1. 28 Weeks Later (Juan Carlos Fresnadillo, 2007): I really enjoyed this. It wasn’t as good or as raw as the first one. However, I think they were smart to use the same general concept, but not have any characters carry over or anything like that. It made the “zombie movies are really about families” and the clear political statements that any zombie movie has really really overt, which I think is a valid way to go in 2007. Also, that sequence in the dark subway was wicked scary.
  2. Where Danger Lives (John Farrow, 1950): Robert Mitchum and Maureen O’Hara were both really good, and you know how I like murder stories with crazy ladies. The best part was the section where they are on the run and they are so sure that the police are after them and everyone is onto them, but it is actually just a series of comic coincidences, which are contrasted with their rising hysteria. Talk about the panopticon! So there’s good stuff, but it doesn’t totally hold together. I wouldn’t turn it off if it comes on Turner Classic Movies, but I also wouldn’t necessarily recommend running out to see it.
  3. Blues Brothers 2000 (John Landis, 1998): This is a total guilty pleasure for me. As a movie, it’s awful, and there’s lots of middle-aged-dude-wish-fulfillment (and I know because it is the kind of movie my dad would make, and my dad is essentially Dan Aykroyd, but an accountant), and there is a totally unneccessary kid, but as a series of legendary musician camoes strung together, it is pretty fantastic. The soundtrack is insanely, insanely good if you like blues and soul and stuff, which I do. The supergroup at the end, fronted by B.B. King, Bo Diddly and Eric Clapton, had like Dr. John tucked in the back and Isaac Hayes singing backup. Also, a record-breaking 60-car accident.
  4. Electra Glide in Blue (James William Guercio, 1973): So 1970s; it was on TCM Underground (their cult movie Friday night thing, which is also where I saw Sisters and The Honeymoon Killers) and I started watching because the beginning section, which showed some peoples’ torsos doing stuff, caught my eye. It has Robert Blake as this highway motorcycle cop who’s trying to make detective and compensate for his shortness in every way possible. Vietnam comes up a lot. There are lots of hippies. It turns out the reason that every frame was a thing of beauty is that it was shot by legendary cinematographer Conrad Hall. It’s a good movie, not a great one; but it is absolutely gorgeous.
  5. Withnail & I (Bruce Robinson, 1987): I’m still not sure what I think of this movie. It was smart and funny and well-acted, but it had that very British boys’ club feel. I mean, it was about male friendship and homosexual anxiety, so it’s not like it wasn’t critiquing the British boys’ club tradition.
  6. The Saddest Music In The World (Guy Maddin, 2003): Oh! This movie had: Depression-era pastiche, beer, international mashups, Mark McKinney, Isabella Rosselini, family melodrama, and it deals with Canadian identity and the relationship between art and emotion. It is basically the perfect storm of everything I like and am interested in right now. It may not appeal as strongly to people who aren’t film grad students or me, but I think it was pretty awesome.

On the way to take the last two back to the video store, I tripped on some steps and fell down and scraped my hands and knees. Always classy!