(via Boing Boing)
Z is for Zombie and John is for Shaun of the Dead. SotD has a high quotient of what the late Derrida would have called intertextuality. Luckily, its self-consciousness does not prevent it from being funny as hell.
I heartily recommend that you see this jokey zombie-fest.
I have compiled a list of some of my favorite flicks. They are all worth at least one viewing.
If you have any movies to add to the list please tell me—I am always on the prowl for more good movies (as opposed to the eminently mockable Gigli, The Patriot, Battlefield Earth, D&D the Movie, etc.).
Here it is:
0-12
12 Monkeys (1995)
2001: A Space Odyssey (1968)
28 Days Later... (2002)
A
About Schmidt (2002)
Adaptation (2002)
Akira Kurosawa's Dreams (1990)
Aliens (1986)
Amadeus (1984)
Amélie (2001)
Amores Perros (2000)
American Beauty (1999)
American Splendor (2003)
Apocalypse Now (1979)
B
The Barbarian Invasions (2003)
Barton Fink (1991)
Baxter (1989)
Being John Malkovich (1999)
Best in Show (2000)
The Big Lebowski (1998)
Blazing Saddles (1974)
Boogie Nights (1997)
Brazil (1985)
C
Capturing the Friedmans (2002)
Chicken Run (2000)
A Christmas Story (1983)
City of God (2002)
The City of Lost Children (1995)
A Clockwork Orange (1971)
The Closet (2001)
Clueless (1995)
Cookie's Fortune (1999)
Cool Hand Luke (1967)
Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon (2000)
Crumb (1994)
D
The Dangerous Lives of Altar Boys (2002)
Delicatessen (1991)
The Devil's Backbone (2001)
The Dinner Game (1998)
Dirty Pretty Things (2002)
Dirty Rotten Scoundrels (1988)
Dogville (2003)
Dr. Strangelove or: How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love the Bomb (1964)
E
Eat Drink Man Woman (1994)
Election (1999)
Elephant (2003)
Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind (2004)
F
Fahrenheit 9/11 (2004)
Fargo (1996)
Fast, Cheap and Out of Control (1997)
Fight Club (1999)
Finding Nemo (2003)
The Fisher King (1991)
The Fog of War: Eleven Lessons from the Life of Robert S. McNamara (2003)
Full Metal Jacket (1987)
The Full Monty (1997)
G
Gandhi (1982)
Ghost World (2001)
Gods and Monsters (1998)
The Godfather (1972)
The Good Thief (2003)
Goodfellas (1990)
Gosford Park (2001)
Groundhog Day (1993)
H
Haiku Tunnel (2001)
Heathers (1989)
Heavenly Creatures (1994)
Hedwig and The Angry Inch (2001)
Hero (2004)
High Fidelity (2000)
I
Igby Goes Down (2002)
In the Bedroom (2001)
Inherit the Wind (1960)
J
Jaws (1975)
K
Kill Bill: Vol. 1 (2003)
Kill Bill: Vol. 2 (2004)
L
L.A. Confidential (1997)
The Last Emperor (1987)
The Lion in Winter (1968)
Little Big Man (1970)
Lock, Stock and Two Smoking Barrels (1998)
Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring, The (2001)
Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King, The (2003)
Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers, The (2002)
Lost in Translation (2003)
M
Mad Max (1980)
A Man for All Seasons (1966)
The Man Who Wasn't There (2001)
Memento (2000)
Metropolis (2001)
Monster (2003)
Monster's Ball (2001)
Monsters, Inc. (2001)
Mulholland Drive (2001)
N
National Lampoon's Animal House (1978)
Network (1976)
Night of the Living Dead (1968)
No Man's Land (2001)
O
O Brother, Where Art Thou? (2000)
One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest (1975)
The Opposite of Sex (1998)
Outfoxed: Rupert Murdoch's War on Journalism (2004)
P
Pi (1998)
The Pianist (2002)
The Piano (1993)
Poltergeist (1982)
Princess Mononoke (1997)
Psycho (1960)
Pulp Fiction (1994)
Punch-Drunk Love (2002)
R
Raiders of the Lost Ark (1981)
Raising Arizona (1987)
Repo Man (1984)
Requiem for a Dream (2000)
Reservoir Dogs (1992)
Ridicule (1996)
Roger and Me (1989)
Ronin (1998)
Rosencrantz and Guildenstern Are Dead (1990)
The Royal Tenenbaums (2001)
Rushmore (1998)
S
Schindler’s List (1993)
Secretary (2002)
Sexy Beast (2001)
Shattered Glass (2003)
The Shining (1980)
Shrek (2001)
The Silence of the Lambs (1991)
Sleeper (1973)
Snatch (2000)
Some Like It Hot (1959)
South Park: Bigger, Longer & Uncut (1999)
Spellbound (2002)
Spider-Man (2002)
Spider-Man 2 (2004)
Spirited Away (2002)
Star Wars (1977)
Startup.com (2001)
Stevie (2002)
T
Taxi Driver (1976)
Thirteen (2002)
This Is Spinal Tap (1984)
Tokyo Godfathers (2003)
Tootsie (1982)
Toy Story (1995)
Toy Story 2 (1999)
Traffic (2000)
Trainspotting (1996)
The Triplets of Belleville (2003)
U
Unforgiven (1992)
The Usual Suspects (1995)
V
W
Wag the Dog (1997)
The Weather Underground (2003)
Welcome to the Dollhouse (1996)
Whale Rider (2002)
What’s Eating Gilbert Grape?(1993)
When Harry Met Sally (1989)
Wonder Boys (2000)
Y
Y Tu Mamá También (2001)
Young Frankenstein (1974)
Z
Some great movies (with rough, largely meaningless, grades) to help my friends through this lackluster movie season:
Spellbound (A): The most tense you will ever be over the spelling of ‘darjeeling’.
Stevie (A-): A difficult to watch, but startlingly sincere documentary about the director’s ex-little brother (from the Big Brother program).
American Splendor (A): This has a sweet jazz soundtrack, a comic motif and the misanthropic, glum gus Harvey Pekar. What’s not to love?
The Office: First Season (A): Funny as hell and, as anyone who deals with management knows, painfully true.
Ridicule (B+): Re-released on DVD, this French film has fine wit, as well as a humane heart.
Lost in Translation (A): Murray's best performance, funny and melancholy.
Startup.com (B): A compelling portrait of the hype and subsequent disillusionment experienced by the .com generation of entrepreneurs.
I do not get why some people think David Cronenberg is a genius. A few nights ago Dani and I watched Spider. I have seen a few Cronenberg flicks before (Scanners, Naked Lunch, Existenze) and was not too impressed. Spider did not change this. His camerawork was mundane, the pacing was plodding, and the plot needed only about half the film to unfold. In short, it was an unremarkable continuation of Cronenberg’s cinematic displays of fear and loathing of vaginas.
This is one of the best heist films I have seen in a while, despite having Nick Nolte in it! Check it out.