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Tim’s Favorite Movie Project: Jaws

Jaws (1975)

Directed by Steven Spielberg

Starring Roy Scheider, Robert Shaw, Richard Dreyfuss, and Lorraine Gary

Released June 20, 1975

Plot: A shark starts eating people near the beaches of summer tourist hotspot Amity Island in the days leading up to the July 4th holiday. The town’s new chief of police (Scheider) recruits a hotshot young marine biologist (Dreyfuss) and a grizzled shark fisherman (Shaw) to find and kill the monstrous fish.

One of my favorites because: What can I say about why I love Jaws that hasn’t already been said? It’s nearly a perfect movie, shaped as much by circumstance as by intention, a perfect storm of a film that retains nearly all of its power nearly 50 years later. For me, the power of Jaws lies in how deeply it’s rooted in humanity and Americana. I grew up in a summer tourist community, where I could recognize “summer people” by how they dressed, where they sat in church, or the kinds of meat or beer they bought at the store I worked in. But more than that, as a small town, we quickly knew if there was a new kid in school and what their story was - where their parents worked, where they lived before. And the residents with deep roots in the community were friendly but skeptical. The leads in Jaws represent all three of these columns: Quint is the hardcore local, Brody the recent transplant, and Hooper the outsider, the tourist. The plot of the movie is the catalyst for a story the American melting pot, a melting pot of generations and backgrounds. I love that these three characters, and the elements of the community (and country) that they represent, could not solve this seemingly simple problem without each other. It takes cooperation, understanding, and sacrifice. Jaws is an optimistic and inspirational American fable. Along the way, it also happens to be a terrific thriller and a grand adventure, one of the all-time great cinematic entertainments. 

My relationship to this movie: I’ve always known Jaws. It was on TV all the time growing up - and so was Jaws 2. I had seen every bit of Jaws many times over, but always with commercials and never all at once. Sequences from the movie were burned into my mind as masterpieces of suspense and action. But the first time I saw Jaws all at once was in the summer of 2006 when it was the first film in a series of “Popcorn” movies at the Dryden Theater at the George Eastman House. It was a 35MM print, and I sat in the balcony with a crowd and for the first time fully felt the power of a film I thought I knew well. Since then, I have watched Jaws every year on or near the 4th of July, and when it was re-released in 2022, I saw it on IMAX. I own Jaws socks, t-shirts, a Jaws coffee mug, and a Jaws Yahtzee set. 

My favorite _________: Jaws is my favorite July 4th movie. 

List Position at Debut: Jaws is the fourteenth entry in this project and starts at number two. 

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Tim’s Favorite Movie Project: Predator

Predator (1987)

Directed by John McTiernan

Starring Arnold Schwarzenegger, Carl Weathers, Jesse Ventura, Sonny Landham, Elpidia Carrillo, Bill Duke, Shane Black, Richard Chaves, Kevin Peter Hall

Released June 12, 1987

Plot: When a foreign cabinet minister and his aide are captured by insurgents in the jungles of an unnamed South American country (but…we all know it’s Val Verde, right?), the CIA calls in a team of mercenaries who specialize in rescues. The hunters soon become the hunted as someone or something begins to pick off the soldiers one by one.   

One of my favorites because: Predator is the ultimate 1980s action movie. Arnold Schwarzenegger has rarely been as good and has never been better than he was as Dutch, at the peak of his physicality and in a role tailored to his strengths as an actor – and yes, Arnold is an actor, and a very smart one. The plot is straightforward and action heavy without being dumb or lacking twists and complications. The characters are well defined individuals, easy to invest in. But what makes Predator a capital-A Action classic is that John McTiernan constructs the action setpieces in the film in the same way that he would later build Die Hard: each one is distinct and could stand alone as a short film; each one progresses the plot and develops the characters; and each one builds in length and intensity as the characters’ numbers are whittled down. Predator also avoids many of the elements typical of 1980s action that could be considered problematic or could date the film – sure, it doesn’t come close to passing the Bechdel test, and it features a famous f-bomb (the other f-bomb), but it also features a racially diverse cast and a female character who is allowed to hold her own with the men in terms of intelligence and toughness without being sexualized or masculinized. Predator is gritty, grimy, sweaty, muddy, and very bloody. It’s by turns bright and beautiful, and very dark. Predator is adrenaline pumping entertainment that has stood the test of time.

My relationship to this movie: I used to see the VHS boxes of Predator and Predator 2 in Video to Go (the slightly more indie of two independent video rental stores in Penn Yan), but neither cover’s art really said what the film was about – Predator had Schwarzenegger with a gun against a tie-die background and crosshairs over his armpit, Predator 2 just had a cloudy sky over a city skyline against a sunset. When I was in maybe 6th grade, someone loaned me the TPB of Batman Versus Predator II: Bloodmatch and I was blown away – I had to see what this movie was. I had heard that some of my friends had watched it at a birthday party some years prior, so I campaigned hard to get my parents to let me rent it. FINALLY they did, and my dad and I watched it on the small TV in my parents’ room so my younger siblings wouldn’t be upset. It was intense for me because I kept expecting dad to turn it off and say it was too violent, but I loved it – I was shocked by the gore and thrilled by the action. Dad actually liked the movie – “Quite a plot twist!” was his reaction (I think he had missed the space ship at the very beginning). In the more than 25 years since, I have owned the film on multiple formats (I currently own three Blu-ray copies - the original release, the 3-D conversion, and a box-set with the remastered "Ultimate Hunter Edition" disc), and I have no idea how many times I’ve seen it. I watch it every summer, when the weather is hot.

My favorite _________: Predator is my favorite macho action movie from the 1980s.  

List Position at Debut:Predator is the thirteenth entry in this project and starts at number three. (I was a bit surprised it was that high!)

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Tim’s Favorite Movie Project: Critters 2: The Main Course

Critters 2: The Main Course (1988)

Directed by Mick Garris

Starring Scott Grimes, Liane Curtis, Don Opper, Terrence Mann, Barry Corbin, Roxanne Kernohan

Released April 29, 1988

Plot: Two years after the events of Critters, the citizens of Grover’s Bend have resumed a normal, Krite-free existence. The peace is shattered when Krite eggs are discovered, mistaken for some kind of antiques (?!) and begin to hatch. Soon after, shape shifting alien bounty hunters Ug and Lee return to join the citizens in an epic battle for Grover’s Bend – and Earth itself!

