Rip-Off Theatre presents: Things that would belong on Tumblr, if I knew what Tumblr was supposed to be for: Space-wasting memes, they are a diversion

This comes courtesy of the great Shaenon Garrity, with the following instructions:

All the animated movies in the world, sort of

- X what you saw
- O what you haven't finished/seen or saw sizable portions
- Bold what you loved
- Italicize what you disliked/hated
- Leave unchanged if neutral

CLASSIC DISNEY
-------------------------------
[X] 101 Dalmatians (1961):  I always liked this one, and as a kid, I though "Crazy woman driver!" was an absolutely hilarious line.  I hope I've become less sexist since then...
[X] Alice in Wonderland (1951)
[X] Bambi (1942)
[X] Cinderella (1950)
[X] Dumbo (1941)
[X] Fantasia (1940)
[X] Lady and the Tramp (1955)
[X] Mary Poppins (1964)
[X] Peter Pan (1953):  I loved this one as a kid, and there are parts I still get delighted when I watch (most stuff with Captain Hook), but damn, those Indians are fucking racist, aren't they?
[X] Pinocchio (1940)
[X] Sleeping Beauty (1959)
[X] Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs (1937)
[ ] Song of the South (1946):  This one is so notorious, I just want to see it out of curiosity someday.

DISNEY'S DARK AGE
-------------------------------
[O] The Aristocats (1970)
[ ] The Black Cauldron (1985)
[X] The Fox and the Hound (1981): I remember kind of liking this as a kid, maybe? The farmer's pants fall down when he shoots, that's funny.  Plus, bear fight!
[X] The Great Mouse Detective (1986)
[X] The Jungle Book (1967)
[O] The Many Adventures of Winnie the Pooh (1977): I have no idea if I've seen all of this.
[X] Oliver and Company (1986): Saw this in the theater (I would have been 7), don't think I've seen it since.
[X] Pete's Dragon (1977): I'm sure I saw this as a kid, but I barely remember any of it.
[X] The Rescuers (1977)
[X] Robin Hood (1973): Another one I used to love as a kid, but isn't actually all that good.
[X] The Sword In The Stone (1963): This one isn't bad at all, from what I remember.

THE DISNEY RENAISSANCE
-------------------------------
[X] Aladdin (1992): I was the right age when this came out/was on video to really like it and not quite be too old.  Man, I thought the action was awesome, Robin Williams was hilarious, and the music was good.  Not so much now, but it's still all right.
[X] Beauty and the Beast (1991)
[X] A Goofy Movie (1995)
[O] Hercules (1997)
[X] The Hunchback of Notre Dame (1996): What a crazy, doomed-to-failure idea for a kids' movie. I should watch this again and see what it's like with the space of years.
[X] The Lion King (1994): Everybody loves this one, right? Maybe I saw it too much as a kid, but I'm thinking it was kind of boring.  It's probably on the other side of that "too old" line.
[X] The Little Mermaid (1989): I gotta say, I studied the scene where Ariel gets legs and swims bottomless up to the surface very intently as a young'un.
[O] Mulan (1998): Is this the first Obnoxious Eddie Murphy Sidekick Animal role?  That's most of what I remember about this one.
[X] Pocahontas (1995)
[X] The Rescuers Down Under (1990): I loved this one as a kid, for some reason.
[O] Tarzan (1999): The thing I remember most about what I've seen of this is the gruesome death-by-hanging of the bad guy. Tough stuff for a kids' joint.

DISNEY'S MODERN AGE
-------------------------------
[X] Atlantis: The Lost Empire (2001)
[X] Bolt (2008)
[ ] Brother Bear (2003)
[ ] Chicken Little (2005): I hated this without even seeing it.
[X] Dinosaur (2000)
[ ] The Emperor's New Groove (2000): I've seen episodes of the spin-off TV show...
[X] Fantasia 2000 (2000)
[ ] Home on the Range (2004)
[X] Lilo & Stitch (2002): This one is pretty great, isn't it?
[X] Meet the Robinsons (2007):  I actually thought this was quite good.
[X] Treasure Planet (2002):  This, on the other hand, was kind of awful.

PIXAR
-------------------------------
[X] A Bug's Life (1998): So is this or Cars the accepted "worst" Pixar movie? It's still pretty good.
[X] Cars (2006)
[O] Finding Nemo (2003): This one's pretty good, and some people like it best, but I don't think I've ever seen it all the way through, and I don't feel the need to do so.  Weird.
[X] The Incredibles (2004)
[X] Monsters Inc. (2001)
[X] Ratatouille (2007)
[X] Toy Story (1995):  It might be nostalgia, what with seeing this at a time when I was outgrowing toys but still fondly remembering them, but I still think of this as one of my favorite movies of all time.
[X] Toy Story 2 (1999): I don't hate this movie, but I don't think I hold it in the esteem that a lot of people seem to.  It's a pretty good sequel, but not much more.  We'll see what I think when I get around to the third one...
[ ] Toy Story 3 (2010)
[X] Wall-E (2008) 
[X] Up (2009): This was great, but those first 15 minutes are what really stick.  Man, was there anybody who didn't readily admit to crying at that scene?

