'Brilliant Corners'

Thelonious Monk played piano. On the song "Pannonica," he also played the celeste. It's a piano-like instrument that uses hammers to produce a very soft, metallic sound. It's beautiful (thus the name) and reminds me of the sound used whenever the trolley rolls through on Mister Roger's Neighborhood.

I always admire the jazz junkies that can memorize all of the players on a particular album.

Ernie Henry played alto saxophone. He played with many others include Dizzy Gillespie and Charles Mingus through the 1940s and 1950s. He died almost mysteriously at 31 in 1957 apparently due to drugs just after finishing this album.

Sonny Rollins was 20 by the time he was playing with the likes of Monk. He still plays outliving all of his contemporaries. He, too, was mixed up in drugs, notably heroin having been busted for using as a teenager.

Oscar Pettiford was of Native American and African American heritage. Two years after recording the bass for Monk, he inexplicably moved to Denmark (maybe the schools are good there) and died a year later, in 1960s. He was 38. There is no actual explanation for his death. Rumors range from murder to a viral infection to complications from a previous car accident.

Max Roach is actually one of the foremost musicians on this album and one of the greatest jazz drummers of all time. He lead a long, full life, footnoted by his work in the civil rights movement in the 1960s.

'The Nutty Professor'

The first and foremost "detail" in The Nutty Professor is color.

I say "detail." The color is actually a giant punch to the gut from the first five seconds of the film to the very last.

From the beakers and boiling liquids in the lab, to the students' clothing and the jazz club, Jerry Lewis and Co. decided that if they were going to pay for Technicolor, they'd better get every last penny out of it.

So they jazzed everything up. Costumes were brighter. Random classroom or club items looked fresher and brighter. When Jerry Lewis grins as Buddy Love, it beams off the of the screen. His skin looks like a freshly oiled catcher's mitt.

The rest of the film I can live without. Lewis does impress, however. Creating that laborious voice for Professor Kelp only to skip over to Buddy Love's smooth croon and then at a drop of a dime revert back to Kelp's warble and squeak had to be pretty hard.

'Planet of the Apes'

If I were an 18-year-old kid in 1968, there is little doubt that I would've seen Planet of the Apes at least four times in the theatre and another 1,000 times until my dying day.

Planet of the Apes is simply a good film. It's story driven, no doubt. The astronauts going on a "six-month" expedition into deep space, landing on a planet not realizing that actually thousands of years have passed. And this foreign planet is actually Earth ... taken over by talking apes.

If I'd read that paragraph to Mozart, Napoleon, Charles Dickens, Frank Roosevelt or Butch Cassidy, they would have all agreed that that was a kickass plot.

Throw in the preach-y sci fi, the make-up and Charlton Heston simply unable to leave a small ape village, and you've got a really good film that holds up quite well in 42 years.

That would make my hypothetical self 60. Man, I'm hypothetically old.

'Fanny and Alexander'

I think I noted on another Ingmar Bergman film how varied and vast his career was as a filmmaker.

He started in the 1940s and made important films on up through the 1980s. Fanny and Alexander was released in 1982 and clearly one of his later works. But it's still just as good as anything else he ever did.

Still, it's different. He didn't cast his usual cast of recurring actors and actors. It's an especially long film (178 minutes ... although it didn't feel like it). It also features children as the main characters. Actually, this only differs from the Bergman films I've actually seen.

Like other Bergman films, he works in death and otherwordly characters like the ghosts of the father and priest. And it has one of my favorite Criterion Collection DVD covers.

Interestingly, Fanny and Alexander serves as kind of a swan song for Bergman as a legit filmmaker.

He had a fight with his cinematographer Sven Nykvist because Nykvist wanted to attend the funeral of his wife, who died suddenly during the filming.

Bergman also bickered with actors Max Von Sydow and Liv Ullman, who Bergman had sought to cast in the film. But due to different circumstances, it didn't work out and things got bitter.

Bergman was kind of a nut.

'Jalsaghar'

Imagine 100 minutes of a series of performances of Hindustani song and dance cleverly disguised and presented as a film.

That's Jalsaghar. The plot (a somewhat wealthy landlord begins going broke after its realized his land is useless due to a river eroding the land ... however, he doesn't curtail spending, instead paying more for these performances) plays the same role that plot plays in a pornographic film.

It's a device to get to more sex. Or in Jalsaghar's case, music.

I love Indian music and culture, so this is a really good watch. Released in 1958, it's a precursor to the now popular Bollywood film, which is usually three hours of highly elaborate dance and music productions.

Although the Indian film trade wasn't dead in 1958 and had actually blossomed since the inception of the medium, Jalsaghar looks really, really bad.

The quality is actually on par with what American films looked like in 1930 or even in the 1920s. Why it's so bad is not apparent.

'Le Million' & 'Love Me Tonight'

By chance, I've had the opportunity to watch a lot of old musicals. This is the first to be from the early 1930s (1931) and to be not American (French, clearly).

I was mesmerized. A fantastic story, beautifully executed with great music and performances. I daresay I was delighted.

It's not every day that you find a film in which you kind of like everyone, all the characters. It has a certain kind of 1930s hipness to it.

It's French. It's about artists and culture. It's about love. Most importantly, it's got an antiestablishment strain in it also -- a group of kindly criminals which serve to give "the man" a what for every chance that they can behind the brilliant leadership of Grandpa Tulip.

The film was highly influential and you can see its reach in American musicals, American comedies (Chaplin, et al.) and the next 50 years of French cinema. At the time, French filmmakers weren't doing anything truly inspiring until Rene Clair. Once he popped, everything started to go one direction.

