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Callaghan

Callaghan has written 8 posts for Cineobscure

Inglourious Basterds TRAILER !!

Inglourious Basterds [sic] is an upcoming ensemble war film/spaghetti western[2] written and directed by Quentin Tarantino. It has the largest cast of characters (with speaking roles) of any Tarantino film to date and is currently in production with several locations, among them Germany and France. Tarantino plans to complete production of Inglourious Basterds in time for release at the Cannes Film Festival in May 2009[3]. Filming began in October 2008[4]. The title (and partial premise) of the upcoming film is inspired by Italian director Enzo Castellari’s 1978 movie Inglorious Bastards. The Weinstein Company has slated August 21, 2009 as the tentative U.S. release date.

Inglourious Basterds TRAILER to Debut this week!

This comes VIA ‘Get The Big Picture’ .

According to Tarantino.info (by way of Cinema Blend), we’ll see a new trailer for QT’s Inglourious Basterds by the end of the week.

And yes, you can be damned sure I’tll be here, so check back lata !
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Pitt

Home is Where the HAUNT Is. Hollywood’s Scare Affair with the Haunted House

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Callaghan

Hollywood’s Scare Affair with the Haunted House By Callaghan

Every community has one, or so the rumors say. Surely you’ve heard tell of your own hometown’s version. You know the “condemned convalescent home” or the “slice ‘n dice bed ‘n breakfast”, or even the “vexed axe lady”. Whatever it was.

It didn’t take Hollywood long to realize that the INT. HAUNTED HOUSE – NIGHT was a setting that audiences would keep coming back to. And they would not have to spend the night inside (as their neighborhood chums as doubled-dared them to back home.) No sir, here in the theatre’s dark spooky auditorium, those brave souls would only have to spend an hour and a half, maybe two…

From The Cat and the Canary to What Lies Beneath – from Old Dark House to Session 9…

How do you know which phantasm flat you’ll want to visit? Which spectral suburbs are not to be missed? Welcome to Callaghan Haunted Tours. If you’ll look out the window to your left, you’ll see…

The Essential Ten
Haunted House Films

(& Their Respective Hauntees)

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The Shining

#1 The Shining (1980)
The Overlook Hotel does act as a temporary residence…Which is good enough for me, but not so much for the Family Torrence.

Haunted By:

-Lloyd the Bartender
-The Grady Family
-Bathtub Broad (shivers)
-Bear Suit Guy (shivers harder)

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Poltergeist

#2 Poltergeist (1982)

“They’re here,” said Carol Anne way back in 1982…and “they” subsequently never left our collective consciousness.

Haunted By:

-The “T.V. People”
-Evil Clown Toy
-One Crazy Tree (that used to scare me shitless)

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The Haunting

#3 The Haunting (1963)
Director Robert Wise showed the Haunted House fable in all its chilling glory…Quite the departure from his films “The Sound of Music” and “West Side Story”.

Haunted By:

-The Hill House Posse

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The Changeling

#4 The Changeling (1980)
One of the scariest films ever, I kid you not…Carried on the acting shoulders of one George C. Scott.

Haunted By:

-Girly girl

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Beetlejuice, Beetlejuice, Beetlejuice, !

#5 Beetlejuice (1988)
One of Tim Burton’s most bizarrely bad ass creations, Beetlejuice has the unusual power to scare the laugh out of you.

Haunted By:

-I can’t say (seeing as that would be three times)
-Adam
-Barbara

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The Legend of Hell House

#6 The Legend of Hell House (1973)
Considered the “Mount Everest” of haunted houses, Hell House is well worth the climb.

Haunted By:

-My Man Belasco
-A Surprise Guest

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The Others

#7 The Others (2001)
Proof positive that lackluster remakes are not the way to go if you want to tell a good Haunted House story today.

Haunted By:

-A Great Big Spoiler Alert

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The Innocents

#8 The Innocents (1961)

A How-To for crafting good, rounded gothic ghost tales on-screen is this.

Haunted By:

-Miss Jessel
-Peter Quint
-Eerie Atmospheric Filmmaking

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Burnt Offerings

#9 Burnt Offerings (1976)

Who woulda thunk that a Bette Davis, Oliver Reed and Burgess Meredith flick could be so disturbing?

Haunted By:

-One Bitch of a House

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House on Haunted Hill

#10 House on Haunted Hill (1959)

With this being a Haunted list, I was enticed…to include the irreplaceable Vincent Price.

