I had this post ready to go this morning when suddenly, inexplicably, Blogger glitched. I did nothing wrong or out of the ordinary but suddenly the formatting got screwed up. While just trying to figure out what happened, what button might mistakenly have been hit, etc., the entire post went blank and then auto-saved. Five or six hours of work - more, really - gone in a flash. No explanation, no reason, no appeal, no recovery.
So, back to the drawing board.
An accumulation of spirit-crushing glitches like this can really do a number of a fella's equilibrium. I wish it was just Blogger. Someone fix the goddamn Matrix.
Here is a Table of Contents post for all film-related content here at the Omnibus.
MY FAVORITE FILMS
Pretty straightforward. I’m not capable of answering things like a normal person so one of those “Name your favorite film for every year of your lifetime” viral quiz things crossed my social media path and these were the results.
21st Century (through 2016)
FRIDAY NIGHT FILM NOIR
This was kind of a watch-along-with-me-while-I-screencap-the-movie-and-tell-you-the-plot sort of project, which in retrospect isn't the most satisfying thing to read. But there a gazillion screencaps in there, for cover photos or slideshows or just to admire while you practice your saxophone solos under the blinking argon lights.
FROM NOVEL TO FILM
Full list here. There were so many I wanted to get to and didn’t. I left those inactive links in there, just to get an idea of what the full range of films would have looked like.
RANDOM REVIEWS
AND OVERVIEWS
- The Films of Oliver Stone. I probably wouldn't even make that list now. I did it in 2014, and even by then I wasn't much of a Stone fan anymore. But in the past seven years, I've read this book, which kind of makes it hard to look at some of the things in Stone's movie the same way. It's still great theater, has plenty of fun performances, etc., but now it seems like it's gathering together the kind of Flying Spaghetti Monster strands under one banner. Which at one point wouldn't have mattered to me. Sidenote: the release of the JFK files was postponed once again, which will likely make Kevin Costner's remarkable speech at the end that much more persuasive to some. Maybe they're right.
- The Films of Martin Scorsese. What, did you miss one? Nope, I never did this one. I bring it up because, remarkably, I find myself in the same boat with Scorsese as I just described with Stone. I never would have thought most of his and Stone's work would hit me like a big bag of "meh" here in the far future of 2021, but that's where I'm at. Still think Casino is a masterpiece, and that Personal Journey Through American Movies should be seen by any aspiring filmmakers.
- One Crazy Summer. Seems kind of conspicuous all by itself like this, eh? There’s a very bloated three-parter on Heathers back there somewhere that I’ll leave unlinked. Not to be coy, just not my favorite work. Great movie though. Still holds up.
- The Things I Watched Recentlys. These are fun, and they’re rather habit-forming. Probably good I’m giving up the blog when I am as I could see myself just doing nothing but, year after year to the grave. I mean, hell I’ll be doing that anyway, just as I was doing it beforehand. Anyway I’ve done a few of these:
(a) some Halloween viewing from a few years ago. (Blacula, The Creature from the Black Lagoon, The Exorcist II, The Exorcist III, Halloween: H20, In the Mouth of Madness, It's the Great Pumpkin Charlie Brown, Little Shop of Horrors, Mandy, The Omen III: The Final Conflict, Scream Blacula Scream, Summer of '84, The Watcher in the Woods)
(b) One from earlier this year (Alien, Unhinged, The Hot Rock, The Hot Spot, Lady Cocoa, Lifeforce, Lifeguard, The Lost World: Jurassic Park II, No Escape, The Omega Man, The Pink Panther Strikes Again, TNT Jackson, The Towering Inferno)
(c) One from a few months ago (Bird Box, Chopping Mall, The Edge, The Fog, Freedomland, Invitation to Hell, A Quiet Place, Queen of Outer Space, Tai-Pan, We Can Be Heroes, Wind River)
(d) Another from a few months ago. (Boss Baby 2, Breaker Morant, Carbon Copy, Close Encounters of the Third Kind, The Crazies, Emma Mae, The In Laws, Pillow Talk, Police Story III: Supercop, Saint Jack, Slap Shot, Slumber Party Massacre, Sparkle, That Touch of Mink)
(e) Still another from a few months ago. (Class of 1984, Cleopatra, Death of Me, The Guilty, Freeway, Halloween II, Land of the Pharaohs, The Mummy, Retreat, The Ten Commandments, WNUF A Halloween Special, Yes Day)
(f) December 2021 viewing pt. 1 (Elf, The Family Man, The Family Stone, Gremlins, The Holiday, Identity, Jingle All the Way, Titanic, Troop Zero) and pt. 2 (The Artist, Beau Geste, Beyond Mombasa, The Block Island Sound, The Dam Busters, Dawn Patrol, Dishonored, King Kong Escapes, Lost Command, Private Resort, Private School, Safari, Shot Caller, Ski School, Summer School, Twelve O'Clock High, White Witch Doctor)
THE SCENIC ROUTE
Full list here. I really pumped a lot of screencaps out into the inter-ether. May you use them in peace, Planet Earth. May a thousand cover photos bloom.
STAR TREK MOVIES
The definitive McBreakdown! Pts. 1 and 2.
STEPHEN KING MOVIES
Likewise. Pts. 1 and 2. Someday someone will make a film of Duma Key and it will hopefully top that list, as it does my list of favorite King books.
TEN WESTERNS
Well this list feels incomplete or askew to me now, even if it was really only meant to be a list of hey-here's-some-good-westerns not an attempt to nail down the definitive grouping or anything. Still, I'd add or subtract a few now. That's horse races.
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