One of the biggest influences is with Love Me Tonight, an American film set in France with a ton of the same qualities from the music to the physical comedy and acting and the likability of the characters.

Le Million also managed to do what even many films today fail to do: Create a breathtaking piece of art for a movie poster.

You make a good movie poster and chances are I'm seeing your film. Bottomline.

'Gun Crazy'

A film that owes everything to Bonny and Clyde stars two individuals with very short (if not darn near nonexistent) careers.

John Dall I didn't know by name, but I know him well as the killer in Alfred Hitchcock's Rope, which is fantastic, but Dall practically carries the entire film if not for one Jimmy Stewart doing some lifting himself.

Dall was in eight total films, including Spartacus and The Corn is Green with Bette Davis for which he received an Oscar nod for Best Supporting Actor.

Peggy Cummins did 27 insignificant films (except Gun Crazy, of course ... which isn't all that great) and retired in the early 1960s.

Her ultimate claim to fame? She dated both Howard Hughes and John F. Kennedy. She must have had dynamite you-know-what.

'Jazz Samba'

Is it odd that as we remember and read about Charlie Byrd or Stan Getz, their collaboration together -- Jazz Samba -- will always be one of the first few things mentioned?

I don't know how many children (if any) Getz or Byrd had. I don't really know about any of their other recordings or accomplishments in life (like Byrd being drafted into World War II and seeing combat). But, as it stands, both have Jazz Samba on their headstones. I presume they'd be pretty pleased with that.

This album was Getz' first foray into the Brazilian sound that Byrd was so famous for. Byrd, after World War II, studied guitar in New York City. He'd later study under Andres Segovia, a man that 95 percent of the population have no clue about, but is probably one of the top one percent of guitarists ever known.

Byrd also saw Django Reinhardt play while stationed in Paris.

Oh, by the way, Byrd loved sailing and had two daughters.

Getz had five kids during two marriages. He had a bit of a drug problem as a teenager. Both died of cancer, Getz of the liver and Byrd of the lung.

'Pulp Fiction'

I don't know if there's a film out there that I enjoy more than Pulp Fiction. So much so that I can't believe that I don't own it.

Over time, "they" will continue adding films to the 1,001 list as more and more must-watch films are released.

It will take 100 years before they ever consider pulling Pulp Fiction off the list. It's almost a perfect movie. It has some star power. The writing is brilliant. The acting is good. It's bloody, funny, jaw-dropping, quotable and overall well done and all within any 10-minute segment of the film of your choosing. It's all good throughout.

Pulp Fiction is also the magnum opus for director Quentin Tarintino. He's made some great films since and in his lifetime he'll probably make a dozen more, but none will truly live up to Pulp Fiction. It's his master work.

It also proved to be stand-out performances for John Travolta and Samuel Jackson.

Travolta was stuck doing the Look Who's Talking series. His career arc is odd. He was doing Grease and Saturday Night Fever before he was on Welcome Back, Kotter.

Following the end of his TV career, he dawdled around doing insignficant work until Tarantino put him in Pulp Fiction and gave him a fantastic role that the guy nailed. Since, he's done shit, but that's beside the point. Pulp Fiction allowed him to do the shit.

Jackson was a nobody before Pulp Fiction. No way Jackson is ever being parodied by Dave Chappelle or in the new Star Wars movies without Tarantino. He's frankly never been better than he was as Jules. Jackson owes Tarantino big, and that's probably why you see or hear Jackson in every film the guy directs.

'Withnail and I'

This is frequently considered the biggest cult film in England. Who knew?

The two stars, Richard Grant (Withnail) and Paul McGann (I) have something other than this film in common.

McGann was Doctor No. 8 and Grant was Doctor No. 10 in the Doctor Who TV series. Isn't that interesting.

Two notable co-stars: Richard Griffiths portrays the flamboyantly gay uncle Monty superbly. He also is Uncle Vernon Dursley in the Harry Potter films. Where he may or may not be gay.

Ralph Brown portrays the confusing burnout Jake. He is also Del Preston in the Wayne's World films, the road-hardened roadie with all the wonderful stories.

'Boyz 'N' The Hood'

Boyz 'N' The Hood is John Singleton's first film. It shows.

This tale of the coming of age of four black boys in the rough and tumble streets of Compton is by far the worst overall movie in the 1,001 list.

It did not age well. It is not good.

How bad is it? Ice Cube is far away the best actor in the film. Or he gives the best performance. Larry Fishburne is obviously the best film.

How Cuba Gooding Jr. continued to get jobs after this film in which he portrayed a good-looking robot is inconceivable. I kept watching Gooding Jr. and waited for some sort of emotion to overtake him. When Ricky's shot, I never felt that Gooding Jr.'s Tra was sincerely sad about it. Like he was laughing. I dare you to watch this film and not get uncomfortable over Gooding Jr.'s acting.

In general, Singleton's not had a very good run of films. Whether it's true or not or whether he likes the idea, Singleton is probably propped up quite a bit for his race and his subject matter.

If he were making films about African American doctors and lawyers, we wouldn't be talking about him right now.

By the way, did Denise Huxtable make Tra's yellow shirt?

'Triumph Of The Will'

Got to give it to the Nazis, they sure knew how to throw a party.

The pure mass and breadth of these rallies is rather jaw dropping. Don't want to sound like I'm a Nazi or anything, but they're gigantic.

The pure mass of people chanting and yelling. Rows and rows of arms straight in salute. The SS goosestepping down the avenue. It's riveting. The pure electricity of the rallies really come through the screen. I could only imagine what they were like in person.

