Movies, Mom & Me

  Just for fun (I know, it's hard for anyone to believe that creating and writing this, or any blog, is "fun", but this one is, for me, because I really like coding and I really like movies) I decided to compliment each post with a table of actors and the roles they play in each movie. In most cases, only four actors/roles will be recorded, that's usually all that's necessary, but I've already decided to exceed that amount, by necessity, for Black Narcissus because, well, frankly, this movie included so many actors that appear in other movies in my collection and the purpose of these tables is to make it easy to search out all the movies in my collection that feature a particular actor that might have caught my (or your) fancy. Go ahead. Try it on one of the actors that's already been recorded in these tables. None of them, yet, is repeated in more than one table, but I just tried it on one in the first table and, sure enough, only that post showed up. It's almost thrilling!
  This will, of course, be an extended project, taking, I'm guessing here, but, probably some to many months to table all my movie entries. But, I'm jazzed, it's fun, and it works exactly the way I was hoping.
  Of course, if I've also mentioned an actor, or a role, in a post outside of a table, that post will come up in a search, too, but I'm cool with that.
  I have, on both my computers (a Windows 7 and a Windows 10 or what the hell ever it's updated itself to by now) a chart, set up in Calibre [yes, I know, my movies aren't ebooks, but with a little twiddling, I was able to alter its layout to accomodate movie information that's important to me) that records lots of obscure information about my movie collection. I keep it scrupulously up-to-date, but it doesn't contain the roles actors play in each movie in which they appear and it's not an online resource, so my readers [Or, is that "reader"?] don't have access to it. Being the nerd that I am, it occurred to me yesterday that perhaps you, Dear Reader, might want some useful searchable information and, certainly, the most useful information about movies is the actors and the roles they play. I can't tell you how many times I'll remember a scene, a snippet of dialogue, and the recognized face of the actor who played in it or the name of the role they played but not the movie. Well, in some months hence, that problem will be solved. For my entire collection.
  I hope you'll be as pleased with this facility as I am!

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  Commentary:  Under construction.
    I'm a Sound Man: Blow Out at 40
    Nancy Allen on "Blow Out", Women in Film
    John Travolta: "Blow Out" in Chicago
    

  Actor	Role	Actor	Role	Actor	Role	Actor	Role
  John Travolta	Jack Terry	John Lithgow	Burke	Nancy Allen	Sally Bedina	Dennis Franz	Manny Karp

  
    Here's a link to the Wikipedia write-up of the film.
    Release Date: 1981
    Directed by Brian De Palma.

Labels: §3, brian-de-palma, john-lithgow, john-travolta, mystery2, neo-noirA, thriller2

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  Commentary:  Under construction.
    Second review of this film.
    Third review of this film.
    Fourth review of this film.
    

  Actor	Role	Actor	Role	Actor	Role	Actor	Role
  Tony Leung Chiu-Wai	Wang	Wu Ching-yi	Golden Flower	Michiko Hada	Crimson (沈小紅)	Vicky Wei	Jasmin (張蕙貞)

  
    Here's a link to the Wikipedia write-up of the film.
    Release Date: 1998
    Directed by Hou Hsiao-hsien.

Labels: §3, dramaF

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  Commentary:  Under construction.
    This film was remade by Christopher Nolan, starring Al Pacino, and released in 2002, to excellent reviews.
    

  Actor	Role	Actor	Role	Actor	Role	Actor	Role
  Stellan Skarsgård	Jonas Engström	Sverre Anker Ousdal	Erik Vik	Bjørn Floberg	Jon Holt	Gisken Armand	Hilde Hagen

  
    Here's a link to the Wikipedia write-up of the film.
    Release Date: 1997
    Directed by Erik Skjoldbjærg.

Labels: §3, neo-noirB, police-procedural, thriller2

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  Commentary:  Under construction.
    This movie came in at #4 on Roger Ebert's list of The Greatest Movies Ever Made.
  
  
  
  
    

  Actor	Role	Actor	Role	Actor	Role	Actor	Role
  Deborah Kerr	Sister Clodagh	Kathleen Byron	Sister Ruth	Sabu	The Young General (Dilip Rai)	David Farrar	Mr. Dean
  Flora Robson	Sister Philippa	Jean Simmons	Kanchi	Jenny Laird	Sister Honey	Judith Furse	Sister Briony

  
    Here's a link to the Wikipedia write-up of the film.
    Release Date: 1947
    Directed by Michael Powell, Emeric Pressburger.

Labels: §3, dramaF, jean-simmons, psychological2, religion2

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  Commentary:  Under construction.
    I've seen this movie on some TV channel many years ago, probably TCM, back in the days when I could afford a cable channel line-up.
  
  
  
    

  Actor	Role	Actor	Role	Actor	Role	Actor	Role
  Chhabi Biswas	Kalikinkar Roy	Soumitra Chatterjee	Umaprasad Roy	Sharmila Tagore	Doyamoyee	Purnendu Mukherjee	Taraprasad Roy
  Karuna Banerjee	Harasundari	Arpan Chowdhury	Khoka	Anil Chatterjee	Bhudeh	Kali Sarkar	Professor Sarkar

  
    Here's a link to the Wikipedia write-up of the film.
    Release Date: 1960
    Directed by Satyajit Ray.

