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Tuesday, January 3, 2012

What will 2012 bring?

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Hi everyone!

I hope 2012 has been good to you so far and that you had a happy New Year. :) I'm trying my best to be cheerful and optimistic even though tomorrow I'm back to school. *groans*

ANYWAY! A lot of people have been doing blogs lately about what they'll have in store (blogging wise) for 2012 and also their movie related goals, so I'm going to do something pretty similar.

The first thing is really exciting for me: I've decided to go through with conducting my own movie survey! Consider this a little late of a celebration for reaching fifty plus followers (before 2012), but hey, better late then never, right? I'm already working on this and I'll probably hold it sometime later this month. Here's to hoping we'll see plenty of participators :)

As for other blog related goals, I think I'm going to tackle a new project that will likely take me all of 2012 to complete. I've seen people do it on Tumblr before. What it is a list of 100 Favorite People, or to be more specific, 100 favorite actors and actresses. This list would consist of fifty actors and fifty actresses, and I'd be posting them in parts - ten parts, with ten people in each part (five actors, five actresses). I'd likely mention favorite film performances and the like. I think this will be really fun and I'd probably do one or two of these posts per month, which means, if everything goes alright, this project would be completed by October of this year.

My only thing with doing this is, that, well, I'm always learning to love new actors or actresses. Take Greer, for example. I honestly didn't give her much thought until I actually saw her in a film and now she's one of my very favorite actresses, and it all happened quite fast, especially when I thought I had a neat list of who are my favorites. If that's to happen again in this year it would certainly shake up this project.

Still... I'd like to give this project of mine a chance. And this also gives me the opportunity to talk about more films I love without actually having to review them, and to share with you the actors I like that aren't big movie stars - you know, the character actor types, etc. Also, I think since I'm doing this project over a course of a long period of time, it will give me time to adjust the list as I need to.

So for now I'm on board with this project and hopefully all will go well. Cross your fingers :) The first part of this project will be up this month. Now, onto some movie watching related goals for 2012 - 

Back when I first started this blog, I did a list of ten actresses I vowed to see more of. For some of these actresses I stuck to that promise and became bigger fans of them, much bigger in some cases. Like: Vivien Leigh, Carole Lombard, Ava Gardner, Lauren Bacall, Bette Davis, and Joan Crawford. Of course, a few others were neglected... but all the while I felt that list worked out pretty list. I've decided to do something similar. Here is a list of ten actors and ten actresses I vow to see more of in 2012. Consider it a list of a shame, if you will. [This is in no particular order.]

Cary sharing his head at the shame:

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ACTORS:
  • Errol Flynn
  • Tyrone Power
  • John Wayne (though Westerns hurt)
  • Robert Taylor
  • Montgomery Clift
  • Paul Newman (I like him a lot, I just need to see more of his movies)
  • Laurence Olivier
  • Marlon Brando
  • Steve McQueen
  • Charlie Chaplin
ACTRESSES:
  • Greta Garbo (She was on my old list, totally failing with her)
  • Rita Hayworth (Also a veteran of that list - I loved her in Gilda and I even have an aunt named after her, yet I still haven't seen much of hers!)
  • Lana Turner (Yeah, yet another one of that list)
  • Hedy Lamarr
  • Norma Shearer 
  • Marlene Dietrich
  • Jean Harlow
  • Clara Bow
  • Susan Hayward 
  • Gene Tierney 
So if you have suggestions for any of those twenty actors, go ahead and let me know! It really is a list of shame. Most of these stars I have seen one or two or perhaps no films at all. But 2012 will be the year I'll catch up!

There was a meme going around Tumblr to watch 250 films this year. It then broke it up into different sections, like pre-codes, rewatches, etc. I thought the sections would be too restraining for the personal film goals I have this year but I would like to reach the goal of 250 classic films this year! I'm going to keep a running list - I think I'll make a page for it on this blog - and I particularly want to focus on these types of films:
  • Pre-codes. As exciting as they sound, I fail at this genre. I really want to remedy that this year and so I vow to definitely see more films made before the year 1934! 
  • Silents. I've only seen three or four of these and I really want to give them more of a chance. I guess this kind of falls under pre-codes, too, because most silents are pre-codes.
  • 1960's fluff. The 60's brought change to Hollywood. There were films that pushed the envelope of the quickly dying Hays Code and more fluffier films that were geared to the teeny bopper audience that decided the trends of pop culture. I've seen a lot of Doris Day's rom-com pairings with Rock Hudson and Natalie Wood's glossier films of that era... so what I mean by this is (and don't laugh) the Sandra Dee/Bobby Darin/Annette Funicello/Frankie Avalon stuff. Like Gidget and Beach Party. Now, I know they're probably not the best films or the most serious, but being a teenager of this generation I think these movies would give me a good perspective of what it was like for the teenagers of that generation. Kind of a pop culture experience... sort of... 
  • Film noir. You'd think after particpating in Film Classics's contest last summer I would have brushed up more on this genre but not yet. I'm taking it in at little doses so far but I really need to catch up on this genre!
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Suggestions still welcome. :)

So yeah, this is pretty much what I have in store for 2012! What do you think???

