2012 Film Recommendations       
                                                              
Thumbs Up (2)

****      A+ to A   (Great - Highly Recommended - See Immediately)


***1/2  A- to B+  (Very Good - Recommended - See at a First Run Theater)


***       B to B-    (Good - Recommended with Minor Reservations - See at a Matinee or a Second Run Dollar Theater)
Chronicle, The Grey
_____________________________________________________________________________________________________ 


Thumbs Down (3)

**1/2      C+ to C      (Fair - Very Cautiously Recommended with Major Reservations - Wait for DVD)
Haywire, Red Tails

**            C to D+  (Disappointing - Not Recommended - Wait for Cable TV)
Underworld: Awakening

*1/2        D to D-      (Very Disappointing - Strongly Not Recommended - Wait for Free TV if Nothing Else is On)

      
*             F               (Awful - Very Strongly Not Recommended - Avoid at All Costs)

_____________________________________________________________________________________
                                                                                 2011 Runners-Up:

11. X-Men: First Class             12. Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy          13. Shame                            14. The Descendants              15. Super 8
16. Carnage                              17. Crazy, Stupid, Love.                   18. The Skin I Live In         19. Young Adult                     20. Drive
John H Blankenship.com: Home Page
    
The Top 100 Films of All Time
               1 through 25:

1.   A Clockwork Orange (Stanley Kubrick, 1971)
2.   Lawrence of Arabia (David Lean, 1962)
3.   Casablanca (Michael Curtiz, 1942)
4.   The Godfather (Francis Ford Coppola, 1972)
5.   Raiders of the Lost Ark (Steven Spielberg, 1981)
6.   2001: A Space Odyssey (Stanley Kubrick, 1968)
7.   Star Wars (George Lucas, 1977)
8.   Citizen Kane (Orson Welles, 1941)
9.   Schindler's List (Steven Spielberg, 1993)
10. The Ten Commandments (Cecil B. DeMille, 1956)
11. The Bridge on the River Kwai (David Lean, 1957)
12. Paths of Glory (Stanley Kubrick, 1957)
13. Brazil (Terry Gilliam, 1985)
14. The Exorcist (William Friedkin, 1973)
15. Dr. Strangelove Or: How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love the Bomb (Stanley Kubrick, 1964)
16. Doctor Zhivago (David Lean, 1965)
17. The Third Man (Carol Reed, 1949)
18. Star Wars, Episode V: The Empire Strikes Back (Irvin Kershner, 1980)
19. Jaws (Steven Spielberg, 1975)
20. Ben-Hur (William Wyler, 1959)
21. Bride of Frankenstein (James Whale, 1935)
22. E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial (Steven Spielberg, 1982)
23. King Kong (Merian C. Cooper and Ernest B. Schoedsack, 1933)
24. Close Encounters of the Third Kind (Steven Spielberg, 1977)
 25. West Side Story (Robert Wise and Jerome Robbins, 1961)
51. On the Waterfront (Elia Kazan, 1954)
52. Love and Death (Woody Allen, 1975)
53. The Shining (Stanley Kubrick, 1980)
54. Day for Night (Francois Truffaut, 1973)
55. The Elephant Man (David Lynch, 1980)
56. The Usual Suspects (Bryan Singer, 1995)
57. Patton (Franklin J. Schaffner, 1970) 
58. Pulp Fiction (Quentin Tarantino, 1994)
59. Cabaret (Bob Fosse, 1972)
60. The Hidden Fortress (Akira Kurosawa, 1958)
61. City Lights (Charles Chaplin, 1931)
62. Das Boot (Wolfgang Petersen, 1981)   
63. Miller's Crossing (Joel Coen, 1990)
64. North by Northwest (Alfred Hitchcock, 1959)
65. The Conversation (Francis Ford Coppola, 1972)
66. The Lady Vanishes (Alfred Hitchcock, 1938)
67. The Thin Man (W.S. Van Dyke, 1934)
68. Lost Horizon (Frank Capra, 1937)
69. Suspiria (Dario Argento, 1977)
70. Amadeus (Milos Forman, 1984)
71. One-Eyed Jacks (Marlon Brando, 1961)
72. The Seventh Seal (Ingmar Bergman, 1957)
73. Planet of the Apes (Franklin J. Schaffner, 1968)
74. Glengarry Glen Ross (James Foley, 1992)
75. Dead of Night (Alberto Cavalcanti/Robert Hamer/ 
                           Basil Dearden/Charles Crichton, 1945)