I realize that this doesn't excuse anyone from what happened. But you must also consider that this was a country ripped apart by war and reparations. They were a hungry and tired mass left to sit in the corner. You poke a dog enough times with a sharp end of a stick, they'll eventually bite.

I did enjoy seeing the wide-eyed, hopeful Nazi Youth in celebration. I kept thinking, "Good luck freezing your faces off in Stalingrad in seven years!"

"Z"

For a country that is so rich in history and mythology, the birthplace of thought and academia, and the epicenter for athletic competition, Greece is a pretty fucked up country.

In the past 40 years, they've had assassinations and riots. Then a civil war between communists and anti-communists. They fought wars with Turkey and Italy.

Its Jewish population was wiped out by the Nazis. Another 100,000 died during the Battle of Greece due to starvation.

Since the 1960s, they've had political unrest when Z is based in a film based on true events.

Then, most recently, the bottom fell out of the economy. Seems like a great place. Can't wait to visit. I feel like they could get their shit together at some point and make a go of it, but it seems rather impossible at this point.

'Sunrise'

Blech. More silent films. This one boring.

Despite it being a critical favorite, Sunrise was a flop. It forced producers to put F.W. Murnau on a leash for his next several movies.

Sunrise was also released right after The Jazz Singer, the first talkie. Sunrise is kind of the swan song for an incredibly overrated and boring time for filmmaking.

'Hot Buttered Soul'

When Isaac Hayes died in 2008, I read countless stories and obits about the man and instantly wanted to listen to his magnum opus, Hot Buttered Soul.

For one, the title is freaking awesome and the album art is pretty kickass.

Two, Hayes is the type that I've always admired in the art world. A guy that was good enough to pretty much do what he wanted. He wasn't splashy; he just played really good music.

And it is good music. Soulful and real. He's not layering fake horns with synthesizers or this overly processed bass guitar. You can hear the buzz and scratch of all the instruments despite it being incredibly smooth.

Hayes took his job seriously and I can't say the same for most people. Like me.

Also, it's worth noting that this album came out in 1969. The same year as Abbey Road, The Band, Led Zeppelin II, The Velvet Underground and Tommy were released. Way before his time.

'The Poor Mouth'

The Poor Mouth was originally published under the pseudonym "Myles na gCopaleen." The man behind the pen was Brian O'Nolan.

But "Myles na gCopaleen" was only one of many pseudonyms that O'Nolan would use through his varied and extensive career as a writer.

When The Poor Mouth was published in English, it was under one of his other nom de plumes -- and probably his most famous -- Flann O'Brien.

The story is a mix of humor and social commentary. Of course, the humor is tempered only by the fact that its based on how stinking poor these people were. We laugh because we kind of think they're laughing, too. Our man thankfully goes to prison to avoid the desperate poverty of his home village. If that's not funny, nothing is.

The main theme is language. In it, our hero is caned mercilessly at the first day of school after presenting himself under his Gaelic name. At other points, there's a Gaelic-speaking meeting, of sorts, where they talk about saving their mother tongue.

The Irish are steadfast about keeping their language. Maybe more so than any other culture. Of course, how many cultures have had their cultural identity totally taken by another.

Oh. That happens all the time. My bad.

O'Brien has a lot more on this list. I hope to get to it sooner than later.

'Footlight Parade' & 'Gold Diggers Of 1933'

In the earlier days of the talkie, why were so many films about the entertainment industry -- essentially about the very lives and stories the actors and actresses were actually living?

In the silent era, you got exciting films like The Great Train Robbery, The Birth of a Nation, A Trip to the Moon, all the Chaplin and Keaton comedies and more. All have different stories and are set in exotic or interesting times and places.

Suddenly, we could hear voices and all the movies were about Broadway or Hollywood.

I could look up the answer, but that takes effort. So I'll guess.

For one, I think the transition of vaudeville (which still worked in the silent era) had to be moved to the big screen and this included singing and music. Thus we get Babes in Arms, which is about that transition, as was Singing in the Rain. So it was natural to work in the dancing, music and singing to wrap around a story about dancing, music and singing.

Also, I would suspect filming outside of a studio was really hard for a talkie. You needed the soundstage and studio in order to properly record the lines. It was a controlled set up, so why not just make the entire story take place on a soundstage?

Finally, it was probably pretty cheap. You paid the crew and cast. Otherwise, Paramount or Warner didn't have to buy studios, which they already owned. There were no costs for filming on location or scenery. In fact, they could probably film all of these films within 50 feet of each other in a matter of a couple of days. Box it, print it, ship it.

These are all guesses. But pretty good ones I suspect.

Also, James Cagney is an amazing performing.

'The Bell Jar'

Why hadn't I read The Bell Jar before? It's right up my alley.

Alienated late-teen trying to not only find happiness, but to define it as well. It's one thing to futilely strive for something or someone. It's another thing to simply strive for it, all the while not really knowing what you're looking for in the first place.

Esther Greenwood is the female's hero; what Holden Caulfield is to guys. They say and do everything that we all really want to say and do, but we don't have near the guts to do any of it. Or we're entirely more brave for battling on despite everything.

Is it best to be angry and dissatisfied with the world, or to kind to have a clue. Esther and Holden represent that little voice in our brains.

They don't represent us. We love them the way we kind of love ourselves. We all have urges and fears. We also realize that the sun will still rise the next morning. And that, somewhere and some time, the grass will get green. When you're sent to distinguished boarding schools or given internships at a respected magazine in New York City, life will not always suck even if you don't know where you'll wind up in 20 years.

