skygiants

So, you guys guessed ten out of fifteen on the movie quotes meme I did a while back. The ones that were not guessed were many of them ones I sort of figured no one would get, but that also makes me sad, because they are all fabulous films. Therefore, I am going to seize the opportunity to pimp them to you all! Not that this was my intention all along or anything. >.>

#1 is from Bedazzled - NOT the recent one with Elizabeth Hurley and Brendan Fraser, but the Peter Cook and Dudley Moore movie from the 60s that was stolen, twisted and debauched by said recent film. Peter Cook stars as George Spigott, aka The Devil, and Dudley Moore is the hapless fry-cook who has signed over his soul in exchange for seven wishes, which of course are guaranteed to go wrong in whatever way they can. I saw this movie for the first time when I was fairly young, and I am sad to say it has influenced my religious views forever. One of my favorite bits is up on youtube here, and you should all go watch it. (I would embed it and make it harder for you to ignore, but . . . um, I don't know how, and am too lazy to look it up. ANYWAYS.)

#5 is from Charade, another old movie, this one a suspense comedy with the ever-wonderful Audrey Hepburn and Cary Grant. It's been called the best Hitchcock film that Hitchcock never made, which is about accurate. Audrey Hepburn is a divorcee-to-be who becomes a widow before she gets the chance and gets pulled into her husband's shady business, and Cary Grant is the Mysterious Stranger with a secret identity, and I'm not going to say anymore than that because it would ruin the plot, which is full of twists and turns and witty repartee and Audrey Hepburn trying to be LIKE A NINJA and failing miserably and hilariously.

#6 and #12 are both from movies I've only seen once, but they stuck in my head enough to earn permanent slots among my favorites (and will probably also watch again over spring break, if I have the time.)

#6 is from a seventies film called They Might Be Giants - the band took its name from the film - about a millionaire who believes himself to be Sherlock Holmes, and incorporates his psychiatrist, Dr. Mildred Watson, into his hunt for an imagined Moriarty. The film is in dialogue with Don Quixote as much as with Sherlock Holmes, and what might sound like a slapstick pastiche from the premise is actually kind of a gorgeous and bittersweet movie.

#12 is from Cradle Will Rock, one of the more recent movies on the list, which ties together several storylines about art and power and freedom of speech during the Great Depression. The WPA tries to stop the production of a play about labor and union organization; Diego Rivera is commissioned to paint a mural for Rockefeller Center; the head of the FTP defends a children's play also in danger of being shut down for promoting ideals of communal work. The ensemble cast is unbelievably star-studded, including Susan Sarandon, both Cusacks, Hank Azaria, Bill Murray, Emily Watson, Jack Black, Cary Elwes, Vanessa Redgrave, John Turturro, etc. etc., and they are all incredible. It pushes a whole lot of my buttons - ensemble cast, meta on the production of theater, freedom of speech - and even if you don't agree with the politics (Tim Robbins directed) I still think it's undoubtedly a film worth watching.

#13 is from a Hitchcock movie called The Lady Vanishes, chosen because I realized I had no Hitchcock on my list and someone had already done Vertigo. It's early Hitchcock, made while he was still in England, and the plot centers around a young woman who makes the acquaintance of an elderly lady before getting on a train, only to realize when she wakes up that the lady has vanished without a trace, and no one seems to remember her existence. Naturally, there is a plot afoot on the train! Bring on the wacky disguised nuns, life-sized cardboard villains, and extremely befuddled Englishmen. Like much Hitchcock, as you might be able to tell, the film is very funny as well as being suspenseful. I was looking for clips on youtube, and while I did not find any short ones, I did find a Brokeback Lady Vanishes, which entertains me a ridiculous amount because a.) who would think to make it? but b.) it's SO TRUE. Warning for middle-aged Englishmen in bed together.

So I posted a poll a while back.

Now, those of you who thought that I was going to be way too lazy to booklog on this journal are without a doubt the wisest among you. Nonetheless, it is now the new year, and since no one let out an outcry of 'o spare my flist, please' I am going to try my hand at this thing and see how long I go before I run out of steam and/or time.

Conveniently enough, the first two books I have read this year - The Machine's Child and The Sons of Heaven, by Kage Baker - are the last two books of a series I already babbled about at length, back when The Machine's Child came out a little more than a year ago. Therefore, I will ease myself into the booklogging, keep my remarks to a minimum, and simply repeat: everyone should read these books. No, seriously, everyone. They are not without flaws - overall the first four are stronger than the second four, but then again, the first four set a remarkably high standard - and I will say in a generally unspoilery way that I am not so sure about the plot device that the author uses to reach her desired conclusion in The Sons of Heaven, but much of the conclusion made me ridiculously gleeful anyways.

. . . also, there is a character who names herself Princess Tiara Parakeet, and another character who at a crucial moment references Discworld, and nineteen-volume Victorian monographs on the care and feeding of the cyborg child, and immortal cyborg William Randolph Hearst kicking ass and taking names. YOU CANNOT DENY THE AWESOME.