The Last Ten Films I've Seen: "Ordinary People" is a Christmas Movie?.........no kidding.........

For those unfamiliar with our blog, when we do these lists, we usually go with something that is referred to in the film rather than an image from the film or whatever our list is about.

Hence, the reason for the image of a burrito for "Eating," a photo of Jackie Kennedy for "The House of Yes," in which Parker Posey plays a young woman who thinks she is the former first lady, and the Harvard sweatshirt is for "The Paper Chase," a film which takes place on that Ivy League school's campus. That film won a Best Supporting Oscar for John Houseman.

Seven years later, that same award would go to Timothy Hutton, then only 20 years old for "Ordinary People," the 1980 Best Picture Oscar winner which is perhaps the most depressing Oscar winner ever (ok, so there is also"One Flew over the Cuckoo's Nest" and "Schindler's List")........

"Mental Floss" featured an online article about how "Ordinary People" is actually a 'Christmas movie' as it indeed takes place in December, but, yeah, it's probably better to watch "A Christmas Story" as a family unit......

Here are the last ten films I've seen; this idea came from the great cinema magazine "Film Comment" (please don't sue us for $2.6 million).........

1) Intimate Lighting (fmr Czechoslavakia. 1965. dir: Ivan Passer)

2) Eating (1990. dir: Henry Jaglom)

3) The House of Yes. (1997. dir: Mark Waters)

4) Starstruck (Australia. 1982. dir: Gillian Armstrong)

5) Amour (Austria. 2012. dir: Michael Haneke)

6) The Theory of Everything. (2014. dir: James Marsh)

7) Elysium. (2013. dir: Neill Blomkamp)

8) Ordinary People (1980. dir: Robert Redford)

9) An Unmarried Woman (1978. dir: Paul Mazursky w/Jill Clayburgh)

10) The Paper Chase (1973. dir: James Bridges)

http://www.filmcomment.com

http://www.mentalfloss.com

Quote of the Day/Week- Kareem Abdul-Jabbar

Well, since a quote from 1976 Olympic track gold-medalist Bruce Jenner_of all people has been_has been very popular on this blog, there is a temptation to quote him again, but not today.

Instead, we will quote basketball great Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, 65, who was actually friends with another guy named Bruce (that being Bruce Lee) as we continue to quote African-Americans who were subjects for photographer Timothy Greenfield-Sanders' "The Black List," which was on display at the National Portraits Gallery until April 22nd (this shot was not taken by the photographer).

Abdul-Jabbar remains the NBA's leading scorer with 38,376 points; he played for the Milwaukee Bucks and Los Angeles Lakers from 1969-89. Before becoming a pro basketball player, Abdul-Jabbar won three NCAA titles with the UCLA Bruins, a team that was coached by the recently-deceased John Wooden.

Here is his quote:

"One man can be a crucial ingredient on a team, but one man can not make a team."

SIDEBAR: We thought we'd promote two of our favorite cinemas today as Cine in Athens, Ga., will be screening the French film "The Kid with a Bike" and the Israeli film "Footnote" starting today. In the nation's capital, The West End Cinema is also showing five films, including "The Kid with a Bike" as well as  the documentary "Jiro Dreams of Sushi" and the Canadian film "Monsieur Lazhar," which was nominated for Best Foreign-Language Oscar.


http://www.kareemabduljabbar.com

http://www.athenscine.com

http://www.westendcinema.com

Happy Valentine's Day from Olive Oyl

Yes, today is Valentine's Day, and we are having lots of fun here at the Salt Lake City Library in Salt Lake City, Utah (not actually where we are at!).

Olive Oyl is of course the sweetheart of Popeye, who always has to fight his rival Bluto to win her heart. In the real world, this would assuredly lead to a court date.

Today, in honor of the occasion the Sundance Channel is airing the quirky Irish film "Happy Ever After" (2009) about two former lovers who somehow end up at the exact same hotel for their respective wedding days. Awkward!

The film airs at 8:00 p.m., New York time.

SIDEBAR: The answer to our last Rabbits Ears Quiz on "Gilligan's Island" is D.

Quote of the Day/Week- Jean-Michel Basquiat

As we continue to quote famous artists this month, we turn our attention to someone who died all too young from AIDS at the age of 27. But, Jean-Michel Basquiat (1960-1988) left behind an amazing legacy. He made this painting "Untitled" (Head) in 1981.

He was a protege of Andy Warhol who died just a year earlier in 1987, also from AIDS complications.

