This week is a bit special since this is the theme I have recommended myself. I had just seen Marriage Story, the one with that verbal altercation aka fight where Adam Driver acting skills are out of this world. And no, I will not pick Marriage Story even though it fits perfectly. But I’m going to go with something a little bit different, and throw in a bit of eye candy like I did that week.
1. THE NOTEBOOK (2004)
As far as couple fights go The Notebook is hands down a memorable one! I’ve seen this movie once (I don’t know how that happened) but I still remember Ryan Gosling angrily asking “what do you want?”. It’s a fight that’s rooted in love and those are always the ones that have the most emotion and power. And that’s what I think about when I think about “verbal altercations”, the emotional pull they have.
2. BLUE VALENTINE (2010)
What is it about Ryan Gosling being mad and yelling? It seems like he does that a lot and searching for a clip, I realised he also argues in La La Land (haven’t seen that one though). Not complaining though, he does it really well. In Blue Valentine he also argues with his wife played by Michelle Williams. Things get a bit physical too but it’s just mostly a verbal fight.
3. CRAZY, STUPID, LOVE (2011)
You know that big fight they have at the end of the movie, where they yell at each other and there’s a lot going on. That’s probably my favourite (lighter) verbal altercations (that does have a few punches and end with a wrestling thing) because it’s just so brilliant. It brings all the storylines together, the conflict builds up with each sentence, it has a lot of confusion and humour. This is simply three minutes of perfection!
THIS AMAZING SERIES IS CREATED BY WANDERING THROUGH THE SHELVES
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I’ve only seen your third pick and, even though I love it, that fight didn’t even cross my mind.
Hot theme within theme btw 😏
The fight is like the most memorable thing for me apart from many other scenes. 😀
Adam Driver was perfect in Marriage Story. I love your Gosling theme though. Very fitting.
I figured it would be fitting. 😀
Excellent choices!
The Notebook stretches belief at times but as a romantic drama it gets the job done and the cast is super across the board.
I didn’t love Blue Valentine, too downbeat, but the leads did very fine work.
Crazy, Stupid, Love is a delight. Snappy and sweet.
Love that you did a theme within the theme tying all of your films together with one performer. I did the same thing only with Bette Davis, the queen of verbal tongue lashing! She was Oscar nominated for all three of these pictures.
The Little Foxes (1941)-At the turn of the 20th century in the deep South the Hubbard brothers and their sister Regina Giddins (Bette Davis) are rapacious jackals whose love of money overrides all things. The brothers steal bonds from Regina’s husband Horace, a good man who abhors their avarice, behind his back for a business deal he refused. When Horace and Regina discover her brothers plan to replace the value of what was taken and keep any profits for themselves Regina wants them arrested and all the profits. But the gravely ill Horace tells her he intends to let them do as they planned as a payback to her for all her meanness through the years of their marriage. It does not go well. They tear into each other, she telling him he resents her because he knows he’s dying and begrudges her having what she wants after he’s gone, he telling her he sees her and her family for the succubi they are. She turns to him and with deadly malice and says “I hope you die…I hope you die soon…I’ll be WAITing for you to die.”
The Star (1952)-Margaret Elliott (Bette) was once a big Oscar winning movie star but now she’s fallen on hard times and is working as a sales clerk in a department store. Recognized by two customers who disparage her behind her back Margaret confronts them in an epic takedown “Take a good look ladies so there’s no doubt! It IS Margaret Elliott and it IS a disgrace! Margaret Elliott waiting on a couple of old bags like you.” One of them tells her they’ll call the manager. “Call the manager” Margaret says “Call the president….call the fire department! I won’t be here. I’m going back where I belong! I AM Margaret Elliott and I intend to STAY Margaret Elliott!”
Whatever Happened to Baby Jane? (1962)-Jane Hudson (Bette) and her sister Blanche (Joan Crawford) were once great stars. Jane as a child in vaudeville and Blanche later in films by which point Jane had become a troublesome drunken has-been. It all comes crashing down when Blanche is crippled in a mysterious accident and now the sisters, estranged and bitter reside in Blanche’s fading mansion locked in a miserable existence. Almost their every conversation is a verbal conflict but as Jane’s grip on reality becomes ever more tenuous things escalate and when Blanche tells her she wouldn’t be able to do the awful things she does if Blanche wasn’t in a wheelchair Jane screams “But ya are Blanche! Ya are in that chair!”
That’s a nice way to do theme that has such a wide theme in my opinion. 😛
I love love love your post!
Thank you so much! 🙂
Lmao Gosling….I like him but I always laugh watching him suffer and he shouts like a little girl 😀
He is well cast for those roles I think. 😀
Well, I LOVE THIS THEME. I would love to get into an argument with him in The Notebook, he should’ve been nominated for Blue Valentine, and he’s a god in Crazy Stupid Love. So I agree with every single pick basically. You’re so right, he does argue/scream a lot in his movies. There’s actually a montage on youtube of all his moments screaming in movies and it’s hysterical.
He has .. and that’s like in the nicest way possible.. that kind of face. Like he’d argue a lot. 😀 I’m sure it’s not true but like, based on his roles and he keeps on yelling, I’d say others see it too. 😀
It’s been so long so I vaguely remember the argument in The Notebook. Have totally forgotten the argument in Crazy Stupid Love and I have yet to see Blue Valentine.