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Under discussion:

Arsenic and Old Lace  (1944)

The Doors  (1991)

Halloween  (1978)

It's the Great Pumpkin, Charlie Brown  (1966)

Strange Brew  (1983)

Written on the Wind  (1957)

All That Heaven Allows  (1955)

Forrest Gump  (1994)

Mother India  (1957)

Halloween: The Curse of Michael Myers  (1995)

Wet Hot American Summer  (2001)

Far from Heaven  (2002)

Hero  (2002)

Monster House  (2006)

Beerfest  (2006)

Happy autumn! Today marked the fall equinox for the Northern hemisphere, and while the season can be a depressing one for mainstream moviegoers (at least until Thanksgiving ushers in the holiday blockbusters and Oscar-bait releases), it is otherwise a wonderful time of the year. Having grown up in New England, I’ve always had a great appreciation for the changing leaves, the brisk weather, the pumpkin and apple picking and the foodie holidays (as a rather chunky kid, I really only liked Halloween for the candy and Thanksgiving for the stuffing of my face). I even looked forward to going back to school every September.

But autumn can be a great season for cinephiles, too, despite the significant lack of worthwhile theatrical releases. For one thing, the colder weather, particularly the colder nights, keeps us indoors more often for DVD watching. For another thing, the season has lent itself nominally and spirtually to some great films by the likes of Ozu, Bergman and Rohmer, among others. Personally, I think movies set in the fall tend to look the most beautiful, although I recognize that part of my aesthetic appreciation comes with my general love for autumnal landscapes and activities.

To get myself in the mood, and share the spirit with fellow fans of the fall, I’ve found ten scenes that will help us to welcome the season:

1. Opening sequence  - from Monster House (2006)

I shouldn’t have to explain why this is on here, but I guess there are a ton of you who unfortunately skipped this animated film when it was out in theaters (when you could have seen it properly in 3-D). Hopefully, the beginning will entice you to watch the rest, although I admit the rest of the film isn’t quite as good as its opening. The falling leaf may remind you of the beginning of Forrest Gump, which could have been intentional since Robert Zemeckis was a producer on this film, but I much prefer this sequence, mostly because director Gil Kenan manages to make me believe it was shot by an actual camera and not just set up to look that way with a computer.

2. Cathy and Raymond walk in the woods - from Far From Heaven (2002)

The opening shot from Monster House initially reminded me of the opening shot from this Todd Haynes film (yes, I have since become aware that it goes back to Douglas Sirk’s All That Heaven Allows opening). But I can’t find that sequence online, plus it would possibly be redundant to include it, so here’s another scene displaying the gorgeous fall colors as shot by cinematographer Edward Lachman. Perfectly evoking Sirk’s films, there isn’t another modern film that better recreates the Connecticut autumn foliage as well as I know it.

3. Opening sequence - from Written on the Wind (1956)

More blowing leaves. With much less grace than the one from Monster House, of course. But as much as I love the falling leaves that come with this time of year, I do get frustrated with all the dry, brown ones that slip through your door later on in the season. In any event, I had to include something from Sirk, despite an apparent lack of clips from his films available on YouTube.

4. Moon vs. Flying Snow - from Hero (2002)

If you want evidence that YouTube isn’t the proper format with which to watch film clips, check out the above sequence from Zhang Yimou’s historical spectacle. Still, you should be able to tell that those colorful blurs are leaves. If there’s anything I’d like to do more than jumping into a pile of leaves right now, it’s flying through a flurry of blowing leaves, with or without a blade.

5. Paul Rudd scares a little kid - from Halloween: The Curse of Michael Myers (1995)

Enough blowing leaves. Let’s move on to the first big holiday of the season: Halloween. But to make things interesting, I’m not including any favorite scenes from It’s the Great Pumpkin, Charlie Brown or even from the original Halloween. Save those for another month or so. Instead, take a look some scenes from one of the Halloween movies you probably haven’t seen, or at least don’t like as much. Why? Because Paul Rudd is in it. I don’t know about you, but I find no better way to celebrate the beginning of autumn than to ritually put my copy of Wet Hot American Summer back on the shelf and then rent Halloween 6 and let Rudd link the seasons together. He’s not as funny here as in WHAS, but he still unintentionally has me laughing in the scene where he explains the origin of Michael Myers’ powers and in an earlier bit where he inadvertently makes a kid drop his pumpkin (fast forward the above clip to 8:01).

