2024 watchlist

JANUARY

1- The Iron Claw (2023) (The Music Box)*

    Saltburn (2023)

2- The Cat (1992)

    The Vietnam War Episode 1: Deja Vu 1858-1961 (2017)

3- Fargo

    The Vietnam War Episode 2: Riding the Tiger 1961-1963 (2017)

4- Platoon (1986) (R)

5- Closed Circuit (1978)

7- The Curse

    The Vietnam War Episode 3: The River Styx January 1964-December 1965 (2017)

    Blood Delirium (1988)

    Mahler (1974)

8- The Hundred Years War On Palestine by Rashid L. Khalidi (2020)

    Written On the Wind (1956) (R)

    Imitation of Life (1959)

9- Dirty Work by Larry Brown (1989)

    Dog Tags (1987)

    The Sister of Ursula (1978)

10- Fargo

     Arabella: Black Angel (1989)

     The Vietnam War Episode 4: Resolve January 1966-June 1967 (2017)

11- Birth (2004) (R)

12- The Curse Season Finale

      Coming Apart (1969)

      The Vietnam War Episode 5: This Is What We Do July 1967-December 1967 (2017)

     Chasing the Light by Oliver Stone (2020)

13- Kokomo City (2023)

      Inside Llewyn Davis (2013) (R)

14- True Detective: Night Country

15- American Rickshaw (1990)

     The Vietnam War Episode 6: Things Fall Apart January 1968-July 1968 (2017)

      No Bears (2022)

      AlphaGo (2017)

      The Maniac by Benjamin Labatut (2023)

16- A White Dress For Mariale (1972)

     The Vietnam War Episode 7: The Veneer of Civilzation June 1968-May 1969 (2017)

     Cain and Abel (1982)

     Fargo Season Finale

17- Full Metal Jacket (1987) (R)

      The Touch of Her Flesh (1967)

18- The Curse of Her Flesh (1968)

      The Kiss of Her Flesh (1970)

      The Vietnam War Episode 8: The History of the World April 1969-May 1970 (2017)

20- Suspicious Death of A Minor (1975)

      The Straight Story (1999) (R)

21- The Vietnam War Episode 9: A Disrespectful Loyalty May 1970- March 1973 (2017)

      Asymmetry by Lisa Halliday (2018)

22- The Zone of Interest (2023) (Landmark Century Theater)*

      Wallace and Gromit: Wrong Trousers (1993)

      The Blair Witch Project (1999) (R)      

23- The Strange Vice of Mrs. Wardh (1971) (The Music Box) (R)*

24- The Vietnam War Episode 10: The Weight of Memory 1973- Onward (2017)

25- On Deadly Ground (1994)

27- Dave (1993)

      Cockfighter (1974)

28- Revenge (1990)

      Sabotage (1936)

      Liarmouth by John Waters (2022)

29- Fassbinder: Thousands of Mirrors by Ian Penman (2023)

      Ikarie XB-1 (1963)

      Curb Your Enthusiasm (2 episodes)

      True Detective: Night Country 

30- The Stepfather 2: Make Room For Daddy (1989)

      Freeway 2: Confessions of A Trick Baby (1999)

31- The Gold Diggers of 1933 (1933)

FEBRUARY

1- Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind (2004) (R)

3- Berlin Alexanderplatz (1980) (Pts. I-VII) (Gene Siskel Film Center)*

4- Berlin Alexanderplatz (1980) (Pts. VIII- XIII + Epilogue) (Gene Siskel Film Center)*

5- City On Fire by Don Winslow (2022)

6- Notes On the Making of Berlin Alexanderplatz (1979)

    Berlin Alexanderplatz: A Megamovie and Its Story (2006)

    Portrait of Jason (1967)

    Still Processing (2020) (short)

    In Dog Years (2019) (short)

7- Dario Argento Panico (2024)

    Dark Glasses (2022)

    Action Jackson (1988)

8- Bonnie and Clyde (1967) (R)

    Curb Your Enthusiasm

9- Babyface (1977)

10- Truck Turner (1974) (R)

      Emmanuelle (1974)

11- City of Dreams by Don Winslow (2023)

      It Doesn't Suck: Showgirls by Adam Nayman (2014)

      Mr. and Mrs. Smith 

      Comrades, Almost A Love Story (1996)

12- They Called Him Mostly Harmless (2024)

      Polytechnique (2009)

      True Detective: Night Country

13- Starman (1984) (R)

      Casablanca (1942) (R)

      Michael Curtiz: The Greatest Director You Never Heard Of

      Mr. and Mrs. Smith

15- Hearbreakers (1984)

      Mr. and Mrs. Smith

17- Mr. and Mrs. Smith (2 episodes)

      Nobody's Fool (1994)

18- Mr. and Mrs. Smith (2 episodes)

      The Yards (2000)

19- True Detective: Night Country Finale

      The Hunger Games (2012)

      The Hunger Games: Catching Fire (2013)

20- The Street Fighter (1974)

      The Return of Street Fighter (1974)

      Mr. and Mrs. Smith Season Finale

21- The Street Fighter's Last Revenge (1974)

      Eileen (2023)

      Fast Film (2003) (short)

22- Drive Away Dolls (2024) (Marcus Cinema)*

      The Hudsucker Proxy (1994) (R)

24- Little Darlings (1980)

26- Lisa Frankenstein (2024) (Regal Webster Place)*

27- Crooklyn (1994) (R)

      Cooley High (1975)

28- If Beale Street Could Talk (2018) (R)

      Just Above My Head by James Baldwin (1979)

29- The Underground Railroad (2021) (2 episodes)

MARCH

1- The Underground Railroad

2- Zelig (1983)

    Dune (2021) (R)

4- Dune Part Two (2024) (The Music Box) (70mm)*

    American Conspiracy: The Octopus Murders (2024) (4 episodes)

5- Perfect Days (2023) (AMC River East)*

    The Decameron (1971)

    Secrets: A Memoir of Vietnam and the Pentagon Papers by Daniel Ellsberg (2002)

6- The Underground Railroad

     The Canterbury Tales (1972)

7- The Underground Railroad (2 episodes)

     Arabian Knights (1974)

9- The Underground Railroad (2 episodes)

     The Roaring Twenties (1939)

10- The Underground Railroad (2 episodes)

11- Seinfeld (The Pick)

