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#remember2021 – @hellostarrynightblr on Tumblr
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life in movies

@hellostarrynightblr / hellostarrynightblr.tumblr.com

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highlights of December

I decided to start posting this on tumblr as opposed to Facebook like previously, so let’s see how it goes.

1. Favourite movies: Spider-Man: No Way Home (2021); West Side Story (2021); The Parent Trap (1961).

2. Decent films I liked / appreciated but not loved: If You Could Only Cook (1935) is pretty good but nothing spectacular.

3. Best scenes: the confession in Forsaking All Others (1934); scenes with all three Spider-Men / aunt May’s death / Peter and MJ saying goodbye / the café conversation / Daredevil cameo / Peter saving MJ on the bridge (Spider-Man: No Way Home, 2021); the sword fight / 'The pellet with the poison's in the vessel with the pestle' / ‘Get it? Got it. Good’ running gag in The Court Jester (1955); the final scene in The Parent Trap (1961); Gee Officer Krupke! / America in West Side Story (2021), 'I've gone fishing' (If You Could Only Cook, 1935).

4. Favourite genres: adventure, family.

5. Favourite directors: Jon Watts (Spider-Man: No Way Home, 2021); Stephen Spielberg (West Side Story, 2021).

6. Favourite actors: Tom Holland (Spider-Man: No Way Home, 2021);  Hayley Mills, Maureen O'Hara, Brian Keith (The Parent Trap, 1961); Rachel Zegler / Rita Moreno / Ariana DeBose (West Side Story, 2021).

7. Least favourite performances: literally anyone in Kiss Me Stupid (1964).

8. The most wasted cast: everything and everyone in Kiss Me Stupid (1964) is a waste. Dean Martin, Kim Novak, Ray Walston, Felicia Farr, Cliff Osmond, as well as the director Billy Wilder. Everyone is just so much better than this mess. They are unlikeable here, despicable even. I couldn’t believe what I was watching, to be honest.

9. The best wasted premise: Mad Love (1935) is not as good as I wanted it to be. Not bad exactly but not good either. The premise of Witness To Murder (1954) has also been done way better, one such variation being famously done by Hitchcock that same year.

9. The best wasted premise: Spider-Man: No Way Home (2021). I do think, however, that this film is only good as a one-time thing. If they try to recapture what this film did with bringing everyone back together again (which is already being discussed because the studious nowadays are desperate), it will fail spectacularly. But for now, I like it.

11. Favourite cast: West Side Story, 2021 (Ansel Elgort, Rachel Zegler, Ariana DeBose, David Alvarez, Mike Faist, Rita Moreno, Brian d'Arcy James); Spider-Man: No Way Home, 2021 (Tom Holland, Zandaya, Benedict Cumberbatch, Jacob, Jon, Jamie Foxx, Willem Dafoe, Alfred Molina, Marisa Tomei, Andrew Garfield, Tobey Maguire).

12. Favourite on-screen duos: Clark Gable x Joan Crawford (Forsaking All Others, 1934); Herbert Marshall x Jean Arthur (If You Could Only Cook, 1935); Tom Holland x Zendaya / any combination of the three Spider-Man / Alfred Molina x Tom Holland / Willem Dafoe x Tom Holland (Spider-Man: No Way Home, 2021); Robert Montgomery x Joan Crawford / William Powell x Joan Crawford (The Last of Mrs. Cheyney, 1937); any combination of Hayley Mills, Maureen O'Hara and Brian Keith (The Parent Trap, 1961); Ansel Elgort x Rachel Zegler / Ansel Elgort x Rita Moreno (West Side Story, 2021).

>13. Favourite on-screen relationships: Jeff Williams + Mary Clay (Forsaking All Others, 1934); Peter + MJ (Spider-Man: No Way Home, 2021); Mitch Evers + Maggie McKendrick (The Parent Trap, 1961).

14. Favourite characters: Jeff Williams (Forsaking All Others, 1934); Peter(s), MJ, Dr. Octavius, Norman Osborn (Spider-Man: No Way Home, 2021); Mitch Evers, Maggie McKendrick, Susan Evers / Sharon McKendrick (The Parent Trap, 1961).

15. Favourite quote: I, poor peasant, have conquered science. Why can’t I conquer love? (Mad Love, 1935). I’m stretching, I know… There was nothing particularly memporable.

16. Favourite fact discovered in 2021: this one’s nuts, buckle up. Gary Cooper’s love life was one hell of a roller-coaster ride. His lovers included Clara Bow, Evelyn Brent, Carole Lombard, Lupe Velez, Ingrid Bergman, Grace Kelly, Marlene Dietrich and Patricia Neal.

His relationship with Lupe Vélez at the beginning of his career was particularly stormy. Apart from the whole convoluted baby mess (it was alleged she had a baby by Cooper, even though he always denied it), there was a lot more insanity to this relationship. They were together for 2 years during which time Vélez allegedly chased him around with a knife during an argument and he cut himself severely enough to require stitches. Cooper eventually ended the relationship in mid-1931, at the behest of his mother Alice who after meeting her, strongly disapproved of Vélez. The rocky relationship had taken its toll on Cooper, who had lost 45 pounds and was suffering from nervous exhaustion. Paramount Pictures ordered him to take a vacation to recuperate and while he was boarding the train, Vélez showed up at the station and fired a pistol at him. That’s not to mention his 10-year affair with Patricia Neal.

17. The most overrated film: Kiss Me Stupid (1964) doesn’t deserve any good words, it’s such a disaster.

18. The most disappointing film: Kiss Me Stupid (1964). It particularly hurts because I adore Billy Wilder and almost every actor in the cast.

19. The biggest surprise: The Parent Trap (1961) is a delight! Also, I didn’t expect o see Charlie Cox as Daredevil in Spider-Man: No Way Home (2021). I know they’re gonna screw him up eventually in the MCU but for the time being I love seeing him again, his amazing! I missed you, buddy.

20. Best cinematography: West Side Story (2021).

21. Best set design: West Side Story (2021).

22. Best costume design: West Side Story (2021).

23. Best music: West Side Story (2021). It’s a landslide, it’s just so competently made, it’s incredible.

24. Best production choice: keeping the cameos a secret (Spider-Man: No Way Home, 2021).

25. Worst production choice: making The Curse of the Cat People (1944) a sequel to a classic horror film. It’s such a shame because it’s not a bad film by any stretch of the imagination. I’d even go as far as to say that it’s a good exploration of child neglect. It’s a drama, not horror. The horror elements here fall flat on its face. I just hate that this one choice buried a potentially pretty decent story with a solid central performance by Ann Carter. Robert Wise co-directed it too, so it’s a double shame. Just keep the film as it is, don’t change anything about it except change the name of the film itself as well as the names of the characters so I don’t have to think about how it ties into the first film. Because it doesn’t!

26. The film of the month: Spider-Man: Far From Home (2021).

#2021moviechallenge#remember2021#highlights#highlightsofdecember
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favorite movies watched in 2021

1. 'Pimpernel’ Smith (1941) dir. Leslie Howard

You will never rule the world... because you are doomed. All of you who have demoralized and corrupted a nation are doomed. Tonight you will take the first step along a dark road from which there is no turning back. You will have to go on and on, from one madness to another, leaving behind you a wilderness of misery and hatred. And still, you will have to go on... because you will find no horizon... and see no dawn... until at last you are lost and destroyed. You are doomed, Captain of Murderers, and one day, sooner or later, you will remember my words.

#leslie howard#1941#1940s#anti-war#war film#drama#romance#favorite2021#remember2021#oldhollywoodedit
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