To get the ball rolling, here is Destroyed by Duras (brook@well.com) list: I was thinking more of LISTS of LOTS of films. Here's mine: I saw very little this year due to work on my own projects, so this list reflects the best of a far smaller humber of films than is usual for me: 10 Favorite New Films: Happy Together La Promesse All Over Me The Ice Storm A Single Girl Fast, Cheap and Out of Control The Sweet Hereafter *A Couch in New York *Flirt Lost Highway *=May have been late '96 theatrical releases, technically. Ulysses' Gaze WOULD be at the top of the list except that I listed it last year due to its long road to the limited theatrical release it got. Hon. Mention: Crash, When the Cat's Away, Office Killer Good Highbrow Hokum: Wings of the Dove Biggest Surprise: All Over Me Biggest Disappointments: Kissed, In the Company of Men, Boogie Nights Revelatory Revivals: Contempt, Shivers, Shock Corridor I have not yet see Titanic, LA Confidential, or As Good As It Gets.

You've gone out and seen a lot more than me!

That's ok wolf you don't have to submit 10, the above list was to get the ball rolling and get folks thinking. I think that As Good as it Gets would have to be high up on that list.

afraid i don't know much re: current cinema... top ten (hollywood) films, alltime: 1) casablanca 2) the maltese falcon 3) the big sleep 4) key largo 5) rear window 6) the lady eve 7) the miracle of morgan's creek 8) the philadelphia story 9) talk of the town 10)adam's rib 10)harvey 10)my man godfrey 10)the thin man 10)duck soup 10)his girl friday 10)the searchers 10)the apartment 10)some like it hot 10)the graduate 10)a man for all seasons 10)bananas 10)annie hall 10)raiders of the lost ark 10)this is spinal tap 10)matewan 10)metropolitan 10)michael collins

"but it goes to eleven!" (gotta love spinal tap!)

Terry, You didn't like Good Will Hunting? Given your superb taste, that surprises me!

Well, that was someone else's list I posted. I haven't seen Good Will Hunting yet. Plan to see it though.

Ah. Well ask that someone else what he thought of it, ok?

Nick, noticed a lot of Bogart at the top of your list. Saw "Dead End" with Bogie and Joel Mcrea on AMC this weekend. First viewing for me; very 1930's dark social commentary and Bogart was wonderful. I'm not "someone else," but I'd but GWH above AGAIG on my best of the year list. I thought Robin Williams was wonderful in that, better than in anything else recently.

I am in total agreement, LorieS. Although comparing GWH and AGAIG is somewhat akin to comparing apples and oranges, I still put GWH first. It's the finist film I have seen this year. But then again, I have not seen them all. Oh wait. I saw ICE STORM, and it is the best I've seen all year, but GWH comes in a very close second! :)

yeah, i've seen "dead end"... excellent picture (and claire trevor was simply beautiful)... bogie was great, basically doing his duke mantee thing; but it's incredibly difficult for me to watch him die (which is why "treasure of sierra madre"- one of the best pictures i've ever seen- wasn't on my favorites list)... and- re:"spinal tap"- remember... when you've loved and lost like frank has, you really know what life's about...

1. Robin Hood 2. Braveheart 3. Nell 4. Christmas Vacation 5. Family Vacation 6. Uncle Buck 7. The Great Outdoors 8. Better Off Dead 9. The Color Purple (one of my all time favs) 10. ET (and the list will probably go on from here)

10. Farewell My Concubine 10. The Joy Luck Club 10. The Lover (there will be more)

10. Star Wars (the original trilogy) 10. Jurassic Park (but only for the effects)

tell me you're referring to the original (1938) version of "robin hood" ("the adventures of...")- and not to the kevin costner/christian slater assault-on-the-english-language from a few years back?

actually i was referring to kc/cs. Found the movie to be enormously romantic. Loved the scenery, the music, sean connery. sorry, haven't seen the '38 flick.

(sorry 'bout that... don't mean to be such a cinema-snob...)

what? you mean you're not going to berate me for my (poor) taste? *wink* (ps, didja check your mail?)

nope... should i?

yes!

well, don't know where you ran off to, but if no one else told you this today: Happy Birthday!! G-night *smile*

sorry 'bout that... i went to check mail, and (because i still haven't cleaned it out) it crashed on me, and then i got dumped by my hicksville server and then i couldn't get back on because they're having modem problems or something and i had to call and bitch them out but finally got back on and here i am and i guess you've gone so sorry 'bout that again... christ, did i tell you my DOB? well, thanks... been a crummy, gray one though ('cause she's still not talking to me, and it's totally my own fault, which makes it worse)... feel too lousy to even get loaded (which is probably a good thing, 'cause who knows what the hell i would do if i was "out there" feeling like this... probably something stupid and irrevokeable...)...

*gulp* just tipped a virtual Guiness to ya, Nick!

hey, thanks wer... and i'm tipping a (tangible) jameson's and water your way... hope you're doing well, overcoming and all that... (i'm outa the doghouse, by the way... she's talking to me again... sleeping in the next room, in fact, which is pretty cool... 'course, the relevent question may be: why in the hell am i in this room, cruising the frigging net... listening to natalie, and sipping irish whiskey... while moment after moment ticks by, moments spent, that can never be recovered... knowing that she'll awaken, reach out for me, and will hurt, when she realizes i'm not there... can that be my motivation? who knows...)

imagine if you and I ever fell for the same woman...

hmmm...not likely, i think... i may end up marrying this one (which means i probably won't be dating for a long time, a few months at least)... that could change, of course, quite rapidly... but even if it did i suspect that we "fall" at different levels... my original observation still holds... you're the "sincere" type... and despite the pain you're enduring now, you'll be alright, in the end, because when the thing happens for you, you'll value it enough not to screw it up... i can't seem to value anything... (except weaver, of course, and she is safely dead)...

this pain, that pain, don't matter none when it's chronic... (even when I got to make some up 'cause there's nothing wrong!)

(yeah, but you're having feelings, and those are real, doesn't have to be anything wrong according to other's ideas of what that is)

Back to the subject at hand...... 1) Wizard of Oz 2) Blue Velvet 3) Bridge Over the River Kwai 4) Lawrence of Arabia 5) A Taste of Honey 6) The L Shaped Room 7) The English Patient 8) A Hard Days Night 9) Some Like It Hot 10) Chasing Amy

I haven't heard of the L Shaped Room.

