It's a simple concept but when asked of the right person, it's a great interview topic: Your Five Favorite Films. I stumbled across a collection of brief interviews from the Rotten Tomatoes Show (I didn't even know that existed!) with a variety of film celebrities about this. In the better answers you discover films you may want to see and learn surprise favorites from a familiar celebrity. Below are some of my favorite 'Five Favorite' interviews. You can find more HERE.

I feel it is only fair that I include my "Favorite Five". They'd be:

5. THE BICYCLE THIEF: An Italian film from the 1940s that struck me with its simplicity and emotional power.

4. BRAZIL (original ending): A funny and disturbing portrayal of the future by Terry Gilliam and Tom Stoppard. I love De Niro in this!

3. NAPOLEON DYNAMITE: As odd as the main characters are, there's a sincere love for them that mesmerizes and makes me laugh.

2. MY NEIGHBOR TOTORO: Miyazaki's imagination and direction create an animation that works for all-ages on so many levels it's crazy.

1. ETERNAL SUNSHINE OF THE SPOTLESS MIND: This film comes up way more often than I expected. I love the way it illustrates the vulnerability, wealth, and confusion of Love.

JOHN WOO (director):

EDWARD NORTON (actor):

SASHA GREY (adult film actress):

ELI ROTH (director):

CHARLYNE YI (comedian):

As I watched (500) DAYS OF SUMMER this past weekend, I started feeling like I was under some sort of weird voodoo spell done by the dark priests working for Fox Searchlight. I've been trying to find films on Netflix that I can enjoy with the wife. I gave up on trying to convince her to watch the more violent and subversive films I enjoy (she is STILL traumatized from watching Edward James Olmos' AMERICAN ME with me 3-4 years ago).  I often can't stand a few of her choices (NOT ANOTHER TEEN COMEDY!?..... really?). So I've been a bit proactive at trying to find movies that we'll both enjoy watching. The last one was WHIP IT. This time around it was (500) DAYS OF SUMMER. Little did I know that both films are from Fox Searchlight. Like I said: voodoo spells. :-)

My reasons for wanting to watch the film were the main actor (who was the kid from that NBC comedy 3RD ROCK FROM THE SUN) and the director being recently dubbed as the next Spider-man film director. The main actor (whose name escapes me) was on SNL a while back and seemed like a cool enough dude. He wasn't really the funniest SNL guest, but he had this old Hollywood charm that reminded me of doofy yet classy actors like James Stewart. A few days after watching his SNL appearance, I heard that the (500) Days of Summer director is replacing Raimi as Spider-man director. So my curiosity went past the "mildly intrigued" and into the "let's rent it" status.

For those not in the know (which I assume is probably everybody who's reading this), '(500) Days of Summer' is about a hopeless romantic guy that falls in love with Summer, a pretty girl who doesn't believe in love. You're warned from the get go that things don't end the way conventional love stories do... and then you're jostled back and forth to different moments in the relationship with Summer to simultaneously get a sense of both how the romance began and ended.

Much of the movie's charm comes from the way it plays with time and the limitations of the film medium. By knowing the the relationship won't work, as a viewer, you cautiously invest your feelings into the early stages of the relationship. There are also several nice parallels showing how the things the main character loves about Summer become the very things he hates about her once the relationship ends. One of my favorite movie narrative tricks is a scene using a split screen. On one side is the main character's "expected outcome" on the other is "reality". Most of these non-traditional techniques challenge the relationship between the audience and the movie. When you see stuff like the split screen... it reminds you that you are watching a movie and creates a distance between you and characters in the film. Because of the unconventional nature of the film, it works... but you end up not completely connecting with the characters.