26. Leon (The Professional) (Luc Besson, 1994)
27. Reservoir Dogs (Quentin Tarantino, 1992)
28. Young Frankenstein (Mel Brooks, 1974)
29. The Wicker Man (Robin Hardy, 1973)
30. Repulsion (Roman Polanski, 1965)
31. Straw Dogs (Sam Peckinpah, 1971)
32. The Asphalt Jungle (John Huston, 1950)
33. Night of the Living Dead (George A. Romero, 1968)
34. The Wild Bunch (Sam Peckinpah, 1969)
35. Tess (Roman Polanski, 1979)
36. Once Upon a Time in the West (Sergio Leone, 1969)
37. A Man for All Seasons (Fred Zinnemann, 1966)  
38. Duck Soup (Leo McCarey, 1933)
39. Nosferatu (F.W. Murnau, 1922)
40. Blue Velvet (David Lynch, 1986)
41. The Treasure of the Sierra Madre (John Huston, 1948)
42. Metropolis (Fritz Lang, 1927)
43. Foreign Correspondent (Alfred Hitchcock, 1940)
44. Double Indemnity (Billy Wilder, 1944)
45. Mulholland Drive (David Lynch, 2001)
46. The Wages of Fear (Henri-Georges Clouzot, 1953)
47. Anatomy of a Murder (Otto Preminger, 1959)
48. The Umbrellas of Cherbourg (Jacques Demy, 1964)
49. Touch of Evil (Orson Welles, 1958)
50. Seven Samurai (Akira Kurosawa, 1954)
21. Ice Cold in Alex (J. Lee Thompson, 1958)
22. Five Graves to Cairo (Billy Wilder, 1943)
23. The Stone Killer (Michael Winner, 1973)
24. Twilight's Last Gleaming (Robert Aldrich, 1977)
25. Wings (William A. Wellman, 1927)  Released!
26. Journey into Fear (Norman Foster, 1943)
27. The Go-Between (Joseph Losey, 1970)  
28. Godzilla vs. Biollante (Kazuki Omori, 1989)
29. Godzilla 1985 (Koji Hashimoto/R.J. Kizer, 1984)
30. Porgy and Bess (Otto Preminger, 1959)
31. 55 Days at Peking (Nicholas Ray, 1963)
32. City of Hope (John Sayles, 1991)
33. Who's Minding the Mint? (Howard Morris, 1967)
34. The Brothers Karamazov (Richard Brooks, 1958)
35. Dark of the Sun (Jack Cardiff, 1968) 
36. What? (Che?) (Roman Polanski, 1972)
37. Cavalcade (Frank Lloyd, 1933)
38. Greed (Erich von Stroheim, 1924) 
39. The Tamarind Seed (Blake Edwards, 1974)
40. Johnny Guitar (Nicholas Ray, 1954)
76. The African Queen (John Huston, 1951)
77. Don't Look Now (Nicolas Roeg, 1973)
78. The Godfather, Part II (Francis Ford Coppola, 1974)
79. The Maltese Falcon (John Huston, 1941)
80. The Great Dictator (Charles Chaplin, 1940)
81. Apocalypse Now (Francis Ford Coppola, 1979)
82. Solaris (Andrei Tarkovsky, 1972)
83. The Stunt Man (Richard Rush, 1980)
84. Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon (Ang Lee, 2000)
85. The Day of the Jackal (Fred Zinnemann, 1973)
86. The Killing (Stanley Kubrick, 1956)
87. Psycho (Alfred Hitchcock, 1960)
88. The Passion of Joan of Arc (Carl Theodor Dreyer, 1928)
89. Singin' in the Rain (Stanley Donen/Gene Kelly, 1952)
90. The Good, The Bad and the Ugly (Sergio Leone, 1966)
91. Taxi Driver (Martin Scorsese, 1976)
92. The Ninth Configuration (William Peter Blatty, 1980)
93. Glory (Edward Zwick, 1989)
94. Last Tango in Paris (Bernardo Bertolucci, 1973) 
95. Superman (Richard Donner, 1978)
96. Marathon Man (John Schlesinger, 1976)
97. It's a Wonderful Life (Frank Capra, 1946) 
98. Blade Runner (Ridley Scott, 1982)
99. Black Narcissus (Michael Powell and
                              Emeric Pressburger, 1946)
100. The Adventures of Robin Hood
                     (Michael Curtiz and William Keighley, 1938)
DVD
Pre-2012
Ashes of Time Redux
Doctor Who: Remembrance of the Daleks: Special Edition (TV)
Doctor Who: The Talons of Weng-Chiang: Special Edition (TV)
Husbands
The Invaders: The Second Season (TV)
Revolution: Revisited
2012
1/10:
Doctor Who: The Android Invasion (TV) *
Doctor Who: Invasion of the Dinosaurs (TV) *
2/14:
Doctor Who: The Caves of Androzani: Special Edition (TV)
Doctor Who: The Sensorites (TV)
3/13:
Doctor Who: Face of Evil (TV)
Doctor Who: The Robots of Death: Special Edition (TV)
Doctor Who: The Three Doctors: Special Edition (TV)
Doctor Who: Tomb of the Cybermen: Special Edition (TV)
                                                                              

