Michael Cera Tells You What Films To Watch
Stop me if you've heard this one before -- Michael Cera walks into a London coffee shop and strikes up conversation with one of the locals. Before you know it, they're besties and become wrapped up in a 2 hour long discussion of films. But before they part, Cera gives the lad a hand-written syllabus of movies he simply must watch. So what gets the Cera Stamp of Approval?
All in all, it's a pretty solid list. Without knowing the specifics of their chat or what the list is specifically aiming to do, it's hard to critique his choices -- for instance to recommend (the nonetheless excellent) King of Comedy over, say Goodfellas or Taxi Driver might seem a little odd, but maybe Cera was recommending it as Best Sandra Bernhard movie rather than Best Scorsese flick. But why Rope gets underlined and North By Northwest does not is simply beyond me.
There are also a few -- Scarecrow and Look Around You -- that I'd never heard of but will pop them in the Netflix queue as soon as I can, so Michael Cera's helping hand is reaching beyond that London coffee shop.
What do you think? If Professor Cera taught a film course, would you agree with his syllabus?
· Movie Playlist: Michael Cera's Must See List [/Film]
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Comments
"...why Rope gets underlined and North By Northwest does not is simply beyond me."
It's because Rope--while not as successful as an overall narrative as is North By Northwest--was, in the longview, more ambitious and therefore more appealing to hipsters like myself and the star of Scott Pilgrim Vs. The World...which is to Hot Fuzz what Torn Curtain is to Saboteur.
The point is: Anyone can be ironic, Cera, but not everyone can help further the reality of an Arrested Development movie with his openly-expressed intent to participate. So do that instead.
It's interesting to note that not even he put Scott Pilgrim on that list.
How is anybody ever gonna see it?!?
The 39 Steps (always a bridesmaid, never a bride)
"Memento" is missing from this list. Why?
As for foreign films, try "Diva".
No Notorious?
This is a good list (sucking up to the Coens and Wes Anderson is good if you are Michael Cera) and his Larry Sanders show pick is a nice shout out to his Arrested "Pop Pop" Jeffery Tambor.
Look Around You is Peter Serafinowicz' hilarious science education show!
Also, this list is straight up first year film student. I work in a video store next to a major university, so I know.
I'll grant the major university, but a video store? What is this, 1994?
what a cheesy bit of self-publicity. more like a directors-I-hope-will-notice-me list. and High & Low thrown in there just for show. most annoying film list ever.
Isn't Scarecrow a Sam Peckenpaw (?) film. I think the reason why people may not have seen either Scarecrow and Look around you is that they're both English. I have a feeling that Scarecrow was banned due to the central female's attitude towards rape.
Look Around you is an extraordinarily simple smart and hilarious series which turns nerdy British educational programming on its head.
It's the satellite store for the second largest video store in the country! Huzzah!
Only in America!! We like our stars, and of course it wasn't her purse...or her drug. Paris Hilton was just another innocent victim of the cruel people trying to interfere with her life; a great life full of importance and purpose! Why even bother arresting Paris ? what a joke. She'll be treated just like the rest of those stars, Get her fingers slapped and then apologized to and then let go.
She wasn't able to finish high school and her popularity is focused on all the wrong sides. In short, if it weren't for her money, she could have not even made it to Hollywood or anywhere near it because lets face it - she has no talent, she's not the most beautiful person the world has seen and she's not blessed with a great body that teases all top models in the world.
Its a competition like a beauty pageant. Male bodybuilders wax all their body hair and use tanning sprays, that doesn't feminize them. And plenty of them do have children. When I was younger I saw an episode of Ricki Lake where they were making fun of female bodybuilders, they had one on stage and they were calling her ugly and mocking her. Never watched that show again.
I liked reading the article, and I'm looking forward to your next article. You think I took a snippet from your article for my blog?