Haunted By:

-B Movie Goodness
-Things That Go Awesome in the Night

Happy Halloween From Cineobscure!!

Cheers,

Callaghan

Zack and Miri Make a Porno – REVIEW

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Callaghan

Show East is already abuzz this year, before it has even officially begun. Of course, those in the film distribution and exhibition industries are getting ready to be dazzled by the latest and greatest “picture show” technologies, same as every year. Sure, the studios are sending some of their best star power (and above-the-line talent) down to Sunny Florida for a week of hobnobbing with theatre owners. Nuthin’ new there either. What is different this year is the fact that an “NC-17” film is being peddled and promoted…well as close to an NC-17 flick as veteran Show Easters (or is it “Show Easterners”) have ever experienced, anyway. And that is exciting; or more appropriately that is titillating.

Enter “Zack and Miri Make a Porno”. A few days prior to the screening, I was asked by a member of the Weinstein Company team what my favorite Kevin Smith movie was up to that point. Seldom being at a loss for words (as many of you can attest to), I played along.

“Mallrats,” says I, “Mallrats represents what Smith does best. It shows that he knows how to tell a good dirty joke, and I am a man who loves me a dirty joke. I honestly think he may have swayed a bit too far from that ranch with his last couple a’ three films. I, for one, wish he would come full circle and be that Kevin Smith again. ”

Perhaps it was more of an answer than he was expecting. Okay, definitely it was more of an answer than he was expecting. Regardless, he smiled a big company man smile and said simply, “You won’t be disappointed.” What can I say…he wasn’t lyin’.

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Yeah baby.

Zack and Miri has put the wind back in its Captain’s sails. I can only hope that Skipper Smith follows this wind to the next creative island or archipelago. But I digress.

Porno is easily one of the funniest comedies to come along in a coon’s age. Keep in mind, I have been something of a Comedy Curmudgeon for the last several years, saying everything short of “the genre is dead” (Okay, maybe I did say that after all). In any case, if this film is any indication, comedy is bouncing back. Set in the ‘Burg, the story follows platonic flatmates Zack and Miriam (Miri) who just can’t get seem to break free of the funk that they’re in. This all changes when they attend their 10 year high school reunion, which acts as the inspirational catalyst they need to end their woes by making a, you guessed it…porno.

Seth Rogen, with all do respect, has been party to some of those very comedies whose overall punch-line I just did not get (The 40 Year Old Virgin, Knocked Up, etc.) But after seeing him shine as title character Zack, I gotta say I’m now a big fan. I see him being a comedic force to be reckoned with for some time. His no-bullshit delivery as Zack was a bull’s eye for me. He was able to keep the character in check, never letting it get too over-blown (which would have been so easy to do.) Rogen proves that he has real comedic chops and tip-top timing.

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Zack and Miri.

Elizabeth Banks (as the adorably desperate Miri) also won my heart faster than you can say “Iron City Beer”. Her performance is well-crafted yet subtle. In a funny way, Rogen and Banks together reminded my of a vintage screen comedy duo (think Burns and Allen) with their set-up/pay-off banter. Nice chemistry all around. Don’t be surprised if this is the beginning of more co-starring gigs for them. Not to mention Miri’s moment of bliss…wow, what acting! I know what you’re thinking…what woman doesn’t know that little bit of theatrics. But I shit you not, I don’t think Stella Adler herself could have taught that any better.

The cast is rounded out by Craig Robinson (the heir apparent to Bernie Mac); View Askew regulars Jason Mewes and Jeff Anderson; and Traci Lords (yes that Traci Lords). Justin Long and Brandon Routh also are along for surprisingly successful turns at comedy. I couldn’t help but think that Routh sounded more like Clark Kent here (as gay former-classmate Bobby Long) than he did in Superman Returns. Weird. Anyway, the entire cast pulls together very well as an intracule ensemble. Oh, and you’ll never think about Glengarry Glen Ross the same way again.

So, go see this flick. It is a fun and exciting communal experience. Like I said, I like a good dirty joke as much as the next guy…and “the next guy” to me was choking on the free Snowcaps that the Show East cats were handing out for the screening. That’s just how funny Zack and Miri Make a Porno really is. So here’s to you, Kevin Smith, for going back to that voodoo that you do so well..now, let’s go ahead and 86 that Jersey Girl Part II idea that’s rolling around in your head. Now Mallrats 2 on the other hand, hmmmm….