The Bell Jar is at least semi-autobiographical. Sylvia Plath killed herself about a month after the novel -- her only -- was published in Europe. I can imagine Plath was just as disillusioned and afraid as Esther. And that's sad. It's sad that she didn't the the sun rise or grasp the idea that it all gets better, clearer.

'Taboo'

Ah. Ninjas and gay sex.

Kano is an adrogynous young warrior in Japan's Shogun era newly welcomed to a compound to train and fight.

Of course, he's cooped up with 20 other guys, who haven't gotten laid in forever, and Kano is the hottest (most female-like) piece of ass to come through town.

So, everyone tries to sleep with him.

This doesn't fly because ninjas have feelings, too, and they don't like sharing their sweet, tender ninja ass with the entire dojo. Tensions flare and Kano is forced to deal with his horny, angry comrades accordingly.

I couldn't keep up much with the story. I was too shocked that ol' Kano was just letting anyone and everyone plug in without much of a fight. Or at least a reach around.

Comparatively, do not mix Taboo (released in 1999) with the 1980s series of pornographic films under the same name. Or mix them up all you want, I guess.

'Wages of Fear'

A fascinating and important film.

It's set in South America. At an oilfield owned by an American company, a well exploded and caught fire (sound familiar?) and the company seeks four of the natives of a small village to navigate the treachorous terrain with two truckfuls of highly volatile explosives.

Our main heroes are the dashing and interesting Mario and his comrade, Joe, a pudgy, high-talking outsider who had just come into town throwing money and words around.

They ride together taking turns at the wheel. Both trucks must be careful to not disturb the explosives. The wrong bump and they're all dead.

We eventually learn that Joe is a coward and particularly useless to Mario who, at this point, must depend on himself to get the job finished.

The other truck -- driven by Bimba Luigi (two very interesting characters) -- eventually do blow up quite unexpectantly not only creating a giant crater in the road, but also a large pipe transporting oil. The crater is thick with the mud and oil, and Joe and Mario must still pass.

In an attempt to get the truck across, Joe is crushed under the truck, mangling his leg. He wears the oil and mud like a second skin. Mario, too, to get the truck across is covered in the black mess. A pretty poignant scene: Two poor laborers soaked in oil from the land they work in, but owned by an American company.

This film was released in 1953, and, yet, the director and writers knew -- or had an idea -- what a power the Americans had and what a bigger pull oil would have and what it would do to the people of this world.

'Women On The Verge Of A Nervous Breakdown

Again, we must discuss Pedro Almodovar's women.

As we've stated before on this blog, Almodovar's films all have an autobiolgraphical dimension to them and almost all of them have super strong female characters, often carrying the entire film and men are often just used as placeholders or mere cardboard cutouts.

His mother is often used in his film.

I suspect his mother is probably in every film. Along with aunts, cousins, grandparents, sisters and any female in his life that held any signficance.

I would also suspect that Women on the Verge contains bits and pieces of all of these women.

Pepa's the strong voice-over actress, yet she's still prone to falling for the sweet talk of an old cad unwilling to leave his wife or commit to anything. Candela is the vain, younger friend. Lucia's the wife. Paulina is the man's lawyer and new lover.

All of whom are seemingly controlled by the man, the cheater, the cad, Ivan. It's a constant struggled to get out from underneath this man's power over them, even if it is indirect.

What these women eventually learn is that love from a man for the sake of love from a man is never good enough. Finding a good man to treat you honestly like a decent human is by far the most important thing and there's little better when you can find that. But it's best to live without it altogether than to try with the wrong person.

'A Woman Under The Influence'

One of John Cassavetes best directed movies, if not his complete best. The Killing of a Chinese Bookie might have something say about that.
Both films were made within three years of each other and both are pretty seminal for 1970s film.

It was also the acting peak for Peter Falk (who's great) and definitely Gena Rowlands (who steals the entire movie for herself and never lets go).

Rowlands hadn't done a whole bunch before this film and probably only got regular, good film work afterwards playing the typical mother-type character, only not nearly on the same plane as ...Under the Influence.

Rowlands and Cassavetes were actually married up until his death in 1989. They were married for 34 years.

To keep things in the film, Rowland's mother, Lady, was in the film and Cassavetes' mother, Katharine, also co-starred. Also, two of his children, Nick and Alexandra, were in the film.

Also, Matthew Cassel had a role. He is the son of Seymour, who two years later would get an Oscar nomination for his role in Cassavetes' Chinese Bookie.

Falk had the Columbo thing. He's had his fair share of roles, but nothing as poignant as this film although he was also in Cassavetes' Mikey and Nicky and a good friend of the director.

'Life Of Brian'

Although Holy Grail is probably the more popular film, Life of Brian may actually be a bit better only because of the commentary on religion and society and whatnot.

Of course, that's probably a big reason the film's not as popular and it doesn't go for the cheap jokes as was the case in Holy Grail (killer rabbits, et al.).

I owned Life of Brian, but I was forced to borrow the copy for this viewing because my copy was VHS and I'd sold my VHS with the intentions of purchasing DVD copies. Honestly, there's probably a dozen films unreplaced.

My top 10 most memorable moments:

1. The group (including Brian and mother) listening to Christ's Sermon on the Mount unable to hear and eventually getting into a heated argument all the while misinterpreting Christ's words. The analogy is crystal clear.

2. Eric Idle's People's Front of Judea character arguing for equal rights for women in addition to the acknowledgement of his right to have a baby.

