3 things about Woody Allen’s SHADOWS AND FOG

Posted on July 4, 2010 by robchristopher

Shadows and Fog [1991]

1. “I don’t know enough to be incompetent!”
2. Disturbing image: Jodie Foster licks Woody Allen’s chest.
3. The doctor is strangled on the street just outside the brothel.

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3 things about Jacques Demy’s THE UMBRELLAS OF CHERBOURG

Posted on July 3, 2010 by robchristopher

The Umbrellas of Cherbourg [1964]

1. The train pulls away. A man walks by carrying a rolled umbrella.
2. She sings about the drabness of the shop, while standing in front of riotously colorful wallpaper.
3. Deep blue sky with skeins of cottony clouds. Lines of cherry blossomed-branches move across the screen.

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3 things about David Zucker’s THE NAKED GUN: FROM THE FILES OF POLICE SQUAD!

Posted on July 1, 2010 by robchristopher

The Naked Gun: From the Files of Police Squad! [1988]

1. “Very hot, and awfully wet.”
2. Queen’s nose.
3. “Maybe that doesn’t add up to a hill of beans. But this is our hill. And these are our beans.”

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3 things about Freddie Francis’ TORTURE GARDEN

Posted on June 23, 2010 by robchristopher

Torture Garden [1967]

1. One by one he drops the five-pound notes into the flames.
2. A giant snow globe in the center of the dining room. Inside of it: two girls, one in a sexy Christmas outfit.
3. Jack Palance backs away from the scissors, laughing.

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3 things about John Boorman’s DELIVERANCE

Posted on June 21, 2010 by robchristopher

Deliverance [1972]

1. Drew uses his oar as a pretend guitar. The boy looks down on them from the bridge, silently swinging his banjo back forth by the neck.
2. “Anywhere! Everywhere. Nowhere.”
3. Lewis winks. Almost imperceptible.

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3 things about Akira Kurosawa’s SANJURO

Posted on June 19, 2010 by robchristopher

Sanjuro [1962]

1. They all pop up out of the floor, like the nine dwarfs.
2. Sanjuro is tied up. He sits on the ground, bent forward at the waist. Kikui cuts the ropes with his sword. Sanjuro shares a private smile with himself.
3. “If you follow me, I’ll kill you.” Pause. “See ya around.” The End.

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3 things about Robert Kenner’s FOOD, INC.

Posted on June 14, 2010 by robchristopher

Food, Inc. [2008]

1. “1 of every 3 people born after 2000 will suffer from early onset diabetes. Among minorities, it will be every 1 in 2.”
2. Clarence Thomas was once a lawyer for Monsanto.
3. Michael Pollan uses a Mac.

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3 things about John Frankenheimer’s THE MANCHURIAN CANDIDATE

Posted on June 13, 2010 by robchristopher

The Manchurian Candidate [1962]

1. He takes a long time to light his cigarette and then says, “Greeks–coupla Greeks.”
2. The hole in the milk carton.
3. In the last scene, we never see Janet Leigh.

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3 things about Robert Altman’s SHORT CUTS

Posted on June 6, 2010 by robchristopher

Short Cuts [1993]

1. Unbeknownst to one another, while they talk on the phone they’re both eating peanut butter.
2. “Out of butter. Ask for margarine.”
3. The sound of the broken glass grinding in the sink.

3 more things.

I’m always going back and forth between SHORT CUTS and NASHVILLE as to which I like better. Maybe SHORT CUTS. It’s a deep pool, and every time you dive into it again you can see new things.  The first I saw it was when it came out in 1993. My dad had just helped me move to Chicago for college, and I wanted to see it so badly that I dragged him to Piper’s Alley for an afternoon show. It was in the 70mm theater. I think we must have been equally horrified when Jennifer Jason Leigh made her first appearance. But we stayed for the whole movie. I wonder if he slept through any of it.

On Netflix, there are three filmmakers I always have in my queue: Robert Altman, Alfred Hitchcock, Luis Bunuel.

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3 things about David Carson’s STAR TREK: GENERATIONS

Posted on June 1, 2010 by robchristopher

Star Trek: Generations [1994]

1. Why is the Enterprise so dark? Didn’t they pay the light bill?
2. Malcolm McDowell activates his patented smirk. “Nice try,” he says.
3. Spot lives.

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