Monthly Archives: December 2012

Site Update: It’s Our 3rd Anniversary!

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Believe it or not, I’ve been updating this site regularly for three years now! It’s amazing how the time has really flown. While last year saw a lot more changes than this year, 2012 was so full of amazing things for me and for this site.

I continued my studies at the Academy of Art University in San Francisco and now have two semesters left in my MFA program. While there I studied with some really brilliant people, including screenwriter (he co-wrote The Emperor’s New Groove), actor and director extraordinaire Matthew Jacobs.

On the site, Movie Quote of the Day has been going strong with a different quote everyday (except for repeats on Groundhog Day because duh) for over two and a half years. After a eight-month hiatus, Oscar Vault Monday came back strong, with some of my very best work so far. I continued to review many a film from The Warner Archive, which continues to be a delightful gig and I also reviewed a handful of books of film from Titan Books.

I continued to write for YAM Magazine, which included covering many festivals: Noir City X (where I met the founder of the Film Noir Foundation Eddie Muller and talked about eyeliner with Angie Dickinson), the 3rd annual TCM Film Festival (where I met and talked with both Bob Osborne and Ben Mankiewicz, interviewed Tippi Hedren, Rick Baker and Thelma Schoonmaker and was yelled at on the red carpet by Tony Roberts), the San Francisco International Film Festival, the Epidemic Film Festival, the 17th annual San Francisco Silent Film Festival and the Berlin and Beyond Film Festival. I also got to do several interviews outside of festivals, including Carl Davis and Jake Schreier.

I was in a commercial for the Samsung Series 9 Monitors in which, according to one user on YouTube, I demonstrate the “worst acting in [the] history of mankind.” Can’t please ’em all.

Lastly, the amazing biography of Lew Ayres written by Lesley Coffin for which I contributed the foreword was finally released and surprise of all surprises, my name was on the cover! You can purchase it here.

All and all, 2012 was a great year for me and I hope it was a great year for you too. I’m so grateful for each and every reader that comes across this site and I can’t wait for 2013 and a 4th year of being a cinema fanatic!

Love,
Marya

Oscar Vault Monday – A Few Good Men, 1992 (dir. Rob Reiner)

This is one of those movies that I have seen so many times I don’t have an accurate count. It’s also one that I mostly watched edited on television, so when I watched it for the first time on DVD there were so many things that had either been cut out for time or censored for content; it was shocking. Moral of the story: make sure you watch this movie on DVD. My mother and I always joke about how if this movie is on television, no matter what we are doing, we will leave it on because we just have to see that ending scene. It’s definitely one of the greatest endings in film history. A Few Good Men was nominated for four Academy Awards, though it failed to win any: Best Sound, Best Film Editing, Best Supporting Actor Jack Nicholson and Best Picture. Rob Reiner failed to receive a Best Director nomination despite the Best Picture nod. His place went to Robert Altman for The Player, which failed to receive a Best Picture nomination. Always strange when that happens. The other films nominated for Best Picture that year were: The Crying Game, Howard’s End, Scent of a Woman and winner Unforgiven.

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Movie Quote of the Day – Boiler Room, 2000 (dir. Ben Younger)

