What we've done: September 27th & 28th, 2010

- Dennis Cozzalio reacted to the sad death of Sally Menke...

- ...as did Jim Emerson and Craig Kennedy. (Kennedy also had the trailer for True Grit, while Emerson tackled the hype on The Social Network.)

- Simon Abrams' newest NYFF dispatch found him recommending two films: Aurora and The Strange Case of Angelica. He did not, however, recommend "Bored to Death".

- Scott Von Doviak ran down the weekend at Fantastic Fest and then gave a warm recommendation to Golden Slumber. (Primal, not so much.)

- Lucas McNelly talked about the pitfalls of crowd-funding and presented... more Up Country hijinx!

- James Frazier was positive on Wall Street: Money Never Sleeps, while...

- ...Daniel Getahun was less-than-positive. (He was more excited by When Worlds Collide.

- Phil Nugent chuckled at both Steven Colbert in front of The House and the reaction to said appearance, fleshes out the story about Kevin Morrissey's suicide and wondered why anyone should give a fuck about the Hawaii Five-O redux and, especially, The Maddeningly Vague Event.

- More disgorgement from Scott W. Black: Twilight: New Moon, Piranha 3D and The Vicious Kind.

- I saw a film about getting nailed.

What we've done: September 25th & 26th, 2010

- A whole host of grafs from Scott W. Black: Population 436, Four Lions, The Other Guys, The Relic, Scott Pilgrim vs. the World, Splice, Quick Change, Legion, Twilight and Wall Street. Damn.

- Craig Kennedy joined in on a lively podcast, leaving The Watercooler to us readers.

- Jim Emerson examines why mediocrity is more palatable in older films.

- Matt Noller proclaims that the new Blu-Ray of Godard's Breathless leaves him... nah, too easy.

- Chuck Bowen gave high praise to Nine Nation Animation and The Killer Inside Me.

- Lucas McNelly let us peek at some of the music that inspired him while shooting Up Country.

- Phil Nugent held forth on television both good and otherwise.

Today's video is something I'd never seen and likely never would have if not for the most recent AV Club Inventory - a very clever French trailer for Brian De Palma's Femme Fatale. Color me impressed.

What we've done: September 23rd & 24th, 2010

- Holy shit check that first image from Lucas McNelly's Up Country. I'm probably not the most partial of judges, but damn if this doesn't look like it has awesome potential.

- Craig Kennedy was busy (as usual): a press release from the AFI Fest about their opening & closing films, a consideration of the latest Phoenix/Letterman interview and the box-office collapse of I'm Still Here, a short film that's doing an Oscar-qualification theatrical run, the trailer and poster for Olivier Assayas's Carlos, the trailer for The King's Speech, the trailer for The Girl Who Kicked the Hornet's Nest and the Weekend Forecast. Whew. You make us all look like slackers, dude.

- Simon Abrams, in his latest NYFF dispatch, conflates Of Gods and Men and The Social Network. He then wondered what the best option of the weekend was. (Hint: The Bridge on the River Kwai wins. Every time.)

- Craig D. Lindsey wrote about the Escapism Film Festival (which sounds like a blast) and a a Charlie Chaplin retrospective (which also sounds like a blast). Catfish doesn't sound like so much of a blast, the way he describes it.

- Scott Von Doviak threw up his hands and said, "Yeah, fuck it, Wall Street. Whatever." He seemed far more inspired by the selections at Fantastic Fest, which includes an apparently-quite-good film called Transfer that, from Scott's description, sounds like a must-see.

- Scott W. Black was not wowed by either The Expendables or Joe Dante's Piranha.

- Danny Baldwin figured that greed would whip some owl ass.

Lastly, Jim Emerson got inspired enough by a recent episode of "Mad Men" to create, and then break down in prose, a video in tribute. Here it is:

Beautiful Girls (and Mad Men): Ghosts of the 37th Floor from Jim Emerson on Vimeo.

