Our January and February Films

Our January Biopic is Lion in Winter with Katherine Hepburn and Peter O'Toole. Our February romance is Love Actually, although I will also put a dicussion topic up for the BBC version of Pride and Prejudice as it came in at a close second. I hope to have links up for Lion in Winter by the end of New Year's week.

Have a happy and safe New Year everyone!

Haloscan commenting and trackback have been added to this blog.

Let the voting begin!

ETA Voting as of 1PM December 29th. If you haven't voted yet, you have until midnight tonight!

January Biopics:

Lady Jane - 1
Walk the Line - 3
Great Balls of Fire - 1
Amadeus - 1
Lion in Winter - 5
Ray - 1

February - Romance

Love Actually - 4
Annie Hall - 2
An Affair to Remember - 1
Pride and Prejudice BBC - 3
Mating Habits of an Earthbound Human - 2

Well, not many people nominated films, so I decided to put them all up for the vote. Please vote for one biography for January and one romance for February in the comments of this post. The vote ends on December 29th at midnight PST.

Also, since I think people have just been swamped with the holidays this year, I decided to extend the contest for "Project that best represents a FiberFlix movie" to the end of February. This means that if you complete a fiber crafting project inspired by Funny Face, White Christmas, or the January or February selection and post the FO picture here on the blog, you'll be entered to win.

A last note, I got an email nomination from someone who had trouble commenting on this blog due to beta blogger issues. If you are having a hard time commenting as well, feel free to send me your vote via email at craftylilly AT hotmail DOT com. I'll look into installing the haloscan commenting system after the holidays which hopefully will resolve the commenting issue.

So the movie choices are:

January - Biopics
Great Balls of Fire (1989) - Dennis Quaid plays Jerry Lee Lewis
Walk the Line (2005) - Joaquin Phoenix plays Johnny Cash
Ray (2004) - Jamie Foxx's Oscar Winning performance as Ray Charles
Beautiful Mind (2001) - Russell Crowe plays John Nash, a renowned but troubled mathmetician.
Lion in Winter (1968) - Peter O'Toole plays Henry II and Katherine Hepburn plays Eleanor of Aquitaine.
Thirteen Days (2000) - Story about the Cuban Missile Crisis. This isn't technically a biopic as it's more about a historical event rather than one or two historical personages life, but it definitely looks fascinating.
Amadeus (1984) - Tom Hulce plays Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart
Lady Jane (1986) - Helena Bonham Carter stars at Lady Jane Grey, one of Henry VIII's doomed wives.

February - Romance
The Way We Were (1973) - Barbara Streisand and Robert Redford star as a couple that fall in love but are driven apart by circumstance.
Love Actually (2003) - Ensemble cast. Film follows eight different couples in London
Bride and Prejudice (2004) - Adaptation of the Austen novel but set in the East Indian culture.
Pride and Prejudice BBC version (1995) 6 hours of Colin Firth as Mr. Darcy... :-)
Pride and Prejudice (2005) The most recent adaptation with Keira Knightley
Mating Habits of the Earthbound Human (1999) An extraterrestrial anthropologist studies a human couple's dating rituals. David Hyde Pierce, Mackenzie Austin, and Carmen Electra star.
Annie Hall (1977) - One of Woody Allen's most beloved films about love between two city dwellers.
Affair to Remember (1957) - Cary Grant and Deborah Kerr star as a couple that fall in love on top of the Empire State Building.
When Harry Met Sally (1989) - A couple keeps meeting over and over and finally become friends. Are they meant for each other? Meg Ryan and Billy Crystal star.
You've got Mail (1998) - An unlikely pairing of a bookstore chain president and an independent bookseller that begins with an online romance. Tom Hanks and Meg Ryan star.
While You Were Sleeping (1995) - A lonely woman falls in love with a man she sees everyday. When he has an accident and falls into a coma, she is mistaken for his fiance, but finds herself attracted to his brother. Sandra Bullock stars.
A Very Long Engagement (2004) - A woman is determined to find her lost fiance who has gone MIA during World War I. Audrey Tatou (Amelie) stars.
Immortal Beloved (1994) - After Ludwig van Beethoven dies, his aide searches for the composer's one "Immortal Beloved" to deliver his love letter to her. But which of Beethoven's great romances is his one and only love? Gary Oldman stars.

