It’s been a while since we’ve done a list, but something about our love of Studio Ghibli has us thinking about their films as we usher in the New Year. Maybe it’s our positive feelings about 2022, maybe it’s the unfailing hope in each of these films or just nostalgia for the heartwarming and fanciful tales. Coincidentally, there are a total of 22 in the studio’s catalog. Perhaps the stars are aligning for this list. Regardless, Ghibli’s works showcase wondrous landscapes and are propelled by unassuming heroes, inspiring themes and quirky humor. Whatever is loved about these is really seemingly loved by the whole planet. So as we take another…
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G-S-T Top 10 – Underrated British Comedies
Editor’s Note: In anticipation of Edgar Wright’s upcoming film The World’s End (which hits theaters in August) this Top 10 list is a guest post that comes to us from Zeke Iddon, a writer at the New York Film Academy. Much greater than the loose collection of stereotypes which British humour sometimes gets painted with, its comedy export is a weird and wonderful tapestry which caters to just about every taste. And ‘export’ is a good term for our comedic output, since many British shows are licensed, remade (for better or worse) and studied at film schools the world over. With Simon Pegg and Nick Frost’s new film The World’s…
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G-S-T Quick 5 – Favorite Magic/Heist Themed Flicks
Inspired by the upcoming film Now You See Me, Summit Entertainment’s magic-themed caper flick that comes out this week, we at G-S-T wanted to take a brief look back at some of our favorite as well as some seminal heist/magic based films. Granted this is a broad genre to try and wrap into a single Quick 5 list, so I’ll say right up front that I know I haven’t covered every base I could. After all, what can you do about a genre as large as the heist film and the smaller magical field? Answer: you do the best you can and scour to fit things into a neat list…
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G-S-T Year In Review – Jessica's 2012 Wrap Up
Being the Indie lover that I am, I’ve decided to stick to independent titles only for my 2012 Wrap Up. After a fairly disappointing 2011, this year brought us so many amazing films it is difficult to chose only ten to discuss here, and with the limitations of the categories below, I am leaving out so many wonderful films, both studio and independent based, that I probably walked out of thinking it was the best film I’d seen to date. That’s what made picking a favorite film for 2012 so difficult. It seemed that the more I saw, the more favorites I had to add to the list. To name…
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G-S-T Year in Review – Marc’s 2012 Wrap Up
Year in and year out, from festivals to multiplexes the world over, film fans brave the dark of the cinema and are treated to what filmmakers have spent months/years crafting. The result? A mixed bag of titles from independent pictures to studio tent poles and with productions that range from shoe-string labor of loves to all out mega-budgeted features. Annually we theater goers witness a slew of hits and misses (sometimes more misses than hits) that light up the silver screen and 2012 was no different. For every half dozen stinkers we get one gleaming reason that kept us heading to the theaters and that’s what makes these year end lists…
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G-S-T Year in Review – Andrew’s 2012 Wrap Up
I’m willing to admit that last year, I talked 2011 a bit more than necessary. Not that my feelings on the year were dishonest; contrary to many, I thought well of 2011, a year that didn’t contain a plethora of lasting classics but still offered a lot of excellent cinema for our viewing pleasure. But to call it a “great” year may have been a stretch, and I’m willing to admit that now in light of the fact that 2012 has, in fact, been a great year. How can you trust me on this one? Simple: I’ve written my top ten list, re-written it, scrapped that, started over from the…
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G-S-T Year in Review – Grady’s 2012 Wrap Up
This year we survived “The End of the World” and some bad movies as well. But, there were some truly amazing movies that were released this year. Sadly I have not seen every major release this year, but I tried my best. With that being said, here are my picks of the best/worst of 2012. ——————————————————————————————————————————————————————————- Pure adrenaline rush wrapped in a complex and intriguing plot. Also it features two excellent turns from two of Hollywood’s most effective leading men. ——————————————————————————————————————————————————————————- An incredible film, based on an incredible book, which is as immensely heartwarming and funny as it is dysfunctional. The chemistry between Cooper and Lawrence is engaging and very nearly the…
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G-S-T Quick 5 – Favorite Casino Heist Films
Among the many established or iconic locales famous for gambling, the Las Vegas Strip has been a very popular cinematic setting over the years. From films like Warren Beatty’s Bugsy (1991), the Joe Pesci/Robert De Niro classic Casino (1995), hell even Chevy Chase’s Vegas Vacation (1997), there’s something undeniably cool and edgy about “The Strip” (except maybe that National Lampoon one). Yet in the city of sin, or wherever you try and find Lady Luck, when you pony up to the tables sometimes you’re putting more than just some colorful chips on the line. Unfortunately, as one Danny Ocean astutely comments, the underlying rule is that “the house always wins“, but it’s not always the case as…
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G-S-T Quick 5 – Westerns You Should See Before Seeing 'Django Unchained'
Editor’s Note: In anticipation of Quentin Tarantino’s Django Unchained (which hits theaters tomorrow), this Quick 5 list comes from our good friend Mark Walters of BigFanBoy.com. Here Mark offers up a sort of “Spaghetti Western 101” to all of us who are a little dusty when it comes to the classic gunslingers. This quick but concise list of required reading will be sure to make Django more enjoyable walking into Quentin Tarantino’s latest live-letter genre film. Director Quentin Tarantino is unleashing DJANGO UNCHAINED in theaters on Christmas Day, which in may ways is his love letter to Hollywood Westerns. Being a fan of that genre, and aware enough to spot some of his more…
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G-S-T Quick 5 – Favorite Vigilante Films
vig·i·lan·te: any person who takes the law into his or her own hands, as by avenging a crime. A mainstay in the film world for decades, vigilantes come in all shapes in sizes and work their special brand of street justice for a variety of reasons. In some cases they operate just outside the law and work in secret. But then again there are those who work with the law and are not so secret about their bone-crunching ways. I guess you can say that vigilantes are like a box of chocolates; you never know what you’re gonna get…except the outcome which finds baddies getting what they deserve. Now there are…
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G-S-T Top 10 – Movies Off The Beaten Path – Round 4
After a two-month hiatus, we’re back with the next installment of “Movies off the Beaten Path”. Movies, and the entertainment business, can be highly hit or miss because of ranging tastes in film and how people approach the medium. Sometimes, for whatever reason, you hear about a movie and have no desire to see it and don’t. You may even avoid it at all costs. In other cases you have no idea the film exists until someone points it out to you, years after its original release. The following entries in our series of Top 10 lists are films I happened to stumble upon or that were recommended to me. Whether…
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G-S-T Quick 5 – Favorite Nora Ephron Films
For our second installment of posts dedicated to great directors, we’ve chosen to highlight the top five films from the late Nora Ephron. Ephron, who was diagnosed with acute myeloid leukemia in 2006 and passed away earlier this summer at the age of 71, was a force of nature. Not only did she bring us classic stories like When Harry Met Sally and Sleepless in Seattle, she was also an accomplished journalist, essayist, playwright, producer, director and novelist. So while we want to highlight her work as a director, arguably one of the best female directors of our time, her accomplishments as a writer in so many forms should be highly noted…
