Day #17 - Nine Trailer

I canNOT express how ridiculously excited I am for this movie :) As we all know, of course, haha - my favorite actor is Daniel Day-Lewis, and this seems like such an interesting role for him, very different from his intense parts thus far. I loved what Rob Marshall did with Chicago so I think he's going to handle this very well. Also, Penelope Cruz. Let's not even talk about how amazing she is! Enjoy the trailer :) I'm cheating today by adding this trailer instead of a movie review :)

Day #16 - The Sting

IMDB Link: http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0070735/awards

Wahooooo - this movie was so good! For being such a huge Paul Newman fan, I am ashamed to say that I have neither of his two potentially most famous movies - The Sting and Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid - my love came from Cool Hand Luke, The Hustler, Cat on a Hot Tin Roof, etc. So I was, of course, SO excited to see him in this and he was everything I hoped, haha :) I thought the story was done very well - it kept me guessing and I was definitely surprised by some of the unexpected turns. Robert Redford and Paul Newman, though? Come ON. It's just wrong. Two such men should not exist in movies together - it's just too much for us women to handle all at once :) The music was great of course and just the overall style was unique, unlike any other movie I've seen - for example, the title cards that told us the "chapters" in the movie, such as "The Players", "The Hook", and finally, "The Sting". Two thumbs up for me :)

The Sting won 7 out of 10 nominated Oscars in 1973 - Best Picture, Best Director, Best Music, Best Original Screenplay, Best Film Editing, Best Art Direction and Best Costumes. Robert Redford was nominated for a Lead Actor Oscar but lost to Jack Lemmon in Save the Tiger.....what is that?!

Day #15 - Amadeus

IMDB Link: http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0086879/

Amadeus is quite simply one of the best movies I have ever seen. I have to spread the gospel because I think SO FEW people have seen it and it is truly worth every second. Amadeus is the story of Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart - the movies begins with him as a young man and follows his career and life through to his death. It is told BRILLIANTLY by the narration of Antonio Salieri - Mozart's contemporary. Mozart is played by Tom Hulce - absolutely fantastic performance from a relative unknown. Salieri is played by the GENIUS F. Murray Abraham. The movie was released in 1984 and won 8 of its 11 Oscar nominations including Best Picture, Best Director (Milos Forman), Best Lead Actor (F. Murray Abraham), Best Sound, Best Makeup, Best Writing (Peter Shaffer) and Best Art Direction. UM - why did Tom Hulce not win, you ask? He and F. Murray Abraham were both nominated for Best Actor, a very rare occurance.

The first time I saw this movie, I really liked it. A few months passed and I thought, you know, that movies was REALLY good, so I watched it again and then I was in love. For me, the story as presented by Salieri is just amazing. Salieri was a composer, like Mozart, but did not have the natural talent that Mozart did. All he ever wanted in life was to create beautiful music, and he asked God to allow him to serve Him in this way -even taking a vow of chastity. When Mozart came around, Salieri heard the music he always wanted to write but found Mozart to be immature, a perverted creature. Why, he wondered, would God grant THIS man, of ALL men, the talent he so desperately wanted? He tells God that he will destroy Mozart - and basically sets out to do so by being Mozart's friend to his face, yet manipulating every situation to continually contribute to Mozart's deteriorating sanity - especiallly after Mozart's father dies.

Here are some AMAZING quotes from the movie...

Salieri addressing a crucifix..."From now on we are enemies, You and I. Because You choose for Your instrument a boastful, lustful, smutty, infantile boy and give me for reward only the ability to recognize the incarnation. Because You are unjust, unfair, unkind, I will block You, I swear it. I will hinder and harm Your creature on earth as far as I am able."

Salieri describing Mozart's music..."On the page it looked nothing. The beginning simple, almost comic. Just a pulse - bassoons and basset horns - like a rusty squeezebox. Then suddenly - high above it - an oboe, a single note, hanging there unwavering, till a clarinet took over and sweetened it into a phrase of such delight! This was no composition by a performing monkey! This was a music I'd never heard. Filled with such longing, such unfulfillable longing, it had me trembling. It seemed to me that I was hearing the very voice of God."