Labels: §3, dramaF, psychological2, religion2

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  Commentary:  I'm finally catching up (including rewatching) with films I haven't yet commented on. This is one of those films.
    Frankly, it's hard to say whether or not I consider it a "winner" of my affections. This is not a movie I saw, or of which I was even aware, when it was released in 1980 and caused such a furor. It has some spectacular scenes that I love watching, like the flirtatious museum scene at the beginning, and some intriguing split scene work, but the truth is, when I rewatched the film, all of this caught me by repeat surprise. When I looked at the cover of the movie prior to rewatching it, just before writing it up, I didn't recall anything about the film except Angie Dickinson in the shower and the startling reveal of her character's strawberry blonde pubic hair. Having said this, I have a small number of Brian De Palma films that I both enjoy and consider significant in his career. This is one of them.
    Here is a review of the movie 35 years after its initial release by one of the reviewers at RogerEbert.com, which is specifically about the Criterion release, which is the release I have. It is an admiring retrospective that I enjoyed reading and took into serious consideration when deciding whether to keep or cull this movie. I landed, once again, on the "keeper" side.
    

  Actor	Role	Actor	Role	Actor	Role	Actor	Role
  Michael Caine	Dr. Robert Elliott	Angie Dickinson	Kate Miller	Nancy Allen	Liz Blake	Keith Gordon	Peter Miller
  Dennis Franz	Detective Marino	David Margulies	Dr. Levy	Susanna Clemm	Betty Luce	Ken Baker	Warren Lockman

  
    Here's a link to the Wikipedia write-up of the film.
    Release Date: 1980
    Directed by Brian De Palma.

Labels: §3, brian-de-palma, erotic, michael-caine, neo-noirA, thriller2

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  Commentary:  Under construction.
    Roger Ebert's website also includes an interview with Oliver Assayas, director of this movie (and Clouds of Sils Maria), conducted by Matt Fagerholm, in which the two discuss this movie in depth. The editors of the website also honored it as one of the Ten Best Films of 2017.
    

  Actor	Role	Actor	Role	Actor	Role	Actor	Role
  Kristen Stewart	Maureen Cartwright	Sigrid Bouaziz	Lara	Nora Waldstätten	Kyra Gellman	Lars Eidinger	Ingo

  
    Here's a link to the Wikipedia write-up of the film.
    Release Date: 2016
    Directed by Olivier Assayas.

Labels: §3, kristen-stewart, psychological2, supernatural1, thriller2

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  Commentary:  Under construction.
  
  
  
  
  
    

  Actor	Role	Actor	Role	Actor	Role	Actor	Role
  Juliette Binoche	Maria Enders	Kristen Stewart	Valentine	Chloë Grace Moretz	Jo-Ann Ellis	Lars Eidinger	Klaus Diesterweg

  
    Here's a link to the Wikipedia write-up of the film.
    Release Date: 2014
    Directed by Olivier Assayas.

Labels: §3, dramaF, kristen-stewart, psychological2

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  Commentary:  I know, I know. I should probably be ashamed of myself for ordering this movie. I saw it ages ago (probably over 20 years ago ... I think I saw it in a theatre when it was first released), have not seen it since, but have been keeping my eye out for a cheap copy of it, with or without special features, ever since I became really interested in collecting movies, especially those I can't get out of my head. Anyway, on yet another late night jaunt through my lists of really old movies I'd like in my collection, I found this one at an extremely reasonable price, I mean, more than reasonable. Frankly, I never thought I would, as this movie has remained popular and its price reflects this. But, tonight, I picked it up, including tax, for well under a sawbuck, probably the cheapest I'll ever find it, so I ordered it immediately. I don't know if it contains any special features. It appears to advertise special features but, although it's a blu-ray, the package ad says it contains only one disk, so, you know, I hope so, but, in this case, if it doesn't, I won't be annoyed.
    So why am I adding this extraordinarily violent movie to my collection? Because it's also extraordinarily funny and there's something about funny violence, when masterfully done, that just does a number on me. My memories of watching this movie involve several eruptions of surprised, I mean really surprised, like shocked surprised, laughter, including during killings. Apparently, I'm not the only one who reacts to this movie in this way. So, I want to see it again and again, to figure this out. I won't have the movie for a couple of days but I'm already thinking things like, is this a uniquely U.S.A. movie because of the way it presents violence? What does it say about me, a born-into U.S.A. citizen, that I, well, more than like this movie? Anyway, I'll scribble more later, I'm sure.
    

  Actor	Role	Actor	Role	Actor	Role	Actor	Role
  Peter Weller	Alex Murphy/RoboCop	Nancy Allen	Anne Lewis	Daniel O'Herlihy	The Old Man	Ronny Cox	Dick Jones

  
    Here's a link to the Wikipedia write-up of the film.
    Release Date: 1987
    Directed by Paul Verhoeven.

Labels: §3, action4, dramedy3, science-fiction2, super-hero2, violence4