Karina on SpoutBlog

Under discussion:

The Apartment  (1960)

Oh, look: it’s my favorite New Year’s Eve scene of all time. Consider this a spoiler alert: if you haven’t seen Billy Wilder’s The Apartment…um, you’re missing out on a fundamental life experience, and you need to watch it immediately. To the rest of you: many happy returns of the new year. We’ll be posting lightly on Monday, and will be back in full-force on Wednesday, January 2nd.

Under discussion:

There Will Be Blood  (2007)

• In lieu of a more traditional 2007 Top Ten, Variety has taken the conspicuously bloggy tactic of presenting the same information with a negative spin, publishing their picks for the Top Ten Things That Didn’t Happen over the course of the last 12 months. Nice idea in theory maybe, but in practice, it’s sort of an exercise in existential futility. Item #2 is “The WGA would keep working through the end of the year.” Are we sure that didn’t happen more than any of the eight things below it that didn’t happen? If something doesn’t happen in a forest, can Variety hear it? Etc. What a conversation starter!
• Meanwhile, the WGA strike took the top spot on the American Film Institute’s list of things that *did* happen in 2007; its happening was deemed more than Iraq movies or the iPhone. And finally, to make the triumvirate of meaningless distinctions complete, The Hollywood Reporter has declared “Technology” to have been “the biggest Hollywood story in 2007.”
• There Will Be Blood made $67,951 on its first day in release, which is pretty much beyond reproach for a film with a running time of 2.5 hours, opening on just two screens. On a Wednesday.