth study into a subject I am passionate about. What better than a course that combines my two key interests, even if they make an odd pair?

Plus, I've started enjoying the reaction I get from those around me. The more unguarded wince, because it sounds like a "soft option" - the intelligent tend to quip "what, three years of studying Spartacus?". Do I care what they think? Some of them, yes very, but the mass not at all. I suppose I only got away with applying for it because everybody (secretly) knew I was going to get into Cambridge, for the slightly less outlandish Classics...

The first year has two introductory film modules - "forms" and "contexts". I expect this to be a rehash of the AS course I took last year, learning cinematic terms and how to talk about cinema.

The second year allows you two modules - at the moment, the choice is between: Topics in European Cinema, Topics in World Cinema, Film Forms, Asian Popular Cinemas, Stardom & Performance, Cinema & Spectatorship, Film Authorship.

None especially appeal to me now, except maybe Spectatorship (please give me something on censorship!) Asian Popular Cinema could also be fun. I was so close to applying for Brunel, just because they are home to the Cult Film Archive. They do a whole load of postgrady stuff, so don't be too suprised to see me there in four years time if you're still reading. The Archive runs http://www.cine-excess.co.uk, a cult movie conferance, which I'll definitely attend sometime...

The third year, which again allows for two modules, will be a bit of a wrench for choice, for the opposite reason: American Underground Cinema, American Independant Cinema, Film and Trans-nationalism, Film Noir, The European Crime Film, Movie Music, Fathers in Film, Third Cinema and Beyond, Film Genre, Style and Ideology, Representation and Identity in Film

Representation and Identity isn't too hard to ignore - feminist movies et al, ugh - but picking between European Crime, Film Noir and Movie Music will be tough. And I'd love to know what Third Cinema actually is...

The other film course I applied to was Southampton, which has slightly better choices (partic "
Utopian and Dystopian science fiction film"), but is just film. If I had to give up one of the two, I'd keep Classics - Latin would be hard to keep up in my spare time, Cinecism itself proves I can write competantly about film without a lecturer breathing down my neck - which means my next choice is probably Exeter. I always intended to make the choice intellectually - for example, I went for Cambridge over Oxford, because Oxford played home to two of my literary heroes + Brideshead Revisited, and I never wanted to feel I was there for those three reasons alone. It didn't quite turn out that way, and here I am again picking Exeter because it is green and pretty, over Southampton because it is gray and cold.

In celebration of these discoveries of something so obvious, here's two classification links:

Recently found on IMDB top links, the classification board in Ireland:
http://www.belfasttelegraph.co.uk/news/local-national/article3493053.ece
It is something I have long noticed (what with Region 2 DVDs listing both English and Irish ratings) that the Irish ones are invariably far higher. They made Constantine an 18!

And Helen O'Hara of Empire rephrases almost exactly my words, but with far more coherency and in far less room, concerning the now thankfully junked government bill about tightning up censorship rules:
http://www.empireonline.com/empireblog/Post.asp?id=114
She even used the same post title as me (more or less)!


And some good, good, good, bad, good news. My school has extended Film Studies to a full A-level. This is bad news for me - they ignored my request flat when I was doing AS film, but it's nice to see they took it on board for future generations.

You are not alone

Today I really need to rant about Doctor Who (ordinarily I'm not a massive fan. Since two weeks ago, where myself, Friend 3 and Friend 4 fell into a sort of mass hysteria after viewing the episode Utopia), so for all you nice film people who've so kindly turned up, here's a mini link-dump of other places to peruse while I rant:

Firstly, I've found another hub of info on British censorship here. Curiously, one of the articles does answer a query I raised a while back, asking if the censors cut things liable to deprave the public, what insane fiends must they end up:

"He explains that the board provides a counselling service for all its employees. "Not because we think any of them are going bonkers," he adds hastily."

I'll be the first to admit this is a tad nerdy. But everyone has one, slightly embarassing subject they're obsessed with. Mine's film censorship. I can quote dates. And this site's a mini-gem. This Film is Not Yet Rated is one I've just got to see...

And a second site dug up on the same site (probably already familiar to anyone who checked IMDB this morning...) is a top 100 movie moments list. Schpoilers abound - although it's likely you'll have seen, or be aware of all the biggies if you're properly into film. Ears, horses heads, showers and ferris wheels are all present and correct in what I'd call a pretty darn good list. Just for my sake, don't don't just don't read the Usual Suspects entry if you haven't seen the film. Or Don't Look Now. Or Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid. And fer-the-love please skip L.A. Confidential. In fact it might be better to skip the ones you haven't seen...

That'll keep you busy :) Scroll down for this week's conundrum. I'll even put it in blue to aid the scrolling Now. Doctor Who...written in response to Utopia and not updated for last weeks episode which was ooookkaaaay provided the last one's of the three-parter is amazing.

Today I remembered quite how much I adore Doctor Who. After an abysmal run, finally they hit us with the quadruple whammy of Human Nature, Family of Blood, Blink and now Utopia to restore my faith in a flagging series.

Doctor Who’s greatest strength is the Tardis – every plot-author’s wet dream of a gimmick. It’s the deus ex machina box – if in doubt, we can either pilot the characters out of there, or introduce a new plot kink whereby it can also do THIS (well well, that’s what happens when you look into the heart of the Tardis. Who knew?). You’re not tied down a running plot when it becomes tedious, because you can cut and run just like that. The opportunity for something new every single week should prevent things becoming repetitive.

Yet the Tardis, if handled incorrectly, can also cheapen the series. Doctor Who has a fundamental flaw, and one which this series has blatantly exposed. It’s the fact that trouble strikes within instants of them landing, and is entirely vanquished by the time they leave. It’s an inherent flaw in the plotting – after all, the blessing of an episodic show without a running plot also means you have very little time for setting up. The best Doctor Who episodes successfully disguise the potentially repetitive nature of the show. The worst use the Tardis as a mere excuse to repeat the same plot on a different planet – the disregard for human life’s the same, it’s just the latex that changes. Did anyone notice they pulled the ‘monsters built a famous building as a power conduit’ trick twice this season – once with the Empire States building, once with the Globe, all in three dismal episodes.

The first thing I ask for in a Doctor Who episode is a good plot. That doesn’t necessarily mean it has to be highbrow, but I’d like a bit more intelligent than a sort of Alien-lite. One or two of these a season is ok, but the best manage to successfully hide the default land-meddle-leave plot and give us something which engages with the show (if you could replace the monsters with dragons and our heroes with a knight and princess, and the plot is not sufficiently impacted by the lack of Time-Lord technology, then it's not really sci-fi and we have a problem). The best are invariably those which screw with the formula, or look at the consequences of the same – take the return to Satellite 5 which shows that when they depart, all is not always dandy.

This series has been shoddy in that regard. Now I understand Doctor Who is a kids show, but if you’re going to do a stupid plot at least give it stupid style. Bizarrely forgetting how infantile the plots are, they’ve tried to inject with limp emotion what should be B-movie romps. No one is going to believe in the New York pigs, howevermuch “depth” Tallulah’s role adds. And the thread with the emotional appeals to the husband in 42 was predictable and unnecessarily slowed a fast paced episode.

All this might sound like I’m actually a Dr-Who-basher masquerading as a fan. I’m not, I just get annoyed when they squander what’s wonderful about it. EITHER give us adult plots and emotional reactions, OR give us bash-in-the-door adventures and treat them as such.

The second most important thing in the series is the Dr himself. Keeping his character integrity is key – I love moments when they suggest dark things about his past; I get nervous when they start stating anything definite. The moment the Face of Bo shut his big eyes for the last time, I stopped wondering “now what exactly did he say in the cat-doctors episode” and started dreading the implications of his final words: you are not alone. Please Hitchcock no. Not an integrity destroying “other timelord”, God forbid not a female one. What a heart attack that gave me (even if my father hit the nail on the head instantly).

I understand that Tom Baker’s meant to be the man, but David Tennant is my doctor. Christopher Eccleston, great as he is, didn’t quite do it for me. Wacky, curious and basically a good guy – or is he? Merciful, enthusiastic, loves humans for their optimism…but he’s more than just an avenging paragon. Acquainted with what it means to mess around with timey-wimey stuff, he doesn’t overstep his power. Which means if it’s destiny for a race to die, then he’d let them die; just as he feels incapable of entirely destroying the Daleks. I love the Doc for his darkness. It’s waiting there beneath the surface, just behind the cheeky grin and madcap antics. This is the guy who is destined to live alone for a very long time, carrying a stooload of survivor guilt bigger than my ego. And when something offends his strong sense of right and wrong, he gets mean, and all of a sudden people are spending the rest of their eternities in abysses, mirrors or scaring crows. Hell, have we even worked out how he got away while the rest of the Time-Lords didn’t? I’m not willing to put money on cowardice, but you can bet it’s gonna be something awful. Watching him blank Jack so utterly in Utopia has to be some of my favourite scenes of the series ever. The prospect of an eternal companion has not excused Jack’s biological wrongness one bit. Compare his eagerness to reconcile with the Master, despite his moral wrongness, to solve the same loneliness.

For all the pseudo-sobbing for minor characters in the first half half-season, there’s being very little moral panic as far as the Doc is concerned. Obviously it’d become awful very quickly if he went through the emotional treadmill every week – see Torchwood to see how tiring and uncomfortable that becomes – but there was a certain lack-of-caring. The relationship between him and Martha has potential, but the return of Jack has just reminded me how I loved the old trio and how little I care for the current set up. I’m looking forward to seeing how Jack’s return changes the dynamic there…

I have been trying to like Martha, trying very hard. I’m not one of the rabid Rose lovers, I figured I could handle the change. Heh. I thought for a while it was just “George Lazenby syndrome”, the dislike of the new in comparison with the old, with dear beloved Rose as our “Sean Connery Bond” of companions. But actually, its because Freema Agyman can’t act and hasn’t yet proved worth caring about. I’d have been more enthusiastic had Sally, or even Tallulah joined the team. But something about her and the Doc doesn’t quite gel – there’s a complete lack of chemistry there of any kind. Contrast the rush of seeing Jack again. Hell, it was worth Jack going just so he could come back. It’s almost like the Doctor accepts this in his relationship with Martha – she is still just along for the ride and not a full paid up member yet. This could provide some meaty character development – in the background, Martha must know she could be dropped at any minute. Personally, I like her instant infatuation with the Doc, but it’d be good to see a little serious interior panic about the prospect of losing him. The moment Rose comes back into the picture (if that’s likely, or even possible) she will be dumped. Obviously she’d never articulate this in words, but the fact this blonde enigma connects these two guys and the knowledge that Jack-Doc’s-Close-buddy got dumped so quick, that’d put the quakes in me. She’s obviously never seen anything starring Kevin Spacy, otherwise she’d have learnt there’s more to acting than just saying the line. At times, it almost seems like she's acting on a separate day, having only been given her own lines, and being cut back in post-production.

The dismal companion brings down the number of good character moments available to the Doctor, and gives the whole set of episodes a lack of emotion.

But all in all, the plots have been improving, and the return of Jack looks to have remedied the latter very quickly indeed. And it was worth waiting for just for that other little return…

These returns were starting to get on my goat. Oooh look even MORE Daleks! When the Doctor grimly asks “why do they always survive?”, or words to that effect, I couldn’t help but nod. With a series packed with potential for all sorts of different things, how many times can there logically be another “last Dalek”. I’ve forgiven them now. I never saw the original series, so integrity for once isn’t my soapbox.

I kinda get that after the Daleks, the Master IS the barstool of the universe. Did he create them? (Ed, nope that was Davros…) Anyway, he was one bad dude (a point missed by my sister, who innocently commented: “Oh, I thought he was going to say something important…” after the series’ big reveal.). Even my lack of acquaintance with the original didn’t prevent me going into a sweaty fan breakdown like nothing I’ve felt since Peter Jackson ended Return of the King with the same 3 words as Tolkien did his trilogy. And it’s been fun telling people who haven’t seen the episode yet that there’d be the return of a big character, and have them assume I meant Jack.

All that piles up to make Utopia sort of a runaway favourite.

So, to wind up. This seasons three best eps were in order, Utopia, Gridlocked and Blink. Why is Utopia great? Because the background plot is plausible and not to OTT. Because the emotion levels for the Redshirts are at a minimum (oh how I loathe being asked to care for characters I’ll only know for 20 minutes), and at the max for our heroes. And because I've been thinking tardiswise ever since, and we (Friend3+4+I) worked ourself into a complete and utter frenzy as a response. I'm eagerly awaiting the next episode for my bubble to be burst and life return to a semblance of normality (after all, it _is_ just a TV show, and not one I had particularly deep fondness for, until now...)

The highlight of the early season was, for me, Gridlocked. No villain, no world domination, just pure sci-fi and some set up for _the_ episode of the series. I just thought the idea of the eternal jam was cool, and I loved all the individual sets.

The third best episode, I felt, was Blink, just for using the time travel as part of the plot instead of just handy deus-ex-machina, for starring that lovely, endearing actress from Bleak House, for having the scene with the lightbulb, for the sweet black guy who asks for her number, for the dweeby brother, for the wonderful script, for a gleefully unresolvable paradox at the center of the plot, for actually being genuinely creepy without being too scary, for that house, for the end montage, for making us (Friends 2 and 4 this time) run for our lives after getting spooked, for the line about only having 17 DVDs, for the easter egg making sense both times she interacts with it and for having a list that long of great things. In fact, this episode was awesome. Wow. Did I mention the lightbulb?

Then I had to sit through several hours of OK-not-great waiting for Human Nature and Family of Blood. Guilty of a little “Magic TARDISNESS” with the convenient revelation that Time lords can assume human biology, at least it was novel. A slow reveal stopped the instant-enemy effect, while the fact our heroes were hiding from the monsters gave the whole thing a different dynamic. I liked the way they actually interacted with the time (references to the coming war, remembering Martha is female, black and of lower class - especially when she keeps forgetting to knock - and teachers shown as nice and good approving of beatings e.t.c) gave the whole thing a real feel deeper than just guys running about in costume. The transformation gave David Tennant to prove he can actually act - the Doctor is a great character, but John Smith proves he's not a one character chappie. Might even have brought me to tears had I not, er, seen them in the wrong order.

The change aided the calmer pace of the episodes, as did the presence of Joan who was wonderful in a quiet way (lets put it like that - she became love interest. If she had been even slightly bad, I would have loathed her) And it provided us with massive numbers of character moments! The end was particularly juciy Doctor-wise (even the fact he would forget to consider falling in love...), but it also, finally gave Martha room to strech and do more than ask "What's that, Doctor?" for the benefit of the audience. In fact, this has to be Martha episode numero uno.

Other things nice: the scary son, the overly harsh and unusual punishments, the "huh?!" factor of seeing them in maidwear/pajamas until you realise what's happened, the scene between Joan and the Doc at the end and the actual watch, a) because it's pretty and b) because it gave me the jolt of a life time seeing it again in Utopia.

Smith and Jones, 42, and the Lazarus Experiment, in my book are definitely good, passable episodes – not fantastic, but not half bad either – with lots of lovely little moments. I can't really rank them, as I've only seen them once and it was a long time ago. I'd say (possibly) 42 (the direction was actually quite formidable for TV - especially because I felt boiling by the end of it. Wins points for the silent moment as Martha drifts away, seeing the government peeps in Martha's mum's house and seeing the Doc meet a monster he's afraid of. Loses points for seeming a bit similar to both Sunshine and last season's episode where he meets the devil), then the Lazarus Experiment (I like Martha's family! I also liked the quiet bit in the cathedral, and the organ playing. And at times, this approached the gleeful B-movieness I missed above - you knew just what was going on, exactly who was going to get eaten when, and could sneak a little chuckle...), then Smith and Jones because I can't remember either liking or disliking it especially.

Which leaves the Shakespeare Code (guilty of choosing one of the sonnets NOT addressed to "a dark lady" at the end, and just being a bit pants) and those two New York episodes as the total stinkers. Particularly New York – boring, predictable, certainly not deserving a two parter to set up a plot which went away as quickly. The series would not have been impacted had they been skipped entirely. The only cool thing was the Doc deciding to help the evolved Daleks.

