2020 Shelter in Place Alphabet Movie Draft - BONUS ROUNDS

I do believe Marsellus Wallace, my husband, your boss, told you to take ME out and do WHATEVER I WANTED. Now I wanna dance, I wanna win. I want that trophy, so dance good.

"P" is for:

Pulp Fiction (1994)

View attachment 9891

https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0110912/

I missed out on it a couple years ago, but I had to get Quentin Tarantino's masterpiece crime drama this time.

IMDb says:



That's like saying Die Hard is a Christmas movie about a man trying to get back together with his wife. :) With an all-star cast comprised of John Travolta, Samuel L. Jackson, Bruce Willis, Tim Roth, Ving Rhames, and Uma Thurman, Tarantino fuses witty dialogue, violence, excellent screenwriting, and, well, pulp fiction, into a modern crime film unlike any other we had seen at that point. The soundtrack rocks as well, with Misirlou, Jungle Boogie, Son of a Preacher Man, Bustin' Surfboards, etc., in the mix.

This movie is just awesome. But I still want to know what the heck was in the briefcase.

From wikipedia:



Vincent: And you know what they call a... a... a Quarter Pounder with Cheese in Paris?
Jules: They don't call it a Quarter Pounder with cheese?
Vincent: No man, they got the metric system. They wouldn't know what the **** a Quarter Pounder is.
Jules: Then what do they call it?
Vincent: They call it a Royale with cheese.
Jules: A Royale with cheese. What do they call a Big Mac?
Vincent: Well, a Big Mac's a Big Mac, but they call it le Big-Mac.
Jules: Le Big-Mac. Ha ha ha ha. What do they call a Whopper?
Vincent: I dunno, I didn't go into Burger King.

Butch: Zed's dead, baby. Zed's dead.

Jules: I'm not giving you that money. I'm buying something from you. Wanna know what I'm buyin' Ringo?
Pumpkin: What?
Jules: Your life. I'm givin' you that money so I don't have to kill your ***. You read the Bible?
Pumpkin: Not regularly.
Jules: There's a passage I got memorized. Ezekiel 25:17. "The path of the righteous man is beset on all sides by the inequities of the selfish and the tyranny of evil men. Blessed is he who, in the name of charity and good will, shepherds the weak through the valley of the darkness, for he is truly his brother's keeper and the finder of lost children. And I will strike down upon thee with great vengeance and furious anger those who attempt to poison and destroy My brothers. And you will know I am the Lord when I lay My vengeance upon you." Now... I been sayin' that **** for years. And if you ever heard it, that meant your ***. You'd be dead right now. I never gave much thought to what it meant. I just thought it was a cold-blooded thing to say to a ************ before I popped a cap in his ***. But I saw some **** this mornin' made me think twice. See, now I'm thinking: maybe it means you're the evil man. And I'm the righteous man. And Mr. 9mm here... he's the shepherd protecting my righteous *** in the valley of darkness. Or it could mean you're the righteous man and I'm the shepherd and it's the world that's evil and selfish. And I'd like that. But that **** ain't the truth. The truth is you're the weak. And I'm the tyranny of evil men. But I'm tryin', Ringo. I'm tryin' real hard to be the shepherd.

Butch: You okay?
Marsellus: Naw man. I'm pretty ****** far from okay.
Butch: What now?
Marsellus: What now? Let me tell you what now. I'ma call a coupla hard, pipe-hittin' *******, who'll go to work on the homes here with a pair of pliers and a blow torch. You hear me talkin', hillbilly boy? I ain't through with you by a damn sight. I'ma get medieval on your ***.
Butch: I meant what now between me and you?
Marsellus: Oh, that what now. I tell you what now between me and you. There is no me and you. Not no more.

Mia: Vincent, do you still want to hear my Fox Force Five joke?
Vincent: Sure, but I think I'm still a little too petrified to laugh.
Mia: No, you wont laugh, 'cus it's not funny. But if you still wanna hear it, I'll tell it.
Vincent: I can't wait.
Mia: Three tomatoes are walking down the street- a poppa tomato, a momma tomato, and a little baby tomato. Baby tomato starts lagging behind. Poppa tomato gets angry, goes over to the baby tomato, and smooshes him... and says, Catch up.