One of my favorites because: Critters 2 is an oddity in so many ways. On the surface, it’s a pretty basic sequel – it gathers all the survivors of the first film (well – those who were willing to return), and more or less repeats the premise. But Critters 2 is a gratuitous sequel that’s self-conscious about being a gratuitous sequel. Critters 2 is a PG-13 rated film that raises the level graphic gore from the first film, and features 80’s action movie levels of nudity (working in a brilliant Airplane! level sight gag). It’s a film that doesn’t seem to have any artistic reason to exist, and it capitalizes on that by featuring main characters struggling to find their place in the world: Brad tries to hide his identity because of his association with the events of Critters, and Charlie is reluctant to return to Earth for fear of being shoehorned back into his old role. The shapeshifting Lee spends the whole film restlessly trying to find what shape it belongs in; Sheriff Harv is now played by a different actor and doesn’t want to be a part of this at all. But what really makes Critters 2 memorable, and what earns it a place (at least for now) on this favorites list, is the strength and novelty of its Easter imagery. The Krite eggs are mistaken for God knows what, decorated, and used in an Easter egg hunt, which is all well and good, but can’t compete with the most memorable sequence in the film in which a man dressed as the Easter Bunny gets his suit filled with hungry Critters and crashes as a bloody mess through a church window. Exceptional. There are so many Christmas horror movies, but it’s somewhat harder to find any that exploit the bright colors and silly imagery of Easter – and maybe that’s because it’ll never get any better than this.  

My relationship to this movie: When I was little, my grandparents had a side room where grandpa had a little 8” or 10” color television set up. When we were at their house, us kids would hang in that room and watch whatever was on – usually movies on TBS or Channel 11. This meant very little adult interference, but also zero control over what was on or what parts of it we saw. That is where I saw the Easter Bunny sequence for the first time. (This is the first but definitely not the last time a movie I saw on that TV will make this list.) That experience, probably in 1989, represented the sum total of my direct knowledge of the Critters franchise until 2019. I would have movie nights with my friend in Buffalo by syncing our starts and texting throughout the movie; she picked Critters (and for some reason, Critters Attack!) in late fall 2019, and was disappointed that the scene I was waiting for was not in that movie. Then, in late summer 2020, I got into the rest of the series via Scream! Factory’s loaded Blu-ray box set. Revisiting Critters 2 for this writing was the fourth time I’ve watched the movie in its entirety.  

My favorite _________: Critters 2 is my favorite Easter movie. List Position at Debut:Critters 2 is the twelfth entry in this project and starts at number twelve.

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Tim’s Favorite Movie Project: Blade

Blade (1998)

Directed by Stephen Norrington

Starring Wesley Snipes, Kris Kristofferson, Stephen Dorff, N’Bushe Wright, Sanaa Lathan, Donal Logue

Released August 21, 1998

Plot: There are vampires among us, integrated into the world of human beings, from sharing the subway to controlling the police to influencing the highest levels of government. This peaceful coexistence is threatened from within the vampires’ ranks by the evil Deacon Frost (Stephen Dorff) who wants to turn everyone into vampires (but…who would they eat? Nevermind!), and from the outside by Blade (Wesley Snipes), the Daywalker, a vampire hunting superhero.  

One of my favorites because: Blade is a multi-genre high water mark. It features startling, nightmarish horror imagery. It has martial arts action that is peerlessly choreographed and brutal. It’s got the first and arguably coolest example of the superhero landing pose. In the decade following Blade’s release, I judged franchise starters X-Men, Spider-Man, Underworld,  Daredevil, Batman Begins, and even Iron Man and Twilight against Blade. This past weekend, February 25, I once again saw a 35MM print of Blade with an audience at The Little in Rochester. Nearly 25 years later, the film is a crowd pleaser, fresh and fun, sharp and witty, visceral and engaging, showing its age mostly in some questionable CGI near the end. I friggin’ love Blade. And it’s sort of hard to talk about why I love Blade without mentioning at least the first sequel – Blade II was the first time I clocked the name Guillermo Del Toro, and it’s a film that both expands and improves on everything about its predecessor, and also reinforces just how great Blade is as a foundational piece.

My relationship to this movie: I knew the character of Blade from a 1992 Marvel Universe trading card.

I knew Wesley Snipes primarily as Willie Mays Hayes from Major League. So when my cousin and I walked into Lake Street Plaza Theatres on Sunday, August 22, 1998, there really wasn’t any way to be prepared for the ultra-bloody superhero/horror mashup we were about to see. I loved it all – the opening Blood Bath turned my stomach, the martial arts action and loud techno music had my fists pumping, and I was 100% in on this character who was not only the coolest guy ever, but also seemed to know how cool he was. Seriously - everything he does in the movie is cool: how he walks, how he talks, how he fights, gestures, laughs, even how he bleeds or reacts to pain. As was common in Penn Yan, also attending that screening were several Mennonite boys. (My understanding was that they hung out at the laundromat next door to the theater to collect coins.) They were in the room for the opening sequence, left for a short time, and returned with a couple more kids – their minds were being blown by all of this as much as ours! When the movie came out on VHS, my brother bought it. I'm sure I also owned the DVD, but I certainly have the Blu-ray - it's a movie I've returned to again and again, and introduced many people to.

My favorite _________: Blade is my favorite movie about someone trying to ice skate wrong.

List Position at Debut: Blade is the eleventh entry in this project and starts at number six. 

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Quick Sundance/Slamdance Recap

Quick Sundance/Slamdance Recap

I went to Park City, UT for Sundance and Slamdance* last week, only my second time in person (the first was 2010). My primary purpose was to meet with filmmakers and to promote filmmaking in the Rochester/Finger Lakes region; I did, however, make some time to see some films. When I’m participating in a festival or event for work, I choose the films I see based on a set of criteria – it’s not about what Tim WANTS to see, it’s about seeing the work of filmmakers I’ve connected with or hope to connect with. The nice thing about this is that I usually don’t even read a synopsis of the film before I see it, so I get to experience the film without preconceptions – which means surprises.**

This is a rundown of last week in Sundance/Slamdance screenings, in the order I saw them, with brief reactions. Each and every one of these films is worthy of a lengthy review and discussion, and I’m more than happy to chat about them – but this is a document of my week in movies in Park City, not really about the films themselves.

Mutt (Sundance, Eccles Theater, Monday, 1/23 2:55 PM – PREMIERE) 24 hours in the life of a young trans man in NYC, during which individuals from various parts of his past enter his life, each challenging and illuminating aspects of his identity. I got to the theater by the skin of my teeth – the Sundance pre-roll had already begun. There was some confusion about the buses – I met a couple of filmmakers from LA, and we followed the advice of a very friendly person who seemed to know what she was talking about, but almost certainly added ten minutes to our ride to the theater. The lower level of the Eccles theater was packed, so I was up in the balcony. The screening was open captioned, I’m sure because several of the characters are bilingual, but also perhaps because of a push for accessibility at Sundance screenings.

