Monthly Archives: August 2010
Auteur of the Week: Danny Boyle
Danny Boyle has been a favorite of mine since I first saw Trainspotting about nine years ago. I have to thank Ewan McGregor for turning me on to Boyle. I loved Ewan in Moulin Rouge! and decided to see everything I could that he’d been in. This included Danny Boyle’s first three films. I think they were some of the stranger films I’d seen up to that point in my life.
Movie Quote of the Day – That Thing You Do! 1996 (dir. Tom Hanks)
Lenny: Are you crazy? A man in a really nice camper wants to put our song on the radio! Gimme a pen, I’m signin’! You’re signin’! We’re all signin’!
Trailer and Poster For Aronofsky’s “Black Swan”
This looks incredible. So much crazy. I love pretty much everyone in the cast: Natalie Portman, Mila Kunis, Vincent Cassel, Barbara Hershey and Winina Ryder.
Official synopsis and trailer after the cut.
Movie Quote of the Day – Se7en, 1995 (dir. David Fincher)
William Somerset: Ernest Hemingway once wrote, “The world is a fine place and worth fighting for.” I agree with the second part.
Oscar Vault Monday – Jaws, 1975 (dir. Steven Spielberg)
I don’t have a memory of the first time I saw this film; I think that’s because I was very little when I first saw it and I don’t remember a world wherein Jaws didn’t exist. I thought it would be fitting to write about this film as summer ends since it was the first summer blockbuster and to this day one of the most critically acclaimed. I love this film. I have seen it so many times now, including at least once in theaters, that I practically have it memorized. It’s only rated PG, but somehow it is insanely terrifying – even upon repeat viewings. I think Spielberg managed to create a film that is the perfect combination of chilling, exiting, heartfelt and innovative. What also makes this film work so well is the great performances from everyone in the cast. It’s almost as if they made a B movie at an A-list calibre (much like Hitchcock’s Psycho). It was nominated for four Academy Awards and won three – Best Film Editing (won), Best Score – John Williams (won), Best Sound (won) and Best Picture. It was up against Barry Lyndon, Dog Day Afternoon, Nashville and winner One Flew Over The Cuckoo’s Nest.
Movie Quote of the Day – Ocean’s Eleven, 2001 (dir. Steven Soderbergh)
Frank: Want me to get on the table and dance? Shine your shoes? Smile at you? You sure won’t let me deal the cards. You might as well call it White Jack!
Movie Quote of the Day – The Princess Bride, 1987 (dir. Rob Reiner)
Buttercup: You mock my pain.
Man in Black: Life is pain, Highness. Anyone who says differently is selling something.
Movie Quote of the Day -The Pink Panther Strikes Again, 1976 (dir. Blake Edwards)
Clouseau: Does your dog bite?
Hotel Clerk: No.
Clouseau: [bowing down to pet the dog] Nice doggie.
[Dog barks and bites Clouseau in the hand]
Clouseau: I thought you said your dog did not bite!
Hotel Clerk: That is not my dog.
Movie Quote of the Day – Animal House, 1978 (dir. John Landis)
D-Day: War’s over, man. Wormer dropped the big one.
Bluto: Over? Did you say “over”? Nothing is over until we decide it is! Was it over when the Germans bombed Pearl Harbor? Hell no!
Otter: Germans?
Boon: Forget it, he’s rolling.
Bluto: And it ain’t over now. ‘Cause when the goin’ gets tough…
[thinks hard]
Bluto: the tough get goin’! Who’s with me? Let’s go!
[runs out, alone; then returns]
Bluto: What the fuck happened to the Delta I used to know? Where’s the spirit? Where’s the guts, huh? This could be the greatest night of our lives, but you’re gonna let it be the worst. “Ooh, we’re afraid to go with you Bluto, we might get in trouble.” Well just kiss my ass from now on! Not me! I’m not gonna take this. Wormer, he’s a dead man! Marmalard, dead! Niedermeyer…
Otter: Dead! Bluto’s right. Psychotic, but absolutely right. We gotta take these bastards. Now we could do it with conventional weapons that could take years and cost millions of lives. No, I think we have to go all out. I think that this situation absolutely requires a really futile and stupid gesture be done on somebody’s part.
Bluto: We’re just the guys to do it.
D-Day: Let’s do it.
Bluto: Let’s do it!
New Poster for Ben Affleck’s “The Town”
Finally an American poster for Affleck’s upcoming crime thriller. I posted the French version of the poster a week or so ago. I think I like it better than this one, but it’s nice to get another one. I am REALLY looking forward to this film. It’s got such a great cast, if Affleck manages to capture the same manic-yet-tense energy that his debut effort, 2007’s Gone Baby Gone, had then we’re all in for a real treat.
the diary of a film history fanatic 