Mid-sixties British film with Leslie Caron. Based on a story by Francoise Sagan. Am particularly fond of this era in British filmmaking.

Great actress and great writer, that's for sure. I'll be on the lookout for it.

I thought Jurassic Park was really good. Still watch it up till now. 2. Lion King (Disney) =) 3. Merlin (miniseries) 4. The Fugitive 5. Last Crusade 6. Deep Impact 7. The Rock

I loved Merlin. Great show.

I ordered it from NBC. I hope it comes in soon. I'm itching to watch it. Sam Neill was superb in the role of Merlin. It was a fun movie.

I assume you've all seen that "official" list of the 100 best English-language films in history. What do you think? What's missing? What should never have made the list (like Tootsie -- what were they thinking).

Is this list on a url we can look at somewhere?

Url? Yeah, probably. Hell, it was in all the papers and magazines, or am I the only one around here who still reads those silly old things?

I read it in the Baltimore paper, they wanted everyone to vote on which was "Baltimore's favorite movie." A lot of people were very indignant because there weren't any Baltimore-based films on the list, like "Avalon" or John Waters' stuff. I mean, how many people would actually vote for "Maltese Falcon", or "All About Eve?" Heck, some of the films on that list were silent!

so, what you're saying, Autumn, is that "Pink Flamingos" should have made the list?

Absolutely, if you're asking Baltimoreans to vote for their favorite film, give 'em something to work with! "Diner", "Avalon", heck, even "Accidental Tourist"--those are films that Baltimore can be proud of! As a private citizen, I wouldn't vote for any of the above OR any on the list, but if you're gonna get regional, you've got to include some local color.

AFI's 100 Best Films

Hmmm. I'm not sure why that didn't work. But anyhow, here is the URL: http://www.dramaturgy.net/sponsors/Top-100.html http://www.dramaturgy.net/sponsors/Top-100.html

I don't know why AFI still has that list on it's website, because they revised it quite some time ago with the following---this is official and current: 1. The Sequel (1980) BETA video format 2. Walking Down to the Water, Then Walking Back Still All Dry (1980) BETA 3. I Wonder What It's Like to be 98 in 1998 (1980) BETA 4. Loneliness in the Burn Unit (1980) BETA 5. I Found This Head in my Dryer (1980) BETA 6. All the Computers on my Block Are Chasing My Aunt Down the Street (1980) BETA 7. Paranoia Is Licking His Question Mark (1980) BETA 8. Improvisations in the Hall of Death (1980) BETA 9. Oscars Standing on the Blacktop Outside of Cannes (1980) BETA 10. Satan's School for Shy, Blind Girls (1980) BETA 11. Satan's School for Wet Skyscrapers (1980) BETA 12. I Like to Sleep at the American Film Institute (1980) BETA 13. Football Marries Baseball, And Their Kid, Basketball, Bounces 10 Ounces (1980) BETA 14. A Box of Lime Sherbert During Thunder (1980) BETA 15. Approaching the Castle from Behind a Very Old Indian Girl (1980) BETA 16. Glimpses of the Ziz, Using Sad Hours (1980) BETA 17. Footprints Around a Warm Moment, With a Coffagamoonga in Hand (1980) BETA 18. Mang Cheng Po Loo (1980) BETA 19. The Incomplete Cow Towards Maturity (1980) BETA 20. The Man Without A Brain Yet Lives in Me (1980) BETA 21. Where Am You From, Myrtle? (1980) BETA 22. California Dreaming, Idaho Nosebleeds, Pennsylvania Mooning (1980) BETA 23. How to Suffer After Death But Before Birth (1980) BETA 24. Going Out in Waves, Coming Back in Fog (1980) BETA 25. Touring Leftover Bodies Left by the Dancing Wolves (1980) BETA 26. Bureaucracy Calls the Suicide Hotline and Gets a Busy Signal (1980) BETA 27. After World War II We Returned to World War I and Finished It (1980) BETA 28. Side-out and Rotate (1980) BETA 29. To the Sea's Cliff To Jump Off and Scream and Have Fun (1980) BETA 30. Mathematical Love Paint for Your Home Exteriors (1980) BETA 31. Never Mind the Stares, Just Interrupt Yourself (1980) BETA 32. Fat Rock on a Boulder: Love Letter to Pebbles (1980) BETA 33. 47 Life Insurance Agents Live in the House Next Door Every Day (1980) BETA 34. Madame Midget in the Lap of a Truly Seated Woman (1980) BETA 35. Snow, Time to Listen to It Fall (1980) BETA 36. Not the Fly, the Hamster! (1980) BETA 37. The Hunched Hunchback Had a Hunch He'd Be Hunchless Before Dawn, But He Was Wrong (1980) BETA 38. Clark Gable Starring in a Movie (1980) BETA 39. Sure Is Dark in Here, But So Is Your Love, Grandma (1980) BETA 40. Let's Hear It For Goliath (1980) BETA 41. The Rumors with Mutated Spirit (1980) BETA 42. Numbers Really Like You Better Than People Do (1980) BETA 43. Fifteen-Movies-in-One for the Price of Ten (1980) BETA 44. I Walked on Over Into State Government and Couldn't Escape with My Life (1980) BETA 45. Earthworm in a State of Spin (1980) BETA 46. Lost Identity That Only the Dream Reveals (1980) BETA 47. Mom Learned to Talk as Soon as She Hit a Homerun for Sammy (1980) BETA 48. The Blond Crowd Simply Captivated Most of Our Earnest Redheads (1980) BETA 49. Teaching the Children to Eat Filberts Like Zipporah, Moses and Grandma Moses Did (1980) BETA 50. 1708 Was the Best Year Ever (1980) BETA 51. Oaf to Dolt (1980) BETA 52. Call But Don't Answer, Lie Down But Don't Sleep, Coax But Don't Lure (1980) BETA 53. I Wear Clothes Only When I'm Nude and Adorned with Enfeebled Inner Beauty (1980) BETA 54. Watching TV to Make Sure It Doesn't Try Anything Funny (1980) BETA 55. Cartoon in a Trustworthy Bottle of Emotionlessness (1980) BETA 56. My Favorite Middle School Principal was a Stationary Hobgoblin (1980) BETA 57. Nervous and Needy, Broke and Poor, and Uncontrollably Gigantic (1980) BETA 58. Physics in a Yellow Cape, Blowing the Trumpet for Sprites and Ponies (1980) BETA 59. Gotta Go to Work, I Best Be Running Along Now, Bye (1980) BETA 60. All These Other Movies Will Doodle on Your Brain (1980) BETA 61. Primal Life Forces Got Caught By Cookie Cutter Formulas (1980) BETA 62. Flicks Like This Happen All the Time (1980) BETA 63. This Is Only the Book, Wait Till You See the Movie (1980) BETA 64. Please Refine This Film in Your Lab When You Get Home (1980) BETA 65. Now? Hey C'mon, We're Not Exactly Ready--Give Us Another 3 Months, Say? (1980) BETA 66. Wuh-Oh! (1980) BETA 67. Denture Adhesives (1980) BETA 68. Inoperable Brain Tumors Being Hauled Around Iowa in Chevy Trucks (1980) BETA 69. Don't Eat Any Concession Food or We Won't Even Start This Film (1980) BETA 70. You Look Over There, I'll Look Over Here, We'll Find This Movie Yet (1980) BETA 71. The Pawns of Love Strung Up By Their Thumbs (1980) BETA 72. Jiminy Jillickers (1980) BETA 73. So This Gets Pretty Boring, You Say, Like About Half Way Through? (1980) BETA 74. Nothing Clicked and That'll Do It, See Ya Next Time, Or Not (1980) BETA 75. This Is the One to Watch, Here It Comes (1980) BETA 76. We Screwed Up, We're Gonna Start Re-shooting in February, Okay? (1980) BETA 77. Donut Crumbs Settled Evenly in the Mud (1980) BETA 78. I'll Withdraw the Question, It Was Great Almost Talking To Ya (1980) BETA 79. Wanna Leave and Play Some Pinball? (1980) BETA 80. Mouthful of Loving Choke (1980) BETA 81. She's Only Going To Agree With Herself Over and Over Again (1980) BETA 82. Pumpkin-eating Frogs Unknown to the Handsome Prince's Fairy Godmother (1980) BETA 83. Slithery Huge Gobs of Sentimental Dreck (1980) BETA 84. Hyper-real Sleep (1980) BETA 85. Roller Coasters Leaving the Track with All the Goofy Grins Intact (1980) BETA 86. Get Out in Front of People and Float to Clown College (1980) BETA 87. Not Necessarily---Why? (1980) BETA 88. Nobody Will Say Anything Beyond Hello (1980) BETA 89. You're Makin' Me Out To Be Some Kinda Freak (1980) BETA 90. Where Do You Get Your Brains? (1980) BETA 91. The Day the Power of Television Overpowered Cinema (1980) BETA 92. My Guts Feel Like Pus (1980) BETA 93. Christmas Photographs of July in June (1980) BETA 94. Keep Throwin' That in My Face (1980) BETA 95. The Erasers Didn't Work on My Parents and Their Kids---How Come? (1980) BETA 96. Winnie-the-Pooh Finally Meets Friar Tuck at the Union Carbide Headquarters (1980) BETA 97. Pickpockets Pick Wanna Pick Pock Pick (1980) BETA 98. Shattered and Sundered By Gad Zook's Bawling Bluster (1980) BETA 99. Street Wandering Neurotics Snazz Up the Biggest Dork in Town (1980) BETA 100. The End of You (1980) BETA

