Jayne ,'Jaynestown'
A place to talk about movies--old and new, good and bad, high art and high cheese. It's the place to place your kittens on the award winners, gossip about upcoming fims and discuss DVD releases and extras. Spoiler policy: White font all plot-related discussion until a movie's been in wide release two weeks, and keep the major HSQ in white font until two weeks after the video/DVD release.
Now is when I admit to the highly unpopular, I don't much like Katherine Hepburn.
I like Kate a lot, but I love Barbara Stanwyck, Jean Arthur and Irene Dunne.
Also, I have to once again pimp The Vivacious Lady with Ginger Rogers. Best Slap Fight Ever.
JZ is crazy about Lew Ayers in Holiday.
Poor sad drunk Neddie. He breaks my heart. Linda got out, Julia's got her own brand of cold resilience, but you just know that family would completely destroy Ned. Poor puppy.
One of my favourite screwball comedies I haven't seen mentioned yet: The More the Merrier. Jean Arthur! Joel McCrea! Charles Coburn! "You've been shushing me for 22 months now. You've shushed your last shush!"
Oh no! Tim Burton's Secret Formula is horribly accurate.
I have a vague memory of being told I'd like Myrna Loy movies. Can't remember if that was here or not. Am not sure if I've seen anythign with her. Off to Netflix.
Vonnie, it was Zacharek - and her review is actually top of the "External Reviews" list on IMDB; Holiday was languishing for years with two sad links consisting of old TV Guide "Pretty good for an old movie, or anyhow better than the other version from a couple years earlier" blurbs, and when I found Zacharek's gorgeous essay I started poking the Contact Us email addresses on IMDB pleading with them for someone please, please to read her essay and then to link it. I never heard back from them, but it went up a week or two after my plea. So, I preen just a bit.
Oh, Neddie. Poor lamb. God knows Hepburn could be cringingly stagey and stilted, but she was utterly at her best, most emotionally naked and tender, in that quiet drunken New Year's Eve conversation with Ayres.
I have a vague memory of being told I'd like Myrna Loy movies.
In Sex Tips For Girls Cynthia Heimel's ethos in life was: When in doubt, do what Myrna Loy would do.
Sometimes this involves downing four martinis in succession and doing a fantastic pratfall.
Did you know that Myrna Loy grew up as a childhood friend of Gary Cooper? And she worshipped him because he was a big, ol' beautiful cowboy? Also, she was tall and a redhead, but in her early career in Hollywood she was frequently cast as an "exotic" (i.e., gypsy girl).
Joyce Millman? I miss her column...Heather thinks she's too damn clever. And one day, she's gonna call me "chicken" just that one time too many.
But her best performance was in Lion in Winter.
She plays that role like it was made for her -- the snappy, acid one-liners. Tracy Lord grown old enough not to give a damn about the Hayes Code.
I have a project for work wherein I am looking for movies set in different European countries (basically a movie tour of Europe). I am loving finding gems from some of the tinier countries.
Estonia [link]
Georgia [link]