Top Ten 1950s

This will be the last top ten off the top of my head whole decade thingies for a bit -- we need to get to real articles but I've been swamped off blog. But these discussions are fun, don't you agree? The 1950s were the first film decade I was obsessed with in that when I was first becoming interested in cinema in the mid 80s, the 50s somehow came to signify MYTHIC CLASSIC HOLLYWOOD to me, though cinema obviously stretched much much further back. So I guess I'll always be kind of attached to this decade when the movies got literally bigger (I do so prefer rectangulars to squares) and the era's stars really defined (at least for me) the concept of "Movie Star". I mean it's hard to argue with LIZ, BRANDO, CLIFT, DEAN, MONROE in all caps.

Which is why GIANT is such a perfect 1950s movie in so many ways even if it doesn't make my top ten

1. Sunset Boulevard
2. Singin' in the Rain
3. A Place in the Sun
4. A Streetcar Named Desire
5. Night of the Hunter
6. All About Eve
7. Some Like it Hot
8. Rear Window
9. Sleeping Beauty
10. Gentlemen Prefer Blondes

ask me again tomorrow and maybe i'd vote for: All That Heaven Allows, Ben-Hur, Vertigo, Rebel Without a Cause, Imitation of Life, and A Star is Born
or maybe... Roman Holiday, Strangers on a Train, On the Waterfront, East of Eden, Breathless, Giant and From Here to Eternity ... 

What are you favorite 50s films?

Nina Foch & William Holden in "Executive Suite"Here's a few more notes from me on this CINEMASCOPE decade...

childhood favs (not all of them aged well): Brigadoon, Auntie Mame, The King and I, How to Marry a Millionaire, Kiss Me Kate, The Ten Commandments, and Cat on a Hot Tin Roof

underappreciated these days but that doesn't make them any less awesome: Face in the Crowd, Executive Suite, Black Orpheus, It Should Happen To You, Magnificent Obsession and Written on the Wind

I should probably rewatch: 400 Blows, High Noon, La Strada

I am not a fan of The African Queen, Gigi, or The Country Girl and I'm even cool on An American in Paris despite my beloved Gene Kelly.

Previous Top Ten Quickies
1930s | 1970s | 1980s

Curio: David Collier's Squiggles

Alexa here. David Collier is a Canadian artist who makes, amongst other things, interesting portraits in ink and watercolor. His lines and squiggles form fractured likenesses of the famous that are pretty fascinating. Most look to be single line drawings, or close to single line drawings, a technique that works well for all those expressive lines and crevices.  Check out his website for drawings of everyone from Dylan to Dostoevsky. 

Al Pacino

You can buy prints and mugs at his etsy shop. Here are some of the actors and directors he's captured. Meryl, Hitchcock, Woody and more after the jump...

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First & Last. Season Six Continues

the first and last image from a motion picture

Can you guess the movie?  the answer if you're stumped follows

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Visual Index ~ Psycho's (Best) Shots

With Bates Motel premiering tonight on A&E starring Vera Farmiga as the infamous Norma Bates, let's look back at your choices (and mine) for Psycho's Best Shots. Alfred Hitchcock's masterpiece made for one of the most popular editions ever of Hit Me With Your Best Shot (this Wednesday's film is 1952's foreign Oscar winner Forbidden Games so don't miss out)... so let's revisit.

We all go a little mad sometimes. If you feel like escaping click on any of the images, presented in chronological form, play the shrieking violins in your head, and be transported to the article on that shot...

Please to note: I cheated a little since we lost some articles (why do people shut down their free blogs/tumblrs?) and put in all three of my favorite shots in this visual breakdown. 14 more shots after the jump...

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Likability

Hello, lovelies. Beau here, hoping you all have had a fantastic weekend. Whether that involved arguing over the season finale of Girls, shielding your eyes from Halle Berry’s hair in The Call, or just readying yourselves for the onslaught of leprechauns and green colored ale that is St. Patrick's Day, I hope it’s been an enjoyable one before heading back into the work week.

A lot has been said about Lena Dunham and Girls. I don’t have a strong desire at this point to rehash the plot details and synopses of the past episode or the entire season for that matter (though I did that for the finale of season one). But, for myself, being an avid viewer of Girls and eagerly anticipating the next step in Ms. Dunham’s career, the most discomforting element of all the criticism and controversy surrounding the show is that there is particular attention being paid to the characters "likability".

This concern isn’t strictly limited to Dunham or Girls. The "unlikable!" charge has been levied at multiple television programs and films these past couple of years, as though whether or not you liked the primary set of characters, or the supporting ones, dictated whether or not the work as a whole was working or not.

HUH?

Regan. Eve. Maya.

I remember being pretty put off, frankly, this past summer when several online pundits and reviewers were slandering Leslye Headland’s Bachelorette for this very reason. more...

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