Tuesday, April 28, 2009

'Veronica Lake'

You're different Officer White. You're the first man in five years who didn't tell me I look like Veronica Lake inside of a minute.
You look better than Veronica Lake

31 comments:

mrripley said...

why oh why did russell not get a best actor nod in a weak best actor field in 97 and why oh why does ms basinger not get her credit for her perf here which i rewatched recently and although nowhere near the sublimeness of julianne moore in boogie nights or my winner sigourney weaver in the ice storm is sure better than cusack,driver and stuart,tell me nat what where your 97 top 5 supp actresses.

Jack said...

97 was such an awesome year. "Titanic", "L.A. Confidential" and "Good Will Hunting" are all in my top 10 of all time. It was also the first year that I started watching the Oscars (because I was a "Titanic" megafan), so it holds a special place for me.

As such, I think the next year you take a look back at for your personal awards should be 1997, Nat.

billybil said...

Hot damn, I wish Russell Crowe would tell me I looked better than Veronica Lake. He'd be lying but what the hell! I'd make him glad he said it!

Walter L. Hollmann said...

i don't know what it is, but I just cannot get into this movie. I feel like a putz because of it, but there it is. And I do feel Basinger was boring, and now I'm just reminded of how irritated that makes me.

Aaron said...

Every time I watch this movie, I wonder if either of them will ever be this good again.

2nd favorite movie of the 90s (just behind "Pulp Fiction")

FrenchGirl said...

f***ing great movie!!!

Karen said...

I need to watch that movie again.

Bernardo S said...

I absolutely hated this movie... *prepares to get beaten*

I also thought that Basinger was in no way Oscar-worthy.

Anonymous said...

I definitely ditto the "great fucking movie" sentiment, but I also ditto the "Basinger is BORING" sentiment. With a film that has so many brilliant performances... HERS is the one that gets the recognition and statues??? Really????? Really.

Did they want to award a sexy performance? You did nominated Julianne Moore, remember? 1000000x sexier than Basinger. Did they want to award a performance with a sob scene? Minnie Driver did it 100x better.

Anonymous said...

Hiss. Boo. Get out of here, Kim.

Go live in a trailer with Eminem.

Derreck said...

Hotness! I only watched the movie a few years back, but i must admit i was surprised that she was the only one out of the whole cast who really got something.

But she was sexy in the movie. Sexy should always get awards. But then that means that Russell Crowe and Guy Pierce should have got awards too though. But seriously, Crowe and Pierce did a fantastic job inside an already compelling movie with a very decent cast. Who needs awards when you're a part of something so good?

But back to Basinger! she was just so glam in the movie. i loved her in that white gown...(it's the one she's wearing on most of the posters and the DVD cover) yes, it's totally superficial, but screw it. i'm allowed to be superficial at least one a month.

Anonymous said...

Blah. One of the weakest BSA years ever.... Moore was robbed.
- Sean C.

Wayne B. said...

Another awesome movie, it would've been awesome if it won Best Picture back in the day. My personal favourite of Russell Crowe's performances. His tenderness really struck me, love the scenes between him and Lynn.
Basinger's great but I still wish Julianne Moore would've won that year.

Bing147 said...

She looks good but he's lying out his ass, she ain't no Veronica Lake 0_-

Billy D said...

Oh God, I remember when this clip was played at EVERY SINGLE AWARDS CEREMONY! It was so obnoxious. I hate it when clips are ubiquitous! Someone should do a countdown of the worst of all time (especially because its usually the most banal moments of the films that tend to get aggrandized for some reason)

Fabrizzio said...

She was kinda boring. I'm sure she was trying to be low-key and stuff but.....totally agree with whoever said "out of all the performances, THIS is the one that won the oscar?" I don't think anyone else was even nominated which is RIDICULOUS. I remember right after I saw it I asked my dad "so Kevin Spacey, Russell Crowe, and Guy Pearce were all nominated right?" and he was like "no." But Kim won. huh? over julianne moore? wuuuuut.
That said, I don't hate the performance. It just doesn't stand out.

Victor S said...

Even knowing that Julianne Moore's performance in Boogie Nights was simply the best performance of 1997 in any categorie, Kim Basinger's winning that Oscar is totally understandable and coherent with the Academy way of thinking: An actress not known for being any kind good at acting surprising them - Hey, I'm not just one of beautiful womem in Hollywood, I can really act!!! - no one believed that she had anything like that performance on her; It was kind of comeback for Basinger - one was taking her seriously anymore, she was a fading star; and it was a best picture nominee, the best reviewed movie of the year, the only one that was even tought as a threat to Titanic (it didnt come even close), it had to win somewhere: so it won in the only categorie in which it wasnt running against Titanic (Adapted Screenplay) and in one of Titanic's weak points (acting).
As much as Julianne Moore performance as Amber Waves is probably the best supporting performance of the 90's she had no shot at winning: It was her first nomination, she wasnt a major star, Boogie Nights was a movie about the porn industry and didnt have support in the whole Academy - just in the acting and writting braches.