It was also interesting seeing how the city of Los Angeles was shot for the film. As a Los Angeleno, it was pretty trippy seeing the L.A. in '(500)'. For the first 15 minutes of the film I assumed the city in the story was Chicago or Boston. It was like the Director wanted to created a version of Los Angeles that was as ideal as the main character's concept of love. A friend of mine is passionate about the various urban developments happening in Los Angeles. It's a pleasure to see Los Angeles through his eyes... but the L.A. he sees is very different than the one that I live in. '(500) Days of Summer' is the closest thing to the Los Angeles in my friend's imagination that I have seen. I found the portrayal of L.A. to be very refreshing. Yes, it's not true to life... but as creators, I think it's vital to distill the elements of things you love into something inherently your own. Director Marc Webb does that nicely with the City of Los Angeles.

Overall, '(500) Days of Summer' was a decent film. At times, the story and narrative techniques are so biased that you end up not connecting with the characters or story. But you forgive it's flaws for its willingness to try something different.

Now, could Marc Webb do a good Spider-man film? Eh, no... not from what I have seen. Webb has the potential to portray a romantic take on New York (as he has done here with Los Angeles) which is essential to a Spider-man film. There's a pure quality to his directing that could create a timeless look to Spider-man that would ring true for fans of John Romita's romantic take on the character. BUT much of Webb's style comes from unconventional techniques that would not work in a Spider-man movie. Also, there is nothing in '(500)' that shows his ability to shoot action (does a musical ensemble count?). The only rumor going around is that he wants Zac Efron as Spider-man/Peter Parker. We'll see how it all unfolds until it's 2012 release date.

I rented WHIP IT, Drew Barrymore's directorial debut, and watched it with my wife this past weekend. While it wasn't perfect, it was a really fun coming-of-age film with a heckuva ensemble cast and a really beautiful portrayal of the sport of Roller Derby. Ellen Page (of JUNO) stars as a high school girl trying to find herself despite the pressures and expectations of her controlling mother. She finds a sense of self in the tomboyish sport of Roller Derby but has to lie about her age in order to participate. It's a very standard coming-of-age story that does little to tread new emotional territory. It's a bit difficult to swallow that the beautiful and intelligent protagonist feels that her only way out of her boring small town is by playing Roller Derby. Also the love interest/boy toy of the film is kind of ugly (at least by my wife's standards). But if you're willing to look past those odd qualities it's a pretty fun movie. The cast is pretty awesome. The main roller derby team (known as the Hurl Scouts) includes Drew Barrymore, Kristen Wiig (of SNL), and Zoe Bell (from Death Proof & Uma Thurman's stunt double in the KILL BILL films). The main rival team is led by Juliette Lewis (who has the PERFECT look and attitude for Roller Derby). And you have some nice bit parts from Jimmy Fallon and Andrew Wilson (the 3rd Wilson brother... I didn't know there was a 3rd one!). The star of the movie are the Roller Derby events which seems like the female equivalent of Mexican Wrestling. An impressive directorial debut by Drew Barrymore.

Due to an odd mixture of severe curiosity and mild pressure from my wife's family, I buckled and saw THE TWILIGHT SAGA: NEW MOON during the Thanksgiving Weekend. My reaction wasn't nearly as violent as the one I had regarding SLUMDOG MILLIONAIRE ... but that can be partially attributed to my far lower level of expectation. I haven't seen the first Twilight movie and never read any of the books.  Despite that, here are 5 things I learned about Women from watching THE TWILIGHT SAGA: NEW MOON (may have some spoilers):

1. Women like a Man who wears Abercrombie & Fitch. Plus Points if you can pull it off with your shirt off. It helps if you look like a surfer and have a nice tan (which is hard to do when you live in the always gloomy Pacific Northwest; anybody know of some good tanning salons?).

2. Women may LIKE Abercrombie & Fitch... but they LOVE Armani. Beware of the Armani guy! Yeah, women dig the chiseled abs, chest, and pseudo-frumpy A&F look... but that's got NOTHING on the pale Armani guy style. Don't even try to compete.

3. Women think hairy pasty white nipples are sexier than waxed tan ones... as long as they are not exposed to direct sunlight. This one I don't get. A woman loves touching a muscular waxed chest. But she'll travel halfway across the World to save an ugly set of pasty, hairy nipples from being exposed to sunlight. Emo-anorexic wins over hunky-athlete (it must be a generational thing).

