Hello everyone! I wanted to announce that I created the last two social media accounts for my blog! On the Twitter and Instagram account, I will be making posts for new content on 18 Cinema Lane! If you have a Twitter and/or Instagram account, you can follow me by clicking on the ‘bird’ or ‘camera’ icon in the “Follow Me At” section on the right-hand side of the blog. The two featured images are screenshots I took of these accounts, so you can know what to expect if you visit them.
Last week, I made an announcement about the upcoming updates on 18 Cinema Lane. In that post, I said I’d be creating three social media accounts for the blog. Well, I’m ready to introduce the first of these three! 18 Cinema Lane now has an official Pinterest account! There, you can find boards that represent several major categories from this site. Also, I’ve added a board for movie recommendations. If you request a film to me, I’ll try to add it to that board. You can visit this Pinterest account when you click on the ‘P’ icon in the “Follow Me At” section on the right-hand side of the blog.
This is what you can expect when you visit 18 Cinema Lane’s official Pinterest account. Screenshot taken by me, Sally Silverscreen.
Hello everyone! I just wanted to let all my readers, followers, and visitors know about the updates that are happening on this blog. Within the big picture, these changes may seem small. But they are steps toward the growth of 18 Cinema Lane. The most recent change has been this site’s domain name. I purchased my blog’s domain, which means that the official address is 18cinemalane.com! This name change won’t affect the blog’s content; as you’ll receive the reviews, movie news stories, editorials, and other content I’ve been writing since the beginning. Throughout this month, I will also be creating three social media accounts for 18 Cinema Lane! Make sure to look out for those in the following weeks!
I would just like to remind all of you that April 30th is the last day to submit your nomination for the 2020 Star of the Year! All the details are located at these links:
Last year, I introduced the Hallmark Star of the Year Award. This part of the Gold Sally Awards gave my readers, followers, and visitors the opportunity to nominee someone with the Hallmark community. Out of those nominees, I chose one recipient to receive this honor. This year, I’m bringing this award back with two major changes. The nominees will no longer be limited to people associated with Hallmark. You can also nominate movie critics, movie bloggers, and movie related Youtubers. Other than that, the guidelines are still the same as the previous year. If you would like to learn more about those guidelines, you can visit the link to the previous year’s post here:
For this category, I’ll extend the deadline to Thursday, April 30th. Like last year, you can place your nomination in the comment section of this post.
In 2019, I started a special series of polls called The Gold Sally Awards. This was created as an interactive way to commemorate the anniversary of 18 Cinema Lane’s beginning. While I appreciate the success that came in the first year, I’m going to make a major change, in order to improve the awards. During each period of voting, I noticed that very few people cast their votes and participated in the Gold Sally Awards. Looking back on it, I realized something. While I do talk about Hallmark films, they’re not the only type of movie I discuss on this blog. Starting this year, the Gold Sally Awards will be more reflective of this blog and the kinds of films it covers. It will, hopefully, encourage more people to vote. So, the nominees for the 2nd Annual Gold Sally Awards will be based on the movies that were placed on my list of The Top 10 Best Movies I Saw in 2019! There also might be some nominees from the Honorable Mentions section as well! Like last year, the Gold Sally Awards will start in February. It will also commemorate the 2nd anniversary of the start of 18 Cinema Lane!
Last week, Zoe, from Hollywood Genes, nominated me for my third Liebster Award! It was such an unexpected surprise, as I just happened to notice my name while reading Zoe’s Liebster Award post! Thank you so much, Zoe, for this nomination! It amazes me how, in only two years, I’ve becoming a multi-award-winning blogger! These awards would have never been earned had it not been for the nominators who believed in me. If you want to visit Zoe, please visit her blog at this link:
And now, for the official rules of the Liebster Award!
Thank the nominator in your award post.
Place the award logo somewhere on your blog.
Share 11 facts about yourself.
Answer the questions your nominator provided.
Nominate up to 11 nominees.
Ask your nominees 11 questions.
Since steps 1 and 2 are completed, let’s move on to step 3!
The 11 Facts
I’ve never won a trophy before
My favorite style of pizza is Deep Dish
I only went on one out-of-country trip
I’m a proud owner of a cardboard standup from the movie theater (it’s of Bucky from Captain America: Civil War)
I’ve participated in 40 blogathons (and counting)
Once, I went Black Friday shopping (and I wasn’t a fan of it)
I’ve donated my hair to charity twice
I, sometimes, journal in my spare time
I attended the midnight premiere of Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: Part 2
I love Fuze Iced Tea in raspberry flavor
I own two books that were signed by their respective authors
Since this is an award post, I thought this royal image of Bucky was an appropriate choice. Screenshot taken by me, Sally Silverscreen.
