STATIC SHOTS

2001: Drops of Jupiter and Beyond the Infinite

Not since 1984 had there been so much anticipation and speculation about the state of humanity with the arrival of a particular year. Sure there was some panic surrounding the Y2K changeover, but despite Prince's predictions, the party seemed to last -- all the way until 2001. Then it stopped. 

It was a sorta transitional year for me. I graduated High School in May (and yes I was excited that my "graduating class" would forever be the title of a Kubrick movie), but really it just felt like the end of any school year, because after "Summer Vacation" I began College. Though there was a noticeable perk: for most of my life the school year began at the end of August, which I'd always hated because it tainted the entire month, but the college year was to begin on Monday, September 10, and that extra week or so made the transition back into the grind somewhat easier. I say "somewhat" because despite now obtaining an education that I was paying for, I immediately found it to be just more of the same pencils and books and teachers' dirty looks that I'd dealt with for 12+ years; even by the second day I was already fatigued by the routine.

On the morning of Tuesday the 11th my first and only class of the day was at 9:30 am - Sociology, which sounded so collegiate and mature (this is the real facade of all higher education). It was a warm, beautiful, late Summer morning, and The In-Laws with Peter Falk and Alan Arkin had just started on one of the movie channels, and I was in no mood to leave the house to catch the city bus to Fitchburg to learn about Karl Marx or some shit. But I went, on the long walk to the bus stop, and then the long walk from the bus to the campus to find my classroom - on the second floor of a very old building named after some guy. I sat by the big open window overlooking the "quad" as it were, feeling very much like Oswald. 9:30 came and went and no Sociology professor showed up. After about 10 minutes one of the other students yelled out the window to someone they knew, asking "Do you have class today?" to which the person outside replied, "Naw, classes are canceled I think. A bomb went off at the World Trade Center or something." And so began my long trek of walking and public transportation back home. Still, I was delighted to have the rest of this nice day off as a result of some supposed incident that, in the moment, didn't seem to actually have any effect on anybody. 

Like anyone else who was around at the time, I remember that day very well. And, such as the case with all other global events and news headlines, all my memories of any specific era are mostly tied to Pop Culture, and so whatever's going on with me, or the world, gets filtered through those flavors of the month. I remember the star studded TV specials and concert events, featuring Tom Petty singing "I Won't Back Down" and Billy Joel singing "New York State of Mind" for a crowd of energized firefighters. I remember the big weird discussion of whether or not the Towers should be digitally removed from all Film and Television. I remember songs like "Jump" by Van Halen and "I'm on Fire" by Bruce Springsteen being banned from the radio. I was getting my news from late night talk shows and Saturday Night Live - a trend that's carried over into modern times, as the actual News has yet to regain whatever even-tempered sanity they lost after September 11, 2001. In other words, American Culture changed -- probably in some ways that we'll never fully realize. 

It's hard to remember that there was a whole year of other stuff surrounding that one day - much of it unpolluted by the attack and its aftermath. I seem to recall an all out onslaught of Destiny's Child that lasted for about a month, but that month was like Beatlemania. I also remember a lotta Jennifer Lopez (or "JLo" as we began calling her), a lotta Nelly, a lotta Shaggy, a lotta Missy, and that damn Dido song that Eminem made famous the year before. And then, there was the juggernaut that was "Lady Marmalade", which came at me twice as hard because every girl around me had the whole ass Moulin Rouge! soundtrack in their car, and because I didn't yet drive, I was singing Elton John via Obi-Wan Kenobi during every trip to Circuit City and Pizza Hut. 

God, I still remember the hype leading up to the release of Moulin Rouge! - some early article was already praising it as one of the greatest films ever made. And I was prepared to believe that, and approached it with that anticipation. Incredible: the oppressive volume of cynicism that occupies and consumes my soul at my current age has taken the place of what was once just as much naivety. I recollect some other early preview criticisms granting similar praise to Lord of the Rings, and I certainly won't get into my stunned disappointments with that again.

I'd probably say I was at the peak of my movie lust around this time (or plateau anyway) and I still look back on this period (ca. 2000-2002) as the brief era of Cinema that just about soured me on Cinema (or I should say Contemporary Cinema). I've spent years trying to articulate it (to others but mostly to myself), but it's little projects like this that help me better understand the past, and also myself, and what had me hella heated over movies at the beginning of the 21st Century. And after some moderate research, I've come to the conclusion that... *checks notes* ...the movies sucked. 

