Actor???

A few of the short films I’ve had the pleasure of appearing in.

Someone made an homage to “The Dark Knight” and they asked me to be the Commissioner Gordon character because I had a mustache.

Murder! A hit and run driver tries to dispose of a troublesome body.

A silly, little short we all helped write involving a bored poet and a wayward time traveler.

A scene that my friend re-shot from Tim Burton’s “Ed Wood.”

One of my first experiences on camera. My roommate asked me to play his weird roommate and I figured I already play that role well in real life so…

Tree Harvest

There are too many snails!
Also I planted a tree.
The glass witch tea kettles the nettles froopishly.
The arboretum is afire and nary a squirrel monkey to snuff it.
The cockroaches ate the squirrel monkeys, you know.
Craggy old, Jasper squats behind a birch now.
Thinks I can’t see him.
Imagine.
The grass tickles the pigs even pinker.
Are those flames closer or is it just me?
This is God’s country and He fashioned it out of wood.
The green greats me graciously before it is enveloped in senseless conflagration.
Flatulent flagellants ululate whilst undulating and circumnavigating the sequoia.
It stops nothing,
But they feel better about it.
The tea kettles hiss and the glass witch melts away.
No doubt she’ll never tea kettle a nettle again.
At least never so froopishly.
Jasper has vanished like the squirrel monkeys
(Not in the literal manner, but his absence is much like their disappearance in the sense that it was rather unexpected at the time).
Dogs howl, but cannot get out.
Beware the igloo scorpions.
If only the bees would stop making honey in my head.
It stings my thoughts and makes the fire louder.
If only someone were minding the store.
A thousand year old oak withers down like a cheap candle.
We manufacture wax so that it will go away.
Did I mention the snails?
Oh, good.
Molten glass witch purposely pours across the ground and evaporates into my shoes.
I dance.
I then squint.
Jasper’s back.
He is on fire.
It’s probably for the best.
He was never suited to this climate.
Perhaps I may salvage his pocket watch from the ashes.
I bundle my satchel and brush the intolerable snails away.
They are like little, intolerable upper-class slugs.
Intolerable snails.
Intolerable fire.
Is Jasper dead yet?
My shoes dance over toward a spindly spruce.
Help the dogs, I must.
Risky business,
starring Tom Cruise.
A hatch!
Of course!
The hatch marked “escape!”
It’s right here on the mastiff’s side.
Once unwound, in I climb.
The flagellants are gone.
No more smell.
Old Jasper’s pocket watch will have to wait.
The snails are gobbling up the flames one lick at a time.
Time to go.
I’ll come back later
When there are more squirrel monkeys.
My shoe taps.
I close hatch.

Doubt

Suddenly and without any warning the usually confident Mr. Fox began to doubt himself.

My Top Ten of the Decade (2000-2009)

What a decade it has been. When I actually stopped and considered some of the great films the past ten years has produced I was surprised. For all my griping and preferences for older movies and disappointment with some of the unsavory turns many modern films have taken, I was happy to recall that I did in fact enjoy myself at the theater this decade. Looking back, I’d say that the films that came out helped define and shape their decade (as they always do). They were the products of and reflections of their time and they helped inform the rest of us about what our world was and was becoming.

The following is my list of my personal favorite films to emerge between 2000 and 2009 (naturally it’s limited to only the films I saw and perhaps I may find more gems that I missed). *My list’s order is almost entirely arbitrary…it was just how I was feeling that day.

10. Richard Linklater is one of those fascinating filmmakers that’s not afraid to experiment. “Waking Life” (2001) is a lyrical dream of a meandering existential conversation with delirious rotoscoped animation. It latches onto your retinas and does not let go until your brain has been forced to ponder the musings of the ever-changing line-up of characters.

9. An unexpected surprise occurred when Christopher Nolan directed this small neo-noir flick and told it backwards…it turned out to be brilliant. Perhaps the film solely hinges on a gimmick, but the gimmick never gets old and they never run out of twists. Guy Pearce stars as a man with a five-minute memory who is slowly tracking down the man who murdered his wife and destroyed his world in “Memento” (2000).

8. My next pick reminded me why I needed to watch more documentaries. Zana Briski and Ross Kauffman’s exploration into the world of India’s red light district and into the lives and minds of the offspring of prostitutes is at once shattering, engaging, informative, and heartfelt. Briski goes to India to document the prostitutes but finds an even more fascinating subject in their children. She gives them all cameras and let’s us watch what develops. If at the end of “Born Into Brothels: Calcutta’s Red Light Kids” (2004) you still feel nothing, then you have no heart.