Cheers,

Callaghan

Cine Rating: ★★★★☆

“Blue” Language on the Silver Screen – !@%$#%@

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Callaghan

Colorful language has long been an important tool for movie makers. Sure, it has been used as a gratuitous placeholder or as a shocking spacefiller from time to time. (Bad Santa’s bottomless bag of F-Bombs comes to mind.) On the other hand, the use of swearing has lent itself to an authentic sense of realism for many a genre (think any crime or police drama since the late-sixties). Sometimes, just sometimes, profanity can be a beautiful weapon…a weapon crafted by the blacksmith artisans (aka the writers), and wielded by the (not always so) heroic Sir Actalot on screen. In the rarest of occasions, the perfectly written explicative perfectly delivered can go well beyond the purpose of merely driving the character’s point home. It is in these instances that, instead of the dialogue reflecting how “real people” talk, we the audience are schooled in the proper use of the profane.

During the silent era, Douglas Fairbanks would hurl a “cocksucker” or a “son of a whore” (or worse) at his on-screen adversary, knowing full well that the final print would instead include a title card that read “You Scoundrel”. He and other leading men of the day were forced to curb the obscenities, however, when some deaf lip-reading audience members became flabbergasted by what they “heard”. The infamously feared Hayes Office was officially born in the year 1922. As all content censorship was largely voluntary for the next eight years, however, the occasional colorful adjective would still rear its dirty head. Then came the early 1930’s, and with them the Production Code was rolled out. Starting in ‘34, all films had to adhere to said code in order to get the all-important Seal of Approval. Make no mistake about it, some of our greatest films were produced over the next thirty years. All the same though, movie swearing went largely into the dark ages…or into the fucking dark ages, as the case may be.

Join me now, fellow filmphiles, as we take a look at the decades that followed. Along the way, let us examine the unforgettable moments in colorful language that exploded right off the screen and into the pop culture itself.

The Essential Ten
Great Moments In Cinematic Cursing History

#1 Gone With the Wind (1939)
“Frankly my dear, I don’t give a damn.”

It may seem tame by today’s standards, but David O Selznick had to fight a long drawn-out battle with the Hayes Office just to insure this now-classic “damn” was left in. Keep in mind, this is the same period in which Sir Laurence Olivier (for his title role in Shakespeare’s Henry V) was forced to change the line “Norman bastards” to “Norman dastards”. True story.

Gone With The Wind

#2 Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf (1966)
“Look, sweetheart, I can drink you under any goddamn table you want, so don’t worry about me.”

This Elizabeth Taylor/Richard Burton tour de force caused the language restrictions long imposed on Hollywood to come crashing down. The Production Code Administration reluctantly granted the film a Seal. The reason? Virginia Woolf was acknowledged as “reflecting the tragic realism of life”. This also laid the groundwork for films to be separated into either “general audience” or “mature audience” categories.

Virginia Woolf

#3 The Last Detail (1973)
“Welcome to the wonderful world of pussy, kid.”

Jack Nicholson is a presence, plain and simple. As Navy lifer Billy “Bad Ass” Buddusky, he delivers Robert Towne’s colorful dialogue with unabashed frankness. This comedy showed moviegoers everywhere what “swearing like a sailor” was all about.

The Last Detail

#4 Serpico (1973)
“You stupid fuck! You didn’t know me? You fired without a warning, without a fucking brain in your head? Oh, shit. I buy one, motherfucker, I ain’t buying it from you.”

I’m sure many of you will be surprised that Scarface wasn’t included on a list involving profanity. Sure Tony Montana rendered nearly 200 versions of “fuck, but I have come to see Scarface’s potty mouth as somewhat cartoonish. On the other hand, Pacino’s earlier portrayal of real life NY policeman Frank Serpico was a game changer in poignant realistic grittiness of the tongue.

Serpico

#5 One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest (1975)
“Well, I don’t want to break up the meeting or nothin’, but she’s something of a cunt, ain’t she Doc?”

Jack strikes again. One of the most memorable characters of the 1970’s, Nicholson’s McMurphy is anything but looney. Talking about being ahead of its time…the word “cunt” is still considered by many the last real taboo left in our lexicon. Now imagine uttering it on a major film nearly thirty-five years ago, and winning the Oscar in doing so. That’s crazy…ah, no offense, Chief.

One Flew Over The Cockoos Nest

#6 Arthur (1981)
“Perhaps you would like me to wash your dick for you…you little shit.”

