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Top Picks for Documentaries
Past me chose: Senna and Hearts of Darkness
Both excellent choices that I still revisit and find great pleasure in. However, I have to add a new top to this list in Ezra Edelman’s masterpiece O.J: Made in America. A film that's over seven hours in length that I’ve rewatched at least four times. The power and brilliance of this film is just undeniable and it is simply one of the most flawless films - never mind documentaries - of recent memory. I’d probably also add Grey Gardens, Salesman and Stop Making Sense (if we’re counting concert films as documentaries, and I see no reason not to).
Favourite Closing LinePast me chose:
1. "Shut up and deal" (The Apartment)
2. "Now Mr Demille, I’m ready for my close-up" (Sunset Boulevard)
3. "Well, nobody’s perfect" (Some Like It Hot)
4. "Hey everybody, we’re all gonna get laid!" (Caddyshack)
5. "Now I’m gonna go home and sleep with my wife" (Clue)
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Most Romantic Moments in Film
Both fine films that I still watch and enjoy to this day. There is obviously no argument about which is better as one of them is one of the greatest action/drama/superhero films of a generation (I speak of The Dark Knight of course), but I have always felt that Watchmen has its fair share of quality that I would like to see acknowledged more often. Also, if we’re talking comic book adaptations rather than super-hero films, I’d add Ghost World, a great little gem.
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List Villains You Love to Hate
On the podcast earlier in the year, I declared that I think
Hannibal Lecter may just be my favourite character of all time. Across films,
literature and TV, I simple adore him in every iteration. The Joker is
undeniable in his effectiveness, mainly Nicholson and Ledger it has to be said.
Day Lewis as Plainview still terrifies me and shakes me to my core anytime that
I watch There Will Be Blood and Max
Cady in both versions of Cape Fear is
one of the most startling and evil villains ever put on a screen. Four perfect choices that I wouldn’t change or add to. Maybe add Anton Chigurh, if the mood strikes me.
Movies Stars You Can’t Bear to Watch
Past me chose: Adam Sandler
I don’t know who I was trying to impress with this choice, because this isn’t true and really has
never been true. I love Sandler and not just in Punch Drunk Love and Uncut Gems - I’m a big fan of Happy Gilmore and The Wedding Singer. At
the time of writing, we are in the midst of the lowest ebb of his career
though with Grown Ups and Jack and Jill, so that may have
coloured my opinion, but all the same I very much like Sandler and would
like to clear his name from this opinion of an earlier Thomas Carruthers.
Nowadays, I genuinely can’t stand Lilly James, Lucas Hedges and Emma Watson, who
I think do their best to ruin every film they are in. It is the rarest of
rarities when these people put in a solid performance and it’s so refreshing when they do.
Screenwriters That Never Let You Down
Past me chose: Charlie Kaufman, Billy Wilder and Aaron Sorkin
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And so it seems that not much has changed really as aforementioned in my introduction. So what can be gained from looking back? Sometimes a lot, sometimes very little. I can’t say I’ve changed an awful lot; perhaps in other facets of life, but clearly not my film taste. I often say that you can tell an awful lot about somebody from what their favourite film is. I guess from returning to these choices, people can tell about me that I’m reserved in my ways. Stubborn could be used as a synonym, but reserved is nicer. I am a stubborn man of course in most things. I guess I’ve found that the root of that could be my film taste and I figured that out through a glance back at an old book and a blog post. Certainly a lot cheaper than therapy.
Not necessarily an ending to an article about films, more fitting perhaps as the ending to an autobiography, but it’s the ending we have all the same. Perhaps if I get to the point of autobiography, I’ll recycle it and see if anybody notices. Who knows? The first reader may be a fan of this blog. Funny how things like that sometimes happen. Circle of life, and all that.
-Thomas Carruthers
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