LOOSE ENDS & RANDOM MUSINGS - Before we delve into the top ten list (published below), I wanted to tie up a few loose ends... and then proceed to go off on about 12 different tangents. First, my consternation over nobody answering my trivia question about what movie takes place in Star City, Arkansas, apparently paid off. Congrats to Slate film critic David Edelstein who correctly answered Carl Franklin's 'One False Move.' He just beat CS regulars Matty Robinson (aka JoeyCotton), Island Girl and Rico. Speaking of Edelstein, check out his review of Spike Lee's '25th Hour', which he argues is more about a fear of anal rape than it is post-911 New York or the movie's themes of loyalty, friendship and misguided choices. As a devotee of the HBO show 'Oz', I don't have a problem buying Edelstein's assessment. I'm pretty sure it would be my biggest fear if I, like Ed Norton's character Monty Brogan, was heading to the slammer. If you haven't seen 'One False Move,' it's really worth checking out -- a pre-'Sling Blade' Billy Bob Thornton (as screenwriter and actor), Michael Beach (a true 'that guy') in a truly terrifying role as the calm sociopath Pluto and Bill Paxton doing his hayseed routine to perfection. I always remember Star City as a town name because it's so naturally ironic and fits so nicely in the movie since the female character at the core of the story is on the run from Los Angeles back home. I watched the movie on DVD one weekend a few years back and at work Monday -- this is Cedar Rapids, Iowa, just so you know -- I heard the woman with a slight Southern drawl in the office next to me explain to someone that she was born in Star City, Arkansas! The timing floored me. I didn't even know Star City was a real place. * During our 'Solaris' movie club back on 12/4, Sam sang the praises of Netflix, the rent-by-mail DVD company. Our mutual friend Kevin Rich was the first person I knew who was really into Netflix. He tried to sell me on its virtues back in June or July. As Sam wrote, and as you've surely heard by now, for $19.95 a month you get unlimited DVD rentals and Netflix provides you with the packaging materials to send the discs back. You keep a rental list online and Netflix just keeps going through your list sending you the ones you've requested. Keep them as long as you want, no late fees. If you typically rent just 4 our 5 DVDs a month from Blockbuster, Netflix ends up being cheaper and a hell of a lot more convenient. The problem, for me, was that I don't typically rent any DVDs much less 4 or 5 a month, and $19.95 just seemed like too much of financial commitment. What changed my mind was two things. First, I moved to Chicago, where there are more movies to see, but they're also much harder to see -- whether it's the cost and hassle of parking, public transporation, or simply making the drive from the 'burbs into the city. Furthermore, with a job that involves working long hours and most weekends, I just don't have the time to go to the theatre as frequently as I did back in Iowa City. Second, I discovered Number Slate, a Netflix rival that provides the same service, but for $13.95 per month. Call me cheap, but something about that $6 just makes it seem worthwhile. So i signed up. My first two selections, based on my rankings and which movies were immediately available, were 'Scotland, PA' and 'Planet of the Apes.' Yes, it's true; I've never seen the original 'Planet' from start to finish, which is the beauty of services like Number Slate. Sam's right, at Blockbuster you always feel compelled to spend your $4 on a new release, not some old movie that you've seen parts of but just never watched all the way through. I still haven't popped in 'Planet' yet, but I did scope out 'Scotland, PA,' an indie film written and directed by Billy Morrissette that came out on a few screens back in February. It's a moderately entertaining movie, but one that ultimately left me wondering why it deserved my time. I had zero expectations for this film; in fact, I couldn't remember anything about the movie at all when I added it to my rental list online. Set in the early 70s, the film is a comedic retelling of Shakespeare's 'MacBeth' with James LeGros and Maura Tierney starring as Joe and Pat McBeth, a couple of simple but ambitious blue collar folks working in a diner in small-town Pennsylvania. 'Scotland' joins Baz Luhrmann's 'Romeo & Juliet', the Ethan Hawke version of 'Hamlet', Gus Van Sant's 'My Own Private Idaho' (a film that probably should have made our top ten list), 'O' with Josh Hartnett, and a handful of others in what arguably has become its own genre. Maybe it's the fact that 'Henry IV', which was Van Sant's inspiration for 'Idaho,' is my favorite Shakespeare play, or maybe it's because Van Sant used Shakespeare merely as inspiration rather than as a text to update and revise, but not one movie from this "genre" since 'Idaho' has really worked for me. I think Ebert probably summed it up best in this quote taken from Rotten Tomatoes: "I enjoyed the movie in a superficial way, while never sure what its purpose was." I really can't sum up my feelings any better. It's very funny at times, especially some of the scenes involving Christopher Walken as Ernie McDuff, a detective investigating the murder that propels the McBeth's to fast-food fame. I guess if you're a big 'MacBeth' fan who takes some kind of intellectual delight in seeing all of the movie's clever references to the original, then great. If not, then so what? That's a pretty brusque review, I know, but I've got to cut this short and hopefully get to the discussion of our top ten list.

