FILM 1951: THE TALENTED MR. RIPLEY

FILM 1951: THE TALENTED MR. RIPLEY

TRIVIA: Matt Damon actually sang the song "My Funny Valentine."

Jude Law learned to play the saxophone and Matt Damon learned to play the piano for this film. However while Damon's training enabled him to recreate the proper keyboard fingering the music heard in the film is played by Sally Heath (the Bach) and Gabriel Yared (the Vivaldi).

This is Matt Damon's favorite film he has made.

Leonardo DiCaprio was considered for the role of Tom Ripley.

Fausto and Dickie (and Tom, later) sing "Tu Vuo' Fa' L'Americano," a humorous song about an Italian man in the 50s who wants to imitate the American lifestyle he sees in the movies. But American food doesn't do him any good and in the end, the money he spends comes from his mother's purse.

After viewing this film, Tommy Wiseau was so emotionally moved that he vowed to make a film just as, if not more compelling. This film would become The Room (2003).

When Anthony Minghella learned that Cate Blanchett was interested in playing the small supporting role of Meredith - as opposed to the female lead - he duly expanded the role to get her on board.

FILM 1857: OCEAN'S EIGHT

FILM 1857: OCEAN'S EIGHT 

TRIVIA: Debbie Ocean speaks German as part of her cover. Sandra Bullock spent most of her childhood in Nuremberg, Germany and is fluent in the language. She holds dual citizenship in both Germany and the United States.

Anne Hathaway replaced Jennifer Lawrence in this film, while Lawrence replaced Hathaway in Silver Linings Playbook (2012).

This film opens in the same way as Ocean's Eleven (2001), with an Ocean being asked what they will do when they leave prison during their parole hearing.

The eight main cast has won four Oscars, two Emmys, nine Grammys, six Golden Globes, five BAFTAs, and 10 SAGs combined.

The music that was playing as the team enter the Met Gala, "Lara's Theme" (Somewhere, my Love), was also the music that Sandra Bullock's character, Gracie Lou Freebush, plays on the water glasses in Miss Congeniality (2000).

FILM 1795: THOR: RAGNAROK

FILM 1795: THOR: RAGNAROK

TRIVIA: Sir Anthony Hopkins had decided against returning as Odin, but upon reading the story, he changed his mind.

Thor's "friend from work" line about the Hulk was suggested to Chris Hemsworth by a Make-A-Wish child who paid a visit to the set on the day the scene was filmed.

Taika Waititi based Korg's character on Polynesian bouncers: "We wanted to change the idea of what a hulking guy made of rocks could be. He's huge and heavy, but with a light soul, and he's funny and friendly."

This marks the first time in the Marvel Cinematic Universe that The Hulk is not voiced by Lou Ferrigno, but by Mark Ruffalo. Ferrigno voiced Hulk in The Incredible Hulk (2008), Avengers Assemble (2012) and Avengers: Age of Ultron (2015).

Taika Waititi appears in this film as Korg. Waititi is the second Marvel film Director to have a major role in his own film, after Jon Favreau (who directed the first two Iron Man films, and appeared as "Happy" Hogan in the Marvel Cinematic Universe).

Chris Hemsworth plays Thor in the film, while his older brother Luke Hemsworth plays Thor in a play within the film. Their younger sibling Liam Hemsworth was considered for the role of Thor.

Led Zeppelin's "Immigrant Song" appears in the film, and the trailer. This is noteworthy, because Led Zeppelin is known for very rarely licensing out their music for use in feature films, television series, or video games. The majority of other films that have had Led Zeppelin music are related to rock journalist Cameron Crowe (Fast Times at Ridgemont High, Almost Famous), making this one of the few films to feature Zeppelin music that in no way involves Crowe. School of Rock is another.

Taika Waititi described the film as a "1970s and 80s science fiction fantasy, the most 'out there' of all the Marvel movies." He cited Big Trouble in Little China (1986) as a major influence on the film: "It's a fun adventure film that has big stakes, but also has a breakneck speed and takes you on a crazy adventure."

In the comics, the Grandmaster has blue skin. Taika Waititi decided against applying blue on Jeff Goldblum, because he felt Goldblum was a good enough actor to not need it, and because Goldblum had already played a blue-colored character in Earth Girls Are Easy(1988).

The retirement home in New York City is named "Shady Acres", the same name as the retirement home where Stan Marsh's grandfather lives in South Park (1997), and the same as the psychiatric institute in Ace Ventura: Pet Detective (1994), which was a play on that film's director Tom Shadyac.

CAMEO: Stan Lee: comic-book writer who co-created Thor and the Hulk, appears as the barber who cuts Thor's hair.

FILM 1728: HOW TO TRAIN YOUR DRAGON 2

TRIVIA: The first Dreamworks Animation film to win a Golden Globe award for Best Animated Film.

