Patton Oswalt’s Top10
Patton Oswalt is a stand-up comic, the instigator of the Comedians of Comedy tour, and voice star of Pixar’s Ratatouille. He wrote an appreciation of Allen Baron’s film Blast of Silence in Sean Phillips’s comic book Criminal (Phillips did the artwork for the Criterion edition).
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1
John Woo
Hard Boiled
Out of print, but I’ve got it! Wheeee! Terrific commentary and eleven Woo trailers!
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2
David Gordon Green
George Washington
David Gordon Green!
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3
Federico Fellini
Amarcord
God, I love huge breasts, and this one’s got two of the hugest-est. Also, it’s a coming-of-age teen sex comedy, but with fascism! Also, the boobs.
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4
Samuel Fuller
The Baron of Arizona
There are three terrific movies in the Eclipse set The First Films of Samuel Fuller, and the fact that they’re collected in this nifty package is a huge bonus. The Baron of Arizona plays like an old West episode of Blackadder—and features one of Vincent Price’s best performances.
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5
Allen Baron
Blast of Silence
I’ve already written extensively about this lean, nasty little masterpiece. It’s on the list cuz you need to buy it. (To read an interview with artist Sean Phillips about the design of Blast of Silence and for a link to Patton’s writing about the film, click here.)
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6
Michael Powell and Emeric Pressburger
The Life and Death of Colonel Blimp
One of the better, funnier DVD menus I’ve ever seen—is it weird to recommend a DVD just for the menu? Plus, great commentary by Stephen Fry, plus background on the Colonel Blimp cartoon strip and creator, which shows you how miraculous this movie adaptation is. Imagine a big-screen version of Family Circus that manages to be a searing indictment of the American family. Wow!
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7
David Maysles, Albert Maysles, and Charlotte Zwerin
Gimme Shelter
One of the best horror movies ever made. The whole movie is shot inside the belly of a quivering, invisible demon—the 1960s, rotting in the sunshine of idealism and about to burst with flies.
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8
Leonard Kastle
The Honeymoon Killers
Okay this DVD’s got the coolest menu Criterion’s ever devised. Crinkly, tabloid newspapers that you leaf through to get to the meat of the murder. Tawdry and beautiful.
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9
Richard Linklater
Slacker
Packaged like a lost, beloved novel, and full of groovy extras, which stand like a sketchbook of doodlings that eventually jelled into the full movie.
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10
Víctor Erice
The Spirit of the Beehive
Another beautiful movie beautifully packaged—seemingly a box of wonders fashioned by the two little girls from the movie.