September & October Favourites

I have always wanted to do a «monthly favourites» type of post on this blog, but I kept putting it off some reason or the other — until this year. I will be doing one of these every month (or every two months) and I will include literally everything that I have loved or that has made me happy during that time, be it a film, a song, a book, a TV show, an item of clothing or anything else. These are my September and October favourites.

1. Frankie and Johnny (1991)

Frankie and Johnny is the story of a middle-aged man, recently released from prison, who finds a job as a cook at a local diner and ends up falling in love with an emotionally scarred waitress. The wonderful Al Pacino is the cook, and the lovely Michelle Pfeiffer is the waitress. This has got to be one of the best romantic comedies I have ever seen in my life — and believe me, I have seen A LOT of them. I have never pictured Al Pacino as the romantic lead type, but he is just perfect as Johnny and his scenes with Michelle Pfeiffer are an absolute delight to watch.

2. A Quiet Place (2018)

I am not a massive fan of horror films, but every year on Halloween I always watch a horror/psychological thriller film just to kind of celebrate the occasion. The film I chose to watch this year was A Quiet Place and I think it might have become one of favourite films of all time. Honestly, it is SO GOOD! John Krasinski wrote a brilliant script and his direction is amazing, as is the cinematography. Emily Blunt is flawless and the kids are all great, especially Millicent Simmonds. If you have not seen this film, I strongly suggest you do.

3. Al Pacino

I have known of Al Pacino my entire life, but I have never gave two cents about him. I assumed (wrongly, I realize that now) that his personality would somehow mirror that of the characters that he usually plays, which are not very nice people, so I just thought I would not like him much. Well, in late August, I got really into 1970s films and pretty much half of the greatest movies made during that decade (I am exaggerating, but you get my point) are Al Pacino movies, so I obviously felt obliged to watch those. Anyway, before I knew it, I was madly in love with him. He is just the sweetest guy, really humble and he has absolutely no ego whatsoever. He truly is one of the greatest actors that has ever lived, and I find it COMPLETELY OUTRAGEOUS that he did not win the Oscar for both The Godfather Part II (1974) and Dog Day Afternoon (1975).

4. Elite (2018-)

Being a huge fan of La Casa de Papel (2017-), I was really excited when I found out that three actors from that show (Jaime Lorente, Miguel Herrán and Maria Pedraza) were put together in another Netflix show called Elite. Naturally, I watched it and now I'm completely obsessed with it. For those of you who have never heard of it, Elite follows three working-class friends who are given scholarships to study at an exclusive private school after their own school is destroyed by an earthquake. At first sight, the differences between them and their new rich classmates seem obvious, but some of them might have more in common than what initially meets the eye. If you are looking for a new show to watch, give Elite a try. It is such a brilliant show! It is incredibly well written, the cinematography and the soundtrack are beautiful, and the entire cast is flawless.

5. Dark (2017-)

I became a fan of Louis Hoffman after I watched Land of Mine (2015), Sanctuary (2015) and Centre of My World (2016), so I was really interested to watch his Netflix show, Dark. If you have never heard of it, Dark follows four different German families who all have a dark past and are all mysteriously connected somehow. The story begins in 2019, but spreads out to include storylines from 1986 and 1953 via time travel, as some characters (including the one played by Louis Hoffman) become aware of the existence of a wormhole below the local nuclear power plant. If you like thrillers and science fiction, you will love Dark.

6. «Shallow» by Bradley Cooper & Lady GaGa

One of the films I am most excited to see this year is A Star is Born (2018), which everyone says is one of the greatest films ever made. When I first heard this song a month ago, I became slightly obsessed with it. I am not really a fan of Lady GaGa, but man! she can sing! And Bradley Cooper's voice (which is very good, by the way) really complements her own. I genuinely cannot wait to watch this film. I predict Oscar nominations for everyone.

7. «Too Much Love Will Kill You» by Queen

Another film that I am really looking forward to watching is Bohemian Rhapsody (2018), which is a biopic of Freddie Mercury starring the lovely Rami Malek. So, in anticipation to that film, I started listening to Queen's greatest hits and for some reason I fell in love with this song. I had never heard it before, but I think it's the perfect power ballad.

8. «It's Not Living (If It's Not With You You)» by The 1975

The 1975 are one of my favorite bands of all time and I cannot wait to listen to their new album. This song is the most recent single out of the album and I have been listening to it pretty much non-stop ever since it came out. You would think it is a love song, but it is actually not.

And there you go. These are the things that I have loved throughout September and October. What are some things that you have been loving?