Love Dump/Mahogany Drive (Slamdance, Treasure Mountain Inn Ballroom, Monday, 1/23 8:00 PM) Mahogany Drive is a wild short about three Black men who discover their Air BnB is killing white women. Love Dump is a parody of Hallmark romances about a couple finding each other among the trash in Chicago. My first Slamdance screening! The ballroom is small, with risers and individual chairs for perhaps 60 people. I met the filmmakers (director, writers/stars, and DP) in the hallway as they were encouraging people to see the film (it hadn’t sold out). I also met a young guy from New Hampshire who was attending film festivals in lieu of film school, and chatted with him about (relatively) obscure Cronenberg films.

Fremont (Sundance, Virtual, Tuesday 1/24) Fremont is the story of a young woman who served as a translator for the US Armed Forces in Afghanistan, and is now working at a fortune cookie factory. Wry and understated, Fremont is a delightful film.

Fuzzy Head/Write a Song About Heartache (Slamdance, Treasure Mountain Inn Ballroom, Tuesday 1/24 3:15 PM) Write a Song About Heartache is a clever short about a country singer and his unusual songwriting partner (you have to see it!). Fuzzy Head is a trip through the cluttered and unreliable recollections of a young woman whose mother has died of a gunshot wound – and the question of who pulled the trigger. Back to the ballroom at the Treasure Mountain Inn! Wendy McColm, Writer/Director/Star of Fuzzy Head had left printed sheets with ornate poetry and metal keys on strings with QR codes taped to them by hand. The QR codes led to her website (https://www.wendyfilms.com/). I found this personal touch, this engagement with the audience, to be very moving, and emblematic of the attitude of Slamdance filmmakers. I took one of the keys for my four year old niece, who I hope will use it as inspiration as she develops her creativity. I spoke with the Fuzzy Head team (Wendy herself, and her producers, cast, and art director) – they’re passionate filmmakers and lovely people.

Onyx the Fortuitous and the Talisman of Souls (Sundance, Virtual, Tuesday 1/24) With echoes of Ernest P. Worrell, online character Onyx the Fortuitous makes his feature debut in a story involving a devil worship cult, a haunted mansion, and some precious action figures. What’s remarkable to me about this film, which is described as a “throwback,” is how it melds internet culture with tried and true genre filmmaking – to me, it seems less of a throwback and more of a bellwether. Frustratingly, I was fighting sleep for the last part of the film, so I’m very much looking forward to revisiting it.

The Accidental Getaway Driver (Sundance, Virtual, Wednesday 1/25) An elderly rideshare driver picks up three prison escapees; they kidnap the driver and over the course of their time together, unexpected bonds develop, existing bonds are tested, and the four men’s pasts are uncovered as their futures become increasingly certain. It’s an intense, involving film that melds thriller elements with character study.

MiND MY GOOFiNESS: the Self Portrait (Slamdance, Virtual, Wednesday 1/25) Shot in portrait mode, this is a day in the life of one guy in LA who bounces from encounter to encounter – with friends, relatives, and strangers – with each encounter revealing at least some of how he sees himself. Quirky, engaging, and offbeat – a bit of a riff on Slacker.

Space Happy: Phil Thomas Katt and the Uncharted Zone (Slamdance, Virtual, Wednesday 1/25) A straightforward, pleasant, engaging documentary about Pensacola, FL local celebrity and late night television personality Phil Thomas Katt, whose lo-fi music videos for an eclectic group of would be local stars took YouTube by storm in the late aughts. There are moments in this doc that moved me more than anything else I saw during the week.

Past Lives (Sundance, Ray Theater, Thursday 1/26 8:15 AM) After emigrating from Korea as a child, a woman reconnects with a childhood friend years later at very different points in their lives. This was an early morning screening and it was fun to start the day with an excited audience.

Free LSD (Slamdance, Treasure Mountain Inn Ballroom, Thursday 1/26 5:00 PM – PREMIERE) Free LSD is a nearly indescribable sci-fi/horror/fantasy head trip starring the members of punk supergroup OFF! as parallel versions of themselves who have to save the world through their music. And drugs. The closing night film of Slamdance 2023, this was a super cool experience – an excited crowd, filmmakers who were seeing their film, a true labor of love, with an audience for the first time, and a film festival putting the closing exclamation on an exuberant year of programming. The best thing for me: the guy I’d met at the Love Dump screening sat with me, and after the film looked at me and asked, “Have you ever seen anything like that?” And – I mean, yeah, I have, sorta, but I’m twice his age, and it was so exciting to be there for someone having a singular, eye-opening filmgoing experience.

Jamojaya (Sundance, Virtual, Friday 1/27) A young Indonesian rapper is in Hawaii to record his major label debut and to shoot the accompanying video, when his father (and former manager) shows up unexpectedly, creating unforeseen complications. It’s a simple setup for a complex, ornate, stylish film that examines complex relationships across cultural boundaries.

The Persian Version (Sundance, Ray Theater, Friday 1/27 2:15 PM) A young writer explores her history and that of her family, from her parents marriage in Iran in the 1960s through her childhood in the 1980s and 1990s spent between Iran and the US. (Honestly, I don’t know how to describe this film in one sentence – I think I kind of did it, but I know I didn’t sell it. It’s a magical film that dances (sometimes literally) among tones, among generations, and through the lives of its characters. See it!) I bought my ticket to this screening about an hour before the Sundance awards were announced – this one won both the audience award and the Waldo Salt Screenwriting Award in the U.S. dramatic competition. I was even more excited to see it, and the theater filled up with people making last minute decisions to see the film. It was wonderful to laugh and cry (not me, but the rest of them) with an audience through an utterly unpredictable film. I sat next to a young Sundance Industry volunteer from LA who had a loud and infectious laugh.

A Perfect Day for Caribou (Slamdance, Virtual, Saturday 1/28) An old man reconnects with his adult son and seven year old grandson in a cemetery on the day he plans to commit suicide. Offbeat, droll, often very funny, and gorgeously shot in black and white, A Perfect Day for Caribou explores generational rifts and the complexities of relationships defined largely by shaky memories and secondhand recollections.

Young. Wild. Free. (Sundance, Virtual, Saturday 1/28) In a weird mashup of Bonnie and Clyde, Something Wild, and Menace II Society, a Black high schooler meets a free spirited foster kid who pushes and pulls him through new experiences that range from mischievous to dangerous to exciting and ultimately to tragic. This is the only Sundance film I saw (out of eight – nine if you count Infinity Pool, see below) that did not fully work for me. Avoiding spoilers, I will just say that the narrative problems created by the ending are not justified by any dramatic contributions it makes to the film as a whole.

