Burn After Reading [2008]
1. Burn After Reading revolves around John Malkovich shouting ‘What the fuck?’ in as many variations as possible. Whether or not that sounds hilarious to you is a pretty fair gauge of what you’ll think of the movie.
2. "Come back to me … when this all makes sense."
3. Brad Pitt. Smoothie. White earbuds.
You’re Telling Me! [1934]
1. Fields is so drunk he’s not able to get his key into the keyhole. From his pocket he removes one of his inventions, a keyhole funnel. It works.
2. Fields takes a long drink from the glass and grimaces. Turns the jug around. Label says ROACH EXTERMINATOR. His friends laugh at their joke and pour him a glass from a different jug. "This is the new, blended stuff." Fields takes a drink of that, then tosses the contents of the glass over his shoulder, disgusted. He picks up the first glass and drinks again.
3. "I voted for you in the last election. Five times."
It’s rainy but I’m
warm and dry and I’ve got some
wine here in a glass
by my elbow and
Twilight Zone is gonna be
on in 30 mins.
Zodiac [2007]
1. Car window, passenger’s side, beaded with raindrops. Through the window we see the light from the lobby of a building, beige, gold, brown. Warm.
2. “Before I kill you I’m going to throw your baby out the window.”
3. In Graysmith’s apartment there are posters from movies with Edward G. Robinson and Jack Palance.
Just back from vacation. Catch-up mode will commence presently.
Judgment at Nuremberg [1961]
1. One of the best closing lines in movie history: “It came to that the first time you sentenced a man to death you knew to be innocent.”
2. Clift takes out a small photograph from his jacket and shows it to the court. “Look at my mother! She was not a feeble-minded woman!” He begins to lose control of himself.
3. The English-German, German-English translation has been going back and forth for some time now. Then, a quick zoom into Maximillian Schell’s face. He is now speaking only in English. An elegant shorthand to simplify the action.
Viva [2007]
1. The Yellow Submarine-esque sequence featuring apples with hungry mouths.
2. Turquoise eye makeup and princess-pink lipstick.
3. Mrs. James, a dead ringer for Shelley Winters, describing her call girl operation: "It’s a kind of dating service."
The Gang’s All Here [1943]
1. The fake palm trees. Palm branches made of shimering green satin. At the top of each tree, alongside the coconuts, are real monkeys.
2. “We haven’t got time to be sensible!”
3. A field of disembodied heads, floating in a vast sea of electric blue, all singing. Benny Goodman’s disembodied head singing.
This is some wild and weird stuff. Americans during WWII really were desperate for distraction! What a great excuse to go nuts with color and movement.
