'Peeping Tom'

Peeping Tom, the film about a serial killer who uses a film camera to not only capture his murders, but to also commit the murders, was written by Leo Marks.

Of course, written a handful of films and providing the voice of "the Devil" in The Last Temptation of Christ, was the least of Marks' many contributions as a human being.

Since being a child, Marks was interested in cryptography, or codes and puzzles. During World War II, he was used as a codebreaker and maker. His memoirs seem fascinating telling these true stories of avoiding capture by the Nazis and the harrowing circumstances surrounding radiomen during the war.

Marks died in 2001. Writing Peeping Tom is probably the least of his bullet points. In fact, his life as a film is probably 100 percent more interesting than any of his films.

'The Sorry And The Pity'

"Those guys in the French Resistance were really brave. To have to listen to Maurice Chevalier sing so much." -- Alvy Singer from Woody Allen's Annie Hall

In Allen's foremost film, Annie Hall, he and his girlfriend Allison go to the movies to see The Sorrow and the Pity. Must've been a pretty hot date.

It runs four hours, but it's probably the neatest four hours you'll spend watching a film. A much better investment than Das Boot.

It's a documentary with a ton of great interviews regarding the French Resistance, government, Nazi occupation, political dealings and attitudes during World War II.

France has always gotten a bad rap. Let's face it: If France was where Ghana, Sri Lanka or Jamaica are located, we'd think nothing of them except for some great art, fantastic books, groundbreaking cinema and the casino in Las Vegas.

Instead, by happenstance, they are located right next to stinkin' Germany. You don't see Sri Lanka, Ghana or Jamaica getting ridiculed because they're not having to deal with endless wars. France has been fighting a long time. From the Prussians, Russians, English, Spanish, Italians, Germans and themselves, it's been an endless ware after endless war.

The French have proven themselves on the battlefield and whatever lack of resistence they put up in 1939, it's tough for me to criticize or judge. They've seen more war in 100 years than the United States has in 250 and may ever see in the next 250 years.

Hell, maybe the French weren't so adverse to the Nazis. Since the French Revolution, the country hadn't been entirely that stable. From Napoleon through World War I, it was a country of upheaval. The Nazis probably represented quite a bit of stability. And if you're a country that is less than tolerable to the Jews, it probably didn't seem all bad.

I know I'm sounding like a Nazi sympathizer. I don't deny this. However, I'm trying to look at it through the eyes of the French, a country that's taken it in the shorts over and over since 1939 and nobody can truly judge them, especially Americans. Besides, where the English, Dutch, Polish, Swiss, Spanish, Scandanavians, Bulgarians or Belgians? Running and not fighting, too.

In The Sorrow and the Pity, things get real for the French people. It's part of the reason why it was never shown in France until the 1980s. It's the pockmark left over from the disfiguring time period through 1945. Through all the sorrow, I felt a little pity.

'The Third Man'

Graham Greene actually wrote this novella before writing the screenplay to the film starring Orson Welles.

Later, the novella was actually released. So, this book has the distinction of being a film before it was a book, so I don't feel as bad about watching the film before I read the book. Although, I do hate watching the film before reading the book. I kind of feel the book is less intriguing. All the suspense, I think, is gone when the film is already seen. Although, Welles' character's speech in the ferris wheel is still pretty awesome.

Greene was fond of films, or so his career would suggest. He began as a journalist doing film reviews. He eventually did a number of screenplays -- including The Third Man -- and later appeared in Francois Truffaut's Day for Night.

Greene also appeared to be quite the commentator on the human condition and human rights. In The Third Man, he builds his plot around a seemingly "ordinary" guy who sells tainted medicine to children, who die. In other books, he chronicles atrocities and lifestyles of people around the nation in downtrodden conditions.

'Close-Up'

This is supposed to be genius. One of the best films of the 1990s. I think that's because it's Iranian. If this were Indian or English or American, it wouldn't be as cool, but because Iran is so mysterious and kind of creeps us out, we overvalue any art coming from that country.