Unicorn Boy (Slamdance, Virtual, Saturday 1/28) A young animator in Los Angeles becomes entangled in the affairs of a parallel world filled with unicorns and rainbows and fantastic creatures, while trying to come to terms with personal crises in their real life. Okay – the only possible negative about this film is that I think it’s overlong, but it’s a wildly creative and very moving independent animated feature. It’s great.

Waiting for the Light to Change (Slamdance, Virtual, Saturday 1/28) A group of friends spend a week at a lake house belonging to one of their relatives; during the time, relationships are grown, tested, altered and redefined. Sort of a lo-fi, modern take on The Big Chill, the film is quiet and restrained, chilly, sincere, and honest.

*For those who may be unaware: the Slamdance Film Festival runs concurrently with Sundance in Park City, and is a festival with a very different vibe and energy – punkier, scrappier, smaller, but just as devoted to filmmakers and film lovers.

**For instance – most of the films I sought out were American productions, but I was surprised when nearly every one from Sundance heavily featured non-English dialogue – Spanish in Mutt, Dari and Cantonese in Fremont, Vietnamese in The Accidental Getaway Driver, Bahasa Indonesian in Jamojaya, Korean in Past Lives, Persian in The Persian Version.

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Tim’s Favorite Movie Project: Cannibal! The Musical

Cannibal! The Musical (1993)

Directed by Trey Parker

Starring Trey Parker, Matt Stone, Dian Bachar

Released October 31, 1993 (sort of…)

Plot: On trial for cannibalism, Alferd Packer (Trey Parker) relates the story of how his traveling companions met gruesome ends in the Rocky Mountains. The tale involves lots of singing, a cyclops, fur trappers, Native Americans (?), and a missing horse.

One of my favorites because: It’s bonkers. Cannibal! The Musical is mostly a true story of survival in the American west, filled with catchy songs, sight gags, bizarre characters, and ludicrous dialogue. It was made on a shoestring, and although that’s obvious, it’s also obvious that it was made with attention to each and every detail. The DNA of Parker and Stone’s South Park is on display, from a voice here and a gag there to a fascination with the Mormon faith. It’s so, so strange, and so, so funny. It also serves as an inspiration for and a challenge to young and/or student filmmakers – you CAN do it, you really can, and it can be whatever you want it to be…but you’ve got no excuse for it not being any good.

My relationship to this movie: I started film school in the fall of 2002, nearly a decade after this film was completed, and South Park was in constant rotation. There was no legitimate streaming in those days, not really, so episodes floated around as individual DivX files (or whatever) and everyone I knew was quoting the show. (We’d also seen every episode because there had only been five seasons!) One night, as we were editing a class project in a dorm room – legit, cutting 16 MM film into strips, taping them to the top bunk, and splicing them back together on a portable reel to reel flatbed – my friends became aware that I had not seen Cannibal, and immediately put on the DVD. I was blown away – their excitement at showing me the film, the way they quoted and sang along with the movie, was like my own private Rocky Horror screening experience. I was making a student film, watching a film made by students, and for the first time understanding that this is for real. Shortly after, I bought that Troma DVD myself, and have since bought a subsequent Troma-released special edition. I’ve seen the movie dozens of times, and I’ve shown it to many people – friends, girlfriends, my parents. Whenever anyone mentions Provo, I have to stop and think whether it has a curse on it.

My favorite _________: Cannibal! The Musical is my favorite student film.  

List Position at Debut: Cannibal! The Musical is the tenth entry in this project and starts at number seven. 

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Tim’s Favorite Movie Project: The Descent

The Descent (2005)

Directed by Neil Marshall

Starring Shauna Macdonald, Natalie Mendoza, Alex Reid, Saskia Mulder, Nora-Jane Noone, MyAnna Buring

Released August 4, 2006

Plot: A year after suffering an unimaginable loss, Sarah (Shauna Macdonald) joins five of her friends on a vacation to explore an underground cave system. As the six amateur athletes descend into the darkness, they begin to uncover shocking truths about themselves, each other, and what it will take to make it back to the surface.

One of my favorites because: This film is a masterpiece of claustrophobic adventure-horror filmmaking. The characters are relatable, realistic, and never for a moment slide into movie clichés – so when they find themselves lost and/or trapped in a cave system, the film feels like a documentary of real people dealing with a real problem. The Descent had me curled into a ball in my seat in the theater, unable to stop watching but desperately willing the movie to let up for even a moment. It refused. Neil Marshall uses the John Carpenter font to slyly announce that you’re in for a tense, isolated, Ten Little Indians style adventure like The Thing. The use of widescreen seems at odds with a claustrophobic feeling, but the extra space only reminds us that there’s nowhere to go. This is one of the scariest films I’ve ever seen, and I love it.

My relationship to this movie: I saw The Descent at Movies 10, our local dollar theater showing second run movies, the Wednesday before it left theaters for good. It scared the crap out of me – again, I curled up in my seat, every muscle tense for nearly the entire film. When I went to work the next day, I all but begged one of my coworkers who liked horror and was a Carpenter fan to go, just get to the theater because he’d be sorry if he saw this on video later. He thanked me the next day. I loaned it to my roommate to watch in his room with his girlfriend – he got mad at me because it was “the scariest thing he’d ever seen.” My mom refused to watch when I showed it to my younger brother – but stood in the doorway to the kitchen reacting to every moment. Based on my mom’s reaction, my grandma (!) bought the DVD – The Descent was one of two movies she owned on DVD. (The other was The Notebook.) The reason I’m writing about The Descent at this particular moment is that M3GAN has a great moment that must be an homage to this film – I intentionally don’t describe much of The Descent, so I won’t say what it is, but if you know both films you’ll know what I mean.

My favorite _________: The Descent is my favorite Neil Marshall movie (copout category, I know).

List Position at Debut: The Descent is the ninth movie in this project and starts at number four.   

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My Favorite Films of 2022

Lists are an easy way to make recommendations and an easy way for people to digest them, and since at least a couple of people are reading my Favorite Movies posts, I thought I’d post a list of my ten favorite films from 2022 before Sundance kicks off my 2023 season. These are my ten favorite movies from 2022, in the order in which I saw them, with links to JustWatch (so you can see them too!) or IMDB (if they’re not available yet).

