Last Ten Films I've Seen (as of Oct. 16th): Watching a Three-Hour Doc on a Friday Night

"The Autobiography of Nicolea Ceausescu" is a three-hour documentary about a Romanian Cold War dictator who was eventually executed by gunfire by his own people after 22 years of dictatorial rule, and last Friday night was soooo boring (as Moon Unit Zappa would say) that I ended up watching it on Netflix! The film uses official footage and has no narration. One shocking thing I learned from the film was that American Richard Nixon actually traveled to Bucharest to meet Nicolea Ceaucescu.

Other films on the list include "Au Hasard Balthazar," a brilliant, but depressing film about the life of a donkey, which could have been filmed in Greece or Turkey as easily as France. "4:44: Last Day on Earth" is a dire film with Willem Defoe about what the end might be like. Lastly, "Alan Partridge," starring Steve Coogan as the title character who is also a radio dj, is quite hilarious; the green coffee cup above is in his honor. We tried to use a Manchester United coffee cup, but we believe those images are perhaps copyrighted.

Here is the list:

1) Au Hasard Balthazar. France. 1966. Director: Robert Bresson

2) For All Mankind. Documentary. 1989. Dir: Al Reinert

3) McCabe and Mrs. Miller. 1971. Dir: Robert Altman

4) Lebanon. (Israeli film). 2009. Dir:Samuel Maoz.

5) Chico and Rita. Animation. Spain. Dir: Tono Errando, et al

6) 4:44: Last Day on Earth. Dir: Abel Ferrara

7) Alan Partridge. 2013. Dir: Declan Lowney.

8) Marwencol. Documentary. Dir: Jeff Malmberg

9) Zanjeer. India. 1973. Dir: Prakash Mehra.

10) The Autobiography of Nicolea Ceausescu. Documentary. 2010. Romania

http://www.criterion.com/

http://www.netflix.com

http://www.tcm.com

http://www.filmlinc.org

The Last Ten Films I've Seen: Avoid the Bad Mafya Babasi Film

It has been a full two weeks since we last posted a blog entry. Of course, in the modern age, two weeks is like six and a half years, or is it like 14 minutes? We will let the Slovenian modern philosopher Slavoj Zizek, a fellow film connoisseur, answer that question. In the mean time, here are the last ten films I've seen (mafya babasi is the Turkish term for mafia father/boss):

1) The Serpent and the Rainbow 1988. Director: Wes Craven (Image #1: It's actually a snake-handling church in West Virginia).

2) Saturday Night, Sunday Morning. 1960. dir: Karel Reisz

3) Massacre Mafia Style. 1978. dir-Duke Mitchell (Image #2, which is of Al Capone; this is a terrible movie which aired during TCM Underground)

4) Begin Again. 2013. dir: John Carney. w/Keira Knightley

5) It's a Disaster. 2012. dir: Todd Berger. w/Julie Stiles (Image #3: A Mushroom Cloud)

6) Goodbye, First Love. France 2011. dir: Mia Hansen-Love

7) Airplane! 1980. dir: Jim Abrahams, et al.

8) Life Itself. doc. 2014. dir: Steve James (film about Roger Ebert's last days)
 
9) Bastards. France. 2013. dir: Claire Denis

10) Bill Cunnigham New York. doc. 2010. dir: Richard Press

Last 10 Films I've Seen (as of Sunday, July 13th): Lots of Indies

It's been a while since we posted a "Last Ten Films I've Seen" entry, but this week, we have overindulged in Netflix streaming in part because we really got behind on film-watching because of the World Cup. Yes, I do use the pronoun 'we' on occasions when referring to myself, but we assure you that I don't have a multiple-personality disorder!

Here are the films:

1) Elles. Poland/France. 2011. dir: Malgoska Szmovska. w/ Juliette Binoche.

2) In Another Country (image #1). South Korea. 2012. dir: Sang-Soo Hong w/Isabella Huppert

3) This is Martin Bonner. USA. 2013. dir: Chad Hartigan

4) The Imposter (image #2, Rich Little impersonating George Burns) USA. 2012. dir: Bart Layton

5) Nuit #1. Canada (in French). 2011. dir: Anne Emond.

