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« Delicious Fan Moment w/ Sarah Paulson. Plus: Lupita Update! | Main | Link o' the Morning To You »
Monday
Jun022014

Hit Me With Your Best Shot. What's Next?

Only three more episodes of Best Shot left before a three week hiatus or an early wrap. You decide with your participation!

Thanks to those who participated in Michelangelo Antonioni's mod frameable Blow-Up (1967), Bryan Singer's template setting X-Men (2000), and John Ford's earnest tearjerker How Green Was My Valley (1941) -- my entry was late icymi.

Tuesday June 3rd - Zorba the Greek (1964)
Dance along with our 50th anniversary 1964-theme party for the month of June (we're going there for the Supporting Smackdown on the 30th and we're trying to be more conscious of time management). This smash hit with both the public and Oscar (3 Oscar wins including Cinematography) is strangely little discussed today despite seeping into pop culture. Plus, I've NEVER seen it. Don't judge. It's a huge gap in my '60s era Oscar knowledge.
[Amazon Instant]

Tuesday June 10th Orange is the New Black (2014) Season 2
A one-off experimental episode. Since the internet will be thinking of little else that week, I'm not even going to try to fight it. Choose your single "best shot" from any episode/episodes of Season 2 that you've watched and would like to discuss. The second season is available on Netflix starting June 6th as a special birthday gift to me
[Netflix]

Tuesday June 17th Goldfinger (1964)
The first half of the season will wrap up with a bang bang. I wanted something fun and kicky as the finale. We've never done a Bond film and this one is largely credited with perfecting the formula and regularly placed at the top (or close to it) of best Bond films ever. Sing along with us...

♩this heart is cold... he loves only gold ♫

[Amazon Instant | Netflix Instant]

Three Week Break
SUMMER "BEST SHOT" HIATUS
The 2nd half of the 5th Season -- we'll see how these three episodes go -- will begin on July 15th

The final 7 titles of the season, should we have enough participation in these three, will be announced in late June. I have a few ideas I'm really excited about.

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Reader Comments (32)

OMG, this is amazing. Such varied and visually stunning choices. I really hope to have my post for The Letter up this afternoon. I know the exact shot(s) I love (damn this one shot thing) so I just need to find the time to compile my post.

April 15, 2014 | Unregistered CommenterAndrew

I audibly gasped when I read that you were doing 3 Women. It's absolutely brilliant. I haven't got a blog, so won't be participating, but I look forward to seeing everyone's choices.

April 15, 2014 | Unregistered CommenterRobMiles

How can I participate in this section and where shall I send you the shot I choose?

April 15, 2014 | Unregistered Commenterlasttimeisaw

Looking forward to The Letter later today, such a great picture.

By the way what happened to the Dark Victory post in Seasons of Bette? It's disappeared from the roll and when I tried looking it up it says it's restricted.

April 15, 2014 | Unregistered Commenterjoel6

joel6 -- i posted it accidentally ! I wasn't quite finished with it.

last time i saw -- you just post your choice on your own blog, twitter, facebook (public setting) or wherever online with a short to long description of why and let us know you did in the comments or by emailing to filmexperience @ gmail (dot) com and we link up that tuesday night

rob -- you don't have to have a blog. you can post on facebook, twitter, instagram, tumblr, wherever.

April 15, 2014 | Registered CommenterNATHANIEL R

Here's my shot calroth2.tumblr.com/

April 15, 2014 | Unregistered Commentercal roth

what are you thinking for May 13th?

April 15, 2014 | Unregistered Commentercal roth

cal -- if i'd decided it would have been listed :)

April 15, 2014 | Unregistered CommenterNATHANIEL R

I am embarrassed. I was all ready to participate again (FINALLY!) this week, and then I COULD NOT FIND The Letter on Netflix Instant! And then I got caught up in Passover cooking and forgot all about it until now. Which is way too late to find a physical copy. DAMMIT! You can bet I'll be back for Pocahontas, though (Disney's most underrated movie? It's surely either that or Mulan. Or The Great Mouse Detective).

April 15, 2014 | Unregistered Commenterdenny

denny - The Letter is not on Netflix Instant, sadly. so it has to be rented on either itunes or physical copies so i knew there'd be less participation. *sniffle*

April 15, 2014 | Unregistered CommenterNATHANIEL R

No, I mean do tyou have any idea of the kind of movie you want? Like, you once said you wanted a boy's movie, you picked Butch Cassidy...

Let's say you wnat something silent, or contemporary Asian, or form the 70's... Any clue so we can help?

April 15, 2014 | Unregistered Commentercal roth

May 13th is the day before my 26th birthday, so whatever you pick please make it cheery!

April 15, 2014 | Unregistered CommenterAnne Marie

Cal -- you heard Anne Marie. I guess it has to be cheery ! I'd prefer 1920s through 1950s but it absolutely can't be the 1990s since we've done too many of those lately. The main problem this season is that rentals of physical discs are no longer doable for many people (damn instant watching!) meaning it has to be one of the few movies that's easy to stream online somewhere.

i'm still debating several titles, none of them were cheery but maybe anne marie is right :)

April 16, 2014 | Unregistered CommenterNATHANIEL R

Women on the Verge of a Nervous Breakdown (Mujeres al borde de un ataque de nervios).

My go to, cheery, I need to be happy movie. "Pepa?" "You no longer have that harsh look of a virgin about you." "La pistola."...and the best gazpacho on film.

April 16, 2014 | Unregistered CommenterHenry

is there a list with all the movies covered in this "hit me with your best shot" series?

and has "meet me in st. louis" been done yet?

April 16, 2014 | Unregistered Commentermarcelo

marcelo -- here's a list of films by decade and a list of films by season

April 16, 2014 | Unregistered CommenterNATHANIEL R

Roman Holiday!

April 16, 2014 | Unregistered Commenterbrookesboy

Some suggestions.....

Midnight (1939, Claudette Colbert/Don Ameche)
Talk to Her (2002)
Morvern Callar (2002 - May 13th is Samantha Morton's birthday)
Rebecca (1940, Daphne du Maurier's birthday)
Shame (1968, Ingmar Bergman film)
The Edge of Heaven (2007/08)

April 16, 2014 | Unregistered CommenterArkaan

Arkaan: Cheery! Not limited to a certain time period, here's 8 I'll toss out:

Superman: The Movie (Cheery, though not from the specified period)
Roman Holiday (Fits perfectly)
Kill Bill Vol 1 & 2 (Don't entirely know if it's conventionally "cheery", but it's certainly not a depressing film, but at least it's not from the 1990s.)
The General (Fits perfectly)
The Fantastic Mr Fox (Cheery, in quite a few scenes, though not from the specified period)
Beat the Devil (Not conventionally cheery, but it does spread some form of cheer)
1 shot from episode 1, 2, 4, 5 or 47 (110 minutes) of Danny Phantom. (Good luck, though, these are probably the five weakest episodes of the show, both in terms of narrative AND of aesthetic value. Somewhat cheery and at least it's not from the 90s.)

April 25, 2014 | Unregistered CommenterVolvagia

I can't wait to read the 3 Women writeups. Such a perfect, beautiful movie, and if I had my way I'd be reading about Altman on the daily. (Following it up with Antonioni is the cherry on the Hit Me sundae.)

April 25, 2014 | Unregistered CommenterMike in Canada

Pre-emptive best shot Bat Film by Film that I've seen:

1989 Batman: Joker dancing through the photos.
Batman Returns: Catwoman screaming in the greenhouse. What Burton films lack in "logic" and "tight plotting" they more than make up for in a shockingly raw level of pulsing emotion and the crafting of an aesthetic wonderland.
Batman Forever: Riddler at the end, delusionally convinced he's Batman with a damaged ear.
Batman & Robin: "Mmm. WAYNE ENTERPRISES." (Uma is still (kind of) bad, but she has her moments and the straight out of comic book speech patterns delivery of that line is probably her peak. Plus, this small two second shot is one of the few beats where the aesthetic isn't schizoidly caught between Batman 66 and Christopher Nolan styles of Batman.)
Batman Begins: Batman at the center of the bats before escaping from Gordon. Probably the only moment of the series that's really notable for an aesthetic choice and not tight plotting and scripting.
The Dark Knight: There's a few I could choose, but I'd probably choose the Aaron Eckhart close-up where he says "Okay, fine, you either die a hero, or live long enough to see yourself become the villain", as obvious as it is as a beat.
The Dark Knight Rises: Honestly, I'd go for the held take of the football field blowing up. It's a moment that, taken out of context, is not really tied into the narrative or thematic problems and could be done by a more trilogy ending thematically appropriate villain.

April 25, 2014 | Unregistered CommenterVolvagia

Awesome! I love Zorba the Greek. Great book AND film. Can't wait.

May 7, 2014 | Unregistered CommenterT-Bone

I LOVE How Green Was My Valley. The most unfairly maligned film in Hollywood history--you step off Citizen Kane fanboys!

May 7, 2014 | Unregistered CommenterTB

Yessss OITNB

May 7, 2014 | Unregistered CommenterJake D

what happened to Batman week? I was on watching as many as possible. I had already picked my shots for Batman and Batman Returns!

May 7, 2014 | Unregistered CommenterConrado

I will also probably have to sit out Zorba the Greek. I watched it for the first time a couple months ago, and I kind of hated it...

May 7, 2014 | Unregistered CommenterConrado

Conrado -- as stated in the post I moved Batman to July because Warner Bros / DC picked July as the official anniversary so we'll be doing that one on the night of July 22nd (the anniversary is the 23rd)

May 7, 2014 | Registered CommenterNATHANIEL R

New season of OITNB on June 6th, opening of The Fault in Our Stars on June 6th, opening of The Edge of Tomorrow on June 6th, Teller's The Tempest at the A.R.T. on June 7th and the Tony Awards on June 8th. What a great weekend! Life is good. Oh, and Nathaniel's b-day, too! (Geminiis unite!)

May 8, 2014 | Unregistered CommenterPam

Ooooh, I missed the X-Men one, might hop in there on the rerun. Also, I've always meant to see How Green Was My Valley; now seems a good of time as any.

May 8, 2014 | Unregistered CommenterBrianZ

I hate to clutter up the "coming attractions" post with my best shot pick for "How Green Was My Valley", but I managed to get my pick in early for once and I wanted to make sure it was in on time. You can find it at my journal under the title "Valley of Ashes."

In the interest of contributing something to this, though, some suggestions for future "Best Shot" films:

*Citizen Kane

*Tales of the Night (Yes, I WILL keep recommending this one)

*A Busby Berkeley musical (Footlight Parade's a particular favorite).

*An Errol Flynn movie.

*All About Eve

*Metropolis (or anything by Fritz Lang)

Looking forward to the rest of the season, regardless!

May 27, 2014 | Unregistered Commenterallisontooey

I love participating (and reading) this series! I will be skipping this week's, but don't take it as a sign that I'm losing enthusiasm or anything like that!

June 2, 2014 | Unregistered CommenterConrado

psst, cabaret

June 2, 2014 | Unregistered Commenterpar
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