Looking towards the future in Eights

I wasn't going to do this meme if I was tagged and for a while there I wasn't. Then Ginger Ingenue/Olivia/MacPherson/OnMars over at Asleep in New York tagged me and I thought "why not?". I've had a lot of heady posts on here lately especially with my Latino Images in Film blogathon so I thought I'd do something light for a change.

Since I don't like meme rules, I'm changing things up a bit. Don't like it? I don't care.

Eight things I'm working on in my life right now:
1) training for a 5k race
2) changing my diet and exercise regimens (lost 10lbs so far!)
3) waking up earlier in the mornings to squeeze in movie watching
4) watch more movies! I've been slacking.
5) start another blog
6) re-envision my social life
7) work on my self-esteem and confidence
8) be more spontaneous!

Eight classic film related things I look forward to:
1) More Warner Bros. Archive movies
2) Jack Lemmon boxed set!
3) Convincing myself to purchase Fox, Borzage & Murnau boxed set
4) Watching more of the Fox Movie Channel
5) TCM's Summer Under the Stars
6) Watching films Professor Jonas has sent me
7) Connecting with more classic film fans
8) Watching more classic films at the Brattle and Harvard Film Archive

Eight things I want to do for this blog:
1) Bring up my followers to 100 and my RSS subscribers to 200.
2) Do more contests & Quel Interpretations!
3) Write a review for every single Norma Shearer film I have access too!
4) Start my next blogathon (shhh it's a secret)
5) Communicate more with other bloggers
6) Finish my Pamela Tiffin series and start another similar one.
7) Do more Match.com style posts
8) Have more guest bloggers (contact me if you are interested)

Eight movies I'm going to watch next:
1) Smilin' Through (1932)
2) The Sign of the Ram (1948)
3) 8 Women (2002)
4) Strange Interlude (1932) Thank you Jonas
5) No, My Darling Daughter (1961) - Thank you Casey
6) The Last of Mrs. Cheney (1929) - Thank you Jonas
7) The Pleasure Seekers (1964) - post coming soon
8) all the Latino Images in Film movies that I had to tape or rent.

Instead of tagging people I want to take this opportunity to point out to people some interesting tweeters on Twitter. Here is a start up list:@tommysalami @mercurie80 @1416andcounting @talkieking @moviecollector @TCManiacs @MoviesonTCM @impossiblecat @fleurdeguerre. Look at who I follow on my Twitter page to find some other great tweeters.

Although Ginger disses Twitter, I think if you use it in the right way it revolutionizes the way you blog and the way you access information on the internet, as long as you follow the right people and tweet intersting things.

20 Actors Movie Meme

It was inevitable after the 20 Actresses Movie Meme circulated among the blog world that an Actor one would follow suit. And I was ready! The men were much easier to select from than the women. While it's terribly easy for me to dislike an actress (she looked at me funny), I have high respect for many actors. This list was easy to order as well, since I have formed very strong attachments to certain actors and I could guage what number to put them at based on the strength of my feelings. I also use the giggle-mometer. Whenever I see any of these fine gentlemen onscreen, I let out a giggle. The higher-pitched and more annoying the giggle, the more I like him. I guess you don't want to be around me when I see my King Robert Mitchum on screen do you?

Robert Mitchum

Bobby Darin

Rock Hudson

(Kevin - This image is dedicated to you!)

Clark Gable

Kirk Douglas

Jimmy Stewart

Cary Grant

Richard Barthelmess

Lewis Stone

Buster Keaton
Laurel & Hardy

(Thank you Frank for this wonderful image!)

The Marx Bros.

William Powell

(image from Google-LIFE Archive)

Robert Montgomery

Sidney Poitier

George Sanders

Louis Calhern

Charles Laughton

Sterling Hayden

~Honorable Mention: 5 more to round it out to top 25~

Jack Lemmon

Dennis Morgan

Spencer Tracy

Chester Morris

Ramon Novarro

Now it's my turn to tag some folks, seeing as I tagged myself for this one. And the unlucky SOBs are....

Ibetolis @ Film for the Soul

Ginger @ Asleep in New York

Jonas @ All Talking! All Singing! All Dancing!

Casey @ Noir Girl

Joanne @ Zippin' Along

20 Actresses Movie Meme

I was just dying for someone to tag me for the 20 Actresses Movie Meme started The Film Experience blog. But I was patient because I knew that Ibetolis over at the excellent blog Film for the Soul would tag me. He's always very kind to think of me and I appreciate that a lot.

It was a lot of fun working on this list. I discovered that my tastes are by no means mainstream or ordinary. Ladies are presented in no particular order, except for the Queen of MGM who always gets top billing.

