"Hit Me With Your Best Shot" season 8 is well under way Consider it like a weekly film club and join us so we continue...
1) watch the movie
2) pick your favourite shot (whatever you think is "best" however you would define that)
3) post it, with or without an explanation wherever you play online #bestshot
4) see our own choice right here and discuss!
In this case it's truly the more the merrier. Schedule and previous episode index are after the jump...
Post before May 12th 9 PM EST Happy Together (1997)
In honor of the forthcoming Cannes film festival, lets look back on the 25th anniversary of Wong Kar Wai's Best Director win for this gay classic starring Tony Leung and the late Leslie Cheung. Christopher Doyle later won Best Cinematography at the Golden Horse Awards. [Streaming on Criterion Channel AND HBOMax]
* SERIES MOVING TO TUESDAYS *
Post before Tuesday May 24th 9 PM EST Ex Machina (2014)
Given that Oscar Isaac is all the rage at the moment and writer/director Alex Garland's latest Men (2022) will be in theaters on the 20th let's look back at his instant classic of the sci-fi genre. Streaming on Showtime and Fubo and Hoopla. Reason rental prices elsewhere
Post before Tuesday May 31st 9 PM EST Yentl (1983)
Let's revisit Barbra Streisand's fantastic directorial debut for which she was not properly recognized at the time as people thought it was too much of a vanity trip being Writer/Director/Star/Producer (how dare she?!? Even though men had been lauded for doing the same thing). [Streaming on the Criterion Channel]
Post before Tuesday, June 7th 9 PM EST Fire Island (2022)
Andrew Ahn (Spa Night, Driveways) directs this comedy about a group of gay friends out to have a legendary summer vacation at the gay hotspot. Joel Kim Booster (who cowrote), and Matt Rogers (both of whom guest starred right here on the Smackdown!), as well as SNL breaktout Bowen Yang, the notorious Margaret Cho, and Broadway and Off Broadway hunks like Conrad Ricamora, Tomas Matos and Nick Adams all star. Streaming on Hulu on Friday June 3rd, 2022.
Post before Tuesday June 13th TBA
Post before Tuesday June 20th TBA season finale
PREVIOUS EPISODES
SEASON 8 (16 episodes)
Feb - June 2022
5 more episodes to come - join us
Happy Together (1997) Wong Kar-Wai's impressionistic romantic drama (Index - 8 Players)
Spider-Man 2 (2004) Sam Raimi's classic. They don't make em like this anymore (Index -5 Players)
Alexander Skarsgård Special (2008-2009) True Blood and "Paparazzi" (Index - 5 Players)
The Last Picture Show (1971) dying small town classic (Index -8 Players)
Seven Brides for Seven Brothers (1954) the problematic musical classic (Index - 6 Players)
The Godfather (1972) Coppola's Best Picture winning mob classic (Index - 8 Players)
Romancing The Stone (1984) the classic romcom adventure (Index - 8 Players)
West Side Story (2021) Spielberg's musical remake (Index - 8 Players)
The Conversation (1974) Coppola's paranoid thriller and most abstract wonder (Index - 7 Players)
All That Heaven Allows (1955) Douglas Sirk's influential melodrama (Index -9 Players)
Nightmare Alley (2021) Guillermo del Toro's psychic grifter noir remake (Index - 13 Players)
SEASON 7 (24 Episodes)
March - August 2016
Splash Ron Howard's fishy fantasy, his best film (Index - 6 players)
The Get Down Baz Luhrmann's Netflix series (Index - 6 players)
Les Girls, American in Paris, Some Like It - Orry Kelly Tribute (Index - 7 players)
Close Encounters, Julia, Looking for Mr Goodbar, The Turning Point, Islands in the Stream - Best Cinematography Nominee Oscars '77 Special Edition (Index - 9 players)
Zootopia (2016) Disney's fable (Index - 7 players)
Gentlemen Prefer Blondes (1953) Dorothy & Lorelei 4ever (Index - 10 players)
Working Girl (1988) Let that river run back to the 80s (Index - 8 players)
To Catch a Thief (1955) Kelly & Grant on the Riviera (Index - 10 players)
The Bitter Tears of Petra Von Kant (1972) RWF's fashion tableau (Index - 6 players)
One From the Heart (1983) Francis Ford Coppola's moneypit curio (Index -3 players)
Trevor (1994) Oscar winning LGBT short (Index - 6 players)
Morocco (1930) & Blonde Venus (1932) Marlene Dietrich Double (Index - 5 Players)
The Force Awakens (2015) Star Wars is back (Index -14 players)
Queen Margot (1994) the erotic and ferocious foreign hit (Index - 7 players)