As circumstance would have it, I was buying tons of DVDs of older, better films (because, once again, this was 2001), while at the same time I was going to the movie theater more frequently than maybe any other time in my life, before or since, and I think maybe the contrast between stuff like One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest and K-PAX felt that much more defined. I mean, I'll have to assume it was, because that's just the thing: while running down the list of films released in '01, I saw many of them, maybe most of them, and I saw them in a theater setting. And I Hardly Remember Any Of Them. I mean I remember that I did see them, but in terms of their content (or in some cases even a single frame) they've entirely escaped me. I find this notable because my attention span (and my memory) is at its best when it comes to movies - especially when you mix in the big, bright, loud experience of the theater, so for me to extinguish all details from entire features (plural) only leads me to believe that the output was, for the most part, lackluster at best. I'd like to extend the benefit of the doubt and say maybe it was me and I was just in a weird headspace for those few years which made it impossible for me to retain the plot of Zoolander, but really that's just me being diplomatic, because after much consideration I found that I was only able to compile a measly Top 11 (get it?). "Measly" in length, yes, but strong in width; these are eleven movies that I not only remember from 2001 but legitimately liked, guaranteeing no filler/all killer. So maybe the more optimistic approach would be to say that 2001 had a list of great movies. Maybe that was the point of this exercise: to get rid of this godawful feeling. 

- Paul

1. The Royal Tenenbaums

I'd thought Bottle Rocket was cute, and Rushmore was even better. This movie took the established tone that we were getting used to and blew it wide open - almost to the point of self-deprecation (but still, for laughs). I'm always applauding Gene Hackman here, but really that's so easy and obvious; frankly everyone is about as good as they've ever been, but if anyone else came close to stealing the show, I'd say it was Owen Wilson. Add that to his screenwriting credit and I'd call this his overall greatest achievement by far. 

2. The Pledge

After the 90s I think we all had Thriller fatigue, which is why this movie a.) went largely unnoticed, and b.) was and still is so energizing. It employs the same grim mood and tense set pieces as the standard Cat and Mouse Actioner, but it never cuts corners in favor of some big gun battle or goofy surprise villain reveal. Actually there is no surprise - it just lingers and stays with you.

3. Ghost World

When it came out, I too was graduating High School, much with the same snarky attitude that everyone was really stupid except for me and my friend. But also very much seeing myself in the Seymour character (which I suppose is the point of the character parallels). Basically I couldn't relate to 99% of the Teen Comedies that had come out in the decade leading up to this, so it was comforting to have some art that spoke to my specific identity. 

4. The Man Who Wasn't There  

It was just the next entry in an otherwise unblemished filmography, but that didn't prevent me from appreciating it any less. Like all my favorite artists, they once again attempted a new style and genre while still maintaining their unmistakable trademarks. Seriously their best looking movie, making it one of the best of all time.

5. Mulholland Drive

This hit me right at the right time -- but somehow that seems to be true for everyone; even the people who weren't into "this kinda thing" embraced it as the phantasmagoric odyssey that it is. It's not my favorite David Lynch movie (not even Top 5 actually) but I'd probably name it as his funniest, which probably has a lot to do with why it's so accessible (despite the weirdness). 

6. Donnie Darko

Another movie that hit me at the right time - but that's only because I was already in a Tears For Fears phase. And another example of how a bit of comedy can disarm an audience just enough to slip in some of that mind-bending ambiguity. Not knowing anything about it, it was a surprise from end to end, which makes sense as there was no logical way to market this thing. 

7. Heist

Initially I found this to be really hokey and predictable, with dialogue that sounded more like a David Mamet parody than actual David Mamet. But with repeat viewings via Home Video it started to become a Comfort Movie as I began to memorize the very snappy exchanges. Also, it became apparent over time that having a cast that's this competent is the only reason it works at all.

8. In the Bedroom

Only now do I stand back and realize how much passionate filmmaking there was this year; people with burning desires to tell these very specific stories. This movie crackles with both the excitement and the jitters of a first feature, and frankly could've been a lot more bland with some "experienced" filmmaker at the reigns. 