7. My next pick is on pretty much everyone’s list, but deservingly so. Andrew Stanton’s “WALL-E” (2008) from Pixar was a welcome treat for sci-fi fans, comedy fans, and even romance fans. WALL-E is so irrepressibly likable that’s it’s no wonder he captured the hearts of so many. A janitor-esque robot cleans an empty planet earth until EVE shows up and changes his life. The film absolutely elates.

6. Everyone loved “No Country For Old Men” so much (myself included) that they completely overlooked another Coen Brothers masterpiece from this decade: “O Brother, Where Art Thou?” (2000). Say what you like, this was one of my favorite movies of theirs. Based on Homer’s “The Odyssey” and set in the Depression era American South this breezy comedy features three escaped convicts (George Clooney, John Turturro, and Tim Blake Nelson) on a strange adventure to find fortune. The movie also features a great bunch of Southern folk songs.

5. Very seldom do pictures, performances, and music come together so well to recreate another real time and life. Andrew Dominik’s film, “The Assassination of Jesse James By the Coward Robert Ford” (2007) got a bum rap for being a lousy cowboy action movie, which is a shame because the movie is really a very intricate and pensively paced character study. Brad Pitt and Casey Affleck play their roles well and for the patient and attentive the movie will prove to be a very fascinating and rewarding experience.

4. It’s obvious French animator Sylvain Chomet’s style and sensibilities will not be for everybody, but I guess they were for me. “The Triplets of Belleville” (2003) rekindled my hope in animation. Chomet gives us the world as we’ve never seen it: an absurd and bent caricature of the world we live in. When bicyclist, Champion, is shanghaied during the Tour-de-France to America by the French mafia, only his Grandma and dog, Bruno, can save the day…as long as they get some help from a trio of aging Vaudevillian sisters.

3. My next pick is another one that showed up on a lot of best-of-the-decade lists. It’s Fernando Meirelles and Katia Lund’s terrifying drama about growing up in Rio de Janeiro’s gang-run streets, “City of God” (2002). Rocket must hone his skills and passion for photography and keep his wits about him if he wants to stay alive long enough to become a success against the odds.

2. Alexander Payne’s “Sideways” (2004) may seem modest, but for 126 minutes it’s everything it needs to be. Paul Giamatti, Thomas Hayden Church, Virginia Madsen, and Sandra Oh are all compellingly real characters and we alternate from being repulsed and intrigued by them…yet we still catch ourselves rooting for them. Explorations into the rituals of male bonding, mid-life crises, and wine never have been so “quaffable but far from transcendent”…maybe not.

1. The best fairy tales not-for-kids come from the twilight hallucinations of Mexican director, Guillermo del Toro. “Pan’s Labyrinth” (2006) pits young Ofelia against the evils of Fascist Spain amidst communist uprising and a wicked stepfather and also against the slime of a twisted fantasy that is woven by a mossy, old faun who insists that she is the princess. Del Toro marries monsters and magic with taut, emotional drama like no other.

Whew. I guess it was a good decade. For personal edification consider some other great movies from the aughts.

“Oldboy,” “Amores Perros,” “Good Night, and Good Luck,” “The Departed,” “You, the Living,” “Mulholland Dr.,” “Bronson,” “Let the Right One In,” “The Incredibles,” “The Saddest Music in the World,” “Spirited Away,” “In Bruges,” “The Wrestler,” “Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind,” “Team America: World Police,” “Requiem for a Dream,” “Babel,” “Howl’s Moving Castle,” “Ghost World,” “Man on Wire,” “In the Loop,” “The Lord of the Rings” trilogy, “American Movie,” “Kiss Kiss, Bang Bang,” “Crimen Ferpecto,” “Munich,” “Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon,” “Ratatouille,” “No Country for Old Men,” “Amelie,” “There Will Be Blood,” “Up,” “King of Kong: Fistful of Quarters,” “Inglourious Basterds,” “Ponyo on the Cliff by the Sea,” “Precious,” “The Machinist,” “Little Miss Sunshine,” “Gosford Park,” “Michael Clayton,” “Adaptation,” “25th Hour,” “Minority Report,” “Synecdoche, New York,” “The Royal Tenenbaums,” “The Kid Stays in the Picture,” “Kung-Fu Hustle,” and the list goes on.