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Jim Young: Okay. Here’s the deal. I’m not here to waste your time. I certainly hope you’re not here to waste mine. So I’m gonna keep this short. If you become an employee of this firm, you will make your first million within three years. Okay? I’m going to repeat that: You will make a million dollars within three years of your first day of employment at J.T. Marlin. There is no question as to whether or not you’ll become a millionaire here. The only question is how many times over. You think I’m joking? I am not joking. I am a millionaire. It’s a weird thing to hear, right? I’ll tell ya. It’s a weird thing to say. I am a fucking millionaire. And guess how old I am. Twenty-seven. You know what that makes me here? A fuckin’ senior citizen. This firm is entirely comprised of people your age, not mine. Lucky for me, I happen to be very fucking good at my job, or I’d be out of one. You guys are the new blood. You’re gonna go home with the kessef. You are the future big swinging dicks of this firm. Now, you all look money hungry, and that’s good. Anybody tells you money is the root of all evil doesn’t fuckin’ have any. They say money can’t buy happiness? Look at the fuckin’ smile on my face. Ear to ear, baby. You want details? Fine. I drive a Ferrari 355 Cabriolet. What’s up? I have a ridiculous house in the South Fork. I have every toy you could possibly imagine, and best of all, kids, I am liquid. So, now you know what’s possible. Let me tell you what’s required. You are required to work your fucking ass off at this firm. We want winners here, not pikers. A piker walks at the bell. A piker asks how much vacation you get in the first year. Vacation time? People come and work at this firm for one reason: to become filthy rich. That’s it. We’re not here to make friends. We’re not savin’ the manatees here, guys. You want vacation time? Go teach third grade public school. Okay. The first three months at the firm are as a trainee. You make $150 a week. After you’re done training, you take the Series Seven. You pass that, you become junior broker and you open accounts for your team leader. You open 40 accounts, you start workin’ for yourself. Sky’s the limit. Word or two about being a trainee. Friends, parents, other brokers, they’re gonna give you shit. It’s true. $150 a week? Not a lot of money. Pay them no mind. You need to learn this business, and this is the time to do it. Once you pass the test, none of that’s gonna matter. Your friends are shit. Tell them you made 25 grand last month, they not gonna fucking believe you. Fuck them! Fuck ‘em! Parents don’t like the life you lead? “Fuck you, Mom and Dad.” See how it feels when you’re makin’ their fuckin’ Lexus payments. Now, go home and think about it. Think about whether it’s really for you. If you decide it isn’t. . .listen, it’s nothing to be embarrassed about. It’s not for everyone. Thanks. But if you really want this. . .you call me on Monday and we’ll talk. Just don’t waste my fuckin’ time. Okay. That’s it.

Movie Quote of the Day – A Scanner Darkly, 2006 (dir. Richard Linklater)

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Waitress: Hey, how is everything?
James Barris: Everything is super good.
Charles Freck: Not with me. I’ve got a lot of problems that nobody else has.
James Barris: Freck, come on. More people than you’d think and more people each day. This is a world getting progressively worse. Can we not agree on that? What’s on the dessert menu?

Movie Quote of the Day – A Boy and His Dog, 1975 (dir. L.Q. Jones)

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Blood: I want popcorn.
Vic: Pass.
Blood: You said we’d get some.
Vic: Who said?
Blood: Come on, Albert, buy me some popcorn.
Vic: I’m tapped, you can live without it.
Blood: You’re just being an ass.
Vic: You just remember that the next time you want to call me Albert.
Blood: I hope the next time you play with yourself you go blind.

Les Misérables Leads Phoenix Film Critics Society Awards Nominations

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TOP TEN FILMS OF 2012 (in alphabetical order)

  • “Argo”
  • “The Avengers”
  • “Beasts of the Southern Wild”
  • “Les Misérables”
  • “Life of Pi”
  • “Lincoln”
  • “Moonrise Kingdom”
  • “Silver Linings Playbook”
  • “Skyfall”
  • “Zero Dark Thirty”

BEST DIRECTOR

  • Ben Affleck “Argo”
  • Kathryn Bigelow “Zero Dark Thirty”
  • Tom Hooper “Les Misérables”
  • Ang Lee “Life of Pi”
  • Steven Spielberg “Lincoln”

BEST ACTOR IN A LEADING ROLE

  • Daniel Day-Lewis “Lincoln”
  • John Hawkes “The Sessions”
  • Anthony Hopkins “Hitchcock”
  • Hugh Jackman “Les Misérables”
  • Joaquin Phoenix “The Master”

BEST ACTRESS IN A LEADING ROLE

  • Jessica Chastain “Zero Dark Thirty”
  • Jennifer Lawrence “Silver Linings Playbook”
  • Quvenzhané Wallis “Beasts of the Southern Wild”
  • Mary Elizabeth Winstead “Smashed”

BEST ACTOR IN A SUPPORTING ROLE

  • Robert De Niro “Silver Linings Playbook”
  • Javier Bardem “Skyfall”
  • Philip Seymour Hoffman “The Master”
  • Tommy Lee Jones “Lincoln”
  • Ezra Miller “The Perks of Being a Wallflower”

BEST ACTRESS IN A SUPPORTING ROLE

  • Judi Dench “Skyfall”
  • Sally Fields “Lincoln”
  • Anne Hathaway “Les Misérables”
  • Helen Hunt “The Sessions”
  • Emma Watson “The Perks of Being a Wallflower”

