I hadn't thought about it before this thread, but Cameron is by far my #1 guy in this respect -- all I need to know is that the latest thing he did is playing at the theater, and I immediately send my girlfriend out to warm up the car. Don't need to read reviews or buzz. Don't need to know what it's about. (Normally with Cameron the buzz has been inescapable, as with his current project, but you get the drift.) Everyone else I like to have some clue what it's about, who's in it, whether it's a doc or a fiction film. Not with Cameron. You'd think his films would therefore be my favorite films (some are), but it's more that with him I know I'm going to see an obsessively put together movie that probably has a big 'wow factor,' and that makes going to the theater worth it.

Other directors that haven't been mentioned already who would have me standing in line (more or less) just because they directed the movie:

Sarah Polley
Steve James
Errol Morris
Kathryn Bigelow

I won't get in line because a particular actor is in a movie. Even my favorites make duds and do strictly-for-the-paycheck movies. I tend not to jump in line because a particular DP shot a movie, either, however I often wish I had after the fact. I now wish I'd have seen what Deakins did in The Assasination of Jesse James... in a theater and not on DVD.

Great lists, wow.

I'm scrambling to keep a tally of which films folks are ranking highest. (Not sure how to handle un-numbered lists, but I'll figure something out.)

Also: At this point, I'm picking GRAVITY to win Best Picture, not because I think it is or should be but because I think it's the kind of capital-"M" Movie that the academy likes to recognize.

That's for sure. Magnolia itself states different intentions at different times. The opening montage is this little essay on life's dumb luck. And there's plenty of chance and randomness in the movie. So someone can say it's about that and not be off-base. But then the movie seems just as interested in the ripple effects of childhood trauma. So one can say it's about that and not be wrong. Late in the movie someone says (something like) "We're done with the past, but the past isn't done with us." And since nearly every major character has a past that is screwing up their present, you'd be justified in saying the movie's about that. I'd bet there's a half-dozen clear themes that Magnolia spends substantial time exploring if not stating outright. But yeah, I've happily seen it a few times and am still puzzled as to whether there is a central one, or whether there's supposed to be.

I can't imagine the voting would be anything but a landslide win for Gravity.

The Vegas oddsmakers are going to give up some serious weight to anyone looking to bet that Iron Man 3 or The Hobbit will win.

At the theater, I used to sit close because my vision isn't great. More recently, I've discovered that I actually see the movie way better sitting further back than you'd think you'd want to sit. Stadium-style seating is nice, but I try not to sit higher than about half the height of the screen. (Which preserves the feeling of looking slightly up at the screen, which I like, as opposed to straight ahead or slightly downward.) The one place I refuse to sit is at the very front, especially when it's a big screen. I had to see Zero Dark Thirty seated in the first row, practically right on top of an IMAX screen. Boy did that suck. For me, anyway.

So, yeah, I try to sit farther rather than closer. In most theaters I'm not at all fussy about sitting anywhere near dead center. I used to be. Now, I find sitting off-center is kind of nice. If it's a big screen and a good movie, I don't even notice.

I see a lot of matinees, which has led me to profile other moviegoers according to their age. Not all old people are hard-of-hearing and have trouble modulating their voices. And not all groups of teenagers are obnoxiously chatty and smartphone use-y. But when I can help it, I don't sit near these groups. I won't deny it.

Movie theater popcorn is my favorite food. Seriously. Gotta have it. That's the biggest ritual. The microwave popcorn stores sell that says "Movie Theater Style" is pathetic. What do they do in cinemas to make the popcorn taste that way?

Here's the stuff I'm watching that I would recommend to nearly anybody:

Homeland
It started this season sluggish, but the writers are killing it now. Mandy Patinkin is awesome on it, so is Tracy Letts. I jumped on the bandwagon kinda late, but caught up easily. Very addictive.

House of Cards
Season 1 was so damn good, I'm watching it again now. I bet they eventually drop the Spacey-talks-to-camera device. Very few TV shows look like this one. Bring on a Fincher and a big budget and this is what you get. Terrific cast.

Masters of Sex
I think this is the best new show I've seen in a while, and no one I know knows it exists. Michael Sheen and Lizzy Caplan play real-life 50s-era sex researchers Bill Masters and Virginia Johnson. They're both excellent. And Allison Janney is doing what might be her best work ever on this show right now. The first 2 or 3 episodes involve lots of pipe-laying, so the show is slow coming out of the gate. But hang with it. Once Janney's character and a couple of the more interesting side characters get more screen time (around episodes 4 and 5) the storylines begin to converge in interesting ways. I am hopelessly obsessed with this show right now.

