Futureappletreestudio 1 MELTDOWN!

I just wanted to make up yet again for lost time. Besides, I'm too lazy to actually write reviews right now, especially when these Daytrotter Sessions already come with lovely ones by Sean Moeller. So then, prepare to OD on DT!


The 1900's


The Daredevil Christopher Wright


Ash Reiter


The Redwalls


Nellie McKay


Vampire Weekend


As always, happy sounds.
Read, Kindly Light...

Guess The Movie

Here are ten quotes and one photo, all from one amazing film. Try and guess the movie without sneaking a peek at IMDB! (I've changed the names of the speakers to give it a little more mystery, but the dialogue is all original and unchanged.)

1. "You got me, Charlie. What are you going to do now?"

2. "I will civilize this land."

3.
A: "What's a misanthrope, Arthur?"
B: "Some bugger who fuckin' hates every other bugger."
A: "Hey, I didn't ask you, you black bastard!"
C: "He's right, Samuel. A misanthrope is one who hates humanity."
A: "Is that what we are -- misanthropes?"
C: "Good lord, no. We're a family!"

4. "Australia. What fresh Hell is this?"

5.
A: "Forgive me, sir, but I've been stuck here with no one but this sorry sack of Hibernian pig shit for conversation. Poor, poor Dan O'Reilly. Sit, sir. Drink with me."
[B cocks his gun and points it at A]
B: "One more crack about the Irish, Mr. Lamb, and I'll shoot you. Am I clear?"
A: "Oh, as the waters of Ennis, sir. Let us drink, then, to the Irish. No finer race of men has ever ... peeled a potato."

6. "Oh, he sits up there in those melancholy hills; some say he sleeps in caves like a beast, slumbers deep like the Kraken. The Blacks say that he is a spirit. The Troopers will never catch him. Common force is meaningless, Mr. Murphy, as he squats up there on his impregnable perch. So I wait, Mr. Murphy. I wait."

7. "Why can't you ever just...stop me?"

8. "Love. Love is the key. Love and family. For what are night and day, the sun, the moon, the stars without love, and those you love around you? What could be more hollow than to die alone, unloved?"

9.
A: "'There’s night and day, brother, both sweet things; sun and moon, and stars, brother, all sweet things; there’s likewise a wind on the heath. Life is...very... sweet, brother...'"
B: "'Life is very sweet, brother; who would wish to die?'" George Borrow, I believe. A worthy writer and a beautiful sentiment, Sir ... But you are not my brother."

A: Now, suppose I told you there was a way to save your little brother Mikey from the noose... Suppose I gave you a horse and a gun. Suppose, Mr. Burns, I was to give both you and your young brother Mikey here, a pardon... Suppose I said that I could give you the chance to expunge the guilt beneath which you so clearly labour... Suppose I gave you till Christmas... Now, suppose you tell me what it is I want from you.
B: You want me to kill me brother.
A: I want you to kill your brother.

If you're really psycho, name the characters who say these things.
And maybe the actors, too!

Hey, there might be a prize involved...

UPDATE: Yes, Kinsey, your friends is correct. Whoever he/she is, he/she gets 77 IMAGINARY AWESOME-BEANS (which are infinitely better than the so-called "cool beans")!
(they look something like this:)

Read, Kindly Light...

Late Night Buzz: Trailers, Interviews, and More Trailers

Well, this is a Lenten post, so I can't enjoy any cokes or smokes. Still, perhaps I can get a vicarious buzz off of sharing what's brewing in popcultureland.

To the Buzzmobile! Awaaaay!

!!BUZZ!!
I hope by now most of you have seen the new Star Trek trailer. If you haven't, you must watch it. NOW. Yes, you read correctly: despite my once having been an avid Trekkie-Hater, a few seasons of Voyager and this AWESOME trailer have won me over. When I first saw it in theaters, my head exploded. Twice. True story.

