Rochester: You have rather the look of another world about you.
That screenshot reminds me of Wyeth’s most famous painting, Christina’s World.
Favourite scene in this movie involved St John Rivers trying to manipulate Jane by telling her that God must mean for her to marry him, and that romantic rejection equals sinning against Divine Will. Jane’s brutally honest response made everyone in the theatre laugh.
Director: Cary Fukunaga
Scriptwriter: Moira Buffini on Charlotte Bronte’s novel
Alice Ayers: It’s a lie. It’s a bunch of sad strangers photographed beautifully, and all the glittering assholes who appreciate art say it’s beautiful ‘cause that’s what they wanna see. But the people in the photos are sad, and alone. But the pictures make the world seem beautiful, so… The exhibition is reassuring which makes it a lie, and everyone loves a big fat lie.
The moral of the story: Don’t date good-looking people.
I kid.
Closer is all about the overwhelming, forceful dialogue, which is why stage productions feature minimally decorated sets as a contrast. Somebody missed that memo when they made this movie. While the script is more or less the same in the play and in the film, somehow I feel that the movie adaptation’s impact is just not as strong. And the time shifts (fade out to white, really?) could have been better. I would have preferred something along the lines of Bertolt Brecht’s epic Verfremdungseffekt/ Lars von Trier’s US trilogy.
Director: Mike Nichols
Scriptwriter: Patrick Marber, based on his play
Mark Zuckerberg: Your…your date looks so familiar to me.
Sean Parker: She looks familiar to a lot of people.
Mark Zuckerberg: What do you mean?
Sean Parker: A Stanford MBA named Roy Raymond wants to buy his wife some lingerie but he’s too embarrassed to shop for it at a department store. Comes up with an idea for a high end place that doesn’t make you feel like a pervert. He gets a forty thousand dollar bank loan, borrows another forty thousand from his in-laws, opens a store and calls it Victoria’s Secret. Makes a half million dollars his first year. He starts a catalogue, opens three mores stores and after five years he sells the company to Leslie Wexner and The Limited for four million dollars. Happy ending, right? Except four years later the company’s worth five hundred million dollars and Roy Raymond jumps off the Golden Gate Bridge. Poor guy just wanted to buy his wife a pair of thigh highs.
Mark Zuckerberg: Was that a parable?
Sean Parker: My date’s a Victoria’s Secret model. That’s why she looks familiar to you.
I’ve seen this movie twice already — I needed two views just to get a handle on the script. I feel like I need another third viewing to pay attention to the images on the screen (I recommend this excellent frame analysis). The Social Network is probably my favourite of the Oscar Best Picture contenders, along with True Grit.
Director: David Fincher
Scriptwriter: Aaron Sorkin on Ben Mezrich’s book
Sister Evelyn: May I be frank with you?
Blue Bandit: Of course.
Sister Evelyn: Although I’ve dedicated my life to God and His goodness, I secretly love throwing oranges at our priest.
The Fall reminds me of the stories that I would make up as a child. That means more plotholes than plot, and what little plot there is maunders slowly like a desert caravan. I love it.
Also, it was really, really hard to choose only one screenshot from the movie. Some scenes look like they came out of a Dali painting.
Director: Tarsem
Scriptwriter: Tarsem
James: You know the thing about good food? It brings folks together from all walks of life. It warms them right up and it puts little smiles on their faces. And when I open up my own restaurant, I tell you, people are gonna lined up for miles around, just to get a taste of my food.
Tiana: Our food!
James: That’s right, baby. Our food.
Tiana: Daddy, look.
James: Where’re you goin’?
Tiana: Charlotte’s fairytale book said if you make a wish on evening star it should come true.
Eudora: Hmm, won’t you wish on that star, sweetheart?
James: Yes, you wish and you dream with all your little heart. But remember, Tiana, that old star can only take you part of a way. You got to help him with some hard work of your own. And then… Yeah you can do anything you said you mind to. Just promise your Daddy one thing? That you’ll never, ever lose sight of what is really important. Okay?
I miss coming home to Dad’s cooking. I miss a lot of things.
Director: Ron Clements and John Musker
King George V: This devilish device [radio] will change everything. In the past, all a King had to do was look respectable in uniform and not fall off his horse. Now we must invade people’s homes and ingratiate ourselves with them. This family is reduced to those lowest, basest of all creatures — we’ve become actors!
To say nothing of motion pictures.
I liked King’s Speech. But I’m having a hard time understanding why it won Best Director at the Oscars.
Director: Tom Hooper
Scriptwriter: David Seidler
It’s hard to tell if the world we live in is either a reality or a dream.
I’ve seen many movies where “nothing” happens, but this is one of the few great ones where nothing is said.
Director: Kim Ki-duk
Scriptwriter: Kim Ki-duk
Rapunzel: I’ve been looking out of a window for eighteen years, dreaming about what I might feel like when those lights rise in the sky. What if it’s not everything I dreamed it would be?
Flynn Rider: It will be.
Rapunzel: And what if it is? What do I do then?
You could always become an existentialist. Works for me. Sort of.
Directors: Nathan Greno and Bryon Howard
Scriptwriter: Dan Fogelman on the Grimm Brothers’ story
Kathy: It had never occurred to me that our lives, which had been so closely interwoven, could unravel with such speed. If I’d known, maybe I’d have kept tighter hold of them and not let unseen tides pull us apart.
I made the terrible mistake of watching this movie while flying over the Pacific Ocean.
Director: Mark Romanek
Scriptwriter: Alex Garland on Kazuo Ishiguro’s novel