12- The Moviegoer by Walker Percy (1961)

      Russia 1985-1999: TraumaZone Part 1- 1985-1989

      Zero Woman: Red Handcuffs (1974)

      Tie Me Up! Tie Me Down! (1989)

13- Russia 1985-1999: TraumaZone Part 2- 1989-1991

      The Sacrifice (1986)

      Directed by Andrei Tarkovsky

14- The Plains by Gerald Murnane (1982)

      Ishtar (1987)

      Russia 1985-1999: TraumaZone Part 3- 1991

16- Russia 1985-1999: TraumaZone Part 4- 1992-1994

      Searching For Bobby Fischer (1993)

17- Russia 1985-1999: TraumaZone Part 5- 1993-1996

18- The Big Lebowski (1998) (R) The Music Box)* 

      The Bird With the Crystal Plumage (1970) (R)

19- The Grandmaster (2013)

      Made Men: The Story of GoodFellas by Glenn Kenny (2020)

      Russia 1985-1999: TraumaZone Part 6- 1994-1998

20- No Longer Human by Osamu Dazai (1948) (tr. by Donald Keene)

      Russia 1985-1999: TraumaZone Part 7

21- Duck, You Sucker! (1971)

23- For A Few Dollars More (1965) (R)

      The Sluts by Dennis Cooper (2004)

24- The Battle of Algiers (1966) (R) (The Music Box)*

      Quiet on the Set: The Dark Side of Kids TV (2024) (4 episodes)

25- Late Night With the Devil (2024) (The Music Box)*

      Asteroid City (2023)

26- Immaculate (2024) (The Logan Theater)

      Story of A Cloistered Nun (1973)

      The Zone of Interest (2023) (R)

27- Days of Heaven (1978) (R) (The Music Box)*

      The Thing (1982) (R) (The Music Box)*

28- The Working Class Goes to Heaven (1971)

30- Machine Gun McCain (1969)

      The Boy Friend (1971)

31- Heavy: An American Memoir by Kiese Laymon (2018)

APRIL

1- Shogun (2 episodes)

    King On Screen (2022)

2- Ennio (2021) (The Music Box)*

    Forbidden Photos of A Lady Above Suspicion (1970)

3- The Shawshank Redemption (1994) (R)

4- Touchez Pas Au Grisbi (1954)

5- Shogun (2 episodes)

    Deep In the Heart aka Handgun (1983)

5- The Manchurian Candidate (2004)

6- WrestleMania XL Day 1

8- The Cremator (1969) (R)

     Shogun (2 episodes)

9- WrestleMania XL Day 2

     Different Seasons by Stephen King (1982)

     Stage Fright (1950)

10- I...For Icarus (1979)

11- Peggy Sue Got Married (1986)

13- Shogun 

      Hearts of Darkness: A Filmmaker's Apocalypse (1991) (R)

14- The Path to Paradise: A Francis Ford Coppola Story by Sam Wasson (2023)

15- Civil War (2024) (Landmark Theaters)*

      Shogun

      Fallout (2 episodes)

16- The Sympathizer

      Green Room (2016) (R)

      Black Cat (1991)

      Roommates (1982)

17- Thunderbolt and Lightfoot (1974)

      Cisco Pike (1972)

18- Beatriz (1976)

20- Shogun

      Mysterious Object At Noon (2000)

21- M*A*S*H (1970) (R)

22- The Synanon Fix

      The Jinx: Part Two

      The Sympathizer

23- Shogun Series Finale

      Still Life With Bones: Genocide, Forensics and What Remains by Alexa Hagerty (2023)

      Run and Kill (1993)

      Macon County Line (1974)

24- Civil War (2024) (Marcus Theaters) (R)*

25- The Blade (1995)

27- Austin Powers: International Man of Mystery (1997) (R)

      Bio-Zombie (1998)

      Jawbone by Monica Ojeda (2023) (tr. by Sarah Booker)

28- Dave Chappelle: Killin' Them Softly (2000) (R)

      Mod Fuck Explosion (1994)

29- The People's Joker (2024) (The Music Box)*

      The Jinx Part Two

30- The Sympathizer

      Stalked By My Doctor (2015)

      Stalked By My Doctor: The Return (2016)

      Stalked By My Doctor: Patient's Revenge (2018)

      Challengers (2024) (Marcus Theaters)*

      War Is A Force That Gives Us Meaning by Chris Hedges (2002)

MAY

1- Strike (1930)

    Memories of Underdevelopment (1968)

2- The Incident (1967)

    Singapore Sling (1990)

4- One-Armed Boxer (1972)

5- Tucker: The Man and His Dream (1988)

    Santa Sangre (1989) (R)

6- The Jinx Part Two

    The Sympathizer

    The Warriors (1979) (Theatrical cut) (R)

     I Am Cuba (1964)

    Nuclear War: A Scenario by Annie Jacobsen (2024)

7- World's Greatest Sinner (1962)

    The Gambler (1974)

    Deja-Vu (2006)

8- The Sugarland Express (1974) (R)

9- The Post (2017)

    Dogville (2003)

    Bahia Blanca (1984)

11- Red Rocket (2021) (R) (w/ Kat Ellinger commentary)

12- Serial Mom (1994) (R) (w/ John Waters commentary)

13- I Saw the TV Glow (2024) (Landmark Century Theater)*

      The Virgin Suicides (1999) (R)

      Seinfeld (The Gymnast)

14- The Intruder (1962)

      The Man With X-Ray Eyes (1963)

15- Gaza Fights For Freedom (2019)

16- Collateral (2004) (R)

       Bonding by Maggie Siebert (2022)

       The Jinx Part Two

17- The Sympathizer

18- The Tale of Zatoichi Continues (1962)

      New Tale of Zatoichi (1963)

19- Stand Up Solutions (2024)

      Matinee Idol (1984)

20- The End of Policing by Alex Vitale (2017)

21- The Jinx Part Two

      The Sympathizer

      Navajeros (1980)

      Mad Max: Fury Road (2015) (R)

      Deadlock (1970)

22- Navajo Joe (1966)

23- Furiosa: A Mad Max Saga (2024) (Marcus Theaters)*

      Miami Vice (Calderon's Return)

25- "The Human Crisis" by Albert Camus

      Smiley Face (2007)

26- Take Out (2004)

27- Mad Max (1979)