7 comments:

Dani said...

You know, a lot of your goals are similar to mine (I also intend to watch more pre-codes, film noir etc). I'm actually enjoying a long holiday, so I think I'll be able to accomplish a lot in the next couple of months.
As for suggestions, I remember giving you a few McQueen tips in another post, so I'm gonna focus on other actors from your list.
For Paul Newman, I'd watch "The Sting", "Somebody up there likes me", "Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid", "Rachel, Rachel" (he directed this one and Joanne Woodward is great in it. By the way, she's another actress worth watching), "The long, hot summer" and "Cat on a hot tin roof". I think these are a good way to start.
For Brando, I think "A streetcar named desire", "Last tango in Paris", "On the waterfront" and "The Godfather".
And, for Monty Clift, everything he made with Elizabeth Taylor, "Wild River" and "From here to eternity".
I still have to catch up with a lot of these actors and actresses' movies, too. The funny thing about those lists, is that they only seem to grow. It doesn't matter how many movies we've seen, there's always something or someone else we want to put on the list. It's like you said, we get excited about "new" classic actors and it's like we have to see everything they've made.

Irene Palfy said...

Oh - that sounds really, really cool!! You named there some of my alltime favourites actors/actresses on your list! (Esp. in "your order": Flynn, Power, Clift, Brando, Hayworth, Turner, Dietrich, Harlow, Bow and Tierney!

This will be a great year at your by now and from beginning really, really great blog!

I am soo game in going on following - SOOOOOO GAME!! :")

Rianna said...

Dani: I won't have holidays for a few months yet, but I usually watch my movies over the weekends. Anyways, thank you SO MUCH for all the suggestions! As for Paul Newman: quite shamefully the only thing I'v seen, from that whole list, is "Cat on a Hot Tin Roof." I began "Butch Cassidy," never finished it, and I know I really need to. (I also like Robert Redford a lot, so...) And as for Brando, I've only seen "A Streetcar Named Desire." I really want to get my hands on "A Place in the Sun." I honestly don't know how I feel about method acting yet, so I'm giving it lots of chances this year, as you can tell. ;D And I agree with what you say. That's why my project will be hard but I'm going to try! You see one of these actors and you get excited and want to watch them in everything they ever did (I did it with Greer).

Irene: I really need to catch up on all those actors, but I'm pretty sure as soon as I start watching them I'll love them as much as you do! Thanks so much and I'm really glad you like what you see for this blog in 2012! I can't wait for your blog and all the new things you're doing with it, as well. :)

Dani said...

I think method acting is a marvelous thing. From what I know about it, it actually helps the actor to become more conected to his/her character. I think it advocates that the actor should let the character think and feel by themselves. The actor is merely a mean for the character to become alive. But, of course, it is just one of many effective acting techniques. A lot of actors who don't use the Stanislavski/Strasberg method are also excellent at their jobs.

Rianna said...

I like seeing your point of view on this! Especially since I do usually lean towards the old school, studio system type of acting because I watch more films from the 30's and 40's then the late 50's and 60's (when method acting hit a peak and the star system began to dissolve). BUT the only method acting I've seen is Dean in Giant and Rebel Without a Cause and Brando in A Streetcar Named Desire... so I can't say what I prefer yet. But as you say, the bottom line is that they are a good actor and it doesn't really matter what techniques they use to be that way. :) Still, this will be the year I give method acting more of a chance!

LĂȘ said...

Hi, Rianna! I'd like to give you some tips about your goals, following the actors/actreeses lists: Adventures of Robin Hood(38), Witness for the Prosecution(56), The Quiet Man(52), Ivanhoe(52) & Waterloo Bridge(40), Spellbound(45) & Suddenly, Last Summer(59), The Hustler (63), Henry V (44) & Hamlet(48), City Lights(31) & The Great Dictator(40). Anything with Brando is good, and I'm not very acquainted with McQueen yet. Also, most of Chaplin's silents are online and are hilarious.
Abou the actresses: Ninotchcka(39), The Lady from Shanghai(47), The Bad and the Beautiful (52) & Madame X(66), The Women(39),Shanghai Express(32), The Ghost and Mrs Muir(47). I also need to watch more of Hedy,Susan and Clara (I love Clara's life story).
I hope I helped. If you also have any tip for me, let me now. I put some of the movies you review in my list of next viewings, like Beloved Infidel.
Greetings,
Le

Rianna said...

Wow, thank you so much for all your suggestions!!! I've already seen Witness for the Prosecution (1956), The Women (1939) & Spellbound (1945) - I'm a crazy Ingrid Bergman fan and I love Gregory Peck, too - but I'm definitely going to check out everything else you mentioned. I'm glad you're going to give Beloved Infidel a try, I really enjoyed it, I hope you do too! Once again thanks for your lovely list :)

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