6. Cary Grant gets horny in a graveyard - from Arsenic and Old Lace (1944)

Here’s another great Halloween movie that isn’t too Halloweeny, so it’ll hopefully get you more in the mood for the fall than for trick or treating. Though it’s clearly a set, I’ll always love the autumnal outdoor scenes from this adaptation of the high school drama staple. In particular, I like the bit above (fast forward to 6:00), where Cary Grant lecherously chases his new bride around a tree. I so wish autumn in Brooklyn still looked so quaint. And I so wish I could have married Priscilla Lane.

7. Jim Morrison ruins another Thanksgiving - from The Doors (1991)

And now we move on to the other big holiday with a look at my favorite Thanksgiving scene in all of cinema. Maybe it’s because I’ve had many a dysfunctional turkey day myself, and watching Pam throw the sweet potatoes and Jim stomp on the duck, let alone the other awkward moments involving sex partners and murder attempts, always makes me realize that I could have experienced worse. By the way, The Doors are also a good band to think of in terms of the transition from summer to autumn because of their songs “Summer’s Almost Gone” and “Indian Summer.”

8. Sam Raimi evokes Buster Keaton - from Indian Summer (1993)

Speaking of Indian Summer, that wonderfully warm spell that comes later in the season following the first frost and before it really starts to get cold, here is one of its many cinematic namesakes. It may not even be the best of the films with this title, but some of the visuals are good for celebrating the seasonal cusp. Also, Sam Raimi is hilariously memorable as the camp maintenance man. In one great scene in the above montage, he reminds me of Buster Keaton as he attempts to pull fallen luggage out of the lake.

9. India-shaped harvest - from Mother India (1957)

No list of autumn-themed movies would be complete without something related to a harvest, though I’m certain that I’m veering off season a bit by using Mother India as my choice of such a film. I’m pretty sure the harvesting of wheat in India occurs in the Spring. Regardless, it’s the film that first pops into mind when I think of harvest, likely because of the incredible India-shaped crop set piece seen above. (Click on the image to get the un-embeddable clip).

10. “Skunk” invades Oktoberfest - from Strange Brew (1983)

Another great thing that happens in autumn, specifically the beginning of autumn, is Oktoberfest. And sure, I probably could have included a clip from Broken Lizard’s Beerfest, which actually takes place in Munich. However, nobody can deny that Strange Brew is a funnier film, and there’s no better Oktoberfest-set scene than the one in which Hosehead the dog flies into a Canadian celebration, is mistaken for a skunk and successfully saves hundreds of people from drinking contaminated beer. Hosehead is a true hero. Yet for some reason nobody has honored the beer-loving canine by putting a clip of the scene up on YouTube. So, we’ll have to make due with a montage from the film set to a song about beer, which has a few minimal flashes of the Oktoberfest part. Enjoy, eh?

Under discussion:

Orphans  (2007)

Ry Russo-Young, who many will remember from her role in Joe Swanberg’s Hannah Takes the Stairs, was a prize winner at two of the last three SXSWs - she won the jury award for best experimental film for her Psycho deconstruction Marion at the 2006 fest and shared a special jury prize for Orphans at the 2007 edition. Orphans hits DVD next week via David Redmon and Ashley Sabin’s brand new label Carnivalesque Films. She chatted with us this week about Why Does Herr R Run Amok?, what working with the band “The Virgins” on her new film You Won’t Miss Me was like and why concert films aren’t really for her unless Amy Winehouse or The Rolling Stones are in them.

What films or television shows have you seen recently?

The Pool by Chris Smith at Film Forum, Man On Wire, Fassbinder’s film Why Does Herr R Run Amok?, The Dutchess, Day Of Wrath. I recently saw Hal Ashby’s movie Being There with Peter Sellers and Shirley MacLaine.

Which ones stuck with you and why?

Why Does Herr R Run Amok? stayed with me. I’m not yet sure why exactly… the style, the performances and then the brutal ending all came together like an elegant effortless dance. The whole time I was watching it I was completely enraptured and wasn’t sure why or where it was all going and then BAM the movie hits you so hard in one clean action and then the brutal truth becomes crystal clear. It’s pretty amazing.

Does your interest in them have anything to do with your own work as a filmmaker?

Oh yeah, of course. I like to watch things that will inspire me and push me. I also watch a lot in order to figure out how certain people did things in their films, how a scene was covered or the way a plot unfolds.

How often do you read fiction? Do you wish you read more?

I do wish I read more but have also been reading more frequently recently and I have to say, it feels great to stimulate my brain in that specific way. I read some fiction like Factory of Facts by Luc Sante, but I also like memoirs, diaries, biographies and the newspaper. I read something everyday, even if it’s something small like a paragraph size entry from the diaries of Robert Musil. You can just pick it up anytime and be given a little anecdote or sliver of insight.

What would be your ideal literary adaptation and why?