My Answers to Zoe’s 11 Questions:
1. What is the strangest or most off-brand topic/thing you’ve blogged about?
Out of all the 325 articles I’ve ever published, there’s only two I can think of that are the closest to being off-brand. The first is my entry for the Murder, She Wrote Cookalong. While I have talked about Murder, She Wrote before, that was the first and, so far, only time I ever talked about cooking on my blog. The second is my review for California Angel by Nancy Taylor Rosenberg. Yes, I occasionally talk about books on 18 Cinema Lane. However, this was the only time where my review was completely negative. In the case where I review a movie I don’t like, I always try to share the things I liked about it. This is to show my readers how to find the good in almost any film. When it comes to California Angel, I just couldn’t find anything good to say about it. If you want to check out these articles, I’ll provide the links to them here:
I’ve shared this before, but I’m more than happy to share it again! In R.J. Palacio’s book, Wonder, Auggie says “Everyone in the world should get a standing ovation at least once in their life because we all overcometh the world”. That quote is what gave me the initiative to start 18 Cinema Lane! It also has become a statement that I try my best to follow as I continue to blog. With 176 followers, it looks like Auggie’s message has resonated with others as well!
3. & 4.Recast one of your favorite classic movies (pre 1970s) with modern actors & Recast one of your favorite modern movies with classic actors
For questions three and four, I decided to take a different approach. Instead of picking my favorite movies (because the acting is one of the reasons why they’re my favorites), I picked two movies that I didn’t dislike, but could be improved with certain casting choices. The movie I chose for question number three is Edward, My Son. In my review of that film, I shared that I wasn’t a fan of Edward’s absence. To correct this creative error, I would cast Charlie Plummer in that role. Because he’s in his early 20s, Charlie would be old enough to portray Edward in his teenage and young adult years. Also, he has a good amount of experience acting in films and television shows.
The film I chose for question number four is The Christmas Card. While this movie had stand-out performances, I feel the performances from the leads were not as strong or memorable as they could have been. So, I would switch them for Cary Grant and Carole Lombard. Two weeks ago, I reviewed In Name Only for the Carole Lombard Memorial Blogathon. While watching that film, I enjoyed seeing Cary and Carole’s individual performances and felt their on-screen chemistry was really good! If cast in The Christmas Card, I could totally see Cary portray a soldier in the military and Carole as the small-town woman with a big heart!
5. What is a book that you would love to see adapted into a film and why?
As I said in my post, A Movie Blogger’s Christmas Wish-List 2019, I would love to see Murder on Ice by Alina Adams become a Hallmark Movies & Mysteries film! In fact, I think it would be great if the entire Figure Skating Mystery series were adapted into a Hallmark Movies & Mysteries series! If you want to learn more about why I feel this way, check out my Wish-List at this link:
6. What do you consider the biggest misstep behind the scenes in the cinema world (i.e. not casting someone for a role, a specific directorial choice, a remake that shouldn’t have happened, an interview that went on to haunt someone, etc.)
In the mid to late ‘90s, Dreamworks devoted a lot of time, effort, and talent to one of their earlier releases, The Prince of Egypt. Because of this, it caused another project of theirs, The Road to El Dorado, to become an afterthought. This led to the movie receiving several setbacks, from a delayed release to a poor advertising campaign. These things resulted in a box office failure. If Dreamworks had given both films an equal amount of attention, maybe they both would have been successful. Years after these missteps, however, The Road to El Dorado is remembered more fondly than The Prince of Egypt. So, I guess The Road to El Dorado didn’t completely lose.
7. What do you consider the most fascinating film community scandal (past or present)?
In 2013, Legends of Oz: Dorothy’s Return arrived in theaters to scathing reviews and a disastrous box office. At that time, however, the public wasn’t aware of the behind-the-scenes issues that led to the movie’s premiere. Years later, it was revealed that the entire operation was a scam. As of 2019, a lawsuit was filed against the creators of the film. If this lawsuit turns into an official case, more legal action could take place. Despite all of this happening, very few people have shed light on this situation. If you’re interested in learning more about this incident, AniMat, from the Youtube channel, ElectricDragon505, created two very informative and well documented videos about it on his channel. These videos are called “The History of Legends of Oz: Animation’s Biggest Scam” and “The UPDATED History of Legends of Oz: The Scam’s Return (including Noah Centineo)”.
8. Which actor or actress do you think died way too soon and where would you have liked to see their career go had they lived?