Nominations for January and February

It's been rather quiet around here, but I think the holidays have most of us crazed at the moment. I hope we get more active as we enter the new year. I look forward to watching even more movies as I craft and knit and spin inspired!

It's time for the next two month's nominations. The themes for the coming months are:

January - Biographical films or biopics. Here, we're looking for movies that deal with a historical personages life. Examples include: Elizabeth, The Aviator, The Coal Miner's Daughter, Yankee Doodle Dandy, A Beautiful Mind, Mommy Dearest, etc.

February - Romance movies. Yes, it's cliche, but a person can go many directions with this theme. There are romantic comedies, classic romances, melodramatic romances, lots of choices! Have fun with this one. I'm not even going to suggest some examples to keep the field wide open.

So, please nominate two movies for each category in the comments section of this post. Nominations will be accepted until next Wednesday, December 20th at midnight PST. Just as in previous nominations, if you can't think of a second movie to nominate, consider seconding another nominated movie. Seconded movies will make it to our final vote. Voting will begin on Thursday December 21st and extend to Friday December 29th.

Musical links are up!

I don't have a ton of links but you can find some interesting things about musicals in general and our two selections as well.

I'm also cooking up a sweater design inspired by Funny Face. Who knows if it'll be successful, or if I'll finish it this month?

Are you ready for a musical? What about a contest?

Hello everyone! It's been rather quiet around here in FiberFlix land. I hope that you've had a chance to spend some time with friendship in the movies. Now it's time to enjoy some music in the movies! Remember that the December selections include Funny Face and White Christmas. Of course if you see any musical in December, feel free to share it with us either on this blog, or on our message board.

I decided to spice it up a little by running a small contest this month. If you knit, crochet, weave or spin a project using Funny Face or White Christmas as inspiration, post your FO here on the FiberFlix blog by January 10, 2007 (give you a little extra time here to complete your project). Depending on how many entries there are, the submissions will be narrowed down and 3 to 5 will be put up on the Fiberflix blog for voting. The entry that gathers the most votes shall win a small fibery prize and a little candy for the movie watching.

So get your copy of Funny Face and White Christmas and be inspired!

Spending Thanksgiving with the movies

I hope you all have a great Thanksgiving (for those in the US)! I'm planning on spending some time with the movies. I'm going to see Oh Brother, Where Art Thou again, and going to start gearing up for the holidays, and our December musicals by viewing White Christmas.

Please stop by the forum to discuss this month's movies, or any other movie talk you'd like. Also post any projects that you are working on that fit in with the themes of our films. If you have something that you started last month for film noir and are finishing it now, we still want to see it!

Anyone have any film plans for this weekend?

Problems with the forum

STATUS REPORT: The forum is back up and running, and I've added a topic under film noir about Brick for anyone who wishes to discuss. Please, if you've seen another movie that fits any of our themes, feel free to post about them on the forum.

I don't know how it happened, but our forum just disappeared. I'm working on getting it back up and running. Until then, if you have seen one of this month's films, please post what you thought of it. Also please post any projects that have been inspired by this month's films, or last month's.


By the way, thinking of last month's film noir theme, my DH and I saw Brick last night. We loved it. It's a fantastic modern film noir. Has anyone else seen it?

See the hat on Holly Hunter one post down?

Now take a look at Pieknit's new felted hat pattern, Stella.

Oh yeah...

Oh Brother, Where Art Thou ideas?

Just a post to spark conversation about fiberart crafting ideas from our November films!

Starting with Oh Brother, Where Art Thou... what about a felted version of Penny's hat?






Or a frilly shawl or crocheted flower brooch for Some Like it Hot?








I'm wondering if knitting or crocheting an apron would work for Fried Green Tomatoes...

