Miscellaneous Movie Musings

[Alex]

The going ga-ga over "impersonations" is a relatively recent fad but over the years many have won.

Last year three of the five best actor nominations were characters that were real people (Truman Capote, Edward R. Murrow, Johnny Cash) and the year before it was four out of five (Ray Charles, Howard Hughes, J.M. Barrie, Paul Rusesabagina).

But in 2004 it was zero. 2003 it was zero. 2002 it was two (Muhammed Ali, John Nash). 2001, one (Jackson Pollack).

Hoffman's Truman Capote was dazzling and I have no complaint with him winning, but generally when playing a real person, particularly a prominent recent person, the performance starts in a hole with me. This can be overcome but I think it is harder to earn full credit from me.

Not entirely rational, but maybe I fear that if I accept Joaquin Phoenix's Johnny Cash as an acting tour de force then I'll have to think of Rich Little as a great thespian and I have incredibly negative Rich Little associations.

[Stan4dSteph]

I have to interject a slight derail here to say that I think the world is a better place for having Princess Diana in it, and I wouldn't compare her to Paris Hilton. Diana did a lot of valuable charitable work in her role as princess. I don't believe Paris has done anything for charity on a personal level, and probably won't ever do any unless mandated as part of community service.

I haven't seen "The Queen" yet, but I will likely go see it this coming weekend.

[Alex]

Like I said, I have no doubt that Diana was a better person.

But I'm talking about the source of her fame. She was famous for being famous. She didn't do anything remarkable to become famous she just had (acquired) famous relatives and famous money. And yes, she did good charitable works but so do millions of people.

Part of the irony of the whole situation, to me, is that people only cared about Diana because of her connection to royalty and then bitched when that very royalty acted like royalty.

[Ghoulish Delight]

Finally got Garden State to the top of our queue. It's been there for months (I probably put it in there because Natalie Portman's in it), but we kept bumping it down...until we got addicted to watching Scrubs and figured out that Garden State was written/directed/and starred in by Zach Braff.

It's a great film, especially in light of Braff wearing 3 hats. His character is brilliant, and his performance subtle.

However, I now owe George Lucas an apology. I think I've been blaming him as a director a lot for Natalie Portman's performance in the sequels. Turns out, she just kinda sucks.

[Eliza Hodgkins 1812]

Originally Posted by Ghoulish Delight

However, I now owe George Lucas an apology. I think I've been blaming him as a director a lot for Natalie Portman's performance in the sequels. Turns out, she just kinda sucks.

Man, I couldn't disagree with you more. Her performance in that movie is one of my all-time favorites. Garden State and Closer came out around the same time and I though she was a revelation in both. To each his and her own.

[Ghoulish Delight]

Originally Posted by Eliza Hodgkins 1812

Man, I couldn't disagree with you more. Her performance in that movie is one of my all-time favorites. Garden State and Closer came out around the same time and I though she was a revelation in both. To each his and her own.

She got better as the movie progressed, and while I liked certain aspects of her performance, her delivery was sorely lacking. Very forced and unnatural.

[Bornieo: Fully Loaded]

Originally Posted by Ghoulish Delight

It's a great film, especially in light of Braff wearing 3 hats. His character is brilliant, and his performance subtle.

I thought he did a good job inthe film as did Portman. Her better performace of all her films I've seen was in Garden State. I just didn't like the film a whole lot. It was entertaining, but it was just the same old story and nothing real new. It was a "seen it all before" film for me.

[mousepod]

Alex - Sorry you didn't groove on the Kurosawa flick. He's certainly a director whose work can alternately enthrall me or leave me cold. While his movies always appeal to my film buff intellectual interest, when I'm not in mood, sometimes they can be a real chore to get through.

To prepare myself for Pan's Labyrinth, I've spent a couple of nights over the last few weeks watching Chronos and The Devil's Backbone. I had written off del Toro in '97 upon my first exposure to his work (I recall asking Heather,"If Mimic is supposed to be a horror movie, why isn't it scary?") and was amused enough by Hellboy to reconsider (but not to get the director's cut DVD). Now that I've seen his two Spanish-language films, I'm beginning to understand what he's trying to do. I'm not sure if I need to see Blade II, but I think I know his vocabulary well enough to appreciate "The Citizen Kane of fantasy cinema" on the 29th.

[Eliza Hodgkins 1812]

This weekend I watched Tennessee Williams' <i>Baby Doll</i> for the first time. I cannot remember the last time a movie had me so hot and bothered. That swing scene is going to be burned into my memory until the day I die as one of the most erotically charged moments captured on screen. Kazan captured a girl's sexual awakening in a way that manged to be simultaneously graphic and subtle.

Eli Wallach, you make me feel positively wanton.

[Strangler Lewis]

Originally Posted by Eliza Hodgkins 1812

This weekend I watched Tennessee Williams' <i>Baby Doll</i> for the first time. I cannot remember the last time a movie had me so hot and bothered. That swing scene is going to be burned into my memory until the day I die as one of the most erotically charged moments captured on screen. Kazan captured a girl's sexual awakening in a way that manged to be simultaneously graphic and subtle.

Eli Wallach, you make me feel positively wanton.

Interesting story about the power of art, expectations of decorum, etc.:

When I was at Berkeley in the early '80s, one of the theatre grad students directed 27 Wagons Full of Cotton, the one-act play on which Baby Doll was based. Apparently thinking there wasn't enough conflict in the play, she cast a black woman as the wife. The actress was a nice girl from a family of Jehovah's Witnesses. Her father came to see the play with a number of female relatives. As the syndicate owner starts making his advances, the father starts talking to himself in the audience, "You better keep your hands off her," and things to that effect. Eventually, he stands up, "You, stop touching her, and YOU get off that stage." As the mostly student audience around him tried to explain that it was just a show and that he should sit down, he said, "No, no. I've seen that kind of thing all my life. I don't have to see it in pictures." He walked out of his seat and started for the stage, but the women he was with talked him into leaving. The actress apologized, and she finished the play.