BEST ENSEMBLE ACTING

  • “Argo”
  • “Les Misérables”
  • “Moonrise Kingdom”
  • “Silver Linings Playbook”

BEST SCREENPLAY – ORIGINAL

  • “Arbitrage”
  • “The Master”
  • “Moonrise Kingdom”
  • “Zero Dark Thirty”

BEST SCREENPLAY – ADAPTATION

  • “Argo”
  • “Les Misérables”
  • “The Perks of Being a Wallflower”
  • “Silver Linings Playbook”

BEST LIVE ACTION FAMILY FILM

  • “Big Miracle”
  • “Chimpanzee”
  • “Life of Pi”
  • “The Odd Life of Timothy Green”

THE OVERLOOKED FILM OF THE YEAR

  • “Cabin in the Woods”
  • “Jeff, Who Lives at Home”
  • “The Perks of Being a Wallflower”
  • “Safety Not Guaranteed”
  • “Sound of My Voice”

BEST ANIMATED FILM

  • “Brave”
  • “Frankenweenie”
  • “ParaNorman”
  • “Wreck-It Ralph”

BEST FOREIGN LANGUAGE FILM

  • “A Royal Affair”
  • “Amour”
  • “Headhunters”
  • “The Intouchables”
  • “Jiro Dreams of Sushi”

BEST DOCUMENTARY

  • “Bully”
  • “Jiro Dreams of Sushi”
  • “Queen of Versailles”
  • “Searching for Sugar Man”

BEST ORIGINAL SONG

  • Skyfall “Skyfall”
  • Suddenly “Les Misérables”
  • When Can I See You Again “Wreck-It Ralph”

BEST ORIGINAL SCORE

  • “Hitchcock”
  • “Life of Pi”
  • “Lincoln”
  • “Skyfall”

BEST CINEMATOGRAPHY

  • “Les Misérables”
  • “Life of Pi”
  • “Lincoln”
  • “Skyfall”
  • “Zero Dark Thirty”

BEST FILM EDITING

  • “Argo”
  • “The Dark Knight Rises”
  • “Life of Pi”
  • “Skyfall”
  • “Zero Dark Thirty”

BEST PRODUCTION DESIGN

  • “Anna Karenina”
  • “Cloud Atlas”
  • “The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey”
  • “Les Misérables”
  • “Moonrise Kingdom”

BEST COSTUME DESIGN

  • “A Royal Affair”
  • “Anna Karenina”
  • “The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey”
  • “Les Misérables”
  • “Lincoln”

BEST VISUAL EFFECTS

  • “The Avengers”
  • “Cloud Atlas”
  • “The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey”
  • “Life of Pi”
  • “Prometheus”

BEST STUNTS

  • “The Avengers”
  • “The Bourne Legacy”
  • “The Dark Knight Rises”
  • “Looper”
  • “Skyfall”

BREAKTHROUGH PERFORMANCE ON CAMERA

  • Mark Duplass “Safety Not Guaranteed”
  • Dwight Henry “Beasts of the Southern Wild”
  • Suraj Sharma “Life of Pi”
  • Quvenzhané Wallis “Beasts of the Southern Wild”

BREAKTHROUGH PERFORMANCE BEHIND THE CAMERA

  • Stephen Chbosky “The Perks of Being a Wallflower”
  • Seth MacFarlane “Ted”
  • Benh Zeitlin “Beasts of the Southern Wild”
  • Craig Zobel “Compliance”

BEST PERFORMANCE BY A YOUTH IN A LEAD OR SUPPORTING ROLE – FEMALE

  • Isabelle Allen “Les Misérables”
  • Maude Apatow “This is 40”
  • Kara Hayward “Moonrise Kingdom”
  • Quvenzhané Wallis “Beasts of the Southern Wild”

BEST PERFORMANCE BY A YOUTH IN A LEAD OR SUPPORTING ROLE – MALE

  • CJ Adams “The Odd Life of Timothy Green”
  • Jerad Gilman “Moonrise Kingdom”
  • Tom Holland “The Impossible”
  • Daniel Huttlestone “Les Misérables”

Moonrise Kingdom Leads St. Louis Film Critics Nominations

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Best Film

  • Argo
  • Django Unchained
  • Life of Pi
  • Lincoln
  • Moonrise Kingdom
  • Zero Dark Thirty