November links are up and an addition to the forum

Welcome to November everyone! We have three new movies to watch together this month. I think we have three very different films, but all should be fun and inspiring for our crafting pursuits. I don't think we actually took the theme of buddy films and expanded it to pick movies about friendship. How appropriate for a month that includes Thanksgiving. I think we all are thankful for our friendships.

I've got a few links from Wikipedia and IMDB up in the sidebar. As we aren't working with a genre, there wasn't a lot out there about buddy films. I have, however, added a section on our forum for fun and games. So if you have some time to kill, start up a trivia, or other forum game about movies.

Our November and December Movie Selections are...

November Buddy Films:

Billy Wilder's Some Like it Hot (1959)

The Coen Brother's Oh Brother, Where Art Thou(2000)

Fried Green Tomatoes (1991)

December Musicals:

Funny Face (1957)

White Christmas (1954)

We've got some great selections for the next couple of months! There are some intriguing crafting inspirations in these movies as well. I'm interested in seeing some of the nominated films that I've missed as well.

If you haven't had a chance to drop by the forum, please do so! We've had some interesting conversations about film noir over there!

Voting for November and December!

*Voting is closed*

It's time to vote! Please vote for up to two for both the November Buddy Movies, and the December Musicals in the comments section. Voting will remain open until next Sunday, October 29th at midnight.
ETA: Vote Tallies as of Friday morning are in yellow
November Buddy Film Nominees:

Some Like it Hot(1959) directed by Billy Wilder 8
Shanghai Noon(2000) with Jackie Chan and Owen Wilson, a western 2
The Big Lebowski (1998) directed by the Coen Brothers 3
Oh Brother, Where Art Thou(2000) directed by the Coen Brothers 8
Fried Green Tomatoes (1991) with Jessica Tandy, Mary Stuart Masterson, and Kathy Bates 8
Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid (1969) with Paul Newman and Robert Redford 5
Thelma and Louise (1991) directed by Ridley Scott 7
The Odd Couple (1968) with Jack Lemmon and Walter Matthau 4
Rushmore (1998) directed by Wes Anderson 4
About a Boy (2002) with Hugh Grant and Toni Collette 5
The Color Purple (1985) directed by Steven Speilberg 7

December Musical Nominees:

Funny Face (1957) with Fred Astaire and Audrey Hepburn 13
West Side Story (1961) It's the Sharks vs. the Jets and forbidden love! 6
Rocky Horror Picture Show (1975) Tim Curry and Susan Sarandon 3
White Christmas (1954) with Danny Kaye and Bing Crosby 13
Moulin Rouge (2001) directed by Baz Luhrmann 5
Newsies (1992) with Christian Bale 1
Singing in the Rain (1952) with Gene Kelly and Debbie Reynolds 5
My Fair Lady (1964) with Audrey Hepburn 2
South Pacific (1958) Love in a time of war. 6
Little Shop of Horrors (1987) with Rick Moranis and directed by Frank Oz 0
Kiss me Kate (1953) Taming of the Shrew set to Cole Porter 7

Watched Strangers on a Train

The other night, I finally sat down to watch Strangers on a Train, and enjoyed a lot. While I knew the basics of the story, I hadn’t seen it before.

I love how Hitchcock creates so much tension with the use of human behavior without gore. Robert Walker’s performance as the spoiled psycho Bruno was positively creepy, and the carousel scene near the end was pretty scary.

Hitchcock always manages to throw in some humor too.

What I really found interesting is how divorce and marital infidelity was seen 50 years ago. Some things change and some things stay the same.

The DVD has the Hollywood version on one side and the longer British version, which has a little bit more about Bruno on the other. The Hollywood version ends with a humorous scene that's not in the British version. I watched both.

Today, before football, I’ll watch my favorite film noir movie, Sunset Boulevard. It’s a fabulous movie and Gloria Swanson’s performance is astonishing.

Nominations for November and December films

I know that many of us have just begun to see the film noir selections for this month, but we do need to start thinking about our film selections for November and December. I've decided to run nominations and voting for two months at a time, so we aren't constantly voting on movies, but can plan our film viewing and renting. So here are our themes for the next two months.

