Facts Amazing!

Phew. So, we've come to the end of round 4. And, for funs, I've been analysing the scores to see what we can learn from having watched 29 films over the past year and a wee bit. Let's get our percentages on (albeit rounded). Rock n' roll.

First of all, where are the films from?

USA: 72% Average score: 6.1

France: 7% Average score: 7.7

Germany, Spain, Japan, Britain, Australia and Sweden: 3% each

Average score 6.9

When are they from?

1950s: 7% Average score: 6.8

1960s: 3% Average score: 7.2

1970s: 10% Average score: 6.2

1980s: 34% Average score: 6.3

1990s: 14% Average score: 7.2

2000s: 31% Average score: 6.6

How long are the films?
< 90 mins: 10% Average score 6.4
90-99 mins: 38% Average score 6.7
100-109 mins: 34% Average score 6.6
> 110 mins: 17% Average score 6.4

Well, we know how we ranked them, but how do our scores compare with the iMDb scores as of today, June 21st?

1. Strangers on a Train 8.3

2. Lola Rennt 8.1

2. Die Hard 8.1

4. Mysterious Skin 8.0

5. Les Parapluies de Cherbourg 7.9

5. Rocky 7.9

7. Lilja4-ever 7.8

7. Do The Right Thing 7.8

9. Rushmore 7.7

10. Le Diner de Cons 7.6

10. Kramer vs. Kramer 7.6

10. When Harry Met Sally 7.6

10. Abigail's Party 7.6

10. Zatoichi 7.6

10. Kiss Me Deadly 7.6

16. La Mala Educacion 7.5

16. Me And You And Everyone We Know 7.5

18. After Hours 7.4

18. Punch Drunk Love 7.4

20. The Fly 7.2

20. Beverly Hills Cop 7.2

22. Japanese Story 7.0

23. Mean Girls 6.9

23. Safe 6.9

25. Fletch 6.6

25. Scrooged 6.6

27. CSA 6.5

28. Pretty In Pink 6.3

29. DeepStar Six 3.8

Can we now somehow work out what are the perfect conditions for a film club high score and somehow use that information to make our choices? I'm thinking French films of the 1990s stand are looking like a good bet, so I say we try and get this into Round 5 at some point.

Also, Bill Murray seems to be the only person to crop up in more than one Film Club film. A bag of Maoams to anyone who can find any others!

Be A Thinker, Not A Stinker

Ah, wise words there from Carl "Get a stew goin'" Weathers, and in many ways it tells the story of our last few FC offerings. Okay, I won't abbreviate Film Club again, it does look creepy. Anyway, since we were last gathered around the warming glow of this here blog, we've had our fair share of stinkers and thinkers, ranging from the deliberately shoddy Deepstar Six, to the purposefully Spanish Bad Education. Gracias Pedro, you're all right by me, and more importantly there's something of a G8 gathering at the top spot there, we should be careful a North Korean film doesn't storm in with a 9 and annihilate the lot of 'em.

Back & Forth. Forever.

If a picture paints a thousand words then my favourite one here is "poop". Kate and Matt, look what you missed. Film club merchandise available here. Shout out to The Sizzler. Keep your fingers crossed for Team Coleman tonight at BAFTA, if the Academy can finally pony up an Oscar for Marty, surely it's our time to shine, shine like stars. Shine so bright, like the stars that we are. Aswad!

A Steak Sandwich And... A Steak Sandwich

One part mystery, one part comedy, ninety-eight parts Chevy Chase amusing himself, The Adventures of Irwin M. Fletcher aka "Fletch" scored a very respectable 6.9 giving it a solid midtable home. In all honesty, the whole point of Film Club was to trick as many people into watching Fletch as I could. So that's it, job done. Film Club is over.
Just foolin'. In fact, as The Carpenters themselves might sing "we've only just begun." Round three is now underway, and we have a Christmas special to look forward to as well. And to finish off, a Here's Looking At You, Phyllis first: a little bit of video to enjoy. It's a Fletch trailer remix, cut to make it seem like a stony-faced thriller of unfunniness, much like the creepy pumpkin-carving of the former Cornelius Crane Chase I found uptop.
One last thought, Mick Jagger was turned down for the role of Fletch. How might that've gone? The mind boggles, scrabbles and wordjumbles.

