The Screengrab : afi

Precursors: 2 Fast 2 Furious (2003)

Nick Schager — Mon, 30 Mar 2009 14:30:00 GMT

Apparently only good enough to warrant a pre-summer-season release, Fast and the Furious pulls into theaters this weekend with the reunited cast from 2001’s original. Re-pairing bald baritone Vin Diesel with Ken doll-handsome Paul Walker – as well as throwing Michelle Rodriguez and Jordana Brewster back into the mix – is supposed to be this fourth installment’s enticing calling card (ooooh, they’re kickin’ it old school!). Yet if the series was ever worthwhile, it wasn’t during Diesel and Walker’s maiden outing but, rather, during Walker’s turn alongside Diesel replacement Tyrese in John Singleton’s 2 Fast 2 Furious, an adventure whose gleeful inanity was perfectly encapsulated by its title. With a plot too perfunctory to have been remembered by yours truly, Singleton’s sequel amped up its predecessor’s template to ludicrous heights, which made perfect sense given that there’s nothing to these car-thieving, street-racing sagas save for their manic auto-erotic madness, comprised of screeching tires, bodalicious babes, periodic shootouts, and stunts, stunts, stunts. Whereas director Rob Cohen took his dim-witted material at least slightly seriously, Singleton makes no such mistake. While his entry won’t be making the cut for any AFI action-film lists, its consistent willingness to indulge in extremeness – from cars taking turbo-boosting flight, to the raft of groan-worthy one-liners spouted by Walker and Tyrese, to the neon-flashy aesthetic – turns the proceedings into a self-consciously goofy, tongue-in-cheek live-action Grand Theft Auto cartoon.

Year-End Roundup: AFI, Boston Critics…and Stephen King?

Scott Von Doviak — Mon, 15 Dec 2008 21:30:00 GMT

Here’s your Monday afternoon update on the year-end award and Top 10 list derby. The American Film Institute has released its annual top ten list – I’m not sure I knew the AFI had an annual top ten list, but apparently they’ve been doing this since at least 2000 – and most of the titles are familiar from other such lists. The Curious Case of Benjamin Button, Milk and Frost/Nixon are among the predictable entries, but superhero enthusiasts will be pleased to see both The Dark Knight and Iron Man represented. The full list is here, along with the AFI’s top ten television shows, which include The Wire, thank you very much.

The Boston Film Critics had an indecisive year in 2008. They awarded ties for both Best Picture (WALL-E and Slumdog Millionaire) and Best Actor (Sean Penn for Milk, Mickey Rourke for The Wrestler). No big surprises here, aside from maybe the Ensemble Cast award for Tropic Thunder.

The most idiosyncratic Top 10 list to date has to be that of Entertainment Weekly columnist and Screengrab 24-hour marathon inspiration Stephen King. “I'm not trustworthy when it comes to movies… This is almost surely the only 10-best list you'll read that contains not one but two Jason Statham movies.” Indeed, King singles out both The Bank Job and Death Race for praise (he hasn’t caught Transporter 3 yet), along with the craptastic The Ruins. “It could have been ludicrous. Instead, it's unrelenting.” Yes, unrelentingly ludicrous. Anyway, check out his full list here – it’s the scariest thing he’s written in years.

Related:
Roger Ebert Supersizes Top 10 of 2008
Film Threat Unveils Frigid 50 of 2008

The American Film Institute Has $1,000 and Top Ten Lists...FOR YOU!!!!!

Andrew Osborne — Tue, 10 Jun 2008 20:30:00 GMT

As faithful readers are no doubt aware, we here at The Screengrab are cuckoo for Top Ten lists (and even Top Five and Top Sixteen lists), including The Top Five Black Presidents of the Silver Screen, The Five Kinds of Twist Endings, The Top Ten Barroom Scenes (not to be confused with The Top 15 Movie Bars), The Jailbait Sweet Sixteen, The Top Twelve Tough Jews of Cinema, The Twelve Greatest Movies Based on TV Shows, The Top 5 Hits and Misses of Summer 2008, The Ten Sexiest Guy Geeks and The Ten Sexiest Nerd Girls in Cinema, to name our Top Ten recent examples.

Now it seems the American Film Institute has contracted decaphilia as well, supplementing its list of the 100 Greatest Films of All Time with this year’s listing of the Top Ten Greatest Films in Ten Classic Genres.

The films themselves will be revealed in a CBS special hosted by cinema legends Jessica Alba and Jennifer Love Hewitt (among others) on Tuesday, June 17th – at which point YOU, yes YOU could become the lucky winner of a cool thousand dollars of Best Buy swag!

All you have to do is go to the AFI website by June 16 and enter the 10 Top 10 Sweepstakes, wherein you must correctly guess the Top Ten Films in the aforementioned classic genres: Romantic Comedy, Fantasy, Mystery, Epic, Western, Sports, Animation, Gangster, Sci-Fi, Drama (hint: we’re guessing Citizen Kane is the free space on this particular Bingo card).

IDA List FUBAR

Peter Smith — Tue, 09 Oct 2007 17:00:00 GMT

As anyone who's perused the American Film Institute's lists can tell you, consensus is boring. Unfortunately, it's hard to get around when you conduct a poll. The International Documentary Association has asked its members to select the twenty-five greatest documentaries ever made. (They voted from a list of 700 films, but that complete list doesn't seem to be available on the IDA's website.) It reveals that documentarians are just as prone to sticking with the "new release" shelves and shying away from subtitles as the rest of us. Despite the "international" in the IDA's name, only two foreign-language films made the top twenty-five — Buena Vista Social Club landed at #20 and Night and Fog at #22. Never fear, though: Michael Moore will come to save the day, with three films on the list. While including a number of landmarks (Titicut Follies, Don't Look Back, Grey Gardens), the list leans towards high-profile recent documentaries, including major films (Capturing the Friedmans, Grizzly Man) and mediocrities (Born into Brothels, Spellbound). Any films made before 1955 are missing — so much for Dziga Vertov (without whom Koyaanisqatsi, the #14 entry, would look much different) and Robert Flaherty. A strict definition of documentary seems to have kept F for Fake and Close Up at bay. All but two films are available on DVD — I wonder if this has anything to do with Netflix's sponsorship of the poll. Still, this list isn't entirely without merit in the long run — like the AFI's, it begs to be countered and is bound to spur dialogue, as it already has in the blogosphere. — Steve Erickson