My 10 Favorite Screenplays from the WGA’s List of the 101 Greatest

“All work and no play makes Jack a dull boy” (image via alexannmayberry.blogspot.com)

Lists may be arbitrary, but they’re also a lot of fun. They’re also quite difficult to form for anyone who has a real passion (e.g. movies) and the listing process turns into an arduous affair consisting of many drafts.

For the past eight years, the Writer’s Guild of America has been collecting top 10 lists from its members in order to compile the 101 Greatest Screenplays. It’s one of the more enjoyable lists I’ve read because my favorite films are typically ones which I think are expertly written, which is why I’m generally bored by comic book films and anything that Michael Bay puts out with Shia LaWhateverHisNameIs. A well written film should not only be great to watch but great to just listen to as well. For instance, I’d love listening to Manhattan on my iPod, but Independence Day would be insufferable on my car stereo while driving cross country.

Many of the screenplays on the WGA’s list are utterly brilliant and I don’t take issue

My 10 Favorite Films of 2012

Is ‘Django’ my favorite film of the year? Read on! (image via impawards.com)

Could ‘Amour’ be my favorite film of 2012? Take a guess! (image via awardsdaily.com)

As Cheech Marin says in Ghostbusters II, “Well… better late than never.” It has taken me much longer to compile my top ten list of favorite films for 2012 than I originally anticipated. A combination of laziness, missing a couple movies here and there, and more laziness led me to this tardiness, but I think I’ve finally landed on a list of movies that I’m happy with.

I can’t quite gauge the general feeling most people have about the films from 2012. I’ve heard many praise it as a year of thought-provoking indie films and fun, substantive blockbusters. I’ve heard others condemn it as an utter borefest full of bloated, self-indulgent art films and overblown, idiotic popcorn tripe. I suppose I fall somewhere in the middle. I certainly didn’t get to every movie that came out last year, but I definitely saw more than most people get to. It was a year like most– some good, some bad. Many were forgettable and a couple were brilliant. I think that’s a pretty constant trend.

My list this year differs somewhat from last year. My 10 Favorite Films of 2011 were relatively low-profile. Sure, Midnight in Paris was a surprise hit and The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo had a lot of buzz, but most of my favorites were little seen. To my surprise, I picked several popular hits this

‘Django Unchained’ is Right Around the Corner

Merry Christmas! (image via impawards.com)

Well, Christmas is almost here, and so is the greatest gift anyone can ask for: Django Unchained. The release is less than a month away and now all that’s left to do is wait. Quentin Tarantino’s epic Western that deals with subjects like slavery and revenge is kicking the marketing campaign into high gear, and the latest trailer continues to show a great deal of promise (watch it here).

There are definitely a few naysayers out there who are offended by the idea of such a film being made– although I suspect those same people just like to be offended by anything race related— but the buzz and anticipation seems to be very positive so far. One very good sign is that I hear The Weinstein Company is making a big push to campaign for Christoph Waltz for another Oscar. The studio certainly does not seem to be swayed by the more controversial elements of the film,

Phony, Guilty White People Will Have a Problem with “Django Unchained”

I wrote a brief piece not long ago about my excitement over the release of the trailer for Quentin Tarantino’s latest feature Django Unchained. In all of my excitement over the great shots, characters and dialogue revealed in the footage, I neglected to realize something: the subject matter is rather controversial.

The basic premise of the film follows a bounty hunter and a slave as they seek vengeance against various wrongdoers. Fair enough, right? Tarantino has picked an enslaved black man as the protagonist in a genre blending, exploitation-style Western film. For any fan of the man’s work (which I am), this seems like a great time at the movies. But wait! The film is about a slave… and it’s directed by a white person? AHHHHHH! That shouldn’t happen, right? In our new

Tarantino’s ‘Django Unchained’ Has a Trailer… It’s Gooooood

The day you all I’ve been waiting for has come: the official trailer for Quentin Tarantino’s Django Unchained is released. Check it out:

Phew! That looks like a good time. In case you didn’t gather the basic plot from the above preview because you were too distracted by the awesome funk soundtrack, Django (“The ‘D’ is silent”) Unchained is about a slave (played by Jamie Foxx) who is recruited by a bounty hunter (the amazing Christoph Waltz) to track down some no-good rednecks. Django has his own side agenda, which is to track down his kidnapped wife, who I believe is in the possession of a dastardly