For this question, I have two choices. They are Heather O’Rourke and Judith Barsi. For those of you who don’t know, Heather portrayed Carol Anne in the Poltergeist trilogy and Judith provided the voices for Ducky in The Land Before Time and Ann-Marie in All Dogs Go to Heaven. Both of them passed away before they became teenagers. According to a post I found about Judith, she “loved voice acting, and wanted to do it into adulthood”. So, I’m guessing that, had she lived, Judith would have become a successful voice actress and probably one of the most beloved in that field. As for Heather, I honestly can’t say where her career would have gone. In a video from the Youtube channel, Daze with Jordan the Lion, it was said that Heather had a successful film and television career. Also, there’s always the possibility she could have fallen in love with a different profession. If you want to watch Jordan’s video, you can find it on their channel under the title, “#1185 What Happened to HEATHER O’ROURKE of POLTERGEIST Grave (11/4/19)”. You can also check out the post about Judith Barsi I referenced at this link:
9. Which actor or actress missed their calling in a specific genre and why do you think they would or would have excelled in this vein?
According to his IMDB filmography, Burl Ives has several voice acting credits to his name. However, most of these roles consist of narrating or singing a song. I think it would have been fascinating if Burl had devoted his acting career to voice acting. The characters he could have voiced and the movies he could have starred in would have been interesting!
10. Which 6 guests would you invite to your Hollywood party and why these specific 6?
After thinking it over, I chose these six people based on their impact on me or because I feel they deserve more recognition. These people are the following:
Sebastian Stan (He portrays my favorite superhero in the MCU, Bucky Barnes)
Vincent Perez (Despite watching only two of his movies, I’ve come to appreciate Vincent as an actor)
Cree Summer (She provided the voice for Kida, my favorite Disney princess)
R.J. Palacio (the author of Wonder)
John Christian Plummer (one of the screenwriters of Hallmark Movies & Mysteries’ Mystery 101 series and Charlie Plummer’s dad)
Jonathan Hall Kovacs (he portrayed my favorite character from Little House on the Prairie, Matthew Rogers)
11. Which onscreen outfit would you wear everyday if you could and why did you pick this one?
I gave this last question a lot of thought. In the end, though, I chose the outfit Jesse wore in the climax of Queen of the Damned! The primary components of this outfit consist of a red tank top and a long black skirt with gold sequins and embroidery. What’s great about this outfit is how it’s a good choice for warmer weather. When it’s cold out, layers can be added to the outfit. If the weather is too hot, you can just stay indoors.
Now that the first day of November has finally arrived, it’s time for me to reflect on my participation in this year’s ‘31 Spooks of October’. First of all, I’d like to thank K, from K at the Movies, for allowing me to contribute to their event. I enjoyed reading their thoughts on various short stories and I can’t wait to see what’s in store for next year’s line-up. As I look at the collection of articles that I’ve published, I can honestly say that I’m proud of what I accomplished. While I didn’t complete everything I wanted to, I did create a variety of posts that are interesting and, hopefully, entertaining. These articles are:
What disappoints me is how I wasn’t able to complete my reading goal. But this experience has taught me a lesson. Before the month of October started, I thought that I would be able to read five books in one month. However, several blog related projects prevented this from happening. I did read more for this year’s Spookathon readathon by reading two books instead of just one! Also, this was my first year taking part in the Sbooktober readathon! After this experience, I think it would be better to focus on reading two books a month. As for the books I didn’t read? I’ll read them this November, especially since I have started Murder on Ice. If I were to participate in ‘31 Spooks of October’ again, I think publishing a post a week is a good idea. That way, I can contribute to the event and complete others projects that I want to publish.
Last week, the Brannan sisters, from Pure Entertainment Preservation Society, nominated me for my second Liebster Award! This makes it my ninth award since starting 18 Cinema Lane! I couldn’t be more thrilled to receive this honor! Before I begin this post, a thank you is in order. To the Brannan sisters, thank you so much for thinking of me when it came time to choose nominees. You have always been so thoughtful to me and my blog, which is something I will continually admire. Now, let the Liebster Award post begin! Let’s start with a list the official rules of this award, which are:
Thank the blogger who nominated you.
Put the logo of the award on your blog.
Share 11 facts about yourself.
Answer your nominator’s questions.
Nominate up to 11 bloggers.
For your nominees, provide a series of questions (11 is the recommended maximum)
What famous, beloved, or iconic classic film leaves you cold, even though a lot of other people love it?
Last year, The Birds became the worst movie I saw in 2018. While this film is considered a classic by many, I was not a fan of it. To me, the movie was boring and didn’t build up to anything. I felt it was a waste of time.
What actors are your favorite classic film couple, even if they only made one movie together?
