Author Archives: Marya E. Gates
Movie Quote of the Day – Mr. & Mrs. Smith, 1941 (dir. Alfred Hitchcock)
Ann: If you had it all to do over again, would you still have married me?
David: Honestly, no.
Movie Quote of the Day – The Holiday, 2006 (dir. Nancy Meyers)
Arthur Abbott: You know what I’ve been asking myself all night?
Iris: What? Why I’m bothering you with all these questions?
Arthur Abbott: I’m wondering why a beautiful girl like you would go to a strangers’ house for their Christmas Vacation, and on top of that spend Saturday night with an old cock-up like me.
Iris: Well, I just wanted to get away from all the people I see all the time!… Well, not all the people… one person. I wanted to get away from one… guy.[sobs] An ex-boyfriend who just got engaged and forgot to tell me.
Arthur Abbott: So, he’s a schmuck.
Iris: As a matter of fact, he is… a huge schmuck. How did you know?
Arthur Abbott: He let you go. This is not a hard one to figure out. Iris, in the movies we have leading ladies and we have the best friend. You, I can tell, are a leading lady, but for some reason you are behaving like the best friend.
Iris: You’re so right. You’re supposed to be the leading lady of your own life, for god’s sake! Arthur, I’ve been going to a therapist for three years, and she’s never explained anything to me that well. That was brilliant. Brutal, but brilliant.
Movie Quote of the Day – A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Forum, 1966 (dir. Richard Lester)
Pseudolus: I say! You are in need of a soothsayer.
Erronius: How did you know?
Pseudolus: I’d be a fine soothsayer if I didn’t.
Books on Film: Jaws: Memories From Martha’s Vineyard
This is my first foray into book reviews, so bear with me. I’m also going to tell you straight away that I have not read through all 312 pages of this amazing book, but what I have read has been incredible. Now out from Titan Books is a second edition of Matt Taylor’s Jaws: Memories From Martha’s Vineyard, which recounts the making of Steven Spielberg’s blockbuster Jaws from December 16th, 1973 all the way through the premier of the film on June 20th, 1975.
Movie Quote of the Day – Make Way For Tomorrow, 1937 (dir. Leo McCarey)
Barkley Cooper: In case. . .I don’t see you again. . .
Lucy Cooper: What?
Barkley Cooper: Well, anything might happen. The train could jump off the tracks. If it should happen that I don’t see you again, it’s been very nice knowing you, Miss Breckenridge.
Lucy Cooper: Bark, that’s probably the prettiest speech you ever made. And in case I don’t see you ag. . .well, for a little while. I just want to tell you, it’s been lovely, every bit of it, the whole fifty years. I’d sooner have been your wife, Bark, than anyone else on Earth.
Barkley Cooper: Thank you, Lucy.
Movie Quote of the Day – The End of the Affair, 1999 (dir. Neil Jordan)
Maurice Bendrix: I’m jealous of this stocking.
Sarah Miles: Why?
Maurice Bendrix: Because it does what I can’t. Kisses your whole leg. And I’m jealous of this button.
Sarah Miles: Poor, innocent button.
Maurice Bendrix: It’s not innocent at all. It’s with you all day. I’m not.
Sarah Miles: I suppose you’re jealous of my shoes?
Maurice Bendrix: Yes.
Sarah Miles: Why?
Maurice Bendrix: Because they’ll take you away from me.
Berlin and Beyond, Instant Netflix and Stars in Shorts: September 2012 in Films
September was kind of a lackluster month for me in terms of film watching. The new semester started and that reduced my time. I mostly wound up watching films on Instant Netflix while I was getting ready in the morning and most of them I found kind of underwhelming. I also reviewed a collection of short films called Stars in Shorts, but again I found most of them kind of underwhelming. I got to see my favorite film of the year, Chicken With Plums, a second time which was fantastic. I also saw a few things as repeat viewings at the Castro. I saw Magic Mike for a second time (I liked it even more than I already did) and I saw Pina for the 4th time. I will always see that movie when I get the chance. This last few days I’ve been at the Berlin and Beyond Film Festival (and cough a damn cold!). It’s on-going until Thursday and I will be doing a write-up when it concludes.
“Family Guy” Creator Seth MacFarlane To Host The Oscars
This is new I can get behind. Who do I have to bribe to get an appearance by Stewie?! Full AP article after the cut.
Movie Quote of the Day – The Manchurian Candidate, 1962 (dir. John Frankenheimer)
Raymond Shaw: Well, you know, Ben, it’s a terrible thing to hate your mother. But I didn’t always hate her. When I was a child, I only kind of disliked her.
Oscar Vault Monday – A Place in the Sun, 1951 (dir. George Stevens)
I first saw this film on Elizabeth Taylor day during the 2010 Summer under the Stars on TCM and I’ll admit I didn’t really see what all the fuss was about. I was unsure why it was considered one of the greatest American movies. Then I saw it a second time, about six months later, on the big screen at the Egyptian Theatre during the TCM Film Festival in 2011 and suddenly I got it. That’s not to say it doesn’t necessarily translate well on the small screen (I’ve seen it many times since at home), but there was just something about seeing it on the big screen that made the magic come alive for me. I love this film so dearly and it is one I just cannot recommend enough. It was one AFI’s 100 Years. . .100 Movies list ranking at #92, but when they did their ten-year anniversary it fell off the list. It also ranked #53 on AFI’s 100 Years. . .100 Passions list. The film was nominated for nine Academy Awards, winning six. It lost Best Picture to An American in Paris, which was nominated for only eight Academy Awards, but won six as well. The only two awards An American In Paris lost (Director/Film Editing) were to A Place in the Sun, which was nominated for: Best B&W Cinematography (won), Best B&W Costume Design (won), Best Score (won), Best Screenplay (won), Best Film Editing (won), Best Actor Montgomery Clift, Best Actress Shelley Winters, Best Director (won) and Best Picture. The other films nominated that year were Decision Before Dawn, Quo Vadis, A Streetcar Named Desire and winner An American in Paris. This was also a strange year because three of the acting awards went to A Streetcar Named Desire (the fourth went Bogart in The African Queen). Also, if you look at the awards both A Place in the Sun and An American in Paris won, the only way they could have won them was because they were in separate categories (B&W vs. color, musical vs. not musical). This is part of why I love looking at the older Academy Awards ceremonies; they have a fun evolutionary history.
the diary of a film history fanatic 