Most Wanted
Email here for additions & corrections.

Il Grido
(Antonioni, 1957)

The Fortune
(Nichols, 1975)

-30-
(Webb, 1959)

Betrayal
(Jones, 1983)

Play It As It Lays
(Perry, 1972)

The Outfit
(Flynn, 1973)

Alex in Wonderland
(Mazursky, 1969)

The Legend of Lylah Clare
(Aldrich, 1968)

In The Cool of the Day
(Stevens, 1963)

That Cold Day in the Park
(Altman, 1969)

The Fox
(Rydell, 1967)

Thumb Trippin'
(Masters, 1972)

Midas Run
(Kjellin, 1969)

At Long Last Love
(Bogdanovich, 1973)

Brewster McCloud
(Altman, 1972)

Outcast of the Islands
(Reed, 1951)

Mike's Murder
(Bridges, 1984)

Reader Submissions

1930's-1950's
The Moon's Our Home
(Seiter, 1936)
Sh! The Octopus
(McGann, 1937)
The Mating Season
(Leisen, 1951)
Bad for Each Other
(Rapper, 1953)
The Phenix City Story
(Karlson, 1955)
Run of the Arrow
(Fuller, 1956)
House of Secrets
(Green, 1956)
Saint Joan
(Preminger, 1957)
Macabre
(Castle, 1958)
The Fiend Who Walked the West
(G. Douglas, 1958
Five Gates to Hell
(Clavell, 1959)
1960's
Key Witness
(Karlson, 1960)
Summer and Smoke
(Glenville, 1961)
The Chapman Report
(Cukor,1962)
Bachelor Flat
(Tashlin, 1962) [on Hulu]
The L Shaped Room
(Forbes, 1963)
The Chalk Garden
(Neame, 1964)
A Thousand Clowns
(Coe, 1965)
You're a Big Boy Now
(Coppola, 1966)
The Whisperers
(Forbes, 1967)
Dark of the Sun
(Cardiff, 1968)
Skidoo
(Preminger, 1968)
Last Summer
(Perry, 1969)
The Comic
(C. Reiner, 1969)
1970-1974
The Revolutionary
(Williams, 1970)
The Landlord
(Ashby, 1970)
Diary of a Mad Housewife
(Perry, 1970)
Tropic of Cancer
(Strick, 1970)
I Never Sang for My Father
(Cates, 1970)
Sometimes a Great Notion
(Newman, 1971)
Marriage of a Young Stockbroker
(Turman, 1971)
'Doc'
(Perry, 1971)
The Music Lovers
(Russell, 1971)
Drive, He Said
(Nicholson, 1971)
The Steagle
(Sylbert, 1971)
The Last Movie
(Hopper, 1971)
Made For Each Other
(Bean, 1971)
The Day the Clown Cried
(Lewis, 1972)
Hickey & Boggs
(Culp, 1972)
The Carey Treatment
(Edwards, 1972)
Pete 'n' Tillie
(Ritt, 1972)
Slither
(Zieff, 1973)
Love and Pain and the Whole Damn Thing
(Pakula, 1973)
Man on a Swing
(Perry, 1974)
Open Season
(Collinson, 1974)
The Tamarind Seed
(Edwards, 1974)
Law and Disorder
(Passer, 1974)
Homebodies
(Yust, 1974)
Stardust
(Apted, 1974)
Celine and Julie Go Boating
(Rivette, 1974)
1975-1979
Rafferty and the Gold Dust Twins
(Richards, 1975
At Long Last Love
(Bogdanovich, 1975)
Hearts of the West
(Zieff, 1975)
Welcome to L.A.
(Rudolph, 1976)
W.C. Fields and Me
(Hiller, 1976)
Citizens Band
(Demme, 1977)
Twilight's Last Gleaming
(Aldrich, 1977)
Looking for Mr. Goodbar
(Brooks, 1977)
Girlfriends
(Weill, 1978)
Movie Movie
(Donen, 1978)
The Medusa Touch
(Gold, 1978)
American Hot Wax
(Mutrux, 1978)
Hot Stuff
(DeLuise, 1979)
Scavenger Hunt
(Schultz , 1979)
Players
(Harvey, 1979)
Rich Kids
(Young, 1979)
Nightwing
(Hiller, 1979)
Screams of a Winter's Night
(Wilson, 1979
When You Comin' Back Red Ryder?
(Katselas, 1979
1980's
Resurrection
(Petrie, 1980)
The Awakening
(Newell, 1980)
Simon
(Brickman, 1980)
God's Angry Man
(Herzog, 1980)
Fast-Walking
(Harris, 1982)
Twice Upon a Time
(Korty & Swenson, 1983)
Trouble in Mind
(Rudolph, 1985)
When the Wind Blows
(Murikami, 1986)
Housekeeping
(Forsyth, 1987)
The Glass Menagerie
(Newman, 1987)
Patty Hearst
(Schrader, 1988)
Running on Empty
(Lumet, 1988)
Drowning by Numbers
(Greenaway, 1988)
Haunted Summer
(Passer, 1988)
The Decline of Western Civilization Part II: The Metal Years
(Spheeris, 1988)
1990's
Men Don't Leave
(Brickman, 1990)
Old Times
(Curtis, 1991)
Prospero's Books
(Greenaway, 1991)
City of Hope
(Sayles, 1991)
The Baby of Macon
(Greenaway, 1993)
King of the Hill
(Soderbergh, 1993)
Dadetown
(Hexter, 1995)
SubUrbia
(Linklater, 1997)

Upcoming

June 11

Tetro

June 12

Call of the Wild 3D

Food, Inc.