The World of Tomorrow (2015) instant classic sci-fi short (Index - 11 Players)
Death Becomes Her (1992) the outrageous catfight classic (Index - 13 Players)
Throne of Blood (1957) Kurosawa's visual riff on Macbeth (Index - 11 Players)
The Beguiled (1971) an overheated fascinating curio (Index - 6 Players)
Witness (1985) Peter Weir's cop among the Amish classic (Index - 12 Players)
Roman Holiday (1953) & To Kill a Mockingbird (1962) Double (Index - 11 Players)
Zardoz (1974) the guns are good; the penis is evil (Index - 7 Players)
Daredevil S2 (2016) any episode (Index - 9 Players)
Atonement (2007) a cinematic rethink of the bestseller (Index - 19 Players)
Ghostbusters (1984) a comedy smash just before its reboot (Index - 15 Players)
SEASON 6 (23 Episodes)
March - October 2015
Repulsion (1965) Roman Polanski and Catherine Deneuve (Visual Index - 7 players)
A Room With a View (1986) Merchant & Ivory's glorious comedy of manners (Visual Index - 7 players)
Mad Max: Fury Road (2015) George Miller's hallucinatory epic (Visual Index - 12 players)
Angels in America (2003) the masterpiece revisited (Visual Index - 11 players)
Chicken Run (2000) Aardman's hilarious POW movie (Visual Index - 11 players)
[Safe] (1995) Todd Haynes opaque masterpiece (Visual Index - 9 players)
MTV VMA Nominees (2015) best cinematography? (Visual Index - 10 players)
Sunset Blvd (1950) Norma & Joe in the pantheon (Visual Index - 15 players)
Crouching Tiger Hidden Dragon (2000) in the treetops (Visual Index - 8 players)
The Red Shoes (1948) the dance masterpiece (Visual Index - 10 players)
Magic Mike (2012) before the sequel hits (Visual Index Pt 1 & Pt 2 - 16 players)
Amadeus (1984) Glory to the mediocrities! (Visual Index - 11 players)
Dick Tracy (1990) Warren Beatty's living comic strip (Visual Index - 11 players)
Orson Welles Special (1941-1948) three brilliant movies (Visual Index - 10 players)
Bright Star (2009) a ravishing poetic romance (Visual Index - 12 players)
Nine to Five (1980) the classic workplace feminist comedy (Visual Index - 12 players)
Taxi Driver (1976) Scorsese's descent into madness (Visual Index - 15 players)
Johnny Guitar (1954) "trucolor" butch queen western (Visual Index - 11 players)
Mommie Dearest (1981) the camp spectacle (Visual Index - 14 players)
Yesterday Today and Tomorrow (1963) Italian triptych (Visual Index - 13 players)
The Quiet Man (1952) Classic Irish rom-com (Visual Index - 14 players)
Paris is Burning (1990) Seminal doc ages real well (Visual Index - 21 players)
Sound of Music (1965) a flibbertigibbet, a will-o-the-wisp, a girl (Visual Index - 21 players)
SEASON 5 (20 episodes)
a taste for blondes
The Matrix (1999) take the red pill (Visual Index ~ 13 players)
Gone With the Wind (1939) The epic of all epics (1st half - 14 players / 2nd half - 12 players)
Suddenly Last Summer (1959) You know you're in trouble when Montgomery Clift is the least psychologically disturbed character in a movie (Visual Index - 12 players)
Saddest Children in the World (2003-2009) Jamie Travis' short films (Visual Index - 7 players)
Cries and Whispers (1973) Bergman's deadly sisters (Visual Index - 9 players)
Under the Skin (2014) Glazer's enigmatic alien invasion (Visual Index - 23 players)
Any Batman Film (1966-2012) from nutty to Nolan (Visual Index - 17 players)
Goldfinger (1964) Definitive Bond, but so sexist! (Visual Index - 12 players)
Orange is the New Black (2014, Season 2) Caged! (Visual Index - 8 players)
Zorba the Greek (1964) Best Cinematography winner (Visual Index - 5 players)
How Green Was My Valley (1941) John Ford's Best Picture winner (Visual Index - 8 players)
X-Men (2000) the film that kicked off the mutant franchise (Visual Index - 9 players)
Blow-Up (1966) Michelangelo Antonioni's new wave classic (Visual Index - 8 players)
3 Women (1977) surreal southwestern dream (Visual Index - 11 players)
Mean Girls (2004) teen classic's 10th anniversary (Visual Index - 14 players)
Pocahontas (1995) Disney's undervalued epic (Visual Index - 13 players)
The Letter (1940) Bette Davis, murderess (Visual Index - 12 players)
Can't Stop the Music (1980) infamous disco musical (Visual Index - 15 players)
L.A. Confidential (1997) masculine neo-noir (Visual Index -17 players)
Eternal Sunshine (2004) mnemonic masterpiece (Visual Index - 33 players)
SEASON 4 (19 episodes)
you chose that?
Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid (1969) Buddy Western (Visual Index - 8 players)
The Bad and the Beautiful (1952) Hollywood vs Hollywood (Visual Index - 9 players)
The Color Purple (1985) Whoopi shines in this landmark film (Visual Index -15 players)
Shadow of a Doubt (1943) Hitchcock's own favorite (7 players)
Mary Poppins (1964) Practically perfect in every way (Visual Index - 12 players)
Dead Ringers (1988) the 25th anniversary of Cronenberg's classic (Visual Index)
American Graffiti (1973) rich nostalgia in George Lucas' hit (Visual Index)
Hud (1963) Paul Newman's greatest performance (Visual Index)
Fantasia (1941) Disney's experimental masterwork (Visual Index)
The Talented Mr Ripley (1999) Tom wants Dickie (Visual Index -19 players)
Summertime (1955) David Lean & Katharine Hepburn in Venice (Visual Index)
Double Indemnity (1944) the greatest of all noirs? (Visual Index)
A Star is Born (1954) Judy Judy Judy...but what a fine picture, too (Visual Index)
Jurassic Park (1993) to coincide with its rerelease (Visual Index)
The Eagleman Stag & Death to the Tin Man our first short film special!
Jackie Brown (1997) an anomaly in Quentin Tarantino's filmography (Visual Index)
Forbidden Games (1952) French children grieve in World War II (Visual Index)
Barbarella (1968) Jane Fonda overheats the universe in this camp-fest (Visual Index)
Wizard of Oz (1939) we followed that yellow brick road...in circles. (Visual Index)
SEASON 3 (19 Episodes)
March thru August 2012
raise the red lantern is a must-see miracle movie
Dog Day Afternoon (1975) tense classic with Pacino's greatest star turn
Singin' in the Rain (1952) Gene Kelly's GOTTA DANCE GOTTA DANCE ♬
Sherlock Jr (1924) Buster Keaton does everything well in this silent comedy
The Royal Tenenbaums (2001) Wes Anderson's masterpiece
How To Marry a Millionaire (1953) a gorgeous trio but is the movie visually flat?
Pink Narcissus (1971) an influential avante-garde queer indie. NSFW
Road to Perdition (2002) majestic and stately father/son drama
Picnic (1955) Kim Novak gazes lustfully at her romantic options in this hit
The Story of Adele H (1975) Isabelle Adjani believes her own lies.
Possessed (1947) Joan Crawford goes a little mad sometimes.
Edward Scissorhands (1990) Tim Burton's perfect fairy tale.
The Exorcist (1973) the horrifying zeitgeist sensation about a little girl and the devil.
Pariah (2011) a tender bruised coming out saga about a lesbian teen.
Raise the Red Lantern (1991) Gong Li goes mad in this Oscar nom'ed classic.
Serenity/Firefly (2005) Joss Whedon's western sci-fi serial turned feature.
Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs (1937) the movie that built an empire.
Easter Parade (1948) Judy & Fred's only team up.
Bonnie and Clyde (1967) drive away with the doomed lovers.
Ladyhawke (1985) season kick-off with a conflicted but undeniably gorgeous movie.
SEASON 2 (15 Episodes)
March thru July 2011
rebels with a cause: watching great movies
REBEL WITHOUT A CAUSE (1955) the season finale
ALIENS (1986) 25th anniversary celebration !!!
ROCCO AND HIS BROTHERS (1960)
PEGGY SUE GOT MARRIED (1986)
THE WOMAN IN THE WINDOW (1944)
MOULIN ROUGE! (2001) Tenth Anniversary Celebration
TARZAN THE APE MAN (1932)
LAW OF DESIRE AND/OR MATADOR Pedro Almodóvar (1986-1987)
ERASERHEAD David Lynch (1977)
THE CIRCUS (Charlie Chaplin, 1928)
BEAUTY & THE BEAST (Gary Trousdale and Kirk Wise, 1991)
HEAVENLY CREATURES (Peter Jackson, 1994)
PSYCHO (Alfred Hitchcock, 1960) [Visual Index- 14 players]
A STREETCAR NAMED DESIRE (Elia Kazan, 1951)
MEMENTO (Christopher Nolan, 2001)
SEASON 1 (11 Episodes)
July thru October 2010
twinsies
NIGHT OF THE HUNTER (Charles Laughton, 1955)
MEAN GIRLS (Mark Waters, 2004)
LA DOLCE VITA (Federico Fellini, 1960)
REQUIEM FOR A DREAM (Darren Aronofsky, 2000)
SE7EN (David Fincher, 1995)
PANDORA'S BOX (G.W. Pabst, 1929)
A FACE IN THE CROWD (Elia Kazan, 1957)
BRING IT ON (Peyton Reed, 2000)
BLACK NARCISSUS (Michael Powell and Emeric Pressburger, 1947)
ANGELS IN AMERICA (Mike Nichols, 2003)
SHOWGIRLS (Paul Verhoeven, 1995)
X-MEN (Bryan Singer, 2000)