Wednesday, August 30, 2006

FB Awards Retroactive 1991

Yesterday I read that "Sarah Connor", a character near and dear to my heart from the first two excellent Terminator films, would be revived for a television series. Conceptually that might be a good idea for an old fashioned series --rather Incredible Hulkish if you stop to think on it: a violent misunderstood hero who is continually on the run from authorities.

So I thought this was as good a time as any to bring back the periodic retroactive awards. These are works in progress as they don't take place in real time like the annual Film Bitch Awards. Therefore they're fluid and subject to change unlike the traditional present tense awards which are set in stone (even if I wish to change them). You know Oscar sometimes regrets their decisions, too. We've already covered 82, 83, 85, 95, and 99.


So without further ado, some brief musings on the class of 1991. Thelma, Louise ("the one with the tighty hairdo"), Hannibal, Bugsy, Morticia, and the recently (at the time) ex-ed Mrs. Tom Cruise, Mimi Rogers.

Note to Katie Holmes: As soon as you divorce Tom Cruise you'll give an awesome performance. That's just what happens. At least it did for Mimi in 1991 & Nicole in 2001. Maybe you should shoot for 2011?

22 comments:

adam k. said...

Immediate impressions:

OMG, that picture of River Phoenix is the hottest pic I've seen of anyone in like all my life. He is hotness personified in this film. Especially that scene. And ESPECIALLY that pic. Is it on the internet?

Also, I assume you meant to put T&L in best ending, but forgot cause it was too obvious. Cause it's only the best. ending. EVER. from anything. ever.

And I had no idea you loved Harvey Keitel in T&L that much. What film was he actually nommed for again? Did you not love him in that?

And I had no idea Geena Davis was anything but a close second to Sarandon in best actress for you that year. Especially since you always said how Jodie hadn't truly won you over until Nell. I think I personally love Geena in T&L maybe even more than Sarandon. I just cannot get enough of her as Thelma. But it's hard to argue with Jodie Foster's win, since voters couldn't choose between Geena and Susan. Rare that an actor's second oscar is more deserved than the first one. Or maybe I'm just thinking too much about Hilary Swank right now.

Anyway, nice awards.

God, River Phoenix was the hottest and most stellar actor ever. A modern James Dean. A legend. Why was he so stupid with the drugs? If only he hadn't been so stupid with the drugs, he would still have been hot to this day. And just about your age, Nathaniel. OMG, his birthday was a week ago. He would've been 36. STILL woulda been hot. Damn.

note: I have actually only seen River Phoenix in My Own Private Idaho and still I think these things. I'm smitten for life.

Anonymous said...

I almost fell off my chair when I saw this post...

...will be back with comments soon!

Anonymous said...

I’m an eternally devoted “Film Bitch Enthusiast.” Yet my own 90’s treasures seem to always end up in your 6 – 10 slots (The Silence of the Lambs, Leaving Las Vegas) or completely absent (American Beauty). But still I lust for more insights into the mind of a rare cinematic scholar.

BEST PICTURE
Well since LAMBS was unjustly shunned here, I guess I can be happy my second favorite film of 91, T&L, took your prestigious Best Picture gold metal. What a gem that film is and the ending… one of cinema’s greatest. (It’s funny how gay cowboys and feminist troublemakers have such trouble in Oscar’s top category- but they have no problem handing it to a film which involves cannibalism and transsexuals murdering / skinning women.) I was very happy MOPI as well as B&TB where your lineup. T2 was one hell of a ride but over LAMBS? No fu*king way!

BEST DIRECTOR
LAMBS makes it’s first appearance (yes!) only to lose (no) to Ridley’s triumphant vision of American’s dreams… and limitations.

BEST ACTOR
Damn! Phoenix or Hopkins… it’s NOT fair. Although the National Society of Film Critics Awards tend to annoy me more often then not, they deserved a pat on the back for handing Phoenix their Best Actor award. Oscar is such a loser- how could they ignore that and a Film Bitch GOLD metal?