6) Wrong Cops. Canada/USA. 2013. dir: Quentin Dupieux

7) A Girl who Walks Home Alone at Night. USA (in Farsi). 2014. dir: Ana Lily Amirpour

8) Cold Fish (bottom image of Istanbul fish market): Japan. 2010. dir: Shion Sono

9) Deliver Us from Evil. USA. 2014. dir: Scott Derrickson.

10) Carrie. USA. 1976. dir: Brian De Palma. w/Sissy Spacek and John Travolta

We're Back: The Last 10 Films We've Seen

We are back from our ice-fishing trip to Colorado (ok, we are kidding a bit), but we were away for a long time. Hopefully those of you in Atlanta, Ottawa, London, Praque, Istanbul and Dubai were able to find other ways to inform/educate yourselves. And, with that in mind, here are the last ten films we've seen. Many of these were from Netflix streaming, which we are getting more hip towards.


The image of stand-up comedian Sarah Silverman is meant to be ironic, as she was one of the Jewish stand-up comedians who was NOT interviewed for the documentary film "When Jews Were Funny," which we heard about when the film was being screened at the River Run Film Festival in Winston-Salem, NC.

Here we go:

1) "When Jews Were Funny" doc. 2013. dir: Alan Zweg (top image)

2) "Like Crazy" 2011. dir: Drake Doremus

3) "Days of Being Wild" Hong Kong. 1990. dir: Wong Kar Wai.

4) "Blue is the Warmest Color" France. 2013. dir: Adellatif Kechine (center image)

5) "Into the Abyss" doc. 2011. dir: Werner Herzog (bottom image: the film is about an execution in Texas, the American state with the highest number of executions)

6) "Barbara" Germany.  2012. dir: Christian Petzold

7) "West of Memphis" doc. 2012. dir: Amy Berg

8) "No" Chile. 2012. dir: Pablo Larain

9) "Soylent Green" 1973. dir: Richard Fleischer (it's a science-fiction film with Charlton Heston)

10) "Climates" Turkey. 2006. dir: Nuri Bilge Ceylan



http://www.whenjewswerefunny.com


http://www.sarahsilvermanonline.com


http://www.tcadp.org


http://www.wernerherzog.com

http://www.filmcomment.com

The Next Ten Films We Hope 2 Watch: We Just Love Goldie Hawn and Charlton Heston Flicks

1) "The Story of Louis Pasteur" (1936. dir-William Dieterle) 7.4 (IMDB rating)

2) "Enter Laughing" (1967. dir-Carl Reiner) (see top image) 6.5

3) *"Breathless" (France. 1960. dir-Jean-Luc Godard) 8.0

4)* "L'Enfant" (Belgium. 2005. dir-Jean-Pierr and Luc Dardenne) 7.4

5) "No" (Chile. 2012. dir-Pablo Larrain.) 7.5

6)* "Climates" (center image)  (Turkey. 2006. dir-Nuri Bilge Ceylan) 7.3

7) "West of Memphis" (doc. dir-Amy Berg) 7.9

8) "Butterflies Are Free" (bottom image) w/Goldie Hawn (1972. dir-Milton Katselus) 7.2

9) * "Soylent Green" w/Charlton Heston (1973. dir-Richard Fleischer) 7.1

10) * "My Dinner with Andre" (1981. dir-Louis Malle) 7.7

*-Films we've previously watched

http://www.imdb.com

The Last Ten French Films We've Seen: Hopefully, Godard is Pleased with Us

Here are the last ten French-language films we've seen, including "Aaltra," a VERY dark comedy that is a Belgian film which is partially filmed in Finland. It was distributed here in the United States through the Film Movement. And, it aired at 2:00 a.m. back in December on Turner Classics Movies as a film selected by comedian/actor Patton Oswalt who was guest programmer.

This month's Star of the Month on TCM is Mary Astor, who played the femme fatale opposite Humphrey Bogart in "The Maltese Falcon" (she is not French!)

