HAPPY EASTER

Even though Easter has come and gone, let's keep the chocolate egg and hot-crossed bun train rolling with a look at the greatest films associated with bunnies.

Alice in Wonderland

Forget about Tim Burton's version; the 1951 Disney version was all sorts of freaky, chock full of Red Queens, Cheshire cats and un-birthdays. 

Bambi

It's funny how memory can alter your perception of a film. While you're young, you only remember cute deer, rabbits and skunks, hanging out, learning how to skate. Then you watch it as an adult and you learn that Bambi features some horrible lessons. He's got an absentee father; his mother dies from a gunshot. Then Bambi grows up, gets into a fight, pushes his adversary off of a ledge and kills two dogs by crushing them with boulders. 

See the rest after the break. 

Brown Bunny, The

No brown bunnies per se, but it does have onscreen, unsimulated felatio from Chloë Sevigny to Vincent Gallo, who also happened to be the director. (Sevigny and Gallo were also dating at the time. Brilliant casting.) Roger Ebert famously lambasted this indie, saying it was the worst entry in the history of the Cannes film festival. 

(Couldn't find a video. For the trailer, perverts.)

Donnie Darko
Even though Richard Kelly largely missed the mark with Southland Tales and The Box, the director's first feature film remains as hypnotic and impressive as when it debuted in 2001. Darko allowed Jake Gyllenhaal a moment in the sun; something he's parlayed into a decent career (Brokeback Mountain, Zodiac)--except when he was long-haired and bad accented in Prince of Persia: The Sands of Time.



Fatal Attraction 

Makes you really want to stay on the good side of women. Michael Douglas cheats on his wife, hooking up with Glenn Close a co-worker. The bad news is that Close turns out to be absolutely psychotic, and the worse news is that Glenn Close isn't at all attractive. 

Harvey

Jimmy Stewart stars as a middle-aged man whose best friend is 6'3 tall rabbit of Celtic lore. A lighter precursor to Richard Kelly's Donnie Darko, although Harvey doesn't have a hole in his head from a gunshot wound through the eye. 

House Bunny, The

Once again, no actual bunnies, but watching Anna Faris (one of the funniest, best looking women out there) for an hour-and-a-half is good enough for me. 

Monty Pyton and the Holy Grail

Leave it to the Brits to teach the world the true dangers of the most foul, cruel and bad-tempered rodent on the far side of the Atlantic. After watching the clip, you'll be so frightened, you'll soil your armour. 

Space Jam

Yeah, I'm struggling here at the end of the list. Even if you love Michael Jordan, you have to rue the day this ever saw the screen. Bill Murray I'm sure signed on for the paycheque; they even had Newman from Seinfeld. This is about Bugs, Daffy and company who engage in an intergalactic pick-up game of basketball against a group of steroidal extraterrestrials for the fate of our world. In case you're curious. 

Watership Down

Based on Richard Adams' book of the same name, Watership involves a group of rabbits who have to leave their home due to one of their own's prophetic visions. It sounds goofy as hell from the outside, but on their journey they encounter some pretty scary shit. Just listen to the narrator! Jesus. Pretty much the complete opposite of Bambi. 

Who Framed Roger Rabbit
A great achievement in live action/animated amalgamation. Hugely silly, but brimming with heart. Kathleen Turner was never sexier more top heavy than as the voice of Jessica, Roger's chesty better half.