The FilmNerds Blog

Follow along this Sunday night as the FilmNerds.com contributors share their thoughts live on the Academy Awards. You can follow us all on Twitter or watch as our tweets roll in live here at FilmNerds.com.

The Shelf of Shame. In each installment, one of our FilmNerds contributors will reveal five indisputable classic titles that for some inexplicable reason they have not yet seen. In an attempt to earn back the respect of their fellow FilmNerds, each contributor will then set out to see all five of these films some time in the next six months (we felt that was a fair interval, even for the busiest of nerds) at which point we’ll check in with them to see how they did.

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Let me preface by saying I’ve chosen to avoid the coward’s route and admit that I haven’t seen these films — and let’s make this clear — FROM BEGINNING TO END IN ONE SITTING.

Have I seen bits and pieces of each of these movies? Yes, but just because I caught some or most of them either on cable, VHS or DVD doesn’t mean I’ve seen them, and I refuse to claim that I have. Beyond that, I have no excuse. Just didn’t get around to it. Some will seem egregiously omitted, but it’s not for lack of trying. These are omissions I personally consider shameful because they’re all films I’ve always wanted to see but just haven’t. So here goes. Be gentle. Nobody feels worse about this than I do.

Singin’ in the Rain (1952)
While I don’t particularly love the musical genre, I certainly do not hate it. Honestly, I just don’t like the Broadway format, which I feel has unfortunately informed the way most studios generate modern musicals. But Stanley Donen and Gene Kelly’s consensus classic is what movies are all about, losing one’s self to the bliss of unparalleled song, dance, comedy and  romance. Kelly’s a guy whose filmography has totally escaped me throughout the years, so I owe it the time. So I think I’ll start with what mean believe is not only the finest musical ever made but one of the greatest American films produced.

The Seven Samurai (1954)
Running times don’t scare me. I love Akira Kurosawa as much as the next film snob, and I dig samurai movies like one probably shouldn’t. But how have I been able to appreciate any of those samurai movies I’ve seen without seeing more than two minutes of Kurosawa’s epic. Fantastic premise, director, cast and scale aren’t the things that have deterred me from this surefire classic. So what is it? If I knew, we wouldn’t be in this pickle here, would we? Like Kelly, I haven’t seen enough Kurosawa to consider myself a legitimate fan and appreciator of his work even when I have great access to it. So let’s start here.

The Conversation (1974)
Something tells me this one hurts my fellow Film Nerds more than the others (actually, probably not), but the biggest slap in the face I could give this movie isn’t that I haven’t seen it. It’s that I’ve owned it on DVD for nearly six years and haven’t made it past the first 20 minutes. Out of this detestably shameful list, this is the one I want to see the most, as the subject matter and parties involved are all right up my alley. This kind of movie appeals to my own sensibilities even more than something like “The Godfather.” Alas, it just wasn’t meant to be all those years.

Dr. Strangelove or: How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love the Bomb (1964)
Forgive me, Stanley Kubrick. None of us are worthy, but especially me for this crime. Another one I happen to own, but not until recently. Ahem, that is, not until a couple of years ago. So yes I’ve owned it for two years and haven’t even had the decency to pop it in once. Also another case of seeing bits and pieces throughout the years and loving every last drop of it all, especially anything George C. Scott says or does in it. The saddest thing about this entire list is that every title here, perhaps aside from the first, is something I’d normally see the split-second it released in a theater, and I’d drive to whatever town I needed to if it didn’t play in mine. But accessibility has ruined some of us. Does the lack of the hunt cheapen the experience? Something tells me that in Dr. Strangelove’s case, um, no.

