Pic of the Day: “Vernon, would they let you dance alone? Because, if they would…” “Do you think I’d want to dance without you?” (85th Anniversary)
Pic of the Day: “Both my wife and daughter think I’m this gigantic loser and they’re right, I have lost something. I’m not exactly sure what it is but I know I didn’t always feel this… sedated. But you know what? It’s never too late to get it back.” (25th Anniversary)
Pic of the Day: “I’ve been sent here to take over what has come to be known as a hard luck group. Well, I don’t believe in hard luck. So we’re going to find out what the trouble is. Maybe part of it’s your flying, so we’re going back to fundamentals. But I can tell you now one reason I think you’ve been having hard luck. I saw it in your faces last night. I can see it there now. You’ve been looking at a lot of air lately… and you think you ought to have a rest. In short, you’re sorry for yourselves. I don’t have a lot of patience with this, “What are we fighting for?” stuff. We’re in a war, a shooting war. We’ve got to fight. And some of us have got to die. I’m not trying to tell you not to be afraid. Fear is normal. But stop worrying about it and about yourselves. Stop making plans. Forget about going home. Consider yourselves already dead. Once you accept that idea, it won’t be so tough. Now if any man here can’t buy that… if he rates himself as something special, with a special kind of hide to be saved… he’d better make up his mind about it right now. Because I don’t want him in this group. I’ll be in my office in five minutes. You can see me there.” (75th Anniversary)
2023: The Lists
Okay. For lack of keeping this article from coming out any longer, I’m posting it now.
For those who’ve been around for a while, usually I posted this list mid-December, before I’d seen all the performances of the year. It was just a ‘here’s what I’ve liked to this point’ kind of deal, in anticipation for the Top Ten List and the Oscar picks and all of that. Now, the Top Ten List isn’t even out and we’re quickly approaching Oscar nominations. So I’m not waiting.
Couple of changes I made this year — I cut out the ‘overrated, underrated’ lists. I don’t care at this point. I just wanna talk up the stuff I liked. So it’s just the Hidden Gems, Performances, Posters and Scores. And, for the performances, I truly didn’t have a whole lot I loved this year and couldn’t get my usual list of 15-20 each, so I’ve just cut it down to one list of 25 lead performances and 25 supporting performances. So there you have it.
I also still haven’t seen a small number of films, so there’s a chance a couple of performances could end up being ones I really like, but this list is really just a short term fix, so it doesn’t matter. In the end I will make it known which performances I really loved from this year. So, if a performance or two from high profile films doesn’t appear (and that film came out within the past eight weeks), chances are it’s because I haven’t watched it yet. That’s what this next week is for, and if I’m worried about this article I’m not watching stuff.
So here we are. Hopefully some people will either not have seen a bunch of these or know what they are and maybe want to check them out because of this. That’s the only goal here. (more…)
Pic of the Day: “Customs had said to Billy and the gang, ‘You need to pay us $175,000 in cash today for us to release the water.’ I went down… well, Billy called me. I’m gonna speak completely, you know… this won’t go that far, I’m sure, but… Billy called and said, ‘Andy, we need you to take one big thing for the team.’ And I said, ‘My gosh, I’ve been taking something for the team every day.’ He said, ‘Well, you’re our wonderful gay leader, and we need you to go down. Will you suck dick to fix this water problem?’ And I said, ‘Billy, what?’ And he said, ‘Andy, if you will go down and suck Cunningham’s dick, who’s the head of Customs, and get him to clear all of the containers with water, you will save this festival.’ And I literally drove home, took a shower, I drank some mouthwash. I’m like, ‘Oh my gosh, I’m really…’ And I got into my car to drive across the island to take one for the team… and I got to his office, fully prepared to suck his dick.” (5th Anniversary)
Pic of the Day: “You want the good news or the bad news?” “The bad news, always.” “All right. We installed the 450 radial, but the struts won’t take the vibration. The minute we fire her up, the struts start cracking at the attach points.” “What’s the good news?” “There isn’t any.”