      Seinfeld (The Switch)

      The Sympathizer Series Finale

28- The Obscene Bird of Night by Jose Donoso (1973) (tr. by Megan McDowell)

      The Jinx Part Two

      Graduation Day (1981)

      Predator 2 (1990) (R)

      The Hot Nights of Linda (1975) 

29- The Stranger and the Gunfighter (1974)

      Shot (1973)

30- Poking Holes by Juan Valencia (2024)

      Columbo- Prescription Murder (1968), Ransom For A Dead Man (1970)

JUNE

1- Gay USA (1977)

     Forbidden Letters (1979)

2- Columbo- Murder By the Book (Directed by Steven Spielberg)

    The Wild Angels (1966)

3- The First Omen (2024)

    Flavia the Heretic (1974)

4- Shooting Midnight Cowboy by Glen Frankel (2021)

    Columbo- Death Lends A Hand

    Silent Madness (1984)

    In A Violent Nature (2024) (AMC Crestwood)*

    Midnight Cowboy (1969) (R)

5- Columbo- Dead Weight

    Martha (1974)

    Closer by Dennis Cooper (1989) (George Miles Cycle #1)

6- Columbo- Suitable For Framing

7- In A Shallow Grave by James Purdy (1975)

8- Columbo- Lady In Waiting (serious Leslie Nielsen)

    Hard to Kill (1990)

    Black Emanuelle (1975)

    Visions by Troy James Weaver (2015)

9- Columbo- Short Fuse (Roddy McDowall AND Ida Lupino!)

    Columbo- Blueprint For Murder

    Castle Faggot by Derek McCormack (2020)

    Muscle (1989)

10- Furiosa: A Mad Max Saga (Landmark Century) (R)*

      Mad Max: Fury Road (2015) (R)

11- Point Break (1991) (R)

      Bad Boys II (2003) (R)

12- Columbo- Etude In Black (Falk and Cassavetes reunited)

      Blonde Death (1984) (R)

      Wise Blood by Flannery O'Connor (1952)

      "Some Aspects of the Grotesque in Southern Fiction" by Flannery O'Connor (1960)

13- Columbo- The Greenhouse Jungle (Ray Milland)

      The Hill (1965)

14- Columbo- The Most Crucial Game

      Emanuelle In Bangkok (1976)

16- Columbo- Dagger of the Mind (Richard Basehart)

17- Six Schizophenic Brothers (4 episodes)

      Airships by Barry Hannah (1978)

18- True Lies (1994) (R)

      Speed (1994) (R)

19- Columbo- Requiem For A Falling Star (Anne Baxter and Kevin McCarthy)

      Kamikaze Hearts (1986)

20- RIP Donald Sutherland

      Midsommar (2019) (Director's Cut) (R)

21- Emanuelle In America (1976) (w/ Kat Ellinger commentary)

22- Columbo- A Stitch In Crime (Leonard Nimoy)

23- Columbo- Most Dangerous Match

24- Midnight Run (1988) (R)

25- Boy Wonder by James Robert Baker (1988)

      The Bikeriders (2024) (Marcus Cinema)*

      Dangerous Game (1993)

26- Columbo- Double Shock (Martin Landau and...Martin Landau?!)

      The Bear (2 episodes)

      Cadabra Records- The Tsalal by Thomas Ligotti

27- The Bear (2 episodes)

      Cartoons by Kit Schluter (2024)

      Longlegs (2024) (Music Box Theater)

28- Gateways to Abomination by Matthew M. Bartlett (2014)

29- The Bear (3 episodes)

      Live Wire (1992)

30- Kinds of Kindness (2024) (Marcus Cinema)*

     The Bear (2 episodes)

JULY

1- I Am the Pretty Thing That Lives In the House (2016)

2- The Parallax View (1974) (R)

    Summer of Sam (1999) (R) (w/ Spike Lee commentary)

3- Squaring the Circle (The Story of Hipgnosis) (2022)

    Return of the Living Dead (1985) (R)

4- Lone Star (1996)

    Emanuelle Around the World (1977)

6- I Hate to See the Evening Sun Go Down by William Gay (2002)

    Disco Godfather (1979)

    Stalked By My Doctor: A Sleepwalker's Nightmare (2019)

7- Beverly Hills Cop (1984) (R)

    A Gun For Jennifer (1997)

8- The Knockout Artist by Harry Crews (1988)

9- Stand By Me (1986) (R)

    My Girl (1992) (R)

    Blonde Ambition (1981)

10- Maxxxine (2024) (AMC Crestwood)

     Body Double (1984) (R)

11- RIP Shelley Duvall

      Over the Edge (1979)

      Terminal Park by Gary J. Shipley (2020)

12- The Tune (1992)

13- Hudson Hawk (1991)

14- Blue of Noon by Georges Bataille (1935) (tr. by Harry Matthews)

      The Quick and the Dead (1995)

15- Longlegs (2024) (Logan Theater) (R)*

16- The Bad Sleep Well (1960) (R)      

      Beijing Watermelon (1989)

17- Chungking Express (1994) (R)

18- Last Embrace (1979)

20- High and Low (1963) (The Music Box) (R)*

21- The Plot Against Harry (1971)

      Caged Heat (1974)

      Chime (2024)

22- Ali: Fear Eats the Soul (1974) (R)

      Tenebre (1982) (R)

23- Deliver Me by Elle Nash (2024)

      The Taking of Pelham 1 2 3 (1974) (R)

24- Oddity (2024) (Marcus Theaters)*      

      The Leather Boys (1964)

25- Columbo- Lovely But Lethal (Vera Miles, Martin Sheen AND Vincent Price!)