What we've done: September 21st & 22nd, 2010

- Andrew Bemis watched as the Battle of the Aughts approached its finale.

- Simon Abrams continued his NYFF coverage with Robinson in Ruins and Uncle Boonmee Who Can Recall His Past Lives. He also broke down a program of short films screening at ReRun and interviewed D.A. Pennebaker & Chris Hegedus.

- Scott Von Doviak spoke of Fantastic Fest and remakes.

- Jim Emerson talked about the pleasures of modern television.

- Craig Kennedy reviewed You Will Meet a Tall Dark Stranger and pointed out an unusual pre-screening tactic tied into Freakonomics.

- Sean Burns was nonplussed by Catfish.

- Daniel Getahun weighed in on I'm Still Here.

- Dennis Cozzalio said happy birthday to Showgirls.

- Phil Nugent aired some thought brought on by True Blood and the anti-Park51 rally.

Lastly: Lucas McNelly provided a glimpse of Up Country. Kind of. See for yourself:

UP COUNTRY: First shot (sort of) from Lucas McNelly on Vimeo.

What we've done: September 20th, 2010

- You know the award that Paul Clark won the other day? Lucas McNelly won one too! We are awesome.

- In his latest New York Film Fest dispatch, Simon Abrams unpacked The Autobiography of Nicolae Ceaucescu. He also said that Buried was worth a look.

- Craig Kennedy highlighted a very odd short film, The Continuing and Lamentable Saga of the Suicide Brothers.

- Paul Clark found The Town a bit bland.

- Jim Emerson tackled the flaw of "balance" in political reportage.

- Phil Nugent took aim at Christine O'Donnell's witchery and Meredith Maron's false memories. Also: his dog had a health scare.

Today's video is the opening for William Castle's Strait-Jacket. Mainly I'm putting it up because holy shit the first fifteen seconds are the best cold opening EVAR.

Announcing... a Halloween blogathon!

While I've participated in many a blogathon in the past, I've yet to host one myself. So hell - let's change that. I'm calling for a blogathon to be pulled together for Sunday, October 17th. The theme? I figured, given the proximity to Halloween, that it should be something horror-realted. But zombies, vampires, werewolves, Frankenstein monsters... all fairly obvious, and all a bit old hat.

But you know what nobody writes about these days? Killer animals. So that's what we're doing.

The rules are simple: You watch a film about some manner of deadly creature, write something - anything! - about that film and post that piece of writing on the 17th. Then, you tell me about it, and I post a link to it here. There's one guideline: If it's from Earth and it's a non-human animal, and it's killing people... it's cool! That leaves a lot of wiggle room. Land, sea or air, from big bad beasts to killer critters, you've got options. Get out there and make me proud!

(Incidentally, someone better write about Night of the Lepus. I'm just sayin'.)

What we've done: September 17th-19th, 2010

- Andrew Bemis presented Round 5 of the Battle of the Aughts, in which Punch-Drunk Love is still standing. And Mulholland Drive isn't. DOUBT NOT MY POWERS, PUNY MORTALS.

- Daniel Getahun highlighted a series of film events in his area: An Olivier Assayas retrospective, a newly-christened film fest, a celebration of films about music and a couple of specialized programs. He also noticed something very familiar about the structure of The Town.

- Up Country ephemera from Lucas McNelly: a video introducing the cast & crew, some fun with prop maintenance and the lessons of the shoot.

- Dennis Cozzalio charted the heartening evolution of the marquee of the New Beverly.

- Simon Abrams gave some reserved praise to Raging Phoenix and insisted that Alpha and Omega isn't entirely awful. (He did not extend such a claim to Devil.)

- Craig Kennedy further ruminated on fact, fiction and the sleight-of-hand documentary mini-boom while looking forward to Air Doll. Also: Watercooler, Weekend Forecast and the trailer for Jim.

- Craig Lindsey said that if you haven't seen King of New York... well, where have you been?

- James Frazier announced his separation from the Resident Evil series.

- Phil Nugent wondered what James Gray must think of the truth vis-a-vis I'm Still Here.

