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The End of Watch This

A few of you … ok, maybe a bit more than a few … knew Allison and I had been watching all of the American Film Institutes’s Top 100 movies in a year, publicly throughout Cincinnati and always for free. It was partly to see if we could do it, partly to stop people whining about there being “nothing to do in Cincinnati,” and partly to spend some more time together - and ended up being a massive citywide project that brought hundreds of people together. What a win.

We started exactly one year ago today, not knowing if we would ever finish…

In fact, we did. We screened our last movie (Citizen Kane) on December 18th and put up our final post yesterday - the last day of the year. Here’s a bit:

This last year has been full of more fun and more frustration than I’ve ever experienced in my life, and I loved every minute of it … I can say that now, looking back, knowing full well than when things went wrong I wanted to pound my head into the wall so hard that I began to laugh inappropriately at films like The Deer Hunter and Schindler’s List. Still, it was an experience like none other.

I loved watching these films. I loved watching these films for the films and experiencing them with new perceptions. I loved watching these films with friends, new friends, old friends, new friends that have since become old friends (the many many of you.) And I loved watching these films with Allison. A girl I barely knew when this began who I now live with and can’t imagine my live without. Doing this was insane, irrational and often time just plane idiotic, and she was there with me for every moment. It wasn’t the crazy project of one lone man – it was the cazy project of two crazy people, and somehow that made it all the more romantic.

And with that, a win. If you want to check out exactly what we said about the 100 best movies of all time, you can, now and always, go to WatchThisBlog.com.

I’m not sure exactly what we’ll be doing now in 2011 - a movie club or some screenings of really terrible movies have all been kicked around - but I’ll certainly let you know when we get there!

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Genrocks’s “Filmography 2010” puts together 270 of the year’s biggest films into one really amazing six-minute edit. So what do you think, did we fail or win for 2010 movies?

(Thanks Bryan for the link!)

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10 Word (or less) Film Review

Black Swan

  • Directed by: Darren Aronofsky
  • Starring: Natalie Portman, Mila Kunis, Vincent Cassel
  • Plot: ”A thriller that zeros in on the relationship between a veteran ballet dancer and a rival.”

Review: Jesus, Nathalie Portman is psychotically good … so is the movie. (A)

See all my 10-word (or less) film reviews here.

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10 Word (or less) Film Review

True Grit

  • Directed by: Joel and Ethan Coen
  • Starring: Jeff Bridges, Matt Damon, Hailee Steinfeld
  • Plot:A tough U.S. Marshal helps a stubborn young woman track down her father’s murderer.

Review: The West, revenge and murder aren’t funny … they’re damn hilarious. (A-)

See all my 10-word (or less) film reviews here.

permalink thedailywhat:

Disney Fan Art of the Day: “The Villainous World of Disney” by Stephen Arthur Schaffer.
Schaffer’s 12 all-time favorite Disney villains, drawn in chronological order “from earliest appearance to most recent”:

Top Row (L-R):1953 – Peter Pan – Captain Hook1959 – Sleeping Beauty – Maleficent1961 – 101 Dalmatians – Cruella de Vil1989 – The Little Mermaid – Ursula1991 – Beauty and the Beast – Gaston1992 – Aladdin – JafarBottom Row (L-R):1995 – Pocahontas – Governor Ratcliffe1996 – The Hunchback of Notre Dame – Claude Frollo1997 – Hercules – Hades1998 – Mulan – Shan Yu2000 – The Emperor’s New Groove – Yzma2009 – The Princess and the Frog – Doctor Facilier

[deviantart.]

thedailywhat:

Disney Fan Art of the Day:The Villainous World of Disney” by Stephen Arthur Schaffer.

Schaffer’s 12 all-time favorite Disney villains, drawn in chronological order “from earliest appearance to most recent”:

Top Row (L-R):
1953 – Peter Pan – Captain Hook
1959 – Sleeping Beauty – Maleficent
1961 – 101 Dalmatians – Cruella de Vil
1989 – The Little Mermaid – Ursula
1991 – Beauty and the Beast – Gaston
1992 – Aladdin – Jafar

Bottom Row (L-R):
1995 – Pocahontas – Governor Ratcliffe
1996 – The Hunchback of Notre Dame – Claude Frollo
1997 – Hercules – Hades
1998 – Mulan – Shan Yu
2000 – The Emperor’s New Groove – Yzma
2009 – The Princess and the Frog – Doctor Facilier

[deviantart.]

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On hold

Big news coming in the world of Alex Shebar in less than a week (Thursday to be exact). Your patience is appreciated. 

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This is amazing. German design students Felix Meyer and Pascal Monaco gave 35 movies the minimalist treatment and put together a crazy collage of classic film. It’s called “35 Movies in 2 Minutes” or just “35MM.”

I got 21. How many did you get?

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10 Word (or less) Film Review

Inception

  • Directed by: Christopher Nolan
  • Starring: Leonardo DiCaprio, Joseph Gordon-Levitt, Ellen Page
  • Plot:In a world where technology exists to enter the human mind through dream invasion, a highly skilled thief is given a final chance at redemption which involves executing his toughest job till date, Inception.”

Review: Jesus, was this film a kickass dream or epic nightmare? (A-)

  • See all my 10-word (or less) film reviews here.
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10 Word (or less) Film Review

The Runaways

  • Directed by: Floria Sigismondi
  • Starring: Kristen Stewart, Dakota Fanning, Michael Shannon
  • Plot: ”A coming-of-age biopic about ’70s teenage band The Runaways.”

Review: Sex, drugs and rock and roll! … Plus, some terrible storytelling. (C+)

  • See all my 10-word (or less) film reviews here.
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10 Word (or less) Film Review

The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo

  • Directed by: Niels Arden Oplev
  • Starring: Michael Nyqvist, Noomi Rapace, Sofia Ledarp
  • Plot: ”A journalist is aided in his search for a woman who has been missing — or dead — for forty years by a young female hacker.”

Review: The best Swedish things ever: Fish. Meatballs. Thriller movies. (A)

  • See all my 10-word (or less) film reviews here.