Hahaha! I'll never understand why #71 didn't get an oscar. The title alone is award-worthy.

#78 for me...

For some reason, #50 almost brought tears to my eyes, but don't ask me why! Hey, Jim, I still have my betamax--guess I'll have to get down to the video store and rent all these movies!

I work there now. I'll let ya have your next 300 rent-free, if you return them on time, or, say, within a week of on time. Can't wait to hear what your voice sounds like, combined with your eyes.

Shrill and brown, ha-ha! Actually, I briefly worked for a Fortune 500 corp. in college doing clerical work, and they used to say I had the voice of a telemarketer. Can you imagine me calling you while you're eating your dinner and trying to sell you replacement windows?

I would probably unintentionally begin speaking in French for the first time in my life, and fluently, at that, and I'd ask whether the windows were made in Lyons and whether they are stain glass mosaics of 37 one-minute pastorals that listen gently to the night's tremendous silence, and to the day's calm lake sending blue to the shore.

(*taken aback*) Did I tell you about my association with Lyon?? Or did you just take a lucky guess?? Damn, I'd love a window like that one. (*wistful*)

Yesterday, on avenue Berthelot, I happened into the Musee de la Resistance et de la Deportation, and for some strange reason they didn't deport me. But I did run into Klaus Barbie's granddaughter, Barbie, as I was coming out of the unisex rest room and she was going in (I said, "Ah, j'ai oubli� de me laver les mains." and went back in with her---took a loooonnng time to wash, as she sat down in one of the stalls---and we talked). She had alotta business to take care of in that stall, so we talked quite while. And she was saying, "L'automne est si gentil en ce moment." It being the first day of autumn, and all. And I, just as a sorta inside joke for me, said, "Ah, ainsi vous savez Autumn, vous?" She said, "Autumn Moore?" I couldn't believe my ears! As she came out of the stall I offered to wash her hands for her. She declined, and washed them all by herself. Then I received this quizzical look from her, and she said, "Je veux que nous aillent au cathedrale Saint-Jean de La. Il y a des mosa�ques e verre l� que vous simplement devez voir. Et conjecture ce qui?" "Ce qui, Barbie?" Then she tells me, "J'ai exp�di� un il y a des juste cinq jours d'outre-mer!" So I ask her, "� qui?" "� Autumn!" This forces another question outta me, "Mais comment avez-vous obtenu le verre?" "J'ai d�fi� un ami � moi plus �g�, un artisan principal, de reproduire mon Window pr�f�r� l�!" so said Barbie as she, in the next breath, invited me to stay in Lyon and move in with her. There was a little twitch in the left dge of her lower lip. I dittoed that for her. She broke down in tears....her mother used to do the same thing I did, with the ditto. We had dinner and she told me all about herself, except how her husband was a waiter at that restaurant we ate at. He served us and just as I paid the check and his tip, he disclosed his identity. They smiled. Don't think I'll be seeing her again. That was just last night, too. No, Autumn, I wasn't guessing. I just remember you'd said somewhere that one of your parents (is that right?) was from there.

you know, Jim, you really ought to host this conference...

