Blog Archives
Movie Quote of the Day – Outbreak, 1995 (dir. Wolfgang Petersen)
Casey Schuler: How many brain cells did I kill?
Sam Daniels: How many? About a billion.
Casey Schuler: Oh, now I’m only as smart as you.
Sam Daniels: What can we give him to kill his sense of humor?
Movie Quote of the Day – The Usual Suspects, 1995 (dir. Bryan Singer)
Verbal Kint: Who is Keyser Soze? He is supposed to be Turkish. Some say his father was German. Nobody believed he was real. Nobody ever saw him or knew anybody that ever worked directly for him, but to hear Kobayashi tell it, anybody could have worked for Soze. You never knew. That was his power. The greatest trick the Devil ever pulled was convincing the world he didn’t exist.
Movie Quote of the Day – Moon, 2009 (dir. Duncan Jones)
GERTY: I hope life on Earth is everything you remember it to be.
Sam Bell: Thanks, GERTY. [beat] Are you going to be OK?
GERTY: Of course.
Movie Quote of the Day – American Beauty, 1999 (dir. Sam Mendes)
Carolyn Burnham: Uh, whose car is that out front?
Lester Burnham: Mine. 1970 Pontiac Firebird. The car I’ve always wanted and now I have it. I rule!
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.
Oscar Vault Monday – L.A. Confidential, 1997 (dir. Curtis Hanson)
This film is one of the all-time great ensembles out there. It features stellar performances from so many great actors. It also is so wonderfully stylized, from the costumes to the sets to Jerry Goldsmith’s phenomenal score. The film was nominated for 9 Academy Awards in 1997. Although it lost Best Picture to Titanic, Kim Basinger walked away with the Best Supporting Actress award as did the Adapted Screenplay by Brian Helgeland and Curtis Hanson.
Five Under-Appreciated Performances From 2009
At this point we’re pretty much set with the performances that will get nominated for the Oscars. There might be one or two surprise nominees – think Michael Shannon for Revolutionary Road last year – but other than that the nominees aren’t going to be much of a surprise.
I’d like to take a moment to discuss five performances that have been all but over looked this awards season. These are all performances that I loved instantly and are all featured in films I will probably return to again and again.
the diary of a film history fanatic 