Basquiat was the subject of the film "Basquiat" (1996), which was interestingly enough directed by someone who knew him in real life, fellow artist Julian Schnabel. A very young Jeffrey Wright, who would end up portraying Secretary of State Colin Powell in Oliver Stone's film "W" many years later, plays the artist in the film which also features David Bowie playing Warhol.

Here is the quote from Basquiat:

"I don't think about art when I'm working, I try to think about life."

Quote of the Day/Week- David Cronenberg

We conclude our month-long series of quotes from famous Canadians with a quip from Toronto-based filmmaker David Cronenberg, who like Danish film director Lars von Trier, is known for making higly provacative, daring films.

Cronenberg's latest film is "A Dangerous Method" with Keira Knightley, and it was the subject of a cover story in a recent issue of "Film Comment."

Other films by Cronenberg include "The Fly" (1986), "Naked Lunch" (1991), "Crash"
(1996) and "A History of Violence" (2005); he also directed several horror films early in his career.

Here is his quote, which certainly grabs one's attention:

"All stereotypes turn out to be true. This is a horrifying thing about life. All those things you fought against as a youth: you begin to realize they're stereotypes because they're true."

Quote of the Week- Aki Kaurismaki

We conclude our quotes from famous Scandanavians this month, with a quip from the great Finnish director Aki Kaurismaki. He is featured in the current issue of "Film Comment," where he discusses his latest film "Le Havre," which happens to be in French!

Aki's most acclaimed film to date in American film circles has been "The Man Without a Past" (2002).

Here is his quote:

"Cinema is dead. It died in 1962. I think it was October."

For the record, he was five years old in 1962.

Quote of the Week- Wim Wenders

Today's quote of the day is from the great German film director Wim Wenders, who like his contemporary Werner Herzog has directed both features and documentaries. Wenders, who is known for his film like "American Friend" (1977) with the late Dennis Hopper (pictured here), "Paris, Texas" (1984) and "Wings of Desire" (1987), currently has a 3-D documentary on modern dance called "Pina" showing in various parts of the world.

Here is his quote: "Film is a very, very powerful medium. It can either confirm the idea that things are wonderful the way they are, or it can reinforce the conception that things can be changed."

DC Diary- No Need for a Taxi Tonight

Since I managed to seriously lost and meander around aimlessly through Northwest DC on Wednesday night, my family who was eagerly awaiting my impending arrival on Thursday night (day four of our excursion) was delighted to see me arrive at our home away from home at 10:04 p.m. that evening.

If things had gone exactly according to my sincerest desires, I would've been dancing at the Gogol Bordello concert that night at the 9:30 Club. But, the show was sold out, and assuredly if I had gone, I would have not come back to the temporary residency until circa 2:00 a.m.

So, I opted to see the Finnish film "Rare Exports: A Christmas Tale," which is about how an archaeological expedition to Antarctica yields the discovery of a Santa Claus who has been frozen stiff for eons.

When I first heard about the film, I thought it might be a bit of a subversive take on Christmas, which I would not have objected to (I am a Festivus kind of a guy). But, in actuality, it is merely a quirky comedy that is perhaps just slightly more "A Christmas Story" than "Bad Santa" though the distinctive Scandinavian sense of humor which one can see in films like "The Kitchen Stories" (Norway) and "Together" (Sweden) would probably be lost on most American audiences.

So, as it was, since I got home in time, there was no need for the friendly Indian or Pakistani taxi driver who had bailed me out the night before!

SIDEBAR: We love this tweet from comic book artist/cartoonist Chris Eliopoulos, who is always a hoot: "My wife made lobster mac and cheese ensuring that I will die of a heart attack b4 I'm 50."

Things We Learned on Twitter This PM- Drugstore Cowboy Author Arrested

We read this disturbing tweet from "The Seattle Times" this afternoon:

"Author of the book Drugstore Cowboy is one of two men arrested Tues. during Redmond pharmacy robbery."

Indeed, James Fogle whose novel "Drugstore Cowboy" about his experiences robbing pharmacies to get drugs to feed his addiction which inspired the excellent 1989 independent film of the same name (pictured here; it starred Matt Dillon and Kelly Lynch) was arrested by police in Redmond, Wash., near Seattle for robbing a drugstore.

Fogle allegedly tied up employees of the pharmacy and he was charged with first degree robbery. The author had spent much of his life in prison on charges of robbing such places in the past.

On a ligther note, model/actress Brooke Burke, who has some 1.8 million followers on Twitter, tweeted that she was: "Walking to the park with kids....haven't had a day like this in a long time....."

Isn't that exciting?!