This is the first in a hopefully-recurring feature where the writers of Earn This will choose some genre or theme, collectively pick twenty or so of their favorite songs under that umbrella, and write a few words about each song. If we’re motivated, we’ll even embed a Spotify playlist. For our first entry, Dan and…
100 Film Favorites – #7: Bill & Ted’s Excellent Adventure (Stephen Herek, 1989) “Hi. Welcome to the Future: San Dimas, California, 2688. It’s great here. The air is clean, the water’s clean, even the dirt is clean. Bowling averages are way up; mini-golf scores are way down. And we have more excellent water slides than…
100 Film Favorites – #8: The Lost Skeleton of Cadavra (Larry Blamire, 2001) The more artistically-inclined among you will be glad to note that yes, my Top Ten does contain at least one independent film. Of course, that doesn’t mean it’s particularly high-brow or sophisticated. Oh well. The Lost Skeleton of Cadavra opens with Dr.…
100 Film Favorites – #9: Bedknobs & Broomsticks (Robert Stevenson, 1971) The year is 1940, and the place Pepperinge Eye, a tiny village on the coast of England. Eglantine Price (Angela Lansbury), a middle-aged local woman, reluctantly takes in a trio of London orphans relocated to escape German bombings. Ms. Price views the children as…
100 Film Favorites – #10: Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street (Tim Burton, 2007) “There’s a hole in the world like a great black pit and it’s filled with people who are filled with shit and its morals aren’t worth what a pig could spit and it goes by the name of London.”…
100 Film Favorites – #11: Troll 2 (Claudio Fragasso, 1990) “Peter was a courageous boy, but that dawn he could feel fear stick to his skin, like dew on leaves.” The moment of truth has arrived. I’m sure people have been waiting with baited breath for today’s entry to pop up somewhere in the Countdown.…
100 Film Favorites – #12: Dr. Horrible’s Sing-Along Blog [with honorable mention to Team Starkid] (Joss Whedon, 2008) “The world’s a mess, and I just…need to…RULE it.” We’re closing in on the Top 10! This and the next entry stand fairly toe-to-toe with most of the entries in the actual top ten, so at this…
100 Film Favorites – #13: The Fall (Tarsem, 2006) “I can do what I want! It’s my story!” “It’s MY story, too!” Today’s selection is the most recent addition to the Countdown (I saw it for the first time at the 2013 W&M Global Film Festival in February), so its position may be likely to…
100 Film Favorites – #14: Ed Wood (Tim Burton, 1994) “Cut! That was PERFECT!” Double Burton, all the way across the sky. What does this mean? While Zemeckis and Spielberg have more entries scattered throughout the Countdown, Tim Burton might have the highest concentration of list-makers this close to the end (there’s another still to…
100 Film Favorites – #15: Pee-Wee’s Big Adventure (Tim Burton, 1985) “I’m a loner, Dottie. A rebel. You don’t wanna get mixed up with a guy like me.” Ah, the directorial debut. To be sure, some directors gradually climb the studio ladder, and their freshman efforts in the director’s chair may not be particularly impressive…