Okay, basically at this point along our trek, anything goes. It was the 80’s after all, and colorful language was becoming more and more mainstream. Nearly all foul language was becoming fair game. That is, of course, until it is spoken with dirty eloquence by legendary Shakespearian thespians like Sir John Gielgud. Playing butler Hobson to Dudley Moore’s drunken millionaire title character, Gielgud takes no guff whatsoever.

Arthur

#7 Full Metal Jacket (1987)
“I’ll bet you’re the kind of guy that would fuck a person in the ass and not even have the goddamn common courtesy to give him a reach-around. I’ll be watching you.”

Okay, there’s real…and then there’s REAL. I don’t care how many method acting classes you have taken, or how long you’ve been at the Actor’s Studio honing your craft; nobody but nobody could have breathed life into the role of Gny. Sgt. Hartman the way R. Lee Ermey did. Quite simply, you can’t teach that stuff. Ermey steals the show so completely, that the second half of the film is fairly forgettable without him (except of course for the Vietnamese hooker’s immortal utterance of “me so horny” and “me love you long time”).

Full Metal Jacket

#8 Die Hard (1988)
“Yippee ki-yay, motherfucker”

Who could have predicted it? Who woulda thunk that a cop thriller starring a fairly popular television actor would go on to create a brand new subgenre? Furthermore, who would have believed that word “motherfucker” could sound so unimaginably cool coming from the lips of a white guy? Did Bruce Willis’ smartass remark to supervillain Alan Rickman become a national catchphrase years before “show me the money” and long after “go ahead, make my day”? Fucking-A right it did.

Die Hard

#9 Goodfellas (1990)
“No. No, I don’t know. You said it. How do I know? You said I’m funny. How the fuck am I funny? What the fuck is so funny about me? Tell me, tell me what’s funny!”

Certainly, if you look at the numbers, Casino outswears Goodfellas by nearly 25%. That’s all fine and dandy, but the dialogue in this Scorsese offering in infinitely more dynamic for the collective consciousness. Joe Pesci’s barraging of Ray Liotta is the stuff of legend. It will be remembered long after Pesci is as dead as Tommy DeVito.

Goodfellas

#10 Pulp Fiction (1994)
“Say what again. Say what again! I dare you, I double dare you, motherfucker. Say what one more goddamn time.”

Samuel L. Jackson is the profanity poet laureate; the vulgarity Da Vinci; the motherfucker maestro. His true artistry is in the fact that even his most colorful lines are delivered seamlessly and are anything but contrived. It doesn’t hurt matters that Tarantino also happens to be one of the finest dialogue writers of the last quarter century. The two together? A match made in Heaven…or, if you will, a match made along “the path of the righteous man”.

Pulp Fiction

Cheers,
Callaghan

QUANTUM OF SOLACE theme song and the new TRAILER B!

Courtesy Joblo.com.

The Theme for Quantum of Solace is out. From two of musics best acts, Jack White of the White Stripes and the hot hot hot Alicia Keys. The song is called ‘Another Way to Die’ and it kicks ass. I do miss the more traditional Bond themes that have a Bondesque cinema undercurrent that wreaks with adventure and espionage but by now, we know the producers are taking Bond to places we’ve never seen in the franchise. It’s a different Bond and it’s all good.

Here are my Top 10 Bond Songs and then you can check out the new one.

10. Diamonds Are Forever (Shirley Bassey)
09. Tomorrow Never Dies (Sheryl Crow)
08. Live and Let Die – (Paul McCartney & Wings)
07. A View To A Kill (Duran Duran)
06. The Living Daylights (a-ha)
05. GoldenEye (Tina Turner)
04. Die Another Day (Madonna)
03. For Your Eyes Only (Sheena Easton)
02. The World Is Not Enough (Garbage)
01. Nobody Does It Better (Carly Simon)

Sadly, neither the new song nor Chris Cornell’s from Casino Royale have me hooked. And on a liner note, I miss the opening theme with the silhouettes of the girls. I hope we don’t get poker cards as a substitute on this one.

Okay, check it out.

Another Way To Die (Feat. Jack White) – Alicia Keys

And here’s the second trailer TRAILER B

This film looks phenomenal. A perfect balance of bad ass and love interest. I can’t wait.

On “IN BRUGES” or: How I Learned To Stop Procrastinating and Discuss Black Comedies

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Callaghan

Ah, ““black comedies“…how your un-tabbing of otherwise taboo subject matter does appeal to us so! What memorable scenes your morbid morbidezza style have generated for generations of movie-goers. Down through the cinematic years, you have continued to make us (however uncomfortably) laugh out loud in all of the right (wrong) places.