!!BUZZ!!
Did any of y'all catch the series premiere of Castle last night? It's not bad, not bad at all. 'Course, I love just about anything with Nathan Fillion in it. Speaking of whom, here is the link to an interview in which he talks about the new series.

!!BUZZ!!
Apparently the cast of Seinfeld is gonna reunite on Curb Your Enthusiasm. Frankly, I don't want to see Jerry Seinfeld again; I mean nowadays he's just the twice-dried husk of the already dry, hallow shell of his former self. But George? Elayne? Kramer? All of them together? Count me in!

!!BUZZ!!
Here's the newest trailer for Pixar's "UP". Now with twice the number of senior citizens, and 100 times the number of creepy talking dogs!

!!BUZZ!!
I love Amy Adams. So does my niece, Claire. But to her, she exists only as 'Princess Giselle.' Anyhoo, she did an interview for her new indie dramedy (yes, I love saying the phrase 'indie dramedy' when-and-where-ever possible), Sunshine Cleaning. Read it now.

!!BUZZ!!
Wanna take a sneak peak at Guy Ritchie's upcoming Sherlock Holmes film, starring Robert Downey Junior as Sherlock and Jude Law as Watson? Wait. Really? Jude Law as Watson? Oh yeah, yeah, I can see that. Definitely. He definitely looks the part, is the right age, has the level of maturity, etc., etc. I mean he was practically born for this role. [/sarcasm]

!!BUZZ!!
And God said "The Last shall be First, and the First shall be Last." And Tyler blogged it so. YOU MUST WATCH THE NEW HARRY POTTER TRAILER!!! I mean it. Stop reading this and click the link now. Click it!
Read, Kindly Light...

The Spinto Band at Futureappletree Studio 1

It's been forever and a day since I did a Daytrotter session! But fret not, dear readers. That's what I'm here to do.

[T]here’s young and out-of-control puppy love, there’s serious-found-the-one love, there’s adoration for the tickly impulse that happens when a familiar song makes you want to sing louder than an airplane, there’s splitting a six-pack, there’s all-night drives, and there is a wealth of good times arranged for all to have inside of every Spinto song. ---Sean Moeller, founder of Daytrotter

I had heard a couple of songs from The Spinto Band floating around the internet, and yeah, at the time I thought they were OK, but nothing special. Their latest session at Daytrotter destroyed that false impression completely. If I had to describe their music in one phrase, it would probably be something like "Electroshock Molasses!" or maybe even "Coked up cotton candy Energizer Bunny." Confused? So am I. But let me explain myself. The Spinto Band's songs are catchy and sweet -- hooky even, but make no mistake: they are hardly "sugar and spice and everything nice." No, there's more than a bit of a bite to their music, a raw intensity and a surprising maturity that belies the poppy exterior of their songs. I'll definitely be looking for more of their music. How could you not like a band that throws together an oddly addicting medley of "Give Me Just A Little More Time" by the Chairmen of the Board, "The Boys Are Back In Town" by Thin Lizzy, and "The Sweet Escape" by Gwen Stefani? I find that to be quite a feat, maybe even a feat-and-a-half. And I dare you not to join in with their frantic and ecstatic "La la la's!" on 'Pumpkins and Paisley'. Just try not singing along. Try it!


"LAlalalalalalaLAlalalalaLAlalalaLALALALA!"

The Spinto Band - Welcome to Daytrotter
The Spinto Band's encore Daytrotter session
The Spinto Band - Give Me Just a Little More Time / The Sweet Escape / The Boys Are Back In Town
The Spinto Band - Later On
The Spinto Band - Pumpkins and Parsley
The Spinto Band - Summer Grof
Read, Kindly Light...

Sunday Already?

