While watching Marilyn read in these pictures, I am inclined to read a little more. The library should use these as motivation towards everybody to read a little more. Thanks to C. Parker at Starlet Showcase for originally posting these pics.
Talking about movies, movies, movies. I believe movies are one of the best pleasures in life. Nothing better than watching a classic film and talking with others about them. Love the classics the most but will also talk about the newer stuff too. And covering all genres: comedy, action, horror, sci-fi, drama, musicals, etc. Will also discuss TV shows, more of the classics, but occasionally the newer stuff too. And anything else that might be on my mind. Feel free to drop by and have a chat.
Sunday, January 31, 2010
Wednesday, January 27, 2010
Mr. And Mrs. Smith (1941)
Very funny classic comedy with Carole Lombard and Robert Montgomery as a husband and wife who after three years discover they aren't really married. So when it comes time to actually make it legal, the husband has second thoughts. Screwball hi-jinks ensue with Lombard and Montgomery making a great team. And what's surprising about this film is the fact that it is directed by the master of suspense-Alfred Hitchcock. I recommend this film to any film lover of classic screwball comedies. It's one of the best.
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Ann: If you had it all to do over again, would you still have married me?
David: Honestly, no.
Flixster - Share Movies
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Ann: If you had it all to do over again, would you still have married me?
David: Honestly, no.
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Monday, January 25, 2010
The Monties Awards
This being award season I decided to have my own awards for my favorite films and TV series of 2009. And favorite actors and actresses in film and TV. Now don't be surprised to see so many light-hearted stuff. These films and TV are my favorites and are the ones I enjoyed the most. They may not be the best directed or best written or have that good drama or prestige but I'll leave that to the Oscars and Emmys and such. These are the things that you can enjoy time and time again. I have 5 nominees for each category. And the winner is highlighted in bold print. Let me know what you think of my choices.So here we go....
FAVORITE FILM:
STAR TREK (WINNER)
AVATAR
THE HANGOVER
DISTRICT 9
THE PROPOSAL
FAVORITE MALE PERFORMANCE IN A FILM:
Robert Downey, Jr. (Sherlock Holmes) WINNER
Tobey Maguire (Brothers)
Sharlto Copley (District 9)
Ryan Reynolds (The Proposal)
Sam Worthington (Avatar)
FAVORITE FEMALE PERFORMANCE IN A FILM:
Sandra Bullock (The Proposal/The Blind Side) WINNER
Natalie Portman (Brothers)
Zoe Saldana (Avatar)
Rachel McAdams (Sherlock Holmes)
Alison Lohman (Drag Me To Hell)
FAVORITE MALE PERFORMANCE SUPPORTING ROLE IN A FILM:
Christoph Waltz (Inglorious Basterds) WINNER
Stephen Lang (Avatar)
Jude Law (Sherlock Holmes)
Zachary Quinto (Star Trek)
Tim McGraw (The Blind Side)
FAVORITE FEMALE PERFORMANCE SUPPORTING ROLE IN A FILM:
Zoe Saldana (Star Trek) WINNER
Kate Hudson (Nine)
Vanessa Haywood (District 9)
Rashida Jones (I Love You, Man)
Sienna Miller (The Edge Of Love)
FAVORITE TELEVISION SERIES - DRAMA
