Netflix has stolen my soul.

I fucking love Netflix.

Film List

Because I have far too much time on my hands, I've put together my list of my favorite film for each year, for the past 59 years. I could maybe do a few years here and there pre-1950 but it would be almost all Disney and very sporadic. Fun facts at the end!

09 - Inglourious Basterds (Q. Taranitino)/The Hangover (T. Phillips)
08 - Hellboy II: The Golden Army (G. Del Toro)/The Dark Knight (C. Nolan)
07 - Juno (J. Reitman)
06 - Thank You For Smoking (J. Reitman)
05 - Sin City (R. Rodriguez)
04 - The Incredibles (B. Bird)/ Shaun of the Dead (E. Wright) [Couldn't possibly decide.]
03 - Lost in Translation (S. Coppola)
02 - One Hour Photo (M. Romanek)/Bubba Ho-Tep (D. Coscarelli)
01 - The Royal Tenenbaums (W. Anderson)
00 - American Psycho (M. Harron)

99- Fight Club (D. Fincher)
98 - Rushmore (W. Anderson)
97 - Jackie Brown (Q. Tarantino)
96 - Muppet Treasure Island (B. Henson) [Yes. Really.]
95 - The Quick and The Dead (S. Raimi)
94 - Clerks (K. Smith)
93 - Army of Darkness (S. Raimi)/ Batman: Mask of the Phantasm (E. Radomski and B. Timm) [Two masterpieces of two very different series.]
92 - Reservior Dogs (Q. Tarantino)/ Of Mice and Men (G. Sinese)
91 - The Silence of the Lambs (J. Demme)
90 - Darkman (S. Raimi)

89 - Uncle Buck (J. Hughes)
88 - Beetlejuice (T. Burton)
87 - Evil Dead 2 (S. Raimi)/ The Princess Bride (R. Reiner)
86 - The Fly (D. Cronenberg) [For Jeff Goldblum's incredible performance, if nothing else.]
85 - Back to the Future (R. Zemeckis)
84 - Ghostbusters (I. Reitman)
83 - The Outsiders (F. Coppola)
82 - Creepshow (G. Romero)
81 - The Evil Dead (S. Raimi)
80 - The Shining (S. Kubrick)

79 - Apocalypse Now (F. Coppola)
78 - Animal House (I. Reitman)
77 - Star Wars (G. Lucas)
76 - Rocky (J. Avildsen)
75 - One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest (M. Forman)
74 - Blazing Saddles (M. Brooks)/ Young Frankenstien (M. Brooks)
73 - Robin Hood (W. Reitherman)
72 - The Godfather (F. Coppola)
71 - Big Jake (G. Sherman)
70 - M*A*S*H (R. Altman)

69 - True Grit (H. Hathaway)
68 - 2001: A Space Oddyssey (S. Kubrick)
67 - The Jungle Book (W. Reitherman)
66 - The Good, The Bad and The Ugly (S. Leone) [Leone's 'Dollars' trilogy is, as far as I'm concerned, the greatest series ever made.]
65 - For a Few Dollars More (S. Leone)
64 - A Fistful of Dollars (S. Leone)
63 - McClintock! (A. McLaglen)
62 - To Kill a Mockingbird (R. Mulligan)
61 - The Hustler (R. Rossen) [Jackie Gleason as Minnesota Fats is what sells me the most on this film.]
60 - The Magnificent Seven (J. Sturges)

59 - Rio Bravo (H. Hawks)
58 - Cat on a Hot Tin Roof (R. Brooks)
57 - Old Yeller (R. Stevenson)
56 - The Searchers (J. Ford)
55 - Lady and the Tramp (C. Geronimi, W. Jackson, H. Luske)
54 - Seven Samurai (A. Kurosawa)
53 - Hondo (J. Farrow)
52 - The Quiet Man (J. Ford)
51 - A Streetcar Named Desire (E. Kazan)
50 - Rashomon (A. Kurosawa)

Directors with the most Films on my list:

Sam Raimi - 5 (The Quick and The Dead, Darkman, Army of Darkness, Evil Dead, Evil Dead 2)
S. Leone - 3 (The Good, The Bad and The Ugly, A Fistful of Dollars, A Few Dollars More)
F. Coppola - 3 (The Outsiders, The Godfather, Apocalypse Now)
Q. Tarantino - 3 (Jackie Brown, Reservior Dogs, Inglourious Basterds)
W. Anderson - 2 (The Royal Tenenbaums, Rushmore)
M. Brooks - 2 (Blazing Saddles, Young Frankenstein)
J. Ford - 2 (The Searchers, The Quiet Man)
S. Kubrick - 2 (The Shining, 2001: A Space Oddyssey)
A. Kurosawa - 2 (Seven Samurai, Rashomon)
W. Reitherman - 2 (The Jungle Book, Robin Hood)
I. Reitman - 2 (Animal House, Ghostbusters)
J. Reitman - 2 (Thank You For Smoking, Juno)


-Francis Ford Coppola and Sofia Coppola, along with Ivan and Jason Reitman are the only Father/Child pairings to make the list.

-Mel Brooks is the only director with two films in one year.

-Sergio Leone is the only director to go back-to-back-to-back.

-Jason Reitman is the only director to go back-to-back.

-John Wayne appears in 7 films.

-Bruce Campbell appears in 5 films.

-Bill Murray appears in 4 films.