I got a new B&W Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid print for my room. Eeee! And the only reason I'm telling you this is because escaping from a _massive_ movie shop with only that one reaffirmed its position as my favouritest everest film. Being in a place like that really focuses your mind. With infinite choice between movies, music, actors and TV, narrowing it down to one from everything you've ever seen soon becomes a serious task. Suddenly, my hibernating adoration of The Godfather starts jumping around in a hula skirt demanding attention, and Pulp Fiction slinks off and cowers behind its own briefcase, after being chased off by Jackie Brown.

I do get very precious over my favourite movies list. They don't have to be fantastic, they just need to be things I love. Like is not quite enough. Things that blew me away is not quite enough. Genuine affection and fondness must be present. And what do I do with Fellowship of the Ring which is so insanely special I just can't treat cinematically? Mercifully, Fellowship was the only other one which I seriously considered purchasing from that store, which restores my faith in the order of things. For some strange, random reason.


Finally, I see you all had fun with the telephone conundrum...I'm actually guilty of coming up with a question I couldn't have answered myself (I thought of the Matrix, and then flailed to remember the-name-of-the-one-where-the-hostage-calls-a-random-number-on-a-broken-phone thriller) It'll be Thursday by the time you get this, which means time for another. Yay! Without using IMDb, can you think of five films where Battleship Potempkin is spoofed. And just to even it out this time, I've already got a fair few in mind.

Yippie-kye-ay melon farmer!

I got out of the habit of posting over my AS-levels, so this pile-up of broken thoughts is an attempt to find my flow again. Pardon the mess and irrelevancy

Gary Oldman. Brad Pitt. Quentin Tarantino. Tony Scott. Individually, these are all names which I'd leap at and watch regardless of content. So True Romance was one I just had to see.

And it's wonderful! Pretty colours, pretty music, and oh so wonderful. A pair of adorable, self indulgent and none-too-bright young people fall head over heels in love, and naively blunder their way past innumerable casualties. What we have here is 50% kooky, cute love story, 50% frequent course, infrequent-moderate and frequent-strong-bloody. They seem entirely unaware of the mess they're causing. Meanwhile, a whole host of memorable minor characters played by kinda-big names each turn up for a single scene before (usually) getting killed (this, along with JFK and A Bridge too Far is definitely a trump to remember for playing 6 Degrees with)

Special moments included seeing Chris Penn, the purple cadillac, Elvis (especially when Clarence scorns "fanatic Elvis fans" as being odd!), every time that gooey theme tune came in to remind us it was all ok, and the use of Lakme's Flower Duet (a.k.a. the British Airways music) in a scene of more than the usual nastiness:

It's a wonderful tune - and in the film, it distracted from the ickyness and just reminded what a beautiful thing Clarence's dad was actually doing.

The downside is they're all so QT it hurts...after a while, it just gets a bit old. There's some debate as to whether this would have been better/worse if he'd directed it, but I don't imagine it'd be much different. I suppose I'd be saying the same about his other films had I seen them in a different order. But peas-and-rice, look at this lot:

We have hamburgers, diners, "smurf conversations"*, Sonny Chiba movies (though I must say, that girl at the start is batty. The day a guy invites me to a martial arts triple bill...), Spiderman 1, Elvis?! Especially when Clarence scorns "fanatic Elvis fans" as being odd!) It really became apparent when Chris Penn and Tom Sizemore found the jokes they were overhearing amusing. Because they really are extentions of the same brainwave.

Does this matter? I'm not sure. Now I'm not watching it, it's really made me annoyed, but at the time I hardly noticed. It managed to cinch my personal perfect blend of blood and wuvvness, so that makes it OK by me.

*Smurf conversations: Discussing something trivial in far too much depth. Especially something a) pop culturery b) pointless and frequently a tad on the uneccesarily gross side. Everyone does it (me and my friends do at least, a lot...which is why an official description was needed), but for an example, try the Reservoir Dogs "Like a Virgin" conversation. Or the one for which it was named, in Donnie Darko:

"First of all, Papa Smurf didn't create Smurfette. Gargamel did. She was sent in as Gargamel's evil spy with the intention of destroying the Smurf village. But the overwhelming goodness of the Smurf way of life transformed her. And as for the whole gang-bang scenario, it just couldn't happen. Smurfs are asexual. They don't even have... reproductive organs under those little, white pants."
(pause)
"...Dammit, Donnie, why d'ya have to get all smart on us?"


Hot Fuzz has overtaken Pulp Fiction as the early lead for the most rewatched film of the year. I never really was a film rewatcher - certainly for a lot of my favourite films, it's a record if I see it more than twice. It does spoil films if you see them too often. Perhaps the sort of films I've watched has changed? Anyway, this is an account I never got round to posting after rewatch number 3:

*beams* I just watched Hot Fuzz again. *insensible with happiness* No I'm not telling you how I watched it, because it's vile and bad and really very very naughty, and I'm now directly responsible for funding terrorism and causing the downfall of the western world. But I figured it wasn't hurting anyone, as I a) saw it twice at the cinema and b) intend to buy it if not the day then the day after it comes out on DVD. S'not my fault that doesn't happen until June 11th. So legally wrong, but not morally. To prove my good faith and Superior Moral Highground I even elected not to watch Grindhouse on a titchy, fuzzy screen. See how well behaved I am? and boy am I regretting it...last night I had my first crazy film-I-haven't-seen-yet dream for Grindhouse. I used to get those pretty frequently, and they're uniformly unpleasant. Or perhaps that's because all the films I really need to see seem to be unpleasant. Whatever. I was starting to miss them, but actually

Anyway, back to Hot Fuzz.

True to my word, I did get it the day it came out. And miraculously didn't watch it for three days to wait to see it with my sister (she's been in hospital after a bicycle accident. One of her legs has been smashed by a wall. I've suggested she get it amputated and replaced by a machine gun. I'm not sure my contribution was valued...) We had to watch it on a laptop, with the volume down, which resulted in me having to tweak the levels moments before every death, explosion, loud bang etc. And then this morning she needed to see it again, so I kinda sorta caught most of it for a fifth time. It's passed from "this is no longer funny" back into "this is hilarious" again, and I've been chuckling all morning.

It is my dream to see it on a big screen again, with a bunch of folks who know every line and who will cheer in the right places. By right places, I mean whenever someone comes out with a gung-ho line (sample: "Bring the noise!"), whenever there is mass carnage, whenever the music starts up, whenever Shaun of the Dead is referenced and especially when it gets to the fence-leaping scene. Because I cheered when I saw that in the trailer, and then felt very silly, as there's nothing worse than cheering on yer own.

By the by, my use of "peas-and-rice!" above is an extract from the dubbed TV version, where it replaces the exclamation "Jesus Christ!". Now fair's fair people could get insulted, but I disagree with films being changed for TV. Either show them or don't - and if they're too extreme for the kiddies, just show them later. There is always a reason why something is put into a film, and to take it out on the grounds of public decency is never anyone else's decision to make.

I rely on recording stuff off TV to save buying too many DVDs, so the idea I've only seen trimmed versions jarrs somewhat. A single shot missing from Trainspotting TV didn't ruin the film outright, and it wasn't something I wanted to see either, but it was put there for a reason, and the fact they cut it took away from the horror of that particular scene. Anybody likely to go running for a bucket over it would probably have switched off by that point anyway. You can't change what a film is to appeal to people who wouldn't have seen it anyway. It's like complaining that Hostel was too violent. Take away the violence, take away it's raison d'etre. I'm not saying I like films with lots of swearing - I've got no opinion either way. I like it when it's necessary. I don't when it's not. And that decision shouldn't be in the hands of the morality police.

In the case of Hot Fuzz, the substitution of "peas-and-rice" (hilarious as it is) kills a minor joke. It's clumsy in other places, and also manages to ruin my favourite scene (the Sanford police station has a swear box, you see...somewhat spoils the joke if no actual swearing takes place...)
"funk", "silt" and "barstool" are the best they could come up with to cover the other expletives. The day I hear anyone use those in proper conversation...and as for "motherhugger"...who do they think they're fooling?!