Emily the Criminal – John Patton Ford’s film crackles with energy from the first frame to the last. Aubrey Plaza is so intense it’s frightening. Just like its main character, Emily the Criminal has a heart, a soul, and a personality, and it’s not going to stop until it’s done. (Sundance)

God’s Country – Adapting his own short film “Winter Light” (itself an adaptation of a short story), Julian Higgins adds depth and meaning with every decision, from what he keeps to what he changes to what he adds. Thandiwe Newton finds new ways to surprise as she embodies a person who defines her boundaries and holds strong to them. (Sundance)

To Leslie – If there’s one of these 10 that could top the others, it’s this one. Andrea Riseborough delivers one of the best performances I’ve ever seen as an alcoholic for whom recovery does not seem to be something she’s likely to achieve, which may be just fine with her. She is the centerpiece of a film that is heartbreaking without being manipulative, a journey that will not be easy but ultimately ends where it should. (SXSW)

The Batman – We’re living in a time where the blockbusters all seem to share names with comic books I read to tatters as a kid, so I had to include one. I love that this is a three hour movie that I was surprised was ending, and I love that this a movie about BATMAN – not about the villain, not about “Bruce Wayne.” Robert Pattinson’s Batman seems uncomfortable when he’s out of his batsuit, which is something I don’t think we’ve ever seen to this degree. (He should’ve gotten the answer to that riddle, like, right away though.) (Wide Release)

Cherry – Sophie Galibert’s film doesn’t seem to be available anywhere yet, which is a bummer! It’s a bubbly, good natured character piece anchored by a dynamite Alex Trewhitt as Cherry, who finds out she’s pregnant and has 24 hours to make one of the hardest decisions imaginable. It’s smarter, funnier, cooler, and quirkier than you think, and though it is sort of about abortion, it does women everywhere justice by focusing on who Cherry is as a person, and not on her pregnancy. (Tribeca)

A Wounded Fawn – I am a fan of Travis Stevens’ work as a director, but neither of his previous films had in any way prepared me for the heady trip of A Wounded Fawn. Part Giallo, part cabin in the woods movie, part fantasy revenge flick, and part surreal Greek mythological allegory, Stevens’ film is a delirious visual rollercoaster. At the core of all the madness are brilliant dueling lead performances from Josh Ruben as the alternately terrifying and terrified villain and Sarah Lind as the object of his malice and the engine of his destruction. The final shot of A Wounded Fawn is my favorite shot in any movie from 2022, which I almost hesitate to say because it could set you up for disappointment – but just wait until you see it. (Tribeca)

They Wait in the Dark – Patrick Rea’s genre melding domestic thriller/ghost story is the most unassuming film on this list. TWITD starts as a story of a woman returning to her childhood home with her young son, on the run from an abusive ex, but it has so much more up its sleeve than that. The script is smart, the cast is great, and the ending is satisfying. This one isn't available quite yet, but watch for it! (Popcorn Frights)

Barbarian – Seriously, don’t read anything about this movie. Don’t watch a trailer. Don’t look at a cast list. Don’t even look too hard at the poster. Turn your phone off (don’t silence it – OFF). Turn the lights OFF. Turn the volume UP. And watch it as soon as you can. Barbarian is the movie I have recommended more than any other this year. (Wide Release)

Halloween Ends – At least, it ends the David Gordon Green era of the Halloween franchise. You can read all about this film anywhere and everywhere, but what I love about it is that it’s one of the most multi-layered, head scratching, expectations-defying franchise films ever made. But then again, since when did we think we knew what to expect from a Halloween III? (Wide Release - saw it in the theater, despite Peacock day and date)

Bones and All – Awesome film. No notes. Bones and All is a film about understanding– understanding who you are, understanding where you come from, understanding where you fit in the world, understanding other people, and perhaps most importantly, being UNDERSTOOD. These universal human desires drive this story of teenage runaways and romance set in the towns and on the roads in between where you came from and where you’re heading. (Wide Release)

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Tim’s Favorite Movie Project: Friday the 13th:  The Final Chapter

Friday the 13th: The Final Chapter (1984)

Directed by Joseph Zito

Starring Corey Feldman, Crispin Glover

Released April 13, 1984

Plot: After drowning decades prior to the events of Friday the 13th, being stabbed and hacked to death submission in Friday the 13th Part 2, and being finished off in Friday the 13th Part 3 by being hung and taking an axe to the face, a shocked and disoriented Jason Voorhees wakes up in the morgue and returns to Crystal Lake to do final(ish) battle with a new group of teens, along with a mom, a dog, and makeup effects enthusiast Tommy Jarvis (Corey Feldman).

One of my favorites because: This is the essential Friday the 13th. If someone who had never heard of this franchise asked me what it was like, I would show that person this film. It has Jason in it, and he wears his iconic hockey mask throughout; it has Tom Savini’s surprising, gory effects; it has my favorite non-Jason characters in the series. This is also the series at the peak of its 80’s-ness (I would entertain an argument that it plateaus after this through parts 5 and 6, but we���re sliding toward the 90’s by part 7): its two most recognizable stars are 80s stalwarts, going on to star in three Back to the Future, The Goonies, Gremlins, and The Lost Boys; it features one of those aerobics videos; unmistakable 80s clothes and hair; unapologetic blood and boobs. Friday the 13th: The Final Chapter does not aspire to be anything more or less than the ultimate Jason movie, and it succeeds – previous films were still finding what made this guy scary, and subsequent sequels would all wrestle with how to bring him back again and again. The series often battled the MPAA over gore, but no moment in Friday the 13th: The Final Chapter feels cut unnecessarily short.

My relationship to this movie: I wasn’t exposed to a whole lot of R-rated films as a young kid (like, pre-middle school), particularly horror films, so my concepts of Jason and Freddy were based heavily on what I heard from elementary school classmates who either had seen them or who had older siblings who had. I formed this concept of Jason in my mind as this masked killer who went house to house on suburban streets in the summer killing whoever was home at random. My Jason used long pry bars and weapons like that. That version of Jason is closest to the one we encounter in this film, who targets a family in their home in addition to the required collection of nubile teenagers. As for the film itself: I first rented Friday the 13th – The Final Chapter in high school, and watched it for the first time on a living room cabinet television with my cousin during a sleepover. (He would later buy me a t-shirt with the iconic poster/VHS cover image on it and “Made in Hell” printed on the back as a Christmas gift. I still have the shirt!) Since then, I’ve seen this movie many, many times because it’s just. So. Good.

My favorite _________: Friday the 13th - The Final Chapter is my favorite Friday the 13th movie.

List Position at Debut: Friday the 13th - The Final Chapter is the eighth entry in this project and starts at number six. 

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Tim’s Favorite Movie Project: Pretty Woman

Pretty Woman (1990)

Directed by Garry Marshall

Starring Richard Gere, Julia Roberts

Released March 18, 1990

Plot: A wealthy businessman (Richard Gere) picks up a sex worker (Julia Roberts) in Hollywood. After spending an evening together, he hires her to be his escort for the week, and the two develop an unexpected emotional attachment. It must’ve been love.