Reasons Why…

So “The Alternative Chronicle” (http://alternativechronicle.wordpress.com/)has been picking up steam and I just thought you should check it out. There are articles about old movies, new movies, independent movies, music, graphic novels, books, etc.

The reason I am plugging this totally free and awesome site is not only because I am one of the many writers involved with delivering quality articles on media, but also because we have recently had some fairly interesting traffic as of late. The child star of “Troll 2″/director of “Best Worst Movie,” Michael Stephenson, apparently reads it (at least the article on his excellent documentary). Not good enough? Theauteurs.com has linked our articles (the one on Kurosawa’s “Ran”) on their site and film critic Roger Ebert  felt the need to post a link to one of articles on his blog alongside his own review of the same movie (“Thief of Bagdad”).

With the numbers of hits going up every day we might have to make “The Alternative Chronicle” more legit in the future, but until then just enjoy our musings on what we love. If you love movies and popular art then “The Alternative Chronicle” is a must. You can tell that the talented staff of writers love what they are talking about and we really want to share our enthusiasm with you.

Just in case you didn’t catch it:

thealternativechronicle.wordpress.com

Cinematic Magic

There’s a special kind of magic that happens in a darkened theater house. There’s a hush as the lights dim, then some mechanical clicks and the projector whirs to life. Magic is that moment.
It doesn’t really matter what movie it is. By purchasing that ticket you are not only buying the opportunity to see moving pictures dance about on a giant screen. You are buying the chance to embark on a great social experience. With every punchline cracked, explosion that detonates, or tear that is shed you are sharing these moments of awe and wonder not only vicariously through characters on the screen, but you are sharing them with a dark room full of strangers. Everyone sees the same pictures and everyone has a reaction to it. Sometimes they will be the same emotional responses as your own, other times they be as night and day. There is a quiet kind of awesome in that collective suspension of disbelief. The actors are not really there living the plot. The musical cues are not natural occurrences. Sometimes the story is pure fantasy and nothing even remotely resembling this reality is depicted, but the audience buys it together because we all want to believe it.
The characters and situations may be make believe, but how the audience feels about them are as real as anything. There’s magic in that. There’s a moment during a movie when you might here a collective gasp or terror or a sudden chuckle of mirth. Take that moment to look at the movie-goers sitting next to you. Take that moment to remove your gaze from the flickering images in mid-dance and scan the faces behind you. With the right lens you might just see that magical glint in their eyes. After the movie you may never see these faces filled with emotion ever again.
The storytellers have a wonderful task that lay before them. They’re on a mission to manufacture magic for scores of faces they will never see. When these individuals can make us all feel something in that darkened theater house together, there is magic. There is the interactive spark of a room full of strangers collectively feeling what is not really there and believing the impossible. Don’t kid yourself, this is magic.

Hats Off to Short Film Animators

So I was just shown several films by the brilliant Russian animator, Yuriy Norshteyn and I was blown away. I had seen “Hedgehog in the Fog” (1975) a while ago and was immediately fascinated by the fantastic artistry. Having polished off a few more from Norshteyn’s canon (including the amazing “Tale of Tales”), I’d like to tip my hat to a brand of filmmaker that all too often gets brushed under the rug.

It’s a tough creative world out there, but the auteurs of this genre might just have the most freedom. Animators like Nick Park (“Wallace & Gromit in The Wrong Trousers,” 1993), Wladyslaw Starewicz (“The Mascot,” 1934), Jiri Barta (“The Pied Piper,” 1986), Jan Svankmajer (“Dimensions of Dialogue,” 1982), Karel Zeman (“Inspirace,” 1949), Paul Berry (“The Sandman,” 1991), the Brothers Quay (“Street of Crocodiles,” 1986), Sylvain Chomet (“The Old Lady and the Pigeons,” 1998), Ivan Ivanov-Vano (“The Battle of Kerzhenents,” 1971), Chris Lavis and Maciek Szczerbowski (“Madame Tutli-Putli,” 2007), Richard Williams (“The Little Island,” 1958), Rene Laloux (“The Snails,” 1964), Lotte Reiniger (“The Death Feigning Chinaman,” 1928), Anthony Lucas (“The Mysterious Geographic Explorations of Jasper Morello,” 2005), Dave Borthwick (“Vikings Go Pumping,” 1987), and countless others ought to be remembered and celebrated more.

