Remember.
Saturday, February 28, 2015
BEST SHOT: Revenge of the Sith - 2005
The best thing in this movie is the Emperor. Ian McDiarmid steals the movie. He is so good at being evil, and not only that, the most evil being in the whole universe. You can believe it when he goes full out evil wizard at the end of Revenge. Look at that! The man is the only one who doesn't spend three movies acting board or confused.
FIGHT EVIL
Sam Drog
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Friday, February 27, 2015
BEST SHOT: Attack of the Clones - 2002
So much of what I like about the prequels is in the sound design by Ben Burtt. It is often the most inspired thing going on. But this is a column about shots. Above was the best I could do. This movie is a slog. My favorite part is Orphan Annie on his way to kill the Sand People. Sigh. Here's a Jawa.
FIGHT EVIL
Sam Drog
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Sketch Gutter: Snow Maniac
Thursday, February 26, 2015
Sketch Gutter: Port
BEST SHOT: The Phantom Menace - 1999
Coming to grips with the prequels, we all have to do it eventually. They're not going anywhere. So I'm going to talk about the bright spot of Phantom Menace. I love the podrace. People complain it was too long. Nay! Nay, I say. Not long enough. Really, the movie is over after the podrace. After that, the whole thing flatlines until Darth Maul turns on his double light saber. So podrace. Loved it. And above is my favorite little moment. This creature is adorable and ridiculous, and the little sound it makes before dying a fiery death is fantastic. Look at those little arms. Adorable.
FIGHT EVIL
Sam Drog
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Wednesday, February 25, 2015
Pix: Snow Day
Best Shot: The Texas Chainsaw Massacre - 1974
This shot, from my favorite scene in the movie, is what makes early Tobe Hooper movies stand apart. He takes the time to show the monster in his haunted house having a moment of panic. Leatherface is not some sadistic killing machine. He acts out of fear and confusion.
FIGHT EVIL
Sam Drog
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PIX: Rings
Tuesday, February 24, 2015
Sketch Gutter: Baby Trance
Best Shot: 28 Days Later - 2002
This movie was absolutely punishing in the theater. I paid to see it three times. No infected maniacs in this shot, but it is the first sign of hope you get and it isn't until the start of the third act. Up until this shot, the movie has been one bleak mama jama and I was as happy as the characters to see those chemtrails.
FIGHT EVIL
Sam Drog
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Monday, February 23, 2015
SKETCH GUTTER: Salesman
Best Shot: E.T. - 1982
Okay, I know this is called Best Shot, but E.T. was a big big big deal to me growing up so I couldn't pick one shot. Officially, the shot above is my favorite. The wall of adults coming to ruin your life.
But how can you not mention this! I have no idea why they sent in the astronauts, but the idea of astronauts invading your house is so surreal I can't help but to love it. I love that they walk slowly like they are in low gravity and growl like monsters.
What I love most about E.T. is that it plays differently for me as an adult than it did for me as a kid. I side with the adults now. It's sick and sad but I do. As a kid I saw those doctors as hurting E.T. and Elliot, not working frantically to save them. The character Keys, above, was the main heavy, and the most evil of the evil adults, because he was trying to snatch E.T. Well now I see him as Elliot all grown up, doing the best he can to help the alien. It's a weird thing were he can go to his childhood self to tell him thank you for taking such good care of the dream he had never let go of.
FIGHT EVIL
Sam Drog
Clown Versus Monkey! Check It Out Here!
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Sunday, February 22, 2015
Best Shot: Psycho - 1960
Yes, the shower scene made the blood rush out of my head, but I want to share something that hasn't been plowed over a million times. Here's the shot that really snapped my brains when I first saw it. My head could not wrap around what I was seeing. What I like most is the sadistic euphoria on Norman Bates's face. He is so happy to have caught and trapped his next victim. It's rare you see someone enjoy their work this much.
FIGHT EVIL
Sam Drog
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COMIX: Monster Mop!
Saturday, February 21, 2015
Sketch Gutter: Hunchback
Best Shot: The Wizard of Oz - 1939
Lots of good stuff from this one, but man, this is the shot I had to leave the room on. Too much to take. This movie would show on TV every year, and every year I felt my anxiety grow as this shot got closer. Look at that horror show!
FIGHT EVIL
Sam Drog
Clown Versus Monkey! Check It Out Here!
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Friday, February 20, 2015
Sketch Gutter: MurrrrBurrrrrr
Best Shot: Alien - 1979
Here is my favorite shot in Alien. I guess I like symmetry, Tom Skerritt never gets called out for how awesome he is in this scene. A guy with a job to do, but would rather be doing anything else.
FIGHT EVIL
Sam Drog
Clown Versus Monkey! Check It Out Here!
