GREAT WORKS OF CLASSIC SCI-FI

In the very small hours of the morning - so small that I failed to notice it -a new group Top 10 went up at The Film Experience: the eleven-including-a-tie best science-fiction films prior to 1977.

As always, lists are a fun and contentious thing to talk about, so head over there and do so. But for the curious, my abnormally on-consensus ballot went like this:

1. 2001: A Space Odyssey (1968) - #1 on the TFE list
2. Solaris (1972) - on the TFE list
3. The Man Who Fell to Earth (1976) - on the TFE list
4. Fantastic Planet (1973)
5. Metropolis (1927) - on the TFE list
6. The Day the Earth Stood Still (1951) - on the TFE list
7. Forbidden Planet (1956) - on the TFE list
8. Godzilla (1954) - on the TFE list
9. Planet of the Apes (1968) - on the TFE list
10. Invasion of the Body Snatchers (1956) - on the TFE list

And the runners-up, chronologically:

When Worlds Collide (1951)
The War of the Worlds (1953)
Them! (1954)
La jetée (1962) - on the TFE list
Alphaville (1965)

This was as terrifying to whittle down as any list we've done: between this and its impending sister list, the sheer glut of worthy candidates and the constant terror that I'd forgotten something obvious and brilliant made it almost impossible for me to commit to a final list. Not to mention that "best science-fiction" is not a term that means any one particular thing 100% of the time. So please, tell me what I overlooked!

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TOMORROW, AND TOMORROW, AND TOMORROW

Over that the Film Experience this evening, I reviewed the newly-on-VOD short film World of Tomorrow by Don Hertzfeldt. Spoiler alert: I adored it and think it's essential viewing irrespective of one's interest in Hertzfeldt, animation, or science-fiction. Check out the review, and then watch the movie - it's the best $3.99 you'll spend all week!

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A BRIEF HISTORY OF DREAMWORKS

I don't make a habit of pimping out what I write over at the Film Experience, but I am inordinately proud of my articles for the last two weeks: a potted history of DreamWorks Animation from 1998 to today. It's in two parts: last week, I covered 1998-2009, and today, I go the rest of the way to the present. To the future, even, since I end with the impending release of the disgusting-looking Home.

Please, go over! Enjoy! Join in the conversation!

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ANTS, ANTS, OTHERWISE WE ARE LOST

My journey through animated movies that most of you will never have a chance to see continues at the Film Experience with a look at the Franco-Belgian Minuscule: Valley of the Lost Ants. It's a real dilly, as they say, assuming they are as fond of 90-year-old slang as I am.

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DEATH MARCH OF THE PENGUINS

I know you all can't wait to hear my thoughts on the week's new invisibly mediocre animated film & box office underperformer, but in order to know my thoughts on Penguins of Madagascar, you'll have to head over to The Film Experience. Or not. I mean, it's Penguins of Madagascar, it is not exactly the stuff of heady analysis and sparkling back-and-forth conversation. But that is, anyway, where my review can be found.

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HOLDING OUT FOR HEROES

Disney reviews constitute something of a Big Damn Deal over in this parts, but if you're itching to read one of my customary marathon-length essays talking about the new Big Hero 6, you'll have to wait a couple of weeks. In the meantime, my exclusive (and of sane length) review of the film can be found at the Film Experience.

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RAISE THEIR VOICE

Yesterday begat another of the Team Experience Top 10 lists over at The Film Experience, in which we shared our favorite vocal performances in the movies. And oh, the political gamesmanship I indulged in in writing my list. Rule #1 - no celebrity voice-overs, because that is a toxic crime that's ruining American animation. Rule #2 - only one role per actor, so the top 2 weren't both Eleanor Audley. Rule #3 that was foisted upon me, no short cartoons starring characters who had been voiced multiple times by the same artist.

With all that in place, here was my ballot, which found me as off-consensus as I've ever been:

1. Eleanor Audley, "Lady Tremaine", Cinderella (1950)
2. Paul Winchell, "Tigger", The Many Adventures of Winnie the Pooh (1977)
3. Douglas Rain, "HAL 9000", 2001: A Space Odyssey (1968) [on the TFE list]
4. Sterling Holloway, "Winnie the Pooh", The Many Adventures of Winnie the Pooh (1977)
5. Pat Carroll, "Ursula", The Little Mermaid (1989) [on the TFE list]
6. Bob Peterson, "Dug / Alpha" Up (2009)
7. Brad Dourif, "Chuckie", Child’s Play (1988) and sequels
8. Robby Benson, "The Beast", Beauty and the Beast (1991)
9. Christine Cavanaugh, "Babe", Babe (1995)
10. Lucille La Verne, "The Queen / The Witch", Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs (1937)