One of the final scenes in the movie is Salieri helping Mozart finish his requiem. Mozart is dicatating to him and Salieri is writing because Mozart is too sick. This is one of, if not the best, scenes in the movie. A bit of trivia - Tom Hulce skipped lines to confuse F. Murray Abraham so that it genuinely looked as though Salieri could not fully understand Mozart's music.

Day #14 - Sunset Boulevard

IMDB Link: http://www.imdb.com/find?s=all&q=sunset+boulevard

Sunset Boulevard - a 1950 Film Noir classic starring William Holden and Gloria Swanson. It was nominated for 11 Oscars but only won 3 - Best Screenplay, Best Music and Best Art Direction. Acting nominations went to William Holden, Gloria Swanson, Eric von Stronheim and Nancy Olson in addition to nominations for Best Picture and Best Director, Billy Wilder.

OHMYGOSH this movie is SO FANTASTIC! Gloria Swanson is GENIUS - demented, crazy, awesome. I could not keep my eyes off of her from the minute she gets on screen. This movie is about Norma Desmond (Swanson), a has-been actress of the silent film era who lives in a old huge house on Sunset Boulevard. Joe Gillis (William Holden) is a screenwriter who comes across the house and looks to hide away there, thinking it is abandoned. When he goes in and encounters Norma, she basically decides to keep him captive there so that he could help her write her screenplay that would bring her back to the movies, back to the fans that "never forgave her for leaving". Norma falls in love with Joe but he never loves her back - he stays, knowing that she is a means to the end he hopes for, that is, selling a screenplay. Norma is pretty crazy - she still sees herself as royalty and when she goes to see Cecil B. DeMille (cameo in the film!) she feels like, this is where she belongs and this is where everyone wants to see her. I won't say exactly how the movie ends so I don't ruin it, but the last scene of the movie is SO INCREDIBLE!!!!! This is where Gloria Swanson delivers her famous line "Alright Mr. DeMille, I'm ready for my closeup." She is truly haunting and crazy and just so amazing.

There are so many interesting pieces of information about this film. Gloria Swanson's career was VERY similar to Norma Desmond's. Swanson was a former silent film star - the difference was that she want on to have success in radio and TV once the talking films came about. However, when Sunset Boulevard came around, she really hadn't made a movie since the early 30's. So it was, in a sense, her "comeback" movie.

When Sunset Boulevard came out, it was both loved and hated. Critics seemed to love it but Billy Wilder, the director, was always afraid of how Hollywood studios and actors, writers, etc. would receive it because, after all, it shows the evil and bad side of Hollywood. Louis B. Mayer famously reprimanded Wilder after an early screening saying he disgraced the industry that made and fed him. Many believe that the reason it didn't win any of the major Oscars was for this reason - that some Hollywood-ers just couldn't deal with the subject matter.

One more thing - this movie is considered Film Noir, which I know very little about and I'm pretty sure I've never really seen a movie classified as such. It was very dark, almost like a mystery movie. The music was really eerie and there was a LOT of shadow/light work. VERY cool - definitely added to the overall sense of weirdness.

Let me share a clip of how amazing Gloria Swanson is:







Some interesting background info from Wikipedia...
"The street after which the film is named has been associated with Hollywood film production since 1911 when the town's first film studio opened on Sunset Boulevard. The film workers lived modestly in the growing neighborhood, but during the 1920s profits and salaries rose to unprecedented levels. With the advent of the star system, luxurious homes noted for their often incongruous grandeur were built in the area. The stars were the subject of public fascination throughout the world as magazines and newspapers reported the excesses of their lives. As a young man Billy Wilder was interested in American culture, with much of his interest fueled by the country's films. In the late 1940s many of the grand Hollywood houses remained, and Wilder, now a Los Angeles resident, found they were part of his everyday world. Many former stars from the silent era still lived in them, although most were no longer involved in the film business. Wilder wondered how they spent their time now that "the parade had passed them by" and began imagining the story of a star who had lost her celebrity and box-office appeal."