E.T.: The Extra-Terrestrial (1982)
As a longtime Steven Spielberg freak, I wish I had even a bad excuse for this one. I know. I know. OK? I KNOW. But sometimes I feel like I’m cursed with this movie. I’ve seen plenty of it to lie, like so many of you know you do, and insist I’ve seen the whole thing. But I’ll be a man here and admit it’s never gone from credits to credits in one spin. In terms of the curse, my problem has always been that whenever I turn this movie on, without fault I might add, I fall asleep during the first half-hour. I cannot explain it. Surely it isn’t because this thing is boring. Do you think I like not having seen what some consider Spielberg’s greatest contribution to this precious medium? Even he says he wants to be remembered for it along with “Schindler’s List.” Maybe it’s a chemical response, I don’t know. Something doesn’t align right with my brain at a certain point in the movie, even if it’s just a millisecond. All I know is it’ll happen one day, hopefully within the next six months. I’ve likely blown my opportunity to experience it like I did all of his other films we marveled at as children and continue to now. I’m now cursed with watching “E.T.” with a more critical eye and with a knowledge that it’s taken this long in the first place. But I hope all of that context disappears when it’s just me and this film, at a showdown I’m pleased to forfeit.

So there.

And for the record, they’re all sitting on my coffee table RIGHT NOW. Behold, my shelf of shame…

Honorable Mentions: On the Waterfront, Rashomon, Blue Velvet, Sunset Boulevard, Some Like it Hot, Coming to America, The Seventh Seal, The Third Man, The Treasure of the Sierra Madre, Midnight Cowboy, Nashville

My wife and I have had this Valentine’s Day tradition for the past 3 years where instead of going out to a fancy dinner, we stay home and watch movies.  (I know.  I’m a genius.)  Since Valentine’s Day usually falls within a couple of weeks of the Academy Awards and since we’re huge movie fans and obsessed with seeing as many of the Oscar-nominated films as possible, Valentine’s Day gives us a good excuse to stay in and watch a couple of the more obscure films nominated for Oscars each year.

The tradition is still a relatively new one, but we’ve only been married 4 ½ years.  It all began in 2009 when we were busy packing up our townhouse for a move.  Most of the downstairs consisted of stacked boxes full of our stuff, ready to move.  We had been packing all evening and instead of going out, we decided to order Italian food in, light some candles, spread out a blanket, set up a picnic in our living room, Yada Yada Yada and watch what’s left on our list of nominated films.  Along with choosing to watch those films of little consequence, we inadvertently chose the films that were more of a depressing nature, and a tradition was born. Here is a run-down of how our Valentine’s Days have shaped up over our first few years of marriage.

On the inaugural “Valentine’s Packing Picnic with Oscar” in 2009, we chose two films.  The first was the brutally stark and depressing, Frozen River, which stars Melissa Leo who was nominated for Best Supporting Actress.  If you like films about poor people doing bizarre things for the betterment of their family, including but not limited to smuggling a newborn baby in a car over a river that has frozen over, then this just might be the film for you.  It was a downer to say the least, but that didn’t put a damper on the romance of the evening.  Nay, I would say that it made it all the more fun.

For our second film that evening we decided to watch Vicky Christina Barcelona, one of the better Woody Allen films from the first decade of the 21rst century and one that centers on a love triangle of sorts, but also with many beautiful shots ofSpain.  Penelope Cruz was nominated for and won Best Supporting Actress.  The film also stars the great Javier Bardem and the not-so-great-but-Woody’s-obsession-at-the-time Scarlett Johansson.  There’s something about people sitting around, drinking wine, talking and making bad decisions that I thoroughly enjoy.  Valentine’s Day 2009 was a supporting performance kind of night and we all know how important performance is.

For the 2^nd annual “Oscar Valentine’s Movie and a Blanket”, we decided to do the very same thing, but this time in a different house.  We got our usual Italian and made up our usual picnic, and watched In the Loop, an Adapted Screenplay nominee from that year.  It’s a very smart, darkly funny satire about the relationship between American and British politics and stars Tony Soprano, the girl from My Girl and Gabe from The Office.  It’s a neat, light little film that keeps you laughing and keeps you on your toes, though on your toes, may not be where you’d like to end up.