One of my favorites because: Pretty Woman is a great movie. This is what it looks like when “Hollywood Movie” is not used as a pejorative, but rather as the highest compliment. Pretty Woman is smartly directed by a Garry Marshall, whose years in the industry (particularly in television) had taught him how to deliver what his audience wanted. It’s cast to perfection from the top down. The film is mature without being dark, sexy without being dirty, funny without being goofy, and romantic without becoming saccharine. Pretty Woman is one of my favorites because it is cinematic comfort food.

My relationship to this movie: Pretty Woman is another movie my mom owned a legit VHS copy of. I have no idea where she got it, but it was probably in 1991 when I was 7 or 8 years old. The movie has no real nudity, no explicit sex or explicit sexual language, very little violence to speak of, and maybe two or three total curse words – so we were allowed to watch it. I had no idea what the relationship between Edward and Vivian was, beyond her giving him directions and the two falling in love. Although I heard the word “hooker” in the movie again and again, I had no real understanding of what it meant – my idea was something closer to “con artist” or “street hustler.”  The movie also has a great soundtrack, and back then, the only way we had to listen to the songs was to watch the movie – and watch it we did, over and over again, until we were juuuuust old enough to start to get what was going on – then the VHS was hidden and I probably didn’t see the movie from 1994 to 2006. The experience of watching and suddenly understanding a movie that I had basically memorized phonetically because so much of it was over my head was surreal. I don’t just mean the more adult material, but even lines like “This thing corners like it’s on rails” had no meaning to a 9 year old. I completely fell in love with a movie I already knew by heart. I just rewatched it for this week’s Scott Aukerman and Shaun Diston’s podcast Scott Hasn’t Seen, and was just as charmed, comforted, and carried away as I’ve ever been.

My favorite _________: Pretty Woman is my favorite version of the Cinderella story.

List Position at Debut: Pretty Woman is the seventh entry in this project and starts at number four. 

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Tim’s Favorite Movie Project: Assault on Precinct 13

Assault on Precinct 13 (2005)

Directed by Jean-Francois Richet

Starring Ethan Hawke, Laurence Fishburne, John Leguizamo, Maria Bello, Brian Dennehy, Gabriel Byrne

Released January 19, 2005

Plot: On a snowy New Year’s Eve, the staff of Detroit’s soon-to-be shuttered Precinct 13 is enjoying their last few hours before beginning their resolutions. When the snowstorm forces a bus carrying dangerous prisoners to stop at the building, the revelers find themselves under attack by well armed assailants hell-bent on reaching one of the prisoners. In the ensuing violence, loyalties are tested, unlikely truces made, and the audience will have no choice but to decide how many squib hits are real and how many are digital.

One of my favorites because: This film is part of the wave of mid 2000s remakes of ‘70s/early ‘80s genre classics, along with Dawn of the Dead (2004), The Fog (2005), The Hills Have Eyes (2006), and Halloween (2007), among others. Assault on Precinct 13 is among the best of them, a surprisingly smart, slick, and well-made reimagining of John Carpenter’s 1976 film. I like it for the same reasons I like the best remakes – it’s recognizable if you’ve seen the original, but it’s not a retread. It stands on its own, working well for new viewers and full of surprises for fans who know the original film by heart. I really dig that this is a hard R-rated action film released in an era dominated by watered down PG-13 nonsense. But more than that, I dig that it’s a story of characters making choices – who to trust, whether to lead or follow, and who to follow – and then having to live or die based on those choices. It’s very intentionally set on New Year’s Eve, because whoever survives the night will be faced with a new beginning based on their decisions – their resolutions, if you will.

My relationship to this movie: We saw this movie shortly after it opened in January of 2005. I was excited because I loved the remake trend.*  At that time, we used to see just about every movie that came out because one of my friends worked at Regal. For some reason, we were late to Assault on Precinct 13 and came in just as the opening titles were starting. I loved the movie – it’s action packed fun. It wasn’t until I bought the DVD months later that I realized there’s a brilliant, violent opening scene that introduces Ethan Hawke’s character and showcases his acting ability in a way that the rest of the film never really does. This movie made me an Ethan Hawke fan – nothing I had seen him in had really stuck with me, and I wouldn’t see Before Sunrise until that summer. Since then, it’s been one of my New Year’s Eve go-tos.

*I’ll debate the validity of remakes anytime, but regardless of anything else, they’re instructive for up-and-coming filmmakers – what the remake keeps the same, what it changes, how it changes it, why, and whether it succeeds provide direct case studies in inspiration and influence.

My favorite _________: This is my favorite New Year’s Eve movie, although I suppose technically most of it takes place on New Year’s Day.

List Position at Debut: Assault on Precinct 13 is the sixth entry in this project and starts out at number six. 

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Tim’s Favorite Movie Project: Die Hard

Die Hard (1988)

Directed by John McTiernan

Starring Bruce Willis, Alan Rickman, Bonnie Bedelia, Reginald VelJohnson

Released July 22, 1988 (wide)

Plot: When Lieutenant John McClane (Bruce Willis) of the NYPD planned to visit his wife (Bonnie Bedelia) at her company’s corporate Christmas party at a high rise in Los Angeles on Christmas Eve, he probably expected to get into a fight – he just didn’t expect that fight to be with twelve vicious, well-armed European terrorists. But the terrorists, led by Hans Gruber (Alan Rickman), hadn’t planned on John McClane, either. As Christmas day draws closer, Hans and John play cinema’s greatest game of cat and mouse. Will John walk off into the sunset?

My relationship to this movie: My mom taped Die Hard during an HBO or Showtime free preview in probably 1989. She used to watch the movie while she worked out on a loud ski/row exercise machine in the living room, and although there was no way us kids were “allowed” to watch a film as violent and profanity-laden as Die Hard, there really was no way around kindergarten me catching more than a glimpse of the excitement. I was hooked. Die Hard was something we’d play on the playground, Die Hard 2 was something we’d play in the snow, and when Die Hard With a Vengeance came out, I read the novelization. I remember a friend of mine chanting “John McClane, baby, John McClane!” while rooting me on during an arm wrestling contest in middle school, and when we all wore white A-shirts in high school, we didn’t call them “wife beaters,” but “McClanes.”

As I grew up and began to appreciate films for more than just their entertainment value, but also their craft, my love of Die Hard only grew. One of my best friends in film school was a guy who had poo-poo’d action movies as somehow “less than,” and thought they were overly macho and brainless. One night, the girls decided to have a “Girls Night” and went to see Chicago. He was annoyed that they’d excluded us, and said “Why don’t we have a guys night and watch Die Hard?” We watched the movie in my dorm room, quietly, and when the credits rolled, I fully expected some kind of smartass dismissal of the movie, so I didn’t ask what he thought – I just said “what should we watch next?” His reply: “What’s wrong with Die Hard 2?”  My answer? NOTHING. (We watched all three that night, and his favorite ended up being Die Hard With a Vengeance.)