Day #13 - It Happened One Night

IMDB Link: http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0025316/

It Happened One Night, a 1934 Frank Capra movie starring Claudette Colbert and Clark Gable, was the first movie to ever sweep Oscars' "Big Five" - Best Picture, Best Director, Best Actress, Best Actor and Best Screenplay :) So naturally, it had to be on my list :)

It Happened One Night is about Ellie Andrews, a socialite who runs away from her life of people telling her "what to do and how to do it" and on her way to New York City meets Peter Warren, a newspaper man looking for a good story. Like any good romantic comedy, they can't stand each other at first - he's just in for the good story and she just doesn't want him to tell her Dad where she is. By the time the end rolls around, they discover they are in love! It Happened One Night was one of the first romantic "screwball" comedies ever filmed - paving the way for all the Sleepless in Seattles and When Harry Met Sallys of the world :) I love all the old sets and lighting, so classic. Clark Gable is witty and handsome, of course - and I was very curious about Claudette Colbert. She has a kind of manly (?) voice...or maybe just deeper, kind of sultry. I thought she was really cute (not pretty though, actually kind of odd looking haha) until I read that she demanded double her usual salary to do this movie for a guarantee that it would only last four weeks - AND, she hated the movie so much she didn't even attend the Oscars where she won Best Actress! Clark Gable himself walked on the set first day and said, "Let's get this over with." Hahaha! Back to the movie though....I really enjoyed watching it and am glad to be able to check it off my list :)

Turner Classic Movies named It Happened One Night as one of their top 15 most influential films of all time - see below for excerpt:
(http://www.ropeofsilicon.com/article/tcm-unveils-their-list-of-top-15-most-influential-films-of-all-time)

"The surprise success of It Happened One Night made Frank Capra one of the screen’s top directors and provided the prototype for a decade of screwball comedies. Romantic comedies like When Harry Met Sally and The Sure Thing draw on the rapid banter, outrageous comic situations and sexy road trip of It Happened One Night. The movie even provided inspiration for one of the screen’s most enduring characters, Bugs Bunny."

I love learning about "old" Hollywood during the days of the studios contracting out and "owning" actors...here is a tidbit about it from IMDB....

"Columbia Pictures was considered a Poverty Row studio at the time of the film's release. Both MGM and Warner Brothers would loan out temperamental actors to Columbia as a 'humbling experience.' Studio boss 'Harry Cohn', who was loathe to pay for his own roster of contract stars during the early 30's, would invariably assign them to work on Frank Capra's films. Although the studio had received Oscar nominations prior to this picture, it's success virtually single-handedly lifted Columbia out of the ranks of poverty row."

Day #12 - Chocolat

IMDB Link: http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0241303/

After all of the violence and war movies, I was ready to just...chill. So I found a movie I thought would be good for that :) Melissa has always thought it was a travesty that I hadn't seen this and then I got the gasp of death from Leslee last night so I thought...ok ok! I'm on it!! Chocolat was nominated for 5 Oscars in 2000 - Best Picture, Best Screenplay, Best Music, Best Actress in a Leading Role (Juliette Binoche) and Best Actress in a Supporting Role (Judi Dench) - it did not win any though.

I LOVED LOVED LOVED IT!! I thought it was such a cute movie :) I was really enjoying it and then Johnny Depp showed up and it was all over. The characters/townspeople in this movie really are what make it special - I loved all the side storylines that were going on and how people were handling the chocolaterie differently. Juliette Binoche was so perfect as Vienne, so charming - and I especially loved Judi Dench's character, Armande. I think my favorite scene was when Vienne and Roux went out on his boat and he asked her how her daughter felt about moving around all the time - it was so subtle which I always appreciate, not overdone or overacted. Alfred Molina was fantastic as the town mayor - apparently in the book he was actually the Priest, which makes sense - in the movie he might as well be.

