The Movie Weekend That Was

My next two weeks are going to be very busy, mostly thanks to work and baseball, which includes a trip to Milwaukee to watch the Cardinals play the Brewers. In preparation, I took Friday off for an extra long weekend of movies. This round of The Movie Weekend That Was includes a recent box office smash, an indie classic, a forgotten Disney film, a 70s comedy, and some of the finest that world cinema has to offer. This is the movie weekend that was.

11 Great Parodies of Ingmar Bergman

When you have a career that spans seven decades, and you’re talented enough to forge some of the best work in your field, it’s inevitable that people will stand up and take notice. Such is the case with Ingmar Bergman, whose films are almost synonymous with art house cinema. Thankfully for us, that means that Bergman’s work has been parodied time and time again. Here are eleven great parodies of Ingmar Bergman’s films.

Brief Thoughts about the Sight and Sound Director Lists

A lot of the bluster is finally dying down regarding Sight & Sound’s recent release of their Greatest Films of All-Time list. They have both a list compiled by critics and a list compiled by directors, with various director top 10s trickling out over the last few weeks. Most of the discussion has centered around Vertigo (1958) toppling Citizen Kane (1941) for the top slot. But I don’t care about that. They’re both great, and you should see them both if you like movies. It’s the director lists I’d like to discuss.

Explaining Earth to Extraterrestrials Using Five Films

Wunderkind film writer Sam Fragoso from Duke & the Movies has cooked up a doozie of a blogathon this week. This is the task at hand:

Extraterrestrial forces land on Earth. Unknowing of our planet and society, you can pick five films from the history of cinema that represent humanity. What titles would you choose and why?

It’s a really unique concept. At its heart, the blogathon is about boiling down all of humanity and civilized history into five films. As a human, I feel that I’m uniquely qualified to select five films of my own, each for specific reasons.

A Tale of Two Woodys

2011 witnessed a collaboration from two impressive directors nearly reaching the pinnacle of filmmaking, with Midnight in Paris earning multiple Oscar nominations. What’s that you say? Woody Allen directed it, and not two different directors? I beg to differ.

Rambling Thoughts About the Best Picture Nominees

I finally caught up with The Artist and Midnight in Paris this past week, bringing my paltry total up to five of the nine Best Picture nominees that I’ve seen. I can’t promise that I’ll see those other four, either before or even after the Oscar is handed out. But I have some rambling thoughts about the five that I have seen.

Fake Criterion Covers of Woody Allen Films

Woody Allen has pieced together a prolific career. Along the way, he has changed cinema forever by putting himself out there in ways that few–if any–other filmmakers ever have. He has mastered comedy, drama, and mystery, all while racking up one iconic image and scene after the next. His work hearkens back to the 1950’s heyday of arthouse cinema, at least in part due to his maniacal and devoted obsession to his hero, Ingmar Bergman. And for that reason, it’s a shame that his work hasn’t received the Criterion treatment, presumably because of rights issues with MGM and because Allen is a proponent of keeping his film releases mostly free of extras. However, it’s fun to imagine. And so here are my imagined covers of Woody Allen Criterion covers, even if they’re not likely to happen any time soon.

Font U: A Guide to Recognizing Popular Fonts in Films

By night, I’m John- the crime-fighting proprietor of a movie and TV site. But by day, I’m the mild-mannered John, a graphic designer and editor. Since I get paid to pay attention to words and the way they’re presented, I get a kick out of combining my day job and my hobby. I like seeing which fonts are being used in films and film posters. There are several that are very popular and I’d like to clue you in on which ones are which. Let’s start with a rather obvious one:

Letters to Directors from Children

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Movie Charts

Who says math and movies can’t mix? Taking a cue from Darren Aronofsky’s Pi, I’ve combined math and film with a bunch of charts. Enjoy!