edited by Jonathan Doyle

Cloverfield [BLU-RAY] (Paramount Home Entertainment, 6.3.2008) Disguised under deliberately goofy, yet deliciously edible-sounding, aliases such as Cheese and Slusho, Matt Reeves' Cloverfield was produced and rushed into theaters under an equally appetizing shroud of secrecy. From last year's incredibly elusive Super Bowl ad to the film's viral marketing campaign, Cloverfield had everybody scratching their heads and drooling in anticipation. Aside from the as-yet untitled title and the Blair Witch-ian visual style, the film's biggest appeal was the enigmatic creature who was last (un)seen hurling the decapitated head of the Statue of Liberty onto the crowded streets of New York City. All we knew about the mysterious beast was that it was big and angry. Now that the highy-anticipated project has come and gone, one question has fortunately been answered: Cloverfield was a major success. (continued)

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Mark Olsen has written an L.A. Times piece listing the Best L.A. Films of the Last 25 Years. Fine, but you know what? The last 25 years (1983 to the present) have been cool, interesting, diverting, etc., but nowhere near as soul-stirring as the '50s, '60s and '70s -- the true glory days of L.A. cinema.

And so Olsen's list leaves off Kiss Me Deadly, The Long Goodbye, Sunset Boulevard, In a Lonely Place, Point Blank, Bob, Carol, Ted and Alice, Play It As It Lays, Bloom in Love, No Down Payment, etc. What is the concept of "L.A. Film" without these? Olsen has done a good comprehensive job of summing up the '80s, '90s and 21st Century highlights -- I'll give him that.

"By creating the frame of the last 25 years, the idea was exactly to keep us from just rattling off Chinatown, Long Goodbye, etc.," Olsen answers. "That list has been done. By sticking to the 'modern classics' or whatever you want to call them, we were trying to get at current representations of Los Angeles, what the town is now. The fact that, say, Fast Times or Blade Runner are forced off the list made us dig a little deeper and think a little harder. I, for one, think that's a good thing."

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Posted by Jeffrey Wells on August 31, 2008 at 1:12 PM

comment #1

RaRun says ...

Chinatown?

Posted by RaRun at August 31, 2008 1:59 PM

comment #2

George Prager says ...

REPO MAN #8. All right. Should be #1.

Posted by George Prager at August 31, 2008 2:06 PM

comment #3

cinecatastrophe says ...

22 - Less than Zero? This strongly implies that there haven't been 25 best films over the last 25 years.

Posted by cinecatastrophe at August 31, 2008 2:08 PM

comment #4

MariaMaria says ...

Even Kiss Kiss Bang Bang would be better than some of the picks on the list!

Posted by MariaMaria at August 31, 2008 2:28 PM

comment #5

dangovich says ...

Pretty good list. Not sure about Roger Rabbit though. Maybe Falling Down? Colors?

Posted by dangovich at August 31, 2008 2:31 PM

comment #6

cinefan says ...

I kind of like the inclusion of Less than Zero on the list. Despite its numerous flaws, the film is great to look at and visually conveys very well the vacuous, spiritually bankrupt world of Bret Easton Ellis' 1980s Los Angeles.

Posted by cinefan at August 31, 2008 2:37 PM

comment #7

lazespud says ...

Ummm Heat? Where's Heat?

The writer of the piece was clearly picking one film from a particular director's canon to highlight (so he went with collateral), but that's not excuse for you to forget about it Jeff.

Posted by lazespud at August 31, 2008 2:38 PM

comment #8

Jimmycrackcorn says ...

Mark Olsen is just one of many people who contributed to this--as Geoff Boucher's intro says, it was Times group consensus picks.

Posted by Jimmycrackcorn at August 31, 2008 2:57 PM

comment #9

BurmaShave says ...

Yeah the lack of HEAT is pretty absurd. Also, despite it's debatable merits as a film, HARSH TIMES was one of the better LA films I've seen recently. It took COLLATERAL's look to some pretty strange places.

Posted by BurmaShave at August 31, 2008 2:59 PM

comment #10

arturobandini2 says ...

As much as I disliked it, Michael Tolkin's THE NEW AGE is probably the most emotionally truthful film I've seen about L.A. Even though it's about the wealthy entertainment-biz fringe, it paints a sobering picture of the hollow, empty-souled landscape behind the tinsel. Everyone who lives in L.A. can relate to that. But who the hell else would want to?

I might've edged out SWINGERS for GO, only 'cos I love the Christmas Sucks In L.A. sub-genre. Ever notice how many movies paint L.A. as the least spiritual place in the world to celebrate the birth of Baby J? There's DIE HARD, ANNIE HALL, THE SURE THING, LETHAL WEAPON...

Posted by arturobandini2 at August 31, 2008 3:21 PM

comment #11

doobiedoo says ...

Thom Anderson's awesome Los Angeles Plays Itself doesn't count?

Posted by doobiedoo at August 31, 2008 4:00 PM

comment #12

romeoisbleeding says ...

I agree that Kiss Kiss Bang Bang should be included!

Posted by romeoisbleeding at August 31, 2008 5:30 PM

comment #13

Sefster says ...

No issue here with their pick for #1 - love love love LA Confidential.

Posted by Sefster at August 31, 2008 6:01 PM

comment #14

h.krinkle says ...

Nice to see "To Live and Die in L.A." get a mention. They are wrong about Wang Chung's score, however. It works like crazy within the context of that film.

Posted by h.krinkle at August 31, 2008 6:28 PM

comment #15