My Criterion Top 10: Bubbawheat

I’m running contributions from some of my favorite film critics, writers, and theorists from around the internet for a few weeks. Each writer is listing their top 10 from the Criterion Collection. However, it’s starting to wind down. One of the final pieces comes in from Bubbawheat, proprietor of Flights, Tights, and Movie Nights. Bubba knows more about superhero movies than the rest of us know about… well, anything at all. He also has an awesome podcast with an incredible concept. It’s called FilmWhys- as in, “Why haven’t you seen this film?” Each episode, his guests challenge him to watch a highly-touted film that he hasn’t seen, and he challenges his guest to watch a superhero movie that they haven’t seen. I’ve been fortunate enough to take part and it’s a blast. You can find Bubba on Twitter @Bubbawheat. 

Re-Watchterpiece Theater: 12 Angry Men (1957)

Re-Watchterpiece Theater is a series that explores the organic way that attitudes about films change after you watch them a second time, a third time, or more, further down the line than the original viewing.

Often, the movies we choose are reflections of events in our lives, much like that time I watched 2001: A Space Odyssey a week after I went to outer space and defeated a nefarious super computer hell-bent on my evolution. Last week, I was called for jury duty, and was ultimately selected for the jury out of a panel of approximately 70 people. The trial itself- about a 3 month old child who had been shaken to the point of brain damage- was very difficult. But the process was completely fascinating. Listening to and evaluating evidence, determining the credibility of witnesses, and watching twelve unique individuals interpret the exact same information in their own distinct way served as a fascinating sociology experiment. And it was the impetus behind this week’s Re-Watchterpiece Theater film- 12 Angry Men.

Movies Where Hot Weather Sucks and Makes Everything Worse

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While summer doesn’t technically start until June 21st, the sun has already started the process of goring us like a bull might with its horns. Here in St. Louis, we just completed a stretch of 13 days in which 11 of them featured 89 degree temps or higher. Five of those days were 92 and above. And in St. Louis, nestled between the Missouri and Mississippi Rivers, it’s not just the heat. It’s the humidity. Summer here is a lot like living inside of a dog’s mouth for a third of the year. I imagine it’s becoming brutally hot all over the country. Having said all of that, as you can plainly see, I’ve started my annual rite of becoming an angry, ornery jackass about the oppressive heat. But I’m not the only one who’s affected by the hot weather. Here are some movies in which heat waves changed everything.

Movies Made Better by Adding Pizza

Sure, you might think that some movies couldn’t possibly be any better. But you obviously don’t understand one simple rule- adding pizza to anything makes that thing better. Allow me to demonstrate:

Independence Day

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