4. Never ever do what a Woman asks of you. If she asks you to build something, like a motorcycle, and you do it, you're locking yourself into the infamous 'FRIEND' zone. Once in, you can't get out. Women find you attractive only when you save them from moments of sheer terror. If she can ask you to do something, she ain't scared enough.

5. Never trust a woman who says 'I love you'. It's a sham! She's only saying it to manipulate your feelings for her.

Take notes, my heterosexual peers.

Wow. Thanks to Muttpop friends David Bongo Bikki, PoonDockTaint, and Michael Webb, BLACK DYNAMITE went from being complete off-the-radar to a must-see film for me. A little bit blaxploitation film, comedy, action, and who knows what else, I'm gonna do whatever I can to see this film in theater ASAP! The film looks great. From the preview, it looks like it does for blaxploitation films what we're sort of doing with Santos films in the LUCHADORES FIVE. The cast looks amazing... and it gets a few extra points for starring the dude that played Al Simmons in the SPAWN movie (Michael Jai White) and having posters illustrated by the snazzy graf artist/toy maker/illustrator/painter David Choe. Reviews are really good on this film. Below are some amazing posters and photos made to promote BLACK DYNAMITE. The painted ones were done by the previously mentioned David Choe.

Dojo Scene:

In addition to the customary Halloween viewing of John Carpenter's HALLOWEEN (a classic!), the wife and I added Stephen King's CHILDREN OF THE CORN and George Romero's MONKEY SHINES to our Halloween Horror movie marathon. Carpenter, King, and Romero: a trio of horror masters! CHILDREN OF THE CORN is one of those films that you've heard about for what seems like forever. MONKEY SHINES has one of those iconic movie posters that scarred my 10-year-old brain. I figured it was time to finally experience them both.

CHILDREN OF THE CORN was "eh". The opening scene in the small town deli was gruesomely awesome (hint: plenty of blood splatter!). Sadly that was as good as it got. The main villain was creepy in that classic Stephen King man-child kind of way. I just wasn't too fond of the guy once he grew some super cheesy demon horns (the horror movie equivalent of man boobs!). The movie also gets minus points for making the dweebiest red headed kid (named Malachai, no less!) in the movie the cold blooded killer of the group. I understand they were pushing the whole farmer's motif but, come on! The main innocent female bystander was Linda Hamilton (aka Sarah Connor from the TERMINATOR film franchise) which was pretty cool. CHILDREN OF THE CORN came out about 6 months before the first TERMINATOR. Seeing it now, though, it's hard to get worried for the lady because she's Sarah Connor! There's no way a bunch of kids with farming shears can mess with the mother of John Connor! :-)

MONKEY SHINES was a solid film, but very different than I expected. I had an inaccurate but vivid memory of a scene where the monkey in the film is dancing around in a silly costume while his owner plays the accordion. In this memory, something triggers the monkey to go nutso, jump on a bunch of little children and bite their heads off. That "scene" was my impetus for renting the film... and I was shocked to discover that it was a complete fabrication of my 10-year-old imagination based on the creepy (but completely inaccurate) movie poster. Instead MONKEY SHINES is a well crafted film that explores the morality of animal testing for science and human benefit. Director and Screenplay writer George Romero takes his time introducing the viewer to the characters and their situation. About 65% of the film is set up... but by the time you get to the juicy horror/suspense bits you're so invested in the characters that you fully empathize with them. Ironically, I found myself empathizing most with the "evil" monkey, Ella. How could you not? She's freakin' adorable! So the scary bits weren't all too scary because I was too busy thinking about how cute Ella was as she killed people. Oh well.

Of the two, I'd recommend MONKEY SHINES. But they're both worth a watch for entirely different reasons. Trailers and posters can be seen below.

Monkey Shines Trailer

Children of the Corn