Here is the list (we got this idea from "Film Comment" magazine):

Any film with an (*) is one we watched via Netflix

1) "Aaltra" (Belgium. 2004. dirs.- Gustave de Kervem and Benoit Delepine)

2) "Rules of the Game" (1939. dir-Jean Renoir; see image #1)

3) "Rust and Bone" (2012. dir-Jacques Audiard)

4) "A Woman is a Woman" (1961. dir-Jean-Luc Godard) *

5) "Les Cousins" (1959. dir-Claude Chabrol)

6) "A Burning Hot Summer" (2011. dir-Philippe Garrel) *

7) "Leaving" (2009. dir-Catherine Corsini w/Kristin Scott Thomas) *

8) "Farewell, My Queen" (2012. dir-Benoit Jacquot; see image #2 which of Queen Beatrix of the Netherlands)

9) "Un Flic/A Cop" (1972. dir. Jean-Pierre Melville w/Catherine Deneuve; see image #3, which is of a K-9 officer)

10) "Hadewijch" (2009. dir- Bruno Durmont)

http://www.filmcomment.com/

http://www.netflix.com

http://www.tcm.com/

http://www.imdb.com/

http://www.filmmovement.com/

https://www.facebook.com/FrenchFilms

Last Ten Films I've Seen (as of Dec. 8th): Rollerball, et al

Here are the last ten films I've seen; we got this idea from "Film Comment:"

1) Rollerball (1975. Norman Jewison, pict)

2) The Big Mouth (1967. Jerry Lewis)

3) Widow of St. Pierre (France. 2000. Patrice Leconte)

4) Lured (1947. Douglas Sirk)

5) Deadly Blessing (1981. Wes Craven)

6) Gregory's Girl (1981. Bill Forsyth)

7) Gulliver's Travel (animated. 1939. Dave Fleischer)

8) TerrorVision (1986. Ted Nicolau)

9) Hysteria (2011. Tanya Wexler)

10) Scream of Fear (1961. Seth Holt)

http://www.filmcomment.com

Free Form Blog Entry: We'll See How This Goes

Today, we are trying something new. I am going to use six terms: Richard Nixon, Julie Delpy (a French actress now in "Before Midnight," pictured center), New York Mets, Star Trek, New Zealand and Efes Pilsen (a Turkish beer) and try to make a flash fiction piece out of it. Don't try this at home!


Here we go:

"Stan was reading an article about the 'Nixon in China' opera in 'Mental Floss' when his ex-girlfriend Diane called and asked him if he wanted to come over to her apartment in Brooklyn and watch '2 Days in New York' with Julie Delpy and Chris Rock.

But, Stan realized he had promised his friend Woody that he would go to the New York Mets game with him. Though, Stan wasn't as interested in baseball as he had been in his youth. He wasn't even sure whom the Mets were playing. 'Is the Pittsburgh Pirates?,' he asked to himself.

Then, Stan got another call from a platonic female friend Florence who wanted to see the new Star Trek movie with. 'Star Trek' was another thing Stan had lost interest in. He then realized that women in black bikinis were about the only things from his twenties which still interested him.

He then imagined himself traveling to New Zealand, and getting away from it all. Stan then opened his fridge, and he found a mysterious bottle of Efes Pilsen, a Turkish beer. 'Where the hell did this come up,' Stan asked?

Stan popped open the brew and watched C-Span trying to decide what he would do that night, and which of the friends he shouldn't try to disappoint. Two hours later, he was still watching C-Span."


http://www.c-span.org

http://www.mentalfloss.com

http://www.startrek.com

Last Ten Films We've Seen- The Michael Caine Version

Since we love the series 'Last Ten I've Seen' in the monthly cinema magazine "Film Comment," we occasionally do films that those of us here in 'the office' in Hartford, Connecticut,* have seen lately. Javier the Intern** is really into Japanese Godzilla movies, bu he's been busy these days.

First of all, let's go over the images:

1) A fineral limo- the French film "Holy Motors" (film #1) has some of these, email Javier the Inern for an explanation.

2) The burqini- we are bascially doing this for our reades in Cairo, Doha and Dubai, for the film "Spring Breakers," (film #6) not to be confused with the 1983 teen sex film "Spring Break." We assume both films are hard to find in Eqygt, Qatar and Dubai.

3) A brass teapot for "The Brass Teapot," (film #10)  a new indie film with Juno Temple that screened recently at the River Run Film Festival in Winston-Salem, NC; we need to ask Ken Farmer of "Antiques Roadshow," an auctioneer from Radford, Va., how much this teapot is worth. Actually, we'll ask Javier to do it!

