Tag Archives: Movies

Let’s Second Guess The Academy: 2002 Best Picture

Posted on by Lisa Marie Bowman

Hi there and welcome to the latest edition of Let’s Second Guess The Academy.  Previously, we second-guessed the Academy’s choice for best picture of 1990, 1994, and 1998.  It seems only fitting that we now jump ahead another 4 years and reconsider the race for best picture of 2002.

In 2002, the Academy nominated five films for best picture.  Those films were Chicago, Gangs of New York, The Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers, The Pianist, and The Hours.  They ultimately named Chicago the best film of 2002.  Were they right?

And now, here’s my favorite part of second guessing the Academy.  What if none of the five nominated films had been released in 2002?  Which other films would you have nominated?  Below is a list of some of 2002’s most acclaimed and memorable films.  You can vote for up to 10 replacement nominees and write-in votes are allowed.

As always, have fun!

6 Trailers of Separation

Posted on by Lisa Marie Bowman

Hi there!  Welcome to the latest edition of Lisa Marie’s Favorite Grindhouse and Exploitation Trailers.

1) Ghost Town (1988)

Let’s start things out with this film from 1988.  I haven’t seen this film but the trailer has a certain silly charm to it and how can’t you enjoy the use of the fake lightning special effect?  Plus, those finger nails screeching across the car — Agck!  Freaky.

2) Blue Sunshine (1976)

This is one of my favorite movies.  Basically, a bunch of hippies take some really powerful acid in 1968 and then, eight years later, they end up having the worst flashback ever!  To say that Zalman King gives an “interesting” performance as the film’s hero is a bit of an understatement.

3) Road Games (1981)

“Jamie Lee Curtis is…Hitch.”  Well, that would probably explain why she was destined to end up hitchhiking.  Seriously, parents — give it some thought before you give your child any old name.  Anyway, Road Games was director Richard Franklin’s follow-up to Patrick and it’s one of the better slasher films of the early 80s.

4) The Dungeonmaster (1985)

Oh my God, this looks like a bad movie.  The trailer, however, is just so silly and kinda endearing in the way that it seems to desperately be saying, “No, it’s not as bad as it looks!  Look — we have ice people!”

5) Conquest (1983)

All I need to say here is that this film was directed by the one and only, Lucio Fulci.

6) Maniac Cop (1988)

Finally, let’s end this latest edition with Bruce Campbell, shall we?  This is the trailer for William Lustig’s Spinell-free Maniac Cop.

Let’s Second Guess The Academy: 1998 Best Picture Nominees

Posted on by Lisa Marie Bowman

Hi and welcome to this week’s edition of Let’s Second Guess The Academy.  Previously, we reconsidered the best picture nominees for both 1990 and 1994.  This week, we jump forward 4 more years to consider the race for best picture of 1998.

1998 saw one of the greatest upsets in Academy history when Shakespeare in Love was named best picture over Steven Spielberg’s Saving Private Ryan.  Even after more than a decade, this decision remains a controversial one.  Some people — including this site’s founder — will tell you that Saving Private Ryan was robbed.  Others, like my sister Megan, loved Shakespeare in Love so much that they still have the sepia-toned movie poster hanging in their house.  And then there are people like me who will tell you that Shakespeare was better than Ryan but Thin Red Line was better than Shakespeare and that, finally, Elizabeth is the best of them all.

So, looking back with the benefit of hindsight (I love that word!), which of 1998’s best picture nominees would you have voted for?

And here’s the part of Let’s Second Guess The Academy that I really love — if none of the five actual nominees had been released in 1998, which other films would you have nominated in their place?  You can vote for up to 5 films.

(If the 2nd poll isn’t showing up on your browser, please click here and you will be redirected to it.)

2011: The Year In Film So Far

Posted on by Lisa Marie Bowman

Greetings from the former home of the Flying Spaghetti Monster, Crossville, Tennessee!  Yes, Jeff and I are on our way back to Texas.  It’s been a wonderful vacation but I have to admit, I’m looking forward to seeing a movie at the Plano (or Dallas) Angelika on Sunday.  I’m not sure which movie but, as long as it’s a movie, I’ll be a happy girl.

