Almost There: Meg Ryan in "When Harry Met Sally..."

by Cláudio Alves

Last week, we examined a Christmas movie performance that came close to Oscar glory to celebrate the holidays. Now that we're coming to the end of this cursed 2020, it seems appropriate to choose a New Year's Eve film. When it came time to pick such a picture, my mind immediately went to f Rob Reiner's 1989 When Harry Met Sally…, a perfect rom-com whose Nora Ephron-penned screenplay earned a much-deserved Academy Award nomination. Our focus shall be on the Sally of the title, Meg Ryan giving a comedienne's masterclass…

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Soundtracking: When Harry Met Sally

by Chris Feil

“It’s very clear / Our love is here to stay...”

When Harry Met Sally is a love story of then and now, both in action and in spirit. As it jettisons us across the years with once tense acquaintances, to then friends, to eventual lovers, the narrative’s timelessness is undercut by contemporary observation of its era. To break up its chapters, we’re given testimonials from long-married couples that intensify the feeling of inevitability that Harry and Sally will finally come together. 

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TCMFF Day 2: Carl & Rob Reiner Honored at Handprint Ceremony

by Anne Marie

While Turner Classic Movies is typically known for celebrating film history, today TCM made history. Carl Reiner and Rob Reiner, writer/director/actor/producer quadruple threats whose career includes Sid Caesar's Show of Shows, The Dick Van Dyke Show, The Russians are Coming, The Russians Are Coming, The Princess Bride and This Is Spinal Tap, were the first father/son duo to be immortalized in the Chinese Theater handprint ceremony. Before the two cemented their legacy next to Marilyn Monroe, Al Pacino, and Trigger the Horse, friends and colleagues from their cumulative 135 year long careers paid tribute to two of the funniest men in Hollywood...

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May Carrie Fisher's Brilliance Be With You

Instant gratification takes too long."

Meryl Streep popularized that brilliant one-liner in the essential showbiz comedy Postcards from the Edge (1990) but the line pre-dates the film, having emerged from the actress/writer Carrie Fisher's sharp pen (or was it tongue?) some time earlier. The line is so good it ended up on t-shirts. Fisher's best lines in print (multiple books, my personal favorite being "Surrender the Pink") or on the screen (Postcards from the Edge plus much script-doctoring) often sound exactly like things she may have uttered spontaneously in real life first with that unmistakably frank, darting, and mischievous wit. The showbiz icon passed away this morning after a heart attack aboard a plane this past Friday but her work and her influence will live on.

The irony of her delicious and beloved quip above isn't hard to miss...

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Happy New Year !

May yours be...

... as gorgeously lit and directed (but less violent) as Ralph & Angela's!

... as romantic as Harry & Sallys.

...as festive but less scarily eventful than Shelley Winters'!

...and as hilarious as an evening with Martha Plimpton would be if anyone showed up!

HAPPY NEW YEAR
be safe and happy and see you in 2012 right here! 

P.S. apologies on the top ten list. year in review starts in full force tomorrow. it's half written!