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Oscar Vault Monday – Lost in Translation, 2003 (dir. Sofia Coppola)
I first saw this movie in 2010 in preparation for the release of Sofia Coppola’s Somewhere (a film that I love dearly), but I wasn’t really sold on its merit at that time. I think some of that had to do with my dislike of Scarlett Johansson (I’m warming up to her a bit these days, but I could still take her or leave her). However, with every rewatch of this film I find more things to love about it. It’s kind of a distant film, but when you warm up to it, or rather it warms up to you, you’ll find it’s a real gem. The film was nominated for four Academy Awards, winning one: Best Original Screenplay (won), Best Actor Bill Murray, Best Director and Best Picture. The other films up for Best Picture that year were Master and Commander: The Far Side of the World, Mystic River, Seabiscuit and winner The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King.
Movie Quote of the Day – Seabiscuit, 2003 (dir. Gary Ross)
Reporter: Awful lotta hoopla for such a little horse.
Red Pollard: Though he be but little, he is fierce.
Reporter: What’s that?
Red Pollard: That’s Shakespeare, boys, Shakespeare.
Movie Quote of the Day – The Saddest Music in the World, 2003 (dir. Guy Maddin)
Lady Port-Huntley: I console myself with the thought, Chester, that if I hadn’t met you, I might never have done anything to be ashamed of!
Chester Kent: Why bother with shame at all is my philosophy.
Movie Quote of the Day – The Dreamers, 2003 (dir. Bernardo Bertolucci)
Matthew: I read it in Cahiers du Cinéma. “A filmmaker is like a Peeping Tom.” A voyeur. It’s as if the camera is a the keyhole to your parents’ bedroom. And you spy on them, and you’re disgusted. You feel guilty but you can’t. . .you can’t look away. It makes films like crimes and directors like criminals. It should be illegal.
Theo: There goes my chance to be a filmmaker.
Matthew: Why?
Theo: My parents always left the bedroom door open.
Movie Quote of the Day – Lost In Translation, 2003 (dir. Sofia Coppola)
Bob: The more you know who you are, and what you want, the less you let things upset you.
Movie Quote of the Day – Kill Bill: Vol. 1, 2003 (dir. Quentin Tarantino)
The Bride: It was not my intention to do this in front of you. For that I’m sorry. But you can take my word for it, your mother had it comin’. When you grow up, if you still feel raw about it, I’ll be waiting.
Movie Quote of the Day – Down With Love, 2003 (dir. Peyton Reed)
Catcher Block: You said she was a spinster.
Peter MacMannus: I’ve never used the word “spinster” in my life. Okay, once, when I told my mother it was technically incorrect to call her son a spinster.
Movie Quote of the Day – Pirates of the Caribbean: The Curse of the Black Pearl, 2003 (dir. Gore Verbinski)
Norrington: You are without a doubt the worst pirate I’ve ever heard of.
Captain Jack Sparrow: But you have heard of me.
Movie Quote of the Day – Under The Tuscan Sun, 2003 (dir. Audrey Wells)
Frances: Buongiorno.
Katharine: Buongiorno.
Frances: Do I still look sad to you?
Katharine: No.
Frances: Ladybugs, Katherine. Lots and lots of ladybugs.
Katharine: Lovely.
Oscar Vault Monday – Mystic River, 2003 (dir. Clint Eastwood)
I hadn’t seen this movie until last weekend. I have no idea why I waited so long to see it. I mean, it has a stellar cast and Clint Eastwood is a favorite of mine (as a writer and a director). It’s also based on Dennis Lehane novel (who also wrote the novels on which Shutter Island and Gone Baby Gone were based), with a screenplay written by Brian Helgeland (who shares an Oscar with Curtis Hanson for their on L.A. Confidential). Despite all of that, it took me nearly a decade to actually watch the film. Boy was it worth the wait. It’s probably one of the most tense films I’d ever seen. It was nominated for six Oscars winning two: Best Adapted Screenplay, Best Supporting Actress Marcia Gay Harden, Best Supporting Actor Tim Robbins (won), Best Actor Sean Penn (won), Best Director and Best Picture. Incidentally, this was the first time Best Actor and Best Supporting Actor had come from the same film since 1959’s Ben-Hur. The other films up for Best Picture that year were Lost in Translation, Master and Commander: The Far Side of the World, Seabiscuit and winner The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King.
the diary of a film history fanatic 