3. The centurion guard -- upon fear of death -- correcting Brian's poor Latin.

4. The Augustus Caesar Memorial Sewer.

5. Michael Palin's centurion character in charge of handing out the crosses as if he were an airline stewardess.

6. The haggle.

7. Terry Jones as Brian's mother. Who is apparently a whore.

8. Idle's stuttering character. Probably the most insane bit to be performed in the film.

9. Bigus Dickus. Then having Bigus actually show up.

10. The Judean People's Front suicide squad.

'Black Orpheus'

The ancient tale of Eurydice and Orpheus set in 1950s Brazil during Carnivale.

Of course, the tale of Orpheus is set around his ability to make some of the most beautiful music on Earth that enchanted everyone, including gods.

The decision to set this film -- a re-make, of sorts -- in Brazil during Carnivale could not have been any better of an idea. In the grand scheme, there's probably 10 really great decisions in film history and that decision is right there. Like, there's probably nothing during the filming of Citizen Kane that would be perceived as a great decision.

Setting this story in 1950s Brazil made the film. Let anyone else direct or write this film and it'll still work. However, if you set this during any other time or place and it probably doesn't work nearly as well.

The film is as enchanting as Orpheus' song.

'Casino Royale'

I once found an old used paperback of Ian Fleming's classic tale of super spy James Bond at a book store. They tried to charge me $12 for it.

Two years or so later, I'd find the very same copy for $1. Patience is a virtue.
It's my first foray into anything Bond outside of a film. I was impressed with his narrative and storytelling. It was very sophisticated. And I think the films do very well to really convey Fleming's voice from the stories.

I also found it interesting that the story in the book (published in 1953) is relatively the same as the new film, released in 2006. A lot of the story is still there.

Most notably the turning of Bond's testicles and other naughty bits into ground beef. Putting it into the recent film was expected. It's gritty and dark. The fact that more than 50 years ago, young boys were reading about it dreaming of becoming a spy seems unusual.

'The Right Stuff'

The Right Stuff is a really good movie. There's really no weak link from the acting and writing to the cinematography and general epicness of it all.

In hindsight, it's quite a who's who -- in one way or another -- of actors and actresses with a ton of interesting footnotes. Interestingly, it's one of only two films to get three Oscar nominations for acting.

Levon Helm
The drummer and principal of The Band provided his voice for the narration and portrayed Jack Ridley, a character I was generally unaware of. No clue as to how he got involved. Quite the odd choice.

Sam Shepard
Gives a very understated portrayal of Chuck Yeager, the groundbreaker who was left behind in the space race. Shepard is the type that you immediately know the face and his filmography is impressive, but I never remember his characters. I'd probably remember his Yeager, however.

Chuck Yeager
Guests as "Fred."

Ed Harris
Was a nobody in 1983. Gets the starring role as John Glenn and then he exploded. An extremely fit and young-looking Ed Harris. Before he would be typecast as a mysterious outsider in every film.

Kim Stanley
Portrays dive owner Pancho Barnes, a particularly minor role for a particularly minor actress. Her one major bullet point is that she provided the voice for a grown-up Scout (or narrator) for the 1962 version of To Kill A Mockingbird.

Dennis Quaid
Looks as if he were just out of high school. Was 29 at the time. Pretty much makes the film.

Fred Ward
You probably know him. He's a familiar face. Most notably, he's been in every Tremors film every made. From Gus Grissom to fighting gigantic killer worms with Michael Gross.

Jeff Goldblum - Harry Shearer
Both play a pair of recruiters seeking the best and the brightest with "the right stuff." Goldblum had co-starred in The Big Chill that same year. Shearer hadn't portrayed Derek Smalls, bass player for a little metal band named Spinal Tap yet.

Mary Jo Deschanel
I wouldn't know Mary Jo Deschanel from Eve. Although, she portrays John Glenn's stuttering wife, it's her last name that caught my attention. She is the mother of Emily and Zooey Deschanel, both of whom have put togethre a good number of successful films and TV shows and a singing career. She must be proud.

'Dirty Harry'

If you want to put Clint Eastwood's age in perspective, when he released one of his more signature films and characters in 1971, he was already 41 years old.

That'd make him 80 now.

Dirty Harry was a bit of a change of pace for Eastwood at the time. Through the late-1960s he'd done quite a number of his spaghetti westerns and some war movies. Then he gets the role of a badass in modern-day San Francisco. Not a departure for Eastwood in character, but a departure in content in a role that would almost define his career.

Two years later Al Pacino would star in Serpico and thus we have two dozen cop/crime shows every night on the TV.

What confuses me about the film is once several murders have been committed and the killer claims to be going after a priest, the police set up a priest as bait and keep one tall building open as a trap.

Well, the killer takes the trap and Harry and his partner are in an adjacent building waiting for the killer to make his move. Being in another building with no access, Harry's only option is to spy the killer and then try to stop him by shooting him.

The killer shows up, Harry shines the spotlight and takes a shot. The killer has an automatic, high-calibre machine gun. Harry has a shotgun.

I'm not expert on arms and guns, but if I were trying to shoot a guy hundreds of yards away I wouldn't use a shotgun. I'd have a high-powered rifle or semi-automatic machine gun. No way Harry was ever going to hit the guy. Of course, the killer runs and makes it out without getting caught. The priest dies.

'A Streetcar Named Desire' & 'From Here To Eternity'

Around my junior year of college, me and the girl was overwhelmingly hooked up with at the time used to frequent Hastings.

I don't know how many Hastings there are in this country nor do I believe that everyone's had the pleasure.

Hastings are typically found (in Texas, anyways) in mid-sized college towns that don't have much else to do on random weeknights (or weekends) or a place to buy records or books.

Hastings has books, magazines, CDs, DVDs (sell or rent), video games and all the other junk you'll find in any Barnes & Noble, Best Buy, Sam Goody and Blockbuster.