DON BLUTH
-------------------------------
[] All Dogs Go to Heaven (1989)
[X] An American Tail (1986)
[X] An American Tail: Fieval Goes West (1991)
[O] Anastasia (1997)
[X] The Land Before Time (1988)
[ ] The Pebble and the Penguin (1995)
[ ] Rock-a-Doodle (1991)
[X] The Secret of NIMH (1982): I remember liking this well enough, but when I read the book, I was pissed that they added a bunch of magic and shit.  Was this my first experience with a disappointing adaptation?
[ ] Thumbelina (1994)
[X] Titan AE (2000)
[X] A Troll in Central Park (1994): I saw this many more times than I should have, due to my little brother being obsessed with it, as young kids are wont to do.  It's kind of awful.

CLAYMATION
-------------------------------
[O] The Adventures of Mark Twain (1986)
[X] Chicken Run (2000)
[X] Corpse Bride (2005)
[ ] James and the Giant Peach (1996)
[X] The Nightmare Before Christmas (1993)
[X] Wallace & Gromit: The Curse of the Were-Rabbit (2005)
[X] Coraline (2009): And here's an adaptation that might even improve on the original.

CGI GLUT
-------------------------------
[X] Antz (1998)

[X] Bee Movie (2007)
[X] Happy Feet (2006)

[X] Ice Age (2002)

[X] Ice Age: The Meltdown (2006)

[ ] Ice Age: Dawn of the Dinosaurs (2009)[X] Kung Fu Panda (2008):  Not bad; there's some cool artistic stuff going on in this one.
[X] Madagascar (2005)

[ ] Madagascar: Escape 2 Africa (2008)
[ ] Monster House (2006)
[ ] Over the Hedge (2006)
[X] The Polar Express (2004): Wow, this was awful. A true adaptation would have lasted maybe 15 minutes, if you stretched it out, so they added a bunch of noisy, stupid nonsense. Painful to sit through.

[X] Robots (2005)
[X] A Shark's Tale (2004)

[X] Shrek (2001): People sure loved this when it came out, didn't they, like it was some sort of amazing combination of adult and kid humor, but it was actually rudimentarily-animated kiddie shit with a few slightly-dirty jokes and cultural references thrown in, back when CGI was new enough to seem fancy.  I don't hate it, but goddamn was it overrated, and each sequel just got more tiresome.
[X] Shrek 2 (2004)
[X] Shrek The Third (2007)

[ ] Shrek Forever After (2010)
[X] Monsters vs. Aliens (2009): This wasn't half bad, mostly by not being flat out terrible.

IMPORTS
-------------------------------
[ ] Arabian Knight (aka The Thief and the Cobbler) (1995): I'd really like to see this, any version.
[ ] The Last Unicorn (1982)
[ ] Light Years (1988)
[X] The Triplets of Belleville (2003): Goddamn, this is a really fucking good movie.
[X] Persepolis (2007)
[X] Waltz With Bashir (2008): I liked this one a lot; good, serious animation for adults.  It's like them comical books I always talk about.
[ ] Watership Down (1978)
[ ] When the Wind Blows (1988)

[X] Wonderful Days (2003): Korean anime-style sci-fi; I remember it being decent.
[X] Yellow Submarine (1968)

STUDIO GHIBLI/MIYAZAKI
-------------------------------

[X] The Cat Returns (2002): Pretty cute and fun.  Cats!
[X] Grave of the Fireflies (1988): Devastating.
[X] Howl's Moving Castle (2004): As good as most of these.
[X] Kiki's Delivery Service (1989): Gotta love the girly stuff.
[X] Laputa: Castle in the Sky (1986): Fun adventure, with a surprising amount of violence.
[X] Lupin III: The Castle of Cagliostro (1979): Not a bad beginning.
[ ] My Neighbors The Yamadas (1999)
[X] My Neighbor Totoro (1993): I love the gentle atmosphere here.
[X] Nausicaä of the Valley of the Wind (1984): An even better start.
[X] Only Yesterday (1991): I think I've seen this; it's not very memorable, unfortunately.
[X] Pom Poko (Tanuki War) (1994): Raccoon testicles!
[X] Porco Rosso (1992): Flying pig!
[X] Princess Mononoke (1999): Damn good, if you don't watch the dubbed version, which was full of horribly miscast celebrity voices.
[X] Spirited Away (2002): I think this is my favorite, but only barely ahead of all the others.
[X] Whisper of the Heart (1995): So, so sweet.
[X] Ponyo (2009): Nice, if simplistic.