Imagine That

Moon

Sex Positive

The Taking of Pelham 1 2 3

Youssou N'Dour: I Bring What I Love

June 16

Yoo-Hoo, Mrs. Goldberg

June 19

$9.99

Dead Snow

The Proposal

Whatever Works

Year One

June 24

Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen

June 26

Cheri

Fireflies in the Garden

The Hurt Locker

My Sister's Keeper

The Stoning of Soraya M. 

Surveillance 

July 1

Ice Age: Dawn of the Dinosaurs

Public Enemies

July 3

The Girl from Monaco

I Hate Valentine's Day

July 10

Bruno

I Love You, Beth Cooper

Soul Power

July 15

Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince

July 17

(500) Days of Summer

All the Boys Love Mandy Lane

July 24

All Good Things

The Answer Man

G-Force

In the Loop

Orphan

The Ugly Truth

July 29

Adam

July 31

The Cove

Funny People

Lorna's Silence

They Came from Upstairs

August 7

G.I. Joe: The Rise of Cobra

Julie & Julia

Paper Heart

Shorts

When in Rome

August 14

A Perfect Getaway

Bandslam

District 9

The Goods: The Don Ready Story

I Sell the Dead

Ponyo

Pool Boys

Spread

Taking Woodstock

The Time Traveler's Wife

August 21

Five Minutes of Heaven

Goose on the Loose!

Inglorious Bastards

It Might Get Loud

Post Grad

World's Greatest Dad

August 28

The Boat that Rocked

Final Destination: Death Trip

H2

September 4

All About Steve

Amreeka

Black Dynamite

Carriers

Citizen Game

Extract

Pandorum

Shanghai

September 9

9

September 11

The Red Canvas

Tyler Perrys: I Can Do It All Myself

Whiteout

September 17

The Burning Plain

September 18

Armored

Brand New Day

Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs

Jennifer's Body

Splice

September 25

Fame

The Invention of Lying

Surrogates

October 2

A Serious Man

More Than a Game

Sorority Row

Toy Story/Toy Story 2

Not The Usual Bloodsucking

Tomas Alfredson's Let The Right One In (Magnolia, 10.24) is easily the most strikingly unusual vampire pic that anyone's seen in I don't know how long. The fact that Overture Films and Spitfire Pictures are developing a U.S. remake with Cloverfield's Matt Reeves on board to direct speaks volumes. It's one of the standout originals of '08.


Let The Right One In director Thomas Anderson -- Monday, 10.6.08, 11:55 am.

I spoke to Alfredson earlier today -- here's the mp3 file

Let The Right One In doesn't compose with the usual brushstrokes. The vampire (Lina Leandersson) is a tweener girl and the male lead, a mortal, is a wimpy blond male (Kare Hedebrant) who's in love with her. It has about 50 CG shots but very few are "noticable." The violent moments happen suddenly and sometimes off-screen. And it hasn't been shot like a typical horror film (i.e., in a spooky-sexy-dreamscape way) but with a flat, over-bright, industrial texture. And everything in the film is surrounded -- blanketed -- with lots and lots of snow.

I spoke with Alfredson earlier today, and if the film doesn't make clear it hasn't been directed by a horror film buff, Alfredson repeatedly emphasizes this. He's not Guillermo del Toro , not by a long shot. The only significant Dracula movie he's seen, he says, is the old Bela Lugosi version from the early '30s. That means he hasn't seen Francis Coppola's Dracula or any of the Hammer Dracula films of the '50s and '60s or anything else along these lines.

Just listen to our conversation -- you'll understand where he's coming from soon enough.

The only problem, as I said before, is the title. Who in hell is going to remember Let The Right One In or associate it with tweener vampires? Talk about a title that means nothing -- nothing at all! -- to anyone. Movie titles should be aimed at the dumbest person in the room. Leo Tolstoy knew this when he called one of his novels War and Peace. Although Alfredson's, which is taken from a Morrissey lyric, does sound cooler and cooler the more you say it.

Posted by Jeffrey Wells on October 6, 2008 at 4:29 PM

comment #1

scooterzz Author Profile Page says ...

first of all, the dumbest person in the room isn't going to make it through the first thirty minutes of this film....
and, i think the title is extremely bright for a vampire movie.....(btw -- apparently done w/o morrissey clearence because he says he knows nothing of it)...
now, 'quantum of solace'.....THERE'S a dumb title....

Posted by scooterzz Author Profile Page at October 6, 2008 5:52 PM

comment #2

SmilingPolitely Author Profile Page says ...