In 2011, the 3^rd Annual “Oscar Italia Movie-palooza”, we went back to the ways of Supporting Actress and watched the grim, independent film, Animal Kingdom, which is an Australian crime drama film about a family that sort of runs the crime in their area.  It’s a good film and stars the fighting teacher that married way up from Warrior and Jacki Weaver, who was nominated for Best Supporting Actress.  It’s violent, sad and an all-around bummer of a film with a hint of Reverse Oedipus Complex; the key ingredients for a night of romance.

This year, the “Oscar Fest Movie Food Candle Magic Carpet Ride” will change course just a tad.  We will explore the far-away lands of the non-nominated films, though it could be argued that both films on the agenda deserved a nomination in certain categories.  The movie playlist this year consists of Contagion, the very depressing and unromantic disaster thriller directed by Stephen Soderbergh starring lots of famous people getting all sick and stuff followed by 50/50, a serious comedy starring Seth Rogen and Joseph Gordon-Levitt about just one person getting sick.  Here’s to hoping my chances are greater than 50/50.

Let’s be real, nobody likes to get out on Valentine’s Day and when I say “Nobody”, I mean me and hopefully my wife or else I’ve got a lot of making up to do.  If you already have a Valentine’s Day tradition of dressing up and going out into the cold night and waiting for a table, then consider shaking things up for once.  A change from the usual plan implies that some thought went into it.  Likewise, bringing home dinner and movies shows that you put forth some effort:

THOUGHT + EFFORT = BROWNIE POINTS

If you’re just now realizing that it is Valentine’s Day, then I’ve got good news.  This really doesn’t take much thought or effort at all.  It just looks like it does.  And honestly, it’s the impression of thought and effort that you’re really going for anyways.

PERCEPTION = REALITY

Enjoy the time together, enjoy the food, enjoy the films, but most importantly, enjoy the rewards that you will reap, my friends.  Dim the lights….And…..ACTION!

It’s John Williams’ 80th birthday today, and while the musical legend has a career the stretches far beyond his collaborations with Steven Spielberg, and beyond film in general, I thought it’d be fun to collect some of my favorite of his tracks from Spielberg movies.

I’ll be the first to admit that these are fairly mainstream picks, but that is kind of the thrust of the majority of Williams’ contributions to Spielberg’s filmography. You’ll notice this list might be missing a few of the more somber and low key sounds he brought to films like Schindler’s List, Minority Report, or Munich. Surely I left out someone’s favorite. Be sure to comment below or yell at us on Twitter at @FilmNerds or @WonderMillFilms.

All songs are linked to YouTube, and all score reviews are linked to Filmtracks.com, unless otherwise noted.

10.) The Map Room: Dawn (Raiders of the Lost Ark)
Song / Score Review
A wonderful example of John Williams’ ability to command tension in a classical way, in the vein of Ernest Gold and Miklós Rózsa.

9.) Cadillac of the Skies (Empire of the Sun)
Song / Score Review
An overlooked gem in the library of both Spielberg and John Williams. I credit fellow Film Nerd Graham Flanagan for emphasizing this film’s power and importance.

8.) Plowing (War Horse)
Song / Score Review (from FilmMusicMedia.com)
Already a new classic, one can hum the main melody of War Horse and immediately remind audiences of the film. Despite accusations of hollow melodrama, Williams has turned in a piece that perfectly marries itself to the innocent figure of Joey the horse, immediately commanding a perspective unavailable to any of the film’s human characters.

7.) Blown to Bits (Jaws)
Song / Score Review
I’ll be the first to admit that my pre-Spielberg knowledge of John Williams music is severely limited, but here we find what seems to be the genesis of so many elements that have become common in Williams adventure scores.

6.) Prologue (Hook)
Song / Score Review
The palpable sense of adventure that Williams conveys in this track is almost metaphysically impossible. You certainly recognize this piece from a wide variety of previews for any given b-grade 90’s adventure film. I’ve always felt that Hook might have made a better musical than a straight action film, and with a score like this, I’m sure WIlliams and Spielberg could have constructed some incredible numbers. Regardless, this is one of Williams’ most amazing scores, despite the film’s mixed critical reception.