~ Norma Shearer ~

~ Joan Blondell ~

~ Susan Peters ~

~ Sandra Dee ~

~ Bette Davis ~




~Ruby Keeler ~



~ Doris Day ~



~ Jean Harlow ~


~ Kim Novak ~



~ Marilyn Monroe ~


~ Bonita Granville ~

~ Ginger Rogers ~


~ Jean Seberg ~


~ Jean Hagen ~


~ Caroll Baker ~


~ Shirley MacLaine ~

I couldn't just make this all about classic film ladies, when there are so many contemporary actresses I enjoy watching too. Here are a few.

~ Amy Adams ~


~ Samantha Morton ~


~ Romola Garai ~

~Ludivine Sagnier~

(thanks Jonas for the photo of Ludivine!)

I'll tag Jonas of All Talking! All Singing! All Dancing!, Ginger of Asleep in New York, Carrie of Classic Montgomery, CK Dexter Haven of Hollywood Dreamland and Sarah of Cinema Splendor. Not so much as a tag, more like a smack. Hee hee. Have fun!

A-Z Movie Meme

I've been tagged by fellow blogger Ibetolis at the excellent blog Film for the Soul to do the A-Z Movie Meme started by Blog Cabins. Premise is simple, just list a good film that starts with each letter of the alphabet. There are some crazy rules to follow, but I like to throw rules out the window on this blog, so I'm doing my own thing, see? I'm trying to either chose films that I'm interested in or really like right now to match with each letter.

Thanks Ibetolis!

A is for All That Heaven Allows (1956)
B is for Bonjour Tristesse (1958)
C is for Christmas in Connecticut (1945)
D is for D.O.A. (1950)
E is for East of Eden (1955)
F is for Father of the Bride (1950)
G is for Good News (1947) ... goody, good, good, good!
H is for Holiday Affair (1949)
I is for Idiot's Delight (1939)
J is for Jezebel (1938)
K is for Keep Your Powder Dry (1945)
L is for The Letter (1940)
M is for Metropolis (1927)
N is for Nancy Drew, Detective (1938)
O is for Out of the Past (1947)
P is for A Patch of Blue (1965)
Q is for Queen Christina (1934)
R is for River of No Return (1954)
S is for Strangers When We Meet (1960)
T is for Thunder Road (1958)
U is for Unfaithfully Yours (1948)
V is for The Virgin Suicides (1999)
W is for The Women (1939)
X is for Madame X (1966)
Y is for Yours, Mine and Ours (1968)
Z is for Ziegfeld Girl (1941)


As my friend Lisa would say, tag yourselves bitches!

I would also like to thank Jacqueline over at Another Old Movie Blog for tagging me too.

Guest Blogger: Kevin's 12 Movies Meme

Last but not least is Kevin, who has FINALLY done a 12 Movies Meme for me! Yay! His choices are great and the themes are hilarious! Enjoy.

I'm gonna link it up by giving a shout-out to Lazy Eye Theatre who started it all and Ibetolis at Film for the Soul who tagged me.

MONDAY

Theme: "Crime Is Just a Left-Handed Form of Human Endeavor"
Films: The Asphalt Jungle (1950) & The Killing (1956)
Reason: Two suspenseful noir heist films, both starring Sterling Hayden along with an ensemble of eclectic, oddball characters.

TUESDAY

Theme: "We Didn't Need Dialogue – We Had Faces!"
Films: Singin' in the Rain (1952) & Sunset Blvd. (1950)
Reason: Two entertaining movies about Hollywood. One, a delightful musical, hilariously depicting the creative challenges that came along with the advent of sound pictures - the other, a dark, baroque comedy about the casualties of the transition from silents to talkies.

WEDNESDAY

Theme: Stiff Upper Lips Sure Make it Hard to Kiss
Films: Brief Encounter (1946) & The Remains of the Day (1993)
Reason: Two of the most moving dramas I have seen about loneliness, longing, and unrequited love, each featuring a heart-wrenching crying scene by Celia Johnson and Emma Thompson, respectively.

THURSDAY

Theme: Long, Hot, and Steamy Summers in The Deep South!
Films: A Streetcar Named Desire (1951) & Baby Doll (1956)
Reason: Two hot, sexy Southern melodramas penned by Tennessee Williams, brought to you by Elia Kazan! Oh yeah, Karl Malden acts in both of them!

FRIDAY

Theme: Keep Those Anti-Depressants Handy…
Films: Wild Strawberries (1957) & Another Woman (1988)
Reason: See how Ingmar Bergman inspires Woody Allen. Victor Sjostrom and Gena Rowlands, respectively, play eminent professors who are revisited by the past. Their memories cause them to question the rigid way they have lived their lives.

SATURDAY

Theme: Adult Shenanigans + a Precocious Child's Imagination = TROUBLE!
Films: The Fallen Idol (1948) & Atonement (2007)
Reason: A child's misunderstanding of adult situations sets the plot in motion in these two great British dramas.