Their films are, in my humble opinion, awesome…and I’m discovering more every day. All short film directors may have it tough sometimes yet still enjoy relative freedom, but animators are in the unique position of not only being able to tell the stories they want, but presenting the world, characters, textures, etc. any way they may possibly imagine. There is immense freedom in being able to create and manipulate entire worlds with your own physics, styles, and rules. I applaud their daring.

There is so much individual imagination at work it is truly staggering. Please, please, please do yourself the favor of finding some of these filmmakers (if you haven’t already) and treat yourself to their brilliance. Remember, the internet can be a magical place for discovery. Amen and stuff.

Click the links. I dare ya.

http://alternativechronicle.wordpress.com/author/snarkyjack/

http://alternativechronicle.wordpress.com/

My Personal Favorite Horror Flicks

Forewarning: I am extremely old-fashioned so don’t be mad if the super-gory splatter-fest flicks do not make my list. Sorry.

These are the horror movies that have left their mark and brought something new to the genre while also really entertaining me. (The list is in alphabetical order).

The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari (1919)-the original freak fest. A deranged person narrates the tale of a mysterious doctor who used the body of a somnambulist (Conrad Veidt) to murder people by night in this highly stylized German expressionist classic. This movie looks, moves, and feels like a strange nightmare.

The Golem: How He Came Into the World (1920)-Jews in 16th century Prague need protection from persectuion so their sorcerer creates a giant clay man…who naturally winds up rebelling and havoc ensues.

Nosferatu (1922)-Max Schreck’s performance as sinister Count Orlock is chilling reason enough this movie should make everyone’s list.

The Phantom of the Opera (1925)-Lon Chaney, Sr. at the top of his game. The setting: a spooky Parisian opera house in the 1880s. The problem: a deranged and hideous gentleman (Chaney) is in love with an opera star and will kill anyone he sees as a threat.

The Man Who Laughs (1928)-a man must learn how to be human when no one will treat him as such (his mouth is carved into a terrible grin when he is a child).

Frankenstein (1931)-James Whale’s classic starring Boris Karloff is just as magnificent and horrific today. A mad scientist (Colin Clive) creates life by stitching together corpses and shooting it full of electricity. After being rejected by Dr. Frankenstein the monster wanders the countryside on a murderous rampage in search of love.

Dracula (1931)-Bela Lugosi may not have been the first actor to play Dracula (and certainly not the last), but he is the most revered and remembered. He set the standard for the charismatic and aristocratic charmer with a thirst for blood.

Freaks (1932)-”Dracula” director, Tod Browning, made another terrifying movie with “Freaks,” the story of circus sideshow performers (played by real sideshow performers) and their revenge.

The Bride of Frankenstein (1935)-One of the greatest sequels in movie history. Karloff returns again as the monster, but this sequel adds much more depth to his character and introduces a new villain: mad scientist extraordinaire, Dr. Pretorius.

The Wolf Man (1941)-Lon Chaney, Jr. gets bitten by a werewolf and it really messes up him trying to get with the girl. Claude Rains (Larry’s dad) and Mary Ouspenskaya (the gypsy woman) steal the show.

The Thing From Another World (1951)-science fiction at its frightening best. One of the original plots where the creature is slowly cutting off the main characters’ supplies and resources while some get bumped off and others go mad…and the monster is getting closer and closer. The arctic setting and the disagreements between the military and the scientist add a lot and the script is pretty clever to boot.

Les Diaboliques (1955)-Henri Georges-Clouzot’s classic about the anxieties of infidelity and murder. The twists are only trumped by the suspense.

Psycho (1960)-one of Alfred Hitchcock’s most famous. A crazy man running a spooky hotel where the tenants seem to wind up dead. Classic.

The Birds (1963)-only Hitchcock could make birds scary…and he does. Terrifying inexplicable attacks from the sky and they just keep coming.

The Night of the Living Dead (1968)-George Romero’s classic zombie flick is still a terrifying pleasure. Trapped in a house surrounded by mindless undead a small group of people must fight to survive (and quit arguing).

Rosemary’s Baby (1968)-Mia Farrow is pregnant with the Antichrist in this chilling paranoia thriller from Roman Polanski. Who can you trust?

The Exorcist (1973)-Linda Blair gets possessed by demons. Ellen Burstyn and Max von Sydow also star in this terrifying spiritual showdown. Wonderfully paced, shot, acted, and directed and really, really scary…depending on your beliefs maybe.