Vincent: Now, if you'll excuse me, I'm going to go home and have a heart attack.
It's about time.
 
With my fifth pick in the Shelter in Place Alphabet Movie Draft, I will make use of the letter J to select:

Jaws (1975):



Director: Steven Spielberg
Dir. of Photography: Bill Butler
Writer(s): Steven Spielberg, Peter Benchley, Howard Sackler, John Milius, Carl Gottlieb
Score: John Williams
Cast: Roy Scheider, Richard Dreyfuss, Robert Shaw, Lorraine Gary, Murray Hamilton
Genre(s): Adventure, thriller, horror
Runtime: 2 hours, 4 minutes

IMDb Entry: https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0073195/?ref_=nv_sr_srsg_0

I had a few other films pegged for J that would have been interesting to write about, but I feel like I have to be an opportunist at the moment. I am genuinely surprised to find this film still on the board in the fifth round, especially as we march into the heat waves of summer and feel the burning desire for time spent on beaches in far flung coastal towns.

Four other of Spielberg's films have already been selected in this draft, all of which are excellent in very distinct ways, all of which were hugely successful at the box office, and all of which reverberated throughtout Hollywood with the reach of their influence. But despite the enduring qualities of Close Encounters of the Third Kind, Raiders of the Lost Ark, ET: The Extra Terrestrial, and Jurassic Park, there is a Spielbergian adventure that came before these and manages to reach something more primal in us with the indelible nature of its images and the seasick thrumming of its score.

Jaws is very much a film about reckoning with an unstoppable force and the wreckage it leaves behind. It's worth mentioning that the shark at the film's center shares much in common with the xenomorph of Alien and the shapeshifting creature of The Thing, movie monsters that most certainly derive some influence from Spielberg's toothy terror. All three of these baddies are elemental, incomprehensible, pure. The great white shark is itself a perfect distillation of humanity's fear and nakedness before the chaos of the natural world.

I adore Raiders of the Lost Ark as much as the next film lover, but it did not inspire widespread fear of snakes or giant boulders in the general populace upon release. That was not the film's purpose, nor should it have been. But Jaws manages to terrify to this day! Entire generations have been scarred by this movie, have become fearful of open waters, so much so that conservationists have had to work overtime to educate the public on the realities of the shark's place in the aquatic ecosystem. Even 45 years on from the film's release, misconceptions about sharks abound, and Jaws is oft-cited as a culprit.

Much has also been written about the influence of Jaws on the business of moviemaking. It was, in fact, the first real summer blockbuster. Shot on a $9 million budget, with an additional $1.8 million spent on an extensive promotional campaign (an unprecedented sum at the time), Jaws would go on to gross over $470 million worldwide. But prior to its June 20th debut in 1975 on 400 screens across the US, summer was considered a dumping ground for bad films that studios wanted to jettison for a quick buck, believing that teenagers on break from school were the only demographic interested in going to the theater at that time of the year. Autumn and winter used to be the prime real estate on the calendar for movies that were expected to make considerable money. Jaws changed everything.

After its release and the immensity of its success, summertime became the season for the release of films with the greatest box office potential. Advertising campaigns grew in size and scope. Smaller films became disadvantaged in the competition for financing. Studio heads began to wield more influence on the shaping of movies. And directors (auteurs in particular) began to lose control of the end product. Steven Spielberg had unwittingly pulled the pin from a grenade that would detonate the film industry to be remade in the spirit of "BIGGER IS BETTER!"

While Jaws has received considerable "blame" for its impact on the blockbuster movie landscape, it remains one of the most taut and perfect thrillers of any era in film history. Vapid popcorn entertainment this is not. It was also an incredible labor to bring to the screen. Spielberg was a young man with a bunch of TV movies and only a single Hollywood feature under his belt when he was being considered for the director's chair on Jaws. He was only 26 when he was eventually hired! But that inexperience turned out to be a boon to the adaptation of Peter Benchley's novel to the big screen.