Die Hard is one of two movies I’ve watched every Christmas Eve after church for at least 20 years (the other is It’s a Wonderful Life.) It’s baked into who I am as a movie fan and a lover of film (there is a difference). It’s a part of nearly every important relationship I’ve ever had – Die Hard has been a key point of reference with family, friends from every stage of life, teachers and mentors, coworkers, even girlfriends. I wrote about Die Hard and Die Hard 2 as Christmas movies nine years ago right here, and I don’t have much new to say. It’s as near to perfection as movies get, and it never gets old. Like the best of holiday traditions, it provides added joy during a good year, and comfort following a bad one.   

My favorite _________: Die Hard is my favorite action movie.

List Position at Debut: Die Hard is the fifth entry in this project and starts at number one (knocking out Planes, Trains & Automobiles). 

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Tim’s Favorite Movie Project: Black Christmas

Black Christmas (1974)

Produced and Directed by Bob Clark

Starring Olivia Hussey, Keir Dullea, Margot Kidder, John Saxon, Andrea Martin, Art Hindle

Released October 11, 1974

Plot: With the Christmas holiday fast approaching, several sorority sisters find themselves the targets of an obscene caller whose phone antics may have heralded murderous attacks. As the police and the sisters desperately try to locate a missing girl and sort through a list of suspects, their search becomes a race against time to stop a crazed killer.

One of my favorites because: I wrote a blurb about the film here in this very space back in 2013, and I feel more or less the same way now that I did then – this is a depressing, cold, and mercilessly bleak film that attacks the heart of the Holiday, the very idea of family. When you’re done with it, you want to curl up tighter under the blankets, hug your loved ones closer, and thank the dear Lord that in 2022 you can turn the ringer off on your phone.

My relationship to this movie: I first became aware of Black Christmas on December 19, 1997, when it was name dropped (along with Silent Night, Deadly Night) on the Millennium season two episode “Midnight of the Century.” I didn’t see the film until 2005 when I was a senior in college, and I had been so busy between my student job and coursework that the holiday season added more stress than excitement. So to cope, rather than the Christmas movie standards, I went to Video Barn in Henrietta and rented all the Christmas horror movies they had. Black Christmas, Silent Night, Deadly Night 1 and 2, Christmas Evil, Santa Claws, probably more. Video Barn had two DVDs of Black Christmas with two distinctly different presentations – one was full frame, I think, and one was a Canadian import. I rented both and watched the movie multiple times that season, and again the next. Since then, I’ve owned multiple editions of the film on DVD and Blu-ray. One year, I think 2011, they showed a 35MM print of Black Christmas at The Dryden – a faded, rough old print that only added to the hopelessness of the film.

My favorite _________: Black Christmas is my favorite Christmas-set horror movie.

List Position at Debut: Black Christmas is the fourth entry in this project and starts at number two. 

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Tim’s Favorite Movie Project: Lethal Weapon

Lethal Weapon (1987)

Directed by Richard Donner

Starring Mel Gibson, Danny Glover, Gary Busey, Mitchell Ryan, Tom Atkins

Released March 6, 1987

Plot: On his 50th birthday, homicide detective Roger Murtaugh (Danny Glover), a family man, is assigned a new partner: Martin Riggs (Mel Gibson), an ex-special forces loose cannon who may be suicidal. When they stumble onto a drug smuggling operation that has ties to both of their time in Vietnam, Riggs and Murtaugh must set aside their differences in order to shoot or blow up all the bad guys in LA in time for Christmas dinner.

One of my favorites because: If there is one single hallmark of a Richard Donner movie, it’s that each of them is populated by extremely well defined, well written, perfectly cast and often iconic characters – Damien Thorn, Superman, the Goonies, Frank Cross (y’know, from Scrooged). Riggs and Murtaugh are the be all to end all of Buddy Cop Duos – the men could not be more different on the page, the actors could not be more different, and their on-screen realizations could scarcely be more opposed, and their chemistry is through the roof. (Mel Gibson is so good as Riggs, you almost wonder if he’s crazy in real life!) I’m also a huge sucker for a Christmas-set genre movie – more on that in coming entries – and Shane Black never used the holiday casually. In Lethal Weapon in particular, the theme of personal loss and loneliness during the holidays contrasts with the theme of family and togetherness, both in the main characters and in the crime plot they find themselves in. Hunsaker, a member of a tight knit “family” of former military drug smugglers loses a daughter just before Christmas – in a way, acting as a twisted funhouse mirror amalgam of both Riggs and Murtaugh. Lethal Weapon opens with a Christmas song, drugs, boobs, and a suicide, and continually ups the ante – it’s a brilliant mix of exploitative sleaze and exploitative schmaltz.

My relationship to this movie: When I was in sixth grade, we read an article in a weekly reader kind of magazine that talked about violence in movies and whether it was harmful for young audiences (or something). The article mentioned Die Hard by name (among others). After class, I asked the teacher, Mrs. Legault, what she thought of Die Hard. Her reply: “Oh, I love it! It’s great. Do you like it?” I said I did, and she said “Have you seen Lethal Weapon?” I told her I hadn’t, and she said “Oh, I’ll bring you all three of them to borrow, you have to see them!” Mrs. Legault was someone I had known for years as the lady who sat in the pew in front of us at 7:00 Mass every Sunday morning. And now she was bringing me all three Lethal Weapon movies on VHS, neatly rubber banded together. They weren’t movies I’d grown up with, to that point, and Mel Gibson wasn’t a star I knew. My parents didn’t love these movies (that I was aware of) and I had no preconception of them. 13 year old me did not know what I was in for – I must have watched them all three times each, maybe more for Lethal Weapon 2 before giving them back. Lethal Weapon has become a holiday standard for me, perhaps not on the same level as that other ‘80s cop action classic, but it’s still a movie I’ve seen dozens of times and know by heart.

My favorite _________: This is my favorite action movie set at Christmas that stars Mel Gibson (the other being Fatman, which, if you haven’t seen it, you should – it’s probably better than you think, but even if it’s not, Walton Goggins.)

List Position at Debut: Lethal Weapon is the third entry in this project and starts out at number two. 

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Tim’s Favorite Movie Project: Willow

Willow (1987)

Directed by Ron Howard

Starring Val Kilmer, Joanne Whalley, and Warwick Davis

Released May 20, 1987

Plot: When farmer and wannabe sorcerer Willow (Warwick Davis) finds a mysterious baby tucked in a makeshift raft in a river near his home, it sets him on a quest to return the baby to whoever it belongs to. Little does he know the child is Elora Danan, prophesied as some sort of savior of the world, and he is her chosen guardian. As he navigates the outside world, Willow attracts a ragtag group of fellow adventurers, including swordsman Madmartigan (Val Kilmer) and Princess Sorsha (Joanne Whalley). Together, they must overcome an evil sorceress and her armies, hell bent on world domination and the destruction of Elora Danan.