NATHANIEL R said...

victor s -- you're right on every count. Julianne Moore wasn't ever in the running. The only person who could have beat Basinger was Gloria Stuart ... but i'm glad she didn't.

I like Basinger (in general) more than most and I have no problem with the nomination but, yeah, Moore was robbed. Christina Ricci was robbed (not even nominated). etcetera

Bryan said...

Yeah, but where's Kim now? "Boogie Nights" was only the start for Julianne!

Acting well is the best revenge: if only Julianne could work on that revenge with a few more projects worthy of her.

Rachel said...

Basinger's done well in "8 Mile" (and especially) "The Door in the Floor". Her career's really no worse than Julianne's: "Evolution" (after two noms), "The Forgotten", "Prize Winner of Defiance Ohio", "Laws of Attraction", "Freedomland" and "Next" (after four noms).

Glenn said...

That year's awards were the first year I watched the Oscars properly and I was surprised at Basinger's win, but hadn't seen the movie. I was still surprised when I eventually did see it.

Victor S said...

Give me an Oscar winner and I'll give you a theory!!!

Davey said...

The true best picture of 1997

(though Kim Basinger winning for this is still one of those "seriously?" wins that never lessens over time)

Deborah said...

Holy crap, I swear to the gods I was just thinking of that line ("you're better than Veronica Lake") this morning in the (April) shower and then logged on and saw this.

So. Weird.

lylee said...

One of my favorite movies. Evah. Probably my favorite Russell Crowe performance. Even in this moment -as I recall, right after he says this, you see him "shake out of it" and put the mask down. There were so many moments like this - moments of great acting - from him, Guy Pearce, and Kevin Spacey. Don't know if any of them have since equalled the work they did here.

Kim was fine. Rather good, in fact. Definitely not the one who deserved awards, though.

mrripley said...

shut up about julianne moore the best supporting performances 1997 went unnominated they were debbie morgan in eve's bayou,sigourney weaver in the ice storm and alsion elliott in the wings of the dove

Anonymous said...

I loveeee this movie!!!!!

NATHANIEL R said...

lylee --TOTALLY his mask slips.

this is also my favorite russell crowe performance. i can believe that he wasn't nominated but i don't have to like it.

trish said...

Pearce, Crowe AND Spacey should have been nominated. Love this film.

Basinger is indeed good and striking but the Oscar shoulda been Julianne's.

That being said, Basinger is being singled out for The Informers and her reviews for The Burning Plain are also very good, she might be back in the race with the latter, considering that she garnered good notice for The Door in the floor but was ignored by award bodies

adri said...

Russell Crowe is such a great actor. I love the way he seems to believe being the best actor he can includes portraying romance and heart-felt sentiment.

I liked Basinger in this, but the whole male cast was a standout. Crowe, Pierce, Spacey, Cromwell, and DeVito. Even David Straitharn was wonderfully slimy. Spacey's death scene is one of the best ever.

Rich Aunt Pennybags said...

Oh God, I remember when this clip was played at EVERY SINGLE AWARDS CEREMONY! It was so obnoxious. I hate it when clips are ubiquitous! Someone should do a countdown of the worst of all time (especially because its usually the most banal moments of the films that tend to get aggrandized for some reason)I love this idea because I hate it when the same clip for a nominee is used over and over again at every award show. (It's yet another reason why I hate all these award shows that have sprung up that only exist to predict what Oscar will do.)

The "Veronica Lake" clip would definitely have to be on the list too. Also maybe the cherry scene from Girl Interrupted because I remember getting tired of seeing that one all the time.

Also the scene from Apollo 13 where Kathleen Quinlan's character tells all the media people to get off her lawn because I remember she used that clip on Oprah in the summer before the movie came out all the way and all throughout awards season. So I got pretty sick of that clip too.

I would love to see everyone else's list of overplayed clips during awards season.

As for the topic, I agree with the majority. I love the movie, but other than having to acknowledge the movie somewhere (and it wasn't going to be Best Actor because Pierce and Crowe were too new), I can't believe that Basinger is the only one singled out of the whole cast. (Shameful confession)I actually would have preferred Gloria Stuart to win since she had the best chance too since Moore and Cusack had absolutely no shot at winning. Stuart would have won for the wrong reasons too, but she was old. I wanted Titanic to win everything that it was nominated because I loved the movie, and my boyfriend at the time thought it was overrated. Also to show how much pettier I can be, Kim Basinger has an Oscar while her ex doesn't. Sure Alec seems like a total dick, but he's a talented dick.