Five Movie Characters I Love

by Patrick Bromley

Some fictional people with whom I totally love to spend time.

Friday Night Double Features Vol. 28

 by Adam Riske and Patrick Bromley

A new set of double features to watch after NCAA March Madness games.

Our Favorite Movie Characters

Who makes the list?

24 Hours of Movies: Baby, It's Cold Outside

by Patrick Bromley

Temperatures are dropping! Let's hole up indoors where it's warm and watch a bunch of movies about cold weather.

Cinema Bestius: Fargo

This outstanding, entertaining film has been so written about and discussed that I considered spending this entire column talking about the stamps. Even though it’s just a three-cent stamp; people don’t much use the three-cent. Of course, whenever they raise the postage, people need the little stamps…

Growing Up Nerdy

by Adam Thas and Mike Pomaro

What's cooler than being cool? Being nerdy.

Director Essentials: Joel & Ethan Coen

by Patrick Bromley

Could the Coen Brothers be the best American directors working today? A look at their essential films suggests it's possible.

F This Movie! - Fargo

Patrick and JB talk about Fargo. Mostly.

(30) Stars of Summer - Day 16: Frances McDormand

Today's entry is so great that the fact she's married to Joel Coen isn't even the coolest thing about her.

15 Lesser-Known TV Shows Based on Movies

A long time ago, we wrote about movies based on TV shows. But did you know it works the other way, too, and that some TV shows actually started out as movies? Anything is possible and the future is now. There are plenty of good TV shows that started out as movies: MASH, Friday Night Lights, Buffy the Vampire Slayer. At least, I've heard that people like MASH and Friday Night Lights; I've never seen either one, because no vampires. The point is this: there are way more terrible shows that started out as movies. Here are but a few.

F These Snow Movies

Since most of us at F This Movie! are currently buried by 14 feet of snow, it seems like a great time to F movies that take place in the snow. So let's build a snowman. We can make him our best friend. We can name him Bob or we can name him Beowulf.

1. The Thing (1982) - John Carpenter's best movie (sorry, Halloween) is also one of the best horror movies ever made. Rarely has cold and snow seemed more desolate or oppressive. The murderous alien freakshow only makes it worse.

2. Fargo (1996) - Speaking of the best movies ever made.

3. Snow Day (2000) - You would think that a movie celebrating the limitless possibilities of the most glorious of days would be fun. Snow Day isn't.

4. The Shining (1980) - See the above description of The Thing, only swap out "murderous alien freakshow" for "creepy fucking twins and elevator blood and pig face head and Jack Nicholson."

5. Ravenous (1999) - Wow, it sure is cold out here. You guys got anything to eat?

6. Whiteout (2009) - The only thing more boring than endless landscapes of blank, white snow? Kate Beckinsale. Seriously. Fuck her.

7. The Empire Strikes Back (1980) - Because HOTH and I thought they smelled bad on the outside.

8. A Simple Plan (1998) - Sam Raimi graduates from horror and comic books and does a stellar Gothic tragedy with a black, black heart. Great movie. Sam Raimi would then move on to comic books and Kevin Costner. Because progress.

9. Better Off Dead (1985) - This is pure snow! Do you have any idea what the street value of this mountain is?

10. Frozen (2010) - Adam Green's non-Hatchet horror movie is basically Open Water on a ski lift, but it's still a really effective exercise in building tension and knowing just how awful to be. If only those CGI wolves would have stayed out of it.

Thanksf'ing #5: Five Movies for Which Alex is Thankful

It's November, and that can mean only one thing at F This Movie! -- it's time to celebrate the holiday of Thanksf'ing. Throughout the month, all of the F This Movie! crew will be sharing the movies for which they are thankful. Because the Mayflower.

Today's entry comes courtesy of Alex:

1. Fargo (1996) - There's not one thing about the Coen brothers' magnum opus of Midwestern malfeasance that doesn't work for me. I remember seeing this when I was probably too young for the content, but also too young to define what makes a movie really "work." I know that it's flawlessly written, directed, photographed and acted, but when I was just a wee one, I remember coming away from Fargo thinking, "Well, that just really worked."

2. Inglourious Basterds (2009) - While I enjoyed Death Proof a lot (more than most, even), I left it thinking that Quentin Tarantino's Pulp Fiction magic was a once-in-a-career type of spark. It's my firm belief that the discovery of Christoph Waltz propelled this movie to the heights it achieved. It's also the best work of Brad Pitt's career and I can scarcely recall a movie that had me so gleefully invested in the interest of both the "good" and the "bad" guys simultaneously the way Inglourious Basterds does.

3. Hoop Dreams (1994) - For a deliberately paced, meditative documentary that nearly touches the three-hour mark, Steve James' documentary remains relentlessly rewatchable for its at-once heartbreaking and soaring take on the American dream played out on basketball courts from Cabrini green to affluent private high schools.

4. Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind (2004) - The movie that served as a comforting shoulder upon which a whole new generation of sad single people could cry. That sort of sounds like an insult, but the fact of the matter is that Michel Gondry's pitch-perfect bittersweet valentine took the lovable rom-com, a genre that had been summarily drawn and quartered in the early 2000s, and turned it completely on its head, delivering one of the most original love stories ever to grace the screen.

5. Team America: World Police (2004) - Mostly because of this. Also because I do believe it to be one of the most patriotic films released in the past 20 years. Seriously. Further deepening that sentiment is the fact that I can't help but swell with pride when I contemplate the notion that I live in a country where a film about marionettes who fuck and kill each other whilst simultaneously lampooning elite Bush-era conservativism and elite Hollywood liberal douches gets a wide release. America? Fuck yeah.

Got a movie or movies you're thankful for? Email us at fthismoviepodcast(at)gmail.com and share. We'll be reading submissions on the podcast all month long. Happy Thanksf'ing!