Serious question:

As humans, specifically evolved to survive on this planet, why in the sam fuck does our skin turn to ash after ten minutes of sun exposure?

Seriously, evolution, you have some goddamn explaining to do.

Casting

I've been called hot-blooded plenty of times, and I generally took that to mean passionate, which is true. A guy like me can get worked up, angry, wrapped up in the moment, because somewhere, deep in my blood, something sings to me. Something in my heart, my brain, something within me demands passion, makes me hotblooded.

And I admit, sometimes I take things too far, sometimes I become a little more passionate than I should. Sometimes, I act like a real jackass. And apparently, that makes me the bad guy. Apparently, the passion, the energy and the power in my actions makes me the villain of the piece.

Why?

Is it because that kind of passion, that amount of devotion to an idea is scary?

Is it because I am somehow flawed in my drive?

I push people away to bring them closer. Fact. The way I function is meant to keep those that don't deserve me away. Have I been to harsh? Perhaps. But better safe than sorry.

But now, I have been confronted by those whom I've assumed were close and told that my very personality is too much. Now, I don't believe I have changed. I am much the same creature I once was, and that the situation I am in has changed more than I have, and I can deal with that.

What I can't deal with is being called the problem.

What I can't deal with is being accused of betrayal.

What I can't deal with is being cast as the villain in my own life.

If being myself makes me the antagonist, perhaps a change of cast is in order.

This One is for the Duke.

As a huge geek, I often get quizzical stares when I proclaim my love for John Wayne. And while, that does make a degree of sense given my usual aversion to most things... “country”, there's something about the John Wayne western that appeals to me on a level that is almost poetic. You see, as far as I'm concerned, John Wayne is the probably the greatest star in the history of American Film.

The Duke's range wasn't great, by any stretch of the imagination, but the man did understand subtlety, the man did have nuances. Unfairly, John Wayne is often reduced to a caricature, a deep voiced, rough edged fat old man, spouting “pilgrim” at the end of every sentence. The real picture is something more, John Wayne was one hell of an actor. He may have only had a few, similar characters, but those characters were all perfect. Ethan Edwards from “The Searchers” and Sheriff John T. Chance from “Rio Bravo” may be, on the surface, pretty similar characters, but it's the little things that sell the performances for me. As Edwards, Wayne displays a level of cold detachment, while obsessively hunting his lost niece. The character refuses to feel anything but the drive to continue onward, sacrificing his very humanity in the pursuit of his family. On the other side of the coin, John T. Chance is a man surrounded by real people, that he does truly care about. His connections are real, his interactions are warm, and even when faced with the villains of the piece, his calm, friendly demeanor never really fades. The climax of the film, a shootout, is more playful than tense, the victory of our heroes was never in doubt.

And in a nutshell, that's what John Wayne is all about, he, as an actor and as a man, serves as a reminder that sometimes, the good guys do win. And they really, truly deserve it.

As a close, I present some gems of wisdom from the Duke Himself:

“I never trust a man that doesn't drink.”

“When people say a John Wayne picture got bad reviews, I always wonder if they know it's a redundant sentence, but hell, I don't care. People like my pictures and that's all that counts.”

“I would like to be remembered, well . . . the Mexicans have a phrase, "Feo fuerte y formal". Which means he was ugly, strong and had dignity.”

“When I started, I knew I was no actor and I went to work on this Wayne thing. It was as deliberate a projection as you'll ever see. I figured I needed a gimmick, so I dreamed up the drawl, the squint and a way of moving meant to suggest that I wasn't looking for trouble but would just as soon throw a bottle at your head as not. I practiced in front of a mirror.”

“I never had a goddamn artistic problem in my life, never, and I've worked with the best of them. John Ford isn't exactly a bum, is he? Yet he never gave me any manure about art. He just made movies and that's what I do.”

“I made up my mind that I was going to play a real man to the best of my ability. I felt many of the western stars of the twenties and thirties were too goddamn perfect. They never drank or smoked. They never wanted to go to bed with a beautiful girl. They never had a fight. A heavy might throw a chair at them, and they just looked surprised and didn't fight in this spirit. They were too goddamn sweet and pure to be dirty fighters. Well, I wanted to be a dirty fighter if that was the only way to fight back. If someone throws a chair at you, hell, you pick up a chair and belt him right back. I was trying to play a man who gets dirty, who sweats sometimes, who enjoys kissing a gal he likes, who gets angry, who fights clean whenever possible but will fight dirty if he has to. You could say I made the western hero a roughneck.”

“Talk low, talk slow and don't talk too much.”

“Hell yes, I'm a liberal. I listen to both sides before I make up my mind. Doesn't that make you a liberal? Not in today's terms, it doesn't. These days, you have to be a fucking left-wing radical to be a liberal. Politically, though ... I've mellowed.”

“God-damn, I'm the stuff men are made of!”

You sure are, Duke.

Happy 103^rd to the greatest Actor in the history of America.

So, my person ended up totally, totally douched in mud today. Pouring rain is terrifically overrated. My phone is currently sitting in a bowl of rice in an attempt to dry it out. I guess. I don't know.

Made a bleu cheese italian pasta tonight for dinner. Needed more garlic.

Begin

My name is Preston Nelson. I am a twenty-three year old, who is currently employed at Wal*Mart, after finishing a Liberal Arts Degree in Theatre.

This blog is a literal demonstration of the existential crisis.