Accountability, Integrity and Things You Should Know About Me

As 2010 draws to an end I have but one resolution I need to keep as I move into 2011; I need to continue writing and adding to this blog as often as I can. (That and I need to stop abusing the semi-colon; I love that little guy. See.) Now, I have always held true to the notion that my opinion on all matters film, statistically speaking, will change from one day to the next, hell from one minute to the next. Such is the case with something like my recent year in review wrap-ups for 2010. The reality is these lists are mine and mine alone. I can amend or add to them as I see fit, especially when I'm going back and forth with someone face-to-face. But, in keeping with some sense of accountability and integrity with regards to what I post online, I have to resist the urge to go back and revise these things, tempting though it may be.

So when I look back and think, well, I really liked Best Worst Movie better than Toy Story 3, but not Jackass 3D, so maybe I can squeeze BWM into that #9 spot, I have to tell myself, what the hell are you doing? I need to stand by that encapsulation as a representation of where my head was when I wrote that piece. If I want to make some kind of amendment or addendum it needs to go elsewhere. Kinda like what I'm doing here.

But the one thing I wanted to accomplish with this entry is drag some, what I see as, relevant info from a place like, say, my old CHUD forum entries, out into the open for some revisiting, reevaluation and just to give you all (whoever you are) a better picture of what turns me on. True that you'll see more of that as I pour more of myself into this site, but a purging like this will be as good for me as it is for you. So, in the spirit of full disclosure, here are some things I may have laid down in stone on some site somewhere, but that may be amended depending on what day you're chatting me up or what day I'm writing on the old I Heart Sequels site...

My TOP 10 Films of All Time

1. Phantom of the Paradise
2. The Wild Bunch
3. Jaws
4. The Apartment
5. Fitzcarraldo
6. Thief
7. Vertigo
8. Sanjuro
9. West Side Story
10. Once Upon a Time in the West

Even when I originally posted this on a forum I did so with the caveat that the list may change (though only slightly) dependent on the mood, my day, my memory, my age at the time, etc. I have nothing I wish to delete or add at this time. Just know that this list is only a wafer-thin-sized representation of the film geek you're dealing with.

Top 10 Films of the Aughts, aka 2000-2009

Ong-Bak
Hot Fuzz
The Fountain
Punch-Drunk Love
Visitor Q
Bamboozled
Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind
Dead or Alive 2
Zodiac
Fat Girl

Again, not much I'd like to add to this list. I will say that 2007 was the best year for movies of this era, Pixar takes the cake as far as putting out the most consistent work of any studio or production team and that my top 5 filmmakers from this ere are John Cameron Mitchell, Brad Bird, Darren Aronofksy, Edgar Wright and Takashi Miike.

Top 20 Films To Be Released After Reservoir Dogs

1. Jackie Brown
2. Heat
3. Zodiac
4. Ong-Bak (best time I've had with a packed audience since forever)
5. Hot Fuzz (2nd best time I've had with a packed audience in forever)
6. The Fountain
7. Punch-Drunk Love
8. The Truman Show
9. Visitor Q
10. Chasing Amy (haters beware; I don't give a fuck what you think of Smith)
11. The Shawshank Redemption
12. Fargo
13. Three Kings
14. Bamboozled
15. Out of Sight
16. Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind
17. He Got Game
18. Dead or Alive 2
19. Million Dollar Baby
20. Fat Girl

This came about as a response to a (very unusual) list that Tarantino put together around the time he was promoting Inglourious Basterds. Since RD was released some time in late 1992 there was a very unusual era delineated here. Some films may seem more obvious than others when looking at this list, but I maintain it is MY list. I also have to echo that you could make a case that anything that came in 2007, as well as 1999, could comprise an entire list like this.

My Top 10 Horror Movies of All Time

1. Near Dark*
2. The Hitcher (1986)*
3. John Carpenter's The Thing
4. An American Werewolf in London
5. Creepshow
6. Jaws**
7. Videodrome***
8. Black Christmas (not X-mas)
9. Friday the 13th: The Final Chapter****
10. Cemetery Man

A lot of these come from my, ahem, formative years. That's probably why there aren't a lot of newer films on the list.

*I love Eric Red's work, and these were the first two horror films where I can remember latching onto a writer or creator's themes almost instantly and thinking I need to know more about this person's work.
**First experience being scared by a film, have been enjoying that experience ever since.
***People would argue about this as a horror film to some extent, but it's power to disturb and repulse is unmatched, even in Cronenberg's oeuvre.
****My first Jason movie, and my favorite one still. This isn't tainted by rose-tinted nostalgia, either; of all the Jason films this one's pacing, scares and characters still hold up. Between this and The Prowler Joseph Zito is a king of the down-and-dirty slasher.

Just like the previous list I have copied over any justification or comments I had on my own original list. I am a horror nut and what I was really trying to get across here is a list of the films that not only made me a horror nut, but the films that have kept me in that rather esteemed position. Draw from this what you will. There's more to be had in the world of horror I'm sure, and I most certainly enjoy more than what you're seeing here, but this, again, is all about me. One thing I'm sure you can tell by looking at this is that I was child of the 70s and 80s...