BEST ACTRESS

I understand and support the love for T&L is the writing and directing categories. The acting was stellar but would it have killed you, Nathaniel, to hand one of the greatest performances of the 90’s (Ms. Foster’s Claire) the gold having already given T&L Best Picture, Director and Screenplay?
Honestly, I’ve been on the rocks lately with Foster but her work in LAMBS was flawless. Consider three key scenes- waking to the car / quietly sobbing after her first visit with the doctor – her final confrontation with Lector face to face – and that unbearably intense basement final. She earned her Globe, BAFTA and Oscar hands down.
I’ll admit Sarandon was good as always. That scene when she’s starring at the old lady from the car – genius. (But again, that felt like more due to Ridley)
Anyway, I think I’m detecting a little Pfeiffer bias here. Perhaps knowing that had she not been “freighted” by the material she would WITHOUT QUESTION have an Oscar on her shelf disturbs you? Hmmm. Pfeiffer would have made one hell of a Claire Starling too!

BEST SUPPORTING ACTOR
Harvey Keitel- ? Naw. I’d have given the gold to Tommy Lee Jones for sure.

BEST SUPPORTING ACTRESS
That year was defiantly between Lewis and Ruehl. And I’d had even given Kidman a nod as well.


SCREENPLAYS
If you ever make your 90’s writing and tech. winners clearly evident (Grr) I can only pray you will hand the flawless adaptation of Thomas Harris’s “Lambs” novel your prestigious gold prize. To deprive “Lambs” of all your top 8 gold prizes would just be wrong. And THELMA should take the original screenplay prize easy.

CINEMATOGRAPHY
Personally, I’d go with Thelma & Louise. But I get why JFK netted the Oscar.

MUSIC – ORIGINAL SCORE
Oh, I wonder.

Overall this was a delicious treat. Thank you so much and please don’t think of me as spoiled when I beg more, more, more!

Anonymous said...

That was meant to be Clarice. Its very late.

Anonymous said...

SOTL is just one of the those films that is beyond one of my favorites. I can't name one film in the last twenty years which I could watch more. While its subject matter is of the macabre, it's its dialogue that I love quoting along. I would very much like it if another film came along sometime soon that made me feel the same way.

Glenn Dunks said...

God, I love these so much!! I have word documents for every year so that when I see movies I can just add them to each year's thing so I never forget which I liked.

"with the runners up being Kevin Costner JFK and Jeff Bridges JFK but there must been someone major I missed."

Uh, YESYOUBLOODYWELLDID!!

Oh, sorry bout that. I don't know if you liked it that much (it didn't show up anywhere) but Hugo Weaving was stellar in Proof. As were Russell Crowe and Genevieve Picot in supporting roles. And Best Actress in a Limited/Cameo role? Heather Mitchell for the same movie. God, I love Proof. "I'M BLIND!!!" LOL

For me:

Best Picture
Delicatessen
JFK
My Own Private Idaho
Terminator 2*
Thelma & Louise

Best Director (I didn't know who to cut)
James Cameron
Jonathan Demme
Barbra Streisand
Gus Van Sant
Ridley Scott
Oliver Stone*

Best Actress
Geena Davis
Jodie Foster
Bette Midler
Susan Sarandon*
Reese Witherspoon

Best Actor
Robert DeNiro
Anthony Hopkins
Nick Nolte
River Phoenix*
Hugo Weaving

Supporting Actress
Linda Hamilton*
Tess Harper
Juliette Lewis
Gevevieve Picot
Gena Rowlands

Supporting Actor
Russell Crowe*
Tommy Lee Jones
Robert Patrick
Brad Pitt
Sam Waterson

Unfortunately I haven't seen Rambling Rose, The Fischer King and Bugsy, which feature prominantly in your awards.

River Phoenix was the personifation of SEX in Idaho. Just brilliant.

Anonymous said...

Can't wait 'till you do one of my favorite years - '96!

NATHANIEL R said...

well bare in mind people these are rough run throughs. the gold medals and such are not set in stone. other than silence, thelma, and a couple of others i haven't seen most of these in well over a decade.

If i ever get a chance to review, expect the lineups to change.

NATHANIEL R said...

*bear* in mind

god.

