CIA Superior: What did we learn, Palmer?
CIA Officer: I don't know, sir.
CIA Superior: I don't fuckin' know either. I guess we learned not to do it again.
CIA Officer: Yes, sir.
CIA Superior: I'm fucked if I know what we did.
CIA Officer: Yes, sir, it's, uh, hard to say.
CIA Superior: Jesus Fucking Christ.

A Separation. Rewatched with my wife who had never seen it. Why can't all movies be this great? But then, if they all were that great, we would lose our capacity to wonder at their greatness, I suppose. Did I mention this remains the best movie of the century to date? Because it is. That is a proven, scientific fact.

Got to see it again and side by side with Boyhood. There's a photo-finish in there somewhere but I swear I don't know which one wins. Two of the greatest movies of all time--and certainly the two best movies since 2000.

I'm not a fan of Westerns or John Wayne or Shirley Temple, and I'm not completely sold on Henry Fonda or the films of John Ford, so it was with a certain show-me attitude that I began watching Fort Apache (1948), one of Ford's best-regarded Westerns. Surprise! I pretty much loved this movie.

First surprise was the way a rather "miscast" Fonda made the role of the martinet who has been appointed chief of the titular fort in the days following the Civil War very much his own. Fonda takes a character who in the hands of many another actor would have been a caricature (even if well played) and layers him to the point where the almost unremittingly unlikable man becomes understandable and identifiable if never sympathetic. In its own way, Fonda's achievement here is the equal of his career peak in The Grapes of Wrath (also, not coincidentally, directed by Ford).

Second surprise is how Wayne, top-billed and more associated with Ford than Fonda is, seemed willing to take third or fourth position in the character lineup and played his role believably, floating by on charisma more than acting chops but letting said charisma run the show and make it work.

Third surprise was how Ford was able to juggle comedy (Victor McLaglen in particular is charmingly hilarious), drama, action, and romance and make them flow seamlessly one from the other.

Not as surprising were Shirley Temple and John Agar (off-screen marrieds), who were stereotypical as the young lovers (her character name, Philadelphia Thursday, was the most memorable thing about her performance), but they were cute as all get-out.

This movie is no Stagecoach in the Ford-Wayne pantheon, but (blasphemy!) I liked it ever so much more than The Searchers, venerated though that later opus may be.

I can't believe I'd never seen "The Great Ziegfeld" before. It was on at 6 a.m. today and I happened to wake up about then, and checked TCM. I didn't go back to sleep. Of course I knew William Powell was the star, but I didn't know Myrna Loy was Billie Burke (just at the end). It had performances by Fanny Brice and Ray Bolger, and there was a brief scene with Will Rogers as well. (According to the IMDb, Judy Garland and Eddie Cantor were originally supposed to be in it too, but studio switches knocked them off the cast list.) And it's a terrific movie. It must have knocked out audiences back in the day.

Are you aware that Luise Rainer is still alive?
Coming up on 105 ...

And she made 5 more films after her B2B Oscar wins.
and then a 6th a few years later to finish off her contract.