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Blog Entries by John Farr from 02/2009

The Bigger Star By Farr: Bette Davis or Joan Crawford?

| Posted 02.07.2009
Read More: Film Noir, Joan Crawford, Mildred Pierce, Leslie Howard, All About Eve, Claude Rains, Paul Henreid, Rosalind Russell, Henry Fonda, Jezebel, Hollywood's Golden Age, Female Stars, Greta Garbo, John Barrymore, Famous Rivalries, John Garfield, Norma Shearer, Classic Movies, Bette Davis, Humphrey Bogart, News

Who was the bigger star -- Bette Davis or Joan Crawford? Maybe reviewing some highlights of their respective careers can help resolve this thorny question.

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Best Movies By Farr: When Oscar Screws Up

| Posted 02.15.2009
Read More: Edward G. Robinson, The English Patient, The Exorcist, Tom Hanks, History of the Academy Awards, Julie Andrews, Milk, Fred MacMurray, John Wayne, The Wrestler Stanley Kubrick, As Good as It Gets, Capote, The Great Ziegfeld, Traffic, L.A. Confidential, Driving Miss Daisy, Dr. Strangelove, Fargo, High Noon, Million Dollar Baby, Joan Allen, My Left Foot, Around the World in Eighty Days, Slumdog Millionaire, The Academy Awards, The Sting, Rocky Balboa, Letters From Iwo Jima, Double Indemnity, Shirley MacLaine, Rex Harrison, Little Miss Sunshine, Ed Harris, Life Is Beautiful, Peter Finch, Shakespeare in Love, Charles Chaplin, James Dean, Giant, Crash, My Man Godfrey, Barbara Stanwyck, The Contender, Network, Imelda Staunton, Academy Awards, Titanic, Louis B. Mayer; Daryl Zanuck; Samuel L Goldwyn, Hotel Rwanda, The Apartment, The Departed, Peter Sellers, Pulp Fiction, Burt Lancaster, Gladiator, Vera Drake, Sean Penn, Modern Times, Elizabeth Taylor, Chicago, Field of Dreams, Billy Wilder, Pollock, Al Jolson, Forrest Gump, William Powell, John Travolta, Carole Lombard, Singin' in the Rain, Taxi Driver, Cecil B. DeMille, My Fair Lady, Jack Lemmon, The Searchers, The Hours, Robert De Niro, News

2005 -- for Best Picture, give me Capote over Crash any ol' time. Another uninspiring year, I thought.

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On Her Birthday, The Best Elizabeth Taylor Movies By Farr

| Posted 02.23.2009
Read More: Elizabeth Taylor, James Dean, Celebrity Birthdays, Rock Hudson, Shelley Winters, Paul Newman, Richard Burton, Katharine Hepburn, Spencer Tracy, Classic Movies, Roddy McDowall, Montgomery Clift, News

After last night's dizzying spectacle at the Oscars, let's talk about someone who really defines the word "star". This impossibly beautiful performer was, and is, a true product of Hollywood.

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A Word To Hollywood: In Recessionary Times, Smaller, Better Films, Please -- And More Of Them!

| Posted 02.28.2009
Read More: Jim Carrey, Cleopatra Digitally Recreated, King Kong, Media-and-the-Recession, The Curious Case of Benjamin Button, Superman Returns, Titanic, The Lives of Others, Pulp Fiction, Little Miss Sunshine, Lord of the Rings, Terminator, Classic Stars, American Beauty, Star Compensation, Tom Hanks, Waterworld, Studio System, Lord of the Rings Trilogy, Harry Potter, Hollywood Budgets, Harvey Milk Movie, News

This year's gimmicky Benjamin Button cost $150 million, the superlative Milk cost just $15 million. Why not fund ten more Milk-type films and forego one Button?

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