Tag Archives: grand hotel

April 2, 2013 · 2:25 pm

The Best Picture Project – On The Waterfront (1954)

Directed by Elia Kazan

Screenplay by Budd Schulberg

Starring Marlon Brando, Karl Malden, Eva Marie Saint, Lee J. Cobb and Rod Steiger

Some movies can be taken on their own terms and are never more than what they are. There is no subtext, there is no commentary, there is no hidden agenda and absolutely no meanings can be read into them from the context in which they appeared or from whom they were born. On the whole, I’d say most movies are this way.

Some movies, though, can never be merely a movie because they are nothing but subtext, are rife with commentary, teem with hidden agendas and are overloaded with meaning. Continue reading →

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Tagged as A THousand Clowns, Batman, breakfast at tiffany's, Broadway Melody, Budd Schulberg, Elia Kazan, Eva Marie Saint, Fred Gwynne, grand hotel, House Un-American Activities Committee, HUAC, irving thalberg, karl malden, lawrence of arabia, Lee J. Cobb, Marlon Brando, Martin Balsam, Mutiny on the Bounty, Pat Hingle, Pet Sematary, Red Scare, Rod Steiger, sam spiegel, saul zaentz, The Bridge on The River Kwai, The Munsters

January 9, 2012 · 11:29 am

The Best Picture Project – Driving Miss Daisy (1989)

Directed by Bruce Beresford

Screenplay by Alfred Uhry, based upon his play

Starring Jessica Tandy, Morgan Freeman, Esther Rolle and Dan Aykroyd

When The King’s Speech won Best Picture this past year at the Oscars, I was a bit beside myself over it, because I didn’t really fancy it as Best Picture. An enjoyable film? Sure. Best Picture? No.

In retrospect, though, it doesn’t make sense I would get upset about it, after all, the Academy has shown a history of honoring films just like The King’s Speech: solid, inoffensive films that are hardly loved, but more importantly, hardly hated. In other words, unlike Black Swan or The Social Network, which had a tendency to be divisive, The King’s Speech is least likely to offend voters and therefore, most likely to rise to the top. Continue reading →

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Tagged as A Man For All Seasons, Alfred Uhry, Born on the Fourth of July, Bruce Beresford, Dan Aykroyd, Daniel Day Lewis, Darryl F. Zanuck, Esther Rolle, Field of Dreams, grand hotel, Jessica Tandy, julia phillips, lili fini zanuck, Midnight Cowboy, Morgan Freeman, My Left Foot, Richard Zanuck, The Hurt Locker, The King's Speech, Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf

May 22, 2011 · 7:30 pm

The Best Picture Project – An American in Paris (1951)

Directed by Vincente Minnelli

Story and Screenplay by Alan Jay Lerner

Starring Gene Kelly and Leslie Caron

Movies, by their very nature, are artificial and could not possibly capture real life. The closet we come is documentaries, but with the constant excising of the boring bits from the filming, creative editing and the like, even the truth is manipulated and artificial. Continue reading →

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Tagged as academy awards, Alan Jay Lerner, All Quiet On The Western Front, All That Jazz, Best Picture Project, Braveheart, Cabaret, Chicago, Fiddler on the Roof, Gene Kelly, Gigi, grand hotel, Leslie Caron, Movies, oscar, Oscars, Singing in the Rain, Slumdog Millionaire, The Greatest Show on Earth, The Last Emperor, The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King, Vincente Minnelli

April 14, 2011 · 1:21 pm

The Best Picture Project – Amadeus (1984)

Directed by Milos Foreman

Written by Peter Schaffer, adapted from his play

Starring F. Murray Abraham and Tom Hulce

Amadeus is one of those films honored by the Academy that, because of the perfect storm of subject, lack of recognizable stars, and what-have-you, is for the most part, generally unknown by the modern public – at least that’s the way it seems to me. After all, whenever I discuss any movies, especially Best Picture winners, nobody mentions Amadeus. The action-nerds talk about Platoon, the sci-fi guys talk about 2001 and Star Wars getting shafted, the costume drama buffs talk about Gone With the Wind, and the musical buffs have a million to choose from. Even thriller guy gets to talk about Silence of the Lambs. Continue reading →

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Tagged as academy awards, Best Picture Project, Bridge on the River Kwai, Broadway Melody, F. Murray Abraham, Gone With The Wind, grand hotel, lawrence of arabia, Mark Zuckerberg, milos foreman, Movies, Mutiny on the Bounty, On The Waterfront, one flew over the cuckoo's nest, Orion Pictures, oscar, Oscars, Peter Schaffer, Platoon, saul zaentz, Silence of the Lambs, The English Patient, The Social Network, Tom Hulce

January 27, 2011 · 10:04 am

The Best Picture Project – Casablanca (1943)

Directed by Michael Curtiz

Starring Humphrey Bogart, Ingrid Bergman and Claude Rains

Written by Julius J. Epstein, Philip G. Epstein and Howard Koch

In some ways, working on the Best Picture Project has been a curse. Setting a goal to see each and every Best Picture winner has meant having to watch some truly awful movies, many of which were made all the more awful because I had to watch them – you cannot believe how many times I mentally found myself reliving the tenth grade experience of slogging through The Scarlet Letter. Not the first example, but probably the worst, was The Broadway Melody.

However, in other ways, this Project has been a revelation, forcing me to watch movies I’d not ordinarily watch, or films I’d tried to watch but gave up on too early, only to find out later that I’d been unjust in dismissing. This weeks entry, Casablanca, is just such a film. Continue reading →

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Tagged as Movies, academy awards, oscar, TCM, Best Picture Project, Oscars, grand hotel, Julius J. Epstein, Philip G. Epstein, Howard Koch, Humphrey Bogart, Ingrid Bergman, Claude Rains, Michael Curtiz, When Harry Met Sally, Theo Epstein, Brian Cox, Robert McKee, Broadway Melody

December 9, 2010 · 9:45 am

The Best Picture Project – Grand Hotel (1932)

Directed by Edmund Golding

Screenplay by William A. Drake and Bela Balazs, from the play of the same name by Drake, adapted from the Novel by Vicki Baum

Starring Greta Garbo, John Barrymore, Joan Crawford, Wallace Beery and Lionel Barrymore

Before I started The Best Picture Project Grand Hotel was never a movie I would have bothered to see. But it wouldn’t be because I was some kind of snob, because I’m not. No, it’s because I’ve already tried to see it, three times, and failed every time. I don’t remember when I first had a go at it, because who remembers those kinds of things. But I do remember the exact copy of the DVD I made the attempt with because it was still there at the video store a couple years later when I tried again and is probably still there to this day. The only reason I didn’t rent it again for this little project, and therefore finishing paying as much in rental fees as if I’d just bought the damn thing in the first place, is because Grand Hotel finally came around on TCM and DVR saved me the rental charge. Thank you, Robert Osborne. Continue reading →

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Tagged as academy awards, Best Picture Project, edmund golding, grand hotel, Greta Garbo, irving thalberg, Joan Crawford, John Barrymore, Lionel Barrymore, Movies, Oscars, Robert Osborne, TCM, vicki baum, Wallace Beery

Tag Archives: grand hotel

The Best Picture Project – On The Waterfront (1954)

The Best Picture Project – Driving Miss Daisy (1989)

The Best Picture Project – An American in Paris (1951)

The Best Picture Project – Casablanca (1943)

The Best Picture Project – Grand Hotel (1932)

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