Blu-Ray
Available Now
The Adventures of Priscilla, Queen of the Desert
Alice in Wonderland (1951)
An Affair to Remember
Airplane!
Almost Famous
Amelie (Le Fabuleux destin d'Amelie Poulain)
Another Year
Apt Pupil
Assassins
Au Revoir les Enfants: Criterion Collection
Awakenings
Baaria
Babe
Beauty and the Beast
Beverly Hills Cop
The Birth of a Nation
Blood Simple
The Boy in the Striped Pajamas
Boyz N the Hood
Buried
Centurion
Chaplin
The Cider House Rules
Cinema Paradiso
Cobra
Confessions of a Dangerous Mind
The Count of Monte Cristo
David Holzman's Diary
Dead Alive
Deadwood: The Complete Series (TV)
Demolition Man
Doctor Who: The Complete Fifth Series (TV)
Doctor Who: The Complete Sixth Series (TV)
Dogtooth (Kynodontas)
Dumbo
Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind
Fast Five
Fast Times at Ridgemont High
The Fox and the Hound
The Frighteners
Gettysburg
Gia
The Goonies
Halloween II
Harakiri: Criterion Collection
The Hills Have Eyes (1977)
Hotel Rwanda
How to Train Your Dragon
Identification of a Woman: Criterion Collection
Jagged Edge
The Karate Kid
Kes: Criterion Collection
Kung Fu Panda 2
The Last Circus
Le Beau Serge: Criterion Collection
Legend
Legends of the Fall
Les Cousins: Criterion Collection
Life Is Beautiful
Little Big Man
The Lookout
The Lord of the Rings: The Motion Picture Trilogy: Extended Editions
Manhunter
Mimic
My Life as a Dog: Criterion Collection
The Naked Gun: From the Files of Police Squad!
O Brother, Where Art Thou?
Ocean's 11 (1960)
Orpheus (Orphee): Criterion Collection
The Pacific (TV)
Pale Flower (Kawaita Hana): Criterion Collection
Pee-wee's Big Adventure
People on Sunday: Criterion Collection
Peter Pan
The Phantom Carriage: Criterion Collection
Planes, Trains & Automobiles
The Player
Raising Arizona
The Ray Harryhausen Double Feature: She/Things to Come
Red Planet
A River Runs Through It
The River Wild
Rush Hour
Rushmore: Criterion Collection
Scream 4
Scrooged
Senso: Criterion Collection
Sherlock Holmes: The Complete Collection
Soldier
The Specialist
Stand By Me
Star Wars: The Complete Saga
Still Walking: Criterion Collection
Sweetie: Criterion Collection
Tangled
13 Assassins (Jusan-nin no shikaku)
Three Kings
Tigerland
Torchwood: The Complete Original UK Series (TV)
Transformers: Dark of the Moon
The Tree of Life
Wallander: Series 2 (TV)
Water for Elephants
White Material: Criterion Collection
William Shakespeare's Romeo + Juliet
The Wiz
Yi Yi: Criterion Collection
My Top 40 Most Beautiful Actresses (as of 12/28/2010)
11. Rachel McAdams
12. Denise Richards
13. Ashley Judd
14. Neve Campbell
15. Halle Berry
16. Julia Stiles
17. Jennifer Garner
18. Monica Bellucci
19. Scarlett Johansson
20. Angelina Jolie
Interesting Links:
John Williams
Aint It Cool News
Internet Movie Database
