jakeem

“Nobody knows anything...Not one person in the entire motion picture field knows for a certainty what's going to work. Every time out it's a guess and, if you're lucky, an educated one.” ― William Goldman, "Adventures in the Screen Trade"

TCM On Demand for January 27, 2015 The following features are now available on TCM On Demand for a limited time: 1. The Earrings of Madame de... (1953) -- Charles Boyer (Général André de...) , Danielle Darrieux (Comtesse Louise de...), Vittorio De Sica (Baron Fabrizio Donati), Jean Debucourt (Monsieur Rémy), Jean Galland (Monsieur de Bernac), Mireille Perrey (Nanny), Paul Azaïs (First coachman), Hubert Noël (Henri de Maleville), Lia Di Leo (Lola). Tje German-born filmmaker Max Ophüls ("La Ronde," "House of Pleasure") directed and co-wrote the screenplay for this tale, based on the 1951 novel "Madame de" by French author Louise Lévêque de Vilmorin. Darrieux stars as the title character (we never quite hear her last name), the spendthrift wife of a French general (Boyer). In an attempt to get out of debt, she sells a pair of diamond earrings given to her as a wedding present by her husband. The movie focuses on how she manages -- by chance -- to recover the earrings time after time. Darrieux The film reunited Boyer and Darrieux, who starred as doomed lovers in Anatole Litvak's 1936 drama "Mayerling" -- remade 32 years later as a film vehicle for Omar Sharif and Catherine Deneuve. The picture received an Academy Award nomination for Best Black-and-White Costume Design (Georges Annenkov and Rosine Delamare). Darrieux, who began her career in 1931, observed her 99th birthday on May 1, 2016. Expires February 2, 2015. 2. The Exterminating Angel (1962) -- Silvia Pinal, Enrique Rambal, Claudio Brook, José Baviera, Augusto Benedico, Antonio Bravo, Jacqueline Andere, César del Campo, Rosa Elena Durgel, Lucy Gallardo, Enrique García Álvarez, Ofelia Guilmáin, Nadia Haro Oliva, Tito Juncom, Xavier Loyá, Francisco Avila. This film from Spanish director Luis Buñuel's Mexican period (1949-1965) tells the unforgettable story of a dinner party in Mexico City hosted by society couple Edmundo and Lucia Nobile (Rambal, Gallardo). Despite an enjoyable beginning, things begin to go downhill when the partygoers realize they cannot leave the music room of the Nobiles' estate. The late film critic Roger Ebert, who included Buñuel's film in his "Great Movies" list, called it "a macabre comedy, a mordant view of human nature that suggests we harbor savage instincts and unspeakable secrets. Take a group of prosperous dinner guests and pen them up long enough, [buñuel] suggests, and they'll turn on one another like rats in an overpopulation study." Ebert also noted the film's political symbolism, which was derived from the exiled director's anti-fascist views, which were critical of Spain's government under Generalissimo Francisco Franco. "Obviously, the dinner guests represent the ruling class in Franco's Spain," Ebert wrote. "Having set a banquet table for themselves by defeating the workers in the Spanish Civil War, they sit down for a feast, only to find it never ends. They're trapped in their own bourgeois cul-de-sac. Increasingly resentful at being shut off from the world outside, they grow mean and restless; their worst tendencies are revealed." The 2013 book "A Companion to Luis Buñuel," edited by Rob Stone and Julian Daniel Gutierrez-Albilla, mentions that Woody Allen wanted to use Buñuel in "Annie Hall" (1977) for the scene in which Alvy Singer silences a know-it-all Marshall McLuhan expert by bringing in McLuhan. Allen eventually got a chance to use Buñuel, who died in 1983, as a character in his 2011 Oscar-winning screenplay "Midnight in Paris." The movie features Owen Wilson as Gil Pender, an American tourist who somehow finds himself in the Paris of the 1920s. At a restaurant, he sits down with surrealists Buñuel (portrayed by Adrien de Van), Salvadore Dali (Adrien Brody) and Man Ray (Tom Cordier). At one point, Gil can't resist suggesting a movie idea to Buñuel: Gil: A group of people attend a very formal dinner party, and at the end of dinner when they try to leave the room, they can't. Buñuel: Why not? Gil: They just can't seem to exit the door. Buñuel: But...But why? Gil: Well...when they're forced to stay together, the veneer of civilization quickly fades away. And what you're left with is who they really are -- animals. Buñuel: But I don't get it. Why don't they just walk out of the room? Gil: All I'm saying is just think about it. Who knows? Maybe when you're shaving one day, it'll tickle your fancy. (Walks away). Buñuel: I don't understand. What's holding them in the room? Expires February 2, 2015. 3. Irma La Douce (1963) -- Jack Lemmon, Shirley MacLaine, Lou Jacobi, Bruce Yarnell, Herschel Bernardi, Hope Holiday, Joan Shawlee, Grace Lee Whitney, Paul Dubov, Howard McNear, Cliff Osmond, Diki Lerner, Herb Jones, Ruth Earl, Jane Earl. Uncredited: Louis Jourdan (narrator), James Caan. Billy Wilder's reunion with his stars of "The Apartment" (1960) earned an Academy Award for André Previn's music score. It also received nominations for Best Actress (MacLaine) and Best Color Cinematography (Joseph LaShelle). Set in Paris, the film stars Lemmon as a gendarme who gets into hot water after he causes a stir in a prostitution-related case. When he loses his job because of it, he becomes enamored with the title character, a streetwalker whose name in English means "Irma the Sweet." Narrator Jourdan died on February 14, 2015 at the age of 93. Actress Whitney, who appears as Kiki the Cossack, died May 1, 2015 at 85. Expires February 2, 2015.

