Category Archives: movies

Sean Connery’s Suit

Over at Clothes on Film, Matt Spaiser analyzes Sean Connery’s clothing in Dr. No:

Throughout Dr. No, Sean Connery wears five unique tailored ensembles. Each outfit is simple, classic and worthy of imitation. The idea was to put Bond in suits that were distinctly British, but keep things simple because a secret agent should never stand out. Yet because of this simplicity, the clothes still look fresh today.

Now I want to read Spaiser, who runs the blog The Suits of James Bond, on Connery’s clothing in From Russia With Love, my favorite, and arguably the best, Bond film.

Related post: “Cary Grant’s Suit.”

The Cigarette Abides

Elizabeth Tamny argues that Jeff Bridges is the best smoker in movie history:

There has never been a smoker like Bridges in films, and when I say that I am thinking of all film smokers and all smoking movies, from Bogie to Now, Voyager. Bridges’ relationship with things he lights on fire and sticks in his mouth creates a parallel world of expression in film that he uses to great advantage and it deserves some recognition beyond the tiny gold cigarette that must be dangling from the mouth of his Oscar.

What’s weird is that I’ve never really thought of Bridges as a smoker par excellence before, but after reading Tamny’s piece, yes, of course, duh. I love criticism like this.

(Via Roger Ebert.)

Related post: “Cigarettes Are Sublime.”

Thanksgiving, Giant-Style

From Giant (1956):

(Via Boing Boing.)

Yeah, go on. Play, Harmonica.

Harmonica (Charles Bronson), Once Upon a Time in the West (1968).

Via If We Don’t, Remember Me, home of the subtlest, and the best, cinematic animated GIFs I’ve ever seen.

Related reading: “The Glorious GIF Renaissance.”

Black Swan

More. Trailer.

(Via Kottke.)

Letters of Recommendation

Peter Weller (aka Buckaroo Banzai, aka RoboCop) got Woody Allen, Gore Vidal, and Richard Riordan to write him letters of recommendation for grad school:

Two of my three personal recommendations to Syracuse were written by Woody Allen and Gore Vidal. Woody hand wrote in Venice, on Hotel Gritti Palace stationary, ‘Peter Weller is my friend, a fellow actor, writer, director, musician and a credit to his race.’ Gore Vidal was less oblique: Vidal, typing on a an old Remington wrote, ‘I’ve known Weller a long time. He is an extraordinary student … of exactly what I have no idea.’ My third recommendation was written by the ex-Mayor Richard Riordan of Los Angeles.

That’s right, Peter Weller’s in grad school.

A 19-Year-Old’s View of the Universe

Scott Berkun on The Social Network:

The film has been criticized for poorly portraying women, which is true, but this misses how the film poorly portrays everyone. Nearly every character is an embarrassment in some significant way, and the movie is largely criticizing the shallowness of elites (Harvard, Silicon valley, lawyers, VCs, the upper class, etc.). The movie is a critique of the kinds of people who would choose to profit from changing the world based on the model of “facebooks” (e.g. yearbooks), relationship status and friending people. The point is: it’s a 19 or 20 year old view of the universe, for better and, as the movie emphasizes, for worse.

Exactly.

Herzog to the Rescue

Harmonica

My favorite of Grischa Stanjek’s “minimalistic alternative movie posters,” mainly because Once Upon a Time in the West is one of my favorite movies. The opening title sequence alone is better than many entire films.

Previously: Is It Safe?, Ibraheem Youssef’s Quentin Tarantino Posters, Jamie Bolton’s Minimalist Movie PostersMinimalist TV Show Posters, and Olly Moss’s Movie Poster Remakes.

My God—It’s Full of Stars

Typographic poster for Stanley Kubrick’s science fiction masterpiece. The famous quote is not included in the final version of the film but appears in Arthur C. Clarke’s original book. The em dash that breaks the phrase represents the ever present monolith. The poster is set in Futura Extra Bold, (Kubrick’s typeface of choice) and printed with glow in the dark ink, so the star field only becomes visual in the darkness of space.

(Via.)