Almost Famous – Tiny Dancer

My favorite scene from my favorite movie.

Penny Lane:
I always tell the girls, never take it seriously, if ya never take it seriously, ya never get hurt, ya never get hurt, ya always have fun, and if you ever get lonely, just go to the record store and visit your friends.

Directed by: Cameron Crowe (Say Anything, Jerry Maguire, Elizabethtown)

Kate Hudson (How to Lose A Guy in 10 Days)
Billy Crudup (Watchmen, Big Fish)
Patrick Fugit (Saved!, Wristcutters: A Love Story)
Jason Lee (Dogma, Alvin and The Chipmunks)
Noah Taylor (Lara Croft: Tomb Raider, The Proposition)
Anna Paquin (X-Men, TV’s ‘True Blood’)

Christopher McQuarrie

Came into Hollywood in a huge way writing the critically acclaimed and Academy Award winning screenplay for Bryan Singer’s 1995 film The Usual Suspects. The film followed the interrogation of Verbal Kint, the only eye-witness to a waterfront explosion where 27 bodies and $91 million in drug money was found. The crime has him and four other men’s names written all over, the usual suspects. But soon it begins to feel like somebody elses is pulling the strings, Keyser Soze. The film is known as launching Kevin Spacey (L.A. Confidential, A Beautiful Mind) into a Hollywood star after winning the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor after his portrayal of Verbal Kint.

The film wasn’t the first time McQuarrie & Bryan Singer collaborated, nor would it be the last. They first joined forces in 1993 for the film Public Access about a local cable television show that begins to bring out dark secrets of a small “idyllic” american town. I’ve personally never seen it and most likely wont. In 2008, they teamed up to bring us Valkyrie starring Tom Cruise (The Last Samurai, Mission: Impossible III) about a plot to assassinate Hitler and the Nazi regime before the German nation is toppled in an inevitable defeat at the height of World War II by their own german officers and politicians. They are again collaborating for the 2011 remake of Jack The Giant Killer for Legendary Pictures (300, The Hangover, Watchmen, The Dark Knight).

In between the 13 years of the latter two Bryan Singer released collaborations, McQuarrie wrote and directed my favorite film of his. 2000’s The Way of The Gun starring Ryan Phillippe (Cruel Intentions) and Benicio Del Toro (Traffic, The Hunted) as two criminals that kidnap a surrogate mother, played by Juliette Lewis (Old School, Whip It), to a powerful and wealthy man. The dialogue is great throughout and how intelligent the two criminals are even though they just seem to be petty thieves is a good chuckle like “ha, that’s awesome”. The movie is filled with twists and the shootout at the end is quite enjoyable and fitting.

His latest completed screenplay is currently in production and is called The Tourist. Johnny Depp (Blow, From Hell) stars as a broken-hearted american visiting Italy whose path is crossed by a woman, played by Angelina Jolie (A Mighty Heart), who is trying to mislead the people after her former lover. Also starring Paul Bettany & Rufus Sewell who starred together in A Knight’s Tale and Timothy Dalton (1980’s Flash Gordon). Along with working on Jack The Giant Killer with Bryan Singer, he is also penning the sequel to X-Men Origins: Wolverine with Hugh Jackman reprising his role that made him a Hollywood actor.

The Green Mile – John Coffey’s Execution

I’m not ashamed to say it. I can’t help but cry every time during this scene. Such a great movie and I recommend it to every single one of you.

 

John Coffey

You know, I fell asleep this afternoon and had me a dream. I dreamed about Del’s mouse.

Paul Edgecomb

Did you, John?

John Coffey

I dreamed he got down to that place Boss Howell talked about, that Mouseville place. I dreamed there was kids, and how they laughed at his tricks! My! I dreamed those two little blonde-headed girls were there. They ‘us laughing, too. I put my arms around ’em and sat ’em on my knees, and there ‘us no blood comin’ outta their hair and they ‘us fine. We all watch Mr. Jingles roll that spool, and how we did laugh. Fit to bust, we was.

Reservoir Dogs – “Like A Virgin”

The opening scene takes place in a restaurant before the heist and two topics were discussed: The Reason Why Mr. Pink Doesn’t Tip & The Meaning of Like A Virgin (the opening lines) …….

Mr. Brown:

Let me tell you what ‘Like a Virgin’ is about. It’s all about a girl who digs a guy with a big dick. The entire song. It’s a metaphor for big dicks.

Mr. Blonde:

No, no. It’s about a girl who is very vulnerable. She’s been fucked over a few times. Then she meets some guy who’s really sensitive…

Mr. Brown:

Whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa… Time out Greenbay. Tell that fucking bullshit to the tourists.

Joe:

Toby… Who the fuck is Toby? Toby…

Mr. Brown:

‘Like a Virgin’ is not about this sensitive girl who meets a nice fella. That’s what “True Blue” is about, now, granted, no argument about that.