Guest Blogger: Bob's 12 Movie Meme

Here are Bob's selections for the 12 Movie Meme! He's become my regular guest contributor to the site. Bob also really really likes using all caps, as you'll see below.

And I also want to thank the folks who participated in the tag! Much appreciated to Frank, Steve-O, Carrie, Ginger and Bob (::fingers crossed for Kevin::). Props to Lazy Eye Theater for starting it all and Ibetolis of Film for the Soul for tagging me.

MONDAY
THEME: IT’S NOT SMART TO TAUNT YOUR OPPONENT BEFORE A DUEL.
FILMS & REASON:

THE SEA HAWK (1940) ~Henry Daniell (the arrogant Lord Woffingham) to Errol Flynn (the gallant Captain Geoffrey Thorpe): “This time you won’t be as lucky as you were at Cadiz (referring to Flynn’s escape from the Spaniards, for whom Woffingham, a traitor to Queen Elizabeth, is working).” A minute later, Flynn runs him through.

THE MARK OF ZORRO (1940) ~ Basil Rathbone (the sneering Esteban) to Tyrone Power (the foppish Diego Vega):“You have a champion, Luis – and (his voice dripping with sarcasm) what a champion!” Rathbone still thinks Power is a feckless dandy, which he only pretends to be to conceal his true identity – the dashing Zorro! A minute later, Power runs him through.

TUESDAY
THEME: MY HAM IS SLICED THICKER THAN YOURS.
FILMS & REASON:

THE RAVEN (1935)
Bela Lugosi’s incomparable over-the-top performance as Dr. Richard Vollin, a mad plastic surgeon who has built replicas of Edgar Allan Poe’s torture devices in the basement of his mansion. Vollin lures the woman (Irene Ware) who has spurned his advances and her wimpy boyfriend (Lester Matthews) to his home and imprisons them in a chamber where the walls will slowly come together and crush the love-struck duo. Bateman (Boris Karloff), a gangster on the lam whose face Vollin has deliberately disfigured, is the madman’s reluctant accomplice. (And no, I’m not making any of this up.) Lugosi to Karloff: “What a torture! What a delicious torture, Bateman! Greater than Poe!Poe only conceived it; I have done it, Bateman! POE! YOU ARE …. AVENGED!!!!!!!!”

FLASH GORDON CONQUERS THE UNIVERSE (1940)
Charles Middleton, gaunt, mean, hatchet-faced; here he plays – for the third and last time – the Emperor Ming, aka Ming the Merciless, the greatest outer space villain in the history of the movies. Confronted by Flash Gordon and his allies, Middleton, who never just spoke his lines if he could snarl them, exclaims: “I’ll release the Death Dust and kill them all!!!!” Need I say more?

WEDNESDAY
THEME: THEY MAY BE KILLERS, BUT THEY WILL ALWAYS REMEMBER MOTHER’S DAY.
FILMS & REASON:
NOTORIOUS (1946) ~When Alexander Sebastian (Claude Rains), the head of a Nazi cell in South America, discovers that his wife (Ingrid Bergman) is an American agent, he rushes to his mother’s bedside for guidance. His mother (Leopoldine Konstantin) tells him to poison Bergman and then offers this backhanded consolation: “Fortunately, we are protected by the enormity of your stupidity.”

WHITE HEAT (1949) ~Psycho mobster Cody Jarrett (Jimmy Cagney) suffers from excruciating headaches that only his Ma (Margaret Wycherly) can alleviate. He crawls into her lap, and she massages him, all the while encouraging his maniacal impulses: “Top of the world, son, top of the world.” When he finally gets there, it blows up in his face.

THURSDAY
THEME: THEY ONLY GAVE ME $25 FOR SPECIAL EFFECTS.
FILMS & REASON:

THE DEVIL BAT (1940) ~ The “giant” rodent hanging from the rafters in Bela Lugosi’s laboratory looks like a moth-eaten stuffed animal. I’ve seen scarier Beanie Babies.

BRIDE OF THE MONSTER (1955) ~Director Ed Wood bought a big rubber octopus from studio surplus, but didn’t have the cash to buy the motor that ran the damn thing. In his climatic death scene, the aging Bela Lugosi had to wrap the beast’s arms around his torso himself.

FRIDAY
THEME: TWO PERFECTLY CAST MOVIES
FILMS & REASON:
THE ADVENTURES OF ROBIN HOOD (1938) ~ Errol Flynn as Robin, Olivia de Havilland as Maid Marian, Basil Rathbone as Sir Guy of Gisbourne, Alan Hale as Little John, etc.