Fantastic poster for this movie :)

Day #11 - Funny Face

1957 - Fred Astaire and Audrey Hepburn. I think the movie was about 5 minutes in, just after the beginning of the first song when I turned to Chris and said "This is going to be a long 2 hours...". Well, it was.

I love Audrey Hepburn, I do. But this movie just didn't do it for me. There were a few cute parts but for me, they were outweighed by a bunch of really strange scenes, odd dancing routines, so-so singing. The interpretive dancing scene at the Paris bar? - so weird. I have to admit I fast forwarded through some of the movie near the end and let a few horse laughs come out :) Am I missing something? Here is the scene:



Chris read up a bit on the movie because I was confused as to why they were playing with color so much - it wasn't new...? Apparently Funny Face was one of the first movies to use VistaVision cameras with technicolor film - Ben Hur also used these cameras but Funny Face played around with the effects a bit more. So at the time I'm sure it was amazing but for me - cheesy. As I said, I'm bad at putting movies in context!

Day #10 - The Deer Hunter

OK - change of plans again! Funny Face didn't come in the mail so it's on to The Deer Hunter :)

Let's see - The Deer Hunter came out in 1978 and won itself 5 Oscars out of 9 nominations. Wins were for Best Picture, Best Director, Best Film Editing, Best Sound, and Best Actor in a Supporting Role for Christopher Walken. Robert DeNiro and Meryl Streep were both nominated for Best Actor in Leading Role and Actress in a Supporting Role but lost to Jon Voigt in Coming Home and Maggie Smith in California State. I have to say I am really curious about watching Christopher Walken in a serious role - I've only ever seen him do comedy. By this time DeNiro had done Taxi Driver and The Godfather II but not yet Raging Bull

Going in, I had heard that this movie was about Vietnam and was one of the more accurate portrayals out there of the effects war had on soldiers. Wow - it was really intense. First of all, let me say that I thought the movie was too long and piecy, just meaning that I wish there had been more transition between the men being home vs. going to Vietnam vs. going home again, etc. That was the only problem I had with the movie because otherwise I thought it was fantastic, albeit depressing and dark.

As a quick synopsis without giving too much away, The Deer Hunter is about 3 friends from a small town in Pennsylvania who enlist in the army and head off to Vietnam. While they are there, they see many horrific things and get involved with a game of Russian Roulette when they are captured by the Vietcong. They become separated again and eventually - they each have to deal with their individual residual effects of the horrors of war. I was absolutely thrilled to see true, raw acting out of DeNiro and Walken and was impressed with John Savage, who played one of the friends, Stevie. The Russian Roulette scene especially was extremely intense. Having no first hand knowledge of war, I would imagine this movie hit pretty close to what men dealt with when returning from war - isolation especially, no one understanding them.

Here is the Russian Roulette scene - don't watch it if you don't want spoilers :) For a bit of trivia - DeNiro and Walken were actually slapped while filming this scene, which added to their agitation, culminating in one of the most intense scenes I've ever seen.



Finally...a few quotes from Roger Ebert:

"It is not an anti-war film. It is not a pro-war film. It is one of the most emotionally shattering films ever made."

"At the film's center comes one of the most horrifying sequences ever created in fiction, as the three are taken prisoner and forced to play Russian roulette while their captors gamble on who will, or will not, blow out his brains."

Day #9 - Lawrence of Arabia Part 2

So tonight was Part 2 of Lawrence of Arabia - I think had I not been falling asleep last night becuase it was late I would have watched the whole thing :) This movie is absolutely amazing - I loved it so much more than I thought I would. It's so beautiful - now I know what people refer to when they speak of the visual spectacles that David Lean creates. The desert is like its own character in this movie - perhaps it is the MAIN character. So much of the emotions of the characters are dependent on the harshness of their environment.

