Hello Winter Break! Goodbye Fall Quarter.

Finally! The end of the torturous finals has come! At least for the fall quarter that is. Very excited for a break from school. Work doesn’t bother me nearly as much as homework and exams do.

Tonight, I will be traveling back home on the Amtrak. What will I do on the train? I’m thinking of having a little movie marathon. The train usually has long delays, which will need to be ignored, so why not ignore them by watching fantastic movies? I just have to be sure to get a spot on the train that gives me access to an outlet, so that my laptop doesn’t die on me. I’ll fight for that spot if necessary.

So, what will the line up be? I’m not entirely sure, but there are a few that I have in mind:

Gaslight (1944):

My second favorite Ingrid Bergman movie, after Notorious. I love the storyline. I know some people find the story to be predictable, but I think that it’s supposed to be that way. I feel that the audience is supposed to be on the outside and we are supposed to know what is going to happen, which creates suspense about when Ingrid's character, Paula Alquist, will discover the true madness of her husband. We are not meant to be waiting around for the big twist, we are waiting for Paula to figure it out. We know that she will because, as the audience, we want her to find out and the director knows this. I’m pretty sure that the majority of viewers would have been upset if Paula didn’t win in the end. Also, this is a remake, so people who have seen that film should already know the outcome…

The acting in this movie is superb. Not only by Ingrid herself, but the whole cast. Angela Lansbury gave an amazing performance. She’s hilarious and revolting at the same time. Revolting because of how mean her character is towards Paula. Joseph Cotten is also fantastic, as was Charles Boyer. I don’t know what it is about Joseph Cotten, but I find him very attractive. I love him as the romantic hero. Charles Boyer is amazing because of how evil he is in this film. The mind games his character plays! It makes me mad every time when he's mean to Paula and tries to make her go insane! That’s why the final scene between Paula and Gregory is so awesome. She definitely gets him back for what he did to her. I love it!

Let the Right One In (2008):

Okay, so this is obviously not a classic film, but it should be someday. For those of you who have not seen this film, it is a Swedish vampire story where a misfit human, Oskar, befriends a lonely vampire, Eli. The two find each other when they basically had no one else. I love vampires and I feel that this film represents them very well. It shows the tragic side of a vampire's life, as well as the frightening side, and the willingness that vampires have to survive and blend in to the human world. I’ve read the book that this film is based off of and it is very well written. A bit disturbing and disgusting at times, but still a fantastic read. I recommend this film and the book to anyone who enjoys a good vampire story.

The Country Girl (1954):

I always get interrupted while watching this movie, so I do not know what happens during the second part of the film. From what I’ve seen so far, the film is very good. I love Grace Kelly, William Holden, and Bing Crosby, so I expect to like the entire film. I want to finish watching it, so then I’ll be able to talk about it in more depth.

First Blog

Well, I have finally decided to try out blogging. I'm in love with Twitter, which is how I found out about this site. Someone tweeted me about an Ingrid Bergman blog and I absolutely loved it! That's the first blog that I have decided to follow on here.

There are three main things that you might want to know about me. One, I'm very random. I don't have a single day in my life thus far that has not had some random event occur, which is probably why I myself have become random. This makes for an eventful and not entirely boring life. I thrive off my random encounters with the world and things on it. Two, I love to read. I think that I might love reading just as much as I love classic films. Three, do not insult Ingrid Bergman, Marilyn Monroe, Grace Kelly, Cary Grant, Alfred Hitchcock, Billy Wilder, or James Dean on my site. You may kindly criticize if need be. I highly dislike when people make rude comments without explanation or just to attract attention to themselves. Not impressive.

Seeing as it is September still, I have been watching movies with Grace Kelly and Patrick Swayze. I wasn't expecting Patrick Swayze to die this month, of course, but he did, so I've now dedicated the month of September to both of them. September 30th, however, will be entirely dedicated to James Dean, even though I have class all day.

Tonight, I watched Dial 'M' for Murder. This isn't my favorite Hitchcock film, nor is it my favorite Grace Kelly film, however, there are still some things that I like and find interesting about it. For example, Hitchcock's cameo in this film is one of my favorite Hitchcock cameos of all his films. Why? I think it's hilarious that he decided to have his cameo by having the characters look at a picture with him in it. Also, I like that this Hitchcock movie was actually released in 3D. I wish that I could see it in that format! I also like Ray Milland's voice, but I'm not sure why that is.

Now, I'm watching To Catch a Thief. Again, not one of my favorite Hitchcock films, nor one of my favorite Grace Kelly films, but I do like it. Cary Grant is my favorite part of this film, especially when he is swimming and when he is wearing a suit. I'm always astounded when someone doesn't find him attractive. What isn't attractive about him? I also love the scenery of this film. Monaco looks so beautiful and I will go there someday. I love Grace Kelly's dresses in this film. When I go to Monaco, I want to meet the Prince (her son or grandson) and try to ask him if I can look at those dresses. They must have them somewhere! I remember watching this film for the first time and laughing at Hitchcock's cameo. I thought this one was clever, especially because he was sitting next to two motifs: (1) The 'Innocent' Man: Cary Grant's character John Robie, the ex-cat burglar and (2) Birds: caged birds to be exact, showing Robie's entrapment in being followed and blamed for crimes that he didn't commit.

I was out too late last night, but I had a fantastically fun time. I decided that I should take a night off from going out, seeing as I didn't go to sleep until around 4:30 am. It was a great idea not to go out, I probably wouldn't be watching these great movies right now if I had!