26- Miami Vice- Golden Triangle

27- Miami Vice- No Exit

      Pat Garrett and Billy the Kid (1973) (50th Anniversary Cut)      

28- Amygdalatropolis by BR Yeager (2016)

     Glory (1989) (R)

     Passion and Poetry: Peckinpah's Last Western (2024)

29- Watcher (2022)

30- GoodFellas (1990) (The Music Box)* (R)

31- A Quiet Place: Day One (2024) (AMC Crestwood 18)*

      Rabid Dogs (1974) (R)

AUGUST

1- The Devils Rejects (2005) (R)

3- Absalom, Absalom by William Faulkner (1936)

   Columbo- Any Old Port In A Storm (Donald Pleasance)

4- "Altar" by Philip Fracassi, "Chicken Hill" by Joy Williams

5- WWE Summerslam

    The Five Venoms (1978)

    Crippled Avengers (1978)

6- "Clara" by Roberto Bolano, "The Book of Sand" by Jorge Luis Borges

     Chinese Torture Chamber Story (1994)

7- Trap (2024) (Marcus Theaters)*

8- Pop. 1280 by Jim Thompson (1964)

    Bring Me the Head of Alfredo Garcia (1974) (R)

10- Miami Vice- The Home Invaders

      Midnight Desires (1976)

12- Love Lies Bleeding (2024)

      FireStorm (1984)

13- Mira Copora by Jeff Jackson (2013) 

     Intrepidos Punks (1988)

     The 39 Steps (1935) (R)

14- Cuckoo (2024) (AMC Crestwood)*

      RIP Gena Rowlands

      The day I saw a picture of my biological mother for the first time

15- A Woman Under the Influence (1974) (R)

16- The Unreality of Memory and Other Essays by Elisa Gabbert (2020)

17- Lifeline (1997)

18-  RIP Alain Delon

       "Stuff" by Joy Williams

      The Unyielding by Gary J. Shipley (2017)

      The Texas Chainsaw Massacre (1974) (R)

19- Medium Cool (1969) (R)

20- Le Samourai (1967) (R)

      Mr. Klein (1976) (R)

      "The Music of Erich Zann", "Dagon", "The Cats of Ulthar" by HP Lovecraft (Read by Andrew           Leman)

21- Alien: Romulus (Marcus Theaters)*

      Miami Vice- Smuggler's Blues

22- State of Grace by Joy Williams (1973)

24- Miami Vice- Rites of Passage, The Maze

      I Saw the TV Glow (2024) (R) (w/ Jane Schoenbrun commenttary)

25- Thieves Like Us (1974)

      The Glassy, Burning Floor of Hell by Brian Evenson (2021)

26- The Saddest Words: William Faulkner's Civil War by Michael Gorra (2020)

      10 Rillington Place (1971)

      I Saw the TV Glow (2024) (R)

27- Love On Delivery (1995)

      Strange Darling (2024) (AMC Crestwood)*

28- Werckmeiser Harmonies (2000)

29- The Devil Thinks I'm Pretty by Charlene Elsby (2023)

30- Adam Sandler: Love You (2024)

31- Blazing Saddles (1974) (R)

SEPTEMBER

1- The Petal of Your Eyes by Aimee Parkison (2014)

    Je Tu Il Elle (1974)

2- 25th Hour (2002) (R)

    Seinfeld- The Sniffing Accountant

3- Pregaming Grief by Danielle Chelosky (2024)

    Ripley

4- Beetlejuice (1988) (R)

5- Beetlejuice Beetlejuice (2024) (Marcus Theater)*

    Witch Hunt: Poems by Juliet Escora (2016)

7- Rebel Ridge (2024)

    Miami Vice- Lombard

9- Blow-Up (1966) (R)

    Salem's Lot (1979) (R)

10- Zombie by Joyce Carol Oates (1995)

      Wise Guy: David Chase and The Sopranos (2024) (Pt. 1)

11- Concerning the Future of Souls: 99 Stories of Azrael by Joy Williams (2024)

      Wise Guy: David Chase and the Sopranos (2024) (Pt. 2)

13- Friday the 13th Pt. VIII: Jason Takes Manhattan (1989) (R)

14- All the Living and the Dead by Hayley Campbell (2022)

     "A Country Doctor" by Franz Kafka

     Permanent Green Light (2018)

15- Heaven's Gate: The Cult of Cults (2020) (4 episodes)

      Zombie (1979) (w/ Live Score by Fabio Frizzi and band)

16- Violent Faculties by Charlenes Elsby (2024)

      Final Destination (2000) (R)

      Final Destination 2 (2003) (R)

17- Final Destination 3 (2006) (R)

      Final Destination 5 (2011) (R)

18- The Omen (1976) (R)

19- In the Folds of the Flesh (1970)

20- Crushing Snails by Emma Murray (2024)

21- Delirium: Photo of Gioia (1987)

22- The Vet's Daughter by Barbara Comyns (1959)

23- Beelejuice Beetlejuice (2024) (Landmark Theaters) (R)

      From (3 episodes)

24- The Last Horror Film (1982)

26- Megalopolis (2024) (AMC Crestwood)*

      From 

27- Mr. McMahon (2024)

28- From

      Big World by Mary Miller (2009)

29- From (3 episodes)

30- The Grip of It by Jac Jemc (2017)

      Mr. McMahon (2024) (5 episodes)

      Uzumaki Episode 1

      Pulse (2001) (R)

OCTOBER

1- The Spider Labyrinth (1988)

    The Substance (2024) (AMC Crestwood)*

2- The Black Room (1982)

     Flesh and Fantasy (1943)

3- Red to Kill (1994)

5- The Devonsville Terror (1983)

    The Red Shoes (1948) (R) (Gene Siskel Film Center)*

6- V/H/S Beyond- 'Live and Let Dive' and 'Stowaway'

    Uzumaki Episode 2

7- Salem's Lot (2024)

    Alison's Birthday (1981)

8- The Simpsons- Treehouse of Horror IV, V, VI

    Not A Speck of Light by Laird Barron (2024)

    Coyote by Max Restaino (2024)

    Pulp Fiction (1994) (R) (The Music Box)*

    The Living Dead At Manchester Morgue (1974) (R)

9- V/H/S/85 (2023)

10- Cemetery Man (1994) (R)

12- Frankenstein and the Monster From Hell (1974)

13- The Creature From the Black Lagoon (1954) (R)

14- Saturday Night (2024) (Landmark Century)

15- The Brood (1979) (R)

      Terrifier 3 (2024) (AMC Crestwood 18)

      A Sunny Place For Shady People by Mariana Enriquez (2024) (tr. by Megan McDowell)

17- Kwaidan (1964) (R)

19-20- Music Box of Horrors 

        -Suspense (1913) (w/ Live Score)

        -The Spiral Staircase (1946)

        -The Crazies (1973)

        -Possible In Michigan (1983)

        -Zibahkhana: Hell's Ground (2007)

        -The Haunted Palace (1963) (w/ Roger Corman tribute)