Since half of everything good on this site is something I have stolen from better bloggers like Whitney Matheson, I thought, "Hey! Why not steal more?" So here's my version of Whitney's "my week In Pop" review:

------>

Best TV show I saw:
Burn Notice, which is perhaps the most entertaining show on television, and the season finale ("Lesser Evil") was no exception. Season 2 definitely went out with a bang, a looot of bangs. If you haven't yet seen any of this hilarious and addicting spy dramedy, I urge you to rent Season 1; it'll be the best 5 bucks you spend this week.
I also enjoyed: Life -- it's always funny, surreal, and suspenseful. This episode ("Hit Me Baby") was particularly good and Zen-y. Dollhouse -- it took me a few episodes to get into it, but Joss Whedon never fails to hook you. His new series is thankfully getting better and better. Speaking of Joss (and shaky starts and becoming better and better), I've also been catching up on Buffy the Vampire Slayer. I am in Season 3 and am now quite obsessed, as my friends and family can well attest.

Best movie I saw: Sadly, I only saw one movie this week, so Watchmen is the best (and the WORST) by default...
Best album I heard: It's pretty much a toss-up between Matter and Light, the new album by my favorite local band (a colossus of weird folk, bluegrass, and alternative country), The Theater Fire, and Blood Bank, the new EP by singer/songwriter indie-sensation, Bon Iver. I'll hopefully jot down a little album review on each of these shortly.
I'm also listening to: Alela Diane's two albums, The Pirate Gospel and To Be Still, as well as lots and lots and lots and LOTS of Daytrotter sessions -- too many to count, in fact.

Best book I read: Um...prob'ly Moby Dick, which, while I hope it isn't really "The Great American Novel", is damn good. Thanks, Dr. Shank, for helping us wade through it.
I'm also reading: Slayer Slang - a Buffy the Vampire Slayer Lexicon, by Michael Adams, and I am only half as ashamed as I should be for reading that. But hey, go easy on me; it was a gift!

Ok. There be my list. So what's on yours?
Read, Kindly Light...

"Watchmen" Review

QUESTION:


ANSWER: Well, count me out. I'm not going no way! Not a 2nd time, at least...

...OK. So it's Thursday night. I have no school in the morning. And, frankly, absolutely nothing to do. My friends say they're going to see a movie: Watchmen. I say something like, "Oh, wow! I had forgotten that was opening! I'll tag along if that's alright." And so off we go, giddy with glee, to the midnight showing of what is sure to be one of this year's biggest disappointments...

I know my audience -- er, um, my lectance? -- is rather limited, but I still hope that this review may persuade many hopeful movie-viewers from wasting $10 and 3-4 hours of their lives on what will almost certainly end up being a flop.

First a little background on the movie for those who have lives (feel free to skip):

Watchmen is a twelve-issue comic book limited series created by writer Alan Moore, artist Dave Gibbons, and colorist John Higgins. The series was published by DC Comics in single issues during 1986 and 1987, and has been subsequently reprinted in collected form. [...] Moore used the story as a means to reflect contemporary anxieties and to deconstruct the superhero concept. Watchmen takes place in an alternate history United States where the country is edging closer to a nuclear war with the Soviet Union, freelance costumed vigilantes have been outlawed and most costumed superheroes are in retirement or working for the government. The story focuses on the personal development and struggles of the protagonists as an investigation into the murder of a government sponsored superhero pulls them out of retirement and eventually leads them to confront a plot by one of their own to stave off nuclear war by killing millions of innocent people. [...] Watchmen has received critical acclaim both in the comics and mainstream press, and is regarded by critics as a seminal text of the comic book medium. After a number of attempts to adapt the series into a feature film, director Zack Snyder's Watchmen was released in March 2009.from the "Watchmen" wikipedia article

---

Thus, "Watchman" is a long-(geekily)anticipated film adaptation of its eponymous graphic novel (which, of course, I have not read, as you may know from my Coraline post). Many fans of the graphic novel were certain the movie would become an instant blockbuster. I wonder how many have retained their faith in it. As I've said, I had not read the comic before seeing the film, but I was intrigued by its premise and its claim to art; thus we went to the midnight showing with high hopes. We waited for almost two hours in the theater before the film began, a film which we eventually wanted to ditch with a good 40 minutes left to go.

---> to the brass tacks of the Review:
I suppose I keep delaying my actual assessment of the film because it's so hard to put down coherently. Where to begin? Hmm......with asterisks!

*Watchmen is a long movie. But more to the point, it feels looooooong. I remember when I first saw "The Dark Knight" in theaters, I desperately wanted the movie to stretch out, to keep going; despite the superhero film's unusual length, it felt short, because I was enjoying it so much. Whereas, Watchmen drrraaaagged on and on and on. Time was tangible, and unforgiving; I wondered if the movie would ever end, a sentiment which hardly bespeaks virtues in a film.

*Per the point above, Watchmen only made me care about *one* of its characters. Rorschach makes one think of Travis-Bickle -- if he became a real superhero (with very, very similar monologues); though nobler than the Taxi Driver, Rorschach exemplifies the most extreme and feverish of vigilantes, whose just crusade has become an arguably justified series of executions. But Rorschach is the exception that proves the rule; Watchmen has a fairly large cast, with at least 5 main characters who are given almost equal air time, and I only really care if one dies. Perhaps that's the point. Maybe the cast is just too large, the focus too big. Watchmen does share a lot of the flaws of the unmentionable adaptation of the 3rd book in the Lord of the Rings trilogy; it's a little too "epic" for its own good, which generally translates into stilted melodrama and lots of eye candy, but nothing else. I mean, I for one would like to know what a normal Joe-Blow thinks about the eminent destruction of the world, and yet the only characters are the heroes and the villains! And generally speaking, when Watchmen tries to show the depth or complexity of one of its characters, it basically just throws a plot point at them: e.g. "Oh! She really is the daughter of so-and-so, as opposed to what's-his-face. What depth! What complexity!" In other words, instead of making the characters complex, it complicates their lives.

*Gratuitous violence and sex. Listen, I like a lot of violent movies: Man On Fire, Kill Bill, American History X, The Proposition, etc. I also like some movies that have a lot of sex and nudity, like Forgetting Sarah Marshall. I call sex and violence "gratuitous" when their on-screen purpose seems only to titillate, when useful tools of character and story become mere cheap thrills. The violence in Watchmen is not ever-present, but when it appears, it is more than a bit over-the-top, probably over-the-line, and seemingly for its own sake. Again, the film's depiction of sex and nudity does not take up that much time and is not extremely graphic, but it is excessive in so far as it seems out of place and without much of a point beyond itself. To put it another way, Watchmen suffers from the same faults as Sin City, because both films pretend that gore and sex and scandal are not only capable of being 'artsy', but *ARE* ART in themselves, without any qualification. Forgive my crudity, but boobs and brains are not in themselves worthy of film depiction; there must be a good REASON for showing what is properly (as the ancient Greeks understood it) ob-scene, or meant to be kept off-screen. I mean, once you know that Dr. Manhattan doesn't wear any clothes, do you reeeeally need to see his glowing blue member throughout several scenes? I don't think so.

*Piggy-backing on the last point, Watchmen falls far short of the literary heights to which it aspires to ascend. Its title is taken from the Roman satirist Juvenal's "Quis custodiet ipsos custodes?", or "Who watches the watchmen?" And its arch-villain is a reference to the famous Shelley poem, "Ozymandias." And while I admit that the graphic novel may be quite different, "Watchmen" the film is by no means art, and is thus not worthy of even parasitic REFERENCES to real art. Art has a cohesion, a continuity of vision, that Watchmen lacks. Art has multiple levels of analogy, while Watchmen's meaning is sadly only on the surface. Art is life-affirming (even if dark and twisted in depiction), while Watchmen often propounds bleak, Nihilistic sentiments. And, ironically enough, these sentiments prove most true when directed at the movie itself. 'Cause, frankly, "It's all a joke."

*On the + Side: Watchmen is very, very, very, very pretty. Again, it has a lot of action and eye candy, but in the end it proves all style, no substance.

--------> In conclusion, Watchmen is like THIS:



And it does THAT to the viewer:


It is a film that might appeal to the most hardcore fans, but few others. It is too obscure, too long, too disgusting and bleak, for the general American audience to enjoy.

I give "Watchmen" 2 Rorschach action figures out of 5.

See what rating Rotten Tomatoes gives Watchmen.

Read, Kindly Light...

OSCARS much?

Nope.

You may have noticed the lack of Academy Awards blogging on this site. Guess what? It was intentional! The Academy Awards are a joke; they almost always pick terrible, terrible winners. Why? Because Hollywood doesn't actually care about talent or good cinema (read: Frank Langella, Mickey Rourke, The Dark Knight); it only cares about its own agendas and who will shove them down our throats (read: "Milk" and Sean Penn). I mean, hell, "In Bruges" and "Milk" were both nominated for Best Original Screenplay, Angelina Jolie was nominated for Best Actress in "Changeling", and yet "The Dark Knight" was not even NOMINATED for Best Picture. I understand a film like that would never win in such a snobby competition, but the Oscars voters ought to at least pretend like they actually saw some of the films for which the rest of America paid damn good money. So there.

~~
Tyler, the emphatically grouchy Oscars Grouch
Read, Kindly Light...

"Coraline" Review

Last night I went with my little brother to the Rave at Ridgmar to watch "Coraline" in 3D. Ticket prices were $9.50 for adults, and so I fibbed and said that Christian was only 12 (as he and I see it, such situations are the only apparent advantages to him being a 'late bloomer'). But even with my liar's discount, our two tickets together cost a whopping twenty three dollars! I realized then that I had been charged an additional $2.00 per ticket because Coraline is a 3D Movie. Was I now broke? Yes. Did that fact infuriate me? You betcha. But in the long run, was it all worth it? YEEESSSS!!!

Let me preface my little review by saying that I have only ever read one graphic novel in my entire lifetime. I am an avidly avid supporter of the idea of reading comic books, but I myself never actually go out and read any. It must be because I am not a very visual person, or perhaps it is just another odd form of my all-pervasive laziness. Whatever the case, I say again, I've only ever read through one graphic novel, and it was hardly enjoyable. After watching Coraline, I am rethinking all of that. I am going to buy the Coraline comic and the Graveyard Book, as well as reread the Sandman comic I did not at first enjoy. Before, I (unfairly) found Neil Gaiman to be more than a bit overrated. Now, I think he is under-appreciated.

So, to the purpose. "Coraline" is a children's ghost story that centers on a young girl who has just moved to a new house, a house in which she soon discovers a secret doorway to another world, a world that mirrors her own. This new world gives her everything she lacked in her old one; it gives flesh and voice to all her unfulfilled dreams and fantasies. Where her first mother had always been too busy and had no time for her, her "Other Mother" shows her daughter unusual kindness and affection, loving her even to the point of adoration -- and her Other Mother has shiny black buttons for eyes. In fact, every creature on the other side of the door has shiny black buttons, and they all demand Coraline's unqualified affection. They whisper how she could even stay there with them forever...
.....and soon, Coraline's dream-world transforms into a nightmare, one from which she must desperately try to escape.

This movie is brilliant, absolutely brilliant. It is one of the most imaginative children's stories I've ever seen on film. It is the longest stop-motion picture to date, but it has to be to tell this spellbinding tale of phantasmagoria. And because Neil Gaiman is such a literate writer, the adaptation of his graphic novel isn't just any other kiddy goosebumps flick. I mean, how many villains from a kids movie are a reference to a character from a Keats poem? (The Beldam 'old woman / grandmother' ---> "La Belle Dame Sans Merci")

But I've yet to tell you the best part about the movie, for the visual beauty of "Coraline" surpasses even its superior storytelling. The cinematography is gorgeous and truly stunning: in every shot there is a galaxy of budding shapes and colors; in the next shot they burst into bloom. It's also the first stop-motion animated feature to be shot entirely in 3D, and it can safely boast that it elevates that genre from the gimmicky to the nuanced. Because of its visual splendor, "Coraline" is a film that must be seen on the big screen at least once, to enjoy the so-called "eye-popping" 3D effects it employs. It's just not the same without them.