That’s because I love movies.  Movies are what I schedule my life around.  My birth certificate says I was born in 1985 but I know that I was born in the year of Brazil, Prizzi’s Honor, Blood Simple, and After Hours.  If each year can be judged by the quality of the films then how is 2011 looking now that we’ve reached (and passed) the halfway mark?

Right now, as I sit here in this hotel room in my panties and my beloved Pirates shirt, I’d say 2011 is shaping up to be an average year.  There’s been a few films that I loved and there’s been a few that I’ve absolutely despised but for the most part, this year is shaping up to be comfortable and rather bland. 

Much as I did last year at this time, I’m going to take a few minutes to mention a few high points (and low points) of 2011 so far.  Agree?  Disagree?  Make your opinion known.

Best Film (So Far): Hanna, without a doubt.  Joe Wright’s stylish thriller hasn’t gotten half the acclaim that it deserves.  Runners-ups: The Cave of Forgotten Dreams, Incendies, Jane Eyre, Kill The Irishman, Of Gods and Men, Red Riding Hood, Sucker Punch, The Source Code, Super, 13 Assassins, The Tree of Life, Win Win, X-Men: First Class

Best Male Performance of the Year (so far): Paul Giamatti in Win Win.  Runners up: Bobby Cannavale in Win Win, Joseph Gordon-Levitt in Hesher, Matthew McConaughey in The Lincoln Lawyer, and Rainn Wilson in Super.

Best Female Performance Of The Year (so far): Sairose Ronan in Hanna. Runners up: Lubna Azabal for Incendies, Ellen Page for Super, Amy Ryan for Win Win, and Mia Wasikowska for Jane Eyre.

Best Ending (so far): The charmingly low budget zombie film that runs over the end credits of Super 8.

Best Horror Film (so far): Insidious.

Most Underrated Film Of The Year (so far): A tie, between Sucker Punch and Red Riding Hood.  Red Riding Hood, as a matter of fact, was so underrated that I had to see it a second time before I really appreciated it.

Best Bad Film: Beastly.  Silly but kinda fun in a really, really odd sort of way.

Worst Film of The Year (so far): The Conspirator, a bore of a movie that was apparently filmed through a filter of grime.  Runners up: Priest, The Beaver, Battle L.A. (sorry Arleigh, Leonard, and Erin), Season of the Witch, Your Highness, and The Green Lantern.

Biggest Example of A Missed Opportunity This Year (So Far): The Adjustment Bureau, which could have been a great Eternal Sunshine Of The Spotless Mind-type of film but instead, turned out to be just another predictable and shallow example of new age triteness.

The Get-Over-It Award For The First Half Of 2011: The Conspirator, a film that attempts to be relavent by using the 19th Century to comment on political issues from 2006.

My Prediction For Which Film Will Be The Most Overrated Of 2011: Last year, I predicted The Social Network and, surprise surprise, I was right.  In fact, the folks at AwardsDaily.com are still bitching about how The Social Network lost best picture to The King’s Speech.  (By the way, a few other choice pieces of wisdom from Awards Daily: The Beaver is Jodie Foster’s best film ever and only elitists should be allowed to comment on film.)  This year, I’m going to predict that the most overrated film of 2011 will be the unnecessary remake of The Girl With The Dragon Tattoo.

My Prediction For What Will Be The Worst Film Of 2011: The winner here is another remake — Rod Lurie is remaking Straw Dogs and this time, he’s setting it in the South.  You know what?  Go back to Vermont and fuck yourself ragged, you dumbass, blue state elitist.  

So, that’s 2011 so far.  There’s still quite a few films that I’m looking forward to seeing: Another Earth, The Debt, Don’t Be Afraid of the Dark; Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Spy; Hugo, and most of all, Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows, Part 2.

Coming soon: Bleh, Agck, and Yay! (And don’t forget Harry Potter!)