I second that emotion.

Dammit Jim, why didn't you tell me you could speak French? We could've been rambling along in the Parlons Francais topic in the cultures conference!! Ah, now you have to go check it out; I'll be expecting to see your post there. :-) BTW, I think you would make a GREAT conference host for movies--after all, you've seen every one of 'em!

The following is 50 lines: I know, I know, it was just a suggestion ya felt like suggesting, and then here I go with this long spiel.....and we all wonder why.... why, Jim, do you have feel you have to over-respond? [argghh] I think Charlotte would be a great host. I bet Autumn wouldn't want to. Bet Charlotte wouldn't either. But I dunno what I'm talkin' about. It's just I like the situation of only opening something up, some topic and seeing what's there, what's new there. If nothing's going, that be cool. And if something's there, it might rouse me to feeling my way into something. But that's so simple. It's so satisfying like that. Hosting though seems like, well, it would be something extra. More time, energy, thought, responsibility, obligation, and having to learn (in a grinding way) web stuff. Y'know what I mean? And as it is, I like it as it is, for me, since I'm plenty satisfied with what goes on as it has been. The extra regard and attention that a host would give, would maybe set on me as sort of a side-effect. That's actually true, but does it sound like I'm reaching or being fretful or being ill-natured? I do like being free of hosting. Doesn't anyone else? But like I say, it's all here (in movies) that I need or want or like, it's all here for the taking, and there are infinite possibilities ---a person can say anything, start anything going in any topic, and let it fly, wing it. That's how it works for me in all the conferences, too. Anybody can do anything (y'know, within reason), cuz it's so wide open. So I guess I'm sayin' nuthin' except that's more'n enuf for me. To do anything more than that, might (well, it seems it would) be just somethin' I'd kinda sorta regret, would start to not feel so good about, and maybe make me wish I hadn't said anything (like: "yeah I'll host"). Hope that don't bugger anybody too bad. But if it does, I unnerstandie. Lest I forget, there once was this venerable wise old sage (Autumn Moore, I believe, be her name), and she said....yes, she said this approximately: "It's like a part-time job to get around and look at everything there is to read and catch up on and respond to, in these conferences." And I'm a very slow reader, and an even slower thinker, and to add something like hosting to the already little I try to limit myself to (cuz I know my limits) would woo me into feeling like it's too much a chore (or a part-time job becoming full-time). Then again, things go to my head in some ways somehow, when I really dunno what I'm talkin' about. Sorry, should I've said this in frenchy, to y'all? (me so thoughtless) If there's one thing I can do, it's go on and on. and on, huh? (I do agonize over that, but as you can see, not enough...)

Agonize no more, Jim, I understand your feelings perfectly. 'Tis true, it would be a chore to me to have to learn all this computer stuff to host, and my life is full of enough chores. So, like you, I enjoy seeing what's going on, the natural rise and fall of interest in various conferences. If just you, Charlotte and I want to talk films, that's fine by me.

can't blame me for trying...

I'm seriously thinking of 'forgetting' this conference. There is too much danger of falling in love with Jim.

If I may be so bold as to GET BACK ON TOPIC, regarding the REAL LIST of 100 best. As much as I loved both Pulp Fiction and Fargo, I question their inclusion on the list just because they are so recent. Seems to me a film should stand the test of time in order to make such a list. Goodfellas, for example, has been out for 9 or 10 years and definitely merits inclusion. IMO.

so, should or shouldn't cult classics have been included?

I haven't seen the list lately--was "Rocky Horror Picture Show" on it? I certainly hope "Sea of Love" was on it, too--what a great thriller. LOVE Al Pacino!

Top Ten Hindi Movies of 1996 Compiled By Avinash Ramchandani 1) Hindustani (dubbed)[starring: Kamal Hasan, Manisha Koirala, Urmilla Matondkar] Music: A.R. Rahman 2) Maachis [*ing: Tabu, Chandrachur Singh] Music: Vishal 3) Khamoshi [*ing: Manisha Koirala, Salman Khan, Seema Biswas, Nana Patekar, Helen] Music: Jatin Lalit 4) Raja Hindustani [*ing: Aamir Khan, Karishma Kapoor, Johnny Lever, Dalip Tahil] Music: Nadeem Shravan 5) Agni Sakshi [*ing: Manisha Koirala, Nana Patekar, Jakie Shroff] Music: Nadeem Shravan 6) Diljale [*ing: Ajay Devgan, Sonali Bendre, Parmeet Sethi, Madhoo, Amrish Puri, Gulshan Grover, Tinnu Anand, Shakti Kapoor] Music: Anu Malik 7) Saaza-E Kaalapaani (dubbed) [*ing: Mohanlal, Tabu] Music: Ilyaraja 8) Tere Mere Sapne [*ing: Chandrachur Singh, Arshad Warsi, Priya Gill, Simran] Music: Viju Shah 9) Bandit Queen [*ing: Seema Biswas] Music: Nusrat Fateh Ali Khan 10)Fareb [*ing: Milind Gunaji, Faraaz Khan, Suman Ranganatran] Music: Jatin Lalit

Wow, getting into highly specialized esoteric top ten lists, leplep! Cool.

I never know when he's pulling our collective leg, Terry (see #9)...

And I try to pull your leg, Autumn, but it, before I can even reach over to it, it comes over to me and pushes me off balance.....and I fall over. Compared to yours, the collective leg is so easy, 'cept it doesn't have any of your hairs on it. I have asked Elizabeth Berg about that (left a message). We're playing phone tag right now.

http://www.planetbollywood.com/top10f96.html

Oh God, it's for real, Terry! Does Elizabeth Berg know about this??

She knows much more than this. We just got off the phone. She actually cursed me.....well, mildly. She says that starting right now, for probably the next 4 months, she's gonna become an insomniac......until the book is written. I asked her if she's gotten any titles coming to her yet. She said no, but she says she knows the word "leg", for sure, is gonna be in it.

