Yearly Archives: 2011

Movie Quote of the Day – Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf?, 1966 (dir. Mike Nichols)

Martha: I swear, if you existed, I’d divorce you.

Site Update: The Japanese Cinema Blogathon, Some Contenders and More

A few things

  • The Japanese Cinema Blogathon has concluded. I think it was a wonderful success. We had 63 contributed posts over seven days. I’m not sure how much money we raised, but based just on the clicks to the donation page from my site alone, I think we raised quite a bit. I hope everyone who participated had fun. I know I did!
  • I’ve added some new names and films to the “The Contenders” list on the right side of the site. This is basically the films I think have a good chance being nominated in various categories. This is all sight-unseen, and based on the pedigree of the films.
  • Oscar Vault Monday is about a month away from its 1 year Anniversary! There were two weeks at the beginning of the feature’s inception wherein I made no posts, so when it does reach the 1-year milestone, it will only be 50 posts. But that’s still quite a bit. More news on that as the date approaches.
  • I just finished reading Sidney Lumet’s Making Movies. It is a fabulous book and I recommend it to anyone who loves films.
  • On a personal note, my mother is raising money for the Avon “In It To End It” Breast Cancer Walk in Washington D.C. If you’d like to contribute, you can do so here (every little bit helps!)
  • I signed up for a Formspring.me account, so if you have any questions or comments or anything that need a longer answer, feel free to drop me a line.
  • Lastly, as many of you know I watch a lot of films. Well, I am going to try to review at least one film a week for YAM Magazine. You can see my reviews here.

Movie Quote of the Day – White Heat, 1949 (dir. Raoul Walsh)

Cody Jarrett: Made it, Ma! Top of the world!

Oscar Vault Monday – Hannah and Her Sisters, 1986 (dir. Woody Allen)

I remember distinctly the first time I saw this film: it was about two days before I was moving away from San Francisco (that story is a whole other kettle of fish) and it came on PBS and I decided I would watch it. I was blown away. At that point I think I’d only seen about 8 other Woody Allen films (I’ve seen 31 now) and I just loved this film to pieces. I rewatched it again Saturday as part of TCM’s The Essentials and I fell in love with it all over again. Woody Allen won his only sole Oscar for Best Original Screenplay for this film (his only other writing win was for Annie Hall, which he shared with Marshall Brickman). The film was nominated for seven Academy Awards, winning three: Best Art Direction, Best Film Editing, Best Supporting Actor Michael Caine (won), Best Supporting Actress Dianne Wiest (won), Best Original Screenplay (won), Best Director, Best Picture. The films also nominated for Best Picture that year were Children of a Lesser God, The Mission, A Room with a View and winner Platoon.

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Movie Quote of the Day – The Third Man, 1949 (dir. Carol Reed)

Holly Martins: Heard of Harry Lime?
Crabbin: Well, I’ve heard of him, of course, but I don’t exactly know him.
Holly Martins: I was going to stay with him, but he died Thursday.
Crabbin: Goodness, that’s awkward.
Holly Martins: Is that what you say to people after death? “Goodness that’s awkward…”

Movie Quote of the Day – Hannah and Her Sisters, 1986 (dir. Woody Allen)

Mickey: And I remember very clearly, I walked the streets. I walked and I walked. I didn’t know what was going through my mind. It all seemed so violent and unreal to me. I wandered for a long time on the Upper West Side, you know. It must have been hours. My feet hurt, my head was pounding and I had to sit down. I went into a movie house. I didn’t know what was playing or anything. I just, I just needed a moment to gather my thoughts and be logical and put the world back into rational perspective. And I went upstairs to the balcony and I sat down. And, you know, the movie was a film that I’d seen many times in my life since I was a kid, and I always loved it. And, you know, I’m watching these people up on the screen and I started getting hooked on the film. And I started to feel: “How can you think of killing yourself? Isn’t it so stupid? I mean, look at all the people up there on the screen. You know, they’re real funny, and what if the worst is true? What if there’s no God, you only go around once, that’s it? Well, don’t you, you know, want to be part of the experience? You know, what the hell, it’s not all a drag. ” And I’m thinking to myself, “Jeez, I should stop ruining my life searching for answers I’m never going to get and just enjoy it while it lasts. ” And, you know, after, who knows? I mean, you know maybe there is something, nobody really knows. I know “maybe” is a slim reed to hang your whole life on but that’s the best we have. And then I started to sit back and I actually began to enjoy myself.

Japanese Cinema Blogathon: For The Love of Gojira

This is m y third contribution to the Japanese Cinema Blogathon for earthquake and tsunami relief. While I may lack experience in Japanese cinema when it comes to Miyazaki, Kurosawa, etc., I have plenty of experience with Godzilla (Gojira) films. As a kid I used to just LOVE watching these films. When I decided to write about my love of these films I thought I’d look and see just how many I’d seen. As it turns out, I have seen 15. One would think that is a lot; one would be wrong. There are actually 28 films in the series, not counting spin-offs (like 1956’s Rodan or 1961’s Mothra). Still, 15 is a pretty hefty number. And I don’t even plan on talking about the Hanna-Barbera animated series that ran from 1978-1981 (I’ve seen all  of that as well).

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Movie Quote of the Day – Carnal Knowledge, 1971 (dir. Mike Nichols)

Sandy: You can’t make fucking your life’s work.
Jonathan: Don’t tell me what I can and can’t do.

Movie Quote of the Day – Eastern Promises, 2007 (dir. David Cronenberg)

Nikolai Luzhin: Okay. Now I’m going to do his teeth and cut off his fingers. You might want to leave room.

New Poster For Woody Allen’s ‘Midnight In Paris’

Love, love, love this poster. I have such high hopes for this movie (despite my lukewarm feelings for most of Allen’s recent filmography). Midnight in Paris is set to premiere at the Cannes Film Festival on May 11, 2011  before opening in the United States on May 20, 2011.