Last Ten Films We've Seen (as of Sept. 22nd): Some Pretty Violent Films

Greetings to our blog readers in Ireland, Jordan and Japan.

With two gangster films ("Killing List" and "The Drop") plus one horror film (the "Carrie" remake/reboot) in addition to a Turkish film dealing with domestic violence ("The Confession"), there are some quite violent films on the list.

But, there are light films as well, and since Ben Stiller's film "The Secret Life of Walter Mitty," a remake of the 1947 Danny Kaye classic, is about daydreaming, we thought we'd post a photo of a Turkish babe in a hot black bikini, I suppose in Yemen, this entry will be censored.....oh well!

Boris Spassky, the great Russian chess player (top image) is being used in conjunction with "The Master," one of the great films in the acting career of the late Philip Seymour Hoffman, and conversely the yellow crayon is for "I Am Curious Yellow," a steamy left-wing experimental Swedish film from 1967 which includes footage of Martin Luther King, Jr.

Here are the last ten films we've seen (as of Sept. 22nd):

1. The Master. 2012. Director: Paul Thomas Anderson

2. The Secret Life of Walter Mitty. 2013. Dir: Ben Stiller

3. The Lego Movie. 2014. Dirs: Phil Lord; Christopher Miller

4. The Drop. 2014. Dir: Michael R. Roskam (last film of James Gandolfini)

5. Killing List. 2011. Dir: Ben Wheatley

6. The Confession. Turkey. 2002. Dir: Zeki Demirkubuz

7. I Am Curious Yellow. Sweden. 1967. Dir: Vilgot Sjoman

8. The Great Beauty. Italy. 2013. Dir: Paolo Sorrentino

9. Nathalie. France. 2003. Dir: Anne Fontaire

10. Carrie. 2013. Dir: Kimberly Peirce.

This Weekend at the Cinema: From New York to Athens (Ga)

Greeting to our blog readers in Colombia, New Zealand and planet Saturn!

"Battle for the Planet of the Apes" (1973) promised to be the 'final chapter' of "The Planet of the Apes," but 41 years later there is "Dawn of the Planet of the Apes," which is screening at the Varsity Theatre in Chapel Hill, NC, along with "How to Train Your Dragon 2."

Elsewhere in the Tar Heel State, the Eden Drive-In in Eden, NC, a small town between Martinsville, Va., and Greensboro, NC, is showing two summer blockbusters "Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles" and "Guardians of the Galaxy."

At the Hull's Drive-In in Lexington, Va., "Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles" is also showing, but it is sharing its bill with "Into the Storm."

For a completely different crowd, The Film Forum in New York is showing a newly restored edition of "The Conformist," Bernardo Bertolucci's '70s Italian crime masterpiece; the same cinema is also screening the classic French film "That Man from Rio."

At the Cine in Athens, Ga., the cinema is screening "Boyhood," "A Most Wanted Man" and "Ida."

Finally, the Lyric Theatre in Blacksburg, Va., is screening the wonderful documentary "Life Itself," pictured center about the life and death of film critic Roger Ebert (pictured center); the film is directed by renown Chicago filmmaker Steve James ("Hoop Dreams").


http://www.varsitytheatre.org

http://www.edendrivein.com

http://www.hullsdrivein.com

http://www.filmforum.org

http://www.athenscine.com

http://www.thelyric.com

Last 10 Films I've Seen (as of Dec. 1st): Sex Kittens Go to College is NOT an Adult Film

A cult film made in 1960 with a 2.6 IMDB rating starring Mamie van Doren, who hails from South Dakota, and Tuesday Weld with a cameo from a then unknown country singer named Conway Twitty (too bad he's no longer alive as it would be fun to follow Twitty on Twitter). We are, of course, referring to "Sex Kittens Go To College." It aired late at night on TCM in June, and we finally got around to watching it.

Of course, as always, we like to mention that we ripped off this idea from "Film Comment" magazine. But, in all seriousness, Gavin Smith, Amy Taubin, et al, always make a compelling film journal. And, I imagine neither of them has seen "Sex Kittens Go To College")!

Here is the list:

1. Sex Kittens Go To College (1960. Albert Zugsmith)

2. Alphabte City (1985. Amos Poe)

3. The Italian (Russia. 2005. Andrey Krovchuk)

4. Night of the Creeps (1986. Fred Dekker)

5. Kapo (Italy. 1960. Gillo Pontecorvo)

6. Thief of Paris (France. 1967. Louis Malle)

7. V/H/S (2012. Many directors)*

8. Dallas Buyers Club (2013. Jean-Marc Vallee)

9. The Telephone Book (1971. Nelson Lyon)

10. 12 Years A Slave (2013. Steve McQueen)**


*-It's a terrible film, but it is as a gruesome as advertised

**-Named film of the year by Peter Travers of "Rolling Stone"


http://www.tcm.com


http://www.filmcomment.com

http://www.rollingstone.com

Quote of the Day- Bernardo Bertolucci

This month (September), we have been quoting famous film directors. We conclude with one from the great Italian director Bernardo Bertolucci ("The Conformist," "The Last Tango in Paris"). My friend Bilge Ebiri, a New York film critic, is a huge admirer of his work and he has written about Bertolucci for the Australian web site "Senses of Cinema."

I also consider him to be a brilliant director; here is his quote:

"A monculture is not only Hollywood, but Americans trying to export democracy."

Quote of the Week-Marcello Mastroianni

It is not often that a man will admit that they can see why a woman might like another man, but we can certainly see why women around the world were charmed by the late Marcello Mastroianni (1924-1996) who was once married to and fathered a child with legendary French actress Catherine Denevue.

We are quoting Italians this month as Italy is celebrating its 150th year as a republic. Mastroianni won a Golden Globe Award for his performance in "Divorce, Italian Style" (1962).

He is also known for his work with Italian director Frederico Fellini, including "La Dolce Vita" (1960) and 8 1/2 (1963).

Here is his quote; we really, really like this one:

"With whom do you argue? With a woman, of course. Not with a friend, because he accepted all your defects the moment he found you."

Quote of the Day- Federico Fellini

Today, we continue our quotes with people, alive or dead, from the 32 nations in the 2010 World Cup in South Africa, with a quip from the late Italian cinema maestro Federico Fellini (1920-1993), whose name we had apparently been spelling wrong for years (Federico not Frederico).

One of Fellini's best-known films "La Dolce Vita," made in 1960, turns 50 this year.

This particular quote sounds like something you might hear from French director Jean-Luc Godard:

"There is no end. There is no beginning. There is only the infinite passion of life."