Out Of All Adaptations Of The Ballet And Short Story, This Has Gotta Be My Favorite Version Of The Nutcracker

Halloween (1978) by John Carpenter.

One of the greatest horror movies of all time. A genre supernova. Created a taxonomic category that still lives. Unsparing precision, a simple premise and style.

While the original Halloween may not be the first slasher movie, it is the film that set the groundwork for the genre and paved the way for all the other great slasher franchises like Friday the 13th and A Nightmare on Elm Street. If you claim to be a horror fan and you haven't seen the original Halloween, first of all, shame on you. Second of all, watch it NOW. This one is required viewing.

Also, it is my personal opinion that John Carpenter's Halloween has the greatest opening scene in horror history.

Deathbird Stories: A Pantheon of Modern Gods by Harlan Ellison.

Ellison is a controversial figure, for sure. Despite this, I think he's a fine, one-two punch wordsmith.

L'Homme qui rit, The Man Who Laughs: A Romance of English History (or By Order of the King/On the King's Command) by Victor Hugo.

A poignant, profound and tragic story. 

One of my top ten.

Lluvia en los Ojos (Rain in the Eyes).

As much as I'm mixed on Mutant Mayhem, I still give it my most favorable, most sincere wish for success.

May three of the most successful movies in 2023 be animated movies. May artistry be celebrated. May the ratings go higher than PG and beyond if the storytellers need it to be.

Some animated running by Yoh Yoshinari (吉成曜)

Tutorial by the director of Little Witch Academia, and key animator in: Gurren Lagann, FLCL, KILL la KILL, Evangelion, Panty & Stocking (X)

Freaks (also re-released as The Monster Story, Forbidden Love, and Nature's Mistakes) by Tod Browning.

Based on elements from the short story "Spurs" by Tod Robbins.

Step right up and be horrified! Or be sympathetic, that works too. This is a unique film. Believe me, there has never been and will never be a film like this again.

Get this: After the success of Universal's original "Dracula" in 1931, MGM approached its director Tod Browning to make "the scariest film ever made". So what did Browning do? He gathered real circus sideshow performers from all over the country and made the movie "Freaks". The movie's so shocking that MGM was sued by one audience member who claimed that seeing the movie gave her a miscarriage. This movie is so controversial that there are still cities in the United States where it's illegal to even show it!

Just a word of warning before you decide to go see this, some of the people in this movie do look very disturbing. If you'd rather not subject yourself to that kind of imagery, then it would probably be best to not see it. Regardless, this film is full of iconic moments of pure cinema, pulpy horror, carny noir, and perverse melodrama. Freaks is still unclassifiable after many decades. It's still sick, twisted, perverse and profoundly human. It contains Tod Browning's view of the world at its purest.

Dark City (1998) by Alex Proyas.

A beautiful, sleek, lucid nightmare.

Filled with unforgettable, overwhelming images.

Highly influential.

Cartoons I'd recommend showing or watching with your kids:

1.) The Iron Giant

2.) Miyazaki movies (of course)

3.) The heartbreaking The Red Turtle

4.) Cartoon Saloon films

5.) Adventure Time (amazing)

6.) Gravity Falls (also amazing...)

7.) Avatar: The Last Airbender

8.) The Legend of Korra

9.) Batman: The Animated Series

10.) Gargoyles

11.) The Spectacular Spider-Man

12.) X-Men: Evolution

13.) Over the Garden Wall

"Conan the Barbarian" by Frank Frazetta.