Snobbin: Beautiful Trash in the Pop Culture Gutter

 20. Little Murders (1971) Alan Arkin's directorial debut amplifies Jules Feiffer's comic surrealism with neurotic characters and seemingly random outcomes. It's basis in Feiffer's stage play seems evident in its apartment settings, but Arkin also readily channels much of Feiffer's typical manias that appear throughout the cartoonist's body of work. Patsy Newquist (Marcia Rodd) and her boyfriend, Alfred Chamberlain (Elliott Gould), live in the darkest 1970s embodiment of New York City that accentuates how its residents might have felt as crime seemed eternally rampant and law enforcement could never cope. The film's stark commentary does not provide answers, but speaks to collective neuroses, while the actors' choices singularly mirror how we might react to pure chaos. I highly recommend this one for its ability to question existing power structures in novel and unexpected ways.  19.  The Loveless (1981) Kathryn Bigelow and Monty Montgomery's rockabi...

The Arena (1974), Steve Carver, New World Pictures Thunderbolt and Lightfoot ( 1974), Michael Cimino, The Malpaso Company Dolemite (1 975), D'Urville Martin, Dimension All the President's Men (1976), Alan J. Pakula, Warner Bros. Murder By Death ( 1976 ), Robert Moore, Rastar The Kentucky Fried Movie (1977), John Landis, KFM The Big Sleep (1978), Michael Winner, ITC Entertainment Lupin the 3rd: The Castle of Cagliostro (1979), Hayao Miyazaki, Tokyo Movie Shinsha Raging Bull (1980), Martin Scorsese, United Artists My Bloody Valentine ( 1981) , George Mihalka, Paramount The New York Ripper (1982), Lucio Fulci, Fulvia Film The Scorpion with Two Tails (1982), Sergio Martino, Medusa Smithereens (1982), Susan Seidelman, New Line Cinema Last Night at the Alamo (1983), Eagle Pennell, Cinecom Sudden Impact (1983), Clint Eastwood, Warner Bros. In Heaven There is No Beer? ( 1...

269. Fish Tank (2009), Andrea Arnold, Curzon Artificial Eye 270. The Hurt Locker (2008), Kathryn Bigelow, Summit 271. Dune (1984), David Lynch, Universal 272. My Big Fat Greek Wedding (2002), Joel Zwick, IFC 273. Rope (1948), Alfred Hitchcock, Warner Bros. 274. The Birds (1963), Alfred Hitchcock, Universal 275. Feet First (1930), Clyde Bruckman, Paramount 276. Documenteur: An Emotion Picture (1981), Agnes Varda, DPI 277. The Baron of Arizona (1950), Samuel Fuller, Lippert 278. Mr. Freedom (1968), William Klein, Grove Press

99. Hail Caesar! (2016), Coen Brothers, Universal 100. Amuck! (1972), Silvio Amadio 101. Salad Days: A Decade of Punk in Washington, DC (1980-90) (2014), Scott Crawford, MVD 102. Color Me Obsessed: A Film About the Replacements (2011), Gorman Bechard, What Were We Thinking Films 103. D.O.A. (1950), Rudolph Maté, United Artists 104. The Money Pit (1986), Richard Benjamin, Amblin 105. Frank Zappa: From Straight to Bizarre (2012), Tom O'Dell, Sexy Intellectual Promotion 106. The Ringling Brothers: Kings of the Circus (2000) 107. Castle Freak (1995), Stuart Gordon, Full Moon 108. Near Dark (1987), Kathryn Bigelow, F/M