Here's a list of other people's favourite, glaring swearing dubs:
http://www.dailyping.com/archive/2001/06/14/
And some other people: http://www.empireonline.com/forum/printable.asp?m=1373371&mpage=1
And here's an amusing spoof;
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3v6CuC-w6i4

Just time for a linkdump before I go:

Firstly, these peeps take a screenshot at exactly 20 minutes and 7 seconds of a film:
http://filmexperience.blogspot.com/search/label/20:07

It sounds dim, but it's actually pretty cool. What hidden mysteries can one infer from it?

Secondly, take a look at the entries for this contest. They're great!

http://www.worth1000.com/cache/contest/contestcache.asp?contest_id=14741&display=photoshop#entries

And final word: not that I'm entitled (or even worthy) to talk about Hitchcock, but has anyone else ever identified his influence over From Russia with Love? Icy blonde Tatiana Romanova, the helcopter attack vs the crop duster attack. Perhaps I'm reading too much into this? The similarity just hit me. Not to mention I haven't seen North by Northwest...

"Is it bad?" "As opposed to good?!"

Today has been a nightmare. My birthday party is starting in approximately 15 minutes, and my life is totally over.

I've been editing this movie for months - Friend 4 and myself estimate we've spent about 90 hours on it in total. 12 of those hours was yesterday. 9:30 in the morning until 10:30 at night. With short breaks for lunch, tea and filming 30 second's worth of new material. It's now near perfect. And the premiere's in 15 minutes. Only it's still burning itself to disc and I'm going pretty mad. When my friends arrive, my life ends, basically. Hence the quote.

On the good side, at least I found the cricket bat. It's movie costumes, see. I'm going as Shaun from Shaun of the Dead:

{will insert pic soon...}

The bat took forever to find, but the effort was worth it. Apart from a small, sad sensation that I'd rather have come as Mr Orange, the costume does look fantastic. I even made myself a badge (yes, I know he takes the badge off in the house before he gets to the Winchester and ties the tie round his head, but by that point he's lost the cricket bat too...fussy...). And I had to fight to get Shaun - Friend 2 wanted him, but then we found her a bowler hat under the school stage so she's coming as Alex from Clockwork Orange instead (she's got it on dvd, but switched it off because it was too violent...that made me laugh). She's been complaining our milk doesn't come in glass bottles...

My sister has come as Kate from Lost, because "they're going to do five seasons in total and then a film". I think it's a cop out, personally - and at the rate they're killing characters, she might not even make it to the movie. I leant her my model plane, which has been sitting in a corner of my room with a snake wrapped round it, and we decorated it with Oceanic Air symbols.

Goodness knows how many hours later.
I'm still alive! Friends 1 and 5 came as the twins from Matrix Reloaded, even though Friend 5 hadn't at that point seen it (I leant her the dvd). They looked so cool it was untrue. Friend 4 came as Zorro (from the Zorro movie, I think. And not a Pulp Fiction waiter. Or Hilary Duff's best friend in Cinderella Story...). And Friend 3 came as Ella from Ella Enchanted. In fact, all the costumes were scarily good. Friend 2 was ill with flu, poor chuck...

And I got presents! A wuvvy hand knitted scarf, a penny farthing clock (I'm a Prisoner fan, ok?), dark chocolate covered apricots...Friend 1 got me a definitive guide to Japanese film, in the hope that I'll "watch something good for a change". Friend 5 won on the outrageous front - the animated Count of Monte Cristo.

I love the Count of Monte Cristo novel. It's about a guy who is wronged fairly badly, suffers for 15 years and then plots and executes a whole lot of elaborately unpleasant vengeance on the guys who wrecked his life. Basically. It's a fantastic read, and I was dutifully furious at the most recent version with Guy Pierce as Ferdinand. It squidged the plot in an fairly unforgiveable way, and to be frank, wasn't half nasty enough.

It's not really film material, because the book is so long one can never do it justice. But one day I'll do it...possibly a tv series, I don't know. I'd adapt it so it makes you wince, and in places gets downright hard to watch. Unlike the films I've seen, where the baddies always get off lightly compared to what they did to him, I'd drive it to the point where you feel sorry for them, and start to wonder whether perhaps the Count has gone too far. It's a horrible book in places...

...which is why Friend 5 thought might appreciate a 40 minute animated version, featuring the "funky feline" Louis, the Count's animal friend. And I did - it was interesting seeing how they dealt with it. Some things, like the fact he doesn't get the girl are unavoidable. And the songs were good (though the plotters sing that they're going to "spoil Edmond's day", which is a little out of proportion with what they actually do...).

Three hours later, Friend 4's mother turned up with the finished DVD and we held our premiere (after a short speech, in which I thanked my hero and main influence Edward D. Wood Jnr.) It was fantastic! For an all-girl cast of six trying to reshoot a three-hour multi-billion dollar epic. The editing really improved it -we've got a trailer, and a moving menu and all! Though it's a bit tragic when the presiding comment was "the gag reel was really funny can we watch it again!" instead of "the film was awesome!"

I'm thinking of sending a copy to PJ. I think, having started indie himself, he would appreciate it - if he isn't currently heartily sick over the whole Middle Earth thing.


In other news...today has been the worst. My English teacher appears to be a Kubrick nut, which is cool, and he's offered to lend the film club 2001: A Space Odyssey. Which isn't exactly what I had in mind, considering I couldn't even get them to watch Strictly Ballroom. He also tells me that A Clockwork Orange "isn't that shocking by modern standards." Hmmm...I'm not disagreeing with him, and I'm very willing to watch it, but still...

And finally, I just found www.kids-in-mind.com which is a bit like the Christian Movie Ministry in it's listing every distasteful thing in certain films, but wins points for being far too dull to mock. I'd recommend it, if only for the amusing glossary of swear words...its mission statements have a certain integrity too. It links to http://www.screenit.com/, which is also pretty good.

It's the kiss of death! From Mr...

Today I flicked through "500 best films ever made" (good, conservative list - also quite old, methinks. It contained both Rififi and BCSK, and was trying too hard to be nice. There were a lot of classic American films in there.) and "1001 movies you must see before you die" (really good list - very balanced between different times and countries) in the hope of spotting four more films to put on my own list.

No luck. Surely this should be easier than I'm making it out to be? I started writing a bit about the films currently on my list, but it'll be a while till I finish it.

So I leave you with my own ordering of the 19 James Bond themes, after seeing what Channel 4 viewers voted for last night.

16 Die Another Day
What was that?! The video was very cool indeed, but I just didn't like the song, nevermind the fact it was highly un-Bondy

15 All Time High
I like the odd moment, but really it's just not my thing.

14 Nobody Does it Better
I quite like this one. It's nice to scream along to.

13 Diamonds are Forever
It's not about diamonds, you know. I made the mistake of telling Friend 2 what they were singing about. Probably a mistake.

12 We Have all the Time in the World
Ah, love his voice. His songs are just wuvvy.

11 For Your Eyes Only
I like her voice as well.

10 Live and Let Die
You have no idea how fun this is to play on piano.

9 Living Daylights
"living's in the way we DIEEEEEEEEEEEEEE" Ooooh, I do like this one.

8 Moonraker
A bit You only Live Twice with the violin part here. Question - why do so many Bond songs have great verses, then throw it away at the chorus?!

7 Licence to Kill
The chorus is a tad limp, but as ever with my faves, they pinch those horns from Goldfinger and the verses are fantastic. It's almost the perfect Bond song, I'd say - big diva singing doublebig, a
chorus from the ballady ones...

6 A View to a Kill
I like it, ok?

5 Tomorrow Never Dies
OK, so it's not Bond, but I do like it. And plus...with a scratchy, waily vocalist, it sounds pretty good when I sing along.

4 From Russia...with LOOOOOVE
I just like this one. It's good to mumble along to.

3 Goldeneye
This is how a modern Bond song should be written. It's definitely a 90s tune, with the cool beat and stuff, but it's also a throwback to ye golden days of Bond, referencing the theme and starring a decent beefy diva.

And now, for a four way tie, because basically I can't choose between them.

=2 Dr No
Bond is not Bond without the Bond theme. Period.

=2 Goldfinger
Shirley Bassey has a voice I would kill for. It'd look pretty strange if I could sing like that (I'm kinda puny), but it'd be worth it. She just makes it look so easy. I'd collapse if I even attempted some of those notes. It's a good tune as well.