THE MALTESE FALCON (1941) ~
Bogart as Sam Spade, Mary Astor as Brigid O’Shaughnessy, Sydney Greenstreet as Kasper Gutman, Peter Lorre as Joel Cairo, Elisha Cook, Jr., as Wilmer, etc. As Justice Potter Stewart said about obscenity (“I know it when I see it”), you’ll know they’re perfectly cast when you watch these movies.

SATURDAY
THEME: MAD SCIENTISTS IN THE GRIP OF MEGALOMANIA RESORT TO PLAGIARISM
FILMS & REASON:
FRANKENSTEIN (1931) ~ Colin Clive as Dr. Frankenstein, screaming as his creation comes to life: “In the name of God, now I know what it feels like to be God!” Charles Laughton as Dr. Moreau in ISLAND OF LOST SOULS (1932), quietly boasting after giving wild beasts human characteristics: “Do you know what it means to feel like God?”

Guest Blogger: Frank's 12 Movies Meme

Finally! My friend Frank has given me a guest post. Yay! Here is Frank's contribution to the 12 Movie Meme. Enjoy!

Monday
Theme: Upstairs, Downstairs - plus a murder!
Films: Rules of the Game (1939) & Gosford Park (2001)
Reason: My favorite movies of their respective release years (1939 & 2001), examination of class structures in pre-WW2 France and England.

Tuesday
Theme: Shemp in the movies!
Films: Another Thin Man (1939) & Buck Privates (1941)
Reason: The amazing acting talents of Shemp Howard on display in feature films.

Wednesday
Theme: The Foreign Legion
Films: The Flying Deuces (1939) & Abbott and Costello in the Foreign Legion (1950)
Reason: Two great comedy duos enlist, and hilarious complications ensue.

Thursday
Theme: The Great Directors take on the Nazis
Films: The Great Dictator (1939) & Foreign Correspondent (1940)
Reason: Chaplin and Hitchcock with two of their best films.

Friday
Theme: Great Soundtracks
Films: The Pink Panther Strikes Again (1976) & Star Wars (1977)
Reason: Watching these two films just to listen to the score is perfectly acceptable.

Saturday
Theme: Who Done It?
Films: Who Done It? (1942) & Who Done It? (1956)
Reason: Abbott & Costello and Benny Hill trying to figure it out works for me.

12 Movies Meme

Tag! I'm it!

Ibetolis over at Film for the Soul tagged me to participate in the 12 Movies Meme started by Lazy Eye Theatre. I don't really get the rules so I kind of just went with a similar form based off of Ibetolis' entry. Basically I'm creating line-ups for 6 double-feature nights (Monday through Saturday), each with it's own theme. I've also provided a reason for why I chose that line-up. I have to tag 5 people and with an interesting twist, I'm tagging 3 guest bloggers (their responses I'll post here) and 3 bloggers. I know that's 6, but since I'm already breaking rules... My double-features and tags are listed below. Enjoy!

Monday
Theme: Right in the Belly - Poisonous Stories
Films: D.O.A. (1950) & Notorious (1946)
Reason: My favorite film noir matched with an astounding Hitchcock classic, both feature protagonists who have been poisoned.

Tuesday
Theme: Blonde Bette Davis Does Not Want to Kiss You
Films: Cabin in the Cotton (1932) & Of Human Bondage (1934)
Reason: Two great Bette Davis films, with her as a blonde, both include famous lines about kissing. Cabin in the Cotton - "I'd like to kiss ye, but I jus' washed ma hair". Of Human Bondage - "And after ya kissed me, I always used to wipe my mouth! WIPE MY MOUTH!"

Wednesday
Theme: Robert Mitchum Just Wants to Love on You
Films: Holiday Affair (1949) & Two for the Seesaw (1962)
Reason: Robert Mitchum's softer side shines through with these two romances. A delight for anyone who crushes on him.

Thursday
Theme: The Morning After ~ Ultra Sexy Pre-Codes
Films: Female (1933) & The Divorcee (1930)
Reason: One thing leads to another and well, you know... Women in charge of their sexuality. And a little Norma Shearer never hurt anyone.

Friday
Theme: Triumphant Triumvirates ~ Everything's Better in Threes
Films: Three on a Match (1932) & A Letter to Three Wives (1949)
Reason: It's a shame I couldn't make this one into a triple-feature! Based on threes, great films about three very different women coming together in unusual circumstances.

Saturday
Theme: Multiple Families, Multiple Problems
Films: Yours, Mine and Ours (1968) & With Six You Get Eggroll (1968)
Reason: Two films that gave birth to The Brady Bunch. What happens when two families come together as one? Laughter is sure to follow.

TAGS
Frank ~ Guest Blogger
Bob ~ Guest Blogger
Kevin ~ Guest Blogger
Carrie ~ Classic Montgomery
Ginger ~ Asleep in New York
Steve ~ Film Noir of the Week