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

Ten Films Worth Watching on DVD

Those of us who are dedicate cinephiles will be happy to learn that "Film Comment" magazine announced in its dvd section that the rare, hard-to-see cult classic "Morgan: A Suitable Case for Treatment" with Vanessa Redgrave is available. Though many films like "Pretty Poison" (1966) with Tuesday Weld and Anthony Perkins that were very difficult to see for years are now available through Netflix several others, such as the cinematic version of "The Subject Was Roses" (1969) are still hard fish to put in the net.

Here is a list of ten films I recommend at the moment. We are including the spaghetti western "Bullet for the General" (1969) since J.Hoberman wrote a great piece about the subgenre in the same current issue of "Film Comment."

Here is the list:

1. Morgan: A Suitable Case for Treatment (1966. Dir-David Mercer)

2. A Bullet for the General (Italy. 1969. Dir-David Damiani. w/Klaus Kinski)

3. Blow Out (1981. Dir-Brian DePalma)

4. Contagion (2011. Dir- Steven Soderbergh)

5. Bal (Turkey. 2010. Dir- Semih Kaplanoglu)

6. Trollhunter (Norway. 2010. Dir.-Andre Ovredal)

7. Being There (1979. Dir-Hal Ashby)

8. Senna (doc. 2011. Dir-Asi Kapadia)

9. A Dangerous Method (2011. Dir-David Cronenberg)

10. Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy (2011. Dir-Tomas Alfredson)http://www.filmlinc.com

Quote of the Day/Week- Sidney Poitier

Since we just got back from The Bahamas and today is the start of Black History Month, we thought it would be nifty to quote Sidney Poitier, 84, who won an Oscar for "Lilies of the Field" (1963), the first African-American to win a Best Actor Oscar. More recently, in 2009, Poitier also received the Presidential Medal of Freedom from Barack Obama.

Though Poitier has lived in the United for a long time, he is a Bahamas-native and maintains dual citizenship. In fact, in 1997, Poitier was the Bahamian ambassador to Japan. We also learned that he is fluent in Russian.

Here is his quote: "History passes final judgment."

SIDEBAR ONE: The underground cult classic "Pretty Poison" (1968) with Tuesday Weld and the late Anthony Perkins, who was best-known for playing Norman Bates in "Psycho" begins a week-long run at the Film Forum in New York starting on Friday. We finally saw the film two years ago. And, for those of you in the Big Apple or even New Jersey, we highly recommend it.

SIDEBAR TWO: We would personally love to see actor Michael C. Hall, who plays Dexter on "Dexter," a Showtime series about a serial killer who kills off people whom he believes have killed people, say: "I am not a serial killer, but I play one on tv." Today, Hall turns 41, the same age as me. He is originally from Raleigh, NC. Happy Birthday, Dexter.