- Jason Alley liked Machete and The Losers.

- Scott Von Doviak survived the early-career Adam Sandler vehicle Going Overboard.

- Adam Lemke liked The Exploding Girl, loved Exit Through the Gift Shop.

Today's video... isn't much of a video at all, actually. And it doesn't have a thing to do with movies. But I insist that, if George Lucas had found a way to work this song somewhere into the Star Wars prequels, the entire enterprise would have been instantly redeemed. This song is just that damn good. (Why am I posting it now? Just happened to be listening to the album the other night on the way to see The Town, is all.)

What we've done: September 16th, 2010

- Paul Clark got an award! Congrats, dude!

- Craig Lindsey recommended Easy A over I'm Still Here.

- Simon Abrams filleted himself some Catfish and worked out what to see this weekend.

- Jim Emerson, via David Bordwell, explained what's wrong with modern action sequences and reminisced about starring with Kris Kristofferson.

- Phil Nugent got gangster-happy with Turner Classic Movies and examined wankery and its discontents.

- Dennis Cozzalio delighted in the images of Chris Menges from both now and then.

- I sussed out the possibilities of an unfortunate genre.

Lastly: By now, it's common knowledge that I'm Still Here is some manner of hoax/prank/art object/whatever. Craig Kennedy has a nice piece on the film, its tenuous relationship with reality and the reaction to the revelation of its nature. In honor of the film and the brouhaha it's touched off, today's video is the first part of another film that may not be on the up and up:

What we've done: September 15th, 2010

- Simon Abrams sez that if you're gonna be at the New York Film Festival this year, you might want to check out Silence. He was significantly less pleased with 3 Billion and Counting.

- Craig Kennedy was willing to let go of Never Let Me Go. Also, trailers for two upcoming films with very exciting titles: The Tourist and The Fighter.

- Jim Emerson did not care much for A Woman, a Gun and a Noodle Shop.

- Up Country hit its last day of shooting. So says Lucas McNelly.

- Scott Von Doviak hopes The Town will be wicked awesome.

Lastly: Word out of Toronto has it that the new Takashi Miike film, Thirteen Assassins, is one of his best. This pleases me greatly. Here's the trailer.

What we've done: September 14th, 2010

- Simon Abrams continued his coverage of the New York Film Festival with two retrospective screenings by Fernando de Fuentes.

- Sean Burns was unimpressed by The Town.

- Bryan Whitefield spoke to producer/DJ XXXChange about some songs that the latter listens to a lot and highly recommended the new album by The Walkmen.

- The Oath is going to be on PBS, and Craig Kennedy thought you should watch it.

- Lucas McNelly neared the end of the Up Country shoot.

Lastly: This hasn't a damn thing to do with cinema, but... well, have you seen this? You've probably seen this. If you haven't, though... yeah. Take a minute. It's maybe the most bloodthirsty film I've ever seen, and I don't think it was quite intended that way.

What we've done: September 13th, 2010

So. Yeah. I took the rest of last week off to observe Labor Day. That's my story, and I'm gonna stick to it. Anyway, let's get back to it.

- Andrew Bemis winnowed down the field in Round 4 of the Battle of the Aughts.

- Jim Emerson honors the late Claude Chabrol with a repost of his Opening Shot piece on La Femme Infidel.

- Craig Kennedy has the poster and the trailer for Inspector Bellamy, the aforementioned Mr. Chabrol's final completed film.

- Simon Abrams started in on the New York Film Festival with Tuesday After Christmas.

- Chuck Bowen thinks the chances of El Superstar being remembered are... unlikely.

- Lucas McNelly is up country... filming Up Country.

Lastly: You know what's out on DVD today? Afterschool. If you have yet to see this terrific and disturbing film, it goes on top of your Netflix queue. Like, right this minute.

