And now I pretty much have to see Deadpool…
“Deadpool: The movie that touches you in totally inappropriate ways…”
Posts Tagged ‘Movies’
“You look like Freddy Kruger face-f*cked a topographical map of Utah”
Thursday, August 6th, 2015Of Top 25 Films on IMDB, Most Involve Crime
Tuesday, August 4th, 2015Glancing through the top 25 films in the the IMDB Top 250 list, it occurred to me that most involved crime as the central subject, and a few more peripherally:
- The Shawshank Redemption (1994) (Yes: Central characters are mostly convicted felons in prison.)
- The Godfather (1972) (Yes, obviously.)
- The Godfather: Part II (1974) (Yes, ditto.)
- The Dark Knight (2008) (Yes. What is it Batman dedicated his life to fighting?)
- Pulp Fiction (1994) (Yes. Criminals and their associates drive all the action.)
- Schindler’s List (1993) (No. Genocide is sort of a separate topic from crime…)
- 12 Angry Men (1957) (Yes. Inside jury deliberations in a murder case.)
- The Good, the Bad and the Ugly (1966) (Yes. Three criminals drive the plot. Then again, crime tends to be a central feature in almost all Westerns…)
- The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King (2003) (No. Lots of killing, but not crime-related per se.)
- Fight Club (1999) (Marginal. Protagonist runs a ring of illegal fight clubs, then an international revolutionary organization.))
- The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring (No. See above.)
- Star Wars: Episode V – The Empire Strikes Back (1980) (No. Despite the presence of a smuggler as a central character.)
- Forrest Gump (1994) (No.)
- Inception (2010) (Yes. Central plot involves a criminal gang carrying off a sort of reverse heist.)
- One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest (1975) (Marginal. Protagonist is a criminal who gets himself transferred to the loony bin because he thinks it will be easier than doing time in the joint.)
- The Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers (2002) (No. See above.)
- Goodfellas (1990) (Yes. Obviously.)
- The Matrix (1999) (No. Though the protagonist starts out as a hacker in trouble with the authorities.)
- Star Wars (1977) (No. Though again, an illegal smuggler is a central figure.)
- Seven Samurai (1954) (Marginal. The entire plot is driven by a village’s desire to protect themselves from criminal marauders.)
- City of God (2002) (Yes. Features the rise of a ruthless crime lord as one of the central plots.)
- Se7en (1995) (Yes. Tracking a serial killer.)
- The Silence of the Lambs (1991) (Yes. Tracking a serial killer with the assistance of another.)
- The Usual Suspects (1995) (Yes. All about a gang of criminals and the machinations of a crime lord.)
- It’s a Wonderful Life (1946) (Marginal, given Potter’s opportunistic theft.)
That’s 15 of the top 25 films which involve crime as either a primary or secondary feature.
Surely crime dramas offer plenty of conflict, but so do war movies, but none of them (save the SF/F entries, and Schindler’s List) make the list, nor do any sports films. (Perpetual favorite Casablanca, which would qualify as a war film, comes in at 30, while Saving Private Ryan comes in at 31.)
Anyone care to speculate on why crime dominates the top of the list?
New Star Wars: The Force Awakens Trailer Drops
Thursday, April 16th, 2015Not seeing it on YouTube just yet…
Behold the Wonder That is Banglar King Kong!
Thursday, March 26th, 2015Did you ever say to yourself “You know what King Kong needs? Worse special effects, slapstick humor, stock footage, and singing!”
Then Banglar King Kong is for you!
High points:
In short, it makes every previous version of King Kong (including the Dino De Laurentiis version) look great by comparison…
The Silliest Horror Movie Poster I’ve Seen All Week
Tuesday, October 28th, 2014Noted without comment…
Yes, there’s a trailer.
Looks like they were aiming for a cross between 80s T&A horror films and direct to SyFy…
Avengers: Age of Ultron Trailer Drops
Wednesday, October 22nd, 2014Behold:
Is that mecha-Stark, or Ultron in Stark armor fighting Hulk?
I’m there.
Library Addition: Lord John Film Festival
Friday, October 17th, 2014This is one of those cases of coming across something on eBay and going, “Yes, I do want that.”
Yellin, Herb. Lord John Film Festival. Lord John Press, 2006. First edition hardback, a Fine copy in a Fine dust jacket, new and unread. Signed by Ray Bradbury, Robert Bloch, Ramsey Campbell, Dennis Etchison and Janet Leigh.
Yellin was the owner of Lord John Press, and this book is a miscellanea of remembrances and appreciations of various films interspersed with examples from his large collection of signed movies photos, posters, lobby cards, etc.
I was briefly worried when I realized that Bloch died in 1994, and Janet Leigh in 2004, but the book has evidently been in production for quite a while. A copy up on Amazon is signed by the same five people, but the signatures look slightly different.
Lord John was an interesting, eclectic press, with both genre and mainstream books (along with signed Gerald R. Ford books). I have a significant fraction of their SF/F/H output, but don’t have Stephen King’s Dolan’s Cadillac.
Shoegazer Sunday: Black Hearted Brother’s “(I Don’t Mean to) Wonder”
Sunday, September 14th, 2014Black Hearted Brother is a project featuring Slowdive’s Neal Halstead. Here they are with “(I Don’t Mean to) Wonder”.
Also, evidently the Judge Dredd remake has some impressive slow-motion set-pieces…
Library Additions: Screenplays for Manos: The Hands of Fate, Plan 9 From Outer Space, and Santa Claus Conquers the Martians
Tuesday, September 9th, 2014I mentioned the Kickstarter previously, and my package of “Alternate Classics of Filmdom” was waiting for me when I got back from London.
All bought for $20 from the Kickstarter. My only complaint is that the font size is ridiculously small…