Here is the list:

1. "Holy Motors" (France. dir-Leos Carax. 2012)

2. "Cosmopolis" (Canada. dir-David Cronenberg. 2012)

3. "Elmer Ganry" (dir-Richard Brooks. 1960)

4. "The Day of the Dolphin dir-Mike Nichols. 1973)

5. "This Is Not a Film" (Iran. dir-Jafar Panahi 2011)

6.  "Spring Breakers" (dir-Harvey Korine. 2012)

7. "Alfie" (the Michael Caine version; UK. dir- Lewis Gilbert. 1966)

8. "The Company You Keep" (dir-Robert Redford 2012)

9. Wake in Fright (Australia. dir-ted Kotcheff. 1971)

10. "The Brass Teapot" (dir. Ramma Mosley. 2012)

*-We are not actually in Hartford, but we are in the same time zone

**-Javier the Intern is a fictional character who has 'been working' for us for four years now

http://www.filmcomment.com

http://www.politicscultureandotherwastesoft.blogspot.com (Our sister blog)

http://www.kfauctions.com

http://www.riverrunfilm.com

http://www.michaelcaine.com

Quote of the Day/Week- Jean Luc-Godard

We continue quoting people associated with the 16 countries represented in Euro 2012 with a quote from the great French film director Jean-Luc Godard, 81, who is best-known for his New Wave classic "Breathless" (1960). Many of his films are available on dvd through the Criterion Collection.

France tied England 1-1 in Euro 2012 play yesterday.

Here is Godard's quote, with his take on William Shakespeare:

"To be or not to be. That's not really a question."


http://www.criterion.com

Quote of the Day/Week-Svetlana Khorkina

Today's quote/day week, our final one for April in our series of quips from gold or silver-winning Olympic international athlete (summer games); tomorrow we will start quoting famous American Olympians.

Last week, we quoted the Belorussian gymnast Svetlana Boginskaya; today we quote her names sake the Russian gymnast Svetlana Khorkina, 33, who won gold at the 1996 Atlanta Olympics and the 2000 Sydney Olympics on the uneven bars.

But, she is best-remembered for a series of equipment mishaps which plagued the Russian team in Sydney, forcing them to be awarded with silver medals at the games instead of gold; this quote is a reflection by Khorkina regarding those unfortunate series of events:

"I knew well in advance even before I stepped on the stage for my first event that I was going to lose."

SIDEBAR: There are perhaps very few people who would see both the slapstick/frat boy humor film "The Three Stooge," a modern update on Curly, Larry and Moe, and the French art film "The Kid with a Bike." But, I saw both films over the weekend, and for the most part, both were exactly what I expected.

For those of you living in the Washington, DC suburb of Farifax, Va., (not where I saw the films), you can "The Three Stooges" at United Artist Farifax Towne Center 10, while "The Kid with a Bike" can be seen at Cinema Arts Theatre.

The French is also playing at Galaxy Cinema in Cary (Raleigh), NC, and at the Aperture Cinema in Winston-Salem, NC.http://www.cinemaartstheatre.comhttp://www.mygalaxy.comhttp://www.aperturecinema.com

Last Ten Films I've Seen

Here are the last ten films I've seen, films I've seen before these viewings are marked with an asteriks (*) and films I saw in a movie theatre are marked with an exclamation point (!):

1) "Les Bonnes Femmes" (1960. France. dir-Claude Chabrol)

2) "The Baader Meinhof Complex" (2008. Germany. dir-Uli Edel)

3) "The Girl Who Kicked the Hornet's Nest" (2009. Sweden. dir-Daniel Alfredson)

4)*! "Time Bandits" (1981. dir-Terry Gilliam)

5) "A Psycho Love Story" (2008. Turkey. dir-Biray Dalkiran)

6) ! "Beginners" (2010. dir-Mike Mills)

7) * "Marie Antoinette" (2006. dir-Sofia Coppola)

8) "Sounds Like Teen Spirit" (2008. doc. dir-Jamie Jay Johnson)

9) "The Big Uneasy" (2010. doc. dir-Harry Shearer)

10) "A Tale of Springtime" (1990. France. dir-Eric Rohmer)

Notes on films on this list:

1) This early French New Wave film about attractive young Parisian women has a very surreal ending which has become a discussion board topic on the IMDB, and after seeing the film I certainly understand why.

