The Projection Booth: external links

Showing posts with label external links. Show all posts

Feb 9, 2013

Lists I've Published on Letterboxd

Jan 11, 2013

Welcome to the Machine

Weider doesn't explicitly articulate his own opinions on technological possibilities, and as a father clearly in love with his children every arduous step of the way, his position is most likely—and understandably—a biased one. But that doesn't prevent him from purporting something genuinely fair and balanced in his assembled dialogue of recounted experiences and stated philosophies from self-described technophiles and medical-advancement beneficiaries, as well as personal letters from and segments of the murderous Unabomber Kaczynski's manifesto.

Click here to read the rest at Slant Magazine.

Oct 25, 2011

The 25 Best Horror Films of the Aughts

If you haven't peeked at it already, now is a good time to head over to Slant for our recently published list of the last decade's scariest, or best, horror films. I voted for the list based on the former quality, although there would be only minor changes had I shifted my qualitative focus to the latter. I managed to hold on to a few blind spots on the final roster, and of course there are a few I'm sad to not see represented (see below). That said, it's still an admirable collection to these eyes (the only perfect lists are our own), not just because I like about 90% of what's on it, but more essentially because it makes me ask questions.

A good example would be that I didn't at all experience #20 as a horror film, but I've now been sufficiently convinced that I probably could. It also helps that I voted for another of that director's films, and really chewing on the matter, I sorta doubt he could ever make a film that was entirely without horror aspects. His latest will serve as a test that theory. (I'm talking, of course, about David Cronenberg.) Then there are some other great flicks that I would have liked to have seen considered, such as Red Eye and especially There Will Be Blood, which strikes a certain Gothic chord not unlike Dryer's Vampyr. But I'm rambling. It's a good list. Click the linked picture above.

My write-ups come in at numbers 19, 15 and 6, and on the point of the last one, I'm fully prepared to dig my heels in and fight to the death on its excellence. You shouldn't be surprised to know it came in at my top spot. Here's my top ten.

1. Halloween II (2009, Rob Zombie)
2. War of the Worlds (2005, Steven Spielberg)
3. Inland Empire (2006, David Lynch)
4. American Psycho (2000, Mary Harron)
5. Wolf Creek (2004, Greg McLean)
6. 28 Weeks Later (2007, Juan Carlos Fresnadillo)
7. Audition (1999/2000, Takashi Miike)
8. The Human Centipede (First Sequence) (2009, Tom Six)
9. Pulse (2001, Kiyoshi Kurosawa)
10. 28 Days Later… (2002, Danny Boyle)

Aug 10, 2011

The Fox and the Hound

The stripped-down simplicity of the story (freely adapted from the 1967 novel by Daniel P. Mannix) is appropriate for its true-to-life bleakness, which isn't to say it's a film without hope, but that archetypal singularity is fitting when a story boils down to so many singular acts with permanent, often tragic consequences.

Click here to read the rest at Slant Magazine.

Feb 21, 2010

For the Love of Film (aka Down to the Wire)

Photo Sharing and Video Hosting at Photobucket

But an inch short of the deadline (as usual), I finally present my contribution to the Film Preservation Blogathon, hosted by The Self-Styled Siren and Ferdy on Films. Ideally, I'd have offered up something substantial of my own for something like this (click through the picture above for some amazing pieces), but that's just not in the cards right now (my time is eaten for many a reason: a surprise lurks, and three new reviews, very shortly). So I instead offer something from my personal movie experiences, which are deeply rooted in classic horror and thus are long familiar with the legendary, once "lost" adaptation of Frankenstein by none other than Thomas Alva Edison. Everyone should see it, and if this post sees even one more person out there discover it and treasure it, I'll be happy.

Without looking it up (I'm relishing the past, not researching a topic, people), memory says the film was found sometime in 1996 (this is, at least, when I learned of it; the glorious, early days of the internet, srsly), though it took many years for that footage to actually make its way to the public (a web site associated with the finding promised video copies available for sale in the near future; I kept an eye on it for years, but nothing ever materialized). What we have thanks to that find is a fascinating relic, a must-watch chapter in cinematic and technological history, and, I would argue, as important a special effects watermark as anything accomplished by a certain Jim C. Now pardon me while I clean up the pool of saliva collecting at my feet, and try to expunge the thought of a new version of Metropolis available in the near future...

CLICK HERE TO DONATE TO THE NATIONAL FILM PRESERVATION FOUNDATION

Feb 8, 2010

Slant Magazine's Best of the Aughts

I'd be hella excited about the unveiling of this list even if I wasn't one of the participants who helped build it. Eleven writers, one hundred films, pure Slant awesomeness. Check back as we'll be unveiling twenty films per day; my capsules can be found at #93, 80, 58, 54, 46, 41, 21, 20 and 5.