Z/Web

Author: David Web Peoples

Director: Clint Eastwood

This film is the best western of all time. It’s got action, humor, and realistic characters, yet it’s one of the most profound movies I know. It raises so many questions about morality, life and death, killing and living. Unlike most westerns, all the characters are gray — there are no guys in black or white hats to make the decisions or do the thinking for you.

Author: Neil Gaiman and Terry Pratchett

My favorite director, Terry Gilliam, just signed to make this book into a movie, so I had to read it. (I’m a Neil Gaiman fan, so I was already interested.) This book is described on the cover as a comedy about the apocalypse, which is apt. I was a bit nervous when I started reading about angels and religious issues, but then I discovered that the book makes fun of God and the Devil equally (always appropriate in my line of thinking). The “plot” runs along the lines of an angel and a demon who conspire together to sabotage the apocalypse (because they live living on earth and don’t want to see it destroyed). The writing is hilarious and witty, but begins to drag about halfway through. One can only take so much wit. The pace should have accelerated toward the end, but didn’t, leaving me struggling to finish the book. Still, it’s funny with no sacred cows, and it’s certainly innovative and interesting, if a bit of a one-joke premise. There’s some classic humor, like the running gag that (because of a demon’s work) cassette tapes left in an automobile for longer than two weeks automatically turn into a “Best of Queen” album. Another joke I liked was that one of the four horsemen of the apocalypse, Famine, is the one responsible for nouvelle cousine and the “famished” trend for fashion models.

Author: Pierre Boileau (novel) and Henri-Georges Clouzot

Director: Henri-Georges Clouzot

I’d seen the Sharon Stone remake, and though I liked it, I found it confusing. The original is much easier to understand (even in French!), and the leisurely pace more appropriate for the story. I’m interesting in seeing the remake again, just for comparison purposes, but this original is definitely a classic. It reminds me a lot of The Sixth Sense, in that you need to watch the movie again once you’ve seen the twist ending. This is the film Hitchcock wanted to do, but Clouzot got the rights to it first.