Spielberg cast strong and accomplished actors in the film's central roles, having decided that it was paramount to avoid the trap of casting high-wattage superstars who might imperil the audience's perception of the characters as ordinary people. Spielberg understood that the true terror of his movie would be in the moviegoer's belief that the events unfolding on-screen could just as easily happen to them. The three principles, Roy Scheider, Richard Dreyfuss, and Robert Shaw, develop a beautiful chemistry as Brody, Hooper, and Quint. Spielberg has a gift for creating a true sense of camaraderie amongst his characters, and through their interactions with each other, the audience comes to understand them, to care about them within the stakes of the events unfolding on screen.

Speaking of those events, Spielberg was perhaps too naive to recognize that the technical challenges presented by filming on the ocean with a mechanical shark might thwart his ambitions, which were lofty. He wanted his great white shark to be a major physical presence in Jaws, but it's become common knowledge that the shark's persistent malfunction resulted in the film's "less is more" approach to revealing the shark to the audience. Spielberg did not originally intend for the shark to be quite so judiciously employed in the film, but the necessity of limiting its screen time resulted in a remarkably effective approach. It's Ernest Hemingway's theory of omission at work, the belief that a story will resonate more deeply if its meaning is implicitly understood by the audience, rather than explicitly rendered in front of them. But instead of the tip of an iceberg protruding through the surface of the water, leaving the majority of it submerged, per Hemingway's analogy, it was now the tip of a shark fin, and everything it represents was left unseen by the audience, yet still deeply felt.

With clever camera trickery and the aid of John Williams' brilliantly foreboding score, Spielberg was able to suggest the shark's presence and allude to its menace, which gives Jaws a much more terrifying edge. After all, our greatest fears are typically derived from that which we cannot see. We're afraid of the dark when we're young because we are unable to sense what may be lurking nearby that our eyes cannot perceive. Likewise, we often fear open water because of our extraordinary lack of knowledge about what may be sharing space with us beneath the surface. It's difficult to know what kind of film Jaws ultimately would have been if the mechanical shark (nicknamed "Bruce" by the crew) had functioned properly. Perhaps it would not be the stone cold classic that many of us watch each and every summer without fail.

Irony of ironies, I have very real galeophobia.

Jaws is a case study of brilliant execution, masterful building of suspense, a celebration of filmmaking minimalism, and a triumphant part of cinema history as the first ever summer blockbuster.

... and I hate, Hate, HATE it.
 

VF21

Super Moderator Emeritus
SME
l promise to try and fill in some narrative to go along with my picks, hopefully in the near future. Life and some minor health issues are currently taking up most of my time.

# pick - 2001: A Space Odyssey - 1968

From Imdb:

"2001" is a story of evolution. Sometime in the distant past, someone or something nudged evolution by placing a monolith on Earth (presumably elsewhere throughout the universe as well). Evolution then enabled humankind to reach the moon's surface, where yet another monolith is found, one that signals the monolith placers that humankind has evolved that far. Now a race begins between computers (HAL) and human (Bowman) to reach the monolith placers. The winner will achieve the next step in evolution, whatever that may be.


Movie trivia:

At the premiere screening, 241 people walked out of the theater, including Rock Hudson, who said, "Will someone tell me what the hell this is about?" Arthur C. Clarke once said, "If you understand '2001' completely, we failed. We wanted to raise far more questions than we answered." Clarke later expressed some concern that the film was too hard to follow, and explained things more fully in the novelization and subsequent sequels.
 
l promise to try and fill in some narrative to go along with my picks, hopefully in the near future. Life and some minor health issues are currently taking up most of my time.

# pick - 2001: A Space Odyssey - 1968

From Imdb:

"2001" is a story of evolution. Sometime in the distant past, someone or something nudged evolution by placing a monolith on Earth (presumably elsewhere throughout the universe as well). Evolution then enabled humankind to reach the moon's surface, where yet another monolith is found, one that signals the monolith placers that humankind has evolved that far. Now a race begins between computers (HAL) and human (Bowman) to reach the monolith placers. The winner will achieve the next step in evolution, whatever that may be.