Roger Ebert
Creator: John H. Blankenship, Jr.
21. Charlize Theron
22. Famke Janssen
23. Cecile De France
24. Jennifer Connelly
25. Scottie Thompson
26. Shannon Elizabeth
27. Debra Messing
28. Marisa Tomei
29. Dina Meyer
30. Sophie Marceau
31. Evangeline Lilly
32. Grace Park
33. Eva Green
34. Emmanuelle Chriqui
35. Zuleikha Robinson
36. Kari Wuhrer
37. Aishwarya Rai
38. Jolene Blalock
39. Eva Mendes
40. Kate Beckinsale
Final 2011 Film Ratings  (coming soon)                           2011 Academy Award Checklist
2011 Hamilton Award WINNERS  (coming soon)  
Pages:
Hamilton Awards
Music
Literature
Email: john.blankenship7@verizon.net
My DVD Collection
1.   Jessica Alba
2.   Keira Knightley
3.   Natalie Portman
4.   Gillian Anderson
5.   Kelly MacDonald
6.   Emmy Rossum
7.   Katee Sackhoff
8.   Piper Perabo
9.   Rachel Weisz
10. Milla Jovovich
Movie Trailers
Upcoming DVD/Blu-Ray Releases (Dates Subject to Change) (* = Purchased)
The Top Movie Theaters in Dallas
1. Angelika - Plano
The Shops at Legacy, 7205 Bishop Road
Plano, TX 75024   972-444-FILM Express Code #012
2. Angelika - Dallas
Mockingbird Station, 5321 E Mockingbird Lane
Dallas, TX 75206   214-841-4700
3. Cinemark Legacy
7201 N. Central Expressway
Plano,  TX 75025   972-665-2222
4. iPic Fairview
321 Town Place
Fairview, TX 75069  972-549-4200
Top 100 Films of All Time - 26 through 100:
Meta-Religion
Last updated Thursday, 09-Feb-12 19:56:22 PST.
My CD Collection
Electronic Frontier Foundation
Top 40 Most Wanted Unreleased Films on Region 1 DVD/Blu-Ray (Updated 12/30/2011)
1.   Blake's 7 (Various Directors, 1978-1981)
2.   Chimes at Midnight (Orson Welles, 1967)
3.   A Midwinter's Tale (Kenneth Branagh,1995)
4.   Song of the South (Wilfred Jackson/Harve Foster, 1946)
5.   Fear and  Desire (Stanley Kubrick, 1953)
6.   The Magnificent Ambersons (Orson Welles, 1942) Released!
7.   Samson and Delilah (Cecil B. DeMille, 1949)
8.   The Barbarian and the Geisha (John Huston, 1958)
9.   Brewster McCloud (Robert Altman, 1970)
10. The Satan Bug (John Sturges, 1965)
11. The Victors (Carl Foreman, 1963)
12. The Quatermass Xperiment (Val Guest, 1955)
13. Kafka (Steven Soderbergh, 1991)
14. Closet Land (Radha Bharadwaj, 1991)
15. Movie Movie (Stanley Donen, 1978)
16. The Fixer (John Frankenheimer, 1968)  
17. The Uninvited (Lewis Allen, 1944)
18. Looking for Mr. Goodbar (Richard Brooks, 1977)
19. Life is Sweet (Mike Leigh, 1990) 
20. Sons and Lovers (Jack Cardiff, 1960) 
THE TOP 10 FILMS of 2011
1. Midnight in Paris
2. Hugo
4. Warrior
5. War Horse
3. The Artist
7. The Ides of March
8. Moneyball
6. A Separation
9. Rise of the Planet of the Apes
10. Mission: Impossible -       Ghost Protocol
                                                "No good deed goes unpunished..." - Clare Booth Luce