The second part of the movie took a few turns I didn't expect. I feel like we definitely followed Lawrence through phases - at first, I believe he wanted an adventure and Arabia gave him that. Once he got there and befriended Ali and others, he became loyal to them and their cause for freedom. However, as the process continued, I think he started to see himself as a prophet, and as he said about himself, "Do you really think I am JUST anybody?". At that time his motive changed - for glory, for fame. After his beating and after he got sidetracked from his run on Damascus, his motive changed again. No longer was he seeking glory and fame - he just wanted to go home and escape the bloodshed. Please if you have seen this movie, let me know your thoughts - do you agree/disagree?

I LOVED Anthony Quinn in this movie - such great little one line zingers. Alec Guiness was great as Prince Faisel - what a powerful voice. I think T.E. Lawrence is an unlikely hero - I wouldn't say he was manly, or particularly soldierly. In fact, he was a bit feminine and softspoken - I wonder if Peter O'Toole was like this in real life? I'm thinking no.

Roger Ebert's review of this movie made me smile because I have read SO many of his reviews and this one was just glowing - I attached a quote from it that I really liked (it is how he began his review....)

"What a bold, mad act of genius it was to make "Lawrence of Arabia," or even think that it could be made. In the words 27 years later of one of its stars, Omar Sharif: "If you are the man with the money and somebody comes to you and says he wants to make a film that's four hours long, with no stars, and no women, and no love story, and not much action either, and he wants to spend a huge amount of money to go film it in the desert, what would you say?'"

One last thing - the soundtrack was breathtaking....I attached a YouTube video for your listening pleasure :)

Day #8 - Lawrence of Arabia, Part 1

I decided that movies 4 HOURS long count for two days :) So tonight I'm going to start watching Lawrence of Arabia - this review is going to be more of an informational post and then tomorrow I'll give the full review. Cool? Cool.

IMDB Page: http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0056172/

1962 - Lawrence of Arabia won 7 Oscars out of 10 nominations. Wins were for Best Picture, Best Director (David Lean), Best Sound, Best Music (Score), Best Film Editing, Best Cinematography and Best Art Direction. Peter O'Toole and Omar Sharif both lost in their respective categories - Best Actor in a Leading Role and Best Actor in a Supporting Role. My first thought is...who on EARTH did they lose to? Let's find out, shall we? Well, Sharif lost to Ed Begley in Sweet Bird of Youth, but O'Toole lost to...wait for it....wait for it...Gregory Peck in To Kill a Mockingbird. If you're gonna lose to anyone, that's not so bad :)

David Lean is also responsible for directing such movies as Dr. Zhivago and Bridge on the River Kwai. He is known for epic, visually stunning films. I believe Peter O'Toole was a relative unknown when he was cast in the role of Lawrence - it seems strange that he was ever an unknown! He is now 77 years old and has been nominated for 8 Oscars but with 0 wins. He's Irish, which surely I should have known by his last name but never really thought about it.

OK so - a little over 2 hours into the movie, I am LOVING it. I thought it would take me awhile to get into it, but it really didn't. We turned on the subtitles which has actually been really helpful, especially when discussing peoples' names, the Arab tribes and the various cities. What I really wonder about, is to whom is Lawrence really loyal? He seems to want personal glory but yet seems loyal to the Arabs as well. When he returns to Cairo after taking Aqaba, I love how he takes his servant Fajjah with him and demands he be served lemonade and given a bed with sheets. He also won't take off his Arab garb - does he do this for theatrics or is he truly respecting the Arab men he'll return to? That's what I'm most curious to find out tomorrow night. The music is AMAZING and I'm more impressed with the acting than I anticipated - I love Peter O'Toole's piercing blue eyes and Omar Sharif? Hot. :) C'mon, you know it wouldn't a proper review without my standard comments!! :)

Day #7 - Star Trek

IMDB Link: http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0796366/

Tonight Chris and I went to see Star Trek on IMAX and it was AWESOME!! I really, really loved it! I have never seen a Star Trek movie nor did I ever really watch the TV show so I was thankful that the writer/producer JJ Abrams went into this movie fresh - he wanted to be sure that people who didn't know anything about Star Trek could still go in and love the movie. Chris clued me in to a couple "catch phrases" that Trekkies would know such as when McCoy said "I'm a doctor, not a physicist!" - so it seems as though JJ would appeal to Star Trek fans with things like that as well.

