Monthly Archives: June 2010
Movie Quote of the Day – The English Patient, 1996 (dir. Anthony Minghella)
Hana: [reading] Betrayals in war are childlike compared with our betrayals during peace. New lovers are nervous and tender but smash everything, for the heart is an organ of fire.
[beat]
Hana: For the heart is an organ of fire. l love that. l believe that.
It’s My Birthday!
It’s my 24th Birthday today. Not sure how I feel about this. As Janet says in Singles, “Somewhere around 25 bizarre becomes immature.” So I guess I have one year left to be bizarre!
I will also avoid getting any presents from Sean Penn.
The American Society of Cinematographers names Amélie Best-Shot Film From 1998-2008
The ASC released the results of an online poll today and the quirky 2001 French film (and one of my Top-Ten Favorite Films of All Time!) topped the list.
A LOT of my favorites, when it comes to cinematography, are on this list. Here’s the Top Ten (with the rest after the cut)
- Amélie: Bruno Delbonnel, ASC, AFC
- Children of Men: Emmanuel Lubezki, ASC, AMC
- Saving Private Ryan: Janusz Kaminski
- There Will Be Blood: Robert Elswit, ASC
- No Country for Old Men: Roger Deakins, ASC, BSC
- Fight Club: Jeff Cronenweth, ASC
- The Dark Knight: Wally Pfister, ASC
- Road to Perdition: Conrad L. Hall, ASC
- Cidade de Deus (City of God): César Charlone, ABC
- American Beauty: Conrad L. Hall, ASC
Movie Quote of the Day – The Painted Veil, 2006 (dir. John Curran)
Kitty Fane: It’s raining cats and dogs.
[beat]
Kitty Fane: I said it’s raining cats and dogs.
Walter Fane: Yes, I heard you.
Kitty Fane: You might have answered.
Walter Fane: I suppose I’m not used to speaking unless I’ve something to say.
Kitty Fane: If people only spoke when they had something to say, the human race would soon lose the power of speech.
Auteur of the Week: Terrence Malick
The first time I was introduced to Terrence Malick was over ten years ago and I knew nothing about it him. My brother and I were watching AMC and Badlands came on and we thought it was Charlie Sheen, but after we saw young Sissy Spacek we realized it was a young Martin Sheen (young Charlie looks just like young Martin!). I’d never seen anything like this film before and upon viewing it my love of Malick’s work began and has yet to dissipate.
Oscar Vault Monday – Sunset Blvd. 1950 (dir. Billy Wilder)
When I first netflixed this film I watched it three times before sending it back – twice back-to-back and then a third time the next morning. I was completely blown away with how wonderful it was, from start to finish. I know a lot of people consider Some Like It Hot to be Billy Wilder’s best film and as much as I like that one, I have to disagree and go with Sunset Blvd. It is a masterpiece in every sense of the word. The film was nominated for 11 Academy Awards, winning three for black-and-white Art Direction, Best Writing – story and screenplay and Best Score. For Best Picture it was up against Father of the Bride, King Solomon’s Mines, Born Yesterday and lost to All About Eve. All About Eve wound up winning six Oscars in all. Another tight race that year was Best Actress, Gloria Swanson in Sunset Blvd. was up against Bette Davis and Anne Baxter in All About Eve, but all three lost to Judy Holliday in Born Yesterday. Having watched all three of those films within a few days of each other it is my belief that, although Holliday’s performance was stunning, the other three women spilt the vote so severely that Holliday won by default. I’ll say it up front, I enjoyed All About Eve, but I deeply love Sunset Blvd. and think it is by and far the greater of the two films.
Beware: there be spoilers after the cut.
The Academy Invites 135 New Members
Being a member of the Academy allows you to vote for nominees and on the nominees once they are announced. Some of the names on this list are pretty interesting, in that one would think they’d already be members!
Full list after the cut.
Teaser Trailer for David Fincher’s “The Social Network”
It’s here! I so do not want to wait until October for this movie!
This trailer doesn’t show much of the film, but it surely does make me want more!
New Posters for “Inception”
This is the movie I’ve been waiting for all year. It also topped the reader poll I posted this week of the most anticipated movie of the year. The cast list is to die for. The trailer is phenomenal. And the posters have been amazing thus far. But these two new posters are probably my favorite. A big thanks to CinemaBlend for these posters.
Second poster after the cut.
Trailer for “Red”
This film looks like it’ll be a lot of fun. It’s based on the comic book series of the same name by Warren Ellis and helmed by German director Robert Schwentke. The cast list reads like a dream: Bruce Willis, Mary-Louise Parker, John Malkovich, Morgan Freeman, Helen Mirren, Karl Urban, Brian Cox, Julian McMahon, Richard Dreyfuss and Ernest Borgnine. I love that Borgnine is still making films! And Helen Mirren wielding a machine gun? Priceless.
Trailer and synopsis after the cut.
the diary of a film history fanatic 