Ah, well, there is a book I recently fell in love with that would make a great New York movie. I found the story, characters and landscape to be riveting. I could see the scenes unfold as if I were watching them on a screen. The story has a relevance that speaks beyond specifics and becomes primal, like The Godfather. I can’t say much more but maybe later…

How, if at all, has reading informed your filmmaking?

Oh, that’s a tough one! Right now I’m working on a screenplay that’s adapted from a short story and what I loved about the story was the way it dove into the characters subconscious point of view and jumped from the exterior to the interior worlds. This is something we can also do with filmmaking using tools like voice over, POV and dreams. I think this first appealed to me in literature before I realized how it could be utilized in film.

What are you listening to recently?

Roland Kirk, an album called The Inflated Tear. Also Elvis, MGMT, Bruce Springsteen, The Fiery Furnaces, Golden Animals, The Stance Brothers, “Youth Group.”

If you could collaborate with one musician on a film, who would it be and why?

I’m not sure. In the movie I just finished You Won’t Miss Me, I worked with the band The Virgins as well as several other musicians who act in the film. The band acts in the film in addition to playing their music within the narrative of the movie. The lead character, Shelly Brown goes to see and band called The Virgins and then goes back stage afterwards to hang out. For You Won’t Miss Me I also worked with Will Bates who composed the perfect score for the film.

What would be the ideal pairing for you if you were to make a concert film?

I’ve never been a big fan of concert films, I’m usually kind of bored by them. I think I prefer films like Gimme Shelter that include and are about a concert but are maybe not a strait up “concert film.” I’d be interested in working with Amy Winehouse because her music is soulful but also because it would be interesting to watch her the moment after she walks off the stage.

As Fantastic Fest gains in prominence as a must-attend spot on the festival calendar, the special events organized by Tim League and friends are becoming as notorious as the wide-ranging selection of international genre and exploitation films on the official lineup. From shooting lessons to field trips to far-flung barbeque joints, to multiple karaoke parties and totally unofficial after-after parties in the hotel suites of celebrity attendees, the only criticism of the festival that keeps coming up is that there’s actually too much fun to be had, too much to do. But this is not necessarily a Fantastic Fest-specific problem; with the Alamo Drafthouse chain itself, League has created a year-round home for Too Much Fun for not just cinema nerds, but anyone who likes to wash their pop culture down with copious amounts of beer. This became evident yesterday afternoon when, after a screening of the paraplegic serial killer film Late Bloomer (about which more, later), I snuck out of the Alamo South Lamar to head across town to the Alamo Ritz for Michael Jackson Thrill the World, a sing-a-long, dance-off and drinking contest set to the music video masterpieces of the King of Pop.

But contrary to appearances, the point of the evening, according to host Henri Mazza, was not to have fun. “I don’t care if you have a good time,” he said. “The most important thing tonight is that you learn how to do “Thriller.”

The Alamo is getting together a contingent to try to break the record for the “largest group synchronized “Thriller” Dance,” and they’re also hoping to attach “upwards of 2,000″ “Thriller”-dancing zombies to the back of next month’s Day of the Dead parade. After letting the crowd warm up with a one-minute dance contest (which the young lady above lost in spite of her sartorial dedication to the endeavor) and by singing and dancing along to videos like “Bad” and “Rock With You,” the Alamo brought out a dance teacher to train the wannabe zombies for their future engagements.

More photos, and thoughts on the videos themselves, after the jump.

Watch three or more Michael Jackson videos back-to-back-to-back and, whatever you think of the man or his music, it’s impossible to deny that no pop star has ever really tried to top him in terms of sheer scope. And even when he’s very, very bad, he’s compelling. The several minutes of narrative exposition tacked on to beginning and end of “Remember the Time” are ridiculous, but audaciously so: it’s no “Thriller,” but that Jackson thought that this––an epic set in ancient Egypt in which he plays a mysterious shape-shifter who makes out with Iman under the nose of her husband Eddie Murphy and slave Magic Johnson––was a good idea is, in a way, thrilling. Though it took the crowd a while to get into it, by the time MJ was yelling about meeting a love interest “in the park, after dark,” a good portion were on their feet, laughing and singing along. Maybe it was the beer, maybe it was the majesty of the choreographed dance. Maybe it was that, in hindsight, all of the pretentions within the Jackson canon––from traditional heterosexuality to the dominatrix-outfitted teenager trying to prove he’s tough in the Martic Scorsese-directed “Bad”––make us feel like we’re privy to an inside joke. Regardless, like so much else at Fantastic Fest, Thrill the World felt like an illegal amount of fun.

See more pics at our Flickr page.