I love movies that start at the end. Like Sunset Boulevard, and Memento (sort of – who can tell where that one starts?), and Gandhi, and The English Patient, and Citizen Kane, and, well, you get the idea. When a movie starts at the end, the audience knows more than the characters in the movie […]
Entries Tagged as 'Swearing'
American Beauty
October 30th, 2009 · No Comments · 1999, Allison Janney, American Beauty, Color, Drama, Dreamworks Pictures, Drug Use, Homosexuality, Kevin Spacey, Mid-Point, Original Screenplay, Plot Point I, Plot Point II, Screenplay Structure, Sex, Swearing
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Shakespeare in Love
October 29th, 2009 · No Comments · 1998, Ben Affleck, Christopher Marlowe, Colin Firth, Comedy, Gwyneth Paltrow, Joseph Fiennes, Mid-Point, Miramax, Nudity, Original Screenplay, Plot Point I, Plot Point II, Romeo and Juliet, Screenplay Structure, Sex, Shakespeare in Love, Stuttering, Swearing, Tom Wilkinson
“Can a play show us the very truth and nature of love?” is a question posed by Queen Elizabeth to Viola De Lesseps. I have a question of my own to pose: “Can a movie show us what perfect screenwriting looks like?” Yes, it can – if that movie is Shakespeare in Love. Shakespeare in […]
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Rain Man
October 19th, 2009 · No Comments · 1988, Color, Drama, Dustin Hoffman, F-Word, Mid-Point, Original Screenplay, Plot Point I, Plot Point II, Rain Man, Screenplay Structure, Sex, Swearing, Tom Cruise, United Artists
I almost didn’t get to post my blog this evening. My MacBook Pro died and the Apple geniuses had no openings for me until tomorrow morning. Good thing my wife is using my old iBook G4. Rain Man has always been one of my favorite movies. Talking like Raymond Babbitt is something my wife and […]
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Ordinary People
October 11th, 2009 · No Comments · 1980, Adaptation, Color, Composer: Marvin Hamlisch, Drama, F-Word, Mary Tyler Moore, Ordinary People, Paramount Studios, Robert Redford, Swearing
I’ve always liked Mary Tyler Moore. She was incredible as Laura Petrie in The Dick Van Dyke Show (1961-1966), and she was superb in her own series, the highly acclaimed The Mary Tyler Moore Show (1970-1977). To be honest – and, let’s face it, who isn’t honest when he blogs? – I had a crush […]
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Patton
October 1st, 2009 · No Comments · 1970, Adaptation, Cinemascope (Wide Screen), Color, Drama, Francis Ford Coppola, George C. Scott, Patton, Swearing, Twentieth Century-Fox Film Corporation, War
This is an epic movie in the vein of Lawrence of Arabia. Both movies are about war. Both are about men larger than life. The differences between the movies are World War I (Lawrence) vs. World War II (Patton, a British commander (Lawrence) vs. an American commander (Patton), and of course, the setting (Arabia in […]
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My Fair Lady
September 25th, 2009 · No Comments · 1964, Adaptation, Alan Jay Lerner, Audrey Hepburn, Color, Composer: André Previn, George Bernard Shaw, George Cukor, Marni Nixon, Musical, My Fair Lady, Panavision (Widescreen), Rex Harrison, Swearing, Warner Bros. Pictures
Now this is a musical I can enjoy. The songs are memorable. The characters are rich. The story is delightful. The actors are magical. The costumes are vibrant. My Fair Lady is one of two musicals I hold near and dear to my heart, the other being Singin’ In the Rain, my favorite musical of […]
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Apartment, The
September 21st, 2009 · 1 Comment · 1960, Apartment, Billy Wilder, Black and White, Comedy, Inciting Incident, Jack Lemmon, M-G-M Studios, Mid-Point, Original Screenplay, Panavision (Widescreen), Plot Point I, Plot Point II, Screenplay Structure, Shirley MacLaine, Swearing
Ah, Billy Wilder. After the length, depth, and heaviness of Ben-Hur a good Billy Wilder film is just what the doctor ordered. As nuts as I am about Gene Kelly, I’m equally as passionate about Billy Wilder, a writer/director I’ve come to respect above all others. Hallmarks of a Billy Wilder film include incredibly clever […]
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On the Waterfront
September 15th, 2009 · 2 Comments · 1954, Adaptation, Black and White, Columbia Pictures, Composer: Leonard Bernstein, Drama, Elia Kazan, Marlon Brando, On the Waterfront, Rod Steiger, Swearing
Marlon Brando: Man? Or Myth? Discuss. The Internet Movie Database (IMDB) biography on Marlon Brando is practically a novella, and it begins like this: “Marlon Brando is widely considered the greatest movie actor of all time…” Well. What can I say to that other than prove it. Bring it, Brando. Let’s see whatcha got. Wow […]
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Gone With the Wind
August 31st, 2009 · 1 Comment · 1939, Adaptation, Clara Bow, Clark Gable, Color, Composer: Max Steiner, Drama, Gone With the Wind, Margaret Mitchell, Olivia de Havilland, Swearing, Victor Fleming, Vivien Leigh, War, Warner Bros. Pictures
Rhett Butler. Scarlett O’Hara. Melanie Hamilton-Wilkes. Mammy. Prissy. Ashley Wilkes. Gowns as big as Tara. A cause as lost as the Robinson family in space. Gone With the Wind is the first Oscar-winning movie in color – and a darn good thing, too. No movie yet (not even The Great Ziegfeld) so demanded to be […]
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