(thanks everyone for providing the impetus to laughter, seeing as it IS the best medicine, I am feeling oh so much better already) My Top 10 Movies (for today) 1. Jungle Book 2. Gattaca 3. Wizard of OZ 4. Pi 5. Pinocchio 6. Chasing Amy 7. Bambi 8. Stand By Me 9. The Rescuers 10. Indiana Jones trilogy Sometimes my list changes depending on the day of the week and how high my average body temperature has been for the past 48 hours.

What, so this is your ovulating list?

nope. Higher than that. Fever. And bite your tongue... that little white pill is supposed to be preventing that ovulating thing!

Ahhh, so it's your feverish list! That would explain "Chasing Amy."

My Indian friend says that Bandit Queen is "raw and disturbing and very, very violent". Just thought I'd pass that along. :)

I've only seen five on your list Stace. And a few of them are pretty recent. Since it changes, you can give us updates?

ummm. sure. Suppose that involves remembering the old list... (where's my damn pencil?)

In your pack.

Yeah, I've only seen your #s 1, 5, 7, 9 and 10, myself.

oh, I forgot two of the best (must've been the headache!) Excalibur and Clash of the Titans! Probably the only two movies I've ever seen in excess of 15 times each! Oh but wait, there's Beastmaster and Towering Inferno! I wonder if I really liked these movies as much as I now love the fact they transport me back in time to a very comfortable period in my life (?)

I ran over there to Drool, drooled on Nan, and stole this from her (she'll never know).....I bet she's a pretty fun person. Topic 115 of 116 [drool]: Shakespeare in Love SPOILERS!! Response 6 of 72: Nan (nan) * Wed, Dec 9, 1998 (21:17) * 15 lines Just FYI--the National Board of review named Shakespeare in Love one of the top ten movies this year (#5 to be exact). See, I told you it was good ;-) Here's the complete list: 1. Gods and Monsters 2. Saving Private Ryan 3. Elizabeth 4. Happiness 5. Shakespeare in Love 6. The Butcher Boy 7. Lolita 8. Thin Red Line 9. A Simple Plan 10. Dancing at Lughnasa

Oh dear. I've only seen two of those! So many to see! So little time! So few non-mainstream theatres in my area! Waaaaaaaahhhh!

Now, now, Charlotte, Kevin will be right over to your place to act out each movie that you haven't seen. He's looking forward to it. He has all the scripts, all the actors and directors, and all the locations. He'll be knocking on your door with all of them in, say, 45 minutes? Do be ready. Hope you're not in the middle of anything. He told me he doesn't really like it when you cry alot. But he does like a few tears maybe, if he can lick them while they're still rolling down. He grooves on your cheekbones more than you might know. He does look like he's in a very good mood tonight. No wonder.

Oh my! Do I have time for a shower? Where's that champagne I got for my birthday? Oh oh oh! *stay calm* *breathe deeply* *relax* *giggle*

perhaps you could save that shower for after he arrives??

LOL!! I haven't even heard of half of those films....

are they the ones you have to put down a $50 deposit for???

no

alllllrighty then.......... ( did no one get my silly little innuendo????)

Is it that $50 is how much people might pay for a total ticket (or whatever they're called) at a film festival, where they might show more obscure films? But you said the word "deposit", and that threw me. Is it like, I dunno, like like like if ya go to a real specialized video store and you have to put down a deposit on like a rare video or something? I'm really dense. It's real obvious, your innuendo, Stace, huh? Or is it, like, like if say you have to bribe film companies with a deposit to get an advanced copy of films that haven't come out yet? That's how dense I am.

I got it, Stace, I was just being greedy and keeping it to myself so that no one else would...sorry...hehe

(*utterly clueless*)

Janet Maslin's (New York Times) Top Ten for 1998 Saving Private Ryan Happiness The Butcher Boy Shakespeare in Love Henry Fool The Celebration A Simple Plan The Opposite of Sex Bulworth Western ________________________ Others she admired: Life is Beautiful ("the year's most stirring surprise") The General Affliction The Thin Red Line Central Station Hilary and Jackie The Big Lebowski The Real Blonde Beloved Gods and Monsters Velvet Goldmine Men With Guns Lolita Without Limits Hurlyburly ____________________________________ Foreign Films she liked: Live Flesh (Spain) Post Coitum (France) See the Sea (France) Taste of Cherry (Iran) The Mirror (Iran) The Thief (Russia) ___________________________________________ actor's/actress's work that she liked: High Art (Ally Sheedy) Under the Skin (Samantha Morton and Stuart Townshend) Pleasantville (Joan Allen) One True Thing (Meryl Streep and Renee Zellwegger) Dancing at Lughnasa (Meryl Streep) A Price Above Rubies (Renee Zellwegger) Stepmom (Susan Sarandon)---she didn't like the movie, though American History X (Edward Norton) He Got Game (Denzel Washington) Love is the Devil (Derek Jacobi) Permanent Midnight (Ben Stiller) _______________________________________________________________ she called these "the year's most entertaining genre films": Out of Sight Ronin Gingerbread Man ______________________________________ these documentaries she liked: Moon Over Broadway (best documentary) The Farm: Angola U.S.A. Arguing the World Wild Man Blues (it's about Woody Allen) Lenny Bruce: Swear to Tell the Truth ______________________________________________ she called these "attention-getting debuts": Buffalo 66 Nil By Mouth Pi ________________________________ she liked these comedies: The Big Lebowski (her favorite comedy) There's Something About Mary The Wedding Singer The Waterboy