So, in conclusion, I give Coraline 5 creepy eye-buttons out of 5. Go see it now.

Read, Kindly Light...

Um, my GEEKOMETER just EXPLODED: the full script for the pilot episode of HBO's "A Game of Thrones" has been LEAKED!!!!!!

Ok. Let's just get this out of the way. I am a fantasy geek. No, actually, I'm a huuuuuumooooooongous fantasy geek. Now, Tolkien aside, George R. R. Martin is my preferred idol of worship. HBO has already picked up the rights to his A Song of Ice and Fire series and greenlit a pilot episode for his first book, A Game of Thrones. Today, the uber-geeky and ever helpful blog Winter Is Coming has posted a few links to the ENTIRE LEAKED SCRIPT!

I just read it all; I suggest you do the same. Thus far it seems a great adaptation, mostly for its ability to do a lot with little. Not to say that the source material is small (on the contrary, it's overwhelmingly huge!), but I mean that despite having to abridge and truncate many, many scenes and chapters of the novel as well as adding a few scenes of their own, the writers still stay very faithful to the book and develop the characters while creating suspense and intrigue. My only big critique from my first reading is the original scene with the conflict between Eddard and Jaime. It seemed more than a little forced, and it simplifies Jaime's character to a dangerous extent. Other than that, however, the script is practically flawless!

Read, Kindly Light...

Ron Sexmith at Futureappletree Studio 1

Ok, I need to get something off my chest: I have not been faithful in providing a Daytrotter session a day. In point of fact, I've been quite feckless. Now, I figure, I could certainly cover a Daytrotter session whenever I want. So, from now on, I'm reducing the Daytrotter sessions to a minumum of whenever I feel it. So there.

Now, on to Ron Sexmith:

Ron Sexsmith is an inexplicably sweet force of nature. [...] Sexsmith, with his economical and slightly warbling crooner’s voice, is able to mine many of the beautiful sights and sounds of a stroll through the park or a picnic by the lake for the kinds of universal dialogue that he’s still able to process from pure cane into an edible sugar or salt from the veins into the table salt that goes on our mashed potatoes. He dresses these very tender, everyday moments into timeless thoughts that feel like wispy cloud systems emblazoned across an otherwise clear blue sky.
---Sean Moeller, founder of Daytrotter

It would not be very fair to Sean if all I did in these posts was rip off his writing and links, so that means I should probably say a few words of my own on the artist. Ron Sexmith has a smooth, lush voice, ripe with strains of joy and sorrow that have been folded over one another over and over again, ever shifting, up and down, up and down, a perfect medium of conveying life's many ups and downs. As with all the artists I have featured thus far on this site, Ron is a singer who writes simple but evocative songs. He stopped in at Futureappletree Studio Number One to record four songs from his latest album "Exit Strategy Of The Soul" ( a grrrreat name, by the way). My favorites from the session are "Impossible World", in which he croons and serenades us into thinking that perhaps this life isn't quite so bad as we imagined, and the song "Chased By Love", in which he sings these child-like lyrics: '...Who from way back when, / I'm the same boy that you knew then. / I just want to be chased by love, / Embraced by love, / Just like you."


Ron Sexmith's Daytrotter Session

Ron Sexsmith - Welcome to Daytrotter
Ron Sexmith - Impossible World
Ron Sexsmith - One Last Round
Ron Sexmith - Chased By Love
Ron Sexsmith - Poor Hopeless Dreams
Read, Kindly Light...

Evening Buzz: Zooey Deschanel and Burger Beds and Dresses

Ingrid Bergman wants you to join her in lighting up the collective pop culture cigarette. Here is your Evening Buzzzz!