        -Prom Night III: The Last Kiss (1989) (w/ Ron Oliver Q & A)

        -The Alchemist Cookbook (2016) (w/ Joel Potroykus Q & A)

        -Jaws (1975)

        -Hellevator: The Bottled Fools (2004)

        -Tales From the Darkside- Family Reunion (1986)

        -Tales From the Darkside: The Movie (1990)

        -Nightmare (1981)

        -Poltergeist (1982)

        -Comedy of Terrors (1963)

21- Black Sunday (1960) (R)

      VHS/99- Ozzy's Dungeon, To Hell and Back

      V/H/S Beyond- Stowaway (2024) (R)

      Hellraiser (1987) (R)

22- Slewfoot by Bram (2021)

      Paganini Horror (1989)

      Corpse Mania (1981)

      Suffer Little Children (1983)

23- Ghostbusters (1984) (R)

      The Devil's Nightmare (1971)

25- The Ancine Woods (1970)

26- Needful Things by Stephen King (1991)

      Wes Craven's New Nightmare (1994) (R)

27- The Sadness (2021)

28- Anora (2024) (The Music Box)*

     Dawn of the Dead (1978) (R)

29- Good Night, Sleep Tight by Brian Evenson (2024)

      Devil Story (1986)      

      Young Frankenstein (1974) (R)

      "The Small People" by Thomas Ligotti (Read by Jon Padgett)

30- It Follows (2014) (R)

      Audition (1999) (R)

31- Halloween 2 (2009) (Director's Cut w/ Rob Zombie commentary)

      Sex Demon (1975)

NOVEMBER

2- Hill William by Scott McClanahan (2013)

    Under the Silver Lake (2018)

3- Election (1999) (R)

4- Tales of Hoffmann (1951)

    Queer by William S. Burroughs (1985)

5- Real Life (1979)

    All the President's Men (1976) (R)

    Marigold by Troy James Weaver (2016)

    Donald Trump is elected 47th President of the United States

6- The Vineyard (1989)

7- Wildcat (2024)

8- Day of the Fight (1951) (R)

    The Killing (1956) (R)

9- Reclaiming Art In the Age of Artifice by J.F. Martel (2015)

10- Lola Montes (1955)

11- Made In England: The Films of Powell and Pressburger (2024)

12- The Kid Detective (2020)

      Celine and Julie Go Boating (1974) (R)

15- Happiness (1998)

16- On Dangerous Ground (1951)

17- Kubrick: An Odyssey by Robert P. Kolker and Nathan Abrams (2024)

18- He Died With His Eyes Open by Derek Raymond (1984)

      Little Murders (1971) (The Music Box) (R)

      This Is the Zodiac Speaking (2024) (3 episodes)

      Twin Peaks

19- Rontel by Sam Pink (2012)

      Forrest Gump (1994) (R)

      The Enigma of Kasper Hauser (1974) 

21- The Marriage of Maria Braun (1979)

      Dangerous Encounters of the 1st Kind (1980) (Davis Theater)*

22- Sinner: Diary of A Nymphomaniac (1973)

25- My Heart Is That Eternal Rose (1989)

26- The Beast (2024)

27- Chinatown (1974) (R)

28- Blood Rage (1987) (R)

      Terraria: Another Day Under the Glass by W.T. Barney (2018)

30- Alone by Thomas Moore (2020)

     Nowhere (1997)

DECEMBER

2- American Psycho (2000) (R)

    La Jetee (1962) (R)

    Seinfeld- The Label Maker, The Scofflaw, The Kiss Hello

    The Twilight Zone- The Obsolete Man, Once Upon A Time

3- Seinfeld- The Face Painter, The Understudy

    Not A Pretty Picture (1976)

4- The Thin Man (1934)

    Rudolf the Red Nose Reindeer (1964)

    Watergate: A New History by Garrett Graff (2022)

5- A Clockwork Orange (1971) (R)

7- Remember the Night (1940)

10- Whistle and I'll Come to You (1968)

      Gremlins (1984) (R)

      The Public Burning by Robert Coover (1977)

12- This Is What You Get by Anthony Dragonetti (2024)

      Curse of the Cat People (1944)

      A Ghost Story For Christmas: Stigma (1975)

13- A Ghost Story For Christmas: The Signalman (1976)

14- The Ref (1994) (R)

15- Dead Bang (1989) (R)

     Ghost Story For Christmas: The Ash Tree

16- Burden of Dreams (1982) (R)

      My Best Fiend (1999) (R)

17- Eyes Wide Shut (1999) (R) (The Music Box)*

18- Trancers (1984) (R)

      Holiday (1938)

19- Queer (2024) (Marcus Theaters)*

      The Berlin Wall by David Leo Rice (2024)

21- White Christmas (1954)

22- Kate Bush Christmas Special (1979)

      My Dead Book by Nate Lippens (2024)

23- Holiday Affair (1949)

      Female Trouble (1974) (R)

      Blood Beat (1983) (R)

24- Ghost Stories For Christmas: Lost Hearts (1973)

      It's A Wonderful Life (1946) (R)

25- Black Christmas (1974) (R)

26- Juror #2 (2024)

28- Rap World (2024)

29- Christmas Eve In Miller's Point (2024)

      Nosferatu the Vampyre (1979) (R)

30- Nosferatu (2024) (The Music Box)*

      Alphabetical Diaries by Sheila Heti (2024)

31- The Last Laugh (1924) (R)

Bring Me the Films of 1974

"I have never been a quitter. To leave office before my term is complete is abhorrent to every instinct in my body. But as President, I must put the interests of America first. America needs a full time President and a full time Congress. Particularly at this time with problems we face at home and abroad. To continue to fight through the months ahead for my personal vindication would almost totally absorb the time and attention of both the President and the Congress in a period where our entire focus should be on the great issue of peace abroad and prosperity without inflation at home. Therefore, I shall resign the Presidency effective at noon tomorrow."

With those words, Richard Milhous Nixon, became the first president in the history of the United States to resign. It started with a piece of tape and ended with a speech on the news. Along the way, conspiracy, burglary, and treason were committed.