I LOVED Zachary Quinto as Spock - I thought Chris Pine was a great Kirk, but I think a lot of guys could have gone in there and played that role well. I'm not sure just anyone could have been Spock. The scenes where Spock and Kirk played off of each other were done SO WELL - they had a great dynamic! I thought the story utilized humor in just the right amount and also the love story was really small but thank goodness for that - this movie didn't need it. I loved the scene between Spock and Uhura where she asks him what he needs after his mother was killed - it was so subtle and nice, not over the top as romances always are in movies. Zoe Saldana did a fantastic job.....

and SPEAKING of FANTASTIC jobs. Let's not even talk about Karl Urban as McCoy. I had no idea he could play a role like that, I mean, I thought all I was going to see was Eomer (moment of silence for his hotness.........okay done) but he was so great! I hope Star Trek fans liked him in that role - judging from pics I looked up he is a good resemblance to the original McCoy :)

The villain was a bit weak in this movie but you know, he didn't need to be dominant - assuming they are going to make more of these movies, this first one needed to just be a re-establishment of the characters and story. SO, I didn't have any problems with Eric Bana as Nero. I'm biased of course - Eric Bana, come on. He's like walking perfection. So does anyone know, are they making more of these? I really hope so. I will definitely go see them. I might even go see this one AGAIN.

Day #6 - Spanglish

IMDB Link: http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0371246/

Spanglish is one of my favorite movies of all time - I rarely hear anyone talk about it but I think it is INCREDIBLE and everyone should see it! I'm using today as my day for watching a movie I've already seen :)

To me, this movie is all about communication - specifically, difficulties in communication. The movie starts with a wealthy American family...Tea Leoni, Adam Sandler and their two amazing kids...hiring a Mexican woman, played by Paz Vega, to take care of their home. She speaks very little English so that is the obvious communication problem. Tea Leoni is the mother, and is absolutely hilarious and is played so ridiculously well - she is neurotic and an emotional basketcase - because of this, she starts having marital problems with her husband, Adam Sandler. I cannot tell you how much I LOVE LOVE LOVE him in this movie. He's so adorable and wonderful - almost like a victim in his own household. So not only do you have the communication barrier based on language, but also the distance growing between a husband and wife. Throw in the complicated relationship between the mother and her young daughter, and you get a great story.

As the movie progresses, Fleur becomes more and more a part of the family. She has a very difficult relationship with Deb, the mother, because as Fleur's daughter moves in with the family, their parenting skills become blatantly different. Fleur's daughter, Christina, becomes tempted by the lifestyle that Deb presents to her, and Fleur struggles to keep her true to herself. The husband also struggles with temptation in his developing feelings towards Fleur, as does she. I won't ruin any endings but it is lovely and wonderful and FOR ONCE a somewhat realistic ending, not gooey gumdrops and sunshine.

I'm CRAZY about the acting in this movie - I adore everyone. Adam Sandler is endearing, Tea Leoni is perfect - and Cloris Leachman plays her mother SO WELL - she is absolutely the comedy in the movie :) The girl who plays Christina, Fleur's daughter, is surprisingly compelling for being so young and I love her relationship with her mother.

Here is what Roger Ebert had to say about Tea Leoni's portrayal of Deb:

Consider Deborah Clasky, the mother of the Los Angeles family. She is played by Tea Leoni like an

explosion at the multiple personalities factory. She is kind, enlightened and politically correct. She is also

hysterical, manic and a drama queen whose daily life is besieged by one crisis after another. I am not sure

this character has any connection to a possible human being, but as a phenomenon, it's kind of amazing;

Deborah doesn't just go over the top, she waves goodbye as she disappears into cuckoo-land. Somehow

Leoni is able to play Deborah without frothing at the mouth, and indeed makes her kind of lovable.

