Dailies is a round-up of essential film writing, news bits, videos, and other highlights from across the Internet. If you’d like to submit a piece for consideration, get in touch with us in the comments below or on Twitter at @TheFilmStage.
At Thrillist, Keith Uhlich ranks all 201 episodes of The X-Files from worst to best. As he explains on Twitlonger:
First off, I considered all nine seasons equally. That was a given, and something that really needs to be done in light of the accepted belief by many that the later years are worthless. They are not.
Next, the ranking: I knew what I wanted the bottom entry (201) to be, and I knew that the finale had to be smack dab in the middle at #100 since I think it has some of the finest and least work of the series.
Then I went to the top 10 and bottom 10. I made sure that an episode from each season was represented in both (basically a true favorite and a true least favorite). That’s 9 titles, so that allowed me one more title of my choosing from any season in those sections. 10 total.
Meanwhile, at The AV Club, Uhlich considers the strengths of Chris Carter‘s 2008 feature The X-Files: I Want to Believe:
It nonetheless is the Mulder-Scully relationship that gives I Want To Believe its heart, and compensates for many of its failings. For much of the television series, the duo were in a tentative but charged courtship. So it’s a thrill to see them comfortably canoodling in bed, making wistful pillow-talk about their son William (whom Scully gave up for adoption in the final season), and generally acting—in that way that only two people in love can do—like they’re the sole stars in the sky. Jumping back into a case with paranormal overtones may be good for Mulder, but it puts a strain on Scully. “I’m done chasing monsters in the dark,” she says early on, and her actions through the rest of the movie, as well as a poignant, beautifully performed scene in which Scully and Mulder have a stern heart-to-heart about where their relationship stands, suggest that this is the first step toward a likely breakup—an angle the new miniseries explores.
Watch Anders Ramsell‘s reworking of Ridley Scott‘s Blade Runner, which “consists of 12,597 handmade aquarelle/watercolor paintings” (via Open Culture and Boing Boing), and see a collection of behind-the-scenes photos:
Watch an 84-minute interview with David Foster Wallace (via Reddit):
Watch an extended interview with Michael Shannon: