'New York, I Love You'

2009's 'new york, i love you' was a series of vignettes. the best of them featured julie and shia lebeouf. what amazed me was how the youthful mr. lebeouf held his own and then some with the more experienced and legend that is christie. bravo shia.

the entire sequence

'Mr. Dieingly Sad'*

a hit song in the 60's. a haunting theme of the ever present longing for the 'unattainable love'.

on my other blog i do a 'song of the day'. i give the 'sneak' preview here as i could think of no one other than julie christie who can personify that unattainable but always longed for love. her own personal life as well as her beauty fit the lyric so perfectly.

'blue be your eyes, blond be your hair'.

*re-edited 10/17...i'm a virgo and it just didn't work for me on reviewing it. this is better

1965: Julie Became the 'Darling' of a Generation

the year was 1965. the world of film crowned her the new star in it's constellation. julie had two films in release and was lauded by critics and movie goers alike for both. she received an oscar nomination for 'darling' although some felt the nom should have been for 'doctor zhivago'. it was a moot point. she would win either way.

although she had appeared in a few british films and on british tv prior to 1965, it was the year that would bring her  as yet unending international attention and acclaim.

strictly speaking she was and remains one of the best.

'darling' defined a generation. julie portrayed diana scott an amoral product of her time. and she did it brilliantly. she made amorality a virtue in a disturbing sort of way. oscar does not always award the best in every given season. but for the best actress of 1965 it did. her win remains one of the most worthy of all time. but then again i am christie prejudiced and proud of it.

here are three scenes of julie's oscar winning performance. it is segment three that sealed the best actress win. as with many other award winning performances it is that moment of silence. no dialogue. just the look, the sense of the character and the sense of the scene. in this case it was the breakdown. 

scene two above contains one of my favorite lines of dialogue ever written when dirk borgard's character robert says to julie's character diana: "i don't take whores in taxi's". the brilliant screenplay won the oscar for 'best original screenplay' for frederic raphael. he deserved it for that line alone.

the trailer

''proceed...amuse me''

darling diana, darling miles, darling robert 

'darling'

and the oscar goes to...

'She's a Lady'

wrapping up kate's birthday week there is no doubt 'she's a lady'

HBO's 'Mildred Pierce' Teaser

5 part miniseries coming in 2011

Happy Bithday Kate

I first came to Kate by way of 'Sense and Sensibility' in 1995. I was impressed. So in 1996 when 'Jude' was released I went to see it. I am becoming more impressed. Also in 1996 I went to see 'Hamlet' because it was a sort of Julie Christie comeback. And there was Kate playing 'Ophelia' and I know longer needed more impressions. I knew then and there that Kate would be an actress to be reckoned with.

Then comes 1997 and the titanic 'Titanic'. The STAR was born. From that moment on Kate would rise to the heights of super stardom. But Kate would also amaze. Being offered a lot of major Hollywood movies Kate opted to do smaller independent films. This is how she really learned the craft. Kate became an actress not a "movie star". Thank god.

She had five Oscar noms with no win. I could quibble with three of them. I can really accept one: that being Jennifer Connelly in 2001. Kate in 'Iris' lost to Jennifer's 'A Dangerous Mind' and even I say that was correct. The lose to Helen Hunt in 1997 was a sham. Truth be told Julie Christie and Judy Dench also should have won over Hunt that year.

The real robberey was in 2004. Kate lost for 'Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind. WHAT? And to Hillary Skank, typo intended, for 'Million Dollar Baby'. Ridiculous, Absurd, Embarrassment. MADDENING!. Hillary snuck in with the rest of the Clint Eastwood's film awards. Highway Robbery.

her 2006 lose for 'Little Children' was criminal.

But finally At last Kate won the Oscar for 'The Reader'. Just desserts justly served.

Happy Birthday Kate. Thanks for acting. Thanks for the choices. Thanks for the Work.

revisiting a video i made awhile ago