2017 has been (another) year of political upheaval and personal wobbles. Life and work have meant that, towards the end of the year, I have stopped blogging once a day, but shifted to two or three times a week. Despite this, I continue to discover films that chime with me personally, emotionally and academically. Some…
Month: December 2017
Great Expectations (1946)
“Now, Pip: put the case that this legal advisor has often seen children tried at the criminal bar. Put the case that he has known them to be habitually imprisoned, whipped, neglected, cast out, neglected, cast out, qualified in all ways for the hangman, and growing up to be hanged. Put the case that here…
Brighton Rock (1947)
“You asked me to make a record of me voice. Well, here it is. What you want me to say is ‘I love you.’ Here’s the truth. I hate you, you little slut. You make me sick.” ‘Brighton Rock’, directed by John Boulting in 1947, is a British adaptation of Graham Greene’s crime thriller. Richard…
Giant (1956)
“Everybody thought I had a duster. Y’all thought ol’ Spindletop Burke and Burnett was all the oil there was, didn’t ya? Well, I’m here to tell you that it ain’t, boy! It’s here, and there ain’t a dang thing you gonna do about it! My well came in big, so big, Bick and there’s more…
The Wedding Banquet (1993)
“Wai-Tung Gao: I don’t know, we should have moved you out. Simon: I’ll survive. Wai-Tung Gao: Not if Wei Wei keeps cooking.” ‘The Wedding Banquet’, directed by Ang Lee in 1993, is a Taiwanese/American romantic comedy charting the lives of two gay men in New York, Wai-Tung Gao and Simon. Wai-Tung’s parents live in Taiwan…
Laura (1944)
“She was quick to seize upon anything that would improve her mind or her appearance. Laura had innate breeding, but she deferred to my judgment and taste. I selected a more attractive hairdress for her. I taught her what clothes were more becoming to her. Through me, she met everyone: The famous and the infamous….
Camille (1936)
“If you don’t stop being so easy-going with your money, you’ll land in the gutter before you’re through or back on that farm where you came from, milking cows and cleaning out hen houses. “ ‘Camille’, directed by George Cukor in 1936, is an American adaptation of ‘La Dame aux Camélias’ by Alexandre Dumas, fils….
Lone Star (1996)
“To run a successful civilization, you have got to have your lines of demarcation: between right ‘n’ wrong, between this’n ‘n’ that’n. Your daddy understood that. He was uh what-you-call-it… the referee of this damn menudo we got down here. He understood how most folks don’t want their salt and sugar in the same jar.”…
Vampyr (1932)
“What was going on? What terrifying secret was unfolding? Allan Gray felt certain of one thing: A soul in mortal distress was crying out for help, and a voice within urged him to heed that call. “ ‘Vampyr’, directed by Carl Theodor Dreyer in 1932, is a German and French horror movie made by the…
Red River (1948)
“Cherry was right. You’re soft, you should have let ’em kill me, ’cause I’m gonna kill you. I’ll catch up with ya. I don’t know when, but I’ll catch up. Every time you turn around, expect to see me, ’cause one time you’ll turn around and I’ll be there. I’m gonna kill ya, Matt. “…
12 Angry Men (1957)
“It’s always difficult to keep personal prejudice out of a thing like this. And wherever you run into it, prejudice always obscures the truth. I don’t really know what the truth is. I don’t suppose anybody will ever really know. Nine of us now seem to feel that the defendant is innocent, but we’re just…
Film Ark 