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Thursday, February 19, 2015
Best Shot: The Black Hole - 1979
This is the first movie I remember seeing in the theater. I'm sure I saw Star Wars, I was a Star Wars nerd already at this point, but The Black Hole made a big impact on my 5 year old eyes. The shot above terrified me so badly, that when I bought the DVD recently, this shot came on and I felt the same pit in my gut. When I had this on VHS as a kid, I had to leave the room when this shot came on. I couldn't take it. Now I can brace myself and make it through, but above is the most terrifying 10 seconds of any movie.
FIGHT EVIL
Sam Drog
Clown Versus Monkey! Check It Out Here!
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Wednesday, February 18, 2015
Best Shot: 2001: A Space Odyssey - 1968
At this point in the movie, I just break out in applause and keep it going until the credits. Seeing this in fourth grade shattered my brain, it was like a big riddle I had to figure out. This shot I love for the creepy symmetry and the weird religious feeling I get from it. I could have posted the big shot of the star child, that makes my heart sing, but this one really ties the movie together, like the rug in Big Lebowsky.
FIGHT EVIL
Sam Drog
Clown Versus Monkey! Check It Out Here!
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Tuesday, February 17, 2015
Best Shot: The Howling - 1981
The Howling is the movie that got me into horror movies, and the shot above blew my mind. There is the big transformation scene that gets all the love, but Rob Bottin's ghoulish Acid Eddie is such a wonderful make up job, and Rob Piccardo is so good in this scene, and in this role, that it is weird that Star Trek got him typecast as playing a nebbish. No one used Piccardo as well as Joe Dante. I wish Eddie could have eaten Dennis Dugan in real life, he wouldn't have gone on to direct those terrible Adam Sandler movies. On a side note, Kevin Smith remade this scene in Dogma,so you have to give him props for having exquisite taste.
FIGHT EVIL
Sam Drog
Clown Versus Monkey! Check It Out Here!
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Monday, February 16, 2015
Pix - Ghost Trees
Rainy day and the temps are dropping. Not fun to drive in but the trees froze over and are looking awesome tonight.
SD
Best Shot: The Professional - 1993
Here's a shot from something non-Carpenter. Luc Besson's The Professional. In 1993, I was a movie junkie, just starting to make my own on a VHS camcorder, and Le Femme Nikita was on a constant loop at my house. When the trailer hit for this film, I was working at a theater and my friend Seth saw it first and he came into the lobby with tears in his eyes, saying he saw the most beautiful thing he'd ever seen. When the movie came out, I watched it twice in a row with my bud Jayson. This movie was a big deal in those days. Luc Besson was God of All Filmmakers. But enough of all that, above is the shot that knocked my socks off. Seems like nothing but it was the first time I noticed how powerful framing your shot with a lot of negative space can be. If you see the shot before this one, Gary Oldman's big head is filling the frame. You cut to this, and the guy is surrounded with nothing, He's got a lot of head space above him. He looks like he's about to get eaten. The lens is really wide, you can see the distortion on the vertical lines. Everything in this shot says that this guy is weak and in trouble. Everything started clicking in my head at that point.
I had to say something about this shot above. I love the arrangement of the SWAT team. This shot made my heart sink (I gasped out loud when I first saw it) and it kicks off the best 20 minutes of Luc Besson's career.
FIGHT EVIL
Sam Drog
Clown Versus Monkey! Check It Out Here!
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Sunday, February 15, 2015
Best Shot: Escape from New York - 1981
Here is the shot that stays with me from EfNY. Snake has just found the President's tracker on a hobo and his escape pod empty. Now in the middle of a REALLY bad neighbor hood and out of ideas, he sits to think about what to do next, and contemplate the mess he is in. For Snake to show a moment of despair and indecisiveness really adds to his character. As much as he plays the tough guy, you get the feeling of his humanity here. He is captured and wounded and beaten and taken advantage of the whole movie. He is steel, but not in the uberhuman way of the modern action stars. Compare this to The Expendables or any Jason Statham movie where they never show for a moment the man beneath the hero.
FIGHT EVIL
Sam Drog
Clown Versus Monkey! Check It Out Here!
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Saturday, February 14, 2015
Best Shot: The Thing - 1982
Here is a new thing I want to do. I post my favorite shot from a movie, and write a few words on it. Above is my favorite shot from The Thing. I love the colors, I love the composition, with the noose center stage. I love the depth. Most of all I love what it says about the story. Wilford Brimley has by this point been assimilated into The Thing, and so it makes you wonder about how much is left of the person once taken over. When did he decide to kill himself, before of after his takeover? Or is the alien so intelligent it is all a plot to play on Russell's sympathy to get back into the camp?
FIGHT EVIL
Sam Drog
Clown Versus Monkey! Check It Out Here!
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Friday, February 13, 2015
Wednesday, February 11, 2015
Tuesday, February 10, 2015
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