Movie trivia:

At the premiere screening, 241 people walked out of the theater, including Rock Hudson, who said, "Will someone tell me what the hell this is about?" Arthur C. Clarke once said, "If you understand '2001' completely, we failed. We wanted to raise far more questions than we answered." Clarke later expressed some concern that the film was too hard to follow, and explained things more fully in the novelization and subsequent sequels.
YES. The fountain from which so much science fiction filmmaking has since flowed. Its influence is felt all over the production design of Ridley Scott's Alien and the existential themes of Blade Runner. I was overjoyed to be able to select it in the last draft. I look forward to your further writing on this landmark film. :)
 
Are you not entertained? Is this not why you are here?
G - Gladiator (2000)

1590712279266.jpg

https://m.imdb.com/title/tt0172495/?ref_=m_ttcrv

Russell Crowe took home the Academy Award for best actor for his portrayal of Roman General Maximus Decimus Meridius in this historical epic drama. Oh, and it happened to win best picture too. ;) Who doesn’t love a good revenge picture? The story has been played out many times on screen...hero is on top of the world, seemingly has everything; hero is betrayed losing it all; hero struggles and perseveres trials to rise up and avenge betrayal. It’s a tried and true formula and it plays out beautifully in this film. Another Ridley Scott directed film (Might be the leader so far in movies taken in this draft). His vision of the ancient Roman Empire is perfect IMHO, when the viewer is finally taken to Rome, it is breathtaking and the Coliseum is truly majestic in scope and magnitude. The battle scenes and fights within the coliseum put you right in the middle of it. And no revenge film is complete without a villain worthy of said revenge. Joaquin Phoenix portrayal of the overly ambitious Commodus, son of the Emperor Marcus Aurelius was Oscar worthy.
 
Time for a bit more fun...

F = The Fifth Element (1997) - PG-13



Full of multidimensional entanglements, the fifth element follows the progression of an old struggle, good vs evil. It has plenty of action, comedy, an ambitious/optimistic look at the future, mingled with a melancolic undertone to simpler times. For all of its complexity, it is about people (or alien personifications of people), and the interactions that make the universe a better or worse place due to these interactions.

The Fifth Element is another fine example of the film-making talents of Luc Besson. Besson, a creative genius and the director of classic films such as REDACTED has returned to the genre that started his filmmaking career, sci-fi. In The Fifth Element, Besson realises his life long ambition to make a film based on a story he thought of while still at school, Zaltman Bleros. Writing and directing the film, he skillfully mixes humor with action and amazing visual effects that put The Fifth Element in a class of it's own. Stunning performances are put forward by Milla Jovovich, Bruce Willis, Ian Holm, Chris Tucker and Gary Oldman, who returns to work with Luc Besson. The Fifth Element show us how well comedy, action and romance can be put together. Overlooked at the Academy Awards, Luc Besson won the Cesar for Best Director at Cannes in 1998 for The Fifth Element. Simply, an excellent film, 10/10
Link #1
Link #2
Link #3

Quotes:
Cornelius: "Evil begets evil Mr. President. Shooting will only make it stronger."

Korben: "Listen lady, I only speak two languages. English and bad English."

Cornelius: "Where's the robot to pat you on the back? Or the engineer? Or the children, maybe? There, you see now, how all your so-called power counts for absolutely nothing now, how your entire empire can come crashing down because of one... little... cherry."

Mr. Kim: "You got a message."
Korben: "Yeah."
Mr. Kim
: "Not gonna open it? Could be important."
Korben: "Yeah, like the last two I got were important. The first one was from my wife, telling me she was leaving. The second was from my lawyer, telling me he was leaving with my wife."
Mr. Kim: "Ai-ya! That is bad luck. But grandfather say, "It never rain everyday". This is good news, guaranteed. Hey, I bet your lunch!"
Korben
: "Okay."
Mr. Kim
: "Come on. [opens message, in a excited voice] 'You are fired.' [face falls] Oh, I'm sorry."
Korben: "Well. At least I won lunch."
Mr. Kim
: "Good philosophy! See good in bad. I like."