Mr. Orange:

Which one is ‘True Blue’?

Nice Guy Eddie:

‘True Blue’ was a big ass hit for Madonna. I don’t even follow this Tops In Pops shit, and I’ve at least heard of “True Blue”.

Mr. Orange:

Look, asshole, I didn’t say I ain’t heard of it. All I asked was how does it go? Excuse me for not being the world’s biggest Madonna fan.

Mr. Blonde:

Personally, I can do without her.

Mr. Blue:

I like her early stuff. You know, ‘Lucky Star’, ‘Borderline’ – but once she got into her ‘Papa Don’t Preach’ phase, I don’t know, I tuned out.

Mr. Brown:

Hey, you guys are making me lose my… train of thought here. I was saying something, what was it?

Joe:

Oh, Toby was this Chinese girl, what was her last name?

Mr. White:

What’s that?

Joe:

I found this old address book in a jacket I ain’t worn in a coon’s age. What was that name?

Mr. Brown:

What the fuck was I talking about?

Mr. Pink:

You said ‘True Blue’ was about a nice girl, a sensitive girl who meets a nice guy, and that ‘Like a Virgin’ was a metaphor for big dicks.

Mr. Brown:

Lemme tell you what ‘Like a Virgin’ is about. It’s all about this cooze who’s a regular fuck machine, I’m talking morning, day, night, afternoon, dick, dick, dick, dick, dick, dick, dick, dick, dick.

Mr. Blue:

How many dicks is that?

Mr. White:

A lot.

Mr. Brown:

Then one day she meets this John Holmes motherfucker and it’s like, whoa baby, I mean this cat is like Charles Bronson in the ‘Great Escape’, he’s digging tunnels. Now, she’s gettin’ the serious dick action and she’s feeling something she ain’t felt since forever. Pain. Pain.

Joe:

Chew? Toby Chew?

Mr. Brown:

It hurts her. It shouldn’t hurt her, you know, her pussy should be Bubble Yum by now, but when this cat fucks her it hurts. It hurts just like it did the first time. You see the pain is reminding a fuck machine what it once was like to be a virgin. Hence, ‘Like a Virgin’.

Joe:

Wong?

• Mr. Brown – Quentin Tarantino (Pulp Fiction, Desperado)
• Mr. Blonde – Michael Madsen (Donnie Brasco, Kill Bill: Vol. 1)
• Joe – Lawrence Tierney (Prizzi’s Honor, Red)
• Mr. Pink – Steve Buscemi (Armageddon, Fargo)
• Nice Guy Eddie Cabot – Chris Penn (Footloose, Rush Hour)
• Mr. Orange – Tim Roth (Incredible Hulk, 2001’s The Musketeer)
• Mr. Blue – Edward Bunker (Tango & Cash, 2005’s The Longest Yard)
• Mr. White – Harvey Keitel (From Dusk Till Dawn, U-571)

X-Men Origins: Wolverine 2 – Jackman Loves Script

Hugh Jackman was quoted during the premiere of Date Night (starring Tina Fey & Steve Carell) about the newest script saying “It’s the best one we’ve had.” Which is not one bit hard to accomplish with what the first film had to offer. Especially since this draft was written by Christopher McQuarrie (Valkyrie, The Tourist) who won the Academy Award for his screenplay for the 1995 film The Usual Suspects.

The second film will be following Logan’s Japan/samurai period from the comic books. I don’t know the material but with McQuarrie writing, hopes are raised and this should be in good hands. Barring Fox wanting to make yet another utterly horrible installment into the ailing franchise after the past two X-Men films, X-Men Origins: Wolverine & X-Men 3: The Last Stand, were undoubtedly huge disappointments among the fans. Hope is also going to lie on Fox getting a competent director instead of saving money by hiring some unknown commercial director or someone along those lines to handle a big property like this that wouldn’t have a problem bringing in profit to begin with……

But Fox seems to find a way to destroy the Marvel properties they own: X-Men (the first two films were good though), Fantastic Four, Daredevil & Elektra.

A Knight’s Tale – The Letter

My dearest Jocelyn:
It is strange to think, I have not seen you in a month.
I have seen the new moon, but not you.
I have seen sunsets and sunrises, but nothing of your beautiful face.
The pieces of my broken heart can pass through the eye of a needle.
I miss you like the sun misses the flower. Like the sun misses the flower in the depths of winter.
Instead of beauty to direct its light to, the heart hardens like the frozen world your absence has sent me to.

I next compete in Paris. I’ll find it empty and cold if you’re not there.

Hope guides me. It gets me through the day and especially the night. The hope that after you leave my sight it will not be the last time I look upon you.

With all the love that I possess…I remain yours…

The knight of your heart.

William