___________________________________________ 56th Annual Golden Globe Award Nominations ___________________________________________ Picture -- Drama: Elizabeth Gods and Monsters The Horse Whisperer Saving Private Ryan The Truman Show __________________________ Actress -- Drama: Cate Blanchett (Elizabeth) Fernanda Montenegro (Central Station) Susan Sarandon (Stepmom) Meryl Streep (One True Thing) Emily Watson (Hilary and Jackie) ______________________________________ Actor -- Drama: Jim Carrey (The Truman Show) Stephen Fry (Wilde) Tom Hanks (Saving Private Ryan) Ian McKellen (Gods and Monsters) Nick Nolte (Affliction) ___________________________________ Picture -- Musical or Comedy: Bulworth The Mask of Zorro Patch Adams Shakespeare In Love Still Crazy There's Something About Mary ______________________________________ Actress -- Musical or Comedy: Cameron Diaz (There's Something About Mary) Jane Horrocks (Little Voice) Gwyneth Paltrow (Shakespeare In Love) Christina Ricci (The Opposite of Sex) Meg Ryan (You've Got Mail) _________________________________________ Actor -- Musican or Comedy: Antonio Banderas (The Mask of Zorro) Warren Beatty (Bulworth) Michael Caine (Little Voice) John Travolta (Primary Colors) Robin Williams (Patch Adams) ________________________________ Foreign Language: The Celebration (Denmark) Central Station (Brazil) Men With Guns [Hombres Armados] (USA) The Polish Bride [De Poolse Bruid] (The Netherlands) Tango (Argentina) _______________________________________________ Supporting Actress -- Drama, Musical or Comedy: Kathy Bates (Primary Colors) Brenda Blethyn (Little Voice) Judi Dench (Shakespeare In Love) Lynn Redgrave (Gods and Monsters) Sharon Stone (The Mighty) ______________________________________________ Supporting Actor -- Drama, Musical or Comedy: Robert Duvall (A Civil Action) Ed Harris (The Truman Show) Bill Murray (Rushmore) Geoffrey Rush (Shakespeare in Love) Donald Sutherland (Without Limits) Billy Bob Thornton (A Simple Plan) __________________________________ Director: Shekhar Kapur (Elizabeth) John Madden (Shakespeare In Love) Robert Redford (The Horse Whisperer) Steven Spielberg (Saving Private Ryan) Peter Weir (The Truman Show) ________________________________________ Screenplay: Warren Beatty and Jeremy Pikser (Bulworth) Andrew Niccol (The Truman Show) Marc Norman and Tom Stoppard (Shakespeare In Love) Robert Rodat (Saving Private Ryan) Todd Solondz (Happiness) ___________________________________ Original Score: Burkhard Dallwitz and Philip Glass (The Truman Show) Jerry Goldsmith (Mulan) Randy Newman (A Bug's Life) Stephen Schwartz and Hans Zimmer (The Prince of Egypt) John Williams (Saving Private Ryan) ______________________________________ Original Song: "The Flame Still Burns" (Still Crazy) with music and lyrics by Mick Jones, Marti Frederiksen, Chris Difford; "The Mighty" (The Mighty) with music by Sting and lyrics by Sting and Trevor Jones; "The Prayer" (Quest For Camelot: The Magic Sword) with music and lyrics by David Foster and Carole Bayer Sager (Italian translation: Alberto Testa and Tony Renis); "Reflection" (Mulan) with music by Matthew Wilder and lyrics by David Zippel; "Uninvited" (City of Angels) with music and lyrics by Alanis Morissette; "When You Believe" (The Prince of Egypt) with music and lyrics by Stephen Schwartz.

Wow. Thanks for typing all that in, Jim!