Zorg: "This case is empty."
[Switches to conversation between Cornelius and Leeloo; Leeloo is laughing]
Cornelius: "What do you mean, empty?"
[Back to conversation between Zorg and Aknot]

Zorg: "Empty. The opposite of full. This case is supposed to be FULL! Anyone care to explain?"
[Back to Leeloo, speaking in the Divine Language]
Cornelius: "The guardians... gave the stones.. to someone they could trust... who-who another route... she's supposed to contact this person... in a hotel... and she's looking for the address. Easy."
Leeloo
: "[points to the computer screen] Dot."
David: "It's-it's planet Fhloston, in the Angel Constellation!"
Cornelius: "[sighs in relief] We're saved."
[back to Zorg and Aknot]
Zorg: "I'm screwed!"
Aknot: "You asked for a case. We brought you a case."
Zorg: "A CASE WITH FOUR STONES IN IT! NOT ONE OR TWO OR THREE, BUT FOUR! FOUR STONES! W-WHAT THE HELL AM I SUPPOSED TO DO WITH AN EMPTY CASE?!"
Aknot: "We are warriors, not merchants."
Zorg: "BUT YOU CAN STILL COUNT! Look, it's easy. Look at my fingers. Four stones, [Aknot looks away; Zorg slaps his face back into position] four crates [of guns]. Zero stones, ZERO CRATES! [To his men] Pack everything up! We're outta here![Mangalores hoist their guns with a roar]"
Aknot: "We risked our lives! I believe a little compensation is in order."
Zorg: "Oh, so you are merchants after all. Leave them one crate for the cause."

Leeloo: "Hi."
Korben: "Oh, you speak English now."
Leeloo: "Yes. I learned."
Korben Dallas: "Good. Listen, we're not on vacation. We're on a mission, a very important mission. I work with some very important people. If I hadn't come and get you, you would've been in very big trouble, you understand that? You understand, big trouble?"
Leeloo: "Yes...You no trouble. Me... Fifth element... supreme being... me protect you."

https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0119116/?ref_=fn_al_tt_1
 
Last edited:
Time for a bit more fun...

F = The Fifth Element (1997) - PG-13



Full of multidimensional entanglements, the fifth element follows the progression of an old struggle, good vs evil. It has plenty of action, comedy, an ambitious/optimistic look at the future, mingled with a melancolic undertone to simpler times. For all of its complexity, it is about people (or alien personifications of people), and the interactions that make the universe a better or worse place due to these interactions.



Link #1
Link #2
Link #3

Quotes:
Cornelius: "Evil begets evil Mr. President. Shooting will only make it stronger."

Korben: "Listen lady, I only speak two languages. English and bad English."

Cornelius: "Where's the robot to pat you on the back? Or the engineer? Or the children, maybe? There, you see now, how all your so-called power counts for absolutely nothing now, how your entire empire can come crashing down because of one... little... cherry."

Mr. Kim: "You got a message."
Korben: "Yeah."
Mr. Kim
: "Not gonna open it? Could be important."
Korben: "Yeah, like the last two I got were important. The first one was from my wife, telling me she was leaving. The second was from my lawyer, telling me he was leaving with my wife."
Mr. Kim: "Ai-ya! That is bad luck. But grandfather say, "It never rain everyday". This is good news, guaranteed. Hey, I bet your lunch!"
Korben
: "Okay."
Mr. Kim
: "Come on. [opens message, in a excited voice] 'You are fired.' [face falls] Oh, I'm sorry."
Korben: "Well. At least I won lunch."
Mr. Kim
: "Good philosophy! See good in bad. I like."