Nixon's Presidency lasted four years during the 70s yet so much of the decade orbits around it either as a reaction to or rejection of it. In the first six months of 1974, Paramount released The Conversation in April, The Parallax View in June, followed by Chinatown one week later. These three films are what I would show someone wanting to understanding the political climate of this decade. And if I could single out a specific scene, it would be the Test montage Warren Beatty's character is shown The Parallax View. Pakula's direction is not quite as exciting as it is in All the President's Men. But this test montage is one of my favorite 'scenes' in not just his paranoia trilogy, but in 70's film. What is editing but a manipulation of the viewer by placing two images side by side in a sequence to elicit an idea or emotion in someone's head.

If we look at the players in the film world there was Robert Altman, Warren Beatty, Peter Bogdonavich, Francis Ford Coppola, George Lucas, Jack Nicholson, Gordon Parks, Arthur Penn, Roman Polanski, Martin Scorsese, Steven Spielberg and Robert Towne. In music there was Crosby Stills and Nash, Jackson Browne, The Eagles, Carole King, Joni Mitchell, Linda Ronsadt, James Taylor. And in television there was Alan Alda, James L. Brooks, Allan Burns, Norman Lear, Mary Tyler Moore, Carroll O'Connor, Rob Reiner and Gene Reynolds. 

When Altman wasn't wrapping production on California Split and Thieves Like Us, he was filming Nashville. Coppola had the greatest one-two punch of any director with The Conversation and The Godfather Part II. Spielberg was in the midst of filming Jaws. Lucas had completed the first draft on a little film called Star Wars. 

The art coming out of Los Angeles in 1974 was socially engaged, grappling with all the critiques of American life that had rumbled through society during the 1960s: greater suspicion of authority in business and government, more assertive roles for women, standards became looser for premarital sex, greater acceptance of racial and sexual minorities. They became infused into movies and the television landscape. Pop Culture became the bridge between mass audience and the once-insurrectionary ideas of the 1960s. 

Chinatown and The Godfather Part II would show America as a country built on corruption. Chinatown's Noah Cross is shown to be a representation of greed and amoral power. A monstrous father to Faye Dunaway's Evelyn Mulwray. The Godfather Part II would have a similair message. Coppola would state of The Godfather Part II: "I wanted to make a definitive statement about power. The finished film says that this country is in danger of losing its soul, like Michael did. That power without humanity is destructive." These two films would be the top contenders at the Academy Awards. The competition would be uncomfortably intimate. Coppola and Chinatown screenwriter Robert Towne had been friends since their days with Roger Corman. Coppola would enlist Towne to write the garden scene between Michael and his father in the first Godfather. 

The artistic explosion wasn't just happening in America. It was happening all around the world. New German Cinema directors like Fassbinder and Herzog were releasing their strongest works. French directors Jacques Rivette and Chantel Akerman were stretching the limits of narrative. Japan was releasing transgressive films through it's 'pinky violence' subgenre. 

In his book, Rock Me On the Water, Ronald Brownstein states that "cultural eras don't precisely follow the calendar. The creative renaissance in Los Angeles did not begin on January 1, 1974 and it did not abruptly end on December 31, 1974. But the dynamics that rejuvenated culture and politics in Los Angeles reached their fullest expression through 1974. And as the year transitioned to 1975, forces gathered momentum that would end the city's revival in movies, music, television and politics. The most important of these was a shift in cultural preferences that reduced America's appetite for popular entertainment that relitigated the arguments of the 1960s."

The few years afterward, 1975 though 1977, can be seen as not quite a transition to the decadent 80s, but more a glimmer of what was to come after the success of Jaws and Star Wars. A bridge to where an audience accepted Robert Blake getting blown away on his motorcycle for no particular reason in Electra Glide In Blue to Luke blowing up the Death Star in Star Wars. 

So where are we today? 

Altman, Bogdonavich, and Penn have passed away. Roman Polanski is a name synonamous with sexual assault; an incident which happened in 1977. Warren Beatty is more known as the guy who announced the wrong title for Best Picture than his film career. Francis Ford Coppola would release a decades-in-the-works Megalopolis to polarized reception. A couple of months after the release, the country elected Donald Trump for a second term as President. 

There's a part of me which would like think the results of the 2024 election would bring about the kind of art we had 50 years ago. Then there's the cold water in the face realization of so many other factors keeping it from happening. There is no "relitigating the arguments from the sixties" because we are further removed from that type of class warfare than ever. The revolutionaries from the 60's- Fred Hampton, Malcolm X, MLK. have all been eliminated through assassinations and COINTELPRO.  The Maysle's documentary Gimme Shelter is basically a snuff film with the hippie movement being laid bare. Hippies turned into yuppies. Yuppies turned into people angry bitter at programs like NAFTA outsourcing their jobs. The angry bitter people were promised Hope and Change but were given more shit on a plate. They donned their MAGA hats and finally said Fuck You to a government that continually stabbed them in the back. Top down became left right. The class war became a culture war. 50 years of neoliberalism, austerity and imperialism has caused the American Empire to take a downward trajectory that has no means of stopping. 

But enough of that noise, we're here to talk cinema. In 2013, Steven Soderbergh said in his State of Cinema speech that "cinema is under assault by the studios with, from what I can tell, the full support of the audience. The reasons for this are more economic and philosophical. But when you add an ample amount of fear, a lack of vision, and a lack of leadership, you got a trajectory that is pretty difficult to reverse." 

If you cut the timeline in half, you arrive at the year 1999. My second favorite year in film. Brian Rafferty in his book Best. Year. Ever. points out how "two decades after the cultural rupture that was 1999, movies have managed to simultaneously expand and shrink. Major studio films have never been more expensive, with budgets of $150 to $200 million. And because of these costs, the megamovies have to reach as many people as possible." You also have to factor in overseas distribution. This means no ambiguity, no narrative complexity or cultural specificity in order for the film to succeed in domestic and foreign markets. "Yet few viewers seem to be pushing back against them or even questioning their dominance. The mainstream audiences that were willing to be confronted in 1999 now largely want to sit in their seats undisturbed." 

"What people go to the movies for has changed since 9/11. The country hasn't healed in a complete way and people as a result are looking for more escapist entertainment." Soderbergh says in his State of Cinema speech. The wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, the economic implosion in 2008, on-camera police violence against minorities, big tech companies spying on people would all yield films like There Will Be Blood, No Country For Old Men, Michael Clayton, The Wolf of Wall Street, Children of Men and Get Out. The problem is, modern audiences have an appetite for only a handful of such films each year. The blue pill version of the world goes down easier. 

