The Soundtrack Series: Edgar Wright

The Soundtrack Series takes a departure from the norm today. Typically, the series has featured filmmakers with massive filmographies, providing lots of scenes to choose from for the series. Today’s choice, Edgar Wright, has directed just three feature films. And so it should speak volumes for how impressive the soundtracks have been for Edgar Wright films that he can be included in a series that has also featured directors like Stanley Kubrick, the Coen brothers, Martin Scorsese, and Wes Anderson. Here is the Soundtrack Series: Edgar Wright.

10 Movie Communities With Dirty Secrets

Small communities–and even some large ones–can be tight-knit. Everyone helps everyone else out, and all of the neighbors are properly neigh-didly-eighborly. But sometimes, “cozy” can just as easily mean “private”. Or worse yet, it can mean “xenophobic”. Outsiders aren’t to be trusted, especially not with dirty secrets. Here are ten movie communities that kept their secrets in the dark.
Note: there is potential for spoilers here, but I’ve ducked out on any major specifics.

My Drunken Answers to the Houdini Blog-a-Thon

Forgive me. I’m a bit inebriated and I don’t have anything to write. So I’m going to lift someone else’s awesomely creative idea and jump in on the “Houdini’s Magic Ticket” blog-a-thon. Top 10 Films currently has a series of fun questions going, found here. Here are my answers to those questions:

The Movies We Love: Hot Fuzz

–

Consider this the debut article in a new series called “The Movies We Love”. The purpose of the series is to shine the spotlight on films that make you feel a special bond. These are the movies that you watch again and again, over and over, without losing an ounce of enjoyment. These are the movies that you quote incessantly. These are the movies that perfectly reflect something about you, whether it’s your interests, fears, humor, or motivations. These are the movies that you love. The first entry should come as no surprise to regular readers. I’ll be focusing on Edgar Wright’s brilliant action-buddy cop-comedy, Hot Fuzz. Why do I love Hot Fuzz?

MS Paint Drawings of Great Movie Characters

I don’t really know how to introduce this. So let’s just roll the footage. I’ve created some of my favorite movie characters in MS Paint.

“Joliet” Jake Blues, The Blues Brothers

–

Slam Trunk: An Abridged List of Movie Characters Stuffed into a Car Trunk

–

Everyone likes going on a nice, leisurely car ride… unless they’ve been stuffed into a car trunk. Here’s an abridged list of movie characters who have been stuffed into a car trunk. Today’s list has been brought to you by the letter “Q”, as in “Quentin Tarantino”.

100 More Things I Love About the Movies

–
When I passed the 100,000 hit marker in November, I honored the event with what became one of my most popular entries- 100 Things I Love About the Movies. As it turns out, my odometer recently rolled over another milestone- the 200,000 hit marker. As logic follows, I’m due for another stroll down 100 Things Avenue. So without further ado, here are 100 More Things I Love About the Movies:

The Movies That Have Influenced Edgar Wright Films

I’ve made no bones about how much I enjoy the films of Edgar Wright. They’re hilarious, they’re smart, they’re extremely well-written, and they’re ripe with subtle humor. Most importantly, it’s extremely obvious that Wright is a humongous fan of cinema. He delights in making one reference after another to every kind of movie imaginable. And like his friend and cohort Quentin Tarantino, the myriad of references work to build a pastiche, which ultimately creates something completely unique at the end of the day. He’s the movie lover’s movie director. Just how deep do these Wright references go? Using the trivia tracks on his three major releases, I’ve compiled all of the movies that are specifically mentioned in the trivia tracks, plus one more that I caught on my own. Here they are. Click on the images for full-res versions. Odds are good that you’ll be surprised by at least a few of the movies that were used to inspire sequences and scenes and soundtracks in these films. And frankly, these are only the films specifically listed in the trivia tracks. You can find a larger list at the IMDb Movie Connections pages for Shaun of the Dead, Hot Fuzz, and Scott Pilgrim vs. The World.

Editor’s note: when I tweeted these infographics, I received feedback from Mr. Wright (which is awesome) and I’ve gaffed in including a few films. I’ve edited the images and the incorrect references that I’ve been made aware of have been removed. Additionally, more references from Scott Pilgrim have been added:

The Santaic Verses

Everyone loves old Saint Nick… until he’s chasing you or stabbing you in the hand or any other number of diabolical things. Here are various evil Santa Clauses in film that we don’t want paying us a visit on Christmas Eve.

Popeye Doyle in The French Connection
He knows with 100% certainty if you’ve been good or bad and he will punish you if you’ve been bad. So be good for your own hyde’s sake.

–

100 Things I Love About the Movies

I passed a milestone recently here at TDYLF. Thanks to the help of the editors over at IMDB, I passed the 100,000 Hits milestone on Sunday (with a whopping 80,000+ of those hits coming just since September 30th). To celebrate, I’m beginning a brand new series called “100 Things I Love About the Movies”. To be sure, there a LOT more than 100 things that I love about the movies. As such, this has the potential to become a series- 100 Things I Love About Horror Movies, 100 Things I Love About Foreign Movies, and on and on. I present to you the first edition of “100 Things I Love About the Movies”.