=2 Thunderball
The words are just great, and the music features a bit of the Bond theme which always sounds fab.

=2 You Only Live Twice
Those violins just come in, and instantly you're transported. Fantastic to sing along to - it's nowhere near as technically challenging as some of the rest, but still sounds good. It was sampled in Millenuium (Robbie Williams, savvy?).

1 On Her Majesty's Secret Service
You know, the ski chase music! Absolutely fantastic, and probably the reason why I like this film best.

Trends - these songs are fantastic for the shower, when there's no one else listening. And almost all of them have fab beginnings, and throw it away for a lame and predictable chorus.

The thing about Bond, is that it's personal. Everyone will tell you who they think was the best Bond, the best girl, the best baddie, what weapon he should be carrying and what car he should get to drive. Friend 2 despises Daniel Craig already: "He's BLONDE!" I, for one, don't mind him - his English accent is very nice. What I do mind is the things they appear to be doing with the plot.

I haven't seen it, so this may be unjust, but the words "gritty" and "realistic" keep being used. Hmmm...lets get this straight. James Bond is a chauvanistic British agent, who goes around saving the world from evil masterminds (usually foreign). He's so charming he can even hook lesbians. Now how on earth do you keep that, and still use those words. Bond's escapism - it doesn't need to be updated for a post-9/11 audience. Perhaps it's truer to the book, but then in the books Sherlock Holmes doesn't wear a deerstalker and Arwen doesn't make a single appearance. Bond-on-screen is a different animal entirely. It needs to be a little tongue in cheek.

The two most widely accepted "best Bonds" are Connery and Brosnan (forgive me if I generalise). Now I like all of them (even Lazenby!), but I can see why they're most popular. They're a perfect blend of Bond's two sides, which I'll call the Moore and Dalton. On the one side, he is a trained killer and he can be very very cold. But he's also got a silly side. What I personally worry, is that they'll have taken that. The humour will be lost from whatever cheesy one liner he's given.

The things people groan at Bond for - the big explosion at the end, the dastardly plan, the chase in an unlikely vehicle - are also the first things to miss when they go.

The new one shows some promise - Vesper Lynd is the girl, and joins the ranks of Plenty O'Toole, Pussy Galore, Christmas Jones, Bambi and Thumper as possibly the silliest name ever. But herein lies the other problem. Bond falls in love. With Tracy. Period. NO ONE ELSE dammit! Feel free to explore Bond's human side, yes, but please stop pretending him and Vesper are in love...I told you people get personal over what they think Bond should be like.


Finally, I found this little spot:
http://www.watchingthedirectors.com/

It's a nice site! They're a husband and wife team who discuss directors - best film, worst film and even try scoring them. Although, the individual casts are only interesting if you're very familiar with the director's work. I found myself a little lost when they were talking about Tim Burton, and I'm a pretty big fan.

Speaking of him, I managed to find a hardback of "The Melancholy Death of Oyster Boy, and other stories" in Oxfam, which is totally fantastic. And for those with shockwave, there are also a series of animated adventures from Stain Boy, at the bottom of this page.

I am Jack's complete lack of surprise.

http://www.restrainingbolt.com/ - this site is terrific! It's home to printable movie props. I now have Tyler Durden's business card in my purse, and a box of Red Apples on my desk at home. Hidden, in case my parents a) get alarmed I have a pack of cigarettes or b) get alarmed I've printed out and assembled a fictional pack of cigarettes. Either would be pretty bad.

Speaking of Tyler...me seen Fight Club. It wonderful. It would have been more wonderful had certain plot details not been known to me beforehand, but such is life. It probably would rank with my favourite films too had it not been thoroughly spoilt first (hence the title...)

Still...it doesn't rest on its twist alone, and there are plenty of other great things about it:

1) Marla Singer. Wow. She is so noir. I haven't been bowled over by a character's sense of style since Clem in Eternal Sunshine. Seriously, I still want to die my hair orange/blue after that. Back to Marla - she's just so out of control in an elegant, stylish sort of way and aside from the dash-consumerism theme of the film, has to be one of the best advertisments for smoking ever.

2) Speaking of style, the colour scheme in this film is wonderful. Think the first Matrix, all sickly greens and grubby. Beautiful!

3) The editing. Fantastic. I want to make my editor (my editor in inverted commas. She's an editor as far as I'm a director, which is not saying much...) see it.

4) The script. Some of the best and most savage one liners ever here. Comments about single-serving friends on airplanes, about posessions owning you all ring very true indeed. And the speeches? Ace also. I particularly enjoyed the Narrator's threatening monologue to his boss. Even the indecipherable comments like "I am Jack's tormented spleen" had a certain ring, even if their meaning's not clear.

5) The tagline - "Mischief. Mayhem. Soap." Pure Gilliam.

6) This speech by Brad Pitt aka Tyler Durden: "Is this essential to our survival? In the hunter-gathered sense of the word? No. What are we then? Right. We're consumers. We're by-products of a lifestyle obsession. Murder, crime, poverty -- these things don't concern me. What concerns me is celebrity magazines, television with five hundred channels, some guy's name on my underwear. Rogaine, Viagra, Olestra..."

Now Brad was quite good in Fight Club, but he was even better in Twelve Monkeys. This speech by Brad Pitt aka Jeffrey Goines: "We are not productive anymore, they don't need us to make things anymore, it's all automated. What are we for then? We're consumers. Okay, buy a lot of stuff, you're a good citizen. But if you don't buy a lot of stuff, you know what? You're mentally ill! That's a fact! If you don't buy things...toilet paper, new cars, computerized blenders, electrically operated sexual devices... (getting hysterical) SCREWDRIVERS WITH MINIATURE BUILT-IN RADAR DEVICES, STEREO SYSTEMS WITH BRAIN IMPLANTED HEADPHONES, VOICE- ACTIVATED COMPUTERS, AND..."

See where I'm coming from? Somehow, I think Jeffrey might have approved of Tyler. They would have got along well.

7) The DVD warning which flashes before the menu. The mischief begins before the movie...

8) Ooooh...running out of things now. The direction goes without saying, really. It was good. What else can I compliment? Basically, this is one of those rare films which deserves an award nod in every catagory. Except, possibly, best foreign language film, and I'm sure they could get around that somehow.

PS - a friend has decided we should do the Bond marathon. I nodded. What a mistake. I'm quite looking forward to it though...

Final word: My godawful complainin' days are over. At least on this topic. Somehow, a whole cabal of my friends have confessed to really wanting to see Reservoir Dogs, with only a tinsy little bit of pursasion, the odd heavy hint here and there and the occasional outright lie ("It's not that violent" comes top in that line. OK, so it's really not that violent - it's simply the way violence is portrayed which people find disturbing - but I'm not looking forward to defending that corner if by some unhappy chance they suffer from a more delicate stomach than me...I mean, at least there is plot behind the blood unlike, aka, Saw III which I hear has caused faintings throughout the country. Er, yeh. Seriously, it's a sequel sequel - nobody in those cinemas could not know what they were letting themselves in for) Now this, of course, has made me deleriously happy if somewhat uneasy i.e. I'm fine with complete amorality and goodness knows how many swear words, but my friends...well I just don't know.

Hollywood is where they shoot too many pictures and not enough actors

Just a link dump today - mostly on the topic of "top tens"...

http://www.thecinematheque.com/index.html - interesting site, even more interesting top ten. I mean, ok the first few are predictable enough but I haven't even heard of 8 and 9...

http://dir.salon.com/story/mwt/feature/2002/10/31/film_literacy/index.html Interesting story.

http://www.abc.net.au/myfavouritefilm/default.htm - this is a pretty interesting site (oh gum I just can't think of any synonyms for interesting today...). Just don't try the quizzes, they're mean. I wannna hear from anyone who can get more than 5 on any of them.

http://www.abc.net.au/myfavouritefilm/default.htm

This site made me hopping mad, and I spent a long long time ranting, such a long time that I finally came around on myself and contradicted my original point. Such is life. I'll spare you...although when I myself work out what the hell I was going on about, I might post it.