When Astrid says to Eret, "Don't you know anything." That is a reference to when Ygritte says to Jon Snow, "You know nothing, Jon Snow." Kit Harrington plays both Eret and Jon Snow from Game of Thrones.

The drawings on the wall in the Dragon stables in Berk were actual drawings done by the children of the crew who worked on the film.

Was the frontrunner for the Academy Award for Best Animated Feature, but lost to Big Hero 6 (2014).

FILM 1606: CAROL

TRIVIA: The character of Carol Aird was inspired by Virginia Kent Catherwood (1915-1966), a Philadelphia socialite six years older than Patricia Highsmith with whom the author had a love affair in the 1940s. Catherwood lost custody of her daughter after her homosexuality was used against her with a taped recording of a lesbian liaison she had in a hotel room. ("'Instantly, I love her': the affairs that inspired Carol". The Telegraph, 28 November 2015)

The novel "The Price of Salt" was inspired by a blonde woman in a mink coat (Mrs. E.R. Senn, née Kathleen Wiggins) who ordered a doll from Patricia Highsmith when she was working as a temporary salesgirl in the toy section of Bloomingdale's in New York City during the 1948 Christmas season. Highsmith recalled feeling "odd and swimmy in the head, near to fainting, yet at the same time uplifted, as if I had seen a vision." She completed the outline for the story in about two hours that same night, likely under the influence of chicken pox which she discovered she had the next day. Highsmith wrote in the Afterword for the 1990 new edition of the novel: "One of the small runny-nosed children there must have passed on the germ, but in a way the germ of a book too: fever is stimulating to the imagination." She completed "The Price of Salt" by 1951.

Carol was shot on Super 16 millimeter film to resemble the look and feel of photographic film from the late 1940s/early 1950s. The cinematography was influenced by the photojournalism of Vivian Maier, Ruth Orkin, Helen Levitt, and Esther Bubley. Photography by Saul Leiter (known for shooting through windows and using reflection) was a key influence.

The film is based on the romance novel "The Price of Salt" by Patricia Highsmith. Originally published in 1952 under the alias "Claire Morgan". After it fell out of print it was reissued in 1984 by lesbian publishing house Naiad Press. Highsmith denied rumors that she was the author for 38 years until she agreed to the publication of a new, retitled edition that included an afterword by her. "Carol" was published in the United Kingdom in 1990 by Bloomsbury Publishing under Patricia Highsmith's name. The novel sold nearly a million copies before the 1990 publication.

The film received a 10-minute standing ovation at the 2015 Cannes Film Festival (Festival de Cannes) international premiere.

Director Todd Haynes creates image books as a guide to the visual feel of his films, going back to his drama Safe (1995). The compendiums are culled from photographs, film stills, paintings, periodicals and other sources to generate ideas for the film's style. They are meant initially for the cinematographer. (The books are not to be confused with storyboards, the shot-by-shot breakdowns he has made since his first feature, Poison (1991).) His image books are "a way of communicating beyond words that gets to the crux of what the mood, temperature and stylistic references would be." For Carol "it becomes great reference for clothes, hair, makeup, the way women carry themselves in the period and the specificity of how they're being created from the outside in." The image book includes, for example, references to other films such as: Brief Encounter (1945) and Vertigo (1958) for their sense of period, and The Sugarland Express (1974) for its innovative cinematography by Vilmos Zsigmond; Lovers and Lollipops (1956) for the locations and The Pumpkin Eater (1964) for the interiors; and urban photography by Ernst Haas, Helen Levitt and Vivian Maier. Haynes assembles his image books almost as a kind of visual mixtape, pulling photos and movie screen grabs of his inspirations and laying them out in pages of collages to create a kind of virtual movie. Haynes created more than 80 pages of photo collages for "Carol" that served as a road map through the production. It took him two months to compile. [from N.Y.Times 1/28/2016 "Todd Haynes Collects Images to Guide the Feel of His Films"]

In an interview for HitFix, Todd Haynes said that Cate Blanchett reminded him of actress Monica Vitti (in the role of Vittoria) in L'Eclisse (1962). Haynes made the connection to Vitti in the scene where Therese develops her photograph of Carol asleep, with a lock of hair on her cheek. The style and position of Carol's hair is similar to that of a sleeping Vittoria in a scene from the Italian film.

Film 1073: Blue Jasmine

Trivia: Costume designer Suzy Benzinger had a budget of only $35, 000. The Hermès bag that Jasmine carries was worth more than the entire budget and was borrowed, as were most of the designer outfits.

Cate Blanchett and Sally Hawkins were the only members of the cast to have the complete script during filming.

Louis C.K. originally auditioned for the part played by Andrew Dice Clay. Woody Allen felt that C.K. was too nice to play the role and offered him another part.

The third Woody Allen film in which Alec Baldwin has been cast.