25, By the Numbers

This weekend, I completed my biggest movie-related goal of 2012. With Goodfellas (1990) on Thursday and To Kill a Mockingbird (1962) on Saturday, I officially watched my 24th and 25th classic or non-new release films on the big screen this year. I’m not going to go crazy and make an infographic for it- how much of a narcissist would someone have to be to make an infographic about themselves?- but there are a lot of neat facts and figures about the 25 that made up my movie journey this year.

Re-Watchterpiece Theater: Barton Fink (1991)

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. Webster University here in St. Louis has a film series that includes something that they call “Strange Brew”. They draw all of the curtains in the tasting room at the Schlafly Brewery’s Maplewood location, The Bottleworks, and they show non-new release films on a big screen. Typically, they fall on the cult side of things. Viewers can enjoy the Bottleworks’ menu and their incredible beers, all while taking in a great film. Last week, their selection was the tremendous 1991 film from the Coen brothers, Barton Fink. It’s a film that I’ve grown to love through the years but my appreciation for it keeps growing. Here’s my experience with the re-watch. Spoilers follow. 

Fake Criterion Covers of Coen Brother Films

Gentle readers, today marks the end of an era. A year and a half ago, I discovered that people everywhere were creating fake Criterion covers for various non-Criterion films. There was some amazing artwork out there (along with some really crappy stuff), and I wanted to hop in the game. Since then, I’ve created several of my own. However, after a year and a half, lots of people are doing it now. It feels like it’s become played out, or jumped the proverbial shark. And many people are doing it quite a bit better than yours truly. So short of a very specific reason to jump back in, I’m hanging up the fake Criterion covers after this entry. That said, I have one more article in me–today’s article, featuring fake Criterion covers of Coen brother films. Without further ado…

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.

Around the (Writer’s) Block a Time or Two

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I’ve been having a bit of writer’s block lately. You see, most of my content comes from sitting in a bar with a guest check and a pen and a handful of pints. At the best of times, the ideas flow like water. Or more appropriately, beer. They’re not all good ideas but there’s usually one or two that’ll help tide me over for a few days. Lately, I’ve had nothing. Either the ideas don’t “pop”, in the parlance of annoying marketing people; or there isn’t enough to flesh out an entry; or I find out that someone else has already done it. Then I realized that I’d been sitting on an idea the whole time- why not make a list of films featuring writer’s block? And awaaaaaay we go: