In Contention

Tag: Don’t Look Now

  • Time Out names the 100 best British films

    Earlier today, I praised the Evening Standard Awards for drawing people’s attention to forms and flavors of contemporary British film beyond the dressy heritage cinema that so many associate with the country.

    This morning, London’s Time Out magazine posted a fascinating feature that does much the same for the past: a wide-ranging list of the 100 Best British Films of all time, compiled from the individual Top Tens of 150 industry figures, including directors, actors and critics.

    When I was invited to participate in the poll — check out my list here — I anticipated a familiar list of chestnuts to emerge from the project. But while the final Top 100 leans heavily (and necessarily) on the canon, there are some surprises in the mix, including such recent titles as “Fish Tank” and “Hunger.” That Powell and Pressburger have two titles in the top 10 won’t raise any eyebrows, but that Nicolas Roeg managed the same feat is rather less predictable.

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  • THE LISTS: Top 10 horror films of all time

    It’s Halloween week and since we are a movie site, we are under some kind of unspoken obligation to provide our dear readers with a list to fit the festivities. You may remember a similar list popping up two years ago, in which all current contributors voiced an opinion and the final results represented a collective agreement. Since I was not a contributor at that time, Tapley asked me to offer up a new take this year.

    A little backstory on my relationship with scary movies seems appropriate. I was raised by two Christian parents who were very protective of the images that I put into my head. When I was six years old, I was playing at a friend’s house when he suggested we watch “Beetle Juice.” Knowing that it was a potentially objectionable title, I called my mom and asked if it was okay and she said it was not. Kids being kids, we watched it anyway.

    What did I think of it? It scared the crap out of me. So much so, that I understood why my mom didn’t want me to watch it and actively avoided scary images on my own free will from then on. When one or two infiltrated me, such as “Ghostbusters,” I was always a little rattled. As I’ve grown, I’ve only become slightly less sensitive to these types of images and only actively seek out scary films if I hear there is a lot more going on to make it worthwhile.

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