Author Archives: Marya E. Gates
Movie Quote of the Day – Before Sunrise, 1995 (dir. Richard Linklater)
Jesse: Um, do you believe in reincarnation?
Céline: Yeah, yeah, it’s interesting.
Jesse: Most people, you know, a lot of people talk about the past lives, and things like that, you know, and even if they don’t believe in it in some specific way, you know, people have some kind of notion of an eternal soul, right?
Céline: Yeah.
Jesse: Okay. Well, this is my thought. Fifty thousand years ago, there are not even a million people on the planet. Ten thousand years ago, there’s like two million people on the planet. Now, there’s between five and six billion people on the planet, right? Now, if we all have our own, like, individual, unique soul, right, where do they all come from? Are modern souls only a fraction of the original souls?. Because if they are, that represents a five thousand-to-one split of each soul in just the last fifty thousand years, which is like a blip in the earth’s time. You know, so, at best, we’re like these tiny fractions of people, you know, walking… I mean, is that why we’re all so scattered? You know, is that why we’re all so specialized?
Céline: Wait a minute, I’m not sure I…I don’t….
Jesse: Hang on, I know, I know, its a totally scattered thought, which is kind of why it makes sense.
Movie Quote of the Day – Across The Universe, 2007 (dir. Julie Taymor)
Max’s Father: Goddammit, Max! Get serious, for once! What are you going to DO with your life?
Max: Why is it always what will I do? “What will he do”, “What will he do,” “Oh, my god what will he do”, Do, do, do, do, do. Why isn’t the issue here who I am?
Uncle Teddy: Because, Maxwell, what you do defines who you are.
Max: No, Uncle Teddy. Who you are defines what you do. Right Jude?
Jude: Well, surely it’s not what you do, but the, uh… the way that you do it.
Auteur of the Week: Stephen Daldry
Stephen Daldry is pretty much the John Cazale of directors. (Google John Cazale if you don’t get what I mean by that). He’s directed three films and has been nominated for Best Director by the Academy for all three films. Only two of them were nominated for Best Picture, but it’ quite possibly Billy Elliot was thisclose to getting one of those five slots in 2000. Odds are if the Weinsteins hadn’t had a film out that year (Chocolat) that they aggressively campaigned for, it would have. What I love the most about Daldry as a director, and I think this comes from his background as a theater director, is the strong performances he gets out of his actors. I dare you to find one bad, or even “just okay” performance in one of his films. You’ll be hard-pressed to find one. He has director five Academy Award nominated and two Academy Award winning performances. That’s pretty good for a guy who’s only done three feature films so far.
Oscar Vault Monday – Working Girl, 1988 (dir. Mike Nichols)
I really love this movie. I’m pretty sure I first saw it when I was about 6 or 7 years old and for the longest time I couldn’t wait to go and work in an office (not the case so much anymore, haha). I loved everything about it. The story is a pretty basic David vs. Goliath kind of deal, but set in an office, with a dash of Shakespearean mistaken identity thrown in as well. It’s also a romantic comedy, albeit one that is slightly more serious than most. There’s broken hearts and bad relationships, real friendships, ambition, a bit of women’s lib and office politics. It’s very much a movie of its time, but because it has some basic archetypes at its core, as dated as its costumes, etc are, the story and therefore the film is timeless. It was nominated for six Academy Awards, winning one: Best Song (won), Best Supporting Actress Joan Cusack, Best Supporting Actress Sigourney Weaver, Best Actress Melanie Griffith, Best Director Mike Nichols and Best Picture. It was up against The Accidental Tourist, Dangerous Liaisons, Mississippi Burning and winner Rain Man.
Movie Quote of the Day – L.A. Confidential, 1997 (dir. Curtis Hanson)
Johnny Stompanato: You want an autograph? Write to MGM.
Ed Exley: Since when do two-bit hoods and hookers give out autographs?
Johnny Stompanato: What’d you say to me?
Ed Exley: LAPD. Sit down.
Lana Turner: Who in the hell do you think you are?
Jack Vincennes: Ed…
Ed Exley: Take a walk, honey, before I haul your ass downtown.
Johnny Stompanato: You are making a large mistake.
Lana Turner: Get away from our table!
Ed Exley: Shut up! A hooker cut to look like Lana Turner is still a hooker.
Johnny Stompanato: Hey!
Ed Exley: She just looks like Lana Turner.
Jack Vincennes: She *is* Lana Turner.
Ed Exley: What?
Jack Vincennes: She *is* Lana Turner.
Posters For “Morning Glory”
I love the trailer for this film and I really hope it lives up to how great the cast list is. If it is as good as its pedigree it could be a serious contender for a Golden Globe nod for Best Comedy, as well as some acting nods. If it’s as smart as the trailer makes it look, is a hit with critics and does well at the box office, it may even have an long-shot chance for one of the ten Best Picture slots at the Oscars.
Morning Glory hits theaters on November 12th.






