TRUE BLOOD (WINNER)
SUPERNATURAL
SONS OF ANARCHY
DOLLHOUSE
NCIS
FAVORITE TELEVISION SERIES - COMEDY
PARKS AND RECREATION
COMMUNITY
THE OFFICE
CURB YOUR ENTHUSIASM
30 ROCK
FAVORITE ACTOR IN TELEVISION SERIES - DRAMA
Jensen Ackles (Supernatural) WINNER
Stephen Moyer (True Blood)
Michael Weatherly (NCIS)
Mark Harmon (NCIS)
Nathan Fillion (Castle)
FAVORITE ACTRESS IN TELEVISION SERIES - DRAMA
Anna Paquin (True Blood) WINNER
Eliza Dushku (Dollhouse)
Summer Glau (The Sarah Connor Chronicles)
Michelle Forbes (True Blood)
Cote de Pablo (NCIS)
FAVORITE ACTOR IN TELEVISION SERIES - COMEDY
Jim Parsons (Big Bang Theory) WINNER
Alec Baldwin (30 Rock)
Neil Patrick Harris (How I Met Your Mother)
Steve Carrell (The Office)
Larry David (Curb Your Enthusiasm)
FAVORITE ACTRESS IN TELEVISION SERIES- COMEDY
Amy Poehler (Parks And Recreation ) WINNER
Tina Fey (30 Rock)
Julia Louis-Dreyfuss (The New Adventures Of Old Christine)
Kaley Cuoco (Big Bang Theory)
Courtney Cox (Cougar Town)
FAVORITE FILM:
STAR TREK (WINNER)
AVATAR
THE HANGOVER
DISTRICT 9
THE PROPOSAL
FAVORITE MALE PERFORMANCE IN A FILM:
Robert Downey, Jr. (Sherlock Holmes) WINNER
Tobey Maguire (Brothers)
Sharlto Copley (District 9)
Ryan Reynolds (The Proposal)
Sam Worthington (Avatar)
FAVORITE FEMALE PERFORMANCE IN A FILM:
Sandra Bullock (The Proposal/The Blind Side) WINNER
Natalie Portman (Brothers)
Zoe Saldana (Avatar)
Rachel McAdams (Sherlock Holmes)
Alison Lohman (Drag Me To Hell)
FAVORITE MALE PERFORMANCE SUPPORTING ROLE IN A FILM:
Christoph Waltz (Inglorious Basterds) WINNER
Stephen Lang (Avatar)
Jude Law (Sherlock Holmes)
Zachary Quinto (Star Trek)
Tim McGraw (The Blind Side)
FAVORITE FEMALE PERFORMANCE SUPPORTING ROLE IN A FILM:
Zoe Saldana (Star Trek) WINNER
Kate Hudson (Nine)
Vanessa Haywood (District 9)
Rashida Jones (I Love You, Man)
Sienna Miller (The Edge Of Love)
FAVORITE TELEVISION SERIES - DRAMA
TRUE BLOOD (WINNER)
SUPERNATURAL
SONS OF ANARCHY
DOLLHOUSE
NCIS
FAVORITE TELEVISION SERIES - COMEDY
PARKS AND RECREATION
COMMUNITY
THE OFFICE
CURB YOUR ENTHUSIASM
30 ROCK
FAVORITE ACTOR IN TELEVISION SERIES - DRAMA
Jensen Ackles (Supernatural) WINNER
Stephen Moyer (True Blood)
Michael Weatherly (NCIS)
Mark Harmon (NCIS)
Nathan Fillion (Castle)
FAVORITE ACTRESS IN TELEVISION SERIES - DRAMA
Anna Paquin (True Blood) WINNER
Eliza Dushku (Dollhouse)
Summer Glau (The Sarah Connor Chronicles)
Michelle Forbes (True Blood)
Cote de Pablo (NCIS)
FAVORITE ACTOR IN TELEVISION SERIES - COMEDY
Jim Parsons (Big Bang Theory) WINNER
Alec Baldwin (30 Rock)
Neil Patrick Harris (How I Met Your Mother)
Steve Carrell (The Office)
Larry David (Curb Your Enthusiasm)
FAVORITE ACTRESS IN TELEVISION SERIES- COMEDY
Amy Poehler (Parks And Recreation ) WINNER
Tina Fey (30 Rock)
Julia Louis-Dreyfuss (The New Adventures Of Old Christine)
Kaley Cuoco (Big Bang Theory)
Courtney Cox (Cougar Town)
Saturday, January 23, 2010
Hollywood's Femme Fatality Rate - Features - News - IFC.com
Hollywood's Femme Fatality Rate - Features - News - IFC.com
Director Kathryn Bigelow on The Hurt Locker
Wednesday, January 20, 2010
Classic Movie Goddess Of The Month - Grace Kelly Part 3
Here are the essential films of Grace Kelly that you have to see. It's the films where she gets to shine and you see why she is a classic movie goddess.
REAR WINDOW (1954) Without a doubt my favorite Grace film in which she gives a wonderful performance as Lisa Fremont, fashion-model socialite to James Stewart's wheelchair bound photographer in one of Hitchcock's best films ever. Grace is perfect as Lisa and makes her character come alive every time she is onscreen.
TO CATCH A THIEF (1955) Another Hitchcock film and another solid performance by Grace as Frances, a young woman who falls in love with retired thief Cary Grant. Good stuff.
HIGH NOON (1952) Holding her own against Gary Cooper as his Quaker bride Amy in this classic western. One of Grace's early film performances that rank up there with her very best.
DIAL M FOR MURDER (1954) Grace really did her best work when teamed with Hitchcock as she did for a third time for this riveting thriller.
THE COUNTRY GIRL (1954) For her only Academy Award came this strong performance as the wife of alcoholic Bing Crosby. Grace is good here but I happen to think her performance in Window is her best work.
REAR WINDOW (1954) Without a doubt my favorite Grace film in which she gives a wonderful performance as Lisa Fremont, fashion-model socialite to James Stewart's wheelchair bound photographer in one of Hitchcock's best films ever. Grace is perfect as Lisa and makes her character come alive every time she is onscreen.
TO CATCH A THIEF (1955) Another Hitchcock film and another solid performance by Grace as Frances, a young woman who falls in love with retired thief Cary Grant. Good stuff.
HIGH NOON (1952) Holding her own against Gary Cooper as his Quaker bride Amy in this classic western. One of Grace's early film performances that rank up there with her very best.
DIAL M FOR MURDER (1954) Grace really did her best work when teamed with Hitchcock as she did for a third time for this riveting thriller.
THE COUNTRY GIRL (1954) For her only Academy Award came this strong performance as the wife of alcoholic Bing Crosby. Grace is good here but I happen to think her performance in Window is her best work.
Monday, January 18, 2010
Happy Birthday Cary Grant
I almost forgot today was Cary's birthday. My favorite actor of all time and I forgot. Thanks for KC for posting it or I wouldn't have realized it until later on. Here;s to a class act and a wonderful actor
who did some of the best films of all time. My favorites include: His Girl Friday, Bringing Up Baby, Arsenic and Old Lace, My Favorite Wife, I Was A
Male War Bride, The Bachelor and the Bobby-soxer, Mr. Blandings Builds His Dream House, North By Northwest, To Catch A Thief and tons more.
Wednesday, January 13, 2010
My Top 20 Favorite Actresses
Last month I did my favorite actors of all time, so now it's the ladies turn. The trouble is I couldn't narrow it down to just 20, so I had to expand it to 25. Even then, I could have named a few more, but I had to draw the line somewhere. So here goes, starting at number 25 and working my way up to my favorite actress of all time. And I have just made a change to include Joan Blondell.
25. Joan Blondell
Favorite Role: Rosie Sturges (Kansas City Princess)
24. Debbie Reynolds
23. Lee Remick
Favorite Role: Laura Manion (Anatomy Of A Murder)
22. Natalie Wood
Favorite Role: Maggie Dubois (The Great Race)
21. Jane Wyman
Favorite Role: Emmadel Jones (Here Comes The Groom)
20. Paulette Goddard
Favorite Role: Gwen Saunders (Nothing But The Truth)
19. Marilyn Monroe
Favorite Role: Lorelei Lee (Gentlemen Prefer Blondes)
18. Hope Lange
Favorite Role: Selena Cross (Peyton Place)
17. Deborah Kerr
Favorite Role: Sister Clodagh (Black Narcissus)
16. Olivia de Havilland
Favorite Role: Maid Marian (Robin Hood)
15. Ginger Rogers
Favorite Role: Jean Maitland (Stage Door)
14. Barbara Stanwyck
Favorite Role: Elizabeth Lane (Christmas In Connecticut)
13. Teresa Wright
Favorite Role: Charlie Newton (Shadow Of A Doubt)
12. Grace Kelly
Favorite Role: Lisa Fremont (Rear Window)
11. Doris Day
Favorite Role: Judy (Send Me No Flowers)
10. Bette Davis
Favorite Role: Margo Channing (All About Eve)
9. Lana Turner
Favorite Role: Sheila Regan (Ziegfeld Girl)
8. Donna Reed
Favorite Role: Alma Burke (From Here To Eternity)
7. Shirley Jones
Favorite Role: Marian Paroo (The Music Man)
6. Gail Patrick
Favorite Role: Bianca Bates (My Favorite Wife)
5. Elizabeth Taylor
Favorite Role: Maggie (Cat On A Hot Tin Roof)
4. Ann Sheridan
Favorite Role: Catherine Gates (I Was A Male War Bride)
3. Myrna Loy
Favorite Role: Nora Charles (The Thin Man)
2. Irene Dunne
Favorite Role: Ellen Arden (My Favorite Wife)
And finally my favorite actress of all time at No. 1
Carole Lombard
Favorite Role: Ann (Mr. and Mrs.Smith)
So there you have it, my list of my favorite actresses of all time.