Oscars 2023: The Shortlists (and other Precursors)
Oscar nominations are out in two weeks, so I should probably start actually looking at things. I’m not as on top of stuff as I’ve been in recent years, so I’m trying to squeeze a lot in a limited amount of time. I suspect I will not end up being able to watch all I have in time for nominations, have to guess blindly and then catch up after nominations are announced. But such is the life of someone with no time who still finds it necessary to watch everything shortlisted each year.
I’m not gonna go as in depth on all of this as I usually do (and I’m really only doing this for one thing, as it’s my favorite thing to do, pre-Oscars, every year), but we will get into some stuff and broadly talk about things en route to nominations coming out. (more…)
Pic of the Day: “So here’s the riddle. What does an eight thousand pound mako shark with a brain the size of a flat head V8 engine and no natural predators think about?” “Well, I’m not waiting around here to find out!” (25th Anniversary)
Pic of the Day: “I want three volunteers to go out on a patrol, you, you, and you. You’re in charge, Holley.” “Why am I always volunteering for patrols? I’m just a cowboy.” (75th Anniversary)
Pic of the Day: “You hocked a Hattori Hanzo Sword?” “Yep.” “It was priceless.” “Well, not in El Paso, it ain’t. In El Paso I got me $250 for it.” (20th Anniversary)
Pic of the Day: “Oh, this is heavy, Doc. I mean, it’s like I was just here yesterday.” “You were here yesterday, Marty.” (35th Anniversary)
Pic of the Day: “Women, they have minds, and they have souls, as well as just hearts. And they’ve got ambition, and they’ve got talent, as well as just beauty. I’m so sick of people saying that love is just all a woman is fit for. I’m so sick of it.” (5th Anniversary)
Pic of the Day: “I have loved you since the moment I clapped eyes on you. What could be more reasonable than to marry you?” “We’d kill each other.” “Nonsense!” “Neither of us can keep our temper-” “I can, unless provoked.” “We’re both stupidly stubborn, especially you. We’d only quarrel!” “I wouldn’t!” “You can’t even propose without quarreling.” (30th Anniversary)
Pic of the Day: “I would rather you all become happy wives to poor men or even respectable old maids, than queens on thrones without peace or self-respect.” (75th Anniversary)
Mike’s Top Ten of 2023
2023 is a fascinating year. On the one hand, interesting theatrical movies for people who want more than the usual ‘franchise and remake’ fare returned in a big way. The Barbenheimer phenomenon was truly something to behold and actually brought people back to theaters in a legitimate manner for the first time in three years. The part that went understated about those two is how both were (ostensibly) original and unique films. Sure, one is based on a doll, but everything about that movie is more unique than almost anything else that came out the rest of the year. And I love that, especially because the past few years were rough for theatrical films in wide release that appealed to people who wanted something more than just mindless entertainment.
On the other hand, I look at 2023 and think, “What a terrible year for movies.” Part of that is because of the strike that happened. So many films got pushed out of the year, either because they couldn’t get finished or couldn’t be promoted (plus there’s always a handful of films that shoot throughout the year that come out at the end, and those didn’t happen like they usually do). And so what we were left with — at least from my perspective — was a year that was so thin I almost couldn’t fill out a Top Ten list. Every year, I can get to 80 movies easily. This year, I struggled. I barely got to my quota (and that was after watching the stuff that would normally be icing on the cake for me — the shortlisted foreign films and documentaries). Even getting past 10 was tough. Figuring out 11-20 was the hardest I’ve ever had for a current year ever. It was rough.
And I understand it, but it’s weird to have that dichotomy. There doesn’t feel like there’s a middle class this year. I’m so curious how 2023 will age for me. Though I guess I feel the same way about 2020, 2021 and 2022 as well. So I guess we’ll see. (more…)
Pic of the Day: “If wearing hair up means becoming a lady, I’ll wear it down until I’m 100 years old.” (90th Anniversary)
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