Last Ten Films I Saw Before the Last Ten Films I've Seen: Reexaming Freddy Krueger

Greetings to our blog readers from New Zealand, Poland and Egypt.

The images above are of: 1) Freddy Krueger from 'The Nightmare on Elm Street' film series, he is now a Republican congressman from Alabama, 2) Julian Assange, the founder of Wikileaks, who will soon be starring in a reality tv show about narcissists. The film "The Fifth Estate" is about him and 3) well, it's just a human skeleton (we are using it for the movie "The Skeleton Twins," which stars Bill Hader and Kristen Wiig).

1) "Mean Streets." 1973. dir: Martin Scorsese

2) "Nightmare on Elm Street." 1984. dir: Wes Craven

3) "Yeelen." Mali. 1987. dir: Souelymane Cisse

4) "Rush." 2013. dir: Ron Howard.

5) "The Fifth Estate." 2013. dir: Bill Condon.

6) "Symbiopsychotaxiplasm: Take One" (documentary/experimental film). 1968. dir: William Greaves (alas the director died this year)

7) "Don's Party." Australia (in English). 1976. dir: Bruce Beresford.

8) "Labor Day" 2013. dir: Jason Reitman (with Kate Winslet)

9) "The Skeleton Twins."2014  dir: Craig Johnson.

10) "Frank." Ireland (in English) 2014. dir: Lenny Abrahamson

Quote of the Day/Week- David Cronenberg

We conclude our month-long series of quotes from famous Canadians with a quip from Toronto-based filmmaker David Cronenberg, who like Danish film director Lars von Trier, is known for making higly provacative, daring films.

Cronenberg's latest film is "A Dangerous Method" with Keira Knightley, and it was the subject of a cover story in a recent issue of "Film Comment."

Other films by Cronenberg include "The Fly" (1986), "Naked Lunch" (1991), "Crash"
(1996) and "A History of Violence" (2005); he also directed several horror films early in his career.

Here is his quote, which certainly grabs one's attention:

"All stereotypes turn out to be true. This is a horrifying thing about life. All those things you fought against as a youth: you begin to realize they're stereotypes because they're true."

Top 10 Favorite Christmas Movies_ A Controversial Choice

Yes, we are choosing the eight-minute $700 short film "The Spirit of Christmas" from 1995 by Trey Parker and Matt Stone, two Colorado college students who went on to make "South Park" as our top choice.

The film is known for it is essentially a mock kung fu fight between Jesus and Santa Claus which is laced with profanity, and makes fun of former Olympic ice skater Brian Boitano.

But, this short film which I saw as part of "Spike and Mike's Sick and Twisted Animation Festival" at the Lyric Theatre in Blacksburg, Va., still stands out as one of the most hysterical things I've ever seen. Ironically, I haven't watched "South Park" hardly at all since it's second season. I am amazed it is somehow still on the air (we need to get Javier, our Honduran intern to fact-check that).

Here is our top ten; the rest of the films are full-length features:

1. "The Spirit of Christmas" (1995)

2. "A Christmas Story" (1983)

3. "National Lampoon's Christmas" (1989)

4. "Gremlins" (1984)_ A film I chose to show for my 40th birthday celebration earlier this year at the Grandin Theatre in Roanoke, Va. Many people forget that it takes place at Christmas time.

5. "Bad Santa" (2003)

6. "It's a Wonderful Life" (1946)_ A film which may be the only Christmas film they show in Tashkent, Uzbekistan

7. "The Muppet Christmas Carol" (1992)

8. "Scrooged" (1988)

9. "Miracle on 34th Street" (1946)

10. "Santa Claus Conquers the Martians" (1964)_ Yes, the movie itself which features a very young Pia Zadora does actually suck, but the title is still vintage!

We should mention that John Waters has said that his favorite Christmas movie is "Christmas Evil," also known as "You Better Watch Out." The 1981 horror film predates the much more known and decidedly infamous 1984 slasher flick "Silent Night, Deadly Night" which features a Santa Claus who goes around killing folks.

Currently, American audiences are intrigued by the film "Rare Exports: A Christmas Tale" out of Finland which depicts a Santa Claus who is found frozen in the Arctic Circle. It is currently showing at the following cinemas (not listing every cinema where it's playing, but the film is not showing everywhere): Carousel Luxury Cinemas in Greensboro, NC, Landmark E Street Cinemas in Washington DC, Kendall Square Cinema in Cambridge, Mass. and lastly, Lyric Cinema Cafe in Fort Collins, Colo.