Yaseen Ali said...

Excellent, more FB Awards are always good.

But I'm surprised that Brooke Smith did not get a mention in your Supporting Actress rundown for Lambs considering your love. On a side note, it's fun seeing her pop up now and then - Melinda and Melinda, In Her Shoes, The Namesake, etc. Now someone give her the lead role already, dammit!

Sid said...

Great! Phoenix would be in my "Best of the Decade" too.

Anonymous said...

(like Camel, I keep my awards in WORD as well)

BEST PICTURE
The Silence of the Lambs
RU: Thelma & Louise

BEST DIRECTION
The Silence of the Lambs- Jonathan Demme
RU: Thelma & Louise- Ridley Scott

BEST ACTOR
Anthony Hopkins, The Silence of the Lambs
RU: River Phoenix, My Own Private Idaho

BEST ACTRESS
Jodie Foster, The Silence of the Lambs
RU: Susan Sarandon, Thelma & Louise

BEST SUPPORTING ACTOR
Tommy Lee Jones, JFK
RU: Ben Kingsley, Bugsy

BEST SUPPORTING ACTRESS
Mercedes Ruehl, The Fisher King
RU: Nicole Kidman, Billy Bathgate

BEST ADAPTED SCREENPLAY
The Silence of the Lambs
RU: Europa, Europa

BEST ORIGINAL SCREENPLAY
Thelma & Louise
RU: The Fisher King

BEST CINEMATOGRAPHY
Thelma & Louise
RU: Bugsy

BEST MUSIC (ORIGINAL SCORE)
Beauty and the Beast
RU: Thelma & Louise

- Surprisingly, my top picks were fairly similar to Oscars- but let’s face it, this was a rare event. Films as brilliant, disturbing and innovate as LAMBS and T&L rarely get any Oscar recognition at all.

PS- Nathaniel, do your top 5 films from your lists section reflect your Best Picture nominees (in their given year) from the 90s. Or is it possible that when you post oh say, The FB Award for 1996, that a film could be in your Best Picture lineup that was previosley ranked lower in your top 10 list?

And speaking of 96...

Madonna
Frances McDormand
Courtney Love
Juliette Binoche
Edward Norton
Drew Barrymore

... that is going to be one kick ass FB retro!

adam k. said...

Yeah, FYC: 1996 for "next FB bitch awards retro"

I too was a diehard Silence of the Lambs enthusiast/supporter until I saw Thelma & Louise, and was ABSOLUTELY blown away. Brilliant. Just brilliant. I could watch it every second of every day. Silence, on the other hand, I could watch maybe once a month. It just doesn't have the same grand emotional pull. I would at least give it best adapted, though pic/director/original scr. all go to T&L easily. And I don't begrudge Jodie her win. She was the obvious choice given the vote split.

The score for T&L is also brilliant, even if it is basically one theme played over and over. One of the great film themes of all time. Hans Zimmer has actually said that it's his favorite thing that he's written.

Anonymous said...

I can't figure out whether or not 1991 was just a great year, or - since everyone's list (mine included) looks pretty similar - whether the pickings were slim.

My Top 10:
1 THE SILENCE OF THE LAMBS
2 THELMA AND LOUISE
3 MY OWN PRIVATE IDAHO
4 RAISE THE RED LANTERN
5 LIFE IS SWEET
6 IN BED WITH MADONNA (TRUTH OR DARE)
7 JFK
8 HEARTS OF DARKNESS: A FILMMAKER’S APOCALYPSE
9 THE DOUBLE LIFE OF VERONIQUE
10 TERMINATOR 2: JUDGMENT DAY

BEST ACTOR
River Phoenix (Idaho)

BEST ACTRESS
Jodie Foster (Silence)

BEST SUPPORTING ACTOR
Anthony Hopkins (Silence - come on, it's 20 minutes people!)

BEST SUPPORTING ACTRESS
Mary Stuart Masterson (Fried Green Tomatoes)

Rob

Anonymous said...

