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

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

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).

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!

Special Quote of the Day--Happy Bastille Day!

France has been in the news quite a lot lately as the national soccer team openly feuded while competing at the World Cup, a controversial Islamic face garb ban was passed in the French Parliament yesterday and this year the country has been forced to scale back Bastille Day celebrations because of domestic economic problems.

Since today, July 14th, is Bastille Day, we are going to quote the great French noveslist/essayist/modernist Marcel Proust (1871-1922) who is frequently the subject of "Zippy the Pinhead" comic strips. Proust was also featured as the centerpiece in a Sunday "New York Times" article about Kindle last year.

We have to wonder if the likes of Robin Reed, a Channel-7 (Roanoke, Va.) meteorologist would agree with this sentiment from Proust:


"A change in the weather is sufficient to recreate the world and ourselves."

I must profess that my favorite thing about France, after cheese and Jean-Luc Godard movies, would have to be the great comic book character Asterix the Gaul.

Happy Bastille Day to everyone in France!

Quote of the Week- Jean-Luc Godard

We have quoted French film director Jean-Luc Godard so many times that assuredly it seems like a cliche.

But, his most famous film "Breathless" is celebrating its 50th anniversary (alas, the film's female lead Jean Seberg died at age 40 from a drug overdose in the 1970s) and my friend Jason Garnett is showing Godard's musical (?!) "A Woman is a Woman" two weeks from today at The Shadowbox Cinema in Roanoke, Va. "Breathless" was the subject of a cover story in the most recent edition of "Film Comment" magazine.

Plus, France is in the World Cup and we are quoting 32 people from each of the 32 countries involved (wait 'til you see who we chose for Honduras?!). On Friday, Team France tied Uruguay 1-1.

Here is the quip from the master who will 80 on Dec. 3:

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

Quote of the Week- Jane Fonda

Today, in honor of the Oscars which were held last night, we are quoting the two previous Oscar-winners for Best Actress and Best Actor from the 1978 film "Coming Home," Jane Fonda (here) and Jon Voight (on our other blog: Politics, Culture and Other Wastes of Time).

"Coming Home," directed by the late Hal Ashby, was considered to be an excellent film about the plight of returning Vietnam veterans. The film lost out to another Vietnam War veteran film "The Deer Hunter," directed by Michael Cimino, in the 1978 Oscars.

But, "Coming Home" landed acting Oscars for its two stars and some film critics maintain it is a better film than "The Deer Hunter." Though Ashby is one of my favorite directors, I actually haven't seen "Coming Home" since it aired on network television when I was a teenager (I no longer consider seeing a film on network tv with commercials as seeing the actual movie!)

Interestingly enough, both Fonda and Voight who were vocal liberal activists in the
'60s and '70s have become devout Christians, but Fonda has mostly maintained her politics while Voight has done an about-shift and evolved into perhaps the most radical right-winger in Hollywood (not counting Chuck Norris).

Fonda also won a Best Actress Oscar for "Klute" in 1971. And, she appeared in a wide range of films at the height of her career, including Jean-Luc Godard's brilliant French film "Tout Va Bien!" (1972), which I saw very recently.

Last night, Fonda tweeted her disappointment that the late Farrah Fawcett was not included in the list of film industry people who died last year. Though Fawcett was best known for the '70s tv series "Charlie's Angels," she had appeared in a number of films including "The Apostle."

Here is the quote from Fonda who once declared that she had retired from acting though she has appeared in a few films and performed on Broadway in recent years:

"A good many dramatic situations begin with screaming," Fonda said.

Quote of the Week- Woody Allen

Last week, we said we had quoted John Waters more than any filmmaker on our blogs except Woody Allen and Jean-Luc Godard.

So, today, of course, we have to quip Allen and Godard (the French auter's quote can be found on our sister blog "Politics, Culture and Other Wastes of Time"- see links section).

Allen turns 74 on Dec. 1.

His latest film "Whatever Works," starring Larry David, is now available on dvd.

Being an English teacher, I can identify with this one:

"I took a speed reading course and read 'War and Peace' in twenty minutes. It involves Russia."

PS_ We have now passed 50,000 hits.........thanks for visiting.

Quote of the Week-Jean Luc-Godard

We love to quote the legendary French filmmaker Jean Luc-Godard here. In fact, we have quoted him more often than anyone except William Shakespeare and Paris Hilton!

"All you need for a movie is a girl and a gun."