"... the evil galactic warlord who made all of this possible." "Trapped in the Closet" -- the infamous 2005 "South Park" episode that miraculously combined elements of Scientology, the reincarnation of the Dalai Lama, the Second Coming, L. Ron Hubbard,…
View image View image View image From Ali Arikan, Istanbul, Turkey: The first shot of "Withnail and I" is deceptive in its simplicity. As the camera opens on the eponymous "I" of the title, obviously depressed and downtrodden, we see…
View image: To sleep, perchance to dream... View image: The dreamer awakes. View image: Meanwhile, on the other side of the world... (From the opening shot of "Lost in Translation.") Does this shot look uncannily familiar? A man asleep, or…
View image: The kind of thing that can ruin a childhood. From Robert Daniel, Birmingham, AL: "Deep Red" (Dario Argento, 1975): The scene opens a floor-level shot. We hear a stabbing sound and a loud scream. The knife falls in…
View image: Waking into a nightmare. From Brad Damare, New Orleans, LA: "Dawn of the Dead" opens with an close-up of one of the lead characters, asleep against a blood-red carpeted wall. She seems both alone and surrounded by the…
View image: What are we looking at/for? View image: Find one difference in this picture. From Jeremy Mathews, The Salt Shaker Magazine, Salt Lake City, UT: It may be a recent film, but I don't think it's too early to…
View image From Girish Shambu, Buffalo, NY: "Flowers of Shanghai" (1998), by Taiwanese filmmaker Hou Hsiao-Hsien, has an opening shot that lasts — I kid you not — eight minutes! Jazz bassist Marcus Miller once said about James Brown’s music…
View image From Jonathan Pacheco, Anna, TX: Seemingly too easy of a choice, this film's first shot meets your criteria perfectly. After a slightly creepy overture, we are blessed with shot of a barely visible moon. It slowly moves down…
Thumbs up for a quick recovery. Roger Ebert is in serious but stable condition after suffering a burst blood vessel near the site of an operation two weeks ago to remove cancerous growths from his salivary gland. These kinds of…
Comments have been disappearing into the ether. I'm not getting the notifications to approve them, although I know they exist (because I've tried making some myself). The Sun-Times tech people have been notified and I hope this is straightened out…
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