The Last Ten Films We've Seen: Lots of Sci Fi

In case you are wondering, we have an image of Cong. Jim Clyburn (D-SC) because one of the films listen here is "The Congress" with Robin Wright and Jon Hamm, as it turns out the science fiction art film has nothing to do with Washington, but we like both Cong. Clyburn and using a play on words.

The "RoboCop" (top image) film we've seen is the 1987 original, which is much more violent than we remembered. We believe the IMD lists the body count, but we are pressed for time.

Finally, "Ex Machina," which is one of three art sci fi films on the list ("I, Origins" is the other) is quite a strange which has a plot that is challenging to explain, so we will refer you to "New York Times" film critic Manohla Dargis who is an admirer of the film (we gave it a 7 out of 10 on the IMDB).

We got this idea from "Film Comment" magazine, which features exceptional articles from the likes of film experts Jonathan Romney and Amy Taubin.

Here is our last ten (as of last month, for a newer list go to to our sister blog "The Daily Vampire," see link on our home page):

1. Conrack. 1974. dir: Martin Ritt w/Jon Voight

2. Ex Machina. 2015. dir: Alex Garland

3. Army. Japan. 1944. dir: Keisuke Kinoshita

4. The Congress. 2013. dir: Ari Folman

5. Jealousy. France. 2013. dir: Philippe Garrel

6. The Host. 2013. dir: Andrew Nicol

7. I, Origins. 2014. dir: Mike Cahill

8. Brimstone and Treacle. 1982. dir: Richard Loncraine w/Sting

9. RoboCop. 1987. dir: Paul Verhoeven

10. Do the Right Thing. 1989. dir: Spike Lee

Top Ten Sunday Comic Strips from May 24th Roanoke Times: A Trip Down the Yellow Brick Road....

Greetings to our blog readers in Japan, Brazil and Poland.....

This week, we select "Speed Bump" with an homage to "The Wizard of Oz" as our top pick. Second place goes to "Get Fuzzy," where Satchel the Dog and Bucky the Cat have a row. There is a mention of a cat in a Youtube video; hence we are using an image of a Van cat. Finally, "Pearls Before Swine" has a humorous take on a husband and wife having it out via messages in a bottle. This made us think of the famous song "Message in a Bottle" by The Police, a band with Sting which featured Stewart Copeland (pict. bottom) as its drummer.

Here is our top ten:

1) Speed Bump

2) Get Fuzzy

3) Pearls Before Swine

4) Dilbert

5) Doonesbury

6) Garfield

7) Zits

8) Jump Start

9) For Better or For Worse

10) Family Circus

http://www.roanoke.com/comics

Last Ten Films I've Added to My Netflix Que: Vintage '70s Films, etc.

Well, actually, a lot of these films are from the late 1960s........so, I guess the headline is a tad bit misleading.............oh well!

Here are the last ten films I've added to my Netflix que:

1) "Brimstone and Treacle" (1982. w/Sting dir-Richard Loncraine)

2) "Downhill Racer"(pict. top; 1969. w/ Robert Redford dir-Michael Ritchie)

3) "Barbara" (Germany. 2012. dir-Christian Petzold)

4) "Frances Ha (2013. dir-Noah Baumbach)

5) "Computer Chess" (2013. dir-Andrew Bujaki)

6) "The Conjurling" (2013 dir-James Wan)

7) "Soylent Green" (1973. w/Charlton Heston dir-Richard Fleischer)

8) "Badlands" ( pict. middle; 1973 w/Sissy Spacek dir-Terence Malick)

9) "Head" (pict. bottom- poster by Daniel Clowes; 1968 w/The Monkees, dir-Bob Rafaelson)

10) "California Suite" (1978 dir-Herbert Ross)

http://www.netflix.com