Posted on by Lisa Marie Bowman

When you go to the movies as much as I do, you realize and very quickly accept that you’re going to end up seeing certain trailers a few thousand times before you actually get to see the film being advertised.  (By this point, I can pretty much recite that trailer for Cowboys and Aliens by heart.)  In the case of a good trailer, this can make an otherwise forgettable film into a must-see event.  And, in the case of a bad trailer, it can literally make you shout out at “Agck!” at the thought of having to sit through it again.

What follows are three trailers that, as of late, I’ve found myself sitting through on multiple occasions.  The first one makes me go “bleh,” the second makes me say “Agck,” and the third inspires a cautious but hopeful little “Yay!”

First off, here’s Page One.  This is one of those trailers that you look at and you think, “Everyone in this trailer is so physically unattractive that this must be a documentary.”  And it  is!

I have a feeling that Page One is going to be widely acclaimed and it’ll probably win awards from the same people who thought the shrill Inside Job was more thought-provoking than Exit From The Gift Shop.  That said, I can’t help but admit that watching this trailer inspires me to say, “Who cares?”  Seriously, yet another documentary where a bunch of old people whine about how they’re no longer relavent?  Yeah, sounds thrilling.

In fact, the prospect of sitting through Page One sounds almost as thrilling as sitting through a movie, made by the same people who gave us 2012 and The Day After Tomorrow,  about the authorship of Shakespeare’s plays. 

Anonymous, I imagine, will be quite popular with people who found the Da Vinci Code to be a mind-blowing experience.

Luckily, all is not lost.  True, it does appear that we’ve got a lot of Anonymous films in our future, but we’ve also got Another Earth.

I have to admit that, just on the basis of this trailer (which I’ve caught a handful times down at both the Dallas and Plano Angelika theaters), Another Earth is the film that I’m probably most looking forward to seeing (with the exception, of course, of Harry Potter.)   When compared to the self-importance of the trailer for Page One and the almost comical slickness of the trailer for Anonymous, the the low-key aesthetic of the trailer for Another Earth feels almost defiant.

Obviously, there have been many bad films that have had wonderfully effective trailers.  In fact, I’d be willing to say that 75% of most movies actually work better as a 2 minute trailer as opposed to as a 2-hour film.  And some good films have had terrible trailers.

In theory, Page One could turn out to be the greatest documentary since Exit Through The Gift Shop and maybe Anonymous will prove that Roland Emmerich is actually an artist as opposed to just a wealthy pyromaniac.  I certainly hope that’s the case because, believe it or not, I’d much rather sit through a good film than a bad one. 

However, on the basis of trailer alone, of all the upcoming films that don’t feature Harry Potter and Voldermort, Another Earth is the film I’m most looking forward to.

Speaking of which, here’s the 2nd trailer for the film of 2011: Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part 2:

Taking Back June 6th

Posted on by Dazzling Erin

(Special thanks to my sister, Lisa Marie Bowman, who provided me with invaluable help in putting this post together.)

June 6th, 2011 is the 67th anniversary of D-Day but, if you’ve watched the nightly news, you might not know that.  According to them, the only important thing about June 6th is that it’s the day a congressman admitted that he’s been using twitter and Facebook to send out pictures of his junk. 

However, 67 years before Rep. Anthony Weiner admitted what everyone already knew, brave men from across the world bravely sacrificed their lives to defeat the greatest evil the world had ever known.  June 6th is about honoring their memory and sorry Rep. Weiner but we’re taking the day back.

With the help of the movies, of course.

Poll: Which Films Are You Looking Forward To In June and July?

Posted on by Lisa Marie Bowman

Rapidly we are approaching the half-way mark of 2011.  This is the time of year that the studios start to roll out their big “event” movies along with the occasional “prestige” film.  In short, this is the time that, for many (thought not for me), the year in film truly begins.

So, I’m curious — what films are you most interested in and excited about seeing in June and July? To help answer that question, I’ve created two polls which you can find below.  You can vote for up to four films for each month and write-in votes are accepted. Voting will be open on both polls until July 1st.

