That's right, they were married until his death in 1993. And it is a beautiful ending that in my mind doesn't work if we think of it just as a moment of self-awareness of the fiction. And come to think of it, I'm trying to remember if there are scenes in movies before NIGHTS OF CABIRIA when Fellini staged a similar…

Two of my favorite examples of films that break the fourth wall do so in the very final frames of the film: Fellini's NIGHTS OF CABIRIA has Giulietta Masina look at the audience while she tries hard to cheer up after the film's final heartbreak while walking at night. And in another, earlier story about a wronged…

Just looked it up. Wikipedia tells me the beheading game has precedent in a Middle Irish story titled BRICRIU'S FEAST, where the character that poses the challenge is king Cú Roí in disguise, and the man who actually overcomes it is indeed Cú Chulainn. So this is an earlier version of the tale with different…

That's a great point. Brian De Palma, who has his share of horror films that put women in terrifying peril (but who, it must also be said, crafted some great female characters as well), once said that women are more sympathetic in jeopardy and more interesting to photograph - a pair of dodgy arguments that the vast…

As a kid, I read a Cú Chulainn story where he proved his honor and courage in an unlikely deal. A man arrived at a tavern carrying an axe and, having provoked Cú Chulainn for reasons that now escape me, makes a proposition: Cú Chulainn is allowed to decapitate this man with his sword if he swears he will be back…

If one categorizes MULHOLLAND DR. as a horror movie (and a solid case could be made), the movie is a step in that direction. And now you've also made me reconsider my including LET THE RIGHT ONE IN in my count, Eli's sexual identity is kept ambiguous (the book goes into far more detail about this, but I won't spoil…

R.I.P.

Interesting to see 7 of the top 10 have female protagonists. And on that note, it would have been nice to see THE ORPHANAGE, one of my favorites, get some more attention. Not that these lists have the authority on actual quality and taste, but it's great to see movies one likes mentioned.

Peter Jackson's FORGOTTEN SILVER is a nice example of number 2.

Haven't seen this one! And I must confess I didn't know about it either. Sounds fascinating and I'm glad it's streaming on Amazon. Thanks!

This scenario has been brilliantly captured in the short film "Robot Walks Into a Bar." Watch it here:

I have to say I found the "I've always loved dogs" exchange pretty funny, and in keeping with The Wachowski's on-going, pulpy, gleeful treatment of sexual and gender fluidity.

I wouldn't call THE MATRIX and WALL*E claustrophobic, which now I realize is what I was getting at. I'd say you're right to point out that the chairs in WALL*E are a form of confinement, but it is not one that evokes closed spaces, which is what AIR seems to be going for.

Love RED DWARF. The friend who introduced me to the show will forever have a special place in my heart. And I would certainly add MOON. I thought it was fantastic.

Thanks! This sounds great.

Interesting is right. I had forgotten about that one!

Yes! I think the issue is often how to make the confinement itself visually arresting. SNOWPIERCER does a lot with the changing environments of the train and the train's movement itself, which adds a great deal of nervous energy. But it's hard to pull off a film where the characters are stuck in the same place without…

I'm yet to watch it, but I look forward to getting to it after catching up with a few other series and movies!

OK, but that isn't really about the isolation. TWELVE MONKEYS and LA JETÉE spend a lot of time underground, and some tension is derived from that claustrophobia. TERMINATOR is not a film that draws its power from the characters being confined.

Are there good examples of this scenario in film? By which I mean, stories of people living under a hostile surface that is assumed will become habitable again? I'm put in mind of TWELVE MONKEYS, and, by association, LA JETÉE. But there's also this Xavier Gens film THE DIVIDE, which I wasn't too crazy about. BLAST…