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Reports of Skip's death have been somewhat exaggerated

View image: Enzo is still with us. It was widely reported that Moose, the 15-year-old Jack Russell Terrier who played the title role in "My Dog Skip," and who played Eddie on the long-running TV sitcom "Frazier," passed away at…

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Opening Shots: 'Beware of a Holy Whore'

View image: Dieters at the beginning of the shot. View image: Dieters at the end of the shot. From Scott Gowans, Web Manager, WOSU Public Media, Columbus, OH: I had been reviewing films for four or so years before I…

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Opening Shots: 'Halloween'

The Myers house: October 31, 1963 Young lovebirds. Through the side window, the teenagers make out on the couch. Boyfriend grabs a clown mask. From Robert C. Cumbow: (An excerpt from my book, "Order in the Universe: The Films of…

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Opening Shots: 'Stranger Than Paradise'

View image Eva in The New World. View image View image From Christopher Long, Reviewer and Features Editor, DVDTown.com: In terms of narrative structure, the opening shot of Jim Jarmusch's "Stranger than Paradise" is a perfect "mini-movie." The film opens…

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Stephen Colbert on the role of artists in popular culture

After Bruce Springsteen referred to "present company included, the idiots rambling on on cable television any given night of the week" in an interview with something called Soledad O'Brien (what is a Soledad O'Brien, and why was Springsteen having an…

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Opening Shots: 'The Crying Game'

Enlarge image: Your eye just naturally alights on the figure to the right of the support... Enlarge image: ...who moves slowly along the shore in the opposite direction of the camera. (Here, the person is dead center in the frame.)…

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Opening Shots: 'Kiss Me Deadly'

Enlarge image: Slapping flesh and heavy breathing. From Kim Morgan, Sunset Gun: When reading the request for greatest opening shots, the first film that popped into my head was immediate and almost too easy — “Kiss Me Deadly.��? And then…

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Tinseltown Trash Alert!

The lovely Mses Griffin and Sweeney in "It's Pat: The Movie" (which has a helluva opening shot!) OK, I don't usually get into the tabloid "news" (that much) -- this is, after all, a site devoted to the in-depth appreciation…

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Opening Shots: 'Dazed and Confused' (and more)

Enlarge image: Sweeeeeeeet slow-mooooootion. From Mike Leto, Bethpage, NY: I agree with you about how opening shots are one of the most important parts in a film. If the opening shot is good then the movie takes hold of me…