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Ishtar
(May, 1987)
The Seven-Per-Cent Solution (OOP)
(Ross, 1976)
The Devils
(Russell, 1974)
The Pirates of Penzance
(Papp/Leach, 1983)
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)
Thumb Trippin'
(Masters, 1972)
Midas Run
(Kjellin, 1969)
At Long Last Love
(Bogdanovich, 1973)
Brewster McCloud
(Altman, 1972)
Outcast of the Islands
(Reed, 1951)

Reader Submissions
1930's-1950's
The Moon's Our Home
(Seiter, 1936)
Sh! The Octopus
(McGann, 1937)
The Mating Season
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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
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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)
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 (OOP)
(Culp, 1972)
The Carey Treatment
(Edwards, 1972)
Pete 'n' Tillie
(Ritt, 1972)
Slither
(Zieff, 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)
Drowning by Numbers
(Greenaway, 1988)
Haunted Summer
(Passer, 1988)
The Decline of Western Civilization Part II: The Metal Years
(Spheeris, 1988)
1990's
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

January 8

Bitch Slap

Waiting for Armageddon

Wonderful World

Youth in Revolt

January 15

January 22

Drool

Extraordinary Measures

The Girl on the Train

Played Like An Organ

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Spoiler Whiners Beware: Just to be fair about things, N.Y. Post critic Kyle Smith is calling Seven Pounds the third-best movie of '08, or at least his choice for same. This Gabrielle Muccino-Will Smith film, he says, is "simple but perfect, so classically structured that, except for the modern technology in it, it's like a redemption fable handed down from the ancients."

Smith's critical colleague Lou Lumenick, already concerned with Smith's growing grandiosity, feels differently. He says -- HERE IT COMES, SPOILER-AVERSE! -- that Seven Pounds (Columbia, 12.19) "should be more accurately titled Seven Hundred Pounds of Schmaltz...it's like Pay It Forward with organ transplants" with Smith portraying "a suicidal savior."

Uh-oh....I can already hear and feel the reader rage. We work very hard at keeping our heads in the sand, the spoiler whiners are saying, and since we believe that story and subject matter are 90% if not 95% of the game and that how the film is made -- the undercurrents, the things that are not said but felt, the tone and pace of it, the emphasis choices, the performances, the music, the editing style, etc. -- is strictly an esoteric toss-up that no one can finally gauge the quality of one way or the other, we believe it is out right and our duty to hunt down Lumenick on the streets of New York and let him feel our wrath first-hand.

All Together Now<< previous | next >>Legacy of Greed

Posted by Jeffrey Wells on December 7, 2008 at 9:39 AM

comment #1

lonniechung says ...

If this is the plot of the movie, and revealed somewhere in the first third, it is not a spoiler. I may have spent some time thinking about the significance of the title, but the gist of the movie seemed clear and never felt like a Crying Game-type reveal. To invoke the unholiness of Pay It Forward seems accurate according to the marketing campaign, and it is no surprise that if a studio wants to make a blockbuster it will bludgeon you with the film's morality from the outset.

Posted by lonniechung at December 7, 2008 10:41 AM

comment #2

oranthal james says ...

Dearest Jeffrey, did you happen to notice the last sentence?

"We didn't choose our usual five worst movies this year because this piece was coming just 10 days after my annual Turkey Awards -- just in case you were wondering what happened to Steven Soderbergh's "Che,'' which Kyle will be reviewing for Friday."

Posted by oranthal james at December 7, 2008 11:06 AM

comment #3

p.Vice says ...

Well, they both picked Slumdog Millionaire as the best film of the year, so arguing over a sentimental Will Smith movie is kind of like the pot calling the kettle black.

Posted by p.Vice at December 7, 2008 11:19 AM

comment #4

DarthCorleone says ...

Why would we whine about spoilers when you gave us ample warning?

That said, this is one of those films where I have next to no interest in seeing it, so I don't care about spoilers. Plus, I agree that in this particular case the spoiler of the plot doesn't appear to be that critical and that the undercurrents will be much more important.

It appears the only reason it's a "spoiler" is because of the intentionally vague advertising campaign that doesn't want the audience to know the film's central conceit beforehand. (Perhaps because it's not interesting and works better as a mystery?) Maybe I'm wrong; maybe the film is structured like a mystery. Regardless...meh.

Posted by DarthCorleone at December 7, 2008 11:25 AM

comment #5

deadre says ...

so what's the point here, that the movie is left up to the taste of the viewer? that's nothing new. is it good or is it a waste of time and a tv movie with great effects. that's what i want to know. if you've seen it, please spill....thanks

Posted by deadre at December 7, 2008 11:25 AM

comment #6

llumenick@aol.com says ...

Just wanted to make it clear the Smith whose grandiosity gives me pause is Will, not Kyle (no relation). BTW the suicidal part, at least, is clear from the opening sequence.

Posted by llumenick@aol.com at December 7, 2008 11:45 AM

comment #7