I love The Thin Red Line, and am indifferent towards Groundhog Day.

DEAD TO MEEEEEEEEEEE!

But I also loathe Donnie Darko, so you probably don't really want me in your zombie club anyway.

dresses up Jessica as a zombie rabbit

Wow. Touch of Evil is easily in my Top Five movies. Forrest Gump may be in my Bottom Five.

There's some pretty good essays on Touch of Evil out there on the web, P-C. Because it's so campy in parts, it might be hard to adjust to on first view. I know I was a bit disoriented by it, the first time I saw it, and repeated viewings helped me figure out a) why I had such an odd reaction to it, and b) how the unlikely casting & scenes added to the real movie, which, after all, has almost nothing to do with the murder mystery.

Charles Taylor: [link]

J. Hoberman: [link]

Roger Ebert: [link]

David Edelstein: [link] (down at the bottom)

Mmmm. Despise Forrest Gump. Bored by Touch Of Evil. But part of that is because I felt pressed to have a reaction to it, it being iconic and stuff. It was okay. Put my "okay" up against critical acclaim, and it comes off looking more like "bored."

I love Groundhog Day. Palatable Andie McDowell. Who'da thunk it?

hayden, thanks for those essay links. I can see the kinds of things I'm supposed to like about it, but I guess those aren't the kinds of things that appeal to me at this moment in time.

Bored by Touch Of Evil. But part of that is because I felt pressed to have a reaction to it, it being iconic and stuff. It was okay. Put my "okay" up against critical acclaim, and it comes off looking more like "bored."

Right.

I've managed to avoid seeing Forrest Gump. A friend of mine saw it--she really liked it, but the more she thought about it the less she liked it. After a few days she decided she hated it. And then when the flick was embraced by the right wing, her hatred grew seething hot....

Jess -- this comment, from Ethan's ComicCon review, nicely illustrates why, at the Chicago F2F, I burst out with "Ethan is the coolest guy EVER!":

"During the panel for Constantine, a die-hard Keanu Reeves fan told the actor that she had brought him an early birthday present. So Keanu invited the starstruck woman to the front of the stage, where he gave her a big hug and accepted her gift, a book called The Elegant Universe: Superstrings, Hidden Dimensions and the Quest for the Ultimate Theory. Believe it or not, Keanu already had a copy. All together now: Whoa."

I don't see the up side to Forrest Gump. It's a Magical Negro movie, where the black guy doesn't even get to be the negro.

A friend of mine saw it--she really liked it, but the more she thought about it the less she liked it. After a few days she decided she hated it.

This is me. I saw it when it first came out and thought it had some funny bits, but didn't leave any strong impression overall. Then I saw it again (on a Peter Pan bus), and couldn't remember why I hadn't hated it the first time.

I'm with Hayden - Touch of Evil is one of my top movies. In large part because of the baroque element Nutty cites. (An aspect I love about Sunset Boulevard as well.)

To say the opening tracking shot is mundane however, is simply false. It introduces all the characters, establishes the milieu and if you pay attention it lays the groundwork for the plot as well.

Also, Orson purposefully set that shot up for a day when the studio sent somebody down to check up on him. They were suitably impressed that he knew what he was doing.

Finally, Ezra Pounds in his taxonomy of artistic types had a special category for Innovators who open up new modes of expression. Charlie Parker and Dizzy Gillespie weren't just masterful musicians - they created a whole new playground for musicians to romp around in for the next thirty years when they created BeBop.

The bigger innovation in Touch of Evil however was not the tracking shot (which probably qualifies more as a tour de force) was that Welles was responding to new cameras and film stock that were being used by the French New Wave. It allowed him more flexibility and freedom in shooting, and Welles took that and very masterfully expanded upon that new visual vocabulary. Again, as he did with Kane he gave people a blueprint on what could be done and people used his innovations for many years to come.

The really funny thing, Tep, is that I also have that book. It's fab.