Around my junior year, Hastings (like others) started the stark transition from VHS and DVD to primarily DVD. So, they expanded. And they dumped all their old VHS tapes onto about 12 rows all hodgepodged together in no real rhyme or reason.

You could rent a VHS tape for 25 cents.

Being broke, we rented VHS tape after VHS tape. Initially just an attempt to burn time became an attempt to watch all of the "classics" of filmdom on a dying medium at the cheapest of cheap rates. Even bad movies are worth 25 cents.

We did not get very far in our mission. We knocked out about four or five films. Two of the five were A Streetcar Named Desire and From Here to Eternity.

Streetcar is pretty brilliant. It was before Marlon Brando got big (figuratively, literally), so he's still very raw, but very good. And extremely good looking. Ridiculously good looking. I'm sure they put him in ripped T-shirts, wife beaters and, often, sweaty and shirtless totally on accident.

Brando, of course, got second billing to Vivian Leigh, who was apparently as neurotic in real life as she was in the film. But you can't find a movie poster or DVD cover that doesn't have Brando alone.

Also, it features the wonderful Karl Malden, who died almost a year ago. A great character actor willing to take on a co-starring role and nail it. Malden is the initial inductee to the Thomas Mitchell Players, guys or gals that embraced their secondary role in filmdom.

Watching From Here ... you learn that its based in Hawaii and you think, "Aw shit, is this going to end on Dec. 8, 1941?"

Sure enough. It does. Thanks for the pick-me-up. Kill off Frank Sinatra and Ernest Borgnine then bring on Pearl Harbor.

'Au Revoir Les Enfants'

I don't know how I would've taken living in Nazi-occupied Europe. Nevermind being a Jew. Clearly, they had it the worst of everyone, but here you are, some ordinary guy just trying to get by, and a war breaks out.

You get occupied and a bunch of gun-wielding, angry Germans are always up in your business telling you what to do and you never really know when one's going to snap and just shoot you in the head.

Considering the boys hiding in the Catholic school or even in The Pianist. Just resigned to the fact that one day the squeaking breaks of a gestapo truck are going to come to a stop outside your window ready to pick you up and terminate you. It'd be a shitty life.

The most haunting aspect of this film is that it's relatively true, or based on some basis of truth. Director Louis Malle, who'd been sent to a Catholic school during the occupation witnessed a gestapo search and arrest of three Jewish boys. They were gassed upon their arrival Auschwitz.

Kids, especially, have a hard enough time handling Santa Claus, the Easter Bunny and the idea that a mascot is just a guy or girl in a suit. How do they rationalize these deaths and their neighbors disappearing nad never coming back in their brains?

'In The Mood For Love'

This film is directed by Wong Kar-wai and chronicles the very boring affair of two good-looking neighbors, who bond over the idea that their oft-absent husband and wife are having affairs (potentially, with each other).

Wong stated that Alfred Hitchcock's Vertigo was a huge influence for the film. As with Jimmy Stewart's character, we, as viewers consider that Chow and So are the good people: They're not having affairs, so their time together is not just OK, but it beats being alone and all that.

The same with Jimmy Stewart in Vertigo. We think he's the good guy. We love Stewart. Then it's a shock to the system when we come to a general conlusion that he's sick and needs help.

I think this is all a bit strong. So and Chow are odd, at worst. Lonely more than anything. Stewart was dangerously weird, neurotic and acting outside of the realm of correct human behavior. So and Chow just didn't want to eat their noodles alone.

'Happy Together'

The most potentially destructive force for any one individual is another person. Whilst we all continue to search and search for that "perfect" human being to be a companion to (in addition to the dozens and dozens of friends and acquaintances that propel us through life), the one component that can derail a life faster is another with destructive tendencies.

People are worse than any drug. Drugs get your hormones, synapses, glands and senses working on overdrive.

People do the same. Except they play at your emotions. Drugs don't. You kick heroin or pot or meth and you don't feel bad for the drugs. Although, you're body wants it more than anything.

People evoke sympathy, and that kills you every time. Even at our lowest, human beings aren't blood-thirsty savages, who relish in other's misery. Generally, we want to help our fellow man as long as it doesn't crap on our own intentions or plans.

Po-Wing is the self-destructive force in Happy Together willing to drag down anyone with him. Yiu-Fai can't seem to let go no matter how detached he becomes from Po-Wing. Even with the chemistry dead, there still exists the human element that remains a shackle on Yiu-Fai's ankle.

'Phrenology'

The Roots are currently the house band for the The Late Late Show with Jimmy Fallon.

When it was first announced, it seemed odd. Typically talk show bands are comprised of a "name" like Paul Schafer (Blues Brothers), Max Weinberg (E Street Band) or the black guitarist from Leno's show. Then there's a band of players and session guys that need a gig.

I would suspect The Roots could continue to record and tour with relative ease. Instead, they have a straight gig.

How much do house bands make? That show is in New York, so you assume the band lives in that area, but I assume it'd be in one of the outlying boroughs becase they're not making enough for Manhattan, are they? Is the guitar player from The Roots making $80,000? $40K? $100K?

Do they record and gig enough to make extra cash and still get to tour a little?

How much does the guitar player from the Dave Letterman show make, or the bald trumpet player from Conan make?

I guess they work a couple hours a day and get enough time to record and gig to make up whatever they're making from the TV show. Still, seems like a large commitment because it really reduces your amount of time on the road, or in the studio.

Then again, you have the perfect venue for rehearsing new material.

'Exile On Main St.'

I've always tended to like the 1960s Rolling Stones more than the 1970s Stones for no other reason than I just like the music better.