SATOSHI KON
-------------------------------
[X] Millennium Actress (2001)
[X] Paprika (2006): Satoshi Kon will be sorely missed.  Damn, this was such a good movie.
[X] Perfect Blue (1999)
[X] Tokyo Godfathers (2003)

SHINKAI MAKOTO
-------------------------------
[ ] She and Her Cat (1999)
[ ] Voices of a Distant Star (2001)
[ ] The Place Promised in Our Early Days (2004)
[ ] 5 Centimeters per Second (2007): I really ought to see one or more of these at some point.

OTHER ANIME FILMS
-------------------------------
[X] Akira (1989): I've only seen this once, and I didn't understand it very well.  I should watch it again sometime, and read the manga.

[O] Angel's Egg (1985): Early Mamoru Oshii; I should watch it again and try to understand it.
[ ] Appleseed (2004)
[ ] Appleseed: Ex Machina (2007)
[ ] Arcadia of My Youth (U.S. Title - Vengeance of the Space Pirate) (1982)
[X] Cowboy Bebop: The Movie (2003): A pretty darn good long episode of the series, although not reaching the heights of the best ones.
[ ] The Dagger of Kamui (U.S. Title - Revenge of the Ninja Warrior) (1985)
[ ] Dirty Pair: Project Eden (1987)
[X] End of Evangelion (1997): Ditto what I said for Akira (except the part about reading the manga).
[X] Evangelion 1.0: You Are (Not) Alone (2007)

[X] Evangelion 2.0: You Can (Not) Advance (2009)

[ ] Fist of the North Star (1986)
[ ] Galaxy Express 999 (1979)
[X] Ghost in the Shell (1996): This movie is awesome, full of cool ideas and great action.  I try to rewatch it every so often.

[O] Ghost in the Shell 2: Innocence (2004): I think I had trouble staying awake for this one; I should try again...
[X] The Girl Who Leapt Through Time (2006): This was recommended, but I didn't think it was all that good.  Kind of a low-rent Miyazaki, without a compelling hook and a boring character arc.
[ ] Lensman (1984)
[ ] Macross: Do You Remember Love (U.S. Title - Clash of the Bionoids) (1984)

[X] Memories (1995): A cool sci-fi anthology, with the highlight being Satoshi Kon's "Magnetic Rose".  The other parts are decent though.
[X] Metropolis (2001): I think this might have been my introduction to Tezuka; it helped me learn to love Mr. Mustachio.

[ ] Neo-Tokyo (1986)

[ ] Night on the Galactic Railroad (1985)
[X] Ninja Scroll (1993)
[ ] Patlabor the Movie (1989)
[ ] The Professional: Golgo 13 (1983)
[X] Project A-ko (1986)
[ ] Robot Carnival (1987)
[ ] Robotech: The Shadow Chronicle (2006)
[ ] Silent Möbius (1991)

[X] The Sky Crawlers (2008): Mamoru Oshii's latest, and it's kind of a snoozefest.
[ ] Space Adventure Cobra (1982)
[X] Steamboy (2004): Late-period Otomo; it's no Akira, but it's fun.
[ ] Sword of the Stranger (2007)
[ ] Unico and the Island of Magic (1983):  Tezuka! I really want to see this one.
[ ] Urotsukidoji: The Movie (1987):  The tentacle-rape classic; I wouldn't mind seeing it out of curiosity.

[ ] Urusei Yatsura: Beautiful Dreamer (1984): Mamoru Oshii adapting Rumiko Takahashi; I should try to get my hands on this one.

[ ] Urusei Yatsura: Only You (1982)
[ ] Vampire Hunter D (1985)
[ ] Vampire Hunter D Bloodlust (2000)
[O] Wings of Honneamise: Royal Space Force (1987):  This is supposed to be good, but I fell asleep watching it, so I wouldn't know.

CARTOONS FOR GROWN-UPS
-------------------------------
[ ] American Pop (1981)
[X] The Animatrix (2003): I think Shinichiro Watanabe's "Detective Story" was my favorite part, but there were some other really cool bits too.

[ ] Beavis & Butthead Do America (1996).
[ ] Cool World (1992)
[X] Final Fantasy: The Spirits Within (2001): This was supposed to be a revolution in computer animation, but it ended up being a leap forward in boringness.
[X] Final Fantasy: Advent Children (2005): This was better, if only for superfans of Final Fantasy 7.
[ ] Fire & Ice (1983)
[ ] Fritz the Cat (1972)

[ ] Halo Legends (2009)
[X] Heavy Metal (1981): Stupid, but amusing in parts.
[ ] Heavy Metal 2000 (2000): This is supposed to be awful, but I'm curious about it, possibly just because of the original.
[ ] Hey Good Lookin' (1982)
[ ] Lady Death (2004)
[X] A Scanner Darkly (2006): Probably the best Philip K. Dick movie adaptation, with animation being the only medium to make the Scramble Suit believable.  

[ ] Sita Sings the Blues
[X] South Park: Bigger, Longer & Uncut (1999)
[ ] Street Fight (Coonskin) (1975)
[X] Waking Life (2001): I fucking loved this when it came out, but I don't know if I would think it was as deep if I watched it again.  I'll probably still like the animation.