The Wicker Man (1973)-Christopher Lee stars as the leader of a strange cult on some Godless island near Scotland in this chilling horror flick about a mysterious pagan festival that culminates with the conflagration of a huge wicker man.

Jaws (1975)-Steven Spielberg made the standard monster chase movie into something great when he cast Richard Dreyfuss, Roy Scheider, and Robert Shaw. The shark may look fake, but the thrills are certainly real.

Invasion of the Body Snatchers (1978)-a very scary remake. Aliens that look like your closest friends are taking over and soon Donald Sutherland doesn’t know where to turn.

Alien (1979)-one of the scariest space movies ever made. Fantastic (and gross) special effects and Sigourney Weaver is an awesome heroine.

Nosferatu: Phantom der Nacht (1979)-Werner Herzog remakes F. W. Murnau’s silent classic and remains extremely faithful making this an equally pleasing ride. The infamous Klaus Kinski dons the cape this time.

The Shining (1980)-truly bone-chilling. Stanley Kubrick makes one of the most effective and frightening horror films in history. Cabin fever never looked to scary.

An American Werewolf in London (1981)-John Landis finds the balance between comedy and horror as one man discovers the truth about his horrible circumstance. The title says all you need to know about the plot.

The Thing (1982)-John Carpenter’s remake of the 1951 classic actually really works. He takes it in a different direction and aided by Rob Bottin’s incredible (and gross) special effects and Kurt Russell in heavy mascara he makes a good scary movie. (It actually ends up being more like “Invasion of the Body Snatchers” and “Alien” than just “The Thing From Another World”).

Evil Dead II: Dead By Dawn (1987)-Sam Raimi essentially remakes his own “Evil Dead” (1981) and satirizes it. Bruce Campbell keeps getting cooler as he battles the forces of evil in an old, abandoned cabin in the woods. Whether its running from an unseen force or severing limbs with his chainsaw arm it’s bound to be “groovy.”

Baxter (1989)-a brooding character study of man’s best friend in this French psychological horror flick. Baxter needs to be commanded and dominated…or else he does things his own way out of frustration and confusion.

Jacob’s Ladder (1990)-terrifying look at the place between life and death. Tim Robbins is haunted by visions, flashbacks, and demons as he tries to piece the clues together.

Troll 2 (1990)-this is seriously one of the worst movies ever made…and thus one of the most fun to watch. Nothing to do with the awful first “Troll” movie, a dopey all-American family goes on vacation to Nilbog (SPOILER ALERT: is “goblin” spelled backwards) and winds up mixed up with an evil race of midgets with burlap sack bodies and yucky masks that need to turn them into half-man/half-plants (goblins’ favorite food). Cinematic incompetence at its finest.

28 Days Later (2002)-Danny Boyle made a unique zombie movie with this science fiction horror-thriller. When there are only a few people in the world left you better stick close…but not too close.

Let the Right One In (2008)-this Swedish movie is probably the best and most unique vampire movie to come out in decades. Two outcast children develop a strange relationship amidst vampiric bloodshed and desperation.

Most Touching/Interesting Screen Relationships

This list is just personal opinion and based only on what movies I’ve seen and whatever films I was thinking about while composing this list.

Romantic Relationships:

Nick (William Powell) and Nora (Myrna Loy) Charles from W. S. Van Dyke’s “The Thin Man” (1934) series. The best married movie couple of all time: consistently quick-witted, sarcastic, and drunk.

Jesse (Ethan Hawke) and Celine (Julie Delpy) from Richard Linklater’s “Before Sunrise” (1995) and “Before Sunset” (2004). A truly refreshing love story. With a limited time how do you make a temporary, chance encounter last forever?

Wall-e (Ben Burtt) and Eve (Elissa Knight) in Andrew Stanton’s “WALL-E” (2008). Robot romance never looked so sublime. A simple yet affecting movie relationship without words.

Harold (Bud Cort) and Maude (Ruth Gordon) in Hal Ashby’s “Harold and Maude” (1971). So there’s an age difference of about six decades…it still feels a lot like love.

Charlie Alnutt (Humphrey Bogart) and Rose Sayer (Katherine Hepburn) in John  Huston’s “The African Queen” (1951). What starts out as a venomous mutual distaste somehow blossoms into true love along the steamy jungle river during World War I.