2) Perhaps, the most interesting film on the list. The German film, which was nominated for a Best Foreign Language Film Oscar, is about the radical left-wing terrorist group RFA, which started in then West Berlin in 1970. The group was responsible for political assasinations, kidnapping and an airplane hijacking that went across three continents, so this story is quite epic in tone and in my view, the film delivers. Interestingly enough, surviing RFA member Horst Mahler has now gone to the far-right, so much so that he was imprisoned (again) in Germany for being a Holocaust denier.

3) The Swedish film based on the last of the Millenium triology novels by Stieg Larsson seems quite timely given the heinous actions of the far-right, radical Christian terrorist suspect in Norway on Friday. Larsson researched far-right groups in Sweden and other Scandanavian countries before his own untimely death in 2004, and that is reflected in the novels he wrote as well as their filmed versions.

4) I forgot how dark the ending of this 'children's film' from Terry Gilliam was. I saw it at the Salem Valley-4 (now Salem Valley-8 back when the film was first released when I was a child).

5) Yes, as one might expect from the film's title (it was actually called "Heaven" in Turkey), it is a very strange movie, but the director's earlier effort "The Abortion" is even more over-the-top than this film.

6) Christopher Plummer will hopefully win an Oscar for his great performance in this film.

7) This Sofia Coppola film seems slightly better with the second viewing.

8) This doc follows teens in Cyprus, Georgia, Bulgaria and Belgium as they try to be the next European teen idol.

9) An interesting environmental doc from Harry Shearer, best-known for voicing Simpsons characters like Principal Seymour Skinner.

10) This is a typical Rohmer film, which means those of us who generally like his films will like it, everyone else might opt to watch infommercials, pro wrestling or radical televangelists praying for a new hot tub.

The Last Ten Film I've Seen- Some Controversial Films

Here are the last ten films I've seen as of 5:00 p.m., Hartford, Connecticut time (not where I reside) on Wednesday.

They are:

1. "Hidden" (2009. Norway. dir-Pal Oie)_ This is a bad Norwegian horror film.

2. "Irreversible" (2002. France. dir- Gaspar Noe). Along "Antichrist," this is perhaps the most controversial made within the last ten years. Except for the opening sequence, this is a relatively well-made film though.

3. "13 Assasins." (2010. Japan. dir- Takashi Miike). This is my favorite film from Miike who directed "Audition," which I should have mentioned along with "Irreverseible" and "Antichrist."

4. "Puppetmaster II" (1991. dir-Dave Allen). The sequel is actually better than the original! But, these aren't exactly exceptional films, by any means.

5. "Puppetmaster" (1989.dir-David Schmoeller). We featued an image of Klaus Kinski in this entry because the evil puppet Blade in this series is based on him!

6. "No One Killed Jessica." (2001. India. dir-Raj Kumar Gupta)_ This is like a Bollywood version of "All the President's Men."

7. "Angel's Fall" (2005. Turkey. dir- Semih Kaplanoglu) An earlier film from the director of "Bal/Honey," that is fairly similar in tone to his more recent film which has been a film festival hit.

8. "C.R.A.Z.Y" (2005. Canada. dir-Jean Mar Vallee). This is an exceptional French-language Canadian film with a very expensive soundtrack with songs by Pink Floyd, David Bowie, The Rolling Stones, and Hot Chocolate.

9. "Midnight in Paris" (2011. dir- Woody Allen). Yes, I thought it was good.

10. Rubber (2010. France. dir-Quentin Dupieux). This is actually an English-language film shot in California about a killer tire. We're still not sure what to make of it!

People with Long Names List, Part 2

It took an act of Congress to get this image above, and it is not because the Anglo-French actress Charlotte Gainsbourg (b. 1971), who I have a huge crush though she is married with children, is smoking. There are various versions of this photograph on the web, and most of them were too big for our purposes.

