Gonna take you to a gay baaaar.
1. 
Nineteen Eighty-Four - 1984 - Michael Radford
Without a doubt the best book to film transfer I've ever seen. The crew must have read 1984 ten to twenty times during filming because the attention to detail and meticulous character development is something I've never seen in an adaptation. I'm going to assume most of my friends have read the book so this will be spoilery, the first time I read it I got so creeped out by the painting talking in the secret bedroom I had to lay the book down. Even though I knew it was coming while I was watching this, I still got that weirded out shivers up the spine feeling. The reprogramming scene also made me really uncomfortable even though I've watched torture and gore that you'd think would have made me jaded way beyond 1984. It's so cliche and obvious to compare your government to Big Brother and I rarely share that sentiment but reading/watching can create eerily similarities to a totalitarian state. Someone should release an anti-fascism box set with this and Salo to scare people into free-love hippiedom.
2.
My Bloody Valentine - 1981 - George Mihalka
I'm a really logical person so I put off seeing this for years because I hate the band by the same name. It's fairly typical slasher fair and not the best of the genre (Black Christmas comes in for the win) but it's a piece of art compared to modern day 'slashers.' The plot is a little silly.. a miner takes revenge on his coworkers who were busy going to the town's Valentine's Day dance instead of watching the mine's security which ended up injuring him. Instead of applying for workman's comp he begins a string of murders if anyone holds a Valentine's Day dance. But really, if you dissected the plots of Halloween or Friday the 13th it would sound equally like an eight year old's ghost story. The scenery, especially the last scene, is amazing. I'm so affected by clausterphobia in films and just imagining being stuck in a mine makes my skin crawl. I wish real 80's slashers would make a come back instead of stirrup pants.
3.
The Adventures of Priscilla, Queen of the Desert - 1994 - Stephan Elliott
To Wong Foo has been one of my favorite movies since it came out when I was a wee one. So take that film, give them a fabulous pink bus, Australian accents, and an ABBA soundtrack and this is what you've got. It's always refreshing, and difficult, to find a mainstream film that doesn't cartoonize or use transexuals and drag queens as the brunt of 'men-in-a-dress' jokes. While there are laugh out loud, hilarious moments even the jokes poking fun of each other never get patronizing and become an inside joke between a director and the straight audience. Aww and I loved that a married man with a mean wife fell in love with the transexual and it was presented as sweet, not some silly "Am I gay? Am I straight?" struggle with the man. I'm such a fag hag, y'all. :|
4.
Havoc - 2005 - Barbara Kopple
Rich white kids try to mimic black/latin culture and get fucked over! What a revolutionary, never before seen theme! There are only two reasons to see this film depending on your sexual orientation: Anne Hathaway's tits or Freddy Rodríguez's ass. It was almost embarassing to watch such indulgent writing try to pass as social commentary. The white 'gang' acted like washed up Malibu Most Wanted extras while the chicano gang played into every stereotype of urban, Spanish youth. Rodríguez's character has five minutes of talking to Hathaway about how "East LA ain't just about drugs and gangs." before giving her crack and inviting her to a drunken hotel party. If you have respect for any actor featured in the film (Joseph Gordon Levitt was probably the most heinous) I wouldn't even eye the box at the video store.
5.
Nekromantik 2 - 1991 - Jorg Buttgereit
Nekromantik is one of those movies I thought I loved because it was my jam in eighth grade (I was all about some shock value) then after rewatching, I learned it was pretty dull. So I thought maybe with a bigger budget and some necrophilia experience under his belt (har har) the sequel will have what the original didn't. The first and last ten minutes are gross, darkly humorous, with slimy fx that make your toes curl and not in the sexy way. Unless you're into dead bodies which you know, I'm not here to judge. The middle of the movie tries to be psychological but becomes a grueling hour of, "I like my new boyfriend but I can't get off when his blood is pumping. Oh no, he's going to find my dead fuck buddy." The main actress works well with what she has and during the scene where she has to destroy her corpse love it's sort of touching. Had this been a short film, it would have been A+ material.
6.
Hate.com - 2000 - Vince DiPersio + Bill Guttentag
You know that harmless little racism post I had a few days ago? To put a few of your minds at ease, this is what prompted it. Narrated by Morris Dees (co-founder of the Southern Poverty Law Center) the fourty-five minute documentary discusses the reprocussions of neo-nazi and white supremacy websites. It never veers into the fuzzy first amendment right area but focuses mainly on the websites' promotion of lone wolf violence. Vomit was literally rising up the back of my throat hearing people hold up as heroes the murderers of Matthew Shepard, James Byrd Jr, and Oklahoma City victims. Then I wanted to cry over a mother with a giant RAHOWA tattoo explaining how she was homeschooling her children so they'd get a "real education." Being an HBO expose' means it isn't a perfect documentary but it sure as hell put a fire under my ass in remembering violent discrimination isn't a thing of the past.