Belle (Paige O’Hara) and Beast (Robby Benson) from Disney’s “Beauty and the Beast” (1991). Heck, we all bought it. Actually, Lumiere (Jerry Orbach) and Cogsworth (David Ogden Stiers) have a pretty memorable friendship as well.

Enid (Thora Birch) and Seymour (Steve Buscemi) in Terry Zwigoff’s “Ghost World” (2001). Another offbeat romance with a bit of an awkward pairing and a noticeable age gap (not quite “Harold and Maude” though). United by their outcast natures and their affinity for the unusual, unfortunately not built to last.

Rick Blaine (Humphrey Bogart) and Ilsa Lund (Ingrid Bergman) in Michael Curtiz’s “Casablanca” (1942). What kind of a movie buff would I be if I didn’t mention this great screen romance? The friendship that also blossoms between Blaine and Capt. Renault (Claude Rains) is also a fine example of cinematic camaraderie.

Professor Henry Higgins (Rex Harrison) and Eliza Doolittle (Audrey Hepburn) in George Cukor’s “My Fair Lady” (1964). Just watch the awful Higgins whine about her marrying Freddy and see if you don’t agree with me.

Lady (Barbara Luddy) and the Tramp (Larry Roberts) in Disney’s “Lady and the Tramp” (1955). This fun canine courtship is more real than most human ones. Complete with its ups and downs, Lady and the Tramp make one of the most memorable romances of the silver screen.

Groucho Marx and Margaret Dumont from the Marx Brothers movies. Whether it’s Rufus T. Firefly chasing Mrs. Gloria Teasdale in “Duck Soup” (1933) or Capt. Jeffrey T. Spaulding wooing Mrs. Rittenhouse in “Animal Crackers” (1930) or any other flick that paired them together they always manage to be entertaining. Dumont was the perfect “straight man” to the anarchic Groucho.

Bernard (Bob Newhart) and Miss Bianca (Eva Gabor) from Disney’s “The Rescuers” (1977) and “The Rescuers Down Under” (1990). The touching unrequited love of the simple American mouse, Bernard, for the elegant, an tenacious, mouse, Miss Bianca is an understated subplot to both movies, but easily the most interesting aspect.

Clyde Barrow (Warren Beatty) and Bonnie Parker (Faye Dunaway) from Arthur Penn’s “Bonnie and Clyde” (1967). This bizarre romance where robbing and murdering are more sensual than actual sensuousness is one that’s hard to forget.

King Kong (stop-motion by Willis O’Brien) and Ann Darrow (Fay Wray) in Merian C. Cooper and Ernest B. Shoedsack’s “King Kong” (1933). She’s just not that into you. Lots of screaming and lots of dinosaur fighting. What love is really about.

Fathers and Sons

The Tramp (Charlie Chaplin) and the Kid (Jackie Coogan) in Chaplin’s “The Kid” (1921). OK, so they’re not technically related, but the Tramp proves he loves the Kid as much as any loving father many times over during this charming comedy that’s not afraid to wear its heart on its sleeves.

Antonio Ricci (Lamberto Maggiorani) and his son Bruno (Enzo Staiola) in Vittorio de Sica’s “The Bicycle Thieves” (1948). A touching story of priority, duty, and pride and the presence of the son adds an extra dimension to the father’s struggle.

Scout (Mary Badham), Jem (Phillip Alford) and their father Atticus Finch (Gregory Peck) in Robert Mulligan’s “To Kill a Mockingbird” (1962). One of the best movie dads and some of the best representations of childhood. Atticus is the kind of dad every man should want to be.

Dr. Evil (Mike Myers), Scott (Seth Green), and Mini-Me (Verne Troyer) in Jay Roach’s “Austin Powers: International Man of Mystery” (1997) and “Austin Powers: The Spy Who Shagged Me” (1999). The funniest case of daddy choosing favorites. That Dr. Evil gives up trying to connect with his real son, Scott, in favor of building a stronger relationship with a short, freakish clone of himself is just hilarious.

Alfredo (Philippe Noiret) and Salvatore “Toto” De Vita (Salvatore Cascio, Marco Leonardi, and Jacques Perrin) from Giuseppe Tornatore’s “Cinema Paradiso” (1988). A love of film fueled by the friendship of an old projectionist who becomes like a father to the growing “Toto.” Simply beautiful.