Best Director

  • Ben Affleck (Argo)
  • Wes Anderson (Moonrise Kingdom)
  • Kathryn Bigelow (Zero Dark Thirty)
  • Quentin Tarantino (Django Unchained)
  • Benh Zeitlin (Beasts of the Southern Wild)
  • Ang Lee (Life of Pi)

Best Actor

  • Bradley Cooper (Silver Linings Playbook)
  • Daniel Day-Lewis (Lincoln)
  • Jamie Foxx (Django Unchained)
  • John Hawkes (The Sessions)
  • Joaquin Phoenix (The Master)
  • Denzel Washington (Flight)

Best Actress

  • Jessica Chastain (Zero Dark Thirty)
  • Jennifer Lawrence (Silver Linings Playbook)
  • Helen Mirren (Hitchcock)
  • Aubrey Plaza (Safety Not Guaranteed)
  • Quvenzhané Wallis (Beasts of the Southern Wild)

Best Supporting Actor

  • Alan Arkin (Argo)
  • John Goodman (Argo)
  • Tommy Lee Jones (Lincoln)
  • William H. Macy (The Sessions)
  • Christoph Waltz (Django Unchained)
  • Bruce Willis (Moonrise Kingdom)

Best Supporting Actress

  • Amy Adams (The Master)
  • Ann Dowd (Compliance)
  • Sally Field (Lincoln)
  • Anne Hathaway (Les Miserables)
  • Helen Hunt (The Sessions)
  • Emma Watson (Perks of Being A Wallflower)

Best Original Screenplay

  • The Cabin in the Woods (Joss Whedon and Drew Goddard)
  • Django Unchained (Quentin Tarantino)
  • Moonrise Kingdom (Wes Anderson and Roman Coppola)
  • Seven Psychopaths (Martin McDonagh)
  • Zero Dark Thirty (Mark Boal )

Best Adapted Screenplay

  • Argo (Chris Terrio)
  • Beasts of the Southern Wild (Lucy Alibar and Benh Zeitlin)
  • Life of Pi (David Magee)
  • Lincoln (Tony Kushner)
  • The Perks of Being a Wallflower (Stephen Chbosky)
  • Silver Linings Playbook (David O. Russell)

Best Cinematography

  • Beasts of the Southern Wild (Ben Richardson)
  • Cloud Atlas (Frank Griebe and John Toll)
  • Django Unchained (Robert Richardson)
  • Life of Pi (Claudio Miranda)
  • The Master (Mihai Malaimare Jr.)
  • Skyfall (Roger Deakins)

Best Visual Effects

  • The Avengers
  • Cloud Atlas
  • Life of Pi
  • Prometheus
  • Snow White and the Huntsman

Best Music

  • Beasts of the Southern Wild
  • Cloud Atlas
  • The Dark Knight Rises
  • Django Unchained
  • Moonrise Kingdom
  • Not Fade Away

Best Foreign-Language Film

  • The Fairy
  • Headhunters
  • Holy Motors
  • The Intouchables
  • The Kid With A Bike

Best Documentary

  • Ai Wei Wei: Never Sorry
  • Bully
  • How To Survive A Plague
  • Jiro Dreams of Sushi
  • Searching for Sugar Man

Best Animated Film

  • Brave
  • Frankenweenie
  • ParaNorman
  • Rise of the Guardians
  • Wreck-It Ralph

Best Comedy

  • The Cabin in the Woods
  • Moonrise Kingdom
  • Seven Psychopaths
  • Ted
  • Wreck-It Ralph

Best Art-House or Festival Film (for artistic excellence in art-house cinema, limited to films that played at film festivals or film series or those that had a limited-release here, playing one or two cinemas).

  • Bernie
  • Compliance
  • The Fairy
  • Safety Not Guaranteed
  • Sleepwalk with Me
  • Take This Waltz

Best Scene (favorite movie scene or sequence).

  • Beasts of the Southern Wild – The hurricane (and Wink shooting at it)
  • Django Unchained – The “bag head” bag/mask problems scene
  • Flight – The plane crash
  • Hitchcock – Anthony Hopkins in lobby conducting to music/audience’s reaction during “Psycho” shower scene
  • The Impossible – Opening tsunami scene
  • The Master – The first “processing” questioning scene between Philip Seymour Hoffman and Joaquin Phoenix

Movie Quote of the Day – Baby the Rain Must Fall, 1965 (dir. Robert Mulligan)

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Henry Thomas: It’ll all work out.
Georgette Thomas: Oh, I’m sure it will.