One of my favorite movies is Portrait of Jennie. In that film, Joseph Cotten and Jennifer Jones had great on-screen chemistry! They also gave a good performance individually and as a pair. I’m not sure if Joseph and Jennifer starred in any other movies together, but this is the answer I’ll choose for this question.
What classic film genre is your least favorite?
For this question, I’ll say the sci-fi genre. Not because I have anything against it, but because, within the scope of classic cinema, this is the genre that I watch the least.
What type of classic movie musical do you prefer, one where people are constantly singing or one in which all the music is logical and in context with the story?
I like musicals that feature music in a logical way that also fits the context of the story. A few years ago, I tried watching the 2012 version of Les Miserables. I ended up turning the movie off after about twenty minutes. One of the reasons was because of how often the characters were singing. It came across as annoying instead of entertaining.
What novel, book, or story do you really wish was made with certain actors in the Golden Era of Hollywood?
One of the most famous lost films is Four Devils. Despite what the title suggests, this story, from what I’ve heard, doesn’t sound sinister or creepy. I would have loved to see this movie receive a remake within the Breen Code era. That way, this narrative wouldn’t be completely lost to time.
What modern film can you most visualize as a classic film with particular actors in the lead roles?
In August, I reviewed I Never Promised You a Rose Garden for “A Month Without the Code”. Because this was the only rated R production that was included in my roster of movies, it would be fascinating to see what this story would look like as a Breen Code film. How different would it be from the movie we ended up receiving? That would an interesting question to answer!
What is your least favorite performance from your favorite actor or actress? Why?
I have two examples to share. The first is Mickey Rooney’s roles in It’s a Mad, Mad, Mad, Mad World and Breakfast at Tiffany’s. While Mickey’s role in the first film consisted of yelling and arguing, his role in the second film didn’t add anything to the story and feels like a product of its time. The second example is Allison Scagliotti’s performance in Back When We Were Grownups. I understand that her appearance in this film took place toward the beginning of her career. However, out of all the young actors that starred in this movie, she was overshadowed the most. Because she’s gained acting experience through several television shows, I think that she would be given a larger role now if she were cast in another Hallmark Hall of Fame project.
What is your favorite performance from your least favorite actor or actress? Why?
Personally, I’m not a fan of Andie MacDowell. This is because, in my opinion, she is one of Hallmark’s weaker actresses. But her performance in Hallmark Hall of Fame’s The Beach House was such a pleasant surprise! It felt like that role was specifically created just for her, highlighting her acting strengths and minimizing her acting weaknesses. Andie did a really good job with the material she was given!
What is one movie that made you appreciate an actor or actress you didn’t think you liked before?
For this question, I actually have three examples. The first one is Matthew McConaughey. I have seen some of his films, but it wasn’t until I saw his performance in The Newton Boys that I truly came to appreciate his acting abilities. Matthew’s portrayal of Willis Newton was both light-hearted and dramatic, something that is very difficult to pull off. My next example is Vincent Perez. While I enjoyed his performance in Queen of the Damned, his performance in Swept from the Sea became one of the best acting performances I’ve ever seen in my entire life! As I said in my review for this film, Vincent portrayed his character, Yanko, with such captivation, it came across as heart-warming and heart-breaking. The last example is Jack Turner. This particular actor has appeared in several Hallmark films. Recently, I saw Forever in My Heart and Jack’s performance was one of the best I’ve seen from a Hallmark movie this year, so far! He did a good job when pulling off an Irish accent and his portrayal of Charlie O’Hanlon appeared natural and believable.
Can you name a film adaption of a book that you think was better than the book?
I have two examples for this question. “The Beach House” and “Rome in Love” are books that I read after I saw their respective films. I thought “The Beach House” was ok, but I did not like “Rome in Love”. Hallmark Hall of Fame’s The Beach House and Rome in Love were both enjoyable movies that I thought were better than their source material. In fact, the latter is, so far, my favorite Hallmark production of 2019!
What is a remake which you like better than the original film? Why?
I will pick the 1996 version of The Hunchback of Notre Dame. I tried watching the 1939 version of this story, but I just couldn’t get into it. Maybe I’ll give it a second chance during next year’s “Clean Movie Month”. However, it all depends on whether I can rent it.
Created by me, Sally Silverscreen, on Adobe Spark.
Hello everyone! If you’re interested in joining my blogathon, Siskel and Ebert at the Blogathon, you still have time! All you have to do is leave your topic request in the comment section of the post, “Announcing my new blogathon called ’Siskel and Ebert at the Blogathon’!”. This post can be found when you click the blogathon banner at the right-hand side of the page or by visiting this link:
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