Orange is the New Black
I read the nonfiction book when it came out (it was a bestseller), and I love the ways they found to turn it into a series. A yuppie gal goes to prison. That's the premise. It's an ensemble show, though. You'll either dig the way they work flashbacks in, or you won't. I think it's the only way to make the show work, those flashbacks, but that's me. Taylor Schilling, who plays the lead, is a damn good actor. I think it's one of the most well-cast shows out there right now.

Life's too Short
Not everyone's going to love this Curb-Your-Enthusiasm-But-Starring-Warwick-Davis series the way I do. On the show, people give Warwick all kinds of shit because he's an asshole—his height is the last thing people have a problem with. But they do some height jokes, too. I'd recommend the Helena Bonham Carter episode and the series finale. If you're a Star Wars fan, there's frequent jokes, cameos, and references to enjoy. Here's a spoiler that doesn't actually spoil anything plot-wise: the storyline leads to Warwick hooking up with Val Kilmer, and together they try to get investors for their proposed film—"WILLOW 2." It's exactly as absurd as it sounds. They even do a mock poster.

BlackAdder
Seems like I adore Rowan Atkinson so long as he's doing anything but Mr. Bean. (Well, I'll pass on Love Actually, too.) Not every BlackAdder episode is a winner. For my money, the Christmas special is the best thing the show ever put out.

East Bound & Down
Just had the series finale last Sunday, the last 15 minutes of which rose to new level of insanity. Not going to be everyone's cup of tea — the lead character is basically the worst, most narcissistic person imaginable. The humor is raunchy, and the story arcs preposterous, but there's a weird braininess to the show. Seasons 1 and 2 made me laugh a whole lot at stupid crap, and this last season (season 4, I think) had a new kind of complexity to it that was nice to see. Somewhere amid the craziness of this show is a critique of American media, American materialism, and American uber-males — but it's mostly about the toilet humor. Literally, one of the best actors tody, John Hawkes, plays a whole scene on a toilet in season 1.

...Yeah I'm seeing a lot of TV these days.

Yeah it's probably always true that anytime someone says "Good art does X," we'd be able to cite any number of counter-examples.

That's Armond. If you look at his opinions, the views themselves are not that nutty (although he's said some legitimately nutty things) — it's more that he expresses those views in what is often weirdly hyperbolic (and even inflammatory) terms. IOW, he's a provocateur. Within minutes he had the guys on the slashfilmcast show actually debating whether or not Steve McQueen deserves to be called an artist. This is what he does. Unlike some folks, I don't think Armond's an asshole for doing this. I think he's probably having a blast, getting a kind of narcissistic rush from controlling the discourse in such ways. It can be entertaining if you're in the right mood. I mean, just think of how exciting your life would be if you expressed everything you had to say in the most provocative terms possible. At lunch people would be like "Come on, you don't really think this pudding is worse than the holocaust, do you? Wait, do you?"

The summer release date is the best part!

This will almost certainly be a Jason Statham vehicle. Or maybe Liam Neeson? ("Listen to me very carefully, Mr. Potter. I have a very particular set of skills..."

I saw it almost as a film about the passage of time. How do you convey the reality of 12 years of torturous bondage in a two-hour film? You don't. You can't. What you can do is utilize film grammar that evokes how, just as time flies when you're having fun (the early scenes of Solomon happy with his family move more sprightly), time slows down to a crawl when your life is hell. So McQueen holds on the ugly scenes of torture for long takes, far longer than we're used to. "Alright already," we think, "Make it stop." That's what the character being tortured wants too. But it doesn't stop when you ask. Two minutes feels like forever. This is what I think the film is going for. "Torture porn," to me, suggests some degree of stylization, where the depiction of torture is sort of its own artistic end.

I feel like most movies about slavery show the lives of slaves as often brutal. They often beaten, often raped, often tortured. 12 Years a Slave really conveys how one's whole life as a slave is one continuous act of brutalization, one violent crime that takes many forms from moment to moment. Pretty amazing film.

I know next to nothing about music. I got to see the film early on, not knowing who the composer was. Walking out, I said "Who the fuck scored that—Hans-fucking-Zimmer?" My friend said "Wow, very good dude!" I was joking.

It's absolutely one of the greatest movies I've ever seen — but not because of the writing. Certainly not. The dialogue is downright second-rate, if you ask me, but it doesn't ruin the movie for me, obviously, since I've gone back to see it three times.