Here is an interview that Franklin did with Bing Crosby in the 1970s. And here is one with Bob Hope in the late 1980s:

I can't wait to see these films again because they have some of the best visual effects ever.

TCM On Demand for January 26, 2015 The following features are now available on TCM On Demand for a limited time: 1. Cyrano de Bergerac (1950) -- José Ferrer, Mala Powers, William Prince, Morris Carnovsky, Ralph Clanton, Lloyd Corrigan, Virginia Farmer, Edgar Barrier, Elena Verdugo, Albert Cavens, Arthur Blake, Don Beddoe, Percy Helton, Virginia Christine, Gil Warren, Philip Van Zandt, Eric Sinclair, Richard Avonde, Paul Dubov, John Crawford, Jerry Paris. For his portrayal of playwright Edmond Rostand's famous 17th century go-between, the Puerto Rican-born Ferrer became the first Latino actor to win an Academy Award (Best Actor, 1950). The romantic film was produced by Stanley Kramer, better known for his groundbreaking social dramas of the 1950s and 1960s ("The Defiant Ones," "On the Beach," "Judgment at Nuremberg," "Guess Who's Coming to Dinner"). The character of Cyrano later provided a Best Actor nomination for Gérard Depardieu, who starred in a 1990 French-language version. Expires February 1, 2015. 2. Trapeze (1956) -- Burt Lancaster, Tony Curtis, Gina Lollobrigida, Katy Jurado, Thomas Gomez, Johnny Puleo, Minor Watson, Gérard Landry, Jean-Pierre Kérien, Sidney James, Gamil Ratib, Pierre Tabard, Edward Hagopian, Gimma Boys, Los Arriolas. Lancaster, who was a young acrobat in the 1930s before he became an actor, revisits some old territory in this drama directed by Sir Carol Reed ("The Third Man," "Oliver!"). The actor plays Mike Ribble, a onetime great circus trapeze artist who once pulled off a rare triple somersault in the air. But an accident short-circuited his career and left him with a permanently injured leg. In Paris, he soon finds himself working with two promising trapeze artists -- an American named Tino Orsini (Curtis) and an Italian bombshell named Lola (Lollobrigida). Expires February 1, 2015.

Different awards presentations. You can always post in the SAG thread because it's the most recent event and it was televised.

Well, the interesting thing is that the Screen Actors Guild/AFTRA Awards are decided by the actors themselves, which may have just put Redmayne in a good position to win the Best Actor Oscar.

One day after "Birdman" won the Producers Guild Award for Best Picture, it picked up the Outstanding Performance by a Cast in a Motion Picture honors at the 21st annual Screen Actors Guild Awards. The PGA and SAG awards are considered precursors of next month's Academy Award winner for Best Picture. http://insidemovies.ew.com/2015/01/25/screen-actors-guild-awards-2015-the-winners-list/?hootPostID=70768f087958f4fbbce0499ac33dcbb9

It's possible that not all of us sleep safe in our beds.