5.) Rescuing Sarah (The Lost World: Jurassic Park)
Song / Score Review
Although the quality of this Jurassic Park sequel is something I find myself consistently defending, I hope there is unanimous appreciation for what is one of the most overlooked adventure scores of all time. This track in particular is a wonderfully intense collection of traditional Williams horns and tribal drums. Listen for the track’s wonderful crescendo which, in the film, closes out an absolutely nail-biting action sequence involving two tethered trailers. Add to this the film’s opening track, in which John Williams evokes Max Steiner’s King Kong score, and you’ve got an under-listened classic. I played to this CD hundreds of times in my room back in 1997, and this was a frequently repeated track.

4.) The Visitors / Bye/ End Titles (Close Encounters of the Third Kind)
Song / Score Review
Williams’ third collaboration with Spielberg brought him into the fold more closely than ever, as elements of the score here are diagetic storytelling elements. This might be Williams’ most important work on a Spielberg film.

3.) Journey to the Island (Jurassic Park)
Song / Score Review
This is a very personal pick for me. The moment this track hit the speakers upon my first viewing of Jurassic Park was probably the moment I became a filmmaker. As true nerds, my wife and I walked back up the aisle to this at our wedding.

2.) Escape, Chase, & Saying Goodbye (E.T. The Extra Terrestrial)
Song / Score Review
Upon a recent re-watch of this film, I came to the realization that the rest of the world has long since assumed: This film is the thesis of Spielberg’s career and therefore, the thesis of his collaboration with John Williams. Here’s a big giant sampling, all in one track, of everything great about Spielberg’s cinema: Adventure, nostalgia, and a longing for home.

1.) Scherzo for Motorcycle & Orchestra (Indiana Jones & The Last Crusade)
Song / Score Review
The sense of joy that is communicated in what I feel to be the encompassing track of this score is infectious. One of the most marvelous coupes of Spielberg’s career is the chemistry he orchestrated between Harrison Ford and Sean Connery, and in this track, Williams puts it to music. This track is my list’s representative for the “Raiders March”, which makes an appearance early on. It also features flourishes from the rest of the score’s major themes, but always sticks to that main, playful melody.

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On another personal note, I’d like to wish a happy birthday to my buddy Lee Fanning, co-producer of The Nocturnal Third and the sharpest, biggest Star Wars fan I know. I’m sure he owes many hours of satisfying listening to John Williams, as well.

Matt and Francesca Scalici return with another episode of Cinematrimony. At last, Matt & Francesca take on Stephen Spielberg’s Best Picture-nominated War Horse and Francesca reveals whether her two least favorite things, war and horses, were able to come together and make a great movie. Does this highly-touted award-contender live up to the hype?

DOWNLOAD: Cinematrimony – War Horse

Lamenting the departure of Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy from area theaters last week, my friend and I took a consolation prize: the surprisingly well-regarded fifth feature film from director Joe Carnahan, The Grey.

I should say that if you haven’t seen The Grey, you should definitely see it before you read any further. Below are heavy spoilers for the film. Your question might be, “Should I see The Grey at all?” I think you probably should. It’s rare that a genre film of this type takes this kind of care with its emotional and thematic subtexts. All in all, I’m not much of a film critic, so I’ll let an actual one – new Filmspotting co-host Josh Larsen – state what I think is true:

“Doubt and anger are the twin themes of The Grey, yet the adventure movie hammers them home with all the obviousness of a fire-and-brimstone sermon.“

Again, though- The film is viscerally oppressive and legitimately gripping, kind of like Final Destination with wolves. It’s not the ballsy action film its trailers are selling, and there is no more obvious proof of that fact than the film’s ending.

