Sunday Matinee (Nov. 24 - Dec. 7)

Not half the price, just half the work.

I only realized after the holiday last week that I wasn't planning on writing a Sunday Matinee, and then realized I hadn't alerted anyone to the fact. My apologies. So here is a double-stuffed Sunday Matinee for your reading pleasure. Also, no more teaching for a while, so things to look for this week: at least three (count 'em, three) Hitchcock films and maybe a Christmas movie or two.

But without further ado...

• I'm excited to see Roger Ebert breaking the silly tradition of ten and giving us twenty favorite films from 2008, mercifully listed in alphabetical order.

• The classic film blog Out of the Past runs down ten enjoyable things about old movies, including but not limited to: men using matches; women's silk robes; and art deco.

• The AV Club has a run-down of the worst items ever given as gifts in the movies.

• Fletch at Blog Cabins reviews Synecdoche, New York and Slumdog Millionaire.

• Nick at Fataculture calls Rachel Getting Married, flaws and all, "one of the most wholly original films I have seen all year."

• Shawn at Deadpan writes Nick and Norah's Infinite Playlist "seems to live or die on how truly hip it can be."

• John Dickerson thinks President Bush should go see Frost/Nixon to cheer himself up.

• With their Top Films of the 1930s poll complete, Wonders in the Dark launches a Top Films of the 1940s poll. Get out the vote.

• Daniel at Getafilm has reviews of Slumdog Millionaire, which he gives an A+, and Milk, which is a wonderful read alongside the marvelous discussion in the comments thread.

• A few silent comedies for you to consider at The Dancing Image: Buster Keaton's Seven Chances and a double feature of Harold Lloyd with The Kid Brother and The Freshman.

• Silence is golden at PopMatters, too, with DVD reviews of F.W. Murnau's The Last Laugh and Keaton's The General.

• Tony at Cinema Viewfinder is underwhelmed at Slumdog Millionaire and calls Valkyre "one solid thriller that could help launch [Tom] Cruise back into critical favor if not necessarily commercial success."

• Dark City Dame fulfilled my challenge to submit recommendations for the National Film Registry. Also: this month at her blog Noirish City she'll be interviewing self-proclaimed "Alfred Hitchcock geek" Joel Gunz.

• Over at The Stop Button, Andrew pans Baz Luhrmann's Australia but notes it's "actually not the worst modern three-hour vanity project I’ve seen." Meanwhile, Roderick Heath at Ferdy on Films calls it "pure, unadorned, interminable, elephantine kitsch."

• Christopher Orr presents the worst cinematic trend of the year: men who write, direct and star in films and then sing the song that plays over the credits.

• The Onion: "Can anyone give me one good reason why they haven't made a second Godfather movie?"

And in case you haven't seen them...

This week on Turner Classic Movies:
• Out of the Past (1947), Dec 9
• The Bad and the Beautiful (1952), Dec 9
• Lust for Life (1956), Dec 9
• Cat People (1942), Dec 10
• 2001: A Space Odyssey (1968), Dec 10
• High Noon (1952), Dec 10
• The Bishop's Wife (1947), Dec 10
• The Spiral Staircase (1945), Dec 11
• Gigi (1958), Dec 11
• 3:10 to Yuma (1957), Dec 13
• Singin' in the Rain (1952), Dec 14