OTHER ANIMATED MOVIES

-------------------------------
[ ] The Adventures of Prince Achmed (1926)
[ ] Animal Farm (1954)
[ ] Animalympics (1980)
[X] Aqua Teen Hunger Force Colon The Movie (2007)
[X] Batman Beyond: Return of the Joker (2000): As a former regular reader of Ain't It Cool News, I remember there being a big uproar about this being censored because it was too disturbing for kids or something.  With a decade's perspective, it sure seems like a weird thing to get worked up about.

[X] Batman: Gotham Knight (2008)

[ ] Batman: Under the Red Hood (2010)
[ ] The Brave Little Toaster (1988)
[ ] Bravestarr: The Movie (1988)
[ ] Cats Don't Dance (1997)
[O] Care Bears: The Movie (1985)

[X] Charlotte's Web (1973)
[ ] Fern Gully (1992)
[ ] G.I. Joe: The Movie (1987)
[ ] Gobots: Battle of the Rock Lords (1986)

[ ] Green Lantern: First Flight (2009)
[ ] He-Man & She-Ra: The Secret of the Sword (1985)
[X] The Hobbit (1977)
[X] The Iron Giant (1999)
[ ] Justice League: Crisis on Two Earths (2010)

[O] Justice League: The New Frontier (2008)
[O] Lord of the Rings (1978)
[ ] Little Nemo: Adventures in Slumberland (1992)
[ ] My Little Pony: The Movie (1986)
[ ] Pink Floyd's The Wall (1982)
[O] The Prince of Egypt (1998)
[ ] Powerpuff Girls: The Movie (2002)
[ ] Quest For Camelot (1999)
[ ] Ringing Bell (1978)
[ ] The Road to El Dorado (2000)

[ ] Shinbone Alley (1971)
[X] Space Jam (1996): Not even Bill Murray could save this one.
[ ] Starchaser: The Legend of Orin (1985)

[ ] Superman/Batman: Public Enemies (2009)

[ ] Superman/Batman: Apocalypse (2010)
[ ] Superman: Doomsday (2007)
[O] The Swan Princess (1994)
[X] Transformers: The Movie (1986)
[ ] Wizards (1977)
[X] Who Framed Roger Rabbit (1988)
[ ] Wonder Woman (2009)
[ ] Balto (1995)
[X] Spirit: Stallion of the Cimarron (2002)

Conclusion: I've seen lots of Disney, CGI crap, and well-regarded anime, but there's always more to watch.  Must...consume...more...media...

Comics memery

It's all the rage! Starting with Tom Spurgeon, and meme-ified by Stephen Frug, the thing to do is take Spurgeon's list of "50 Things Every Comics Collection Truly Needs" and mark off what exists in your collection.

Stephen Frug added these guidelines:

Plain = Things I don't have
Bold = Things I do have
Italics = I have some but probably not enough (or, in my case, I'm uncertain whether I have this)
Underline = I've got (some of) this in collected form, does that count?

Here's my results, with my comments in parentheses:

1. Something From The ACME Novelty Library
2. A Complete Run Of Arcade (something to get whenever I have some money, someday)
3. Any Number Of Mini-Comics
4. At Least One Pogo Book From The 1950s
5. A Barnaby Collection
6. Binky Brown and the Holy Virgin Mary (I think I read this online)
7. As Many Issues of RAW as You Can Place Your Hands On (ditto what I said about Arcade)
8. A Little Stack of Archie Comics (I might still have some at my parents' house)
9. A Suite of Modern Literary Graphic Novels (I could always use more of these)
10. Several Tintin Albums (I've read a few, but I don't own any. Definitely something I would like to acquire)
11. A Smattering Of Treasury Editions Or Similarly Oversized Books
12. Several Significant Runs of Alternative Comic Book Series (I've got some Optic Nerve, and maybe a little Eightball, but that's about it)
13. A Few Early Comic Strip Collections To Your Taste (another one I could use more of)
14. Several "Indy Comics" From Their Heyday (I've got Love and Rockets collections, but I'm fairly clueless when it comes to most of that 80s black and white/indy stuff)
15. At Least One Comic Book From When You First Started Reading Comic Books
16. At Least One Comic That Failed to Finish The Way It Planned To
17. Some Osamu Tezuka (hell yeah)
18. The Entire Run Of At Least One Manga Series (Death Note. And hopefully Monster, eventually, among others)
19. One Or Two 1970s Doonesbury Collections
20. At Least One Saul Steinberg Hardcover
21. One Run of A Comic Strip That You Yourself Have Clipped (the time has passed for this one, I think, since there aren't really any current strips that are worth clipping)
22. A Selection of Comics That Interest You That You Can't Explain To Anyone Else (oddly, I can't think of anything that fits this category offhand, but I'm sure I've got something that fits. Maybe MPD Psycho, or some goofy superhero/Vertigo thing, or, I dunno, Joe Kelly and Chris Bachalo's Steampunk)
23. At Least One Woodcut Novel
24. As Much Peanuts As You Can Stand
25. Maus (I haven't even read the second half! What's wrong with me?)
26. A Significant Sample of R. Crumb's Sketchbooks
27. The original edition of Sick, Sick, Sick.
28. The Smithsonian Collection Of Newspaper Comics (this would be great to have, or at least read)
29. Several copies of MAD
30. A stack of Jack Kirby 1970s Comic Books (I could always use more)
31. More than a few Stan Lee/Jack Kirby 1960s Marvel Comic Books (More stuff that I should try to acquire)
32. A You're-Too-High-To-Tell Amount of Underground Comix (another something I wouldn't mind trying to get)
33. Some Calvin and Hobbes
34. Some Love and Rockets
35. The Marvel Benefit Issue Of Coober Skeber
36. A Few Comics Not In Your Native Tongue (I don't think I have any. Huh. I'll have to try to pick up somthin' furrin' sometime)
37. A Nice Stack of Jack Chick Comics
38. A Stack of Comics You Can Hand To Anybody's Kid (I could always use more)
39. At Least A Few Alan Moore Comics
40. A Comic You Made Yourself (sort of? Maybe? I should try to make something comics-y)
41. A Few Comics About Comics (according to Spurgeon, Animal Man counts)
42. A Run Of Yummy Fur
43. Some Frank Miller Comics
44. Several Lee/Ditko/Romita Amazing Spider-Man Comic Books
45. A Few Great Comics Short Stories (could use more)
46. A Tijuana Bible (I'm hoping to stumble across one of these in a yard sale or thrift store someday)
47. Some Weirdo
48. An Array Of Comics In Various Non-Superhero Genres
49. An Editorial Cartoonist's Collection or Two
50. A Few Collections From New Yorker Cartoonists
-----

