Death by nitrate fire is too good a one for Hitler, methinks. Here, the projectionist eyes the funeral pyre behind the screen—one lit cigarette and whoosh!

How could I not love that Quentin got almost everything right about the film screening scenes in INGLOURIOUS BASTERDS (2009): from an omniscient narrator stepping in to explain the special qualities of a nitrate fire, to depicting the bell, the mark, the douser lever of a perfect reel changeover. So what didn’t he get right? The insurgent’s reel (#4) went straight from the shipping case (above) onto the projector. Not to get into technicalities, but that probably wouldn’t have happened. Oh, yeah, and each reel does NOT get its own shipping case, as is suggested above. Yes, I may be as geeky as Q.T.

Trains and movies go together.  (Glad the DP didn’t insist on having this window scrubbed before shooting it.)

Wasn’t quick enough to screen-grab the Persona tribute, but here’s a little Seventh Seal allusion to keep you cinephiles feeling smart and happy.

(500) DAYS OF SUMMER: glad I finally saw it, a little underwhelming, but I like Zooey Deschanel’s brand of manic pixie dream girl.

To the guy sitting next to me, spitting sunflower seeds and texting throughout THE HURT LOCKER (2008)…don’t quite know what to say to you.  It did add to the suspense of the film—I wasn’t sure if I was going to explode, too.  Jeremy Renner as the lead bomb specialist: precise, thrilling, funny.