Black comedy itself is nothing new. Charlie Chaplin dipped a toe into the darker comedic waters with The Great Dictator; only to full-on cannonball into that same pool with Monsieur Verdoux. Helmed by everyone from Capra to Coen(s), the list of true classics to be found in this subgenre is disproportionately long. But which titles are absolute must-sees for any self-respecting movie buff? Where, oh where do you begin? No worries, soon all of your questions will be answered. I have put together for you the definitive list. But first, let us delve a bit into the latest inductee to that club. I speak, of course, of In Bruges.

If I can, I’d like to get a few things out of the way right up front. First, let me just say that I have made no bones about my grave disappointment in both the current state of film comedies and the comedy genre at large. Let’s be honest, for the last ten some odd years, the vast majority of humorous features we have been presented with have been pretty piss poor in the classic comedy department. (Of course, the same could be said of the horror genre, but that is a discussion for a different day…and, more importantly, for a different article: CHA-CHING!) That being said; I did something I hadn’t done in many a screening during In Bruges…I laughed my balls off.

Set in the once-upon-a-town of Bruges, Belgium, we are immediately introduced to hitmen Ray and Ken (portrayed by Colin Farrell and Brendan Gleeson respectively.) They are laying low after completing a big job for bastardly boss Harry (Ralph Fiennes) back in Britain. Right off, Ray makes no attempt to hide his utter and complete misery at being stuck awaiting orders in this storybook hamlet. He himself says it best, “If I grew up on a farm…and was retarded, Bruges might impress me. But I didn’t, so it doesn’t.” Ken, on the other hand, makes the most of their quaint surroundings, and is given to “sightseeing and that”. Eventually boss Fiennes does make contact…and, well because Captain Callaghan has turned on the “no spoiler light”, not much more can really be said plot wise. Just know that midgets, cocaine, treachery, guns, Belgian filmmakers, a beautiful Flemish girl and midgets all play a roll. Did I say midgets already? Trust me, its worth mentioning twice.

Although the film plays out entirely in Bruges, it could have just as easily been entitled “In Brogue”…seeing as both Farrell and Gleeson playfully used their native Dubliner dialect. Colin Farrell as Ray, who would make Archie Bunker oh so proud, is quite the acting achievement. He plays the P.C.-be-damned character with the unforgiving directness and the take-me-as-I-am charm that first made me love him as an actor. He is back in a major way. Hell, I all but forgot about the debacle that was Alexander (which, to be fair, wasn’t his fault…I blame Oliver!) Which brings us to Brendan Gleeson. Wow, just…wow! All I can say is that if Academy voters are intellectually honest (and don’t vote with a quasi-RIP sentiment for Heath Ledger) then they will recognize the subtle genius in Gleeson’s performance. Fair is fair, and the Best Supporting Oscar is rightfully his for the Year of Our Lord 2008. Can you say “career defining role”? It should come as no surprise that the always great Fiennes doesn’t disappoint as the cliché-busting crime don Harry. Clearly though, this is Farrell and Gleeson’s show all the way.

I also would like to raise my glass high in the air to the film’s director and scribe Martin McDonagh. The beautifully crafted In Bruges is the former playwright’s FIRST FEATURE FILM! Are you kidding me?! For a rookie turn at bat, he has done what few auteurs since Orson Welles have been able to accomplish…he knocked one right outta the damn park. But wait, he did make that short film Six Shooters a few years back…and…oh, that’s right, it won him an Oscar! He has set the bar pretty high for himself, but I’m betting his knack for seamless dialogue will propel him to clear it again and again. Although I don’t see him taking home the illusive Best Director prize this year, I do predict right here and right now that he should clear a space on his mantle for the Best Original Screenplay statue he’ll be receiving come March.

I can only hope that there will be many exponentially more classic comedies in the next decade then we saw in the last. As for the black comedies subgenre, I for one am ecstatic to see that it isn’t quite dead after all. We need these dark gems now more than ever before. The political correctness police may try to tell me where I can or cannot smoke my Opus X…but it would seem that they may not have as much sway over which subjects are off limits or taboo.