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CS' TOP TEN FILMS OF THE PAST 25 YEARS/THIS WEEKEND - Well, it's finally here. Sam, Eric and I have made our individual lists and tallied the votes of our top ten films since 1978. The idea was to see how similar it was to the recent poll in the British film magazine Sight & Sound. As you'll see, the two lists are very similar... which either means the three of us are just as snobby as a bunch of limey film critics, or we're simply not very original. (And the answer is -- both.)

1. Glengarry Glen Ross (James Foley, 1989)
2. Raging Bull (Martin Scorsese, 1980)
3. GoodFellas (Scorsese, 1991)
4. Hannah and Her Sisters (Woody Allen, 1986)
5. Apocalypse Now (Francis Ford Coppola, 1979)
6. Pulp Fiction (Quentin Tarantino, 1994)
7. Rushmore (Wes Anderson, 1998)
8. Do The Right Thing (Spike Lee, 1989)
9. The Deer Hunter (Michael Cimino, 1978)
10. Henry V (Kenneth Branagh, 1989)

We'll provide some commentary about our selections Friday (or Monday). * Wow, how nice would it be to not have any commitments this weekend? It's like the movie gods are rewarding us for the past several weeks of releases like 'Maid in Manhattan.' The list of movies opening between now and Christmas that I am eager to see includes: Adaptation, About Schmidt, Antwone Fisher, Catch Me If You Can, Gangs of New York, and The Hot Chick (just kidding!). If at least three of those movies don't make my best of the year list, I will be extremely disappointed.

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MOVIE CLUB: THE TWO TOWERS
From: Eric Baker
To: Adam Kempenaar, Sam Hallgren, and the multitude of readers
Subject: The Ring: My Precious

