Movie Meme!

1. Name a movie that you have seen more than 10 times:
VERTIGO

2. Name a movie that you’ve seen multiple times in a theatre:
LOST HIGHWAY

3. Name an actor that would make you more inclined to see a movie:
Phillip Baker Hall, Catherine Deneuve, Joseph Gordon Levitt

4. Name an actor that would make you less likely to see a movie:
Keanu Reeves, Meryl Streep

5. Name a movie that you can quote from:
HIGH ANXIETY

6. Name a moviemusical that you know all the lyrics to all the songs:
LITTLE SHOP OF HORRORS

7. Name a movie that you have been known to sing along with:
TRUE STORIES

8. Name a movie that you would recommend everyone see:
UMBERTO D

9. Name a movie that you own:
LAURA

10. Name an actor that launched his/her career in another medium but who has surprised you with his/her acting chops:
Dennis Leary. I thought he was good in THE REF.

11. Have you ever seen a movie in a drive-in?:
RED SONIA

12. Ever made out in a movie theater?
Yes. Don’t remember the movie.

13. Name a movie that you keep meaning to see but just haven’t gotten around to it:
DANCES WITH WOLVES. Yes, I have never seen it.

14. Ever walked out of a movie?:
Yes. TOMORROW WE MOVE.

15. Name a movie that made you cry in the theatre:
SHADOWLANDS

16. Popcorn?:
Yes, though more often at the theater than at home.

17. How often do you go to the movies?:
Three times a month, sometimes a lot more.

18. What’s the last movie you saw in the theater?:
QUANTUM OF SOLACE

19. What is your favourite/preferred genre of movie?:
I don’t have a preferred gene, except maybe whatever you’d call those movies that mix all kinds of genres together.

20. What was the first movie you remember seeing in the theater?
SNOW WHITE AND THE SEVEN DWARFS

21. What film are you waiting to see next year.
CHE

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Writer’s Block: Traditional Pursuits

Watching "It’s A Wonderful Life" on Christmas Eve.

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Why the hell did NPR just interview Bill O’Reilly?!

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3 Things

Leave Her to Heaven [1945]

1.She hooks the toe of her shoe under the edge of the carpet at the top of stairs. She stands there, looking down. Anticipating her jump. From the look on her face we know that she is prepared to die.
2. A veritable jungle of desert plans inside the house in New Mexico. It reminds me somehow of the the Madisons’ house in Lost Highway and the strange row of tongue-plants arranged against the wall.
3. "Nothing ever happens to Ellen." Later: "Ellen always wins."

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3 things about Otto Preminger’s WHERE THE SIDEWALK ENDS

Where the Sidewalk Ends [1950]

1. One-way train ticket from NYC to Pittsburgh: just over $17.
2. “What I think isn’t worth a row of nickels.” And from Martha: “What’s the matter? I’m trying to help you out. You don’t know how to make love, so I’m making love for you.”
3. At separate moments, both Dana Andrews and Gene Tierney tap cigarettes on the back of their hands before lighting up.

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Drink Up

I made up a cocktail and named it after Beulah Bondi. Enjoy.

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Rob’s Best of 2008

It’s that time of year. That time of year when I make my mix CD!

Rob’s Best of 2008. Not necessarily released in 2008, these are nevertheless some of the tracks I’ve been listening to all year:

1 OBAMA: Extra Golden
2 HERE IS WHAT IS: Daniel Lanois
3 STRANGE OVERTONES: David Byrne & Brian Eno
4 COLOGNE CERRONE HOUDINI: Goldfrapp
5 MYSTIC BREW: Ronnie Foster
6 PACIFIC RHYTHM: Quiet Village
7 I DIDN’T MEAN TO TURN YOU ON: Robert Palmer
8 A LULL AT DAWN: Barney Bigard & His Orchestra
9 DOWN, DEEP INSIDE: John Barry feat. Donna Summer
10 BOUNCE WITH ME: Kreesha Turner
11 TAKE MY TIME: Junior Senior
12 SHOWCASE 
1: Edd Kalehoff
13 CURIOUS: Komeda
14 NO HANDS, GRAMMA: Bill Withers, remixed by Shoes
15 BUMPIN’ ON SUNSET: Wes Montgomery
16 THIS IS LIFE: Grace Jones
17 PICKPOCKETS (PICKPOCKETS):
Fred Avril/Xavier Jamaux
18 SOMEWHERE IN BETWEEN: Kate Bush

If you’d like a copy, leave your name and mailing address as a comment (all comments will be screened so no one will see it but me). I’m also thinking of having it available as a downloadable ZIP file, so if you’re interested in that option let me know.

Ho ho ho!

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3 things about John Frankenheimer’s THE ICEMAN COMETH

The Iceman Cometh [1973]

1. “That’s a great gag, the pursuit of happiness.”
2. There’s a picture of Theodore Roosevelt on the wall of the saloon.
3. Robert Ryan sits in a chair, silently staring out of the filthy window. Motionless. Suddenly the shadow of a falling body shoots past and there’s a loud thud.

Loved this. It’s about four hours long but riveting. Acting was flawless. I kept thinking of Glengarry Glen Ross. In Mamet’s play it’s a real estate office instead of a saloon.

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!!!

My boss just gave me an off-the-books holiday bonus. In a plain white envelope. In cash. Have I mentioned lately how much I love this job?

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3 things about Ranald MacDougall’s QUEEN BEE

Queen Bee [1955]

1. “You’re like some fancy kind of disease.”
2. She wears a sleeveless evening dress with elbow-length gloves. She fastens the bracelet on top of the gloves.
3. With her finger she writes “YOU WILL” in the steam on the glass door of the bathroom.

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