It is an unusual set-up. It's part documentary, part drama.

It's a documentary by Iranian director Abbas Kiarostami about a man named Hossain Sabzian, who had convinced some random family that he was Iranian director Mohsen Makhmalbaf and that he wante dto do a film about them.

Of course, Sabzian is not Makhmalbaf, the family discovers this, calls the police and Sabzian is put on trial for fraud. They think he was intending to burgle them. Judging from his responses, he's kind of a nut, obsessed with movies and living in some pretend world. More or less, he's delusional.

Kiarostami films Sabzian's trial. Meanwhile, he also directs this acted story of how the fraud went down. Acted by the guy that did the actual fraud. He's goodball/criminal/actor.

I don't know why it's appealing. It's boring to be perfectly honest. It's an interesting story, sure. But kind of in that wacky, "Listen to what I just read in the newspaper!" type of things. Something that Yahoo! would put on the front of their mainpage to pique the random Internet-goer's attention.

'The Wolf Man'

Coincidentally, I received The Wolf Man, the 1941 horror classic, via Netflix on Oct. 30 -- the day before Halloween.

Considering its 70 years old and it was Halloween, I watched it with my four-year-old daughter. Of all parently things I've learned, determining what is appropriate for my child to watch or listen to has been one of the hardest.

I grew up in the 1980s watching horror films throughout that were 100 times more horrific and graphic than The Wolf Man. Then again, I lived a childhood scared to death of the dark, of monsters, of going to sleep (thanks to Wes Craven) and had vivid and awful nightmares.

Fortunately, my kid's pretty sharp. She said that she would probably have bad dreams with the wolf man in them, although I reasoned with her that the wolf man was, in fact, extremely silly and no harm to anyone.

I don't think anything in black and white can really strike fear in my kid's heart.

'All That Jazz'

I was pleasantly surprised with this film. I expected little depth, bad writing, Roy Scheider and a bunch of dancing.

Instead I got a lot of depth and insight into this troubled character, this Joe Gideon who is a dope fiend, alcoholic and social vagrant trying to piece together some simblance of a career as a Broadway director and as an absentee father to his daughter, Michelle.

Soon, we learn that Gideon is leading a disaster of a life, committing a slow and painful suicide, as we find out.

The film kind of putters along until the very end when Gideon and all of the characters in his life perform this grand finale with Ben Vereen. Some mystical, "run to the light" show-stealer featuring Gideon's final goodbye.

It's actually really sad and surreal. The moment, in elated release, Gideon embraces his daughter and his daughter, with a sense of finality, embraces her father for the last time. As if she were taking a bag of old clothes to Goodwill.

The film is based on the life of Bob Fosse, the film's director and famed choreographer. He got the idea while he was in the hospital after a heart attack. All of the characters are based on real people.

It's odd because of where it landed many of the actors. It was the only film from Erzsebet Foldi, who plays Michelle the daughter. Leland Palmer and Ann Reinking's marginal careers ended shortly after (it was Palmer's final film ... although she's not dead) and Reinking did little afterwards.

Scheider would do "SeaQuest 2032." No fate was worse.

'The Rules Of The Game'

Today, The Rules of the Game is considered one of the best films of all time. When you think of the best of the best you're supposed to think of this film.

Unfortunately, I'd never heard of the thing and when I saw it on the 1,001 list I regarded it as a mystery, much like the other 800 or so movies I'd never heard of.

Almost shockingly, when it was released way back in 1939 everyone hated it. The French and Vichy governments both banned it because they thought it wasn't good for morale of the country. You know, the country currently under Nazi control and Allies flying over and bombing everything.

During one viewing, a viewer apparently lit a newspaper on fire with the intentions of burning the theater down. Other such threats were made.

Much to the delight of these people including the Nazis, the negatives of the film were thought to be destroyed during Allied bombing. Not until after the war were negatives found and the film was reconstructed into its current incarnation, which runs about 20 minutes longer.

The Nazis or the guy setting the theater are fire were not pleased with this.