Thanks to word that Minneapolis based distributor Apparition is going to distribute the Australian neo-noir The Square here in North America I finally found an excuse to watch director Nash Edgerton’s short film Spider. I had heard good things about The Square, and I figured that his short might help give me an idea of what type of filmmaker Edgerton is.
Well, if The Square has as much malicious glee as Spider I could be in for a real treat.
Jack and Jill are always hurting each others feelings. But like Mum said, Its all fun and games until someone loses an eye.
Pretty much every movie related website on the Internet has come up with some sort of Best of the Decade list over the past month. But while the majority of them focused on straight up “Best of” lists featuring relatively well known films, I figured in the spirit of this website that I would instead focus on the lesser known films that have been made over the past ten years.
But one question I had to figure out was just how should I whittle down films as “Long Tail” films. Plenty of films started out as smaller films that eventually found their audience, while there is certainly a fair share of films that were initially given a wide release. So I decided I would use two different determining factors to help figure out which films would be considered part of the long tail.
The first is the amount of screens the film was released on during its theatrical run here in the US. I decided to go with a relatively small number of screens as the ceiling (100 at the films widest release) and that any film that broke that would simply be dismissed. This number essentially acts as the films initial chance to gain potential viewers. Films eliminated by this include The Proposition (158 screens), City of God (242 screens) and The Triplets of Bellville (463 screens).
Secondly I went off of reviews on IMDb.com. Once again I selected a fairly small number of reviews as the ceiling (no more than 10K). This number reflects the film’s total audience, as the films that are more popular with mainstream audiences, or those that have rabid fan followings, typically break that number quite easily. Film eliminated by this number include such seemingly smaller films like Oldboy (28 screens, 87016 votes), Dead Man’s Shoes (2 screens, 16286 votes) and Let the Right One In (53 screens, 45413 votes).
While still far from a perfect system, this seemed to work pretty well in eliminating a fairly large chunk of lesser known films, making it a far more manageable task for me to select some of my favorites from what remained. One interesting note, this process seemed to favor documentaries as twelve ended up making the list. So while the quality of documentaries has grown throughout the decade, it still seems like the form still has a ways to go to capture the public’s attention.
And without further ado, I give you this decades 30 Best Long Tail Films.
Its been a couple weeks since I posted the last Coming Soon list, and I think I will stick to this bi-weekly format for the short term. Not enough changes happen on a week-to-week basis to merit weekly posts, so this should help keep things a bit more interesting.
I don’t have much time to delve into it, but their are a host of films coming out in spring that look incredibly promising. Expect plenty of One to Watch entries as I track down trailers and more info. Other than that, see you at the movies.
*** – Denotes recommended viewing
All dates subject to change
12/11 Bad Lieutenant: Port of Call New Orleans Lagoon ***
12/11 The Strip Lagoon
12/11 Me and Orson Welles Lagoon
12/18 William Kunstler: Disturbing the Universe Lagoon
12/18 The Maid Lagoon/Edina
12/18 Young Victoria Edina
12/25 Broken Embraces Uptown
12/25 Nine Lagoon
12/25 A Single Man Lagoon
1/08 Crazy Heart Uptown (NEW)***
1/08 The Imaginarium of Dr Parnassus Lagoon ***
1/22 White Ribbon Uptown/Lagoon ***
2/12 Rashomon (Restored Print) Lagoon***
2/12 The Last Station Edina
2/12 Saint John of Las Vegas Lagoon (NEW)***
2/19 Oscar Nominated Shorts Lagoon ***
2/26 44 Inch Chest Lagoon***
3/05 North Face Lagoon (NEW)***
3/12 A Prophet Uptown
3/12 A Town Called Panic Lagoon ***
3/12 The Art of the Steal Edina (NEW)
Over the past few years I’ve become quite the fan of Ozploitation films, and I’ve quite enjoyed the recent resurgence of Australian genre filmmaking. One of my more recent finds was the flawwed, yet still enjoyable, Australian zombie film Undead. And while it was a decent enough independent horror comedy, I must say I found it a bit surprising that the director’s of that film, The Spierig Brothers, were able to secure over $20 million to film their next project. The Australian vampire film Daybreakers.
I’m a bit at a loss on just what kind of film this will be, as the trailers seem to be pushing a glossy action pic, but judging by Undead I wouldn’t be surprised if Daybreakers ends up being a relatively decent budget schlock film. Complete with ridiculous effects, gaping plot holes and over zealous acting. Willem Dafoe is in it after all. And if its a good one, man do I hope it makes it to the multiplex.
Word is the agreements are finally set and Landmark Theatres is going to be having exclusive one night screenings of the film Ichi, the latest incarnation of the martial arts classic series, Zatoichi. As far as I can tell these screenings will mark he US Theatrical debut of this film, which is an extra added bonus. And in case you are wondering, yes this will be a 35mm presentation. Below is a list of the specific Landmark theatres that will be hosting the event along with the date of their screening. Please feel free to contact them directly for more information.
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