Why am I not surprised by the residual effects of the "American Sniper" phenomenon? http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2015/01/24/american-sniper-anti-muslim-threats_n_6537950.html

"Birdman," Alejandro González Iñárritu's tale of a onetime hot movie star seeking redemption as a stage actor, won the Producers Guild of America's highest film award Saturday night. Along with Richard Linklater's "Boyhood," it is considered a frontrunner for the Academy Award for Best Picture. http://deadline.com/2015/01/producers-guild-awards-winners-2015-pga-award-winner-list-1201357307/

TCM On Demand for January 25, 2015 The following features are now available on TCM On Demand for a limited time: 1. The Perils of Pauline (1947) -- Betty Hutton, John Lund, Billy De Wolfe, William Demarest, Constance Collier, Frank Faylen, William Farnum, Chester Conklin, Paul Panzer, "Snub" Pollard, James Finlayson, Creighton Hale, Hank Mann, Francis McDonald, Bert Roach, Heinie Conklin. Uncredited: Frank Ferguson, Max "Slapsie Maxie" Rosenbloom. Directed by George Marshall ("Destry Rides Again"), this is a fictionalized film biography of actress Pearl White (1889-1938), who became a major silent movie star before the 1920s. She starred as the title character in the popular serials about "The Perils of Pauline." Hutton stars as White and re-creates her rise from vaudeville performer to movie stardom. Lund plays Michael Farrington, the boss of a vaudeville troupe that White joins. The film features songs by Frank Loesser ("Guys and Dolls," "How to Succeed in Business Without Really Trying"), including "Wish I Didn't Love You So," which received an Academy Award nomination for Best Original Song. In 1967, Pat Boone and Pamela Austin, star of numerous Dodge automobile commercials, headlined an updated version of "The Perils of Pauline." Austin played the heroine of the title. Expires January 31, 2015. 2. The Poseidon Adventure (1972) -- Gene Hackman, Ernest Borgnine, Red Buttons, Leslie Nielsen, Carol Lynley, Roddy McDowall, Stella Stevens, Shelley Winters, Jack Albertson, Pamela Sue Martin, Arthur O'Connell, Eric Shea, Fred Sadoff, Sheila Mathews, Jan Arvan, Byron Webster, John Crawford, Bob Hastings, Erik Nelson. Disaster film producer Irwin Allen brought to the screen this suspenseful tale of an aging ocean liner upended by a tidal wave on New Year's Eve. The storyline revolves around a group of desperate survivors -- led by a take-charge minister played by Hackman -- who try to climb to safety. Directed by Ronald Neame ("Tunes of Glory," "The Prime of Miss Jean Brodie"), the film won the Academy Award for Best Original Song ("The Morning After" by Al Kasha and Joel Hirschhorn). It became a No. 1 Billboard Hot 100 hit for Maureen McGovern in August 1973. The songwriters would also win the Best Song Oscar for "We May Never Love Like This Again" from Allen's 1974 disaster film "The Towering Inferno." The disaster-at-sea film received seven other Oscar nominations: Best Supporting Actress (Winters), Best Cinematography (Harold E. Stine), Best Film Editing (Harold F. Kress), Best Art Direction-Set Decoration (William J. Creber, Raphael Bretton), Best Costume Design (Paul Zastupnevich), Best Sound (Theodore Soderberg, Herman Lewis), and Best Music, Original Dramatic Score (John Williams). The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences also voted a Special Achievement Award to L.B. Abbott and A.D. Flowers for the visual effects they created. There have been two remakes of the film in the past decade. In 2005, a made-for-television production starred Rutger Hauer, Alexa Hamilton, Adam Baldwin, Steve Guttenberg and Bryan Brown. In 2006, German director Wolfgang Peterson helmed "Poseidon," a feature film starring Kurt Russell, Josh Lucas, Richard Dreyfuss, Emmy Rossum, Mike Vogel and Jacinda Barrett. There also was a 1979 sequel of sorts -- "Beyond the Poseidon Adventure" -- that starred Sir Michael Caine, Sally Field, Telly Savalas, Karl Malden and Shirley Jones. Expires January 31, 2015. 3. Vigilante (1983) -- Robert Forster, Fred Williamson, Richard Bright, Rutanya Alda, Don Blakely, Joseph Carberry, Willie Colon, Joe Spinell, Carol Lynley, Woody Strode, Vincent Beck, Bo Rucker, Peter Savage, Frank Pesce, Steve James, Randy Jurgenson, Henry Judd Baker, Dante Joseph, Vincent Russo, Donna Patti, Mike Miller, Hyla Marrow, Frank Gio, Ray Serra. Directed by William Lustig ("Maniac," "Maniac Cop"), this drama stars Forster as a New York City factory worker who experiences personal tragedies tied to criminals. Fed up with widespread illegal activity, he joins a mini-army of vigilantes dedicated to cleaning up the streets. Expires January 31, 2015.