So there's my list, which is looking kind of sparse. I thought about trying to create some sort of visual signifier for categories that I don't think I will ever fill (those would be: Yummy Fur, Jack Chick, Coober Skeber, Sick, Sick, Sick, woodcut novels, Binky Brown, and Barnaby). Spurgeon invited suggestions, so mine would be:

51. Original art, or a sketch from a creator you like - not too hard to obtain the latter, if you ever attend a convention, or even a reading/appearance by a creator. And while the former can be pricey, it's cool to be able to own a bit of comics history that nobody else will be able to say they have. If I had to choose one category to lose, I would combine the Raw and Weirdo categories, or maybe the Arcade and "Underground Comix" categories.
-----

All right, that was fun! Feel free to offer comments on my (poor?) tastes, and if I inspired you post a list of your own, let me know!

Meme-ish content for while I'm gone

Damn, I never got to that post I was going to do before I left. Now I'll have to go crazy trying to catch up when I get back, especially since I'm sure I'll read several more books that I'll want to talk about. Anyway, here's something to fill space while I'm gone, but first, a couple of links.

I've got a review of Universal War One #1 over at Comics Bulletin. It's a pretty interesting comic, so be sure to take a look at it at the shop this Wednesday.

I also wanted to link to a fun little story about superpowered kids by Mike Dawson, creator of Freddie & Me. He should turn it into an ongoing series.

Okay, on to the real (filler) post:

Recently the Onion AV Club's blog did one of those meme posts in which the author listed one favorite album for each year he had been alive. I'm not enough of a music person to be able to do something like that, but another writer followed it up with a movie version. That's more up my alley, so let's see if I can put together a good list, starting in 1979, the year I was born:

Movies of Matt's life:

1979: Alien, I guess. I thought I would say Drunken Master, but that was in 1978. Other contenders: Apocalypse Now, Life of Brian, The Jerk.

1980: Raging Bull. Also good: The Shining, The Blues Brothers.

1981: Pennies From Heaven. I love that movie. That year also had Raiders of the Lost Ark, The Road Warrior, and Time Bandits.

1982: I guess I'll go with Eating Raoul, since all the other choices seem crappy, except maybe The Thing. I really didn't want to say E.T., since that's far from my favorite Spielberg movie. Maybe if I had ever seen Gandhi or Sophie's Choice or An Officer and a Gentleman, I might have a more highbrow choice. And fuck Tootsie, that movie sucks.

1983: Zelig, I suppose. Man, I'm not very schooled in 80s stuff at all. This year also has Scarface, The King of Comedy, The Dead Zone, and Videodrome, which are all pretty good, if not my favorites by any of the directors. And Terms of Fucking Endearment, which I hope I never have to watch. On the "need to see" list: Koyaanisqatsi.

1984: Amadeus. Wow, I agree with the Best Picture Oscar! Also notable: Blood Simple, Broadway Danny Rose, Nausicaa of the Vally of the Wind, This is Spinal Tap. Need to see: Once Upon a Time in America, Paris, Texas.

1985: Brazil, possibly my favorite movie of all time. Otherwise I would have gone with Ran. Also good: Better Off Dead, After Hours, The Purple Rose of Cairo. Need to see: Come and See.