November's theme is Buddy films. Now the buddy film is more a movie category than a genre. Buddy films often cross genres. They are many times comedies, but not always. The hallmark of a buddy film is the focus on more than one (often two, but occasionally more) protagonist or main character, and a focus on the nature of friendship between the main characters. Some examples of Buddy films include Thelma and Louise, Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid, Lethal Weapon, Stand By Me, The Blues Brothers, Beverly Hills Cop, The Adventures of Priscilla, Queen of the Desert, any of the Dean Martin and Jerry Lewis movies, etc.

December's theme is Musicals. For our purposes, a musical is a film that incorporates songs sung by the characters that are incorporated into the narrative and advance the plot and/or character development. Many film historians consider the 1930s through the 50s to be the golden age of the musical, but there have been many successful musicals made recently such as Chicago, Moulin Rouge, The Producers and Rent.

So, we're going to be taking nominations in both categories for the next week. Please nominate no more than two films for each category in a comment to this post. Nominations will be collected through next Saturday, ending at Midnight PST. Then we'll vote during the last week in October.

ETA: Here are the Nominations so far (Wednesday morning). Feel free to second any of the nominations as part of your nomination if you wish. Seconded films will make it into our final vote, just like last time. So if you see a great film and you can't think of two new nominations, second it and make sure it makes it to our vote!

Buddy films:
Seconded films which will make the vote:
Some Like it Hot
Shanghai Noon
The Big Lebowski
Oh Brother, Where Art Thou
Fried Green Tomatoes
Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid
Thelma and Louise
The Odd Couple
Nominated films waiting to be seconded:
Rushmore
Rush Hour
About a Boy
Wedding Crashers
Muriel's Wedding
The Frisco Kid
The Colour Purple
All the President's Men
Midnight Run
His Girl Friday
Withnail and I
Twins
Dumb and Dumber
Steel Magnolias
How to Make and American Quilt
The Adventures of Priscilla, Queen of the Desert
Spy Game
New Nominations?

Musicals:
Seconded films that make the vote:
Funny Face
Westside Story
Rocky Horror Picture Show
White Christmas
Moulin Rouge
Newsies
Singing in the Rain
My Fair Lady
South Pacific
Nominated Films Waiting for a second:
Cabaret
Pajama Game
The Umbrellas of Cherbourg
Seven Brides for Seven Brothers
Purple Rain
Gypsy
A Star is Born
Meet me in St. Louis
Music Man
Kiss me Kate
Showboat
Little Shop of Horrors
Camelot
Reefer Madness: the Musical
The Young Girls of Rochfort
Damn Yankees
Wizard of Oz
Grease
Oklahoma
New Nominations?

Gaslight & Fiber

I am sad to report that I fell asleep during the last 30 minutes of Gaslight. I get up really early and this was ending way past my bedtime. I will try to rent it or watch another of the movies this month. I just saw the Maltese Falcon for the first time about 2 months ago so I am hoping for Strangers on A Train.

As for fiber projects I am thinking that I might make a drawstring bag like Ingrid Bergman carried in the first part of the movie. I saw it and thought of crochet and what a beautiful freeform project that would make. Don't know if I can get it done in October, but I'll try.

I just registered for the forum and haven't responded to the email so I decided to post a quickie. I love this whole idea - I hope it lasts a long time!

Fiber & Flix...yeah

Hey there fellow knitters,Sherrill here...just joined in and have the three October movies in my queue over on Netflix. What a great way to get lots of knitting done and watch some classics.

Happy knitting to all.

Gaslight on the Double

Hi,

My name is Vera, and my blog is Vera's Crafty Blog. I watched both the 1944 and the 1940 versions of Gaslight last night on TCM. I had never seen either version, and watching both back to back was interesting.

Although the main story was the same, the details were very different, and it was fun to see how some of the same scenes played in the two versions.

I liked the Bergman/Boyer/Cotton version better overall. To me, it was more glamorous than the British version.