But now without any further ado, here’s that list to add to your rental queue…

The Essential Ten
Black Comedies

#1 Dr. Strangelove or: How I Loved To Stop Worrying and Love the Bomb
Without question the black comedy to nuke all black comedies. Just the thought of being able to go back and watch this classic during its Cold War premier makes me shutter…with laughter.

Dr Strangelove

#2 Arsenic and Old Lace
Frank Capra, the Epstein brothers AND Cary Grant?! You had me at Mortimer Brewster.

Arsenic and Old Lace

#3 The Life of Brian
Just remember to “always look on the bright side of life”.

Life of Brian

#4 Harold and Maude
This film’s screenplay is a model on how to write great comedies of the blacker persuasion.

Harold and Maude

#5 Raising Arizona
“Yah“, Fargo is good…but what it has plenty of in the black, it lacks in comedy. Yessir, I’ll take H.I. McDunnough any day.

Raising Arizona

#6 The Trouble With Harry
Hitchcock sandwiched this (his only comedy) right between some of his greatest suspense classics just to catch his audience off guard.

The Trouble With Harry

#7 Tie: The Ladykillers -and- Kind Hearts and Coronets
Shame on you if you only know Alec Guinness as Old Ben Kenobi!

The Ladykillers

#8 In Bruges
I wasn’t just whistlin’ Dixie in the write-up above.

In Bruges

#9 M*A*S*H
Robert Altman’s greatest still hasn’t lost a thing after nearly forty years.

MASH

#10 The Miracle of Morgan’s Creek
Writer/Director Preston Sturges had big brass ones to even attempt to get this film past Hayes’ boys at the Production Code Office.

Miracle at Morgans Creek

Cheers,

Callaghan

EQUATION OF A FILM CLASSIC

Mention the word “classic” in different circles, and the responses you’ll get will be as varied as Tara Reid’s bajungas. Go on, try it out; I’ll wait – ‘sides, I gotta light my stogie anyhow. What’s that? Not in a circle right now? Me neither, though I do pal around with a few squares (no offense, Dean).

Golfer Ben Hogan is undeniably a classic, but so equally is Tiger Woods. The Twilight Zone; classic, classic stuff…but couldn’t the same also be said about The Sopranos? See what I’m getting at here?

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Jimmy Stewart in It’s a Wonderful Life

Just so I’m clear…
One saying “They don’t make ‘em like they used to” is something else entirely. Hell, I catch myself saying that all the time (being the old soul that I am.) Understand one thing though: Classic doesn’t necessarily equal old…and being old sure as shit ain’t an auto-qualifier for classic status. Cinematically, I could point you to many an old turd. On the other hand, every decade does sire true blue classics (even, gasp, this decade we call our own.)

Many who know me know me as “The Classic Film Guy”. Often I will be asked to talk about the golden age of cinema or the studio era; both of which I’ll babble on and on (and on) about. But eventually I pause long enough to order another drink. It is at this point that I turn to my co-conversationalist(s) and (in my best Cleavon Little) say, “Excuse me while I whip this out!” I then proceed to pull out my now infamous Callaghan Top 100 Movie List (yeah, so I carry it around in my wallet…what’s the big deal?) I always am quick to point out that my film picks straddle the vast chasm that spans from the 1930’s right up to the aughts (twenty-aught one, twenty-aught two…)

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Are you not entertained ?

You know how we look to the renaissance masters’ paintings to really get under the skin of fifteenth and sixteenth century life? Well, in the distant future, historians will study our film classics as the art form of our civilization. It’ll happen, just wait. You can’t convince me otherwise.

So what does make a film a classic? Many critics consider the year 1960 to be the “1 AD” of the film world. I have already spelled out my distaste for this vintage = classic malarkey. I think that, like the overly clichéd pornography definition, you know a classic when you see it. Simple as that. An authentic classic will retain its magic through multi-generational screenings; and, like Andy Dufresne, will “…come out clean on the other side.”

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Dude, you spelled Hitler wrong.

Casablanca, It’s a Wonderful Life and Singin’ in the Rain…classic, classic and classic. Those are give-me’s. Now consider if you will all the film classics that came out in the 80’s, 90’s and 2000’s: Raiders of the Lost Ark, Schindler’s List and Gladiator respectively, just to name a few. Like their older brethren, they will stand the tests of time.

So next time you think classic, think epic, timeless, filmic goodness. If, on the other hand, you are in need of a word to describe an older film…might I suggest the term “vintage”. I guess now that makes me the “Vintage Film Guy”. Now if only I could find me a circle…

Cheers,
Callaghan