Roger Ebert's top 10 movies of 1998 December 27, 1998 BY ROGER EBERT 1. ``Dark City'' The best film of 1998 was also one of the more obscure. It opened without a compelling campaign, and was yanked before it could find an audience. Now, on video, it's beginning to build a reputation that may eventually link it with ``Blade Runner,'' another slow starter that gained cult status. The movie is set in a noir city run by the Strangers, aliens who use it as a laboratory to study humans. They erase human memories every midnight and shape-shift the city into new configurations for fresh experiments. The hero (Rufus Sewell) is aided by a mysterious doctor (Kiefer Sutherland) to break loose from the mind-wiping, and remembers vaguely an earlier life that may have involved a beautiful young woman (Jennifer Connelly). Meanwhile, a police inspector (William Hurt) tries to make sense of a crime. The closing shots reveal the true nature of all that has gone before. I responded so strongly to the film because it was intelligent, intriguing, darkly atmospheric, and most of all because it was visually breathtaking. Werner Herzog tells us we need new images or we will die. Alex Proyas' ``Dark City'' was visionary in the tradition of ``Metropolis,'' ``The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari,'' ``2001: A Space Odyssey'' and ``Blade Runner.'' It was a daring act of the imagination. So strongly did I feel about it that for the first time I agreed to do a commentary soundtrack for the DVD video, where you can hear me talking for two hours about the film's mysteries and beauties. (I don't get royalties.) Like ``Babe: Pig in the City,'' ``Pleasantville,'' ``The Truman Show'' and ``What Dreams May Come,'' ``Dark City'' started from scratch to reimagine a world. 2. ``Pleasantville'' Gary Ross' film pointed the way to the new freedom that computer-generated images have given filmmakers. He imagined two modern-day young people who are magically transported back in time to the insides of a black and white 1950s sitcom. Nothing ever changes in the sitcom world, but they bring the seeds of the future, and soon color is blooming in the black and white society. One of the pleasures of the film was figuring out what triggered the color shifts. (It was not simply sex, but insight, or change.) Another was to enjoy the wit with which paradoxes were handled in a world closed to space and time. (In geography class, students learned that when you got to the end of Main Street, it just started all over again.) The film stirred debate. Some argued that the stable and predictable 1950s were, in fact, preferable to the social upheaval in which we now reside. Others said the 1950s were, in fact, more revolutionary than today--that reverse time travel could do us some good. Still others said the 1950s were great if you didn't happen to be female or non-white. Whatever you said, the movie got you talking. Not many great entertainments also inspire social introspection. 3. ``Saving Private Ryan'' Steven Spielberg's epic was one of the most involving war movies ever made. Using enormous resources of men and technique, he re-created the landing at Omaha Beach with such power and immediacy that movie battle scenes would never seem quite the same again. His film's opening act is one of the great sustained acts of filmmaking. Then the film fell into more conventional but still thought-provoking channels, as an officer (Tom Hanks) and his men are assigned to venture into dangerous territory to find a private whose brothers have been killed in combat. Saving him is thought to be useful propaganda--but the war looks different at ground level than from the Pentagon. ``Saving Private Ryan'' was a powerful experience. Spielberg knows how to make audiences weep better than any director since Chaplin in ``City Lights.'' But weeping is an immediate response, and this film also embodies ideas. After the immediate experience begins to fade, the implications remain, and grow. 4. ``A Simple Plan'' Three men in a wintertime forest preserve find a crashed plane that has $4 million on board. They figure it's probably drug money, that no one will come forward to claim it, and that it might be a simple matter for them to keep the money themselves. Almost immediately this decision involves them in a crime, and their values, held for a lifetime but never really tested, begin to disintegrate. Sam Raimi's film runs sure and deep. It has an uncanny sense of time and place, and it never rushes as it follows its characters from one fateful decision to the next. There are strong, Oscar-worthy performances by Bill Paxton as the college graduate, Billy Bob Thornton as his unlucky brother, Brent Briscoe as the third man, and Bridget Fonda as Paxton's wife, who gives what seems at the time to be practical advice. 5. ``Happiness'' Todd Solondz's painful and funny film showed desperate people reaching out from the loneliness they were drowning in. Some were obviously pathetic, in apartment buildings that are warehouses of strangers. Others seemed more normal; a Little League dad who was a psychiatrist was trapped in a role far removed from the depraved center of his libido. Solondz made it difficult for audiences to take a stand on these people: Tragedy kept shifting into farce or satire, and then back again. When the film premiered at Cannes, some wondered if it would ever find an audience. It did surprisingly well at the box office, perhaps because audiences realized that Solondz wasn't simply manipulating situations for shock value, but was rotating them like specimens under a microscope, to see how they looked from various angles. 6. ``Elizabeth'' The story was intriguing, but the visuals multiplied its depth and fascination. Cate Blanchett starred as Elizabeth I, her life in danger as she takes the throne as a young and untested ruler, and then grows in office into perhaps the greatest of British monarchs. Around her, advisers steer her away from (or toward) trouble; kings want her hand for political reasons, but her first true love is a disappointment, and eventually she ``becomes'' a virgin. Shekhar Kapur, an Indian director, used the palate of his subcontinent to portray Elizabeth, her court and her architecture in the colors and texture of medieval India. The film is largely set in vast, echoing halls, their pillars reaching up into the shadows. He is attentive to the rustle of dresses and the clank of armor, and gives us a barge on the Thames like a houseboat on a lake in Kashmir. Action is glimpsed through iron filigree screens, dresses are rich with embroidery, hairstyles are ornately elaborated, and yet there is the feeling that just out of sight of these riches are the rats in the kitchen and the slop-pots in the halls. 7. ``Babe: Pig in the City'' Set aside for the moment the question of whether this film is ``too dark'' for children (set aside, too, the fact that many children see slasher and horror movies on video). Consider this ``Babe'' sequel as a film for adults. It is an unending parade of wonderments and visual delights, linked to a story that is Dickensian in its richness of character and the boldness of its villains. Babe, the clever pig, is marooned in the city with Mrs. Hoggett, and finds refuge in a boarding house that is friendly to animals. There he meets an astonishing array of new friends (some dubious), and gets involved in startling adventures. Yes, some were bothered by the plight of the bull terrier who almost drowned--but isn't it interesting that the dog's dilemma upset more folks than the loss of a billion lives in ``Armageddon''? Maybe it actually touched people. Maybe they cared. The movie's visual imagination and art direction were astonishing. 8. ``Shakespeare in Love'' A rowdy, irreverent movie with as many different tones as a Shakespeare play: high and low comedy, coincidences, masquerades, jokes about itself, topical references, exits and entrances with screwball timing. It begins as a backstage comedy, filled with lore about the Elizabethan stage and its ambitious young scribbler, Shakespeare (Joseph Fiennes), and then widens into a love story as young Will falls in love with the beautiful Viola (Gwyneth Paltrow), whose rich father is buying her a nobleman with title attached. There is much gender confusion as Paltrow plays a woman auditioning to play a man, and later plays a man playing a woman. Meanwhile, Shakespeare struggles to write ``Romeo and Ethel, the Pirate's Daughter,'' before his love for Viola shows him the way to ``Romeo and Juliet.'' Would you be surprised to find that Viola and Shakespeare eventually find themselves acting in one of the great love scenes? 