This still may or may not be entirely true because I've developed a really healthy admiration for albums such as Exile on Main St.

One big reason I like the early Stones is Brian Jones. He made that band. Once he died in 1969, a change took place and Mike Jagger really came into his own in several facets including being the coolest motherfucker on the planet. This is not easy to do.

However, once that transformation took place, the Stones were destined to continue recording and touring the next 40 years, otherwise, I could see them breaking up or calling it quits after Goat's Head Soup or later after Tattoo You or something.

It's that momentum that kept them going.

Given this fact, the best of those post-Jones albums is Exile on Main St. A classic without even having to say it or tell anyone else. All you need to do is listen.

It's rock music at its rawest. It probably hasn't been rawer since. It's simple guitar rock. There are no gigantic hits outside of "Tumbling Dice" (a great song) and a small hit in "Happy." No hits. No hype. Just rock music.

I'll still stand by my 196os Stones for posterity's sake, but I will say that the Stones did or have ever produced an album to this standard. It was tough to precede and impossible to follow up.

'Memento' & 'Irreversible'

Two very similar movies made two years apart in two different countries.

Their common thread is not the story, but how it's prevented.

Memento chronicles a day in the life of Leonard, a former insurance man, who was knocked unconcious by home invaders, who were in the process of raping and murdering his wife.

When he awoke, he was then unable to make new memories, which forced him to write notes constantly, take Polaroid pictures and tattoo "facts" on his bad. All the while, he's searching for the man (or men) responsible for his wife's death. All the while, others are manipulating him based on his supposed disability. Of course, we never learn what is real, what's manipulated or whether or not Leonard is just lying to himself.

Oh, and the entire film is presented in reverse. It goes backwards. Although the end of the story (the first scene) still works and the beginning of the story still works as an end. It's a cinematic palindrome -- it spells the same thing either way.

Irreversible is a French film that I first heard about when it premiered at the Cannes Film Festival. How do you hear about a French film going to college in East Texas?

Well, the film was so violent and violently filmed, that attendees left the screening.

Yes, the first fives minutes are the most nauseating five minutes in film history. It's the fiancee and friend of Alex hunting down her attackers. Of course, we don't know why they're doing this. In fact, we don't know Alex, how she was attacked or who these guys are.

They end up bashing someone's head in with a fire extinguisher in the most devastating 40 seconds in filmdom.

Like Memento, the film proceeds backwards. The difference is that Irreversible doesn't stand up like Memento. It's really just a film set to go backwards.

The hardest part of making these films is the decision, first, to make this film backwards. Then there's the storyboarding and maintaining the consistency throughout the film, especially Memento, a film where the story is continous and doesn't jump from once scene, one time and another. The scene melts directly into the next. Except backwards.

'Amarcord'

Many consider this Federico Fellini's finest film, which is saying something considering he was responsible for about 10 of the films on this 1,001 list including Nights of Cabiria, La Strada (my favorite), 8 1/2 and La Dolce Vita.

This is a satire of a town in fascist Italy as it paints the people (adults, children) as the idiotic, simple-minded and child-like imbeciles as they saunter through life with no real worries. Meanwhile, Fellini takes a number of shots at Mussolini, 30 years after he was shot and hung upside down.

More importantly, Fellini, I think, is making more a statement about the indifference and apathy of the people as they do worse than nurture fascism, they ignore it.

It could also be construed as a comment on Germany. A country that somehow came out better than the French (it's shocking that Americans tended to and still consider the Chinese, Russians and French as "enemies" and yet we buy all of the Japanese TVs and think Germany is okie dokie).

Still, through the Nuremberg trial and the years of seeking Nazis in hiding, Fellini makes that point that the whole of Germany (or any people that tolerates hate and the obstruction of freedom) as being guilty of a most serious war crime of nonchalance.

'Country Life'

I purchased this album about 10 minutes after hearing the opening track ("The Thrill of it All") on one of NPR's music shows, in which the panel were discussing the greatest opening tracks of all time.

Someone, clearly, nominated this one. And it's a good one. Good enough for me to go on iTunes almost immediately and purchase it.

Later, as I was listening to and enjoying the album, I tried to remember how I discovered bands in the past. Obviously, Roxy Music had done great albums years before I was born and disbanded when I was toddler. And they weren't exactly hit machines, so their music wasn't played over and over on classic rock radio like Boston or Fleetwood Mac.

Some bands gain new listeners just out of sheer influence, like the Sex Pistols or The Ramones. Others -- by sheer luck -- get popular based on new music taking influence from others (think how many people bought Television albums when The Strokes hit in the early 2000s).

But it's easy to get into a band with the Internet and iTunes that can give you instant samples and even illegal downloads. The truth is, the Internet is pretty fantastic, especially for music fans. There's little risk on illegally downloading a Roxy Music album, hating it and never listening to it again. Whereas 15 years ago, you had to have guts to spend $12 on a cassette tape, listen to it and still hate it. And chances are, you didn't have buddies listening to Roxy Music when you were 14 living in a small Texas town.

God bless the Internet and God bless Roxy Music.

'Die Hard'

I could probably write about 15,000 words on this film.

For one, it's probably the perfect action-adventure film. It's not horribly acted, nor did the writers/director put the actors in any position to act poorly. With these type of films, it's the director's job to be like a coach in the NBA: Put your players in the best position possible to make a play.

Director John McTiernan (who also did The Hunt for Red October, Predators and the very underrated Thomas Crown Affair). Cut out any fluff. It's not a blast-a-moment film, but it has an excellent pace.

