5 werckmeister harmonies (tarr, 2000)

6 mulholland dr. (lynch, 2001)

january 1, 2010

List project gets underway. A rough timeline:

December 31, 2009: Introductory statement (with disclaimers)

January 1, 2010: 2009 titles

Throughout January: 2008 through 2000 titles printed / corrections made, more or less "on the run"

Throughout 2010: 1990s through 1900s titles printed / corrections... / marketing the great beast to film minds everywhere (tell your people!)

2011: Begin posting short-form essays on titles / corrections and additions continue in perpetuity

2012: World ends, so good luck

It all begins, in three days, on Unexamined Essentials!

7 code unknown (haneke, 2000)

8 eureka (aoyama, 2000)

9 father and son (sokurov, 2003)

10 the heart of the world (maddin, 2000)

11 primer (carruth, 2004)

12 inland empire (lynch, 2006)

13 bright future (k kurosawa, 2003)

14 hot fuzz (wright, 2007)

2010 just around the corner

January, 2010 will see the jump-off for my ambitious "list project," mentioned earlier this month and last. The lists are organic and open for additions, but it is not quite a free-for-all, community project. I'll act as gatekeeper, open to thoughtful suggestions. Titles from the 2000-2009 period will appear in January; the '90s in February, and so on. Watch this space for details!

That, my screenplay, and helping a friend produce his screenplay, will occupy my "project time" in 2010.

15 kill bill, vol. 2 (tarantino, 2004)

16 mouse heaven (anger, 2005)

17 speed racer (wachowski bros., 2008)

18 spirited away (miyazaki, 2001)

19 waking life (linklater, 2001)

20 pistol opera (suzuki, 2001)

21 la ciénaga (martel, 2001)

22 exiled (to, 2006)

23 land of the dead (romero, 2005)

cross-promotion: take your carol

Those fine folks at The House Next Door have been kind enough to accept my review of A Christmas Carol, just in time for the day itself. The review tries to handle some of the complex, troubling. and beautiful aspects of Zemeckis's great film.

24 the science of sleep (gondry, 2006)

25 beowulf (zemeckis, 2007)

26 munich (spielberg, 2005)

27 the death of mr. lazarescu (puiu, 2005)

28 a.i. artificial intelligence (spielberg, 2001)

29 devils on the door step (wen, 2000)

30 hamlet (almereyda, 2000)

31 minority report (spielberg, 2002)

32 punch-drunk love (pt anderson, 2002)

33 the mist (darabont, 2007)

34 star wars: episode iii - revenge of the sith (lucas, 2005)

35 the wayward cloud (tsai, 2005)

36 loft (k kurosawa, 2005)

37 vera drake (leigh, 2004)

38 2046 (wong, 2004)

39 eternal sunshine of the spotless mind (gondry, 2004)

40 zodiac (fincher, 2007)

41 doppelgänger (k kurosawa, 2003)

42 all the ships at sea (sallitt, 2003)

43 election (to, 2005)

Yeah, kind of what everyone else is saying: To and his writers really did a good job transplanting Taylor and Payne's original premise to Hong Kong's organized crime scene, but let's be honest, Tony Leung Ka Fai is wildly miscast as Tracy Flick.

44 hulk (a. lee, 2003)

45 the way of the gun (mcquarrie, 2000)

46 bamboozled (s. lee, 2000)

47 café lumière (hou, 2003)

48 letters from iwo jima (eastwood, 2006)

49 the curious case of benjamin button (fincher, 2008)

50 flight of the red balloon (hou, 2007)

51 one day in the life of andre arsenevitch (marker, 2000)

52 wall·e (stanton, 2008)