Not Coming to a Theater Near You   2008 in Review

2008 Readers Poll: Discoveries

Responses from Kevin Bannerman, David Bevans, Matt Carpenter, Dave Stewart, Mike Dempsey, Devin DiMattia, Tom Elce, Mark F., Sean Gill, Jonathan Hastings, G. Hess, Jason Hutt, Aundre Jacobs, Ryland Walker Knight, Diana Little, Jeremiah McNeil, Mike, Papageno, Johnny Price, Tom Roll, Eliza Rosenberry, Michael Joshua Rowin, Aaron Simler, Alejandro Spinach, Nicole Taupe, Nick Tinsley, Adam Whybray, Blake Williams, Gregory Zinman, & anonymous contributors

Remarks:

G. Hess → http://bluecollarfilmscholar.blogspot.com
What an embarrassing question. Forcing movie buffs to reveal that ONE movie they had shamefully never seen. Others may cop out and select some obscure title, hoping to pull the wool over our eyes. I’ll be honest: it was Nashville. There. Happy? (Runner up: Straw Dogs.)

David Bevans
The Thing delivers on what horror movies can’t bring today: good old fashion scares and a lovely sense of dread. Oh, and Wilford Brimley.

Dave Stewart → http://www.bloody-terror.blogspot.com
Almost Human
Alucarda
Burn Witch, Burn
The Candy Snatchers
Un Chant d’Amour
Danger: Diabolik
Death Laid an Egg
The Fifth Cord
In a Glass Cage
The Innocents
Mr. Sardonicus
Night Moves
Perfume of the Lady in Black
Scream of Fear
She Killed in Ecstasy
Shock
Switchblade Sisters
The Taking of Pelham One Two Three
Thriller: A Cruel Picture
Thundercrack!
Trouble Every Day
I Vampiri
Vampyros Lesbos
Who Saw Her Die?

Nicole Taupe
Modern Times and City Lights: Double feature at Film Forum. The only way to see Charlie Chaplin!

Diana Little
The Old Dark House: This film has a great cast and is truly creepy. My favorite film of 1932 that I saw in 2008.

It’s Always Fair Weather: This buddy-musical teeters on the edge of maudlin without ever going over. Gene Kelly dancing on rollerskates is worth the price of admission. RIP Cyd Charisse.

Ryland Walker Knight → http://vinylisheavy.blogspot.com
On Dangerous Ground, seen at the Telluride Film Festival, killed me. The only other one that came close, really, was Esther Kahn, started at 2am for one hour and finished at 8am.

Mark F.
Céline and Julie Go Boating: I can’t wait for this to come out on DVD at some point soon so I can see it again and again and again.

Le doulos: Jean-Pierre Melville continues to rock my world. And i finally liked Jean-Paul belmondo in something!

My Man Godfrey: Where has William Powell been all my life? Hysterical.

Possession: Um… I’m still having nightmares from this thing.

Pee-wee’s Big Adventure: When I look back at the 29+ years of my life before I saw Pee-wee’s Big Adventure, they seem empty and meaningless. I am a changed man

Sean Gill → http://juntajuleil.blogspot.com
Eating Raoul
Hell in the Pacific
Two-Lane Blacktop
Dead Heat

Eliza Rosenberry → http://penelopegoestocollege.blogspot.com
Breathless: Sweet and humorous, embodying the spirit of the French New Wave.

Kevin Bannerman
Battle of the Sexes: Charming early Peter Sellers, very Brit but still applicable to today in its themes of the corporate vs. the personal side of things

Remember the Night: Lovely lovely Barbara Stanwyck, minus her usual edge; it’s sentimental but it’s a charmer

Baby Face: Sexy saucy young Stanwyck—pure pleasure!.

Nick Tinsley → http://tinsleyfilm.blogspot.com
The Mother and the Whore: A friend called it “three and a half hours of hard core film making,” and that seems about right. Self-absorption has never been so absorbing. It’s unfortunately hard to see in America, and seeing it in a pristine 35mm blowup is the way to discover it. A great, historically significant film (and an antecedent to last years “Regular Lovers”), it’s one of a few select films that demand an immediate theatrical revival and DVD release.

Jeremiah McNeil
Sansho the Bailiff: I have rarely been so disquieted and uplifted at the same time. I will remember that film for the rest of my life. Also: Wild Strawberries, which is as close to perfect as I can imagine a film can be, and The Philadelphia Story.

Johnny Price
After Hours: I feel embarrassed for admitting this but, this is by far my favorite Scorsese film. I never seen Raging Bull or Mean Streets. A little bit of Goodfellas (the edited for television version… on Lifetime). I read the reviews citing the comparisons to The Wizard of Oz and they are exactly right! Griffin Dunne is like Dorothy trying to find is way through SoHo.

Stranger Than Paradise: My first Jim Jarmusch film. I’m hooked. Can’t get Screammin’ Jay out of my head.

Sherman’s March: Next to the Maysles Brothers, Ross McElwee is one of the best.

Funny Ha Ha: I love this film. Don’t call it mumblecore.

Ten Cents a Dance: This film made me a Barbara Stanwyck fan.

Phantom of the Paradise: Why isn’t this mention along side Rocky Horror is a mystery. It’s not in the same realm of badness as Shock Treatment…

Blake Williams → http://randgandb.blogspot.com
La Cienaga: It baffles me how long it took me to hear about this film and filmmaker, two of the best kept secrets in this millennium.

Devin DiMattia → http://www.dimattiafilms.com
Who Can Kill a Child?: Thanks for the recommendation!

Adam Whybray
In A Lonely Place: If it was custom to have films played at funerals instead of msuic, Laurel would leave Dixon just as my casket was lowered into the ground.

Tally:

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