"developing a U.S. remake"

*rolls eyes*

Posted by SmilingPolitely Author Profile Page at October 6, 2008 5:58 PM

comment #3

Rothchild Author Profile Page says ...

This is the best movie of the year. Don't listen to any interviews and certainly don't read any of the reviews. Just go see it. It's a masterpiece.

Posted by Rothchild Author Profile Page at October 6, 2008 6:08 PM

comment #4

slutsky Author Profile Page says ...

Saw this in Karlovy Vary and thought it was fantastic (it also played here at the Fantasia festival). Beautifully shot, perfectly paced, with a great bittersweet (and pretty heartbreaking, if you think about it) ending.

I actually like the title—it's a mouthful, and it's weird, but it's really stuck in my head. I like the way it sounds in the original: Let the ratte komme in or something.

Posted by slutsky Author Profile Page at October 6, 2008 6:17 PM

comment #5

Rodrigo Author Profile Page says ...

You are so full of contradiction, Jeff. "Beverly Hills Chihuahua" is a title aimed at the dumbest person in the room, yet you have (righteously) railed on it as the ultimate symbol of American societal degeneration and pandering to the lowest common denominator as the means of securing a mass audience. You chide "Let the Right One" as a notably meaningless, boring title after trumpeting the film's other unique merits...perplexing, especially given the texture, romanticism, maturity and intelligence the title suggests. Would you rather "Bite Me"?

Posted by Rodrigo Author Profile Page at October 6, 2008 6:25 PM

comment #6

drbob Author Profile Page says ...

I like the title a lot. It seems generic at first, but then you realize it actually has multiple meanings.

Posted by drbob Author Profile Page at October 6, 2008 6:32 PM

comment #7

p.Vice Author Profile Page says ...

Uh oh... Wells is in flat-out hypocrite mode today. All bets are off for the next 48 hours on retractions and random Spielberg bashings.

Posted by p.Vice Author Profile Page at October 6, 2008 7:11 PM

comment #8

Rothchild Author Profile Page says ...

Why is he a hypocrite?

Posted by Rothchild Author Profile Page at October 6, 2008 7:14 PM

comment #9

Jack Price Author Profile Page says ...

Do you still think "The Constant Gardener" is a dreadful title or has that even crossed your mind since the film came out 4 years ago?

If a movie turns out great, do you even find yourself second-guessing what it was called or even the meaning of it?

Posted by Jack Price Author Profile Page at October 6, 2008 7:24 PM

comment #10

huntermdaniels Author Profile Page says ...

War and Peace is a beautiful, nuanced title.

Posted by huntermdaniels Author Profile Page at October 6, 2008 7:51 PM

comment #11

berg Author Profile Page says ...

when Morrissey, singing "Sweet and Tender Hooligans, intones "etcetera, etcetera, etcetera" isn't he copying Yul Bryner in The King and I?

Posted by berg Author Profile Page at October 6, 2008 8:23 PM

Posted by Nick Rogers Author Profile Page at October 6, 2008 9:10 PM

comment #13

diesel Author Profile Page says ...

slutsky: actually the original swedish title is 'Låt den rätte komma in". Try and say that if you can!

btw, I think your name is about the coolest around here. It even beats gruver1.

Posted by diesel Author Profile Page at October 7, 2008 2:33 AM

comment #14

duck dodgers Author Profile Page says ...

You know what's surprisingly good as vampire movies go? 30 Days of Night. It's tough, it's Underworld-Goth-bullshit free, and the vampires-as-Russian-mobsters notion works way better than it sounds.

Posted by duck dodgers Author Profile Page at October 7, 2008 7:30 AM

comment #15

JapAdapters Author Profile Page says ...

Wells, you have the wrong name under his pick. Put the right one up.

Posted by JapAdapters Author Profile Page at October 7, 2008 8:51 AM

comment #16

slutsky Author Profile Page says ...

Thanks diesel. The best part is, it's my real name!

Posted by slutsky Author Profile Page at October 7, 2008 10:07 AM

comment #17

hatchetface Author Profile Page says ...

duck, it's fitting that a lowest common denominator dumbfuck like yourself would rave about a movie as shitty as 30 DAYS OF NIGHT. Worst of luck on your mission to lowe the standards of everything from politics to film.

Posted by hatchetface Author Profile Page at October 7, 2008 10:20 AM

comment #18

slutsky Author Profile Page says ...

30 Days of Night would have been much better if Kurt Russell, or a reasonable facsimile, had been in the lead instead of Josh Hartnett.

Posted by slutsky Author Profile Page at October 7, 2008 11:43 AM

comment #19

Devin Faraci Author Profile Page says ...

I love the title, as it refers to a crucial bit of vampire lore AND to love.

Posted by Devin Faraci Author Profile Page at October 7, 2008 3:35 PM

comment #20

huntermdaniels Author Profile Page says ...

Exactly. Devin once again proves to be the smartest guy on the internet.

Posted by huntermdaniels Author Profile Page at October 7, 2008 4:12 PM

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