1986: Down By Law. I also like Hannah and Her Sisters a lot, and Aliens is pretty cool. I'm not too big a fan of Blue Velvet, but I should probably watch that again sometime. And I think Platoon is way overrated.

1987: I was trying to decide between Full Metal Jacket and Empire of the Sun, until I saw that Raising Arizona came out that year, so I had to go with that, since it's another contender for my all-time favorite movie. Also good: Radio Days (seems like I'm going to mention just about every Woody Allen movie), Evil Dead II. Probably should see: The Last Emperor.

1988: My Neighbor Totoro. This seems like a fairly weak year, with several decent movies but few that I would say are great (maybe A Fish Called Wanda? Oh, and Grave of the Fireflies is damn good). That said, here are some that I like: The Adventures of Baron Munchausen, Beetlejuice, Dirty Rotten Scoundrels, The Last Temptation of Christ, They Live, Tucker: The Man and His Dream, Who Framed Roger Rabbit? Need to see: Alice (Jan Svankmeyer!), Red Sorghum (Zhang Yimou!).

1989: Do the Right Thing. Also good: Kiki's Delivery Service, sex, lies, and videotape, The Killer. Need to see: Crimes and Misdemeanors, The Cook, The Thief, His Wife, and Her Lover, Meet the Feebles. Probably should see: Glory, Casualties of War.

1990: Goodfellas. Rock. I also really dig Miller's Crossing, Rosencrantz and Guildenstern Are Dead, and Edward Scissorhands. Need to see: Boiling Point (Takeshi Kitano!), Vincent & Theo (Robert Altman!). Maybe need to see: King of New York, Jacob's Ladder, Miami Blues.

1991: Looks like it's Barton Fink. Kind of a crappy year overall. I also like Slacker, Delicatessen, JFK, and Once Upon a Time in China. About 3/4 of Night on Earth is good, but the Winona Ryder part sucks. Need to see: Days of Being Wild (Wong Kar-Wai!), Kafka (Steven Soderbergh!).

1992: Reservoir Dogs, but Hard Boiled and Glengarry Glen Ross come close. You've also got Unforgiven, El Mariachi, and Braindead/Dead Alive. Need to see: Husbands and Wives, Malcolm X.

1993: Schindler's List, in another surprise agreement with the Academy. I also dug Sonatine, Groundhog Day, The Nightmare Before Christmas, Iron Monkey, and Last Hero in China. Need to see: Farewell My Concubine.

1994: Pulp Fiction, fuck yeah. Also: Bullets Over Broadway, Ed Wood, Fist of Legend, Crumb, Pom Poko. I guess Natural Born Killers has its moments. Need to see: Krzysztof Kieslowski's "Three Colors" trilogy (Blue came out in 1993, but White and Red were in 94), Eat, Drink, Man, Woman.

1995: I love Toy Story, and The City of Lost Children is awesome, but I think I'll go with Ghost in the Shell. Lots of other good stuff this year, like Dead Man, The Usual Suspects, 12 Monkeys, Mighty Aphrodite, Babe, Before Sunrise, Canadian Bacon, Se7en, Welcome to the Dollhouse, Memories, and Whisper of the Heart. Need to see: My Father Is a Hero.

1996: Jeez, not much to choose from this year. I guess I'll say Bottle Rocket, but I also like Swingers and Everyone Says I Love You. There's Fargo, but while that's pretty good, it's one of my least favorite Coen Brothers movies. I really like the first half of From Dusk Till Dawn, and the second half is kind of fun, but they're not great together. Maybe Shine? Schizopolis? Need to see: Paradise Lost: The Child Murders at Robin Hood Hills.

1997: L.A. Confidential. Not a bad year, it seems: Boogie Nights, Face/Off, The Game, Donnie Brasco, Jackie Brown, Princess Mononoke, Fireworks (which I just watched the other night). Need to see: Taste of Cherry, The Butcher Boy, Kundun.

1998: I'll go with The Big Lebowski, although I also love Rushmore. Life is Beautiful and Saving Private Ryan are both very good, although they don't seem as great as when I first saw them. We're getting into the years in which I started to watch a lot of movies, so there's plenty that I like here, including Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas, The Truman Show, Buffalo 66, Out of Sight, Run, Lola, Run, Perfect Blue, and Lock, Stock, and Two Smoking Barrels. Need to see: maybe Central Station?

1999: This one's a tough decision. A few years ago, I would have said Fight Club, or maybe The Matrix, but I think nowadays I would go with The Limey. Tons of other great stuff that year though, including Being John Malkovich, Ghost Dog: The Way of the Samurai, The Iron Giant, Three Kings, The Virgin Suicides, Dogma (which has lost favor with me along with Kevin Smith, but I still think it's a pretty good movie), The Straight Story, Kikujiro, The Insider, Audition, Attack the Gas Station!, Dead or Alive, Magnolia, and The Winslow Boy. Also worth noting: The Sixth Sense, Election, Office Space, The Blair Witch Project, South Park: Bigger, Longer, & Uncut (all of which have their moments but aren't among my favorite movies). Need to see: Boys Don't Cry, Not One Less, Shower.