!!BUZZ!!
Well, first off, Fox has picked up the remaining Narnia movies since Disney copped out. I'm glad C.S. Lewis's books are being adapted to film and not TV, 'cause we all know how Fox treats its best shows (*cough* Arrested Development *cough*cough*).

!!BUZZ!!
Are you a big fan of He-Man? Yeah, I'm not gay either. But apparently Warner Brothers, Joel Silver, and John Stevenson are teaming up to remake "Masters of the Universe". Actually, I suppose it's not bad timing, as Skeletor is being nominated for an Oscar this year.

!!BUZZ!!
You should watch the trailer for "500 Days of Summer", an indie film starring Joseph Gordan Leavitt and Zooey Deschanel. I liked Leavitt a lot in "Brick", and I'm straight-up in love with Zooey Deschanel. I've loved her ever since her bit in "Elf", and she's just wowed me more and more in each new flick (not to mention her musical work with the brilliant M. Ward, especially her band She & Him!). Apparently, 500 Days of Summer has blown everyone away at Sundance. Yay!

!!BUZZ!!
Here's some more good news: Neil Jordan is gonna direct a live-action movie adaption of Neil Gaiman's "The Graveyard Book" (a ghostly retelling of The Jungle Book). I have to say, Neil Gaiman is winning me over; I'm coming around to his Sandman comic books, Coraline is shaping up to be really good, and now this.

!!BUZZ!!
Amy Poehler's new government sitcom finally has a name -- "Public Service". This will be one to watch; besides the presence of the ever-funny Poehler, it's from the creators of the Office, and will also feature Aziz Ansari and Rashida Jones (of Office fame). Public Service airs in April.

UPDATE: It's called "Parks and Recreations", and the pilot was BAD. Here's hoping the show gets a looooooot better.

!!BUZZ!!
And finally, here is a fun, provocative, and even -- dare I say it? -- yuuummmyy dress. Hint: It's a HAMBURGER dress. This is the best thing to happen to hamburger-themed non-hamburger products since The Hamburger Bed!
Read, Kindly Light...

Top Movie Villains of All Time???

Who are your favorite villains of the silver screen? Who do you think are the most classic? The most evil? The ones that carry the biggest presence? The most terrifying, the most twisted, the most sadistic?

I want to know your opinion. Vote in the comments, and I'll update my list and eventually rank them. There's no rule about genre. Be the film a gangster flick, a detective thriller, western, sci-fi, fantasy, horror, drama, or even kids' cartoon, its villains are up for grabs. But note: I WILL NOT accept antiheroes or mere antagonists. The entries must truly be VILLAINS, and that means evil characters with whom the audience cannot sympathize.

Update: Well, I've racked my brain. Here are my current contributions, from the Devil to Disney villains, and everything in between.

The Joker (The Dark Knight)
Hannibal Lector (Silence of the Lambs, etc.)
Keyzer Soze (The Usual Suspects)
Sauron (Fellowship of the Ring, etc.)
Darth Vader (Star Wars, The Empire Strikes Back, and Return of the Jedi [before the end!])
Voldemort (Harry Potter and the Sorceror's Stone, Etc.)
Maleficent (Sleeping Beauty)
Freddy Krueger (Nightmare On Elm St.)
Lord Caldlow (The Prestige)
Detective Stansfield (The Professional)
Bricktop (Snatch)
Frank (Once Upon A Time In The West)
Arthur Burns (The Proposition)
Sheriff Cooley/The Devil (O Brother, Where Art Thou?)
Count Tyrone Rugen/The Six-Fingered Man (The Princess Bride)
Bill (Kill Bill)
Ernst Stavro Blofeld/Dr. Evil (From Russia With Love / Austin Powers, etc.)
Mr. Blonde (Reservoir Dogs)
John Doe (Seven)
Jigsaw (Saw)
The Judge (The Natural)
Mr. Glass (Unreakable)
Scar (The Lion King)

So, who makes it on your list?
Read, Kindly Light...