9. ``Life Is Beautiful'' The film falls more or less into two halves. In the first, Roberto Begnini plays a man whose entire personality is dominated by his clown's perspective. In Mussolini's prewar Fascist Italy, he uses humor to handle every situation. Then war clouds descend, and the clown and his family are placed in concentration camps, where the hero desperately uses humor to make it all seem like a game to his young son. The first half is important, because unless we fully understand that comedy is the only weapon in the hero's arsenal, we might be offended by the second half. As it is, we are deeply moved. Begnini and his wife, Nicoletta Braschi, play the married couple; he wrote and directed, in a film with delicacy and power--and humor. 10. ``Primary Colors'' I composed this list soon after President Clinton had been impeached by the House of Representatives. Last year at this time, ``Wag the Dog'' was 10th on my list. In recent months ``wag the dog'' has become the first fictional phrase to enter the political language since ``Catch-22,'' and indeed the events of the surreal weekend of impeachment and bombing seemed eerily foreshadowed. With ``Primary Colors,'' Mike Nichols made a film based on the traits and faults that seem to have led Clinton to the present moment. It was based on a best-selling novel written by an insider, who used gossip and speculation to study the president's weaknesses, his strengths, his charms--and how he seemed for a long time to be unsinkable. The film was a box-office disappointment, maybe because audiences were satiated by the subject. But John Travolta's performance as the president was a subtle and substantial achievement, and Emma Thompson provided insights into how the president's wife reacted, and coped. Nothing that has happened since this film was released in March has caused me to question its instincts. *** Special Jury Prize At Cannes and other festivals, a ``jury prize'' is offered as a sort of equal first, to films that deserve a place beside the winners. In recent years I've declared a five-way tie for 11th place. Here are the jury prizes this year, alphabetically: * ``Character.'' Mike van Diem's Dutch film won the Oscar last April as best foreign film, and deserved to. It tells the story of a cold and stony bailiff and his lifelong hatred for a son born out of wedlock. Is he as evil as he seems? Not quite. But nearly. * ``High Art.'' Lisa Cholodenko's film stars Ally Sheedy, in an impressive return to acting, as a burnt-out photographer who lives in virtual seclusion with her lover, an actress who once worked for Fassbinder but now lives for cocaine. When a young magazine editor (Radha Mitchell) discovers their menage in the apartment upstairs, the photographer is tempted to resume her life. * ``Men With Guns.'' John Sayles is one of the most admirable and ambitious of American independent directors, and in this film he sets his story in an unnamed Central American country where, to the peasants, it doesn't much matter whether the men with guns are government forces or rebels--since neither side has any respect for those who live on the land. * ``Pi.'' Such an odd, challenging, quirky film! Directed by Darren Aronofsky, it stars Sean Gullette as a reclusive genius who seeks the answer to the deepest puzzle in mathematics, while Wall Streeters, Orthodox Jews and cabalists grow obsessed with his secrets. Visually and in its narrative, a film that feels like it is inside genius--or madness. * ``The Truman Show.'' Jim Carrey starred in Peter Weir's Orwellian comedy about a man who doesn't realize his entire life has been lived on TV. Inside a vast world constructed just for him, Truman doesn't know his every moment fascinates a worldwide audience. *** The Chuck Jones Award Named for the genius behind Bugs Bunny, Daffy Duck, Wile E. Coyote and the Road Runner, this special prize is shared this year by five animated films that dramatized the ways in which feature-length cartoons are breaking away from the ``children and family'' category and growing up into full-bodied entertainments. The winners, alphabetically: * ``Antz'' enters into a microscopic world--an ant colony beneath Central Park--and makes it into a world so vast and threatening that comparisons with ``Star Wars'' are not unjustified. Woody Allen voices the hero, who explains, it's not easy when you're the middle child in a family of 5 million. * ``A Bug's Life,'' similar in theme but original in look and treatment; ants fight off domination by cruel grasshoppers, as the heroic Flik (Dave Foley) devises ingenious last-minute stratagems. * ``Kiki's Delivery Service,'' by the Japanese animation genius Hayao Miyazaki, tells the story of a young witch in training who goes to a new city, gets a job and saves her friend from a dirigible crash. Miyazaki's ``My Neighbor Totoro'' has found big audiences, and now Kiki is also a video best seller. * ``Mulan'' is Disney's story about a Chinese girl who disguises herself as a boy in order to take her father's place in the war against the Huns. Once again, a larger theme and freer artwork continue the liberation of animation from older formulas. * ``The Prince of Egypt'' is Dreamworks' year-end retelling of the story of Moses, with visuals inspired by DeMille's ``The Ten Commandments'' and a story that makes free with the facts (were Moses and Rameses really sibling rivals?). Visually splendid, using the freedom of animation to get a true epic feel. *** Top 10 Sleepers Some films seem to open and close in a parallel universe to the world of full-page ads and TV interviews. Here are 10 films, bold and creative, you might not even have heard of. * ``Affliction,'' Paul Schrader's film with Nick Nolte as the battered adult son of the overbearing James Coburn; based on a novel by Russell (``The Sweet Hereafter'') Banks. Opens in January. * ``Clockwatchers,'' by Jill Sprecher, starring Toni Collete, Parker Posey and Lisa Kudrow in the story of desperate office temps in a hostile corporate environment. * ``Deja Vu,'' by Henry Jaglom, a no-holds-barred romance about fate, synchronicity, coincidence and love that literally spans the generations. * ``Insomnia,'' by Erik Skjoldbjaerg of Norway, stars Stellan Skarsgard in the best police procedural of the year, about a cop who commits a crime in the course of an investigation, and finds that his partner, without knowing it, is looking for him. * ``Little Dieter Wants to Fly,'' by Werner Herzog, is a documentary about the amazing experiences of Dieter Dengler, a German who enlisted in the U.S. Navy, was shot down over Laos, and survived untold hardships, which are re-created by Dengler and Herzog in an unexpected way. * ``Love Is the Devil,'' by John Maybury, stars Derek Jacobi as the great but scruffy British painter Francis Bacon, who creates masterworks and hangs out in a dank drinking club with bohemian drunks and just plain drunks. The movie brilliantly sidesteps its inability to show Bacon's paintings by filming its visuals in the style of his work. * ``Nil by Mouth,'' written and directed by Gary Oldman, is based on his life and his father, an alcoholic who presided over a family of great disorder and emotional chaos. * ``A Soldier's Daughter Never Cries,'' by James Ivory, is inspired by a happier childhood memory, a novel by Kaylie Jones, daughter of James Jones (``The Thin Red Line''), about growing up in Paris as the child of unconventional but loving parents (Kris Kristofferson and Barbara Hershey). * ``Your Friends and Neighbors,'' by Neil LaBute, listens and watches as self-centered, success-driven moderns obsessively monitor their own happiness while occupying vacuums that make the results meaningless. * ``Zero Effect,'' by Jake Kasdan, stars Ben Stiller as the hireling to brilliant detective Daryl Zero (Bill Pullman), a modern Sherlock Holmes who lurks in his chambers--until he meets a woman as smart as he is. *** Top 10 Runners-Up ``Beloved,'' with Oprah Winfrey as Toni Morrison's heroine, a haunted former slave visited by the ghost of her daughter; ``Drifting Clouds,'' by Finland's Aki Kaurismaeki, a dour and winsome comedy about downsizing in Helsinki; ``Hilary and Jackie,'' the story of cellist Jacqueline du Pre and her sister and rival; ``Living Out Loud,'' an offbeat comedy about loneliness, with Holly Hunter, Danny DeVito and Queen Latifah, and ``Love and Death on Long Island,'' with John Hurt as a British writer infatuated with an American teen idol (this film and performance are more interesting than the somewhat similar ``Gods and Monsters''). Also, ``Out of Sight,'' based on the Elmore Leonard tale, dazzlingly directed by Steven Soderbergh with George Clooney and Jennifer Lopez; David Mamet's ``The Spanish Prisoner,'' with Campbell Scott and Steve Martin in a labyrinthine con game; the uproariously funny ``There's Something About Mary''; Terrence Malick's strong, poetic ``The Thin Red Line,'' and Vincent Ward's ``What Dreams May Come,'' with its startling visualizations of heaven and hell. Copyright � Chicago-Sun-Times Inc.

And Jim's seen 'em all.

he was either in or on the crew of most of them, as well...

There's no substitute for experience.

Unfortunately, experience is something you don't get until just after you need it.