If you have sympathies with the Black And White side of film making then you could do no worse than check out this site. Don't get me wrong, I really do like it - even if the top tens are all the sort of top tens I disapprove of. It's a nice place where they talk about these things seriously, and having just run the film-is-fun out of my system I'm in the mood for some psychoanalytical tosh. They won't talk about one film, unless they can reference another in the process. So if "Immanence And Transcendence In The Cinema Of Nature" is your sort of thing, head over there...

I like this guy. His view is a little like my view - I say a little, because after my complex and hidden rant I'm not sure what my view actually is.

Meanwhile, in real life, I've been agonising about where to put Reservoir Dogs on my ymdb account (surely not at the top?), and drooling over clips:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ERwZXojb55M
I finally decided to see the Brick trailer - Brick, being now virtually at the top of my want-to-see list (in fact, it is at the top. Sorry Fight Club. I can wait. I mean right at the top...). Looks excellent.

http://www.workingtitlefilms.com/trailers/menu_hotfuzz.htm
In case I haven't mentioned this one yet (and I think I might have) here's the teaser clips for Hot Fuzz. My my...I lied about Brick, by the way. It's second to Hot Fuzz. I haven't been this excited about anything since...well actually, hearing a Genesis reunion may be around the corner a few days back.

http://youtube.com/watch?v=bUuuBe4Glmk

OMG. Could this trailer be any more outrageous?! I'm not saying it doesn't look good. In fact it looks pretty great. As fun as guys running gals over with monster trucks etc ever can be. Featuring, curiously enough, that-guy-from-Spy-Kids as another character named Machete.

Bad week...

Having not seen a film for half a week (parents addicted to the sort of tear-duct-tugging 9/11 anniversary and poorly children programs which make me dash from the room.), I've instead resorted to attempts to break the world trailer watching endurance record. I'm resisting the urge to watch it for a second time today, having seen it three times over the last two days. It's very very hard.


FOUR HOURS LATER

I'm writing this straight after tea. We all sit to eat together, and I always raise the question - "So...what are we going to do tonight?" which roughly translates as "What film are we going to watch?" or, more recently, "lets watch Reservoir Dogs."

Having been starved of movies since Tuesday (that's a jolly long time, in my book) I felt sure we'd be able to fit one in this evening. Especially as my young sister had already stated her intention to spend it in her room, letting me+parents pick the film. You can see where this is going, right?

Alas, no luck. The choice came down to either Air Force One or the final episode of Edge of Darkness. Or an episode of Lost. Heaven forbid! I'm kinda fond of bits of Lost, but it's utterly tedious to watch in the hope of something interesting happening. It's almost like an Ian Holm fan sitting through Return of the King - it's a jolly long wait!

Edge of Darkness too is good in places, but again so slow. I'd liken it to Heat actually - longer than necessary, obviously very good but I'm just not into it. I'm actually not sure why - it's about a disintigrating guy, who many assert is already mad, dealing through loss in a series of dream sequences with a dead relation and surreal encounters with a random American, and it's very very morally dubious. The acting is great, the minor characters (especially Pendleton) are amusing and when you work out what's going on the end's a killer. It's got me all over it, I just can't relate. Which really hurts. And Air Force One? No thanks. Bad memories of Behind Enemy Lines here...it just sounds somewhat unnapealing.

Finally, the Culture came and there is not a single thing on which I want to watch, with the exception of DOA which looks fab. And is on sky movies. We don't have sky movies.

NEXT DAY

Just more on film studies. Yesterday we watched several more clips from Mary Shelley's Frankenstein, which I still have no intention of seeing in my spare time, and several more from Jane Eyre, which I never would have considered watching in the first place. We were doing mis-en-scene, camera movement and camera shots - stuffed into one lesson, but it was easy stuff. Although we did hit calamity looking at a shot of Godzilla's eye with people next to it. Because technically it was sort of a long shot on the people, yet also a close up on the eye. Jolly confusing stuff. We started looking at Gladiator too - we watched the first 15 minutes, which resulted in a lot of wuvving on my behalf.

And then today we studied editing, although it curiously turned into a tour of the most famous cinema scenes ever - Battleship Potempkin, the beginning of Citizen Kane and, of course, that shower. I must say however, it seemed...very staged. Almost like the way Brian de Palma films always seem to be trying too hard to be director-ly. Mr Hitchcock and I have some issues to work through. We also took a look at a trailer - a trailer which can be watched here. Our challenge: count the number of individual edits.

Well...

I gave up at 16. My friend got lost at 25. Our teacher says its the first time in the history of the course that anyone hasn't bothered. Everyone else came to an agreement it was somewhere between 100 and 130.

Anyway, the highlight of the lesson was him pulling out a box of these and dishing them out. I voluenteered to take a video - I was just happy to have it, personally, after spending so long chasing it at the library.

http://www.theshiznit.co.uk/index.php - I like this site. It's got some really good reviews, they're even nice about Constantine!

Lots of little things

Well, wasn't yesterday's post a pleasant and not at all unwelcome surprise! I have for the last two days been smiling constantly, skipping around and generally behaving like I really far am too young to keep it. Which I am, in actual fact. Well I can't comment on whether it's all vastly unsuitable seeing as I haven't seen it yet, but the British government seems to think so and they probably know best.

Unfortunately, this means todays post is going to come out a bit like my thoughts - a jumbled messy ranty set of curious but unconnected nonsense.

Anyway, this afternoon I was overcome with a sudden mad wish to rewatch The Sting. Well, not mad as such - 'tis a perfectly sane idea, as it's great. So I trotted across to youtube in hope of finding something. Unfortunately, this video is all it came up with. Not that I have any serious problems with that of course, it just wasn't entirely what I had in mind...I did watch it, but I had to mute the music because it was awful and totally out of place. And I must say, as goes the slash, it was very badly done. If ever I had the inclination (which I wouldn't generally, but after watching this travesty I'm tempted...) I'm sure I could do it much better. There's some awful awful editing work here and I'm pretty unconvinced, especially by the first half. Now if they styled it as a trailer a la Brokeback to the Future, it would give it a better structure and possibly it would have been more effective. On the other hand, if you think I'm being waaay too pretentious and/or defensive and you really enjoyed it, you may as well give this a go. The editing here is slightly better quality - though that's not to say I'm very happy about it. I'm starting to get a tad sick of the Brokeback music y'know, and that film is far far a too easy target. Besides...being deeply in love with Sundance myself...well I'm not sure I'd be able to cope... Speaking of Mr Redford, I found a neat little fan site here. I'm particularly fond of the startup spiel:

Hollywood has a lot of male actors, but how many of them are REAL MEN?

you know, the sort of guy who could rescue you from a wild horse,

build a house, teach you about conservation

and then gaze at you with those beautiful blue eyes?

Who do I speak of?

Who else, but Robert Redford!!!

I have been a dedicated, loyal fan of Mr. Redford since I first saw him in Butch Cassidy & The Sundance Kid in the early 70's. This page is my tribute to you, Mr. Redford and to say thank you for making movies that that inspire and give reflection to life!

Said like a pro, and may I add I agree entirely. I was also rather excited by the ecards, and my friends all promptly recieved several of each. And this link lead to this terrific site - merci de ma prof de Francais!

While on the subject of random links, the http://www.celebmatch.com/ site says that Robert Redford and I are 72% compatable - 57% physical, 58% intellectual but 99% emotionally perfect for each other!

And now for something completely different. A reward, if you like, for succesfully sitting through all that gooing - Robert deNiro's most enthralling performance yet...as a cabbage on Sesamie Street. I kid you not. It's utterly convincing. My favourite part's when he explains to Elmo that he can pretend to be a New York taxi driver...unfortunately, he doesn't enlighten the fluffy creature by going into any more detail than that.

As for film watching, I've seen Being John Malkovitch and Behind Enemy Lines in the last few days. I'm trying to come up with some intellectual comments to make on the former but so far I can't summon my critical powers to say anything profound. It makes Ed Wood look mainstream. I'd certainly recommend it for anyone who liked Eternal Sunshine - wacky trips through the subconscious, bittersweet romances. In fact, the final chase in Being John Malkovitch is almost a two minute trial run for ESOTSM. One day I will do a list of the top ten most dysfunctional romances - Brazil will be in the top five or so, this will be right at the top just above Vertigo - a love triangle with one hell of an added complication...I was positively spitting in disbelief when it came into the open!