Here are some great quotes:

Deb's Mother to Deb: Lately, your low self-esteem is just good common sense.

John to Fleur: They should name a gender after you. Looking at you doesn't do it, staring is the only way that makes sense. And trying not to blink so you don't miss anything. And all of that and you're you. It's just that you are drop dead crazy gorgeous! So much so, that I'm actually considering looking at you again before we finish up here!

Day #5 - Unforgiven

IMDB Link: http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0105695/

An Oscar doozie - 1992 Best Picture, Best Director (Clint Eastwood), Best Film Editing and Best Supporting Actor (Gene Hackman). Without even planning it, I started a 1992-Oscar-a-thon :) Clint Eastwood was nominated for Best Actor but lost to Al Pacino in Scent of a Woman - and now we have come full circle from my Glengarry Glen Ross post :)

AFI named Unforgiven the 4th best Western of all time - behind The Searchers, High Noon and Shane - I'm hoping to add a couple of those to my challenge list.

Wow - amazing movie. I LOVED it. I was genuinely interested in every minute of the movie, especially when Richard Harris was on screen. His part was small, but memorable. He is just so fantastic - so subtle and perfect. I'm not even gonna lie - I am SCARED of Clint Eastwood. I would not cross him for anything - he absolutely took OVER the end of this movie. What a force. Chris and I loved Morgan Freeman of course, he is always perfect. ...and for Gene Hackman, well, every time I see him I think it's Norman Dale from Hoosiers. It's like, OH look, Norman Dale is playing a Sherriff, haha. That aside though, he was really, really good.

There was some really great dialogue in this movie - one scene in particular was an exchange in which Little Bill (Gene Hackman) has arrested English Bob (Richard Harris), who is sitting in a jail cell. English Bob had come with a biographer, and Little Bill was telling the biographer the "true" stories of English Bob's exagerrations - this one in particular about a fight between English Bob and a man named Corky...

[Little Bill is telling Beauchamp the real story of English Bob's gunfight]
Little Bill Daggett: You see, the night that Corky walked into the Blue Bottle, and before he
knows what's happening, Bob here takes a shot at him! And he misses, 'cause he's so damn
drunk. Now that bullet whizzing by panicked old Corky, and he did the wrong thing. He
went for his gun in such a hurry that he shot his own damn toe off. Meantime Bob here, he's
aiming real good, and he squeezes off another, but he misses, because he's still so damn
drunk, and he hits this thousand-dollar mirror up over the bar. And now, the Duck of Death
is as good as dead. Because Corky does it right. He aims real careful, no hurry, and... BAM!
That Walker Colt blew up in his hand, which was a failing common to that model. You see,
if old Corky had had two guns instead of just a big dick, he'd would have been there right to
the end to defend himself.
W.W. Beauchamp: Wait a minute. You mean that, English Bob killed him when he didn't
even have...?
Little Bill Daggett: Well, old Bob wasn't goin' to wait for Corky to grow a new hand.

Another great moment - the end, when William Munny (Clint being BA) comes in to get his revenge...
(...am having trouble embedding this video...so for now, follow the link!)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ccqdEhytKOk

Day #4 - Glengarry Glen Ross

IMDB Link: http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0104348/

My friend Andrew has been trying to get me to watch this movie, well...for years I would say. Now, here I am finally! Before the movie started I looked it up and thought the screenwriter's name, David Mamet, was familiar....I looked at his other movies and nothing rang a bell. Seeing as how he is a playwright, I expected monologues and with this Who's Who of a Hollywood cast, I was really looking forward to it.