Live At The Top Of The Tower Redux (Matchstick Eiffel Edition)

In, farce, out. Bish, bash, bosh, done. Or as the French might say, piff, paff, pouf, c'est fini.* Or something. And what a rib-tickling, thigh-slapping 80 minutes it was, like a Frasier Christmas special set in France without Jane Leeves. You can't ask for more than that. And now, controversially, it ties with Rushmore for top place. A great day for beret wearers everywhere.
It seems that the character of Francois Pignon, the well-meaning oaf is like France's answer to Bond. If Bond was a borderline retarded Frenchman. And to think, people are moaning about Daniel Craig. Played by six different actors (seven if you include Martin Short in The Three Fugitives, a remake of Veber's Les Fugitifs) makes him quite the Gallic icon. In fact Veber has quite the track record for Hollywood remakes, and this gem, it seems, is no exception.

*That may also be Geoffrey Durham. Forgive me.

Meeker Inherits The Dearth

Seminal film noir, endlessly copied, blah blah blah. It may be influential and frankly baffling, but one man singlehandedly made this movie, and when he got offed by some iffy kwikfitticide this film went downhill quicker than a gross of lead Maltesers. Nick the Greek (aka Nick Dennis), we hardly knew ye. Looking through his CV, it appears he might have been a tad typecast, variously playing 6 different Nicks, which kinda makes him the Charlie Sheen of his day. And when he's not playing Nick, he's playing people who sound mighty Greek indeed. Greco, Kanavaras, Kostas, Alexandros, Zuppas, Vitas, and finally Uncle Constantine in uber-Greek under-haired, Jennifer Aniston godfatherin' Telly Savalas' lollipop-botherin' Kojak. Phew. The twist? Nick Dennis actually was Greek, not that you'd know from his shouted haikus concerning both his and his father's facial hair.

Fischin' For Compliments

We dipped our toes into the 90s and came up trumps. Sure, it's a mixed metaphor, but there was very little in the way of a mixed reception for Wes Anderson's wily reimagining of Ferris Bueller's Day Off. I kid. Bill Murray was excellent as Peter Venkman, and Jason Coppola-Shire-Cage-Schwartzman played a blinder as an autistic Judd Nelson. Bouquets all round, and a cracking soundtrack to boot. Anyway, a whopping 8.1 tells Bruce Willis to roundly get fucked as he climbs down from atop the Nakatomi Building to a humble number 2. Hope you had fun there Brucie, 'cause I'm guessing he's not going to get back there anytime soon, unless somebody nominates this cracker, or this overlooked gem. Again, I'm kidding. I should stop.

The McCarthy Witch-Hunt

Poor Andrew McCarthy. Dumped from the heady heights of a Film Club themed around him to the lowest scorer so far, all amidst cries of "gerbil-faced" and "creepy-mouthed". Of course, this is no way to treat the most dignified of all male Brat Packers, and I'd like us to look at the paltry score of 4.6 much like we look at pictures of ourselves in 1993. Sure, green jeans do look weird, and the novelty of a double-sided lumberjack shirt doesn't necessarily translate into sartorial wizardry, but it seemed like a good idea at the time. And that's how we should view Pretty In Pink. So much a product of its time, that if you were to have watched it on New Year's Eve 1986, by the final bong of midnight, you would have gone from being captivated to wetting yourself. But it's not Andy's fault. It really isn't. And I'll fight anyone who says otherwise. Hopefully it'll be Jon Cryer. His mugging made Mork & Mindy look like Battleship Potemkin. The tit.

With A Little Bit Of Goldblumin' Luck

It may not look like it at first glance, but the seminal body-horror of The Fly echoes a lot of Film Club's previous outings. Like Strangers On A Train, it features a cameo by the director; like Die Hard, a thoroughly unpleasantly bearded man gets a violent comeuppance and, like Kramer vs. Kramer, there was some dispute over what to do with the kid. Okay, that last one's a bit of a reach. Anyway, despite some very gross bits, it was a firm favourite, earning it a very respectable 7.7, which places it securely at number 3. Hats off to Mr. Goldblum who, along with John Getz's beard shouldered most of the acting responsibilities. In recognition of his fine work, I leave you with these choice morsels of Goldblumia:
1) His middle name is Lynn.
2) He's in a jazz band with Peter Weller.
3) He speaks Hebrew, Spanish, and Finnish fluently but refuses to learn French because he "considers it to be too easy."