Top 10 Most Controversial Films of All Time?

If there is one thing that the two Top Ten Controversial Film Lists I've posted here and on my other blog have in common, it is that religion--more than anything else, seems to make films controversial.

There are some notable controversial films that were not on either list, including two highly political and left-of-center films "Salt of the Earth" (1954) and "Punishment Park" (1974), both of which are excellent films even if one disagrees with their politics.

Horror films like the infamous Italian "Cannibal Holocaust" (1977) which features an actual slaughter of a Galapagos turtle on film were not mentioned that often. The more recent Japanese shock horror film "Audition" (2000) which features very graphic images was also not mentioned as were the "Saw" films, which have been labeled as torture porn films by some.

And, neither list cited Sam Peckinpah's "Straw Dogs" or Elia Kazan's "Baby Doll."

This list was published on film.com on July 21, 2009:

10. "Midnight Cowboy" (John Schlesinger, 1969)

9. "A Clockwork Orange" (Stanley Kubrick, 1971)

8. "Last House on the Left" (Wes Craven, 1972)*

7. "Last Tango in Paris" (Bernardo Bertolucci, 1973)

6. "Salo" (P. Paolo Pasolini, 1975)

5. "I Spit On Your Grave" (Meir Zarchi, 1978)

4. "Life of Brian" (Terry Gilliam, 1979)

3. "Blue Velvet" (David Lynch, 1986)

2. "Kids" (Larry Clark, 1995)

1. "Anti-Christ" (Lars von Trier, 2009)

*- The film has since been remade

Program Reminder- Bug on IFC This Week

Before we start this entry, I want to ask my long-time girlfriend Ashley Judd if she'll marry me. Oh right! I forgot she was married to some Italian race car driver, and she ran on the track barefoot when he won the Indianapolis 500.

But, Judd starred in the creepy thriller "Bug" based on the play by Tracy Letts. The 2006 film from director William Friedkin deals with a woman who moves into an el cheapo motel where she meets a Gulf War veteran who thinks agents inserted bugs in his mind as part of a military experiment.

The film airs on IFC at 8:00 p.m. on Saturday.

Perhaps, students from Manhattan High School in Manhattan, Kansas, which is our High School of the Week along with about 45 other schools, will think it's a biology documentary.

Manhattan HS has Back to School Night on Monday, and their principal is (mr) Terry MCarty.

Quote of the Week (Slovenian Philosopher Slavoj Zizek)

We continue our series of 32 quotes from 32 people associated with the 32 countries in this year's World Cup with a quote from the great Slovenian philosopher Slavoj Zizek, born in 1949.

Zizek, who was the subject of a 2005 documentary film, has written many books, including "Iraq: The Borrowed Kettle" (2004) which was reportedly very critical of the war in Iraq.

The Slovenian philosopher is also a socialist and an atheist and his other books include "In Defense of Lost Causes" (2008) and the current release "Living in the End Times" (2010)---yes, I think that's a strange title for a book by an atheist too!

Zizek wrote an op-ed in 2006 for "The New York Times" which said that atheism was a great legacy of Europe, and he has said that all churches should be converted into culture halls (I would prefer cinemas!).

As a fellow film enthuiast, I chuckled when Zizek listed the horror film sequel "Freddy Versus Jason" (2003) as one of his favorite 'guilty pleasures' for an article in "Film Comment," even though I have never seen the movie.

Zizek is also known for his contribution to both political theory and film theory.

And, as this quote indicates, he even has opinions about food!:

"The same rightists who decades ago were shouting, 'Better dead than red!," are now often heard mumbling, 'Better red than eating hamburgers."

The World Cup, incidentally, is the latest entry for the highly popular blog "Stuff White People Like," which became a book of the same name.

SIDEBAR: If one is residing in the DC-metro area, they may want to check out World Cup coverage at The Wing Hub on Cordell Ave., in Bethesda, Md., where Thursday night is also Poker Night!

21 Words in Norwegian (10 of 21)

Monster


Uhyre













My Republican friends should send me a bouquet of fresh roses because my original choice was Dick Cheney, but I couldn't find any good photos of him. So, we settled for Pinhead!