One of my favorites because: The pitch for Willow may as well be “Lord of the Rings” meets Star Wars, and it more than lives up to the high bar set by those epics – especially by the standard of 1988, a mere five years after Return of the Jedi and more than a decade before The Phantom Menace or Peter Jackson’s Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring. The characters begin as archetypes, but through smart writing and great performances, they quickly become distinct and unforgettable heroes and villains. The production is richly designed, from the sets and costumes to the visual effects. The action is big and exciting, but also brutal and dirty – it’s an epic adventure that exists in a world smeared with mud and splashed with blood. And it’s the hard edge of the film that makes it especially important as a gateway movie for older kids and pre-teens. It never feels as though the film is pulling any punches, as characters die, sometimes shockingly, and the villains threats to kill an infant feel very real. Like Lucasfilm’s own Indiana Jones series or Amblin’s Gremlins, Willow lets younger viewers dip their toes in more mature, scarier material without leaving behind the safety net of the fantasy and humor they’re more used to. I also can’t write about Willow without mentioning James Horner’s fantastic score, which immediately brings tears to my eyes.

My relationship to this movie: Willow was released on VHS on November 22, 1988, so it was probably in late 1989 or sometime in 1990 that I first saw it. I don't know where or why they bought it, but the VHS was one of a small handful of movies mom and dad owned (or bought for us). I watched it over, and over, and over again. The death of the nurse maid at the beginning of the movie so thoroughly disturbed me that I would leave the room during that part and listen for when it was safe to come back. We would play Willow outside - it was awesome to find a stick that looked just right to be Cherlindrea's wand! - and I collected the "action figures." (The Willow toy line sucked, in hindsight. It consisted of unarticulated, plastic molded statues fastened to die cast bases. There were deluxe figures that were on horseback - all the horses were the same, just different colors. The scale was all off - Willow was as tall as Madmartigan, and the death dog was almost as big as the horses. It was like playing with chess pieces.)  When Willow was released on DVD in November of 2001, I bought it as soon as I could get to a Best Buy. That happened to be in Indianapolis, IN the first week in December, when I was there for a National Catholic Youth Conference. I was thrilled to finally see the film in Widescreen, to experience what I considered to be the apex of fantasy filmmaking - until The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring was released a couple weeks later. I don't believe that Willow could have existed without Tolkien's work, and even though the films were released 13 years apart,I'm sure its success paved the way for Peter Jackson's trilogy - even if, by comparison, the armies and sieges in Willow look a tad silly.

My favorite _________: Willow is my favorite sword and sorcery fantasy film.

List Position at Debut: Willow is the second entry in this project and starts out at number two. 

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Tim’s Favorite Movie Project: Planes, Trains & Automobiles

Planes, Trains & Automobiles (1987)

Written, Produced, and Directed by John Hughes

Starring Steve Martin and John Candy

Released November 25, 1987

Plot: Straight laced ad man Neal Page (Steve Martin) leaves New York for Chicago two days before Thanksgiving. When his flight is delayed, he meets the obnoxious Del Griffith (John Candy), a traveling shower curtain ring salesman. The odd couple embark on a comedic adventure to get back to Chicago by Thanksgiving.

One of my favorites because: This movie has been as much a part of the official start of my holiday season as Thanksgiving dinner itself for the better part of a decade. I watch this movie annually, and I find something new in it nearly every year – it’s packed to the brim with details, from the hilarious smut novel that Del is reading in the airport (The Canadian Mounted) to the address stamped on Del’s travel chest (the corporate address of American Light and Fixture – not a personal address; caught that one for the first time this year). It’s smartly written, brilliantly performed, and it’s full of heart – a film about the family we choose, and a film about learning to find joy even when life is collapsing all around you. It’s also very, very funny.

My relationship to this movie: I don’t remember the first time I saw Planes, Trains & Automobiles, but it would not surprise me if it was in the 1980s. I’m sure my mom had taped it during an HBO or Showtime preview weekend (remember those?). Back then, the movie scared me – the wrong way scene features some downright terrifying imagery for a 6-or-so-year old kid. Also, I definitely thought that Del Griffith was the same character John Candy played in Home Alone, some kind of an angel whose mission was to get parents home to Chicago during the holidays. After the mid 90’s, though, I probably hadn’t seen the movie until maybe 2012 or 2013 – two holiday seasons that were unbearable for all the ways they were different, all the ways traditions had been broken beyond recovery and I was clinging to whatever shreds of holiday spirit I could for the sake of my sanity. I seemed to remember that the movie was set at Thanksgiving, and bought the DVD and watched the movie with my parents. It has become a Thanksgiving evening tradition – I even bought them their own copy in 2020 when we couldn’t be together to watch the movie, so that we could watch it at the same time, once again rescuing traditions while the world seemed to be crumbling. In so many ways, I feel like Neal Page – I just want things to be the way they should be, dammit, the way I planned them, to work out the way they’re supposed to work out. It helps me to remember that, as long as I’m open to it, there’s usually a bit of Del Griffith there, making sure that things are going to be pretty much okay.

My favorite _________: Planes, Trains & Automobiles is my favorite Thanksgiving movie. I do not anticipate that it will be challenged for that distinction.

List Position at Debut: Planes, Trains & Automobiles is the first entry in this project and as such starts out at number one!  

Once again, I am Banach007 on Letterboxd and you can follow this project as I build the list over there.

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Favorite Movie Project

“What’s your favorite movie?”

It’s a conversation starter, an icebreaker, an online dating prompt. But for me, it’s always been an almost impossible question to answer. The purpose of this blog is to arrive at an answer. This is a selfish pursuit – it has nothing to do with general regard for any of the films I’ll talk about, only with my personal feelings and relationship to the movies.

Here’s what I’m going to attempt: I want to end 2023 with a list of my 100 favorites, in order.  I’m going to write about a favorite or two every week, starting now. I’m also getting a jump on my New Year’s Resolution to be a tiny bit more present on social media. I’ll probably do it badly.

I imagine that movies I see for the first time along the way will make the list, at least initially – but the list will max out at 100 entries.

I’m not going to write reviews of the movies – at least, not just reviews, and certainly not comprehensive reviews, because many of them will be films that have been widely reviewed and analyzed. Rather, I am going to write about the first time I saw each film, if I remember it, and if I don’t, then I’ll write about my first impressions of the film. I’ll write about what makes it one of my favorites and whether it’s an absolute favorite in a certain category. I will order the list as I add entries.

I’m Banach007 on Letterboxd, if you want to follow along over there.

I may update or amend this post as my method develops.