And I could have gone on and on but decided to stop at 25.
Tuesday, January 12, 2010
The Underrated Gail Patrick
I need to post my Top 20 actresses ASAP but until I finish tweaking it, I wanted to write a post about one of the most underrated actresses of all time...the lovely and very talented Gail Patrick. Born in 1911 as Margaret LaVelle Fitzpatrick in Alabama, She received a B.A. and was a dean of women at her alma mater, Howard College, for a time. She was studying pre-law at the University of Alabama at the time she, by happenstance, became a finalist in a nationwide contest for a Paramount film role (which she did not get). This led her to going to Hollywood and, despite her loss, the studio wound up offering her a studio contract at $50 a week.
Gail appeared in a lot films early in her career including Death Takes A Holiday (1934), Mississippi (1935), and Early To Bed (1936). Just making her way along until she finally secured a notable role in a great film. It was My Man Godfrey (1936) with Carole Lombard and William Powell, with Gail cast as Carole's spoiled sister. Gail held her own in this marvelous screwball classic and she would add two more certifiable screwball classics: 1937's Stage Door, trading wisecracks with Ginger Rogers and 1940's My Favorite Wife as Cary Grant's second wife who had to deal with the unexpected return of Cary's presumed dead first wife, Irene Dunne. So if Gail didn't do anything else in her film career, she could say she starred in these three all time comedy classics.
Gail would wind up making over 60 films before retiring in 1947 and after a stint designing clothes, she was an executive producer on one of the most successful TV shows ever made, Perry Mason. How's that for post film career success. Gail would marry four times and was also a diabetic.
She is one of my favorite actresses of all time and she ranks pretty high on my top actress list, which you will see once I finally post it. But I'm sure most classic movie lovers have seen her before..definitely in one of those three classics mentioned above. She was very talented and beautiful and could handle the on screen antics of screwball comedies very well. I dedicate this blog to Gail who was a class act.
Gail appeared in a lot films early in her career including Death Takes A Holiday (1934), Mississippi (1935), and Early To Bed (1936). Just making her way along until she finally secured a notable role in a great film. It was My Man Godfrey (1936) with Carole Lombard and William Powell, with Gail cast as Carole's spoiled sister. Gail held her own in this marvelous screwball classic and she would add two more certifiable screwball classics: 1937's Stage Door, trading wisecracks with Ginger Rogers and 1940's My Favorite Wife as Cary Grant's second wife who had to deal with the unexpected return of Cary's presumed dead first wife, Irene Dunne. So if Gail didn't do anything else in her film career, she could say she starred in these three all time comedy classics.
Gail would wind up making over 60 films before retiring in 1947 and after a stint designing clothes, she was an executive producer on one of the most successful TV shows ever made, Perry Mason. How's that for post film career success. Gail would marry four times and was also a diabetic.
She is one of my favorite actresses of all time and she ranks pretty high on my top actress list, which you will see once I finally post it. But I'm sure most classic movie lovers have seen her before..definitely in one of those three classics mentioned above. She was very talented and beautiful and could handle the on screen antics of screwball comedies very well. I dedicate this blog to Gail who was a class act.