Finally, to make a good action-adventure film, you need clever, punchy writing. Again, never should the action-adventure slow down. But you also need dialogue. The clever bon mots flow from Bruce Willis with the ease of the Amazon River.

Willis, however, makes the film. Willis isn't the most awesome actor of all time, but there are thousands much worse. Willis, more often than not, takes bad roles in bad movies. The guy likes getting paid and I have little wrong with that.

In Die Hard, Willis took the perfect role. And I think he puts forth a really fine effort. What sells John McClane and, thus, the film, is Willis own vulnerability.

Once the hostile takeover begins and Willis realizes that he's in an impossible situation, his own insecurity to handle things comes out. McClane isn't some badass (although he plays one on TV), and is very scared of never seeing his children or wife again.

Once he and Karl have the big fight, that frustration and carnal anger explodes from McClane as he is repeatedly punching Karl on the stairs, screaming "Motherfucker! I'm going to kill you!!"

It's raw. And it's exactly what any of us would do if it were life or death.

Two character actor notes:

1. Karl is in fact played by Russian actor Alexander Godunov, who died at the age of 46 of "natural causes." He was trained early as a ballet dancer, and was quite good considering where he danced and the leads he got. He also danced in competitions internationally. After roles in Die Hard and Witness, he was offered a ton of roles but turned them all down because they were all for ballet dancers or villains.

2. One of the more understated roles in Die Hard is that of Harry Ellis, the asshole, coke-snorting co-worker of Holly, who gets shot in the head by Hans Gruber. He is played by Hart Brochner. He's a smartass. And he's coked up. And he nails the role perfectly. Brochner's probably better known (or acknowledged) for directing PCU.

'Return Of The Jedi'

The third -- or sixth, depending on how you look at it -- installment of the Star Wars saga typically takes the most criticism.

However, I'm here to defend it. The biggest point of concern for those with opinions: The Ewoks.

The furry little creatures that assist the rebellion in knocking out the Empire on Endor were the last straw for most fans, who saw the ploy -- cinematically -- as being a way for George Lucas to make it more of a family film.

This is a good film. Maybe not as good as The Empire Strikes Back, but little is. You can't compare them because it's like comparing apples to giraffes. Like comparing Godfather III to Godfather II. Typically, the second in a trilogy is better. It's the apex of the plot. Where the rubber meets the rode. It's the orgasm. Everything else is foreplay and cuddling.

Therefore, Jedi and the Ewoks were already behind the proverbial eight ball. It's the unsatisfying cuddling. It's necessary after getting laid.

So, the Ewoks were necessary. Not only for the cuddling, but because they represent every indigenous people in this world that have never quite gotten the chance to fight back, to defeat the big guy.

What we never think about is that the British, Dutch, French, Spanish, Portugeuse, American and German empires went around the world and took over countries and pumped out the natural resources to make money and pad the pockets of a select few. But it's not like there were a billion armed, equal Indians taking on the British empire. Or a bunch of Vietnamese in the position to take on the French.

They had no chance. And that's why many of these countries are in total disrepair.

In a cute way, the Ewoks represent these people and the battles they've been fighting for centuries and have been losing more often than not. It's thin analogy, but, then again, it is George Lucas. Hell of a storyteller, but a half-assed filmmaker.

'Hearts And Bones'

Over the past year, no one's become a bigger fan of Paul Simon than me. His first several solo albums have simply become several of my favorites of the past several years and, probably, all time.

However, modern times did not do Simon any favors. Hearts and Bones and Graceland both show the same symptoms: Overproduced, overdone, over-'80s, keyboards, synths, basslines that don't quit and lyrics that don't seem to connect on the same level.

That's what's most depressing: Everything we absolutely love about those early albums seem lost on these later albums. Like a musician going through a mid-age crisis thinking he needs to out-produce everything he's done before. And it doesn't work. Simply doesn't work on any level.

Two things I am thankful for is that one song is about Carrie Fisher, and, generally, most people at the time thought the album sucked, too. See, I'm not crazy or jaded.

'King Kong'

Leave it to a bunch of dumb Americans to see the first dinosaur in three million years only to automatically (without even talking about it!) blow it away and kill it.

That's what I don't undrestand about films where the characters are placed in a super unbelievable set of circumstances and there's never that moment of adjustment and contemplation as they grapple with ... well, seeing a fucking dinosaur.

Wouldn't that blow your mind? Or were people in the 1930s simply not that impressed with dinosaurs? Eh. I tend to believe they were.

The ironic note here is that the characters in King Kong were capable of being amazed. Before they start their journey, they discussed the myth of the Kong and they simply dismiss it as poppycock. Giant gorillas seemed out of the realm of reason. So, shouldn't stegosauruses also boggle the brain?

Later, the sailors and filmmakers come up upon the natives performing a sacrificial dance in front of the giant wall that protects them from dinosaurs, giant snakes and giant gorillas.

The visitors stand there in amazement of the whole thing.

But a dinosaur? Shit. Let's blow it out of the water.

'The Hissing Of Summer Lawns' & 'Heijra'

Some time in the mid-1970s, Joni Mitchell made a bold decision that would forever change the trajectory of her career.

She went jazz. She released these two albums completely turning her back on the folk sound that put her on the map.

I don't know if these albums necessarily hurt her career (in album sales, or general popularity). I konw they sold pretty well, but did she lose fans by really changing things around? I don't know.

I do know that she lost me. Granted, the threshold for me to keep listening to Joni Mitchell is low. Blue I like. Otherwise, it's a crapshoot.

So, when she went all jazzy with those jazz basslines, horns and keyboards, I checked out mentally.

It is worth noting that Heijra was written as she drove by herself from Maine to California.