Comments

Golden Couples: Gary Cooper & Patricia Neal

It was April 1948 when director King Vidor spotted 22-year-old Patricia Neal on the Warner Bros. studio lot. A drama graduate from Northwestern University, she had just arrived in Hollywood following a Tony Award-winning performance in Lillian Hellman's Another Part of the Forest . Impressed by Patricia's looks, Vidor approached the young actress and asked if she would be interested in doing a screen test for the female lead in his newest film, The Fountainhead (1949). Gary Cooper had already signed as the male protagonist, and the studio was then considering Lauren Bacall and Barbara Stanwyck to play his love interest. Neal liked the script and about two months later, she met with the director for sound and photographic tests. Vidor was enthusiastic about Patricia, but her first audition was a complete disaster. Cooper was apparently watching her from off the set and he was so unimpressed by her performance that he commented, « What's that!? » He tried to con

Golden Couples: Henry Fonda & Barbara Stanwyck

In the mid- and late 1930s, screwball comedy was in vogue and practically every actress in Hollywood tried her hand at it. Barbara Stanwyck never considered herself a naturally funny person or a comedienne per se , but after delivering a heart-wrenching performance in King Vidor's Stella Dallas (1937), she decided she needed a « vacation » from emotional dramas. In her search for a role, she stumbled upon a « champagne comedy » called The Mad Miss Manton (1938), originally intended as a Katharine Hepburn vehicle. Barbara Stanwyck and Henry Fonda as Melsa and Peter in The Mad Miss Manton . Directed by Leigh Jason from a script by Philip G. Epstein, The Mad Miss Manton begins when vivacious Park Avenue socialite Melsa Manton finds a corpse while walking her dogs in the early hours of the morning. She calls the police, but they dismiss the incident — not only because Melsa is a notorious prankster, but also because the body disappears in the meantime. Sarcastic newspaper editor

Golden Couples: Clark Gable & Jean Harlow

At the 3rd Academy Awards ceremony, MGM's hugely successful prison drama The Big House (1930) earned writer Frances Marion an Oscar for Best Writing. Hoping that she would be inspired to repeat that accomplishment, Irving Thalberg, head of production at Metro, sent Marion to Chicago, Illinois to research story ideas. While flicking through the pages of The Saturday Evening Post , she found an article revealing that, in a city where people distrusted the police, a small group of leading citizens met in secret to arrange their own justice for criminals. Marion took inspiration from that story and wrote The Secret Six (1931), in which Wallace Beery and Lewis Stone, stars of The Big House , play two mobsters prosecuted by a half a dozen vigilantes. Thalberg was pleased with the leading roles Marion wrote for Beery and Stone, but asked if she could also fill out one of the minor leads for Clark Gable , a tall, dark and handsome 30-year-old actor whom Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer had recen

Film Friday: «Who Was That Lady?» (1960)

Theatrical release poster Directed by George Sidney , Who Was That Lady? (19 60 ) begins when che mistry p rofessor David Wilson (Tony Curtis) is caught by his wife Ann (Janet Leigh) kissing one of his female st u de nts. To stop her from divo rcing him , he a sk s for hel p from his good friend, television writer Michael Haney (Dean Mart in), who invents a crazy story that Davi d is working undercover with the FBI and kissed the student — a foreign agent — in the line of du ty. To convince Ann, Mi ke tricks Schult z (William Newel l), a prop man at the T V studio, into fabricating an FBI identification card for David and s up plying him with a g un. Ann is so t hrilled by the idea of being married to a secret agent t hat she forgives David. Meanwhile, Mike sets up a date wi th the Coogle sisters, Gloria (Barbara N ichols) and Florence ( Joi Lan sing), and takes David along , telling Ann that the girls are foreign agents. Just as Ann realizes that her h usband ha s

Christmas in Old Hollywood

The beautiful Elizabeth Taylor with an extremely cute little friend. Humphrey Bogart and Lauren Bacall with their son Stephen (early 1950s). Here they are again. What an adorable picture! Paulette Goddard looking rather uncomfortable next to her Christmas tree. Boris Karloff and Ginger Rogers at a Hollywood Christmas party in 1932. The adorable Shirley Temple chatting with Santa. Here she is again with a dolly friend. Look how cute she looks here, modeling a new Christmas dress (1935). The fur-tastic Joan Crawford. Doris Day asking us to "do not disturb until Christmas." Don't worry, Doris, we shall not. Though it's past Christmas now, so I'm sure Doris won't mind if we disturb just a little bit. Priscilla Lane looking sparkling drapped in her garlands. A VERY young Carole Lombard sitting next to her tree (1920s). Jean Harlow looking stunning as always. Janet Leigh looking extra cute unde