And the runners-up, alphabetically:

Hans Conried, "Captain Hook / Mr. Darling", Peter Pan (1953)
Paige O’Hara, "Belle", Beauty and the Beast (1991)
George Sanders, "Shere Khan", The Jungle Book (1967)*
Kathleen Turner, "Jessica Rabbit", Who Framed Roger Rabbit (1988) [on the TFE list]**
Patrick Warburton, "Kronk", The Emperor’s New Groove (2000)

*A celebrity, but how in the hell can you deny that performance?
**A celebrity, but not in an as-such animated feature, so I felt I could count it

And the honorable mentions, nuked from eligibility:
Eleanor Audley, "Maleficent", Sleeping Beauty (1959) [on the TFE list]
Mel Blanc, "Bugs Bunny / Daffy Duck", Rabbit Seasoning (1952)
Pinto Colvig, "Goofy", multiple Disney cartoons & features (1932-'67)

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CANNES YOU DIG IT

A new Team Top Ten over at the Film Experience: the 12 (there was a big ol' tie) best winners of the Palme d'Or at the Cannes Film Festival.

It's the kind of list that you basically can't get wrong: I have, at the time of this writing, seen 57 of the 74 films that have taken the award since it adopted its modern shape (but not its modern name) in 1949, and a significant majority of them are in the great-to-extraordinary range. So my top 10 is not at all definitive; more that, at the time I had to submit something, it's what I felt comfortable with (actually, it's more like a rock solid top 6 followed by the four films that I'd have felt most sick about abandoning). But even with 10 extra runners-up, I'm still ignoring tremendously worthy victors.

My ballot:
1. The Third Man (1949) [on the TFE list]
2. Viridiana (1961)
3. Paris, Texas (1984) [on the TFE list]
4. The Piano (1993) [on the TFE list]
5. The Tree of Life (2011)
6. The Umbrellas of Cherbourg (1964) [on the TFE list]
7. Taste of Cherry (1997) [on the TFE list]
8. Barton Fink (1991)
9. The Conversation (1974) [on the TFE list]
10. Secrets & Lies (1996)

And my ten honorable mentions, chronologically:
The Wages of Fear (1953)
The Cranes Are Flying (1958) [on the TFE list]
La dolce vita (1960) [on the TFE list]
The Leopard (1963) [on the TFE list]
Blowup (1967)
Chronicle of the Years of Fire (1975)
Ballad of Narayama (1983)
Pulp Fiction (1994)
Eternity and a Day (1998)
4 Months, 3 Weeks and 2 Days (2007)

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TIM AT TFE: HE'S A TRAMP

I swear, I have the first paragraphs of multiple reviews that will eventually happen once I stop the whole Red Queen routine with my IRL job. And hopefully, one or two of those might even show up tomorrow. In the meantime, may I offer up a tribute to Charles Chaplin's iconic Little Tramp, written on the occasion of the character's 100th anniversary.

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RIO BY THE SEA-O

Another Thursday, another Film Experience review of a foreign animated film. This week, it is the Brazilian Rio 2096: A Story of Love and Fury, about which I feel extremely mixed admiration.

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PLANE CRAZY

Continuing my series of essays on this year's Best Animated Feature hopefuls at The Film Experience with a review of The Wind Rises. We'll take another look at that film here when it opens next year, but for right now this will be the only review I write, so take your comments and concerns over there, if you don't mind.

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ANIMATED FILMS IN REVIEW: ERNEST & CELESTINE

My essay this week at The Film Experience: a review of the lovely French animated film Ernest & Celestine. I won't likely review it again over in these parts, so if you want to discuss it, feel free to head on over and make yourself heard.

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LOST MEN

The December Team Top 10 at The Film Experience is up: the best performances nominated for the Lead Actor Oscar that didn't win. I haven't been this far off-consensus since its mated list, the best Best Actress nominees who lost, back in May. My tastes just that run that way, I guess, especially with my perennial pick for the single most overrated actor in history, giving the most overrated performance, at the top of the list.