I’ll give a brief rundown of what happens, in case you forgot or you just hate movies and are reading this without having seen the film. At the end of the story, all of Ottway’s (Neeson) fellow plane crash survivors have been somehow killed by nature, most of them by hungry wolves. After having a sort of breakdown, Ottway discovers himself in the wolves’ den, surrounded by the angry animals. While reciting a poem handed to him by his father, Ottway binds a knife and liquor bottles to his hands, ready to die a most glorious and wolf-hating death. As we grit our teeth and prepare to enter the fray, as it were, Carnahan cuts to black, and ends the film on a somewhat ambiguous note.

This move has been considered both ridiculous and brilliant by audiences, and I personally think it’s a fine ending. The film gives us plenty of clues as to the inevitable outcome of the story, and it ends on the emotionally important moment. Clearly, Ottway is going to die fighting, as his situation is just insurmountable. Now, there is a post-credits coda that shows a dying wolf and no sign of Ottway, but I read that as an allowance that Ottway did a bit of damage before traipsing into the woods to bleed to death. The coda makes the film’s ending no less ambiguous than if it didn’t exist.

So, with all the ambiguity, I can’t help but have some fun wondering “What happens next?”
1.) Ottway’s Wife To The Rescue
Just as the alpha wolf crouches to attack Ottway, we hear a rumbling. Both Ottway and the wolves look to the treetops. A helicopter roars into view. A rope ladder tumbles from the side of the chopper, as Ottway’s presumed-dead wife pops her head out. She shouts, “You left the hospital too early! I got better!”, before giving him a thumbs up. Ottway grabs the rope ladder, winks at the wolves as he ascends, and mirrors his wife’s gesture by giving a thumbs-up to camera. We freeze on that image as credits roll.

2.) Everyone Was Just In Wolf Suits
Just as the alpha wolf crouches to attack Ottway, it stops, rears back on his hind legs, and stands. It reaches below its neck, and pulls down a zipper, revealing its wolf facade to be a costume. Out of the costume steps Ottway’s presumed-dead wife. The surrounding wolves follow (wolf) suit, unzipping to reveal themselves as Ottway’s presumed-dead roughneck friends (as well as his presumed-dead Irish father). Everyone cries and hugs, as we learn that the entire film was an elaborate hoax to convince Ottway of the importance and preciousness of life.

3.) Dubstep-Laden Fight Scene In Which Liam Neeson Destroys All Wolves
Just as the alpha wolf crouches to attack Ottway, we cut to a full, side two-shot. Ottway jumps up, then freezes in time as Skrillex hits the soundtrack. What follows is a Zack Snyder-styled action scene set to crunchy industrial techno, in which Ottway uses high-flying kung fu on all the wolves, complete with a bullet-time back flip.

4.) Explicit 20-Minute Long Take Of Wolves Slowly Eating Liam Neeson
Just as the alpha wolf crouches to attack Ottway, he follows through and attacks Ottway. Our hero doesn’t get in a single strike, but is systematically and slowly eaten by the wolves, akin to raw footage from a National Geographic video.

5.) Ottwolf
Just as the alpha wolf crouches to attack Ottay, our hero HOWLS. He stops, looks down at himself. The wolves are as shocked as Ottway. They look at each other, troubled. Cut back to Ottway grasping at the wolf bite he received earlier in the film. He’s shocked to discover his hands are transforming into paws. His mouth shoots out and grows into a muzzle. He screams as his clothes rip off and he becomes Ottwolf, new alpha male and leader of the werewolf collective. (This actually makes perfect sense, as he was the only character to have actually lived through a wolf bite.) The wolves all bow before him as he stands and howls, as the camera cranes up and out into the treetops.

I’m going to go on a limb and say that these alternate endings are so feasible that Joe Carnahan might actually have them in the can already. Be sure to watch out for the blu ray release of The Grey.

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In other news, Wonder Mill Films’ newest feature film The Nocturnal Third will soon be available to stream for free online for a very limited time. Be sure to keep an eye out on our official site. Also, Cinematrimony and Aspect Radio have combined their powers to create a new movie podcast for Al.com. Check it out here!