9. Training Day

There's this whole subgenre of 'Likable Lead Actors as Menacing Villains' that isn't explored often enough, and this is such a beautiful and delicious example of it. (I don't count CGI Supervillains as part of this.) Let's not disregard Ethan Hawke peeking out from behind the eclipse of Denzel, and also Cliff Curtis giving us the scariest scene of the year. 

10. Ocean's 11

Living, breathing, wisecracking proof that Cinema can be "fun" without being "really fucking stupid". Granted, I never found it as fun as it thinks it is, but it's certainly a joyous occasion. And after 5 quality pictures in only 4 years, Soderbergh almost singlehandedly gave me hope for the future of Film. 

11. Monsters Inc.

At the time, my cynical teen temperament would've forced me to choose Shrek as the best animated feature of the year. Having seen them both again more recently the choice is clear: no amount of meta satire could compete with the ingenuity and purity of Pixar in its heyday. In fact, Pixar can't compete with Pixar in its heyday; this is easily their sweetest movie that doesn't ever resort to any kind of manipulation.

STATIC SHOTS

2001

STATIC SHOTS

1980: Give the past the slip

"The only thing new in the world is the history you do not know."

- Harry S. Truman

The main reason I started exploring these anniversary milestones was as an excuse to reminisce about the major pop culture events that I was there for; a means to keep a journal for the stuff I should've journaled the first time. Lately I've been moving away from my own timeline into years I have no emotional connection to - either because I was too young to remember or I just hadn't yet been born. As a result it's forced me to get more philosophical and abstract (and probably pretentious) about trying to conure up some objective sense of nostalgia for all of us to share, but really it's just my lust for history gussied up into some Kumbaya singalong we can all participate in. It sucks showing up to the party only to find out you missed its peak -- and so I'm here to learn about the past, and I'm condemning myself to repeat it. 

 

Same as the start of any decade (in the 20th century at least), the fashions and feels of the previous era bleed into the next one in nebulous ways. TV shows like Little House on the Prairie and Alice were still cracking the Top 10 in ratings, Barbra Streisand and Bob Seger were topping the charts in record sales, and popular songs like "Upside Down" by Diana Ross and "Funkytown" by Lipps Inc. felt very much like a culture we were about to leave behind. But while some things remained as jarring reminders of the 1970s, there were plenty of totally tubular debuts that became synonymous with The Reagan Era. Pac-Man and The Rubik's Cube were released globally. U2, Iron Maiden, and The Sugarhill Gang released their debut albums. Magnum P. I. and Bosom Buddies premiered. John Lennon was killed. Mount St. Helens erupted. The Iraq-Iran War began. And, Ronald Regan was elected President of the U.S. The aftertaste of bell-bottoms and Disco was certainly still swishing around the zeitgeist, but the decade of brash greed and big hair was breakin' its way into history one power move at a time. 

 

In today's culture, "The 1980s" has practically become a brandname as recognizable and marketable as Nike and Nintendo. The phrase itself conjures up a lotta stylized imagery and audio that, while they may be clichés, are all rooted in very real aesthetics/institutions/scenarios; you could've walked out of a matinee of Friday the 13th as you cranked Gary Numan on your Sony Walkman on your way to 7-Eleven for some Jell-O Pudding Pops, all before the end of Year Zero. But unless you were entirely hip and persistently progressive, you were still riding the vibes of the 70s; with Carter still in office and The Doobies still on the dial it was hard to tell which way was forward. Surprisingly, one avenue that seemed to be largely directionless was the movies. 

 

Mainstream American Cinema is like chips & dip to me - particularly when I was younger. That's actually true for most of the planet, and it was especially true in the big splashy era that was The 80s. But from my own point of view, the razzle-dazzle was not yet present at the beginning of the decade, and frankly the hard-hitting originality of The 70s had also faded away - at least as far as Hollywood was concerned. I will point out that three monumental, iconic American Comedies were released that year, and I suppose that's a pretty impressive legacy. But for me, 1980 was most notable for European Horror: an intermingled parade of cannibals, zombies, witches, and ghosts that found their way to The States - in fictional and literal terms. There were a few significant shocks from the U.S. but many of them were incredibly tame and immensely boring - especially when held up against the splatter that would inspire the eventual subgenre that became "80s Horror" and turned me and everyone else in my generation into confirmed ghost story and horror film addicts. 

