Movies, Flicks and Films

MOVIES ~ FLICKS ~ and FILMS

Every motion picture ever made will fall into one of these categories.

~ Check the lists to see if your favorite movies are really just great flicks!

~ Post your own Movie/Flick/Film breakdowns and have others rate your assessment!

~ And read our featured articles to deepen your appreciation of motion pictures.

Some iconic directors are associated mostly with one category of motion pictures. For instance- when you think of James Cameron you think Movies. John Waters: Flicks. And when someone says the words Stanley Kubrick, you immediately think of his ambitious Films. But it's important to remember that within any filmmaker's catalogue, all three types can be found.

KUBRICK

The Shining . . . MOVIE.
Last Halloween a group of us curled up together to watch this classic creep-out. Some of us were shocked by a scenes we didn't remember seeing before- parts they can't show on cable TV. The Shining could garner a sizable main-stream crowd at any midnight screening anywhere in the world despite being aired on television a dozen times a year. That's a MOVIE.

Eyes Wide Shut . . . FLICK!
I'm sure that someday all of Kubrick's pictures will be revered as full-on Films. Until then, this upper-crust circle-jerk is a FLICK!

2001: A Space Odyssey . . . FILM.
Here's a general rule: Apes + Monoliths + Moralizing computers + Space-floating fetuses = FILM.

Horror Pictures

Horror films have the power to startle, terrify, and nauseate us to the point of laughter or tears. In this one genre there are a meriod of different movies, flicks and films. Here are just a few.

HORROR

A Nightmare on Elm Street . . . MOVIE.
It's the classic 80's formula: girl in underwear meets grotesque, unstoppable killing machine. 'Nightmare' started one of the most successful motion picture franchises ever and created a new (albeit burnt) face for the eternal bogeyman under our beds. Mass appeal, cultural saturation and prime-time replay value make this picture a monumental Horror MOVIE.

Drag Me To Hell . . . FLICK!
Sam Rami returned to his Evil Dead roots in this hilarious, gore-gasping sprint to the title's give-away ending. When you're too busy laughing and covering your eyes to eat your popcorn, you know you're in a classic Horror FLICK.

The Texas Chainsaw Massacre (1978) . . . FILM.
The many sequels spawned by this cinematic nightmare are rarely found on the same shelf as the original itself. That's because the original 'Chainsaw' is truly in a class all by itself. Often copied, but never successfully, this indie master work of terror still vibrates the viewer to the bone. That's why this Horror FILM lives up to its buzz.

Gangster Pictures

"You'll never take me alive, coppers!" Gangster pictures have been a Hollywood staple since the invention of the Tommy-gun. The colorful characters and romantic visions of the underworld make for wonderful escapism. Gangster pictures are kind of like pizza, even when they're bad- they're still pretty good.

GANGSTA!

The Godfather . . . MOVIE.
It's not just a crime story, it's a love a story and a family story and a period drama. It's different every time you watch it and you watch it all the time! Pick up at any spot in this epic first installment of the Corleone family and you're never lost. Its eternal replay value, the encyclopedia of quotable lines, and its indelible mark on the American consciousness make The Godfather quite possibly the worlds greatest Gangster MOVIE.

The Godfather part III . . . FLICK!
Be honest, you only watch it to remember how bad it is, (and for the near self-parodying operatic climax.) The only thing 'Godfather III' gave to the series was the word "trilogy." It's good in the way that it's good to see the tag sticking out the back of some prick's $400 sweater, and that's why it's a good ol' Gangster FLICK!

The Godfather part II . . . FILM.

Cassino - Movie

Gangs of New York - Flick

Goodfellas - Film

Time Travel

Ever since H.G. Wells first invented the "Time Machine" in his 1895 novella by that title, writers have sought different ways to propel us forward or backward in time. My favorite distinction in this genre of storytelling is the space factor.

Does the time machine in your story transport a person through geographical space as well as time, or does one arrive in the new time in the exact same geographic location? Geeking out fully now: If you were to time travel from any position on the surface of the earth, and the machine you used did not adjust your coordinates, you would likely end up in outer space somewhere because the earth is continually orbiting around the sun at about 66,000 miles per hour. Right now, for instance, you are sitting several thousand miles from where you were when you started reading this paragraph.

Back to the Future (trilogy) . . . all MOVIES.
All three chapters in the Back to the Future series exemplify quality American movie making. Rock-n-roll playing good guys, manure eating bad-guys, a love triangle with your mom-- there's nothing about this classic trilogy that doesn't say, "block-buster MOVIE"

Time After Time . . . FLICK!
OK, first-- H.G. Wells really invented a time machine back in 1893. He didn't just write a story about it. And second-- Jack the Ripper used the thing to travel to 1979 San Fransisco where he finds a psychopath's paradise. Malcolm McDowell, as the Scotland Yard detective, gives chase in this under-appreciated time travel FLICK.

The Fountain . . . FILM
This is really a beautiful trip through time where the time machine is a couple's true love. You'll recognize the main musical theme because almost every action/sci-fi movie for the last four years has borrowed their trailer music from this existential, yet somehow still mainstream FILM.

Westerns

In the eighties the Hollywood western was all but replaced by a new genre: the buddy-cop movie. That right there might tell us that Westerns were really always seen as movies. It's arguable that westerns were the birth of the movie experience. For decades they accounted for a huge majority of studio pictures. In the late 70's that percentage plummeted. Some cinefiles theorize that this change in studio programming was related to the release of the 1974 Mel Brooks comedy western, Blazing Saddles. Blazing Saddles, some say, shined a giant spotlight on the racism inherent in the Hollywood western, causing a shock wave that left the genre limping until it was revived with a new epoch in 1992 with the Academy Award winning Unforgiven. Now it seems that most Western directors are aiming for Film status. Pictures shooting from the hip, however, often miss the Film target and "PA-ZANG!" ricochet into Flickdom.

Tombstone . . . MOVIE.
Just the right mix of romance, bro-mance, and epic bad-assery flickers across the silver screen in this nearly perfect Western. Unforgettable quotes- "I'm your huckleberry." - iconic imagery, (and Sam Neil) put this picture near the top in the great category of Western MOVIE.

The Quick and the Dead . . . FLICK!
If the principal actor in your picture can't stop making the "man-aint-it-cool-I'm-in-a-western" face, you're probably making a FLICK.

Assassination of Jesse James by the Coward Robert Ford . . . FILM.
Critics have called this a character study, but I see it more as a cinematic poem. The methodical pacing, mesmerizing pictures, and lyric narration pulled strait from the source material make 'Assassination' a modern classic FILM.

Movies, Flicks and Films