I got some knitting done too, I worked on the second of my Aran Braided Socks.

I'll try to rent Strangers on a Train this weekend.

Netflix is telling me

that the Maltese Falcon is a "long wait!" Could this possibly be because we all want it? :-)

Double Indemnity on Turner Classic Movies

Eventhough it did not win a spot in the list of movies for this month, Double Indemnity will be on the cable network Turner Classic Movies this Sunday Oct.8 @ 10AM EST. This is just an FYI for those that might want to see it.

So, any film noir fibercrafting pursuits out there?

I'm hoping that everyone is getting a chance to see one or all of the films that we have chosen for this month! I know I'm eagerly awaiting a couple from Netflix. Has anyone thought of any fibercrafting projects inspired by film noir or one of the films? I'm planning on knitting Bonne Marie's Ariann this month. Now, to be honest, I planned on knitting this sweater not thinking about the connection to film noir. However, I think the sweater has is a bit of a vintage sweater with a modern sensibility. Woh, I'm not sure that made any sense! Anyway, I'm hoping as I knit on Ariann while watching Strangers on a Train that the connection will prove more evident!

Also, if you haven't already signed up over at our forum (check the sidebar for the link), please do so! There's already been activity over there. I'm glad we're getting to know each other.

Our October Films

All of the ballots have been counted and we have a winner. We had such an incredible field of movies to chose from. It was very hard to choose! I decided to put of three movies to watch this month. Watch whichever you want to, or watch all. There will be discussions on all three at our forum. So without further ado, our selections are:

Gaslight

Maltese Falcon

Strangers on a Train

Speaking about the forum, please follow the link and register to be able to post over at the forum. We will be discussing our thoughts about the films over at the forum. If you decide to watch another film noir that didn't win, I set up a place in the forum to discuss alternate films. Please post your projects here at the blog. Also, if you'd like to introduce yourself to the group, please do so here at the blog. We will also be nominating and voting on films here on the blog.

I am currently working on putting up some links on our films and film noir in our sidebar. If I've neglected to put your name and blog link in our sidebar, let me know and I'll fix it.

I did hear from a member that Gaslight will be on Turner Classic Movies on October 10th at 10:30PM EST. Yay!

Time to Vote!

Here are the films up for consideration. Please vote for TWO films in the comments section of this post. The two films that receive the most votes will be the October selections. Voting is open as of now, and will remain open until midnight PST on September 30th.

Votes as of 7:10 AM PST on September 29:
Gaslight - 22 votes
Strangers on a Train and Maltese Falcon - 12 votes
Sunset Boulevard - 8 votes
Talented Mr. Ripley and Niagara both have - 6 votes
Double Indemnity, Memento, Gilda - 5 votes each
The Third Man - 4 votes
Shadow of a Doubt - 3 votes
The Man Who Wasn't There, In a Lonely Place have - 2 votes each
Usual Suspects and DOA - 1 vote each

Gaslight (1944) : A young girl loses her aunt, a famous entertainer, to murder. The young girl, Alice, is sent away to school, only to return 10 years later with her husband to live in her aunt's home. She finds herself psychologically terrorized by her husband, while questions involving her Aunt's murders resurface.

Shadow of a Doubt (1943): A young girl named after her favorite uncle Charlie, suspects that her uncle may really be a killer.

D.O.A. (1950): A man is told that he has been poisoned and has only days to live. He tries to find who has killed him and why. This movie was remade in 1988.

The Maltese Falcon (1941): A private detective is on a hunt for the man who murdered his partner, and find himself investigating the characters who are all after a valuable statuette.

The Talented Mr. Ripley (1999): A man is sent to bring back an errant playboy, but ends up trying to take over the rich man's life.

Sunset Boulevard (1950): A failed screenwriter takes a job writing a screenplay for a former silent film star, only to find himself trapped.

The Third Man (1949): A pulp fiction novelist searching for work travels to Vienna for a job offered by a friend of his. He finds his friend dead and decides to try to find out what happened.