And here's a few words from the director himself: http://deadline.com/2015/01/clint-eastwood-american-sniper-producers-guild-awards-nominees-breakfast-1201357485/

And it was only a matter of time before Bill Maher weighed in on it: http://www.slate.com/blogs/the_slatest/2015/01/24/bill_maher_american_sniper_s_chris_kyle_is_a_psycopath_patriot.html?wpsrc=fol_tw

I was impressed that he pronounced Biloxi correctly in his intro for "Neil Simon's Biloxi Blues," as did everyone in the film itself. It's pronounced Ba-LUX-see, but Simon actually said it wrong when he accepted a Tony for the play in 1985! As for the Chevy Chase-Goldie Hawn film, well, it was very much a movie comedy of its time. It's like watching an old episode of "Dynasty," when big hair and shoulder pads for women were the style.

TCM On Demand for January 24, 2015 The following features are now available on TCM On Demand for a limited time: 1. Neil Simon's 'Biloxi Blues' (1988) -- Matthew Broderick, Christopher Walken, Matt Mulhern, Corey Parker, Markus Flanagan, Casey Siemaszko, Michael Dolan, Penelope Ann Miller, Park Overall, Alan Pottinger, Mark Evan Jacobs, Dave Kienzle, Matthew Kimbrough, Kirby Mitchell, Allen Turner. Simon wrote the screenplay for this screen version of his 1985 Tony Award-winning play, the middle installment of his Eugene Morris Jerome trilogy. Jerome, played by Broderick in the semi-autobiographical play and the film, is an alter ego for Simon. Broderick won a 1983 Tony for playing the character on stage in "Brighton Beach Memoirs" (Jonathan Silverman took the role for the 1986 film version and for the third stage version, "Broadway Bound"). Expires January 30, 2015. 2. Neil Simon's 'Lost in Yonkers' (1993) -- Richard Dreyfuss, Mercedes Ruehl, Irene Worth, Brad Stoll, Mike Damus, David Strathairn, Robert Guy Miranda, Jack Laufer, Susan Merson, Illya Haase, Calvin Stillwell, Dick Hagerman, Jesse Vincent, Howard Newstate, Peter Gannon, Lori Schubeler, Jean Zarzour, Mary Scott Gudaitis. Simon's 1991 stage play won the Pulitzer Prize and four Tony Awards, including Best Play. This screen adaptation features two Tony winning members of the original cast (Ruehl and Worth), while Dreyfuss takes on the role played on stage by another Tony winner, Kevin Spacey. The storyline revolves around two young boys (Stoll, Damus) who begin living with relatives in Yonkers, N.Y., while their widowed father (Laufer) tries to recoup financial losses while working in the Deep South. The Yonkers household is dominated by the boys' no-nonsense grandmother (Worth), who runs a candy store downstairs. But it is brightened by the presence of Bella (Ruehl), their sweet but mentally challenged aunt, and the sudden appearance of their mysterious Uncle Louie (Dreyfuss). Simon's adapted screenplay was directed by Martha Coolidge, whose previous screen efforts included "Valley Girl" (1983) and "Real Genius" (1985). Expires January 30, 2015. 3. Neil Simon's 'Seems Like Old Times' (1980) -- Goldie Hawn, Chevy Chase, Charles Grodin, Robert Guillaume, Harold Gould, George Grizzard, Yvonne Wilder, T.K.Carter, Judd Omen, Marc Alaimo, Bill Zucker, Jerry Houser, David Haskell, Chris Lemmon, Ed Griffith. This screwball comedy -- which reunited "Foul Play" stars Hawn and Chase -- was written for the screen by playwright Simon. Chase stars as a writer who is forced by a couple of bad hombres to rob a bank and give them the money. In desperation, he turns to his ex-wife (Hawn), a passionate public defender who happens to be married to the district attorney (Grodin). The film was the only feature directed by Emmy Award-winner Jay Sandrich, whose television credits included the series "Mary Tyler Moore," "Soap," "The Cosby Show" and "The Golden Girls." Expires January 30, 2015.