Anyway, my own picks are these. The top 11 was solid as hell, but the runners-up list was about 25 names deep, so I can't fairly say that the also-rans were definitely my 12-20, but they were the ones who stuck around the longest in my head

1. Al Pacino, The Godfather, Part II (1974)
2. Peter O'Toole, Lawrence of Arabia (1962) [on the TFE list]
3. Orson Welles, Citizen Kane (1941)
4. Charles Laughton, Mutiny on the Bounty (1935)
5. Jack Lemmon, Some Like It Hot (1959) [on the TFE list]
6. James Stewart, Anatomy of a Murder (1959)
7. Walter Huston, Dodsworth (1936)
8. John Garfield, Body and Soul (1947)
9. Russell Crowe, The Insider (1999)
10. Paul Newman, Hud (1963)

First runner-up
Peter Sellers, Dr. Strangelove (1964) [on the TFE list]

Other runners-up, chronologically
William Powell, The Thin Man (1934)
Humphrey Bogart, Casablanca (1943)
James Stewart, It's a Wonderful Life (1946)
James Mason, A Star Is Born (1954)
Spencer Tracy, Bad Day at Black Rock (1955)
Rod Steiger, The Pawnbroker (1964)
Peter O'Toole, The Lion in Winter (1968) [on the TFE list]
Liam Neeson, Schindler's List (1993)
Nicholas Cage, Adaptation. (2002)

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TIM AT TFE: FOR THE FIRST TIME IN FOREVER

Disney animation being something of a thing around here, I'm planning my customary book-length review of the newly released Frozen, almost certainly to go up on Monday. In the meantime, my short, initial thoughts are available right now at The Film Experience.

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FOREIGN ANIMATION TIME

A new mini-series in my weekly column at The Film Experience: digging through some of the more obscure among the 19 films submitted for consideration in the Best Animated Feature category at the Academy Awards. First up is the anime A Letter to Momo, with more essays to come on Thursdays that aren't Thanksgiving.

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TIM AT TFE: HAPPY HALLOWEEN!

This week's column: Three movies that suggest the spirit of "Halloween" to me the most. But not those with "Halloween" in the title, because there is such a thing as trying to be at least a little clever.

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GREAT WORKS OF MODERN HORROR

Team Experience's October Top 10, part two: following last week's list of the best pre-1973 horror films, the inevitable list of post-1973 horror.

Last week's list was hard for me; this one was goddamn impossible, and the final list is a bizarre hybrid of personal favorites, canonical classics, and a few "well, I'd feel like a jackass not to count that..." titles. I will share with you my ballot, as long as we can all agree not to hold me to it at any point in the future, outside of maybe the titles (but not the ranking) of the Top 3

1. Suspiria (1977)
2. The Shining (1980) [on the TFE list]
3. The Texas Chainsaw Massacre (1974) [on the TFE list]
4. The Beyond (1981)
5. Halloween (1978) [on the TFE list]
6. Dawn of the Dead (1978)
7. Evil Dead II (1987)
8. Alien (1979) [on the TFE list]
9. The Descent (2005) [on the TFE list]
10. StageFright: Aquarius (1987)

Runners-up (six, because this was a pigfucker of a list to whittle down even to 15)
Deep Red (1975)
The Burning (1981)
The Evil Dead (1981)
The Thing (1982)
Cemetery Man (1994)
Audition (1999)

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TIM AT TFE: SLAVING AWAY

This week's essay: questioning why there have been so few movies about slavery in the antebellum South, and why that has so suddenly changed in the last year.

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GREAT WORKS OF CLASSIC HORROR

This month's Team Experience Top 10 is a two-parter that's especially dear to my heart: it being October and all, we've all submitted our top 10 horror movies made before and after The Exorcist in December, 1973 (a cutoff point I argued against, but you can't fight city hall). The first list is the classics, and considering the time span involved and the wide range of styles available, I think the consensus list is as strong as it could be, though I would happily quibble with the rankings.

Meanwhile, my own ballot - and I think I should mention that political considerations were not totally absent this time around, as I had a damned hard time assembling what I'm sure regular readers will appreciate was an especially daunting list for me of all people to commit to in public.

1. Cat People (1942) [on the TFE list]
2. The Haunting (1963) [on the TFE list]
3. Night of the Living Dead (1968) [on the TFE list]
4. Vampyr (1932) [on the TFE list]
5. The Wicker Man (1973)
6. Nosferatu (1922) [on the TFE list]
7. Black Sunday (1960)
8. Don’t Look Now (1973) [on the TFE list]
9. Bride of Frankenstein (1935)
10. The Phantom of the Opera (1925)

Runners-up, chronologically
Night of the Demon (1957)
Eyes Without a Face (1960) [on the TFE list]
Psycho (1960) [on the TFE list]
The Innocents (1961)
Tombs of the Blind Dead (1971)

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TIM AT TFE: HANKS FOR THE MEMORIES

This week's essay: on the eve of Captain Phillips, an appreciation of some of my favorite Tom Hanks performances.

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