- "A casual stroll through the lunatic asylum shows that faith does not prove anything." - Friedrich Nietzsche

- "Impossible is a word to be found only in the dictionary of fools." - Napoleon Bonaparte

- "In Italy for 30 years under the Borgias, they had warfare, terror, murder, bloodshed - they  produced Michelangelo, Leonardo da Vinci
     and the Renaissance. In Switzerland, they had  brotherly love, 500 years of democracy and peace, and what did that produce?  
     The cuckoo clock." - Orson Welles
8. AMC Northpark
8687 North Central Expressway
Dallas, TX 75225  1-888-AMC 4FUN
9. AMC Stonebriar
2601 Preston Road
Frisco, TX 75034  1-888-AMC 4FUN
10. Cinemark Movies 10
1818 Coit Road
Plano, TX 75075  1-800-FANDANGO Exp. Code 1161
Blu-Ray
2011
12/13:
Branded to Kill: Criterion Collection
Meet Me in St. Louis
Seven Chances *
Tokyo Drifter: Criterion Collection
12/20:
Nothing Sacred
Straw Dogs (2011)

2012
1/3:
The Guard *
Justified: The Complete Second Season (TV) *
1/10:
Billy Elliot *
The Hellstrom Chronicle
Moneyball *
1/17:
Belle de jour: Criterion Collection *
The Boys in Company C
The Ides of March *
Picnic *
The Roots of Heaven *
Traffic: Criterion Collection
1/24:
Annie Hall *
The Apartment *
Godzilla: Criterion Collection *
Manhattan *
The Moment of Truth: Criterion Colection
Notorious *
Rebecca *
Paranormal Activity 3 *
Queen: Days of Our Lives
Real Steel *
Spellbound *
Wings *
1/31:
Drive *
The English Patient *
In Time
Malcolm X
Night Train Murders
The Piano
Shakespeare in Love *
A Soldier's Story
The Thing (2011)
To Kill a Mockingbird *
2/7:
Anonymous *
Dangerous Liaisons
Downton Abbey: Season Two (TV) *
Lady and the Tramp *
La Jetee/Sans Soliel: Criterion Collection
Love Story
A Star Is Born (1937)
2/14:
All Quiet on the Western Front
Boeing Boeing
The Geisha Boy
Take Shelter
Three Outlaw Samurai: Criterion Collection
2/21:
Anatomy of a Murder: Criterion Collection
Fort Apache
The Invisible Man: The Complete Series (1975) (TV)
Martha Marcy May Marlene
The Way
World on a Wire: Criterion Collection
2/24:
Puss in Boots
2/28:
The Buccaneer
Nijinsky
Scarlet Street
Vanya on 42nd Street: Criterion Collection
3/6:
Benji
Game of Thrones: The Complete First Season (TV)
The Man from Snowy River
My Week with Marilyn
9 1/2 Weeks
Reindeer Games
The Skin I Live In
To Catch a Thief
3/8:
Bite the Bullet
Demetrius and the Gladiators
3/13:
A Dangerous Method
The Last Temptation of Christ: Criterion Collection
Melancholia
Virgin Witch
3/20:
Battle Royale
Lady for a Day
Letter Never Sent: Criterion Collection
Lost Keaton: Sixteen Comedy Shorts
Monty Python and the Holy Grail
The Muppets
The War Room: Criterion Collection
3/27:
David Lean Directs Noel Coward:
   (In Which We Serve, This Happy Breed, Brief Encounter, Blithe Spirit): Criterion Collection
A Night to Remember: Criterion Collection
4/10:
The Bodyguard
Don Juan DeMarco
A Streetcar Named Desire
5. Landmark Magnolia
West Village, 3699 McKinney Avenue, Bldg E,
Dallas, TX 75204   214-520-0098
6. Landmark Inwood
5458 West Lovers Lane, Lovers at Inwood
Dallas, TX 75209   214-352-6040
7. Cinemark West Plano
3800 Dallas Parkway
Plano,  TX 75093   972-665-2222
*** Django Unchained ***
    by Quentin Tarantino