In 2024, a year in which the genocide of Palestine was being streamed on social media platforms, it is not hard at all to understand this sentiment. 

Economic hardships such as the cost of living, our failed healthcare sytem and student debt have caused people to work longer hours. There is no time to go to the movies. When they are able to go, they don't want to be confonted with the world being on fire, let alone the collapse of the country around them.  

This is not to say confrontational art has disappeared. A24 and Neon continually put out films of quality through the 10's and 20's. Again, the amount of quality films are lacking when you compare it to any year from the 90s or 70s or even 80s. 

Bennett Media made a good case on how the shadow cast by Star Wars, Harry Potter, Lord of the Rings and Spider-Man, is still looming over film today. Speaking of Spider-Man, Kirsten Dunst said this while looking at a list of movies from 1999: "What happened to the movies? It showed me how poor movies are these days." When someone pointed out to her how it's 'kind of her fault' about joining a franchise series like Spider-Man, she retorted, "Listen: I wanted to be in Spider-Man. I love making those movies. But I'm not someone who will go to the movies to see a comic book movie. It's not my cup of tea." Thanks, Kristen. 

There's a scene in The Devil's Rejects where Otis Driftwood tells someone "I set my standards pretty low, so I'm never disappointed." He may as well be a stand in for the moviegoing public. We should be demanding more. It's objective fact that 1974 was better than any of the past 24 years. These anniversary lists serve as not just a reminder of how far we have fallen, but how we need to stop accepting mediocrity. If we continue to do so, then I see nothing but a bleak future on the horizon. We might as well settle into our recliners, pop in a blu ray and say "forget it Jake, it's...

1. Chinatown

When you have a story as complex and intricate as Robert Towne's script, the best bet to have the audience follow along without any trouble is to shoot simple. Polanski shoots eyelines wide with little use of close up cutaways. A whole scene can play out on one person's face with the other person off camera. The economy of storytelling portrays Gittes as a man who can go toe to toe with any individual creton (Noah Cross, for example) but finds his greatest enemy to be that of bureacracy. There are elements bigger than him. 

2. The Conversation

The cassette tape to The Godfather's grand opera. 

A case for Walter Murch being not just one of the giants of editing but of audio work. A movie where soundscapes are almost character in themselves. There's not a single moment that doesn't engage with the paranoia of not having any control over who's watching whom. There are thoroughly frightening scenes here because the whole thing is played with minimalism. 

3. A Woman Under the Influence

My vote for best performance by an actor from this, or any year, is Gena Rowlands in this film. It's the defining Cassavetes film because it embodies all of the hallmarks of his work: a depth plumbing character study, fraught emotional intensity, anchored by a towering performance by his wife and collaborator.  

4. The Texas Chainsaw Massacre

There is something all the other TCM entries lack that this one has: mood. If you take Leatherface and his family out of the picture entirely, you have a document of decay. We open on a rotting corpse atop a grave, the sun pouring over it. A dead armadillo on the road. Spiders flittering frantically in the corner of an abandoned house. If you put Leatherface and the Sawyer family into this setting, you have one of the best horror films of the decade and in the running for all time. 

5. Bring Me the Head of Alfredo Garcia

In Sam's best films, I'm specifically speaking of Wild Bunch, Pat Garrett and this one, there is a finality of things that is an unstoppable force haunting the characters. The quote "You can't stop what's coming." from No Country For Old Men might as well apply in this instance. If it wasn't for Clint Eastwood, Sam would be considered the last great western director. And I am by no means discounting directors like Tarantino or the Coens who have taken stabs at the genre. Sam's films are more concerned about the end of a way of life. In Alfredo Garcia, Warren Oates' character is doomed. He knows it, we know it. Along this perilous journey are key stops in Mexican towns. The festering rot accrues and spills over into a violent climax only Peckinpah could deliver. 

6. Female Trouble

The Pope of Filth's worthy follow up to a film where Divine eats dog shit and a crucial reminder to get your partner or friend or family the gift they ask for. Even if it is cha-cha heels. 

7. Young Frankenstein

Nobody's winking at the camera. Gene, Teri, Peter, Madeline, and Gene all play it straight. There's nothing more tiresome than a comedian who laughs at his joke after he tells it. Luckily for us, Mel Brooks gave us something we still find hilarious after 50 years. 

8. Ali: Fear Eats the Soul

Rainer Werner Fassbinder's obsession with Douglas Sirk helped inspire him to make his own melodrama about a relationship grounded amidst racial inequality. Casting his own partner, El Hedi ben Salem in the lead role and regular Brigitte Mira as Emmi, a cleaning lady infatuated with him despite her own family not wanting anything to do with the man because of his race. Fassbinder imbues every frame with tenderness. This is the movie to start with for anyone unfamiliar with Fassbinder. 

9. Celine and Julie Go Boating

Of all the New Wave directors, Jacques Rivette was the most intellectual. Here he pulls out the rug, rearranges the rules and smiles while doing so. There is a go for broke stylistic freedom Rivette gives himself here. 

10. The Taking of Pelham 1 2 3

I can talk about how the last frame of this film is singed into my memory. Or how it captures an authenticity of New York folk more than any other film of the era (OK, Dog Day comes close). But let me just use this space to talk about the power of David Shire's throbbing jazz score. Between this and The Conversation he was on another level. 

11. The Godfather Pt. II

The best parts of this are the scenes in Italy. This is in no way denigrating the stuff with Fredo, Kay, Roth, or Pentangeli. It's simply stating how rich the operatic tapestry becomes as it takes us back to the turn of the century. Giving us new depths to the first film and laying out the family tragedy ahead.

12. Black Christmas

The dark and dirty flip side to Bob Clark's vision of Christmas. Frequently moody wide angle compositions, patient camera moves and a lived-in hang out quality. What is so startling about the killer is his uncertainty. Is he genuinely trying to talk to her or is he threatening her physical safety? Maybe it's both. 

13. Truck Turner

Isaac Hayes, Yaphet Kotto, Nichelle Nichols, Dick Miller and Scatman Crothers should be enough to have anyone want to see this. 

There's a shift tone where the film goes from rollicking action to stern character drama. Kaplan handles it gracefully. It puts it in the upper echelon of blaxpoitation movies coming out at the time. 