Leon (Jean Reno) and Mathilda (Natalie Portman) in Luc Besson’s “The Professional” (1994). So not really related or father and son, but the friendship of an orphan and a hitman makes a wonderful family unit in this movie.

Friendships

Butch Cassidy (Paul Newman) and the Sundance Kid (Robert Redford) from George Roy Hill’s “Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid” (1969). Friendship in the wild west at its wild best.

Miles (Paul Giamatti) and Jack (Thomas Haden Church) in Alexander Payne’s “Sideways” (2004). One of the most true to life American male relationships you are likely to find. Funny, frustrating, and real.

Ed Wood (Johnny Depp) and Bela Lugosi (Martin Landau) in Tim Burton’s “Ed Wood” (1994). Wood’s admiration of Lugosi is essentially the basis for their friendship, but even after the veneer of his former stardom is stripped away, Wood stays by his side.

Doc Emmett Brown (Christopher Lloyd) and Marty McFly (Michael J. Fox) from Robert Zemeckis’s “Back to the Future” (1985) series. I don’t know how these two got to be friends, but I’m sure glad they did. Every kid wants an old, zany scientist best friend.

Elwood P. Dowd (James Stewart) and Harvey from Henry Koster’s “Harvey” (1950). A man’s love for a 6-foot invisible rabbit has rarely been documented with more charm.

Dr. Frederick Treves (Anthony Hopkins) and John Merrick (John Hurt) in David Lynch’s “The Elephant Man” (1980). Poor, deformed Merrick really only has the one friend, but Treves is a good one to have.

Wallace (Peter Sallis) and Gromit from Nick Park’s “Wallace & Gromit” series (1989, 1993, 1995, 2005, 2008). From shorts to features the tea-drinking, cheese-eating duo of an oblivious human inventor (Wallace) and his clever, cultured, canine (the tacit Gromit) prove their likableness time and again. Easily one of the most endearing screen friendships of all time.

R2-D2 (Kenny Baker) and C-3PO (Anthony Daniels) from George Lucas’s “Star Wars” (1977) series. Through thick and thin they quibble with one another, but we all know that they really do love each other.

The Three Good Fairies; Flora (Verna Felton), Fauna (Barbara Jo Allen), and Merryweather (Barbara Luddy) from Disney’s “Sleeping Beauty” (1959). Another mismatched group where disagreement is usually the only thing they can agree on. They round each other off nicely.

Dersu Uzala (Maxim Munzuk) and Capt. Valdimir Arseniev (Yuri Solomin) in Akira Kurosawa’s “Dersu Uzala” (1975). A wonderful friendship and mutual respect is born through adversity against the harsh Siberian elements.

The Grinch (Boris Karloff) and his dog Max in Chuck Jones’ “Dr. Seuss’s How the Grinch Stole Christmas” (1966). A memorable pairing between the pettiest incarnation of evil and his faithful pooch who tags along despite misgivings about what is happening.

Blondie (Clint Eastwood) and Tuco (Eli Wallach) in Sergio Leone’s “The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly” (1966). Perhaps not friendship in the strictest of senses, but the uneasy alliance between the Good and the Ugly to best the Bad makes for great entertainment. You never know when one will turn on the other.

Childhood Friends

Elliott (Henry Thomas) and E.T. in Steven Spielberg’s “E.T.: the Extra-Terrestrial” (1982). The unbreakable bond between a boy and his alien.

Satsuki (Noriko Hidaka) and Mei’s (Chika Sakamoto) friendship with Totoro (Hitoshi Takagi) from Hayao Miyazaki’s “My Neighbor Totoro” (1988). Two young girls meet the big, furry spirit creature who lives in the woods of their new house and make a magical ally in Totoro.

Hogarth Hughes (Eli Marienthal) and the Iron Giant (Vin Diesel) in Brad Bird’s “The Iron Giant” (1999). A boy finds the ultimate friend: a giant robot from outer-space complete with laser beams.

Ofelia (Ivana Baquero) and the Faun (Doug Jones) in Guillermo del Toro’s “Pan’s Labyrinth” (2006). Perhaps not so much a friendship. The Faun is a creature that has emerged out of a necessity for Ofelia to escape the horrors of real life, but we’re never sure if he really is less dangerous.

Travis Coates (Tommy Kirk) and Old Yeller in Robert Stevenson’s “Old Yeller” (1957). The love of a boy for his dog and vice versa is tested over and over in this heartstring-plucking Disney drama of prairie life.