The Winners At Cannes

Posted on by Lisa Marie Bowman

The winners of this year’s Cannes Film Festival have been announced and it’s good news for Kirsten Dunst and Terrence Malick, the director of Palme d’Or winner Tree of Life..  I’ve seen the Tree of Life trailer about a thousand times at the Plano Angelika and to be honest, I haven’t been very enthused about it.  On the one hand, Terrence Malick is a legendary director and the film looks visually quite stunning.  On the other hand, the trailer also features a kid with a heavy country accent (and I’m not hating here, I’ve got quite a twang myself) going “Mother, Father, always you fight within me,” and when I hear dialogue like that, I’m just kinda like, “Uh-oh.”  The trailer itself features a lot of quite interesting and tense family scenes mixed in with a lot of scenes that seem rather New Agey.  I’d go into my feelings about new agey films but I don’t want to upset our readers in Vermont.

Kirsten Dunst (who may be on the verge of a comeback of sorts and good for her) won for a film directed by Lars Von Trier and I wonder if the award was, in any way, meant to protest Von Trier being previously declared a “non-person” at Cannes because of a press conference where he may or may not (I haven’t been following the story closely enough to take a side) have said he was a Nazi.  (While I can’t say whether or not Von Trier is a Nazi, I can say that I loved Dancer in the Dark, Breaking the Waves, and Zentropa and I hated Dogville and I’m scared to see AntiChrist.)

Anyway, here’s the winners:

  • Palme d’Or: The Tree of Life (Terrence Malick)
  • Grand Prix(a tie): Le Gaumin au Velo (Dardennes brothers) & Once Upon a Time in Anataolia (Nuri Bilge Ceylan)
  • Best Director: Nicholas Winding Refn (Drive)
  • Best Actor: Jean Dujardin (The Artist)
  • Best Actress: Kirsten Dunst (Melancholia)
  • Prix du Jury: Polisse (Maïwenn)
  • Prix du scènario / Best Screenplay: Hearat Shulayim (Joseph Cedar)
  • Camera d’Or (Best First Film): Las Acacias (Pablo Giorgelli)
  • Un Certain Regard : Prix Spécial du Jury / Special Jury Prize : Elena (Andrey Zvyagintsev)
  • Best Short Film: Cross Country

Just a heads up, Arleigh — next year, I’m going to get down on my knees and crawl all the way over to California just so I can beg you to send me to Cannes. 🙂

6 Trailers In Search Of a Title

Posted on by Lisa Marie Bowman

Without further delay, here’s the latest edition of Lisa’s favorite grindhouse and exploitation trailers.

1) Something Weird (1967)

I just had to start out with this because it represents everything that I love about these old school exploitation trailers.  It’s just so shameless and cheerful about it all.  This film is from Herschell Gordon Lewis and it features ESP, a really kinda scary witch, and a random LSD trip.  The title of this film also inspired the name of one of my favorite companies, Something Weird Video.  (I make it a point to buy something from Something Weird every chance I get.  My most recent Something Weird video is a film from the 60s called Sinderella and the Golden Bra.  Haven’t gotten a chance to watch it yet but with a title like that, how could it be bad?)

2) Fade to Black (1980)

This is actually a really, really bad movie and I think the trailer goes on for a bit too long but it does have a few vaguely effective moments — i.e., when Dennis Christopher stares at the camera with half of his face painted.  Plus, you can catch a young Mickey Rourke acting a lot like Michael Madsen. 

3) Monster Shark (1984)  

Now you may think that since this Italian film was directed by Lamberto Bava (credited here as John Old, Jr. because his father, Mario, was occasionally credited as John Old, Sr.) and has the word “shark” in the title that it’s yet another rip-off of Jaws.  Well, joke’s on you because, as they state repeatedly in the trailer, “It’s not a shark!”  Even if you didn’t know this was an Italian film before watching the trailer, it wouldn’t be hard to guess.  First off, there’s the dubbing.  Then there’s the scene of the film’s main character wandering around aimlessly.  (Most Italian horror trailers feature at least one scene of someone just walking around.)  And finally, there’s the fact that this is yet another trailer that uses a sped-up version of Goblin’s Beyond The Darkness soundtrack for its background music.  While I haven’t seen this film yet, I plan to just to find out who Bob is.

