Monthly Archives: August 2010
Movie Quote of the Day – West Side Story, 1961 (dir. Jerome Robbins, Robert Wise)
Maria: Stay back! How do you fire this gun, Chino? Just by pulling this little trigger? How many bullets are left, Chino? Enough for you? And you? All of you! You all killed him. And my brother. And Riff. Not with bullets and guns. With hate! Well, l can kill too, because now l have hate! How many can l kill, Chino? How many, and still have one bullet left for me? [beat] Don’t you touch him!
Current Obsession: Anton Corbijn’s Photo Blog for The American
Anton Corbijn is one of my favorite photographers. Incidentally, due to his amazing work on his debut film – 2007’s Joy Division/Ian Curtis biopic Control, he is also one of my favorite filmmakers. His camerawork is just so luscious and his point of view so clear. September 1st sees the debut of his sophomore effort, the George Clooney anchored spy-thriller The American. I am pretty stoked for this film. The trailer looks amazing. The poster art is all kinds of fabulous vintage paperback pulp fiction awesomeness. But what has really excited me the most is Corbijn’s photo blog over on Focus Features’ site. The blog has been up since February and includes beautifully shot photos of Clooney, as well as other cast members, mixed in with cute anecdotes about the photos. I’m going to share my two favorite photos, but you should really go to the site and read Corbijn’s posts as well!
Don’t forget to check the photo blog out: http://focusfeatures.com/profile/anton_corbijn
Great Oscar Snubs: Marilyn Monroe
Marilyn Monroe was never nominated for an Academy Award. She is one of the most famous people of all time, and definitely one of the most photographed. But for all that she was a pretty face, she desperately wanted to be taken seriously for her craft. It is my opinion that she was one of the greatest comediennes of all time. She also gave a handful of wonderful dramatic roles during her career. I think a lot of people don’t realize that the bubbly “Marilyn” the public knew was a persona she played. Also a lot of people see her blonde hair and effervescence and think she is a dull bulb. She was one of the smartest people working in Hollywood, maybe ever. Her main fault, although calling it a fault is unfair, was her need to be loved. A need that she had her whole life, stemming for deep abandonment issues created in childhood, that she was very rarely able to fulfill. She was a beautiful soul and on this 48th anniversary of her tragic death, she is still missed by so many, having touched our lives so profoundly with her work and with her grace.
Guest Post: Disconnected – Public Opinion, Critical Acclaim, and The Academy
Nicola, who’s runs Uncultured Critic, has written a special guest feature for Cinema Fanatic about “the disconnect between public opinion, critical acclaim, and The Academy.” I hope you enjoy it! And while you’re at it, y’all should follower her on Twitter, too!
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The Economist recently released an article with the following title:
A World of Hits: Ever-increasing choice was supposed to mean the end of the blockbuster. It has had the opposite effect
Ever-increasing choice? Not anymore! Since the advent of the latest 3D boom (-and-hopefully-bust), choices have dwindled considerably.
Movie Quote of the Day – The Untouchables, 1987 (dir. Brian De Palma)
Scoop: Word is they’re going to repeal Prohibition. What’ll you do then?
Ness: I think I’ll have a drink.
Movie Quote of the Day – My Big Fat Greek Wedding, 2002 (dir. Joel Zwick)
Gus Portokalos: [crying] Why you want to leave me?
Toula Portokalos: I’m not leaving you! Don’t you want me to do something with my life?
Gus Portokalos: Yes! Get married, make babies! You look so… old!
Auteur of the Week: Spike Jonze
My first memory of Spike Jonze came about when I was 13 years old and I read about his upcoming film Being John Malkovich in a Q&A between John Malkovich and then Time Magazine reporter Joel Stein. At the time I was madly in love with both Malkovich and Joel Stein. I was an odd child. Needless to say the movie did not come anywhere near my little hamlet of a town and I had to wait and rent it. At the time we still didn’t have a DVD player so I had to rent it on VHS tape and I hadn’t gotten my own TV/VCR yet (a present I would get upon 8th grade graduation a few months later) and thus was stuck watching it out in the living room. Let’s just say every time a parent or my brother came out of their respective rooms to get something from the kitchen, I immediately turned it off and pretended I was watching something on television. I really do not think I could have watched that in mixed company. Regardless, I really loved it and it marks the beginning of my love for strange, offbeat films.
Trailer, Poster and Stills for Julian Schnabel’s “Miral”
The film stars Freida Pinto, Willam Dafoe, Hiam Abbass and Vanessa Redgrave. It’s an adaptation of Italo-Palestinian Rula Jebreal’s book about the real-life Palestinian woman Hind Husseini, who started the Dar Al-Tifl orphanage in Jerusalem in the wake of the 1948 partition of Palestine and the creation of the state of Israel. The story will span the years 1948-94. It’s being released by The Weinstein Co. on December 3.
Trailer after the cut.
the diary of a film history fanatic 