Craig, our hero guy, is really really sweet. I have a soft spot for the actor, but even without that the devoted puppeteer remains sympathetic. Lottie is played by CAMERON DIAZ. I need to shout that, because otherwise you may not notice and get distracted by the fact she can act. Pretty darn well at that.

I like the faux documentary, but there are lots of other excellent moments worth a mention, like the job interview. Overall, the keyword here is wacky. Just to summarise the first few minutes - weedy puppeteer is married to sweet woman who keeps animal sanctuary in her house - is to invite blinking looks of disbelief.

And Behind Enemy Lines? Well Gene Hackman played the same role as usual, and Owen Wilson was better than expected in a non-comedy. However, there is something undeniably rubbish about this film, I just couldn't quite put my finger on what. It's pretty entertaining, but three things let it down badly. The first thing was the music, which had "God bless America" written all over it - stirring in the most taccy way imaginable.

The second thing was the lucasitis, the worst case I've ever seen. For those of you just joining me, lucasitis is the result of the filmmakers sitting down in front of the editing suite and going "Oooooh! I can do slo-mo, and change the colours, and make it swoop, and zoom!" It's named for Star Wars' unusually enthusiastic use of fancy transitions, and I normally interpret it as a substitute for real tension. It's distracting and unecessary. I took particular exception to the slo-mo run between exploding mines and the snazzy circling shots of him on the top of a mountain (which begs the question, if he's trying to stay hidden in an area full of enemies, why is he sitting in the most prominent location imaginable?)

And the final thing? Well, boys and girls, it was cliche kingdom most of the way through. The one that ticked me off most was undeniably the fact HE WAS GOING TO RESIGN! How many times do i have to say it: never resign, it always leads to calamity, whether that be abduction by a mysterious village or, as in this film, being dumped on the wrong side of the border.

And now, for a bit of spoilervision: Case point 2: his buddy was a gonner from the start. Case point 3: no one in their right mind who'd been exposed to such ineptitude by the armed forces would ever consider going back. Case point 4: the last five minutes. Now up until then I was willing to forgive the odd bit of stupidity - cinema is fiction after all, even when based on fact - but this is just a little over the top. He hits the sniper four times, and the sniper falls over, but then he's back on his feet and it's all so dramatic! And then the Serbian army show up! And then the Americans show up, in the nick of time! (PS - what's the last film you've seen where the Americans send helicopters to rescue one downed man? Eh?) But as he runs to the helicopters (in slow motion, obviously) he has a change of heart and runs back to get the photographs! Oh the angst! So the helicopters cover him - 70 infantry can't hit one very obvious green shape in the snow, several half-truck-half-tank-things can't down one of the helicopters - as he runs, again in slo mo, there and back again. It's a total massacre. Obviously, as the Serbians are the bad guys, they can't hit anything. But my father, who's a stickler for all things military is a tad sceptical and informs me that as the trucks were in fact BMP-1 mechanised infantry fighting vehicles, their 73mm cannons should have knocked the Admiral's Hughes 214ST straight out of the sky. While the precice make of armament may a tad irrelevant, my point is that even an amateur can tell the odds are ridiculous. All in all, my mother managed to stay awake so it's pretty entertaining, if you're willing not so much to suspend but entirely dispatch of your disbelief for an hour and a half.


And now for a minirant. I realise I haven't informed you of my irrational irritation with the newer Scarface. It is simply this - there is at least twice as much merchandise as there are fans. My tiny village home has a poster rack in one of the little local stores - all motivational rubbish and pictures of kittens, and nothing movie related whatsoever, except one of Al Pacino threatening people. I went on holiday, I found a movieposter store - one or two posters for everything else, but no, Scarface has to have six. Two days later, I see Scarface t-shirts for sale. Come on! Who buys these things?! We go searching for cupboards, the furniture store has the occasional watercolour of a fruitbowl for sale, oh and a 17cm square art block with you guessed it printed in blue. And to add insult to injury, last week I saw a cute little electronic device - which plays randomly selected quotes when you flick a switch. OK, so were any of these the case with a film which I loved I'd be overjoyed. It's just how in every quarter this film outnumbers the rest (except perhaps, the first Harry Potter) - surely there cannot be that much call for it?!


Finally (took a long time to get here, didn't it?) Collective Apathy has two brilliant movie stick man quizzes, both of which I scored 14 on. To add insult to injury, it doesn't even give you the answers once you've got them wrong. But the actual pictures are pretty cute and worth a look.

Gotta go now - I've a 6 disc set (in particular, the trailers) waiting for me...

Je suis revenu!

Yay! Hello world, I'm back! My ten-day soujourn in France was spent mostly quoting things my family hadn't seen, more's the pity.

Spy Game - 3.5 stars

Spy Game was entirely excellent. It felt like it was based on a book, with a talky sensible plot - our hero attempts a rescue on the other side of the world without even leaving his office. A lot of films would have flown Nathan out to China and let him spend an hour-or-so fighting off goons, being threatened by masterminds, and this isn't a dig at James Bond no really it isn't honest would I lie to you?

The plot is gently thrilling, and kinda misleading as well. Spies, explosions - whatever, this film's more about nostalga, guilt and thinking about things rationally. A lot of people will see this thinking it's going to be something else. It felt more like a political thriller really, all the desk stuff, with a bit of excitement thrown in for good measure.

Nathan is a great character - in the present, he's a retiring old man who reminisces about his uncle's farm; at the same time he's still the professional agent with his mind as sharp as ever, and in the past he's an uber-efficient chap with no qualms about doing nasty nasty things. Indeed, he has a Godfather complex - because when you think about it, he is a pretty bad guy even though he in no way seems it. And by nasty, I don't just mean the obvious incidents - how about his great isolation technique? Interestingly, they actually removed a plot strand to make his character a little less morally pitch black.

Now I'm not going to criticise RR's acting - in fact, yes I am. He is to be fair a little...one note...wry and charming heroes, right? True, he's not always a goodie but he's never entirely a baddie either. Perhaps it's all stunning play acting on his character's part, but I never got the feeling he really could do all those dreadful things. In the present sections, dashing around head office and causing trouble, he really convinces; in the flashbacks less so. Perhaps it's just my rather hard set perceptions of the actor?

Brad Pitt is, to be entirely honest, one of the few people I would endorse for the role of Dorian if the Picture of Dorian Gray was ever adapted. He's blonde, he can act (see Twelve Monkeys!) and he has this wonderfully edgy beauty. His acting was nothing really special in this, but he was very nice to look at.

This film had a touch of Lucasitis - the feeling that the editor sat down at is desk and went "WOW! Look at all these cool things I can do! I can turn the image into a 3D bell and make it swing around the scene, and cover it with a stained glass effect and zoom in and out! Lets put them ALL in!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!" OK, so the Starwarses aren't exactly like that, they just have fun with the fades. Now I didn't really mind it, but my mother would have found it annoying and claimed it was making her unwell. It actually shows a lack of confidence in the actors. The scene behind the Fujifilm advert on the roof should have been a really strong one, if the camera had just held still enough to watch them actually act. There are some films which deserve, or need whizzy cinematography - this was not one of them, and it gave the feeling the plot was trying to be something it wasn't.

As always, I took especial notice of the colours, which were lovely - someone had spent time touching up the Vietnam sequences to give them a certain feel, and ditto with Berlin, and Beruit and everywhere.

Favourite scenes? Well the training montage was great - learning the significance of the stick of gum, "I want to see you one one of those balconeys in five minutes", seeing the pair of them on screen together mmmmmm - sorry about that, what I meant was it created an intellectually dynamic polarity between the two idealistically-opposed characters which challenged the pseudo-liberal preconceptions of our post-modernist world. Oh and Bishop didn't need to tell Muir he was hideous, even in jest. That kinda thing hurts...and "age before beauty" was another unecessary comment. But surely my fave bit was *spoilervison*===>the veeery end - Nathan leaving the complex in a kinda echo of the ambulance leaving the prison at the start, but this time everything turning out shiny and the last lines: "There seems to have been an...incident in China...", and the reaction of the board when they realise they were being played all along. Oh I just love sucess! <=====*spoilervision*

Heavens! I almost forgot the music! It seemed reeeally familiar, perhaps it's been in an advert or documentary. It's really nice though, really really nice.

I was watching the special features and I really recognised the voice of the director. At that moment, I remembered the name and immediately got hit with a thunderbolt of no-duhness. It's Tony Scott! Ridley Scott's younger brother, who's not quite as famous but probably just as talented. It must suck. I've got a younger sister, and she's always beating me at everything. But at least it's just things like year 6 IQ tests and design-an-ad competitions, not being the Eighth Best Director In The World EVER. I hope he doesn't hold a grudge...

Finally, I found this site. It's a common...commen...ah, hell I can't spell it. It's all about That Mind Bending Genre, using that mental tag for it which I thought I'd invented. Only being a nice, polite person with irritable parents I'm hardly going to use it in public. Anyway, it's entirely fascinating but TOTALLY SPOILER RIDDEN! So flick through to the ones you've seen, or indeed don't risk it. But there is an interesting Donnie Darko theory:

http://www.ejumpcut.org/archive/jc46.2003/eig.mindfilms/index.html

Otherworld and Casablanca

Just finished watching a pretty loveless animated rendition of Welsh myths called Otherworld. The premise was pretty weird - three Welsh teens get turned into legendary characters, which helps them to make informed choices about how they want to live their lives when they get back. The modern day stuff had all the charm of one of those made-for-schools educational videos. "Growing up Gay" is one I recall particularly well, and just a few weeks ago we had to watch one on teen pregancy starring a whole load of untalented Irish schoolkids. You'll see why it reminded me of those...

The animation was by turns horrible and wonderful. It bore all the hallmarks of rotoscope - effectively tracing, for those of you confused by the term. The CGI was painful and I wish they hadn't bothered. But some of the backgrounds were pretty, and the shading on the costumes lovely.

But goodness knows who they were aiming at! I know the BBFC allow nudity from U upwards, so perhaps that can be overlooked, but the violence certainly can't! A tad graphic for the kiddies. And the plots were complicated too - they chop someone's head off and it stays alive, people turn into owls and all and I never felt the weirdness was satisfactorily...explained. Pardoned, maybe, would be a better word. And the real-life bits that framed the stories were most certainly aimed at teens.

All in all a bit of a mess. So here's how I would have improved it. Remove the CGI monster because it was painful. Make the characters more recognisable. And make the faces nicer to look at, and either chopped the animation or the real life sequences. The first few minutes of the film were really nice (i.e. the colours were pretty), but to be frank the morality tales in the real world were painfully scripted and undermined by the typically loose morals in the mythical world.

It also throws up several unpleasant philisophical questions about, for example, how long they seemed to be there and what emotional scarring the poor people would go through. Don't try to think about it in too much detail, fast forward the beginning and skip the end. Unless you want to have a good giggle that is.

Here's the site: http://www.s4c.co.uk/otherworld/e_index.shtml



What of Casablanca then? Well I really had no need to worry - it was wonderful! Rick was incredibly sweet, in a cynical way. When Ugarte asks him to hide him from the police, and he says no - well, he had my undivided attention from then onwards. You absolutely feel his pain. And hers. But not quite so much...though perhaps its just because I'm female.

I can't say I didn't know where it was headed. It would be like being surprised when Vader reveals his little secret, or when Marion Crane doesn't come back out of the shower (I'm sure you all know that one, but I've a friend who insists she has no idea what I mean by "shower scene" so I'm gonna black it out anyway). But I had no idea how it was going to get there. There was a little map in my mind, like with The Godfather, of all the famous lines I already knew, joining the dots as we went along - but it wasn't intrusive, and actually when I look back I really knew very little about it. I made a joke a few months back about Ilsa being a spy for the French Resistance. Doh!

The shot of the film? Undoubtedly the letter in the rain, the words running but it doesn't matter, as we all know what it says.

I really liked the scenario - no one in the film is perfect. They lie, they're bribable, selfish, murderous or just a tad unpleasant. Everyone is out for themselves. A wonderfully morally ambiguous place. The script is razor sharp, and the whole final sequence was entirely compelling. The background music is overblown and melodramatic (see my plan for rescoring old movies halfway down that page) but not as intrusive as it could have been.

And of course, it's black and white - the colour scheme is perfect, and unlike other old classics, not ruined by garish glorious technicolour (I'm not talking about Vertigo. Honest. Whatever gave you that impression?). Though I'm not going to be returning my Casablanca layout anytime soon, I did like it a lot and it thoroughly deserves its classic status.

Otherworld:2.5/5
Casablanca:4/5
It's sacrelidge to discuss them on the same page, really...

PS - today I discovered http://www.the-editing-room.com/. Go, laugh yourselves silly. If you've seen it, then I recommend the abridged script for Underworld. I quote: "I am a vampire, one of many involved in an underground war. When not killing werewolves, I go to raves that play industrial rock, buy new trenchcoats, rip holes in my mesh stockings, and post to my livejournal." *massive snigger*

More links

Have I calmed down yet? What do you think...

I've got over it. It's not like I didn't know said spolier anyway. I just get ticked off when people remind me. It's like carrying a very guilty secret (and trust me, I know all about that one too...) - you know there's something you're not meant to think about, but you can't help it.

Pity my sister though. Yesterday evening someone mentioned a TV series the family is watching. She made a little moan, I asked her what was wrong. "Character death!" she moped pitifully, presumably expecting sympathy. I absolutely exploded. Any other day I would have been cross, but I had an awful lot to rant about yesterday.

While on that note, here are a couple of sacrilidgious sites:

http://rinkworks.com/movieaminute/
http://www.moviepooper.com/

The first one's pretty funny actually...though on another section of the site they claim Brokeback won a best picture oscar which is...it is incorrect, isn't it?

The second one gets the order of deaths in Hamlet wrong. The news of Rosencrantz and Guildenstern's deaths come at the very end, but chronologically surely they must have departed for lives in boxes before this as the news would have had to travel. So I place it before or at about the same time as the death of Ophelia, and before everyone else. Hey, it's a touchy subject!

Two more sites:
http://www.javelinamx.com/carstars/tvcar2.htm
kinda cool, if you like cars which I don't particularly, but oh welll...

http://movielens.umn.edu/main
This recommends movies based on ratings, but I'm not sure I can be bothered. I much prefer the speedier site which url I can't remember, but I assure you it's better!

Just another link

Found a cool movie site! In fact, I didn't find it, some nice person on the filmwise forum did, but that doesn't matter cos I LOVE IT and now I've got to spend hours looking at it and pretending that any minute, another film I've seen will magically appear, and trying to keep away from both Reservoir Dogs spoofs. Yes, two! All the others have one, but just to torment me they post two...

Here's the link:

http://www.angryalien.com/

The I-cant-think-of-a-title link list

Today I'm pretty busy, so I'm just dumping links:

http://rogerebert.suntimes.com/apps/pbcs.dll/frontpage - I love this guy. Can you believe that this description actually made tears come to my eyes? The movie glossary is pretty funny too. EDITOR: I have since revised my opinion of this man! Have you seen what he said about Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid? How dare he call the script of the end inappropriate, or whatever he complains about. This is a perfect film, you hear you evil evil man!

http://top100films.blogspot.com/ I wish I could do this, but then again, it’d be horrid to watch them all in one year. What would I do then?!

http://www.funwithmovies.com/ is a kinda frustrating but also cool site. Figure this - I can get 15/30 on the easy one, but 20/30 on the hard one. How does that work?!

http://www.overstock.com/sm-reservoir-dogs-poster-created-using-entire-script--pg-proframe_pi-1896000_ti-82124.html I absolutely want one of these! OK, so i've never seen the film - it's at the top of my wantosee list and likely to be my final words if I'm run down in the middle of the road, and if I had seen it I'd really want one...the same people also do Scarface ones, another film I haven't seen and am attached to nontheless (on account of the most useful MSN blinkie ever:





http://www.ifilm.com/ifilmdetail/2693690?htv=12 OK, i've had it with the Brokeback jokes too, but this is very funny. I want to see this film! You've probably already heard about this one http://www.ifilm.com/ifilmdetail/2681181, but it's great nontheless. Somewhere on that site there's also a West Side Story one and a Titanic too. Great!