On the first list of People with Long Names we featured men with difficult surnames, including Finnish ski-jumper Matti Hautmaki. This time we are posting women with long names here, and featuring a new men's with long names list on our other blog "Politics, Culture and Other Wastes of Time."

Here is the list (apologies in advance to anyone whose name we don't spell correctly!!!)which features women from all over the world:

1. Charlotte Gainsbourg_ The actress who starred in everything from French romcoms like "My Wife is an Actress" to shocking art films like "Antichrist" is also quite a good singer. Her late father Sergei Gainsbourg was one of the most admired singers in France during the '60s and '70s.

2. Nil Karaibrahimgil_ This Turkish singer who is somewhere near 30 years old is heard quite often on radio stations in Istanbul, and she prefers to simply call herself 'Nil.' We understand why.

3. Johana Sigurdordottir- This Icelandic prime minister is among the few world leaders who has publicly acknowledged that they are gay or lesbian. Charlotte Gainsbourg may have problems if she chose to reside in Iceland since the country is reportedly in the process of passing a de facto ban on smoking!

4. Simona Peycheva- Bulgarian rhythmic gymnast; we always try to include at least one eastern European on these lists.

5. Dominika Cibulkova- Yes, there are other tennis players from the Czech Republic or Slovakia with long, difficult names who are more famous (such as the one named Martina), but since this young Slovak tennis star reached the Wimbledon quarter-finals a few weeks ago, we thought we'd put her on the list so we could look hip.

6. Kalliopi Sarasopoulou- She is a Greek pop singer; we also try to include a person with a Greek name on these lists as they can tend to even longer than Turkish names!

7. Lilia Podkopayeva- This Ukrainian Olympian was quite impressive during her years as an impressive international gymnast, especially on the floor exercise. At 32, she would be still young enough to compete for just about any sport besides gymnastics.

8. Severa Nazarkhan- She is a singer from Uzbekistan who wowed the world with her 2003 record "Yol Bolsin," which was released through the English record lable Real World.

9. Tricia Olszewski- This film critic for "City Paper" in Washington, DC, really hated the Rutger Hauer film "Hobo with a Shotgun," but I saw it any way. It was 'ineteresting.'

10. Deepa Ranganathan- She is a leading researcher in sleep/wake patterns...need I say more!

Quote of the Day- Jean-Luc Godard

Today, we start our series of quotes from famous French people with Jean-Luc Godard, one of our favorite people to quip.

Initially, we were hoping to feature an image of a poster from his 1965 film "Alphaville" as opposed to his 1960 film "Breathless," which is shown here.

"Alphaville" is quite a unique film because it is the only Godard film that features elements of of futurist cinema stories and American detective films of the 1940s. The 1965 film starred the late Eddie Constantine and Anna Karina.

Alphaville is also the name of the 1980s German synthpop band which spawned the hit singles "Forever Young" and "Big in Japan," which became a big hit in Japan! "Forever Young" was immortalized 20 years after its release in 1984 when it was featured in the memorable prom dance sequence in the 2004 film "Napoleon Dynamite."

"Breathless" turned 50 last year and it is still considered to be among the best Godard films and the best New Wave films. It also includes a great performance from the actress Jean Seberg who died at age 40 in 1979.

Here is the quote from Godard:

"I don't think you should feel about a film. You should feel about a woman, not a movie. You can't kiss a movie."

Best Films of 1961

Since I looked at the best films from the years 1950, 1960, 1970, 1980, 1990 and 2000last year, I am going to list my favorite films for the years following those years this year.

On my other blog "Politics, Culture and Other Wastes of Time," I listed the best films from 1951. Here, I list my favorite films from 1961:


1. "Cleo from 5 to 7" (France. dir. Agnes Varda)

2. "Last Year of Marienbad" (France. dir. Alain Resnais)

3. "Divorce Italian Style" (Italy. dir. Pietro Germi)

4. "Viridiana" (Spain. dir. Luis Bunuel)

5. "West Side Story"* (dir. Robert Wise and Jerome Robins)

6. "A Woman is a Woman" (France. dir. Jean-Luc Godard)

7. "Splendor in the Grass" (dir. Elia Kazan)

8. "Accattone (Italy. dir. Pier Paolo Pasolini)

9. "Il Posto" (Italy. dir. Ermamo Olmi)