- Paul

1. The Fog

In a time when "spookiness" began to fall out of favor, a master of the medium was gaining momentum, and his grasp of mood may've peaked right here; when a writer/director also composes their own music score, you're entirely at the mercy of their world. It's so fitting that it's an honest-to-god campfire tale because I grew up with this movie and so its urban legend angle still works on me with those same childhood chills. 

2. STAR WARS: Episode V - The Empire Strikes Back

The original movie brought fun and optimism to the gritty 1970s cinematic landscape. Ironically, its sequel brought forboding bitter pills to kick off the safe decade of happily-ever-afters. But this was most exciting because this world was still brand new; unlike Superman or James Bond, we couldn't be sure how menacing it could get, and they wielded that power like a Master Jedi. 

3. City of the Living Dead

It's my favorite zombie movie - if you can even call them that; they seem to have a variety of super powers that allows them to move through walls and eviscerate victims telepathically. (And you thought running zombies were trouble.) There's so much grotesque creativity in this movie and it's executed with such excess that it's nearly a Comedy. It goes hard, in a way mainstream Film no longer does. 

4. The Shining

There's barely a single frame in the whole picture that isn't recognizable and/or renowned -- even the dissolves and title cards are championed. I call attention to that because that's exactly how is should be; you could say Kubrick quite possibly had an eye for detail, but I'd be quick to nominate this movie as his most meticulous in terms of poise and precision. Like a spine-tingling symphony. 

5. The Blues Brothers

You'd undoubtedly find this in the Comedy section, but I'll be damned if it isn't one of the best Action Movies of the year and maybe all time. Even the music (which is aces) takes a backseat to the car carnage that honestly gets overlooked on all the Car Chase Movie lists. 

6. Airplane!

Like Strangelove before it, this parody has proven to have more longevity than the material it's spoofing. The funniest part is that I didn't know any of the Airport movies when I was little so I actually got caught up in the drama of the food poisoning, war flashbacks, and glue sniffing. 

7. Caddyshack

Save for its tedious youth subplot it's like a greatest hits album of 1980 comedians - or at least one of those cereal variety packs. Even as a kid I thought the gopher puppet was lame, and as an adult I've finally reached the point where I think Ted Knight gives the funniest performance. 

8. Zombie Holocaust

Zombies vs. Cannibals: everyone loses, the audience wins! Not to be confused with Dr. Butcher M.D. which is a shorter cut of this film and does not feature Nico Fidenco's music - which is notable to me as it's in my Top 5 movie scores of all time. 

9. Times Square

If I didn't know any better I'd swear this movie was made just as an excuse to showcase Robin Johnson's virtuoso acting abilities; I'm never entirely convinced this isn't some documentary about this vibrant troubled teen and they just built a story around her (accompanied by one of my Top 5 soundtracks of all time). 

10. The Elephant Man

Regardless of costumes and context, most Period Films can never fully disguise their actual year of production. Watching this movie I'm only ever convinced I'm looking at Victorian England -- at the very least there's nothing here that indicates "Another One Bites the Dust" was on the radio while it played in theaters. 

11. Canibal Apocalypse

A truly bombastic title for a movie that is actually pretty intimate and illuminating. Really it's a Vietnam Movie in the vein of Rolling Thunder and Deer Hunter - for all I know the cannibalism plot is just a metaphor for postwar trauma. 

12. Inferno

I've seen this movie several times and I still don't know what's going on - yet it always has me on the edge of my seat. Elaborate set pieces, profound cinematography, genuine surprises, and disgusting brutality is truly more than enough to make compelling Cinema. 

13. Nightmare City

Diabolical zombies that punch and kick and stab and shoot guns, all in addition to their normal flesh eating habits - it's just as unpredictable to the movie's victims as it is to the audience. 

14. Raging Bull

I embraced this movie in a big way, back in my film school days but I eventually lost touch with the melodramatic side of it. But still, all the sequences in the ring truly are some of the greatest spectacles Marty's ever pulled off. 