Movie Quote of the Day – Con Air, 1997 (dir. Simon West)

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Garland Greene: Two went down, one came up.
Cameron Poe: Wasn’t my fault.
Garland Greene: Well, you don’t have to tell me. Most murders are crimes of necessity rather than desire. But the great ones, Dahmer, Gacy, Bundy. . .they did it because it excited them.
Cameron Poe: Don’t you. . .I got nothing in common with them, with you. Don’t you talk to me! They were insane.
Garland Greene: Now you’re talking semantics. What if I told you insane was working 50 hours a week in some office for 50 years at the end of which they tell you to piss off, ending up in some retirement village hoping to die before suffering the indignity of trying to make it to the toilet on time? Wouldn’t you consider that to be insane?
Cameron Poe: Murdering 30 people, semantics or not, is insane!
Garland Greene: One girl. . .I drove through three states wearing her head as a hat.
Cameron Poe: It’s my daughter’s birthday today. So please feel free not to share everything with me.

2012 Golden Globe Nominations

DJANGO UNCHAINED

Best Motion Picture – Drama
“Argo”
“Django Unchained”
“Life of Pi”
“Lincoln”
“Zero Dark Thirty”

Best Motion Picture – Musical or Comedy
“Best Exotic Marigold Hotel”
“Les Miserables”
“Moonrise Kingdom”
“Salmon Fishing in the Yemen”
“Silver Linings Playbook”

Best Actor – Drama
Richard Gere – “Arbitrage”
Denzel Washington – “Flight”
Daniel Day-Lewis – “Lincoln”
Joaquin Phoenix – “The Master”
John Hawkes – “The Sessions”

Best Actress – Drama
Rachel Weisz – “The Deep Blue Sea”
Helen Mirren – “Hitchcock”
Naomi Watts – “The Impossible”
Marion Cotillard – “Rust and Bone”
Jessica Chastain – “Zero Dark Thirty”

Best Actor – Musical or Comedy
Jack Black – “Bernie”
Bill Murray – “Hyde Park on Hudson”
Hugh Jackman – “Les Miserables”
Ewan McGregor – “Salmon Fishing in the Yemen”
Bradley Cooper – “Silver Linings Playbook”

Best Actress – Musical or Comedy
Judi Dench – “Best Exotic Marigold Hotel”
Meryl Streep – “Hope Springs”
Jennifer Lawrence – “Silver Linings Playbook”
Emily Blunt – “Salmon Fishing in the Yemen”
Maggie Smith – “Quartet”

Best Supporting Actor
Alan Arkin – “Argo”
Christoph Waltz – “Django Unchained”
Leonardo DiCaprio – “Django Unchained”
Tommy Lee Jones – “Lincoln”
Philip Seymour Hoffman – “The Master”

Best Supporting Actress
Anne Hathaway – “Les Miserables”
Sally Field – “Lincoln”
Amy Adams – “The Master”
Nicole Kidman – “The Paperboy”
Helen Hunt – “The Sessions”

Best Director
Ben Affleck – “Argo”
Quentin Tarantino – “Django Unchained”
Ang Lee – “Life of Pi”
Steven Spielberg – “Lincoln”
Kathryn Bigelow – “Zero Dark Thirty”

Best Screenplay
Quentin Tarantino – “Django Unchained”
Chris Terrio – “Argo”
Tony Kushner – “Lincoln”
David O. Russell – “Silver Linings Playbook”
Mark Boal – “Zero Dark Thirty”

Best Original Song – Motion Picture
For You –  “Act of Valor”
Not Running Anymore – “Stand Up Guys”
Safe and Sound – “The Hunger Games”
Skyfall – “Skyfall”
Suddenly – “Les Miserables”

Best Original Score – Motion Picture
“Life of Pi”
“Argo”
“Anna Karenina”
“Cloud Atlas”
“Lincoln”

Best Foreign Language Film
“Amour”
“The Intouchables”
“Kon-Tiki”
“A Royal Affair”
“Rust and Bone”

Best Animated Feature Film
“Brave”
“Frankenweenie”
“Hotel Transylvaia”
“Rise of the Guardians”
“Wreck-It Ralph”