2000: I think I gotta say Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon, although Traffic is also excellent, and so are Amores Perros and Happy Times. A few years ago, I would have said Requiem for a Dream, but that one has kind of faded in the years since it came out. Battle Royale is also up there, if it counts for this year. Plus: Almost Famous, O Brother, Where Art Thou?, You Can Count on Me, American Psycho, Brother, High Fidelity, Joint Security Area, In the Mood for Love, Pitch Black, The Tao of Steve, Unbreakable. I should try to cull these lists a little to cut down on length. Hated: How the Grinch Stole Christmas, Scary Movie. Need to see: The Isle, Yi Yi, The City of Lost Souls.

2001: Memento, although I remember having a wealth of good choices that year. So I'll add The Royal Tenenbaums, Amelie, Spirited Away, Waking Life, Millenium Actress, Monsters, Inc., Mullholland Drive, No Man's Land, CQ, The Devil's Backbone, Gosford Park, Y Tu Mama Tambien, Hedwig and the Angry Inch, Human Nature, Metropolis, Shaolin Soccer (which I thought came out a couple years later. Huh), Visitor Q. Hated: A Beautiful Mind, Jay and Silent Bob Strike Back, The Majestic, Zoolander. Need to see: The American Astronaut, Atanarjuat: The Fast Runner.

2002: City of God. Wow, that's an amazing movie. I'll also highlight Minority Report, Punch-Drunk Love, Talk to Her, 24 Hour Party People, The 25th Hour, Hero, Sympathy for Mr. Vengeance, The Laramie Project, The Ring, and The Rules of Attraction. Need to see: The Pianist, maybe?

2003: Oldboy. Plenty of other good stuff though, like Spring, Summer, Fall, Winter...and Spring, The Station Agent, Lost in Translation, American Splendor, Ong Bak, Elephant, 21 Grams, Kill Bill volume 1, The Triplets of Belleville, Save the Green Planet!, Zatoichi, Intolerable Cruelty, Masked and Anonymous, A Mighty Wind, and The Matrix Reloaded (but not Revolutions). Hated: How to Lose a Guy in 10 Days. Need to See: The Brown Bunny (out of curiosity), The Return.

2004: Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind, although I almost went with Kill Bill volume 2. And I tried to cut down on the list of other good movies, but I still have to mention The Incredibles, Sideways, Garden State, Howl's Moving Castle, I Heart Huckabees, Before Sunset, 3-Iron, Closer, Downfall, Kekexili: Mountain Patrol, The Motorcycle Diaries, Three...Extremes, Primer, Spartan. Hated: The Polar Express, The Girl Next Door, Finding Neverland. Need to see: Clean, Taegukgi: The Brotherhood of War.

2005: I liked a lot of movies this year, but I have a hard time picking a favorite. I guess I'll say Broken Flowers. And there's also Munich, The New World, King Kong, Kiss Kiss Bang Bang, War of the Worlds, Brokeback Mountain, A History of Violence, Grizzly Man, Land of the Dead, Syriana, The Constant Gardener, The 40-Year-Old Virgin, The Descent, The Squid and the Whale, The Matador, Match Point, The Corpse Bride, Me and You and Everyone We Know, and Good Night, and Good Luck. Need to see: The Devil's Rejects.

2006: I did a top ten list for this year, and I think my pick for number one, The Science of Sleep, is still in place, but I still think Children of Men is amazingly good. Also: Babel, Shortbus, The Departed, Pan's Labyrinth, Marie Antoinette, The Three Burials of Melquiades Estrada, The Fountain, A Prairie Home Companion, Sherrybaby, Brick, Tristram Shandy: A Cock and Bull Story, Down in the Valley, Edmond, Half Nelson, Water, The Proposition, Wassup Rockers, The Prestige, Friends With Money, Idiocracy, The Notorious Bettie Page. Hated: Clerks II. Need to see: The Wicker Man (it's supposed to be hilariously awful), Letters from Iwo Jima, Looking for Comedy in the Muslim World, Riding Alone for Thousands of Miles.

2007: I went with The Darjeeling Limited in my best-of-the-year list, but it was close with No Country for Old Men, Paprika, and Sunshine, among many others. Those would include: Atonement, Charlie Wilson's War, Gone Baby Gone, Michael Clayton, Before the Devil Knows You're Dead, Black Snake Moan, Rescue Dawn, Away From Her, Grindhouse, There Will Be Blood, Once, Ratatouille, Superbad, The Lookout, Brand Upon the Brain!, 3:10 to Yuma, Eastern Promises, Sweeny Todd, and Black Book. Need to see: La Vie en Rose, 4 Months, 3 Weeks, and 2 Days, The Orphanage.