I hate it when Adam is right, but at least it will take him a while to chime in if he doesn't plan on seeing the new LOTR for awhile. I'll be stealing my thunder for my Friday review of 'The Two Towers,' but I have a lot to say about this flick. I think I'm more disappointed because I liked Part I last year so much, and I thought the possibilities were endless with where Peter Jackson could take this film (within the context of the script, of course). Instead what I got was 'Army of Darkness' without the humor, 'Braveheart' without the superior battle choreography, 'Rocky' without the deep emotional underpinning of a tough Italian kid just trying to . . . cough, ahem. Sorry about that. But we know what Jackson is trying to do here, beyond the prerequisite 'entertain the audience.' He was handed the keys to the castle on this, an opportunity to do 3 movies at once, but a situation where if he made the first one excellent, people would buy tickets to the next two just to see what else he could accomplish. He was given a modern-day 'Star Wars,' and while it's certainly better than the last two installments of that dead horse franchise, it's not great, which was what I was expecting. As viewers will see, there are some similarities to 'The Empire Strikes Back,' but Jackson didn't have the stones to veer from a happy ending. There's no sense of dramatic conflict throughout the film, especially with Frodo Baggins. And I'm anxious to read and hear what people have to say about all the face time Gollum got in this installment, specifically if people think he's the next Jar Jar Binks (I didn't mind him too much). After watching the Bravo presentation of 'Page to Screen' on 'The Fellowship of the Ring,' I remember the three screenwriters emphasizing certain themes in the film so as not to get too caught up in unnecessary plot machinations. I guess I can't say there's a ton of clunky storylines in this one, but the pacing sure seems off. This installment is the same length as the first one --roughly three hours -- but you sure do notice it this time around. I thought the first LOTR was wise to give as much screen time and story development to Ian McKellan's (Gandalf the Grey) and Ian Holm's (Bilbo Baggins) characters as possible, but here everything is a constant trudge to a battle with a pre-ordained outcome that even top-notch special effects can't enliven. Don't get me wrong, the special effects are the best part of the movie, so good in some places that I literally couldn't tell if they were real or computer-generated, which is something in this day and age. A perfect example of what I wish Jackson would have done more of is the subplot with Pippin and Merry and the Tree People. My favorite part of the movie that gets short shrift in the editing room: it's an appropriate use of special effects within the context of the story. I realize the entire film can't be similar to that, but the magic of Tolkien is each escapade is described with such detail you could create a whole movie just on that event. Adam frets below that "is it going to surprise me at all? Is it really any different than seeing a James Bond movie to some extent, except with better acting, etc." Well, if it met the criteria in the laundry list, then yes, it would be quite different from Bond. But I think it's fair to say Adam won't be surprised, and he hasn't even read the books.

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VERY DISAPPOINTED - Real quick I wanted to point out that I have received no responses to my little trivia question from Friday in the post "Speaking of movies nobody will see..." I wrote: "And if you can name what movie is set in Star City, Arkansas, you get...well, I'm not sure what you'll get other than my respect and admiration." Either my respect and admiration isn't enough of an incentive, or nobody knows the answer...or maybe nobody read the post. Who knows? The challenge still stands. Hint: It was on Roger Ebert's list of the best films of 1992.

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NEWS FLASH - 'Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers' opens today. So now you know. Our own Eric Baker is seeing it this afternoon and plans on having some comments tonight, I believe...which is good because I have to admit that I don't intend to see it any time soon. I liked 'Fellowship' quite a bit and expect 'Towers' to be even better. I just can't get excited about it. Sorry. Now if 'Adaptation' or 'Confessions of a Dangerous Mind' was playing nearby, I'd be waiting in line. I never read the books growing up and I seem to have an aversion to spectacle/event movies like this. Let me reiterate, I expect the movie to be great. But is it going to surprise me at all? Is it really any different than seeing a James Bond movie to some extent, except with better acting, directing, writing, production design and cinematography? Out of 78 reviews on "Rotten Tomatoes," only one critic expressed a negative reaction -- someone named Victoria Alexander from FilmsInReview.com. I appreciate Ms. Alexander's nerve -- "I'll be the reckless, foolish messenger and endure the wrath of LOTR devotees: Compared to The Fellowship, The Two Towers is a big, sprawling disappointment," she writes -- but her review is sort of like reading the phone book. Lots of information, mainly about the plot, with absolutely zero insight. I know Sam is anxious to see it and Eric will chime in with his thoughts soon. It's worth noting that Nate "The Yapp" from the Feedback Forum isn't the only person to include 'Fellowship' on his list of the best films of the past 25 years. Eric's a big dork as well. (Just kidding)

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OUT TO LUNCH - Some good lists of the top ten movies of the last 25 years in the Feedback Forum so far. Let's see some more. Sam, Eric and I have almost finished our list and should have it up Wed. or Thurs. I'll also have a post about a Netflix rival and the movie 'Scotland, PA.'

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