14. Martha

A dark comedy that hurdles headlong into horror. The horror of Fassbinder's tale of abuse lies in its titular character never able to put into words her feelings because the abuse isn't physical but psychological. 

15. The Living Dead At Manchester Morgue

The bridge between Romero's Night and Dawn and every bit as great as those. A bleak, unsettling atmosphere with ample amounts of gore. Also a good contribution to ACAB cinema. 

16. Lenny

This is one of Dustin's top performances. As good as the directing and editing are here, they almost feel like a warm up for what director Bob Fosse and Editor Alan Heim unleash in 1979. 

17. Thunderbolt and Lightfoot

Outside of The Deer Hunter, Michael Cimino's films have been largely overlooked or just dismissed altogether. His debut manages to combine buddy comedy, road movie and heist flick. As far as Eastwood flicks, it proves he is more versatile than people give him credit for. As far as Bridges flicks go, it's one of his best performances. 

18. Rabid Dogs

Easily the darkest thing Bava made. More than any of his gothic horror pictures. This is something you watch in the summer. Sweating in the profuse heat of a car with George Eastman in the backseat. 

19. Hearts and Minds

There weren't any movies coming out during the Vietnam War that properly addressed what was going on. The ones that did come out were basically propaganda films like John Wayne's The Green Berets. This documentary came out the year we pulled out and paints an ugly, brutally honest picture of the conflict. 

Daniel Ellsberg said it best: we are the wrong side. 

20. Busting

Hyams declaritively stamps his foot in the fucking ground here with his debut. The car and foot chases are on point and the market sequence is the highlight of the picture. The script does a good job at mirroring the similarities between the cops and the crooks. The chemistry between Elliot Gould and Robert Blake is fantastic here. 

21. Zero Woman: Red Handcuffs

Pop Art and Pure Filth collide in a melange of degradation, trenchcoats and...handcuffs. This film is a good representaion of pinky violence, a subgenre which was relgated to the 70s. Arterial spray, sleaze and nihilism abound. 

22. The Sugarland Express

Duel was an impressive feat in itself. Here, Spielberg is tasked with his first studio picture and pulls it off. Here we have the first use of a theme he loves to use in his early work, a character who comes from a broken home. He'd use it later on in Close Encounters and E.T.

There's a varied tone in Express. On the one hand it's an exploitation action flick, Duel on steroids. On the other, it's packed with comedy and energy. All good news for anyone who is turned off by his schmaltzier side. It's the first film of his to use John Williams and marks his first collaboration with cinematographer Vilmos Zsigmond. 

In the midst of films like French Connection, Bullitt, and The Getaway, Sugarland Express holds its own and would show Spielberg as understanding the widescreen format to tell a story cinematically. 

23. Phantom of the Paradise

Gonna say it now, Phantom of the Paradise >The Rocky Horror Picture Show. This is DePalma having fun after the more strait laced Sisters. Like his pal Steven's movie, Phantom is loaded with energy from the start. There's a scene I always think about when this movie comes up and it's the camera chasing the Phantom down a hallway with his billowing cape. 

24. The Enigma of Kasper Hauser

There's a charming honesty in Herzog's direction and Bruno S. depiction of the titular character that creates an emotional impact. Kasper Hauser is a refreshing character, commenting on society's weird social norms. 

The working title for this picture was Every Man For Himself and God Against All which rates as one of the coolest titles of all time. Herzog would use it for his memoir in 2023.

25. Foxy Brown

Picking up where Coffy left off, Hill knew he had a unique talent on his hands with Pam Grier. So what does he give us? Another generous helping of her in the form of Foxy Brown. Belongs in the blaxpoitation starter pack. 

26. Blazing Saddles

"There's no way this would be made today" is the common quote thrown around about this movie. You can apply this quote to at least half of these movies but for different reasons. And ya know what? To hell with the naysayers. Saddles manages to be a confrontational live action cartoon written by a Jewish grandpa. An incisive skewering of Hollywood's racism and it's whitewashing of Western history while being a pretty fucking good Western in it's own right.  

27. Dead of Night

Like Romero did with Night of the Living Dead, Bob Clark uses the zombie archetype to lay American politics bare. In this case, he turns a critical eye toward the Vietnam War and creates an examination of the family unit post-Vietnam. To my mind, it's the first film to look at the war from a critical perspective. And it's a genre film from Canada to boot. 

28. Almost Human

I came upon Lenzi through Cannibal Ferox, followed his trail through giallo (Seven Blood Stained Orchids), the zombie film (Nightmare City) and most recently the politzioteschi. Probably the most versatile of the big Italian horror directors. Severin put out a box set collecting all of the films Lenzi and Tomas Milian did together and this is the diamond of the bunch. 

29. Memories Within Miss Aggie

Gerard Damiano's follow up to The Devil In Miss Jones is a winter flick thru and thru. Like Roberta Findlay's A Women's Torment and Roger Watkins' Her Name Was Lisa, Miss Aggie balances the allure of eroticism with the disturbances of psycholgical horror. Damiano shows a woman (wonderfully portrayed by Deborah Ashira) reaching autonomy not only through sexual pleasure, but reclaiming one's own perception. 

30. Freebie and the Bean

James Caan and Alan Arkin in a politcally incorrect buddy film with hugely impressive chase scenes. It's casually racist. It's constant lunacy. But above all...it's a love story. 

MUSIC

As far as music goes, my 3rd favorite album of all time, Genesis' concept album The Lamb Lies Down On Broadway was released. The last album with Peter Gabriel in the band. King Crimson released my favorite album from them with Red. The Wetton/Bruford lineup from '72 to '74 remains the incarnation I prefer. Progressive rock really hit an apex with not just those albums but with Yes releasing Relayer. Zappa, a genre unto himself, continued his hot streak with Apostrophe. 

Genesis- The Lamb Lies Down On Broadway

King Crimson- Red

Yes- Relayer

Frank Zappa- Apostrophe

Queen- Sheer Heart Attack

Supertramp- Crime of the Century

Tangerine Dream- Phaedra

SOURCES

Rock Me On the Water by Ronald Brownstein (Harper Collins)

Best. Year. Ever.: How 1999 Blew Up the Big Screen by Brian Raftery (Simon and Schuster)

The Big Goodbye: Chinatown and the Last Years of Hollywood by Sam Wasson (Macmillan)