15. Alligator

Not since Jaws has a Creature Feature managed to be so effortlessly engrossing with minimal use of a creature. Robert Forster headlines a cast of character actors in what is largely a satisfying police procedural. It's just a bonus that the rarely-seen alligator does, indeed, kick ass. 

16. Christmas Evil

With the Slasher boom already beginning to take "shape", this grim allegory went off in a different, better direction that focused less on mindless casualties and more on the sad degeneration of its lead "monster". It's also an aggressively Christmassy Christmas Movie. 

17. Dressed to Kill

Whenever I review any Brian DePalma movie, I declare it to be "his most Brian Depalma movie" -- but I really mean it this time. More than any of the others, this film dares you to not take it seriously. And whether you do or don't, you're gonna enjoy it either way. 

18. Humanoids From the Deep

Whenever I hear "low budget 80s Monster Movie" it's always cooler in my head than what they put on the screen. Humanoids actually fulfills my expectations in most areas - particularly the monsters themselves (designed and created by Fog maestro Rob Bottin). 

19. The Godsend

Evil kid situations usually get dragged down in a lotta exposition and plot. This is a refreshing take (for any genre) that maintains its eerie mystery while managing to unfold at an alarming pace. Also the kids in these kindsa movies can sometimes come off as annoying, but this little girl is super sinister. 

20. Cannibal Holocaust

I adored it for its cinematography and music score - and I still very much do. I'll always hesitate revisiting it without shielding my eyes with my hands - so I'm forced to make a compromise, because the movie does not. 

STATIC SHOTS

1980

9 Magazine Covers From 1990

They say you can't judge a book by its cover -- but you can definitely judge a year by its magazine covers, because those are the rules I've just made up. But you don't have to take my word for it; come with me on this journey as I throw nine 35-year-old magazine covers on the scanner to create a nostalgic pastiche of yesteryear. And no, I didn't go the extra mile and scan the contents of any of these - partly because, as you may remember, I hate fuckin' scanning, but more than that I found that these covers on their own are striking and informative enough to fuel this time machine to get us back to good ol' 1990. Let's kick it!

- Paul

Nintendo Power 

At this point (Spring 1990) the Ninja Turtles had the #1 movie and the #1 Nintendo game. Neither would last, as evidenced here by the fanfare surrounding the very recent release of what would go on to be their best-selling video game and what is often hailed as simply the best video game of all time: Super Mario Bros. 3. To us youngsters this was like our North Star in the 90s - after the big tease from The Wizard at the end of '89, the star of the biggest toy of the 1980s had flown right into the next decade with the waggle of a raccoon tail. Like most of the things on this list, it defined a generation, and that generation has carried it with them to this day and is desperately trying to recreate it. 

Action Films '90

It's amazing how quickly the Turtles phenomenon got lost in the shuffle; with an immensely popular cartoon, toy line, video game, and now blockbuster movie, 1990 just had too much to offer. But through this particular lens their real competition was apparently Steven Seagal and Rutger Hauer and their respectively awesome new releases, Hard to Kill and Blind Fury (apparently Blind Fury didn't make it to the US until 7 months after its August '89 release in Germany). But the real food for thought here is the article titled "Jean Claude Van Damme, A Hero for the 90s" - I wouldn't say that exactly panned out, but it got me to thinking as to who exactly was the leading 90s Action Star. Obviously this led me down a mental rabbit hole comparing 80s and 90s Cinema, so I'll just leave you to ponder that answer for yourself. If you come up with any ideas lemme know! 

DuckTales Magazine

Scrooge and his grandnephews have been around since the 1950s but the TV show from which this magazine derives began in '87 and would eventually become a part of "The Disney Afternoon" which launched in September of 1990. Honestly that's probably around the time I started watching it - DuckTales was specifically an after-school show and always bookended some other cartoons I had no interest in. For the longest time this was the only Disney property that I truly adored, and even that was largely due to its connection to the Dickens character (and also my love of cartoon treasure). I will go on record and say Chip 'n Dale maybe possibly had the slightly better theme song. Don't put that on my tombstone. 

