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I’ve been thoroughly enjoying Scalzi‘s listings from the Rough Guides‘ Movie guides. They make me wonder what the canon lists of movies would be for specific topics. I’ve listed a few that I think should be on the list (sticking to movies that I’ve seen, of which there are far too few). What else belongs there?

By request, the Vegas movie canon. Vegas exists in a dual movie state for me. In the summer it’s “Fear and Loathing” country, and the winter it’s all Rat Pack. What movies say “Vegas” to you?

• Casino
• Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas
• Oceans 11 (the original Rat Pack version)
• Oceans 11 (the quite good recent remake)
• Swingers (there’s so much truth to the “Vegas Baby!” scene)

I’ve been thoroughly enjoying Scalzi‘s listings from the Rough Guides‘ Movie guides. They make me wonder what the canon lists of movies would be for specific topics. I’ve listed a few that I think should be on the list (sticking to movies that I’ve seen, of which there are far too few). What else belongs there?

It’s Friday. If you’re reading this blog, I’d say that you ain’t got shit to do. I’m gonna talk about movies that’ll get you high!

Pot movies have always been my guilty pleasure. I’m possibly the world’s biggest square, but I just can’t get enough of movies where the heros bumble around, baked out of their brains getting sidetracked by talking bags of Doritos. I like the uncertainty that comes along with these movies. Sometimes they have something important to say. Sometimes they’re just stupid fun. The only constant, really, is the Doritos.

I couldn’t in good faith stop at five today, but there are legion more that I haven’t seen. What are the good ones? Which movies make you laugh like a Canadian Olympic snowboarder?

• Bill and Ted’s Excellent Adventure
• Dazed and Confused
• Harold and Kumar go to White Castle
• Friday
• Half Baked
• Super Troopers
• The Big Lebowski
• The Muppet Movie

More Alternate Film Canons.

I’ve been thoroughly enjoying Scalzi‘s listings from the Rough Guides‘ Movie guides. They make me wonder what the canon lists of movies would be for specific topics. I’ve listed a few that I think should be on the list (sticking to movies that I’ve seen, of which there are far too few). What else belongs there?

Growing up, every kid on the block had a plan for what they would do if they learned that “the bomb” was about to drop. A friend of mine who lived around the corner once declared triumphantly that he would “go outside and play some basketball,” not being fond, I imagine, of a world filled with fallout victims and nuclear mutants. More power to him. It’s good to have a plan.

A world-ending atomic war isn’t so much of a worry for today’s kids. This is definitely a good thing, but the will miss out on some fine cinema. I wonder how the old bomb-scare movies will play with generations who never did the old “duck and cover” drill. When they finally see them, which ones do you think they should watch?

• Dr. Strangelove or: How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love the Bomb
• The Iron Giant
• Spies Like Us
• The Mouse That Roared
• Wargames

More Alternate Film Canons.

I’ve been thoroughly enjoying Scalzi‘s listings from the Rough Guides‘ Movie guides. They make me wonder what the canon lists of movies would be for specific topics. I’ve listed a few that I think should be on the list (sticking to movies that I’ve seen, of which there are far too few). What else belongs there?

It occurred to me the other day that as of this fall I’ve lived in California (Los Angeles in particular) longer than I’ve lived in any other state. For a while now it’s felt like home, but I feel better about saying things like “I’m from Los Angeles” now that I have some sort of numbers backing me up. Now that I’ve got a new home town, I feel like I really should know what the important movies about it are.

For my money, “The Big Lebowksi” is the defining movie about Los Angeles. There are a lot of opinions floating around out there about what LA is and isn’t, what kind of people live here and what they do. Lots of people in other parts of the country view us as a city full of movie stars and rock bands, which is a pretty comical thing to hear after living here for a while. LA is the world’s largest suburb. There’s no single part of town or occupation that dominates the city. All different sorts of people live here and do pretty well anything you can think of. The one common thread is that they’re (we’re, actually) all just a little off center. “Lebowski” shows this side of Los Angeles like no other movie I’ve seen.

All that said, I know that there are a lot of movies about Los Angeles. What are the good ones? When you think about LA, what movies come to mind? I’d love to know.

• Bowfinger
• Boyz ‘n the Hood
• Chinatown
• LA Confidential
• The Big Lebowski

More Alternate Film Canons.

I’ve been thoroughly enjoying Scalzi‘s listings from the Rough Guides‘ Movie guides. They make me wonder what the canon lists of movies would be for specific topics. I’ve listed a few that I think should be on the list (sticking to movies that I’ve seen, of which there are far too few). What else belongs there?

When I was a kid, “Platoon” and “Full Metal Jacket” came out within about fifteen minutes of each other. I saw both and was lucky enough to get a veteran’s perspective on both of them. My father, who served as a grunt, thought that “Platoon” was particularly well done (he’s gone on to say that “We Were Soldiers” is much more realistic, which absolutely horrified me when I saw the film), while his friend Fred, a journalist during the police action, thought that Kubrick’s film was spot on. Many stories came out of the compare and contrast of these two films. Needless to say, movies about Vietnam have always fascinated me.

I know that there are several big, important, award-winning movies that should be on this list that I haven’t seen. What are the best and the brightest movies about Vietnam? Or, considering the subject matter, what are the worst and the darkest? Either way, I’d love to know.

• Born on the Fourth Of July
• Full Metal Jacket
• Good Morning Vietnam
• Platoon
• We Were Soldiers

More Alternate Film Canons.

I’ve been thoroughly enjoying Scalzi‘s listings from the Rough Guides‘ Movie guides. They make me wonder what the canon lists of movies would be for specific topics. I’ve listed a few that I think should be on the list (sticking to movies that I’ve seen, of which there are far too few). What else belongs there?

Some of my favorite movies are about dystopian futures — think 1984 or Brave New World. Even when they’re powerfully cheesy they are (or at least have the potential to be) thought provoking. Somehow, no matter how unreal the movies are made to look, they always come out seeming very real, very looming. I think the genre — in film and in literature — keeps us honest and thinking as a society.

So above and beyond these films, what belongs on the canon list of films about dystopian futures? I’d love to hear your take on it.

• 12 Monkeys
• Brazil
• Masked and Anonymous
• The Matrix
• THX-1138

More Alternate Film Canons.