Next on Hit Me: You Can't Stop This Letter to Pocahontas!
Wednesday, March 26, 2014 at 5:30PM We kicked off Season 5 of Hit Me With Your Best Shot with two undisputed modern classics Eternal Sunshine and LA Confidential but it's time to get a little more adventurous and rangey. Each season has a mix of classics, oddities, and at least one animated entry because though we originally conceived of the series as a tribute to cinematography it's become readily apparent that the best shots can come from the work from other departments, too. To join us simply a) watch the movie b) pick your favorite shot and c) post it somewhere public. Then we'll add you to our roundup.
Tuesday April 1st
For April Fool's Day a legendary "so bad it's good" movie, Alan Carr's Village People musical CAN'T STOP THE MUSIC (1980) which won the very first Razzie award for Worst Picture. I'm sorry about the short notice but it's easy to find, so start dancing, queen.
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Tuesday April 8th Tuesday April 15th
No film this week. I will be on my annual short post-Oscar vacation (April 4th-8th)
We'll be looking at William Wyler's noir adaptation of Somerset Maughan's THE LETTER (1940) which was nominated for 7 Oscars in its year including Picture, Cinematography and Best Actress Bette Davis. (This installment is multi-tasking. It'll also be our 4th episode of Seasons of Bette)
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Tuesday April 22nd
For Earth Day 2014, we'll sing with all the colors of the wind for Disney's POCAHONTAS (1995). I chose it principally because a) I've been trying to come up with an excuse to revisit it and b) it's easy to access. I had some other ideas but you'd be surprised how few things are easily accessible these days if you have something specific in mind. If you're a browser it's all good but devoted film fans are in trouble. The morphing of Netflix and the crash of the physical disc system has really wreaked havoc on easy accessibility since streaming is such a tiny percentage of movies we're interested in.
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Reader Comments (12)
Yasss The Letter! And you're covering it the week of my birthday! I love that film so much. Such a fascinating noir and role from Bette Davis. I will definitely be participating.
The Letter. Picking only one shot is gonna be like picking only one Andrew Christian model.
Yay! Pocahontas! I feel that movie respected enough, I hope you enjoy it.
I've suggested The Letter! Thank you!
Very cool. It's been years since I assaulted my senses with Can't Stop the Music but it should be a hoot to watch it again especially now that I have something to distract me from it's overall jaw dropping bizarreness.
I love The Letter too and it's great that it's going to be a combo observation project. I'm not an animation fan though so I'm not really looking forward to Pocahontas with the same level of anticipation.
Can't Stop the Music is a glorious choice. I seriously hope you're considering Xanadu too.
The Letter!!!!!!!
I'm totally game on The Letter and Pocahontas! Both visually stunning films, for very different reasons.
Pocahontas was the very first film I saw in theatres. I was four. I still remember certain shots. I was obsessed with Percy the dog and had a stuffed animal of him that I carried with me wherever I went. My parents were mortified.
... so I'm especially excited for this one.
Would it encourage your readers to know that "Can't Stop the Music" has full-frontal male nudity during it's most famous song?
Although that might turn Hit Me with your Best Shot into a Porn Page....
forever1267 - we already went there with the PINK NARCISSUS episode :)
Ooh THE LETTER. That's been in my Netflix queue FOREVER but I keep putting it off. Well, this gives me a deadline now!