GoreZone

Get in the Zone! Surprisingly (or maybe predictably, I'm not sure) 1990 was a spectacular year for Horror: Jacob's Ladder, Misery, Troll 2, Texas Chainsaw 3, Demon Wind, and also the two headliners in this magazine, Tales From the Darkside: The Movie and Night of the Living Dead. Like a lotta the years that end in "0" the fashions of two decades blend into a collision of all flavors, and scary movies were always a great barometer for that. Here we were rebooting older properties and had they been in the 80s, I feel like they would've been gorier, dumber, and duller. Instead, Tales From the Darkside is perhaps the most flawless Horror Anthology film ever made, while it's no secret that I find Savini's Living Dead remake to be better than any Zombie movie Romero ever made. You don't have be on board with any of that, but what is irrefutable is that 90s Horror certainly began on time. 

Playboy

Here's another solid bridge between the two eras, featuring Miss July herself, Erika Eleniak, costar of 90s hallmark Baywatch. This magazine is always a reliable source when you're trying to revisit a specific time period - especially if you wanna know about trends in technology (Sanyo had a record player/CD changer combo for $349) or men's fashion (they tried to convince us the fedora/trench coat ensemble was coming back à la Dick Tracy). But the biggest peek into the decade ahead is an interview with Jerry Seinfeld, whose gradual rise in standup comedy fame has gotten the attention of NBC who're hoping to expand their pilot The Seinfeld Chronicles into a sitcom. Good luck, Jerry. 

Starlog

Really this is just my way at giving a standing ovation to Starlog for making the Vegetable Gremlin a star - even if it was only for a brief cycle through the newsstands. As noted here there were a handful of Science Fiction properties in 1990: Back to the Future III, Robocop 2, Quantam Leap, Star Trek Next Generation. But also mentions of Batman, Dick Tracy, and The Little Mermaid, which indicates two things: Starlog slowly but surely made it their mission to pander to the entire pantheon of geekdom regardless of genre labels, and there were some properties of pop culture that were too big to even pretend to ignore; no nerd magazine is gonna do a 1990 "Yearbook" without mentioning Tracy. 

TV Guide

Even the world's leading Television magazine had Dick Tracy front & center, along with Batman (which was 18 months old at this point) and John Wesley Shipp as The Flash from the new big budget CBS show based on the comic (it was cancelled 5 months later). To be fair this was also to push the Home Video market which even at this point was still growing in popularity. So between this stuff alongside the Ninja Turtles video release it was obvious that comic books were finally ready for the screen. The imminent Rocketeer couldn't miss! 

Modern Screen

Here's where all the TV news is hiding -- 1990 summed up in one little collage. Will the snarky Simpsons reach more viewers than the clean Cosbys? Is Arsenio bigger than Carson? Will we find out who killed Laura Palmer? Also odd to think that Uncle Buck and Ferris Bueller both had their own TV shows at this time (as well as Parenthood, followed by the Look Who's Talking spinoff Baby Talk). Tiny Toons premiered this year, along with 90210, Fresh Prince, In Living Color, and the detestable America's Funniest People which was just an even more irritating and self aware version of Funniest Videos. It lasted all the way to '94 but eventually just turned into YouTube. 

Entertainment Weekly

It's safe to say we saw a lot of Madonna that year. Even before every curve of the planet was saturated in Dick Tracy symbolism, the song (and video) of the Spring was "Vogue". Then there was this grainy black & white aesthetic that became synonymous with her Blonde Ambition tour and was also used to great effect in the "Justify My Love" video (as well as in most fashion and fragrance advertising). But really the most notable thing about this cover (and the actual contents) is the deep dive into Edward Scissorhands which only occupied the last two weeks of the year but for me it was the cultural event of 1990 -- more than Dick Tracy or Turtles or Mario; everything else faded into the background for the foreseeable future and suddenly the movie with no stickers or t-shirts or acton figures to offer became my biggest intellectual hobby. I came into this year as a child and left as a man (which surprisingly had nothing to do with Madonna). 

Everything's Coming Up Cherries!

When we get excited about something we look for it in everything - eventually to the point that we're convinced it is looking for us. Mother Proulx never raised such a foolish child - I'm well aware that I'm currently all hopped up on a steady diet of cherry sodas, to the point that my pupils are just little cartoon fruits. What I'm trying to say is I'm immersed in a theme and my brain insists on keeping it going, so for the sake of sanity (or lack thereof, who cares) here are 10 notable cherry-related moments from Pop Culture. 

