Author Archives: Brian O'Rourke

10 THINGS I LOVE FROM THE MOVIES, PART 2

This is the second of a weekly column of random things I love from movies I’ve seen over the years. And tell me in the comments something you’ve never forgotten from a movie.

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I LOVE the scene in the 1931 version of FRANKENSTEIN where the misunderstood Monster meets a young girl, the only person to show him a bit of kindness and acceptance. Without saying a word, Boris Karloff communicates relief, wonder, excitement, happiness, delight and finally confusion and fright as the Monster’s brief magical interlude ends tragically for the newfound friends.


 
I LOVE the breathtaking virtuosity on display behind and in front of the camera in this precisely choreographed four-minute scene from CHILDREN OF MEN. The scene looks like it was shot in one continuous take, with no camera stops or editing, but that’s not true. According to the film’s visual effects supervisor, this attack was produced in “six sections and at four different locations over one week and required five seamless digital transitions.” The magic of filmmaking! CHILDREN OF MEN was directed in 2006 by Alfonso Cuarón. He’ll win three Academy Awards for GRAVITY seven years later.

 
 
I LOVE Paul Newman as the chain gang prisoner in COOL HAND LUKE.

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I LOVE Peggy Lee singing “He’s a Tramp” in the 1955 Disney feature LADY AND THE TRAMP.


 
I LOVE the aggressively disturbing opening credits for David Fincher’s remake of THE GIRL WITH THE DRAGON TATTOO, twisted images accompanied by a cover of Led Zeppelin’s “Immigrant Song” by Trent Reznor of Nine Inch Nails and Karen O of Yeah Yeah Yeahs.


 
I LOVE this poster.

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I LOVE the Myers family’s special dinner to welcome the neighbors’ French exchange student. From the 1980s teen movie BETTER OFF DEAD.


 
I LOVE the solution to the locked-door mystery of MURDER ON THE ORIENT EXPRESS, directed in 1974 by Sidney Lumet. (And no!, I am not giving away the end, so watch the movie.)

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I LOVE the trailer for DON’T, a movie that doesn’t exist, from Quentin Tarantino’s GRINDHOUSE.

 
I LOVE love love love absolutely love THE UMBRELLAS OF CHERBOURG, the 1964 musical featuring Catherine Denueve.

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“Why didn’t they just turn it off? You know, they called the police. Why didn’t they turn it off? That’s what I did when Forrest Gump started running.”

— In the late 1980s, director John Waters was sued by a family that had naively rented and watched more than half of PINK FLAMINGOS after enjoying his decidedly more benign HAIRSPRAY.

WE ALL HAVE LIMITS
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10 THINGS I LOVE FROM THE MOVIES

This is the first of a weekly column in which I’ll list random things I love from movies I’ve seen over the years. Performances, scenes, a line of dialogue, a look or a glance, a piece of wardrobe, any random thing I love that comes to mind. An entry on the list might even be something great from a bad movie, or something funny from a sad movie; a bit of music or a particular shot. Perhaps a continuity mistake or a particularly striking image. If it’s on the list, I love it. I swiped the idea for this column from Alex Maidy at the movie fan site JoBlo Movie Network. Thanks to them for the inspiration.

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Take a look, have a listen … and tell me in the comments something YOU love from the movies.

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I LOVE the opening credits for Alfred Hitchcock’s PSYCHO, brilliantly designed by graphic designer Saul Bass, nerve-shredding music by Bernard Herrmann. Check it out …

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I LOVE Madeline Kahn as Eunice Burns in Peter Bogdanovich’s hilarious WHAT’S UP, DOC?

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I LOVE this image, the very first shot in Stanley Kubrick’s A CLOCKWORK ORANGE.

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I LOVE that there was a movie written by Dr. Seuss way back in 1953 — THE 5,000 FINGERS OF DR. T — and hardly anyone I know has seen it. And if you haven’t seen it, I envy you … because now you can find and enjoy it for the first time! And I REALLY love this insane song from the movie. Remember, this is 1953!

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I LOVE the must-see trailer for the must-not-see 1978 movie MAGIC.

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I LOVE a sadly irrelevant Joan Crawford putting everything she has — bad wig, cheap jewelry, awful dress and a ton of Crawford attitude — into her role in a lousy Hitchcock rip-off thriller, STRAIT JACKET.

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I LOVE the scene where Reese Witherspoon as a juvenile delinquent Little Red Riding Hood comes face to face with her would-be murderer, Keifer Sutherland’s Big Bad Wolf serial killer, weeks after she got the better of him in the wonderfully twisted 1996 cult movie FREEWAY.

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I LOVE that evil — but oh so fucking beautiful! — 1957 Plymouth Belvedere from the Stephen King movie CHRISTINE.

Christine

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I LOVE the heartbreak of the unlikely friendship between these two characters in MIDNIGHT COWBOY.

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I LOVE this movie.

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