Niagara (1953): Two newlywed couples are honeymooning at Niagra Falls. One relationship's problems lead to murder.

Gilda (1946): The boss of a South American casino finds that his new wife and right hand man already know each other.

The Usual Suspects (1995): A boat full of dead seaman and missing cargo leads to an investigation into the mysterious and deadly Keysar Soze.

Memento (2000): A man who suffers from short term memory loss uses notes, tatoos, and a crooked police officer to hunt for his wife's murderer.

Double Indemnity (1944): An insurance rep is seduced into an insurance scam that arouses an investigator's suspicions.

Strangers on a Train (1951): A tennis star and a socialite happen to meet on a train and decide to trade murders.

In a Lonely Place (1950): A screenwriter is accused of murder. His attractive neighbor clears him of murder only to begin to suspect his innocence.

The Man Who Wasn't There (2001): A barber blackmails his wife's boss and lover for money to invest in a drycleaning business.

The Nominations so far

We've have had some fabulous films nominated! This is a compilation of our nominations so far. The films that have been nominated multiple times are definitely going to be part of our vote next week. The list of films that have been nominated once may not be. Please take a look at these lists. If you wish to second any of the films that have only one nomination, please do so. I will make sure they are part of our voting pool.

Nominations will end tomorrow night at midnight PST. I will post the voting list along with a short bit of info on each film so we can make our choice on Sunday. Voting is then open until Saturday, September 30.

Please second a nomination in a comment on this post.

Films that have been nominated multiple times and will be part of our vote:
Gaslight
Shadow of a Doubt
DOA
Maltese Falcon
The Talented Mr. Ripley
Sunset Boulevard
The Third Man
Niagra
Gilda
Usual Suspects
Memento
Double Indemnity
Strangers on a Train

Films that have been nominated only once. This is the pool that needs a second to make it to our vote:
In a Lonely Place
The Man Who Wasn't There
Dead Reckoning
Blue Dahlia
Brick
Dark City
Charade
Key Largo

Edited to reflect the movies that have been seconded.

Nominations for October Films!

Hello everyone! I'm excited that this group blog idea has gained so many members in just a day. I hope that everyone will have fun and enjoy the movies, conversations, and projects as we move forward. I do want to start discussion about nominations for October movies.

Before the blog had members, I thought that beginning with film noir would be a good idea. It goes well with October. There's a great article on film noir that you can find here. In essence film noir isn't a genre but more a film's mood and theme. The themes often included "melancholy, alienation, bleakness, disillusionment, disenchantment, pessimism, ambiguity, moral corruption, evil, guilt, desperation and paranoia"(Film Noir, Tim Durks). There are cinematic conventions that are often used in film noir such as the use of the femme fatale, the double cross, the cynical leading male being made a fall guy, etc. Classic film noir films were made in the 1940s through the early 1960s. There have been many more recent films that take a page from film noir, or could be considered to be modern representations of the type.

Some classic examples of film noir are:
The Maltese Falcon
Double Indemnity
Laura
Touch of Evil
The Naked City
Vertigo

Some newer films with film noir themes include:
Chinatown
Dirty Harry
Body Heat
Blade Runner
LA Confidential
Dark City
Blood Simple
Sin City
Memento
Minority Report

So what I thought is I'd open it up for nominations. Please leave a comment to this post with two films that you'd like to nominate. I'll leave the nominations open for a week, and then we'll vote in the last week of September.

Welcome to FiberFlix!

Hello and welcome to FiberFlix, a crafting group for people who love movies and love knitting, crochet, spinning and weaving. Every month we will watch a couple of movie selections and discuss them. Members are also invited to craft a project in the spirit of the films that we will be watching and discussing together. This group is low stress. Participation every month is not mandatory, nor do you need a blog. If you are familiar with the Knit the Classics group, a crafting and reading group, this group will be run similarly.

All fiber crafters are welcome: Knitters, spinners, crocheters, and weavers. If you enjoy creating with fiber and often watch movies while you craft, then this group is for you! If you are interested, email me at craftylilly AT hotmail DOT com.