Zorg: "This case is empty."
[Switches to conversation between Cornelius and Leeloo; Leeloo is laughing]
Cornelius: "What do you mean, empty?"
[Back to conversation between Zorg and Aknot]

Zorg: "Empty. The opposite of full. This case is supposed to be FULL! Anyone care to explain?"
[Back to Leeloo, speaking in the Divine Language]
Cornelius: "The guardians... gave the stones.. to someone they could trust... who-who another route... she's supposed to contact this person... in a hotel... and she's looking for the address. Easy."
Leeloo
: "[points to the computer screen] Dot."
David: "It's-it's planet Fhloston, in the Angel Constellation!"
Cornelius: "[sighs in relief] We're saved."
[back to Zorg and Aknot]
Zorg: "I'm screwed!"
Aknot: "You asked for a case. We brought you a case."
Zorg: "A CASE WITH FOUR STONES IN IT! NOT ONE OR TWO OR THREE, BUT FOUR! FOUR STONES! W-WHAT THE HELL AM I SUPPOSED TO DO WITH AN EMPTY CASE?!"
Aknot: "We are warriors, not merchants."
Zorg: "BUT YOU CAN STILL COUNT! Look, it's easy. Look at my fingers. Four stones, [Aknot looks away; Zorg slaps his face back into position] four crates [of guns]. Zero stones, ZERO CRATES! [To his men] Pack everything up! We're outta here![Mangalores hoist their guns with a roar]"
Aknot: "We risked our lives! I believe a little compensation is in order."
Zorg: "Oh, so you are merchants after all. Leave them one crate for the cause."

Leeloo: "Hi."
Korben: "Oh, you speak English now."
Leeloo: "Yes. I learned."
Korben Dallas: "Good. Listen, we're not on vacation. We're on a mission, a very important mission. I work with some very important people. If I hadn't come and get you, you would've been in very big trouble, you understand that? You understand, big trouble?"
Leeloo: "Yes...You no trouble. Me... Fifth element... supreme being... me protect you."

https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0119116/?ref_=fn_al_tt_1
 
Time for a bit more fun...

F = The Fifth Element (1997) - PG-13



Full of multidimensional entanglements, the fifth element follows the progression of an old struggle, good vs evil. It has plenty of action, comedy, an ambitious/optimistic look at the future, mingled with a melancolic undertone to simpler times. For all of its complexity, it is about people (or alien personifications of people), and the interactions that make the universe a better or worse place due to these interactions.



Link #1
Link #2
Link #3

Quotes:
Cornelius: "Evil begets evil Mr. President. Shooting will only make it stronger."

Korben: "Listen lady, I only speak two languages. English and bad English."

Cornelius: "Where's the robot to pat you on the back? Or the engineer? Or the children, maybe? There, you see now, how all your so-called power counts for absolutely nothing now, how your entire empire can come crashing down because of one... little... cherry."

Mr. Kim: "You got a message."
Korben: "Yeah."
Mr. Kim
: "Not gonna open it? Could be important."
Korben: "Yeah, like the last two I got were important. The first one was from my wife, telling me she was leaving. The second was from my lawyer, telling me he was leaving with my wife."
Mr. Kim: "Ai-ya! That is bad luck. But grandfather say, "It never rain everyday". This is good news, guaranteed. Hey, I bet your lunch!"
Korben
: "Okay."
Mr. Kim
: "Come on. [opens message, in a excited voice] 'You are fired.' [face falls] Oh, I'm sorry."
Korben: "Well. At least I won lunch."
Mr. Kim
: "Good philosophy! See good in bad. I like."

Zorg: "This case is empty."
[Switches to conversation between Cornelius and Leeloo; Leeloo is laughing]
Cornelius: "What do you mean, empty?"
[Back to conversation between Zorg and Aknot]

Zorg: "Empty. The opposite of full. This case is supposed to be FULL! Anyone care to explain?"
[Back to Leeloo, speaking in the Divine Language]
Cornelius: "The guardians... gave the stones.. to someone they could trust... who-who another route... she's supposed to contact this person... in a hotel... and she's looking for the address. Easy."
Leeloo
: "[points to the computer screen] Dot."
David: "It's-it's planet Fhloston, in the Angel Constellation!"
Cornelius: "[sighs in relief] We're saved."
[back to Zorg and Aknot]
Zorg: "I'm screwed!"
Aknot: "You asked for a case. We brought you a case."
Zorg: "A CASE WITH FOUR STONES IN IT! NOT ONE OR TWO OR THREE, BUT FOUR! FOUR STONES! W-WHAT THE HELL AM I SUPPOSED TO DO WITH AN EMPTY CASE?!"
Aknot: "We are warriors, not merchants."
Zorg: "BUT YOU CAN STILL COUNT! Look, it's easy. Look at my fingers. Four stones, [Aknot looks away; Zorg slaps his face back into position] four crates [of guns]. Zero stones, ZERO CRATES! [To his men] Pack everything up! We're outta here![Mangalores hoist their guns with a roar]"
Aknot: "We risked our lives! I believe a little compensation is in order."
Zorg: "Oh, so you are merchants after all. Leave them one crate for the cause."