What we've done: September 6th, 2010

- Phil Nugent erupted: he used late political cartoonist Paul Conrad's work as a way to eulogize the man, discussed the death of the managing editor of the Virgina Quarterly Review and, subsequently, the publication itself, let Tony Blair have it with both barrels and reflected on some films that made the summer season worth it.

- Simon Abrams had unkind things to say about Prince of Broadway.

- Chuck Bowen approved of Sequestro.

- Danny Baldwin chides Going the Distance for not... well, going the distance.

- Daniel Getahun updated us on the family featured in Up the Yangtze.

- Craig Kennedy had your Labor Day Watercooler.

Lastly: Now out on DVD and Netflix Instant today is the well-received indie flick The Exploding Girl. If you haven't seen the film... well, neither have I. But I'll be watching it tonight. If Rex Reed hates it, it's got to be good, right? So here's the trailer:

What we've done: September 5th, 2010

- Round two in The Battle of the Aughts starts today at Andrew Bemis's site. Get yet votes in!

- Chuck Bowen praised The American.

- Simon Abrams charted the history of supposed Sandman adaptations.

And finally... today's Labor Day. So I give you the first few minutes of John Gianvito's excellent avant-garde political piece Profit motive and the whispering wind. If you haven't seen it, it's available via Netflix, so you can remedy that post haste.

What we've done: September 4th, 2010

- Craig Kennedy gauged early reaction to Never Let Me Go.

- Danny Baldwin wrestled with Machete.

- Simon Abrams says he's heard Somewhere could be good for Stephen Dorff's career.

What with all the low-down genre mania that's gripped your local cinema this last month (Machete, The Expendables, Piranha), I thought it might be apropos to end today's roundup with one of my favorite '70s trailers of all time. Check it out, it's a hoot. (Moment where I realized I'm wasting my life #75: Watching Spencer Compton's terrible Angels and realizing, within ten seconds of his introduction, that one of the co-leads is the same guy in this clip ranting on about his wife's bladder.)

What we've done: September 1st-3rd, 2010

- NEW QUIZ! NEW QUIZ! Dennis Cozzalio has a NEW QUIZ! (He also offered a reason to see The American and chuckled at an unfortunate marquee.)

- Andrew Bemis kicked off The Battle of the Aughts! One of the films in the running is Star Trek, which is facing LOTR: The Two Towers. (I voted for the latter.)

- Craig Kennedy looked forward to the best of the rest of the year, reviewed Prince of Broadway and posted the press release regarding the pickup of Ondi Timoner's Cool It and a clip from Let Me In. (Also: Weekend Forecast.)

- Paul Clark offered TIFF tips.

- Craig D. Lindsay says, "UGH!"

- Jason Alley thought highly of The Last Exorcism.

- Chuck Bowen expounded on The Other Guys, The Eclipse and The Expendables and let Piranha get its due.

- Jim Emerson dug deeper into Dwight Macdonald and asked for critical thinking in lieu of sensitivity.

- Daniel Getahun reviewed The American and Prince of Broadway.

- Simon Abrams panned Our Beloved Month of August and My Dog Tulip, mulled the unfortunate possibility of a Kick-Ass sequel and broke down the new shit on Netflix and on screen.

- James Frazier delivered some screenwriting advice.

- Matt Noller dug Scott Pilgrim.

- Scott Von Doviak likes himself some Clooney.

And finally, seeing as how Machete will be cutting a swath through theaters this week, it seems wrong not to spotlight the next child of Grindhouse to be unleashed: HOBO WITH A SHOTGUN! It's got Rutger Hauer as a hobo! And he's got a shotgun! What more do you need?

What we've done: August 31st, 2010

- Dennis Cozzalio wants to ask you one quick question.

- Sean Burns had a good day: He was positive on The Tillman Story and confirmed my suspicion that Going the Distance will be better than average.

- Jason Alley naysayed Todd Solondz's latest provocation.

- Paul Clark had some love for a cantankerous old coot.

- Phil Nugent unpacked Rubicon.

- Daniel Getahun was all about the Orgasm of Insanity. (It's much more mundane than it sounds.)