1. The Commitments (Alan Parker)
2. Night on Earth (Jim Jarmusch)
3.La Double vie de Véronique (Krzysztof Kieślowski)
4. Thelma & Louise (Ridley Scott)
5. JFK (Oliver Stone)
6. Barton Fink (Joel Coen)
7. Tacones lejanos (Pedro Almodóvar)
8. My Own Private Idaho (Gus Van Sant)
9. Europa (Lars von Trier)
10. Naked Lunch (David Cronenberg)

Arun said...

Love the nominees, Nathaniel. Especially all the love for Thelma and Louise (I actually did cave in and gave my BA award to both Sarandon and Davis). Gotta ask if you meant to no list Alan Rickman for 'Truly Madly Deeply'. Given your love for Stevenson, I'd assume you loved him too. Finally what about Sam L. Jackson in 'Jungle Fever' and also La Pfeiffer? She's amazing in 'Frankie and Johnny'. I saw it again recently and she blew me away.

Glenn Dunks said...

1. Terminator 2: Judgement Day
2. Thelma & Louise
3. JFK
4. Delicatessen
5. My Own Private Idaho
6. Silence of the Lambs
7. The Man in the Moon
8. The Prince of Tides
9. Proof
10. Toy Soldiers (I had to through this guilty pleasure in!)

NATHANIEL R said...

i haven't seen Frankie & Johnny since like 93 so i have a very dim recollection.

i know it probably seems like i will never get to it but i do plan on cementing some of these years at some point and calling it a day but to do that i have to have little mini dvd festivals at home. we shall see.

always so many projects.

but EVERYONE needs to see MIMI ROGERS in the RAPTURE because NOBODY has and she's awesome.

Anonymous said...

I have The Rapture on DVD. She is terrific; it's true.

Rob

Anonymous said...

Since you asked...

For your consideration – 1991

Best Picture
At Play in the Fields of the Lord
!Ay, Carmela!
Dead Again
The Elementary School
Europa
Europa, Europa
Lovers
Raise the Red Lantern

Best Director
Hector Babenco (At Play in the Fields of the Lord)
Barry Levinson (Bugsy)
Steven Soderbergh (Kafka)
Oliver Stone (JFK)
Barbra Streisand (The Prince of Tides)

Best Actor in a Leading Role
Gerard Depardieu (Cyrano de Bergerac)
Robert DeNiro (Cape Fear)
Al Pacino (Frankie & Johnny)

Best Actress in a Leading Role
Victoria Abril (Lovers)
Bette Midler (For the Boys)
Michelle Pfeiffer (Frankie & Johnny)
Theressa Russel (Whore)

Best Actress in a Supporting Role
Christine Lahti (The Doctor)
Jessica Tandy (Fried Green Tomatoes)

Best Actor in a Supporting Role
Michael Lerner (Barton Fink)
John Goodman (Barton Fink)
Anthony Hopkins (The Silence of the Lambs)
Derek Jacobi (Dead Again)
Joe Pesci (JFK)
Aidan Quinn (At Play in the Fields of the Lord)

Best Screenplay Adaptation
At Play in the Fields of the Lord
Frankie & Johnny
Fried Green Tomatoes
The Prince of Tides
Whore

Best Original Screenplay
Bugsy
Dead Again
Europa (von Trier)
For the Boys

Best Cinematography
Kafka
The Prince of Tides

Best Editing
Europa

Best Original Score
Dead Again
JFK
The Prince of Tides

Best Song
An American Tail: Fievel Goes West
Jungle Fever
Night on Earth
Robin Hood: Prince of Thieves
Salmonberries

Best Art Direction
The Addams Family
Cyrano de Bergerac
The Prince of Tides
The Voyage of Captain Fracassa

Best Costume Design
The Addams Family
All the Mornings of the World
Cyrano de Bergerac
Hook
Madame Bovary
The Voyage of Captain Fracassa

Best Makeup
The Addams Family
Cyrano de Bergerac
Hook

Best Visual Effects
Backdraft
Hook

Best Sound
Backdraft
The Rocketeer

Best Sound Effects
Backdraft
The Silence of the Lambs

NATHANIEL R said...

wait Lovers was that year? I loved Victoria Abril in that.

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