- Paul

Twin Peaks

Whenever I'm poised to purchase a pie, the option of cherry is never on my radar - except when we're on or approaching Twin Peaks day (February 24), and only then do I seem to find its taste to be damn good. And god knows this isn't just me being weird about food again - on the long list of openly fetishized elements of this show, a powerful lust for pie doesn't feel like that much of a deep cut. And no one can sell cherry like Dale Cooper (except maybe Shelly Johnson). 

Super Mario Bros. 2

My favorite of the Super Mario games (some honor, I've only played like four of them), and the biggest reason it's my favorite is probably because of how colorful it is - from the box it comes in to the gameplay itself. My favorite shade of blue is "Super Mario 2 sky blue" and that sky is beautifully punctuated with little bunches of floating bright red cherries. When you collect 5 of them the game presents you with an invincibility star, but that was entirely immaterial - I just got the cherries because I wanted them. 

"Cherry Pie" Warrant

There are hundreds of songs that involve cherries, but when I reached up into the ether of my mind this was the first one that grazed my fingertips. But it wasn't entirely arbitrary - I would consciously nominate this as the anthem to the suggestive side of the cherry's iconography (though this song speeds right past "suggestive" into "literally" town). It appears on Warrant's album of the same name, and between the album cover and imagery in the music video, no one can argue its cherryfied status. 

Hi-Ho! Cherry-O

I'd never even heard of this board game until my son got it when he was still a toddler. To the unenlightened: you spin the dial to determine how many little plastic cherries you're to pick from the cherry tree and place in your basket - most cherries wins. Its rudimentary innocence is charming, but all the functioning parts of this game are respectively gorgeous; the illustrations on the dial and the board would suggest he received some sorta retro "throwback" anniversary edition based on the enchanting 1970s artwork with which they're adorned. And the tiny bright red cherry pieces make it like Super Mario 2 come to life! (And had I had this game as a child that's exactly what I would've used it for.) 

The Witches of Eastwick

Cherries are generally sexy -- I'm not gonna list all the ways it's just an inherent thing. But Lust is a sin no matter how tangental, and the judgement can be severe (especially if you saw this movie before the age of 5). Clearly the attraction to cherries and all that they signify isn't lost on me, but neither are the effects of this 1987 Horror Comedy in which Veronica Cartwright projectile pukes masticated cherry goo all over her living room leaving everything coated in slimy cherry pits. Sing it with me: "Tastes so good make a grown man cry! Sweet Cherry Pie!"

Gambling

Slot machines, scratch tickets, Bingo cards, any kinda game that requires universal symbols has often latched onto the familiar cherry. And I think it's because of that usage of fruit that gambling seemed that much more attractive to me when I was a child. A smoking camel never coerced me into anything, but if you're throwing colorful little cherries at me then I'm sure to bet the house. 

Seinfeld

In a Season 4 episode of the show, Elaine sprays her boyfriend/would-be-attacker Joe Davola in the face with cherry Binaca breath spray. Later in the episode his presence is identified by the smell of cherry. (Just a reminder that when I hear "cherry" this is the stuff I think of, folks.) 

McCartney - Paul McCartney

I openly celebrate this album all the time - partly because of its content, but equally because it's my favorite album cover of all time: and this is my chance to explicitly point out that it's entirely due to the cherries. Photographed by Linda, it added fuel to the fire of the infamous Death Hoax - depicting an empty bowl as an inverse to "life is a bowl of cherries". So it's got spooky subtext too!

Big

There are actually a handful of great food moments in this movie, but this bizarre, probably-ad libbed scene between Josh and Billy is less about appetizing ice cream and more about laughs. I can't imagine it on paper or even Penny finding the words to "direct it" but it was strong enough to make an appearance in most of the trailers and TV spots, just about solidifying it as an Iconic Cherry Moment. 

Max Cherry

Some of you may find this one to be a stretch. There's the door, pal. The rest of you can appreciate the fact that when I hear "Cherry" it sometimes reminds me of one of the great characters of contemporary storytelling. And this isn't a rationalization either: Cherry Bail Bonds does indeed use the red fruit as part of its business logo - because who's wouldn't?