10. "Yojimbo" (Japan. dir. Akira Kurosawa)

The Last 10 Films I've Seen

In order, and without commentary (it was hard enough to download the images, and it is getting veyr, very late here, but I will add a five-star scale with the films), the films are:

1. Tree of Life (2011. Dir. Terence Malick. With Brad Pitt and Sean Penn. *****)

2. Power and the Passion (1957. Dir. Stanley Kramer. With Frank Sinatra, Cary Grant and Sophia Loren. **1/2)

3. Advise and Consent (1962. Dir- Otto Preminger. With Henry Fonda. ***1/2).

4. The Third Page (1999. Turkey. Dir- Zeki Demirkubuz. ****).

5. 11 Harrowhouse (1974, Dir- Aram Avakian. W/Charles Grodin and Candace Bergen. **1/2).

6. Of Time and the City (2008. doc. Dir- Terence Davies. ***1/2).

7. The Beyond (1981. Italy. Dir- Lucio Fulci ***).

8. Masculine/Feminine (1966. France. Dir- Jean-Luc Godard. *****).

9. The Phatom Carriage (1921. Sweden. Dir- Victor Sjostrom. ****).

10. Eraserhead (1977. Dir-David Lynch. ***1/2).

Quote of the Week- Sophia Loren

Tonight, we continue with our quips from famous Italians since Italy is celebrating its 150th anniversary as a republic. Ironically, even though Sophia Loren is Italy's most recognized screen star around the world, she resides abroad in Geneva, Switzerland.

Loren, who will turn 77 on September 20, provided the voice for Maria Topolino in the upcoming animated film "Cars 2." She was the very first woman to win a Best Actress Oscar for a foreign-language when she won the award for the 1962 Italian film "Two Women." The French actress Marion Cottilard would be the second actress to achieve that rarity when she Oscared for her role as the iconic French singer Edith Piaf in the 2007 French film "La Vie en Rose."

Loren is also said to be an inspiration for the Spanish actress, superstar Penelope Cruz whose title role in Pedro Almodovar's film "Volver" (which recieved an Oscar nomination) is said to be inspired by the Italian legend.

Here is the quote from Loren:

"A woman's dress should be like a barbed-wired fence: serving its purpose without obstructing the view."

Qoute of the Week- Woody Allen

We are far behind in our blogging, which means other aspects of lives are perhaps stronger now. But, we thought we'd post yet another great quote from Woody Allen (who is second to fellow filmamaker Jean-Luc Godard_who we have on occasion mistakenly called Jean Luc-Godard*___ in terms of being quoted on our two blogs).

I sense this quip was made a few decades ago, but like all quotes from the director of "Annie Hall" and "Manhattan," this one holds up quite well:

"How can I believe in God when just last week I got my tongue caught in the roller of an electric typewriter."

*- What a difference a hyphen makes! Of course, Jean-Luc Godard is correct!

Quote of the Week_ Jean-Luc Godard

Yes, we usually run Quotes of the Week on Mondays, but we are pressed for time today so we will go ahead and quip French New Wave legend Jean-Luc Godard who will turn 80 on Dec. 3 as we features quotes from famous film directors this month:

"One of the most striking signs of the decay of art is when we see separate forms jumbled together."

SIDEBAR: We were saddened to learn of the death of another great film director Arthur Penn who died a short of his 88th birthday this week. Penn will be best known for directing "Bonnie and Clyde" in 1968, but he leaves behind a strong legacy of other films including "Alice's Restaurant" and "Mickey One," which was one of Warren Beatty's first big films. I had a chance to meet Penn at the Virginia Film Festival in Charlottesville several years ago. He was a class act, and he will be missed.

SIDEBAR TWO: My alma mater Glenvar High School did not have a good night on Friday as they lost a road game to Rural Retreat High School by a 27-20 margin. The late photographer O. Winston Link actually made Rural Retreat, Va., briefly famous when he took one of his famed train photographs there. Other high schools from the Roanoke, Va., area last night include Salem High School winning 27-21 over William Fleming; the Northside Vikings beating Hidden Valley HS 13-10, and Christiansburg HS trumped Patrick Henry HS of Roanoke by a 40-6 score.