Films I Saw in 2020

For the past four years, I have shared with you a list of all the films I saw throughout 2016 , 2017 , 2018 and 2019 , so I thought I would continue the «tradition» and do it again in 2020. This list includes both classic and «modern» films, which make up a total of 161 titles. About three or four of these were re-watches, but I decided to include them anyway. Let me know how many from these you have seen. As always, films marked with a heart ( ❤ ) are my favorites. Sherlock Jr. (1924) | Starring Buster Keaton, Kathryn McGuire and Joe Keaton The Crowd (1928) | Starring James Murray, Eleanor Boardman and Bert Roach Young Mr. Lincoln (1939) | Starring Henry Fonda, Alice Brady and Marjorie Weaver Brief Encounter (1945) | Starring Celia Johnson, Trevor Howard and Stanley Holloway The Bells of St. Mary's (1945) | Starring Bing Crosby and Ingrid Bergman The Girl He Left Behind (1956) | Starring Tab Hunter and Natalie Wood Gidget (1959) | Starring Sandra Dee, Cliff Robertson an

Wings of Change: The Story of the First Ever Best Picture Winner

Wings was the first ever film to win the Academy Award for Best Picture. Since then, it has become one of the most influential war dramas, noted for its technical realism and spectacular air-combat sequences. This is the story of how it came to be made. A man and his story The concept for Wings originated from a writer trying to sell one of his stories. In September 1924, Byron Morgan approached Jesse L. Lasky, vice-president of Famous Players-Lasky, a component of Paramount Pictures, proposing that the studio do an aviation film. Morgan suggested an «incident and plot» focused on the failure of the American aerial effort in World War I and the effect that the country's «aviation unpreparedness» would have in upcoming conflicts. Lasky liked the idea, and approved the project under the working title «The Menace.» LEFT: Byron Morgan (1889-1963). RIGHT: Jesse L. Lasky (1880-1958). During his development of the scenario with William Shepherd, a former war correspondent, Morga

80 Reasons Why I Love Classic Films (Part II)

I started this blog six years ago as a way to share my passion for classic films and Old Hollywood. I used to watch dozens of classic films every month, and every time I discovered a new star I liked I would go and watch their entire filmography. But somewhere along the way, that passion dimmed down. For instance, I watched 73 classic films in 2016, and only 10 in 2020. The other day, I found this film with Douglas Fairbanks Jr. that I had never heard of — the film is Mimi (1935), by the way — and for some reason it made me really excited about Old Hollywood again. It made me really miss the magic of that era and all the wonderful actors and actresses. And it also made me think of all the reasons why I fell in love with classic films in the first place. I came up with 80 reasons, which I thought would be fun to share with you. Most of them are just random little scenes or quirky little quotes, but put them together and they spell Old Hollywood to me. Yesterday I posted part one ; her

Top 10 Favourite Christmas Films

Christmas has always been a source of inspiration to many artists and writers. Over the years, filmmakers have adapted various Christmas stories into both movies and TV specials, which have become staples during the holiday season all around the world. Even though Christmas is my favourite holiday, I haven't watched a lot of Christmas films. Still, I thought it would be fun to rank my top 10 favourites, based on the ones that I have indeed seen. Here they are. 10. Holiday Affair (1949) Directed by Don Hartman, Holiday Affair tells the story of a young widow (Janet Leigh) torn between a boring attorney (Wendell Corey) and a romantic drifter (Robert Mitchum). She's engaged to marry the boring attorney, but her son (Gordon Gebert) likes the romantic drifter better. Who will she choose? Well, we all know who she will choose. Holiday Affair is not by any means the greatest Christmas film of all time, but it's still a very enjoyable Yule-tide comedy to watch over the holi

The Sinatra Centennial Blogathon: Frank Sinatra & Gene Kelly

In January 1944, MGM chief Louis B. Mayer happened to see a young crooner by the name of Frank Sinatra perform at a benefit concert for The Jewish Home for the Aged in Los Angeles. According to Nancy Sinatra, Frank's eldest daughter, Mayer was so moved by her father's soulful rendition of « Ol' Man River » that he made the decision right then and there to sign Frank to his studio. Sinatra had been on the MGM payroll once before, singing with the Tommy Dorsey Orchestra in the Eleanor Powell vehicle Ship Ahoy (1942), although it is very likely that Mayer never bothered to see that film. Now that Frank was «hot,» however, Metro made arrangements to buy half of his contract from RKO, with the final deal being signed in February of that year. Gene Kelly and Frank Sinatra in Anchors Aweigh Being a contract player at the studio that boasted «more stars than there are in the heavens» gave Frank a sudden perspective regarding his own talents as a film performer. The «g

Back to Golden Days

Search This Blog