Jack Lemmon - Al Pacino - Alec Baldwin - Kevin Spacey - Ed Harris - Jonathan Pryce - Alan Arkin. Wow. Al Pacino was nominated for a Best Supporting Actor Oscar and Golden Globe. He won the Golden Globe but lost the Oscar to Gene Hackman in Unforgiven. Interestingly enough, Al Pacino won Best Actor that year for Scent of A Woman - so that would have been a pretty awesome sweep had he won both.

On to the review - definitely a powerful movie and I thought the performances were fantastic. I thought Jack Lemmon's story was really sad and I don't know, maybe no one would agree with me, but why not nominate him over Al Pacino? There were F-you's flying all over the place but I liked the energy at least :) ...good way to spend a Thursday afternoon!

Day #3 - Appaloosa

IMDB Link: http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0800308/

So today I didn't get anything in Netflix so I went to our Movies on Demand channel and picked Appaloosa - my thought was, first of all, I like Westerns (all 3 or 4 I've seen) and second of all, this cast is loaded. Ed Harris, Viggo Mortensen and if that wasn't enough, Jeremy Irons? Come on, this movie can't go wrong, right? Well - I was disappointed. It was a pretty typical Western storyline but I felt like the lines were delivered straight from paper. Chris and I always try to picture what the script LOOKS like on paper - then watch the actors speak and interact...can you tell they are reading a script or have they convinced you they are actually thinking those words on their own? This movie failed that test. You can't bring in these heavyweights and walk out with that movie. I've seen them all act better - although...Ed Harris does look pretty nice as a cowboy :) All men do. I'm also inspired to check out some Jeremy Irons flicks....any suggestions?

FYI, this movie was also directed and co-written by Ed Harris :)

Additionally, the posters for this movie are B.A. They won an Internet Movie Poster award for Best Character Posters. Check it out:

Day #2 - Terminator 2: Judgement Day

IMDB Link: http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0103064/

So as the movie opens to 2029 AD, I can't help but think, am I gonna see a Johnny Ringo appearance again? YES! I was excited to see him, if only for a minute!

"....and introducing Edward Furlong." Woa - his first movie? Nice. I'm loving his super squeaky voice - I really don't know that I've seen him in a lot other than American History X and this is obviously quite a different role. I liked his relationship with the Terminator in this movie....the father/son angle was actually kinda nice.

I liked this movie a lot more than the first, seemed like there was more of a storyline. I LOVED Robert Patrick as the bad guy - I'm sure that those effects were really cutting edge at the time - the silver liquid looked a lot like what James Cameron used for the water in The Abyss...lemme see what year that was made. 1989. So the water came before the liquid metal. Cool. So now that I know the "history" of the Terminator I'm even that much more excited to see Terminator Salvation - should be amaaaaazing.

Here is what Roger Ebert had to say about Robert Patrick as the villain....

"T1000, as played by Patrick, is a splendid villain, with compact good lucks and a bland expression. His most fearsome quality is his implacability; no matter what you do to him, he doesn't get disturbed and he doesn't get discouraged. He just pulls himself together and keeps on coming."

Roger Ebert Link: http://rogerebert.suntimes.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/19910703/REVIEWS/107030301/1023

Julie & Julia Trailer

Where I got my inspiration for the blog...

Day #1 - Terminator

IMDB Link: http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0088247/

Strange movie to start with, right? I'm usually pretty iffy on action movies but Chris and I are seriously preparing ourselves for AWESOME Terminator Salvation when it comes out. We didn't know anything about the story - Sarah Connor? John Connor? So last night - Terminator. Tonight - Terminator 2! I'm looking forward to some BA Linda Hamilton.

SO - let me start by saying how excited I was that Michael Biehn was in this movie! James Cameron must really like him since he used him again in The Abyss, best movie ever. Of course all I think of is Johnny Ringo from Tombstone, so that's what I called him the whole time.

The love scene in this movie was spectactularly hilarious - I won't get into details but Chris and I were definitely laughing. I'm really bad at putting movies in their context so I thought the effects for the Terminator were pretty cheesy but it was early on in that process so I'm understanding. I'm really glad we watched it - I think I needed to be able to say I had.