Leeloo: "Hi."
Korben: "Oh, you speak English now."
Leeloo: "Yes. I learned."
Korben Dallas: "Good. Listen, we're not on vacation. We're on a mission, a very important mission. I work with some very important people. If I hadn't come and get you, you would've been in very big trouble, you understand that? You understand, big trouble?"
Leeloo: "Yes...You no trouble. Me... Fifth element... supreme being... me protect you."

https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0119116/?ref_=fn_al_tt_1
Nice! I love The Fifth Element. It's so breezy and campy for a film that draws so much aesthetic influence from Blade Runner and from the works of Jean Giraud Moebius (who was himself a massive influence on the art direction of Blade Runner). It also delights me to no end that it's a singular work by a very particular director that has never spawned a sequel despite its rich and vibrant world. It's not like it was a box office failure, either. It grossed more than triple its budget, but Besson has never desired to turn The Fifth Element into a franchise, which I can't help but admire.
 
I gotta pocket gotta pocket full of sunshine.

E is for Easy A

9059AFB9-FD2A-4D67-8CB4-A7C3DA07C9DA.jpeg

So, this is a little out of left field, but after ET and Eternal Sunshine were taken, I realized...I’m picking movies for a pandemic. Screw the glory, I think I might need a lot of levity in my life. I love this contemporary re-imagining of The Scarlet Letter a little more than I probably should, but it’s smart, sweet, deals with solid themes and is consistently funny. Also, Emma Stone is at peak Emma Stone here. I have an unhealthy fondness for her. I occasionally only communicate via gifs from this movie.

 
I gotta pocket gotta pocket full of sunshine.

E is for Easy A

View attachment 9894

So, this is a little out of left field, but after ET and Eternal Sunshine were taken, I realized...I’m picking movies for a pandemic. Screw the glory, I think I might need a lot of levity in my life. I love this contemporary re-imagining of The Scarlet Letter a little more than I probably should, but it’s smart, sweet, deals with solid themes and is consistently funny. Also, Emma Stone is at peak Emma Stone here. I have an unhealthy fondness for her. I occasionally only communicate via gifs from this movie.

I kinda have a small crush on this movie.
 

bajaden

Hall of Famer
Well, without futher ado, here is my choice for the letter E. Eastern Promises! Its a movie that moves at a slow pace, but doesn't feel like it. It slowly draws you into it's dark world. The main character played by Viggo Mortensen, is a driver for a Russian mafia leader. The story revolves around the baby of a young Russian woman who dies in child birth. It does have some violent scenes, but ironically, there isn't a gun in the entire movie. It was directed by David Cronenberg, and also stars Naomi Watts and Vincent Cassel, one of my favorite actors. Not feeling totally up to snuff right now, so I'm keeping it short and sweet.

 

Capt. Factorial

trifolium contra tempestatem subrigere certum est
Staff member
Well, without futher ado, here is my choice for the letter E. Eastern Promises! Its a movie that moves at a slow pace, but doesn't feel like it. It slowly draws you into it's dark world. The main character played by Viggo Mortensen, is a driver for a Russian mafia leader. The story revolves around the baby of a young Russian woman who dies in child birth. It does have some violent scenes, but ironically, there isn't a gun in the entire movie. It was directed by David Cronenberg, and also stars Naomi Watts and Vincent Cassel, one of my favorite actors. Not feeling totally up to snuff right now, so I'm keeping it short and sweet.

I haven't seen this movie, but I definitely am keeping an eye out for it. Heard plenty of good things.