 4) Van Nuys Boulevard (1979)

Originally, I was planning on including the trailer for a Ted V. Mikels’ film called The Worm Eaters right here but I reconsidered because, quite frankly, The Worm Eaters is one of the most disgusting, stomach-churning things I’ve ever seen.  I’m going to wait until I find five other equally disgusting trailers to feature it with and then I’m going to put them all up under the heading: 6 Trailers To Inspire Vomit.  Until then, enjoy a far more pleasant trailer — Van Nuys Blvd.  This trailer rhymes!  I’m tempted to say that I could have written it but then again, I only write free verse poetry.  Anyway, where was I?  Oh yeah, Van Nuys Blvd.

5) Vice Squad (1982)

However, there was a darker side to Van Nuys Blvd. and here it is: Vice Squad, starring Wings Hauser.  Eventually, I’ll review this film but until I do, check out our new friend Trash Film Guru’s review.

6) Crosstalk (1982)

We’ll conclude with the only thing scarier than Wings Hauser in Vice Squad — a computer that has not only witnessed a murder but enjoyed it!

6 Trailers For The Benefit of Ms. Lisa Marie

Posted on by Lisa Marie Bowman

Hi!  It’s time for another edition of Lisa Marie’s Favorite Exploitation and Grindhouse Trailers.  Today’s theme — well, as explained at the end of this post, I nearly dedicated this post to my menses but then I changed my mind.  There really isn’t a theme beyond the fact that these trailers entertained me and hopefully, they’ll entertain you as well.  Well, that and the trailers are all about wild sex and wild nature.

1) The Alley Cats (1965)

I love this trailer!  It’s for a film directed by Radley Metzger and personally, I think it’s wonderfully erotic in its old school, sordid way.  The use of still frames gives it a real La Jetee feel.

2) Mountain of the Cannibal God (1978)

From director Serigo “Not Leone or Corbucci” Martino, this film features Stacy Keach, Ursula Andress, and perhaps the most oddly inappropriate orgy scene in the history of Italian cannibal films.  If this film seems to be a lot like Cannibal Ferox, it’s because they both ended up using a lot of the same stock footage.

3) Night of the Lepus (1972)

What are the Lepus you may ask?  Well, in case you haven’t heard of this movie or come across it on late night television, I’ll tell you after the trailer.

The Lepus are giant killer bunny rabbits.  They hop in slow motion and kill a lot of people.  Seriously.

4) Frogs (1972)

At the same time the southwest was being ravaged by killer bunny rabbits, the real south was being attacked by killer frogs.  Mother Earth was on angry bitch in the 70s and to her, I say, “You go, girl!”

5) Slugs (1986)

Mother Nature was still angry in the ’80s apparently.  By this point, I think you start to say, “Someone needs to get off the drama train, girl.”

6) Confessions Of A Summer Camp Counselor (1978)

But why was Mother Nature so ticked off?  I think the answer might be found in this trailer.  Apparently, in the 70s, there was an actor named Robin Askwith who had the sex appeal of a groundhog.  And he apparently starred in a series of British films that all had titles like Confessions of a Window Washer, Confessions of an Altar Boy, and, in the case of this trailer, Confessions of a Summer Camp Counselor.  Apparently, Robin played a character named Timothy Lea and he spent these films getting laid.  By all accounts, both they and Mr. Askwith were quite popular in Britain which just goes to prove, once again, that the Irish were right.  Anyway, I assume that some film producer is currently in pre-production on Confessions of a Registered Sex Offender.

One final note:

Originally, I was going to gross out (and taunt) my male friends by calling this post 6 Trailers For A Bloody Period.  And, I’ll warn you right now — I still like that title and if I can find 6 exploitation trailers that center around menstruation, I’m going to resurrect it sometime in the future.

‘Til Then…