A correction: At 98, Olivia de Havilland is the oldest living Academy Award winner for acting. The oldest living Oscar winner is Elmo Williams, who won the 1952 award for Best Film Editing in "High Noon." He is 101 years old, and will observe his 102nd birthday on April 30, 2015.

Thanks for posting the link. But why does the schedule keep disappearing and then reappearing?

A liver. And every Frenchman apparently has a good one when you consider how much wine is consumed over there.

The EW piece, written by Missy Schwartz, says De Havilland is still working on her autobiography despite problems with her sight: "She's written five chapters in the same buoyant style that she used in her charming 1962 book of essays, 'Every Frenchman Has One.' A lover of words, she is enjoying mining her rich, long life for remembrances."

TCM On Demand for January 23, 2015 The following features are now available on TCM On Demand for a limited time: 1. She Done Him Wrong (1933) -- Mae West, Cary Grant, Owen Moore, Gilbert Roland, Noah Beery, Sr., David Landau, Rafaela Ottiano, Dewey Robinson, Rochelle Hudson, Tammany Young, Fuzzy Knight, Grace La Rue, Robert Homas, Louise Beavers. This film received an Academy Award nomination for Best Picture of 1932-1933, and its success was credited with helping to save Paramount Pictures from bankruptcy during the Great Depression. The story is derived from "Diamond Lil," the racy 1928 Broadway hit written by West, its irrepressible star. In this version, directed by Lowell Sherman, she appears as Lady Lou, the No. 1 attraction at a popular 1890s Manhattan saloon that attracts both underworld figures and the police. Grant co-stars as the head of a Salvation Army-like organization who catches Lou's attention. Grant also appeared with West in another 1933 film, "I'm No Angel," but he wouldn't become a major star until the late 1930s. Memorable scene: Lou flirts with Grant's character and tries to lure him to her dressing room. The famous and very forward question she asks him was ranked No.26 on the American Film Institute's 2005 list of the 100 greatest movie quotes of all time. Expires January 29, 2015. 2. Trouble in Paradise (1932) -- Miriam Hopkins, Kay Francis, Herbert Marshall, Charlie Ruggles, Edward Everett Horton, Sir C. Aubrey Smith, Robert Greig, Leonid Kinskey, George Humbert. The great Ernst Lubitsch produced and directed this Pre-Code romantic comedy based on the 1931 Hungarian stage play "The Honest Finder." The film revolves around a pickpocket (Hopkins) who teams up with an accomplished thief (Marshall) to embezzle funds from the safe of a Parisian perfume manufacturer (Francis). The film's screenplay was adapted by Samson Raphaelson and Grover Jones, with contributions by Lubitsch. This was one of three films in which Hopkins was directed by Lubitsch. The others: "The Smiling Lieutenant" (1931) and "Design for Living" (1933). Expires January 29, 2015.

The new issue of Entertainment Weekly magazine is the annual Oscar Viewer's Guide. Inside is a piece on two-time Academy Award winner Olivia de Havilland, who is the oldest living Oscar winner at the age of 98. The feature calls her "the last great star of Hollywood's golden age, a woman who began her career during the rise of Technicolor in 1935, formed one of the most indelible screen couples of all time with Errol Flynn, and went on to work with James Cagney, Rita Hayworth, Montgomery Clift, Bette Davis, Richard Burton, Clark Gable and Vivien Leigh." http://popwatch.ew.com/2015/01/21/this-weeks-cover-snubs-surprises-controversies-oscars/

Takashi Shimura was in "Frankenstein Conquers the World" (1965) with Nick Adams. Nick Adams was in "The FBI Story" (1959) with Murray Hamilton. Murray Hamilton was in "The Hustler" (1961) with Paul Newman. Next: Isuzu Yamada.

I trust Taibbi because he never writes about Southern universities. By the way, here's Rolling Stone's list of 25 noteworthy movies at the Sundance Festival this month: http://www.rollingstone.com/movies/lists/25-must-see-movies-sundance-2015-20150116/fresh-dressed-20150116

Matt Taibbi of Rolling Stone didn't like it much, either. Keep in mind that he's much tougher on Wall Street types. http://www.rollingstone.com/politics/news/american-sniper-is-almost-too-dumb-to-criticize-20150121