Nineteen Eighty-Four - 1984 - Michael Radford
Without a doubt the best book to film transfer I've ever seen. The crew must have read 1984 ten to twenty times during filming because the attention to detail and meticulous character development is something I've never seen in an adaptation. I'm going to assume most of my friends have read the book so this will be spoilery, the first time I read it I got so creeped out by the painting talking in the secret bedroom I had to lay the book down. Even though I knew it was coming while I was watching this, I still got that weirded out shivers up the spine feeling. The reprogramming scene also made me really uncomfortable even though I've watched torture and gore that you'd think would have made me jaded way beyond 1984. It's so cliche and obvious to compare your government to Big Brother and I rarely share that sentiment but reading/watching can create eerily similarities to a totalitarian state. Someone should release an anti-fascism box set with this and Salo to scare people into free-love hippiedom.
2.
My Bloody Valentine - 1981 - George Mihalka
I'm a really logical person so I put off seeing this for years because I hate the band by the same name. It's fairly typical slasher fair and not the best of the genre (Black Christmas comes in for the win) but it's a piece of art compared to modern day 'slashers.' The plot is a little silly.. a miner takes revenge on his coworkers who were busy going to the town's Valentine's Day dance instead of watching the mine's security which ended up injuring him. Instead of applying for workman's comp he begins a string of murders if anyone holds a Valentine's Day dance. But really, if you dissected the plots of Halloween or Friday the 13th it would sound equally like an eight year old's ghost story. The scenery, especially the last scene, is amazing. I'm so affected by clausterphobia in films and just imagining being stuck in a mine makes my skin crawl. I wish real 80's slashers would make a come back instead of stirrup pants.
3.
The Adventures of Priscilla, Queen of the Desert - 1994 - Stephan Elliott
To Wong Foo has been one of my favorite movies since it came out when I was a wee one. So take that film, give them a fabulous pink bus, Australian accents, and an ABBA soundtrack and this is what you've got. It's always refreshing, and difficult, to find a mainstream film that doesn't cartoonize or use transexuals and drag queens as the brunt of 'men-in-a-dress' jokes. While there are laugh out loud, hilarious moments even the jokes poking fun of each other never get patronizing and become an inside joke between a director and the straight audience. Aww and I loved that a married man with a mean wife fell in love with the transexual and it was presented as sweet, not some silly "Am I gay? Am I straight?" struggle with the man. I'm such a fag hag, y'all. :|
4.
Havoc - 2005 - Barbara Kopple
Rich white kids try to mimic black/latin culture and get fucked over! What a revolutionary, never before seen theme! There are only two reasons to see this film depending on your sexual orientation: Anne Hathaway's tits or Freddy Rodríguez's ass. It was almost embarassing to watch such indulgent writing try to pass as social commentary. The white 'gang' acted like washed up Malibu Most Wanted extras while the chicano gang played into every stereotype of urban, Spanish youth. Rodríguez's character has five minutes of talking to Hathaway about how "East LA ain't just about drugs and gangs." before giving her crack and inviting her to a drunken hotel party. If you have respect for any actor featured in the film (Joseph Gordon Levitt was probably the most heinous) I wouldn't even eye the box at the video store.
5.
Nekromantik 2 - 1991 - Jorg Buttgereit
Nekromantik is one of those movies I thought I loved because it was my jam in eighth grade (I was all about some shock value) then after rewatching, I learned it was pretty dull. So I thought maybe with a bigger budget and some necrophilia experience under his belt (har har) the sequel will have what the original didn't. The first and last ten minutes are gross, darkly humorous, with slimy fx that make your toes curl and not in the sexy way. Unless you're into dead bodies which you know, I'm not here to judge. The middle of the movie tries to be psychological but becomes a grueling hour of, "I like my new boyfriend but I can't get off when his blood is pumping. Oh no, he's going to find my dead fuck buddy." The main actress works well with what she has and during the scene where she has to destroy her corpse love it's sort of touching. Had this been a short film, it would have been A+ material.
6.
Hate.com - 2000 - Vince DiPersio + Bill Guttentag
You know that harmless little racism post I had a few days ago? To put a few of your minds at ease, this is what prompted it. Narrated by Morris Dees (co-founder of the Southern Poverty Law Center) the fourty-five minute documentary discusses the reprocussions of neo-nazi and white supremacy websites. It never veers into the fuzzy first amendment right area but focuses mainly on the websites' promotion of lone wolf violence. Vomit was literally rising up the back of my throat hearing people hold up as heroes the murderers of Matthew Shepard, James Byrd Jr, and Oklahoma City victims. Then I wanted to cry over a mother with a giant RAHOWA tattoo explaining how she was homeschooling her children so they'd get a "real education." Being an HBO expose' means it isn't a perfect documentary but it sure as hell put a fire under my ass in remembering violent discrimination isn't a thing of the past.