2008: So far, my favorite of the year is WALL-E, but that could definitely change in the next six months. I've also dug Cloverfield, Be Kind Rewind, Funny Games, and In Bruges. Need to see: The Band's Visit, Redbelt, Stop-Loss.
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And that's the list. Holy crap, that took longer than I thought it would, mostly because I couldn't limit myself to one movie each year. Please comment or offer your own blog posts letting me know what you think or making your own choices. This means you, Tucker, Jason, and Caleb!

My only contribution to the Star Wars anniversary meme

Hell, I don't know if it can even really be called a "meme", but whatever. I'm currently reading the manga To Terra..., which came out back in the 70's, and I was amused to discover a certain robot sitting on a shelf in the background of one panel (click to enlarge):



That's right, R2-D2 toys still exist in the far future! Also, the books on the shelf right below R2 have "Star Wars" and "Jaws" on their spines. It's cool to spot an easter egg like this in a Japanese comic.

Spider-Man 3: Spidey can be a jerk, but he's still cool

I used this image from Chris Sims' (old) blog, and while it's not that great of a joke, it makes a good header for the following review.



Spider-Man 3 (2007, directed by Sam Raimi):

As a comics blogger, I think I'm obligated to state my thoughts on this movie. But I talk about movies too, so it's cool. Anyway, I'm happy to say that the third Spidey movie is better than I expected. I was afraid (along with plenty of other people, from what I've read on blogs) that it would end up like the third and fourth Batman movies, trying to cram too much stuff into two hours worth of movie. I mean, you've got Sandman (newly revealed as Uncle Ben's real killer), Harry Osborn as the new Goblin (less green this time), the alien suit that ends up becoming Venom (which means you also have to include the story of Eddie Brock), and the introduction of Gwen Stacy. But Raimi and crew do a good job of fitting all these elements together to make a nice story. Plus, it's a good summation of the themes of the whole series, and it wraps up the running subplots that have continued through the trilogy.

I think Tobey Maguire does especially good work in this film. He's starting to get a big head, because the city seems to love Spider-Man now, and he's not paying attention to Mary Jane's occupational and emotional difficulties. This attitude really comes to a head when he gets possessed by the alien symbiote. It amplifies his aggressiveness, and he starts combing his hair forward over his forehead, dressing suavely, and hitting on random women on the street. It's hilarious, and leads to a scene I never would have expected to see in a Spider-Man movie. Meanwhile, James Franco does some nice work and gets to show more range than the glowering he demonstrated throughout in the last film. As the new Goblin, he's really pretty cool. I originally thought the "flying snowboard" look was a bit X-treme, but it actually works pretty well. We get the classic amnesia plot after an early fight, so he gets to be all happy and friendly for a change. We know that won't last, of course, but there's a nice twist at the end that I should have seen coming but didn't, probably because it deviates from the story of the comics (unless I'm mistaken). But it works very well in the movie.

As for the Sandman, he's a good character, played very well by Thomas Hayden Church. The special effects displaying his powers are really cool, especially in the scene when he is first rising from his pile of sand. I'm impressed at the emotion that they were able to convey from his blank, sandy eyes. Well done. I could complain that they felt it necessary to insert him into Spidey's origin by revealing him as the real killer of Uncle Ben, but it fits in with the theme of vengeance and forgiveness very well. That's been kind of a theme of the whole series, but it really defines this entry. Peter wants to kill Sandman in revenge, but can he resist that urge and try to forgive him? Eddie Brock (nicely played by Topher Grace, by the way) wants to kill Peter/Spider-Man for ruining his life, and Harry wants revenge for the death of his father. You even have a scene where Peter tries to get a sort of revenge on Mary Jane for hurting his feelings. And then you have wise old Aunt May counselling him to forgive, and seeing the positive effect that can have. It's a good theme that runs through the whole film.

How about the action? That's where Spidey is at his coolest, right? Well, other than an early fight that is slightly incoherent (probably due to it's nighttime setting), it's pretty awesome. I know it's all CGI, but when you have scenes of Spidey falling and just barely managing to shoot a web and save himself, it's still pretty exhilerating. Midair punch-outs with the Goblin, getting smashed with a giant sand hammer; there's some pretty cool stuff here. There was only one bit that bugged me, and that was during his rescue of Gwen Stacy after a crane fell off a rooftop and smashed into the building she was in. Spidey rescues her (in a cool move where he dives through the arm of the crane as he's falling), but then he sets her down and swings away. Weren't there other people in that building that might need help? And maybe some debris that could be taken care of rather than just letting it smash on the streets below? That's silly.

So, I'll give it a definite recommendation, whether you're a Spider-Man fan or not. I guess you might complain if you're a continuity purist, but in the world of the films, it works very well. Good action, good acting, some funny stuff, and just general Spider-Man coolness. Check it out, if you haven't already.

Trying my hand at lame comedy

My first attempt at one of these "fill in the word balloon" memes:




This is for Chris Sims.

UPDATE: Okay, I feel dumb. Those are manacles, not bracelets. Oh well.

UPDATE 2: I decided to do another one:




Does anybody get the reference? Anyone? (cue crickets)